The Story of Newfoundland | Page 2

the story of the colony is one
with which every citizen of Greater Britain should be familiar. The
historians of the island have been capable and in the main judicious,
and to the works of Reeves, Bonnycastle, Pedley, Hatton, Harvey, and
above all Chief Justice Prowse, and more recently to J.D. Rogers,[1]
every writer on Newfoundland must owe much. Of such elaborate work
a writer in the present series may say with Virgil's shepherd, "Non
invideo, miror magis"; for such a one is committed only to a sketch,
made lighter by their labours, of the chief stages in the story of
Newfoundland.
To understand that story a short account must be given at the outset of
the situation and character of the island. But for the north-eastern side
of the country, which is indented by deep and wide inlets, its shape
might be roughly described as that of an equilateral triangle. Its area is
nearly 43,000 square miles, so that it is larger than Scotland and
considerably greater than Ireland, the area of which is 31,760 square
miles. Compared to some of the smaller states of Europe, it is found to
be twice as large as Denmark, and three times as large as Holland.
There is only a mile difference between its greatest length, which from
Cape Ray, the south-west point, to Cape Norman, the northern point, is
317 miles, and its greatest breadth, from west to east, 316 miles from
Cape Spear to Cape Anguille. Its dependency, Labrador, an undefined
strip of maritime territory, extends from Cape Chidley, where the
Hudson's Straits begin in the north, to Blanc Sablon in the south, and
includes the most easterly point of the mainland. The boundaries
between Quebec and Labrador have been a matter of keen dispute. The
inhabitants are for the most part Eskimos, engaged in fishing and
hunting. There are no towns, but there are a few Moravian mission
stations.

The ruggedness of the coast of Newfoundland, and the occasional
inclemency of the climate in winter, led to unfavourable reports,
against which at least one early traveller raised his voice in protest.
Captain Hayes, who accompanied Gilbert to Newfoundland in 1583,
wrote on his return:
"The common opinion that is had of intemperation and extreme cold
that should be in this country, as of some part it may be verified,
namely the north, where I grant it is more colde than in countries of
Europe, which are under the same elevation; even so it cannot stand
with reason, and nature of the clime, that the south parts should be so
intemperate as the bruit has gone."
Notwithstanding the chill seas in which it lies, Newfoundland is not in
fact a cold country. The Arctic current lowers the temperature of the
east coast, but the Gulf Stream, whilst producing fogs, moderates the
cold. The thermometer seldom or never sinks below zero in winter, and
in summer extreme heat is unknown. Nor is its northerly detachment
without compensation, for at times the Aurora borealis illumines the
sky with a brilliancy unknown further south. A misconception appears
to prevail that the island is in summer wrapped in fog, and its shores in
winter engirt by ice. In the interior the climate is very much like that of
Canada, but is not so severe as that of western Canada or even of
Ontario and Quebec. The sky is bright and the weather clear, and the
salubrity is shown by the healthy appearance of the population.
The natural advantages of the country are very great, though for
centuries many of them were strangely overlooked. Whitbourne, it is
true, wrote with quaint enthusiasm, in the early sixteenth century: "I am
loth to weary thee (good reader) in acquainting thee thus to those
famous, faire, and profitable rivers, and likewise to those delightful
large and inestimable woods, and also with those fruitful and enticing
lulls and delightful vallies." In fact, in the interior the valleys are almost
as numerous as Whitbourne's adjectives, and their fertility promises a
great future for agriculture when the railway has done its work.
The rivers, though "famous, faire, and profitable," are not
overpoweringly majestic. The largest are the Exploits River, 200 miles

long and navigable for some 30 miles, and the Gander, 100 miles long,
which--owing to the contour of the island--flows to the eastern bays.
The deficiency, however, if it amounts to one, is little felt, for
Newfoundland excels other lands in the splendour of its bays, which
not uncommonly pierce the land as far as sixty miles. The length of the
coast-line has been calculated at about 6000 miles--one of the longest
of all countries of the world relatively to the area. Another noteworthy
physical feature is the great number of lakes and ponds; more than a
third of the area is