W. H. Twenhofel — Physiography of Newfoundland. 1 3 



northwest coasts large bays are not prominent and are rather 

 irregular in their shape and alignment. 



Among the large peninsulas of the west coast those of Port 

 au Choix, Cow Head, and Fort au Port are the most irregular, 

 the last having a long^ northern prolongation which finds its 

 continuation in the submerged Long Ledge, a few miles beyond. 

 Each of these headlands is connected with the mainland by a 

 low and narrow neck of accumulated sands and muds which 

 an elevation of the sea-level of but about 25 feet would sub- 

 merge, converting the peninsula into an island. 



The more important bays of the west and northwest coasts 

 are Bonne, St. George, and St. Barbe Bays, the Bay of Islands, 

 and the double reentrant made by Port Sanders and Hawke 

 Harbor. With the exception of St. George Bay, each of these 

 extends far into the land with deep waters almost to the head. 

 The Bay of Islands and Bonne Bay branch just a short dis- 

 tance from the sea, and then each branch extends back into 

 the land for many miles. Across the mouth of the former 

 there is a string of high islands which are formed of the same 

 kind of rock as exists on each side of the bay. Port au Choix 

 Bay may also be mentioned ; not because of its size, but by 

 reason of its narrow entrance and the enormous depth of water 

 within a stone's throw of the shore. 



Islands. — Along the coasts of Newfoundland there are many 

 islands, of which only those of the west coast have been seen 

 and to which the remarks that follow alone apply. Those 

 about the western extremity of Belle Isle Strait are very low 

 and of most extravagant shapes. In the broad indentation 

 extending from St. Barbe Bay to Port au Choix there is a suc- 

 cession of low islands and long peninsulas, one of which, Point 

 Ferolle, divides the indentation into almost equal parts. The 

 islands of the northern part are separated from the mainland, 

 here low, by very shallow water. The southern embayment 

 contains sixteen islands, of which the largest is St. John. 

 Deep water lies between this group and the mainland, here 

 formed of the St. John Mountains, an outlier of the Long 

 Range. South from Port au Choix islands are uncommon, if 

 those at the mouth of the Bay of Islands be excepted. 



Offsetting of the west coast. — The west coast of Newfound- 

 land shows at four localities, — Point Ferolle, Port au Choix, 

 Table Point, and St. George Bay, — rather striking offsettings, 

 or inland sags of the coast. At each of these places the shore 

 makes a very abrupt bend in an easterly direction, southward 

 from which it continues parallel to the original coastal line. 

 The three northern offsets are parallel to each other, with a 

 southeasterly trend ; but the St. George Bay offset trends almost 

 due east and finds its continuation inland in the valley of St. 



