GLIMPSES OF NEWFOUNDLAND 



409 



bay incuts, sedimentary rocks of later for- 

 mations have been laid down, from the 

 Cambrian, through Ordovician, to Upper 

 Silurian, Devonian, sub-carboniferous, and 

 coal measures. 



The topographic lines of Newfoundland 

 are quite significantly northeast and south- 

 west and faults, valleys, river basins, lakes, 

 hill ridges, even the axes of coast dis- 

 section, in the bays, indentations and har- 

 bors, affect these prevalent directions. 



Many pages could be devoted to the 

 geological suggestions and to the natural 

 features of Little River and the Long 

 Range, and more to the insect life, which 

 at this point, so far as the writer could see, 

 exceeded in variety and abundance that of 

 the stations farther north, unless it was at 

 Sandy Point, St. George's Bay, where a 

 handsome catch of cicindellidae rewarded 

 a little patience and agility. Caribou range 

 over the uplands as far south as this point, 

 though at a later time in the year, and the 

 ptarmigan here mixes its white plumage 

 with the scurrying snows. 



The affliction of fire has dealt sorely with 

 Newfoundland. No more common sight is 

 met, as the tourist wanders over this island, 

 than stretches of white posts — gaunt, leaf- 

 less, sometimes mutely pathetic with ex- 

 tended arms — the dead trunks of trees. 

 (Fig. 5.) The ravages of fire have been 

 most serious. In the northern sections they 

 have encompassed the little villages, while 

 the swirling smoke has penetrated the 

 houses and barns and killed, by suffocation, 

 the cattle. The fire burns, under some 

 provocations, with a consuming ferocity, 

 burrowing into the ground and licking off 

 the baked rocks their thick coverings of 

 moss. At Lewisport, a year ago, every in- 

 habitant, except the sheriff — Mr. Young — 

 had placed his household goods out of 

 doors, expecting an immediate decamp- 

 ment, so vast and menacing was the en- 

 croachment of the fire from the surround- 

 ing woods. 



Amongst the pleasant recollections of 

 Codroy, the picture of the luxuriant water- 

 hemlock (Cicuta) returns with insistent 

 grace. (Fig. 6.) This beautiful umbellifer 

 grew in profusion in places, of amazing 

 proportions, forming miniature forests, 

 crowding its snowy masses of flowers 



against each other— erect domes over the 

 green terraces of deeply incised leaves be- 

 neath them. 



After leaving Codroy (Little River), the 

 railroad carried us through a tangled, often 

 rather ragged and desperate wilderness, 

 with many burnt districts, with glimpses of 

 broad, shallow streams, views of the west- 

 ern hills (the northern prolongation of the 

 Cape Anguille Mountains), toward which 

 the train was, all the time, with much 

 deviation, approaching. Gypsum cliffs 

 were seen, gently domed sedementary 

 rocks, heavily capped with till, vanishing 

 vistas toward the sea, the sprawling curv- 

 atures of the Barachois River, and finally 

 the wide expanses of St. George's Bay, 

 flooded with light, awaited us, an im- 

 portant fishing station on the west coast, 

 the famous ''Treaty" or "French" shore. 



We had now transferred our studies 

 from the farming community, with its tran- 

 sitory interest in fish and tourists, to the 

 real fishing industries, to the men and wo- 

 men who live on the output of the "wild and 

 wasteful ocean," whose narrow lines move 

 monotonously between the slender com- 

 forts of the shore and the exhausting ex- 

 actions of the sea. (Fig. 7.) 



The region has an historic interest. To 

 quote Samuel Edward Dawson, "The Peace 

 of Utrecht in 17 13 settled the dispute be- 

 tween the English and French- as to the 

 sovereignty of the island. It was given 

 over in full supremacy to England. But so 

 firmly planted in the English mind was the 

 theory that Newfoundland should be only 

 a fishing station, whereon to dry fish in the 

 summer, and a nursery wherein to train 

 seamen for service at need in the royal 

 navy, that the rankling thorn of the 

 'French shore' was planted in the side of 

 the colony to trouble and hinder its de- 

 velopment down to the present day." The 

 "French" or "Treaty" shore formerly ex- 

 tended on the east side of the island, but 

 later became limited to the west coast. The 

 protection of the French residents and 

 fishermen in their rights along this shore by 

 the English Parliament has been exem- 

 plary. Improvements, which might have 

 been beneficial, have been interdicted, be 

 cause of a real or fancied interference with 

 these immemorial privileges of the French. 



