The Story of Newfoundland | Page 5

be wrought upon them: for I have had apparant proofes of their ingenuous and subtle dispositions, and that they are a people full of quicke and lively apprehensions.
"By a plantation" [in Newfoundland] "and by that means only, the poore mis-beleeving inhabitants of that country may be reduced from barbarism to the knowledge of God, and the light of his truth, and to a civill and regular kinde of life and government."
The plantation came, but it must be admitted that the policy of the planters was not, at first sight, of a kind to secure the admirable objects indicated above by King James's correspondent. In fact, for hundreds of years, and with the occasional interruptions of humanity or curiosity, the Boeothics were hunted to extinction and perversely disappeared, without, it must be supposed, having attained to the "civill and regular kinde of life" which was to date from the plantation.
As lately as 1819 a "specimen" was procured in the following way. A party of furriers met three natives--two male, one female--on the frozen Red Indian Lake. It appeared later that one of the males was the husband of the female. The latter was seized; her companions had the assurance to resist, and were both shot. The woman was taken to St. John's, and given the name of May March; next winter she was escorted back to her tribe, but died on the way. These attempts to gain the confidence of the natives were, perhaps, a little brusque, and from this point of view liable to misconstruction by an apprehensive tribe. Ironically enough, the object of the attempt just described was to win a Government reward of ￡100, offered to any person bringing about a friendly understanding with the Red Indians. Another native woman, Shanandithit, was brought to St. John's in 1823 and lived there till her death in 1829. She is supposed to have been the last survivor. Sir Richard Bonnycastle, who has an interesting chapter on this subject, saw her miniature, which, he says, "without being handsome, shows a pleasing countenance."
* * * * *
Before closing this introductory chapter a few figures may be usefully given for reference to illustrate the present condition of the island.[3] At the end of 1917 the population, including that of Labrador, was 256,500, of whom 81,200 were Roman Catholics and 78,000 members of the Church of England. The estimated public revenue for the year 1917-18 was 5,700,000 dollars; the estimated expenditure was 5,450,000 dollars. In the same year the public debt was about 35,450,000 dollars. The estimated revenue for 1918-19 was 6,500,000 dollars; expenditure, 5,400,000 dollars. In 1898 the imports from the United Kingdom amounted to ￡466,925, and the exports to the United Kingdom to ￡524,367. In the year 1917-18 the distribution of trade was mainly as follows: imports from the United Kingdom, 2,248,781 dollars; from Canada, 11,107,642 dollars; from the United States, 12,244,746 dollars; exports to the United Kingdom, 3,822,931 dollars; to Canada, 2,750,990 dollars; to the United States, 7,110,322 dollars. The principal imports in 1916-17 were flour, hardware, textiles, provisions, coal, and machinery; the chief exports were dried cod, pulp and paper, iron and copper ore, cod and seal oil, herrings, sealskins, and tinned lobsters. In 1917 there were 888 miles of railway open, of which 841 were Government-owned; and there are over 4600 miles of telegraph line. The tonnage of vessels entered and cleared at Newfoundland ports in 1916-17 was 2,191,006 tons, of which 1,818,016 tons were British. The number of sailing and steam vessels registered on December 31st, 1917, was 3496.
* * * * *
FOOTNOTES:
[1] "A Historical Geography of the British Colonies." Vol. v. Part 4. Newfoundland. (Oxford, 1911.)
[2] Op. cit., p. 192.
[3] In view of the nature and object of the present book, only a few figures can be given here; fuller information can easily be obtained in several of the works referred to herein, and more particularly in the various accessible Year Books.
CHAPTER II
THE AGE OF DISCOVERY (1497-1502)
"If this should be lost," said Sir Walter Raleigh of Newfoundland, "it would be the greatest blow that was ever given to England." The observation was marked by much political insight. Two centuries later, indeed, the countrymen of Raleigh experienced and outlived a shock far more paralyzing than that of which he was considering the possible effects; but when the American colonies were lost the world destiny of England had already been definitely asserted, and the American loyalists were able to resume the allegiance of their birth by merely crossing the Canadian frontier. When Raleigh wrote, Newfoundland was the one outward and visible sign of that Greater England in whose future he was a passionate believer. Therefore, inasmuch as Newfoundland, being the oldest of all the English colonies, stood for the Empire which was to be, the moral effects of its