430 



RECREATION. 



or swamps on their sides, and even on their 

 summits. In other portions they are cov- 

 ered with hard clay or exposed rock, so 

 that the traveling is easy. 



Newfoundland is one of the greatest 

 countries in the world for sportsmen. If 

 a man wants caribou he can get them more 

 easily there than anywhere else on the 

 earth. In fact, the hunting is too easy to af- 

 ford genuine sport. It is like going into a 

 New England pasture and killing cows. The 

 poor brutes are so stupid that though they 

 may see you when half a mile away, they 

 will allow you to approach within a few 

 yards before taking to flight. The hunt- 

 ing is simply a matter of collecting speci- 

 mens, and not of genuine, exciting sport. 

 A band of these Newfoundland caribou is 

 one of the most beautiful sights I have ever 

 seen. On an average at least one-half the 

 body of each animal is white, and the rest 

 light gray ; so that a band of them together 

 presents a rarely brilliant spectacle. They 

 are entirely different from the American 

 species of either woodland or barren 

 ground caribou. 



There is little other game on the island. 

 I was surprised at the almost total absence 

 of bird life in the portions of the country 

 we traversed. We did not see a grouse of 

 any kind, and the only water fowl we saw 

 on the Humber were perhaps 3 or 4 fish 

 ducks, of various kinds. The guides tell me 

 a few water fowl breed in various portions 

 of Newfoundland, but that they are never 

 plentiful, and those that summer on the 

 Humber leave early in the fall. 



Ptarmigan and one or 2 other species of 

 grouse are said to be plentiful in the hills, 

 but are never found in the lowlands. 



For the angler, Newfoundland is one of 

 the most delightful countries in the world. 

 Almost every stream on the island is abun- 

 dantly supplied with both salmon and 

 trout, and many good sized streams have 

 rarely or never been fished. None of these 

 waters are preserved, and a man can simply 

 get all the fish he may want. The trout 

 range up to 7 pounds, and the salmon to 30 

 pounds. Here are records of a few catches 

 made last summer : 



General Dashwood, of the British army, 

 360 salmon in one week. That is at least 

 10 times as many as any man should take 

 in that length of time, but it shows what a 

 fish hog can do in Newfoundland. 



J. Y. Pesant, of Halifax, also took over 

 300 in one week in '98 and 70 in one week 

 in '99. Beverly Chichester, of Philadel- 

 phia, and Charles Fox, of Richmond, Va., 

 each took over 20 in one week. 



George Nicolls, who guided these men, 

 tells me either of them could have taken 

 200 to 300 in the same time; but they quit 

 each day when they got enough. This 

 shows the difference between a reasonable 

 sportsman and a butcher. 



A man can go to Newfoundland on the 

 first of September and have 15 days of 

 salmon fishing before the close of the sea- 

 son. Then he can have 15 days of open sea- 

 son on caribou, though the chances are 10 

 to one he will get all he wants, or all 

 he should kill, in one day — as we did. The 



salmon season ex- 

 tends from June 1st 

 to September 15th, 

 and while the fish 

 take the fly better 

 in July and August 

 than they do in 

 September, yet the 

 black flies also take 

 the angler's blood 

 more extravagantly 

 during the summer 

 months. They and 

 the mosquitoes 

 practically disap- 

 pear entirely by 

 September 1st, so 

 that from that time 

 you may fish in 

 comfort, as well as 

 in water. 



I know of no 

 place on the conti- 

 nent where a man 

 may spend a month 

 with greater cer- 

 tainty of getting 

 good fishing and 

 hunting at the same 

 t i m e. and w i t h 

 more chance of get- 

 ting his money's 

 worth 10 times 

 over, than in the 

 Humber river coun- 

 try of Newfound- 

 land. 



The best way to 

 reach that country 

 is by the route we 

 took. You can go 

 direct from New 

 York or Boston to 

 Halifax, or to St. 

 Johns by steamer, 

 if you wish; but it 

 takes more time to 

 reach the island. Then, in order to get 

 on to the West coast where we were, you 

 would have to travel 500 miles by" rail 

 from St. Johns. This trip would be in- 

 teresting, as you would be passing 

 through a weird and picturesque country 

 — almost an unbroken wilderness from 

 start to finish — but when a keen sports- 

 man is going after game he wants to get 

 there as quickly as possible. 



A good plan would be to buy your ticket 

 via North Sidney to St. Johns, with stop- 

 over privileges ; then you could stop at 



COPYRIGHT 1899, BY S. H. PARSONS. 



TWO OF A KIND. 



