CHAPTER I. 



KEAVFOUNDLA]N^D AND LABRADOR; GENERAL DESCRIP- 

 TION, PHYSICAL FEATURES, GEOLOGY, MINES, AGRI- 

 CULTURE, FISHERIES, EXPORTS — COMMUNICATIONS — 

 CLIIMATE — WINDS — FOG — CURRENTS — TIDES — TIDAL 

 STREAMS — TEMPERATURE OF THE SEA— ICE — SIGNALS 

 RESPECTING ICE — BUOYS — SIGNAL STATIONS — COAL— 

 DOCKS— REPAIRS— SHIPWRECKS— STANDARD TIME— PAS- 

 SAGES AND GENERAL DIRECTIONS— MAGNETIC VARIA- 

 TION—DEVIATION OF THE COMPASS— LOCAL MAGNETIC 

 DISTURBANCES. 



Newfoundland is an island of the British Empire situated at 

 the mouth of the gulf of St. Lawrence, between the parallels of 46° 

 35' and 51° 40' north latitude, and the meridians of 52° 35' and 

 59° 25' west longitude. In the colony is included the eastern part of 

 the peninsula of Labrador from Blanc Sablon to cape Chidley. 



History. — The island of Xewfoundland, said to haA'e been known 

 to the Norsemen at a very early date, was inhabited by a numerous 

 and powerful Indian race named Beothiks, now extinct ; but the 

 first authentic account of its discovery was in 1497, wdien John Cabot, 

 who was seeking a northwestern route to China and the Spice islands, 

 sighted the land (probably about cape Bonavista). As early as 

 1500 it Avas frequented by Portuguese, Spanish, and French fish- 

 ermen; but no serious attempt at colonization appears to have been 

 made until the 5th of August, 1583, when Sir Humphrey Gilbert 

 took i^ossession of the island in the name of Queen Elizabeth. 



After 1623, when Lord Baltimore, wdio a few years later left to 

 establish Baltimore, founded a colony in the island, the east coast 

 was gradually settled bj^ the English; French settlers occupying 

 the southern coasts and making Placentia their capital. By the 

 treaty of Utrecht in 1713, subsequently ratified by the treaty of Paris, 

 Newfoundland was acknowledged to belong to Great Britain, and 

 the French retained only the small islands of St. Pierre and 

 Miquelon, with the right to cure fish on that portion of the New- 

 foundland coast extending from cape Ray, along the west, north, 

 and east coasts, to cape St. John. By the Anglo-French convention 

 of 1904, France renounced her exclusive fishing rights, but retained 



27 



