CHAPTER IV. 



IS^EWFOUNDJDAND, SOUTH COAST— ST. PIERRE AXD 

 MIQUELOK ISJLANDS. 



The islands of St. Pierre and Miquelon and five islets, lying off 

 the coast of Newfoundland, at the entrance of Fortune bay, comprise 

 a colony under the dominion of France. They are rugged masses 

 of rock, with a thin coating of soil and little vegetation. The colony 

 contained 6.482 inhabitants in 1902; since then about 1,000 have emi- 

 grated to Canada and the United States. 



St. Pierre island, situated southwesterly 10 miles from Crew 

 point, is about 4^ miles in length, 3 miles in width, barren in appear- 

 ance, irregular in outline, and rises to many peaks, the highest of 

 which is 671 feet high ; it is thus easily distinguished from Langlade 

 or Little Miquelon, the outline of which is nearh' horizontal. St. 

 Pierre island contains several lakes; Savoyard, the largest, is about 

 f mile in length. Galantry head, a conspicuous conical hill at the 

 southeastern end of the island, is joined by low land to the main part 

 of the island. 



St. Pierre harbor is on the eastern side of the island and between it 

 and Chien island. 



Lig-ht. — A white semicylindrical lighthouse 38 feet high, with a 

 square building adjoining it, on Galantry head, exhibits, at 210 feet 

 above high water, an intermittent light showing thus: V^'Tiite flash, 

 5 seconds; eclipse, 15 seconds; white flash, 5 seconds; eclipse, 15 sec- 

 onds; red flash, 5 seconds; eclipse, 15 seconds; which should be seen 

 from a distance of 18 miles in clear weather. The light is obscured 

 on southeasterly bearings by the high land of St. Pierre. 



Fog signal. — A steam fog siren, placed, 40 feet above high water, 

 in a semicylindrical tower on the coast 250 yards southeasterly from 

 the lighthouse, sounds a blast cA^ery minute, thus: Blast, 6 seconds; 

 interval, 54 seconds, during thick or foggy weather and in snow 

 storms. 



If the siren is out of order, a gun at the lighthouse is fired once 

 every half hour. 



Signal station — Ice report. — There is a signal and telegraph 

 station on Galantry head, and it is specially supplied with informa- 



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