NEWFOUNDLAND. 



379 



towards the land. The dingy, unpainted houses are built of wood, the Gov- 

 ernment edifices only being constructed of brick or stone. The long rows of 

 fish-stages along the shore attract the stranger's attention, but he is still more 

 astonished at the countless gin and beer shops, which at once tell him he is 

 in a place where thirsty sailors and fishermen form the mass of the popula- 

 tion. In the winter St. John's is comparatively deserted, as it then has no more 

 than about 10,000 inhabitants, but their number is doubled or trebled during 

 the fishing-season. 



The island of NTewfoundland, first seen and visited in the eleventh century 

 by the Norse colonists of Greenland, and then utterly forgotten, was rediscov- 

 ered in 1497 or 1498 by John and Sebastian Cabot. 



The richness of its cod-fisheries soon attracted attention, and fishermen from 

 Spain, France, Portugal, and England annually visited its banks. The best har- 

 bors along the coast were occupied by the first comers in spring — a circum- 

 stance which gave rise to frequent quarrels. To obviate this lawless state of 

 affairs, Sir Humphrey Gilbert was sent out by Queen Elizabeth in 1583 to take 

 possession of the land. He divided the coast about St. John's into districts, 

 and the British settlers willingly agreed to pay a tax to Government in the ex- 

 pectation of seeing their interests better protected. The new arrangement had 

 a beneficial effect on the trade of Newfoundland, for in 1615 more than 250 

 English vessels visited St. John's, and gradually the whole of the eastern coast 

 of the island was occupied by English fishermen. 



The French on their part colonized the north and south sides of the island, 

 and founded the town of Placentia, once a very considerable place, but now re- 

 duced to insignificance. The rivalry of the French was naturally a great source 

 of jealousy to a nation ill-accustomed to brook any foreign intrusion into its 

 commercial interests. Thus, after the war of the Spanish succession, Great 

 Britain demanded and obtained by the Treaty of Utrecht the sole possession 

 of Newfoundland ; and Louis XIV., anxious for peace on any terms, willingly 

 acceded to this sacrifice, merely reserving for his subjects the right to dry on 

 the shores of the island the fish they had caught on the banks. By the subse- 

 quent treaties of Paris the French were restricted to the small islands of St. 

 Pierre and Miquelon, but not allowed to erect fortifications of any kind. 



Besides the English and the French, the Americans also have the right to 

 fish on the banks of Newfoundland ; for when England acknowledged the in- 

 dependence of the United States, a formal article of the treaty of peace secured 

 to the latter the fishing privileges which they had previously enjoyed as col- 

 onies. 



The value of the dry codfish alone exported every year from Newfoundland 

 is on an average about £400,000, while the total value of the exported produc- 

 tions in fish, oil, and skins is upward of £700,000. This, from a population 

 of 80,000 or 90,000, proves that the people of the island ought to be happy and 

 prosperous ; but unfortunately a system of credit renders the bulk of the fish- 

 ermen entirely dependent on the merchants, and want of education is a further 

 source of evil. 



Though vast quantities of cod are taken along the shores of Newfoundland, 



