PEEPS AT MANY LANDS NEWFOUNDLAND BY FORD FAIRFORD CONTAINING TWELVE FULL-PAGE ILLUSTRATIONS IN COLOUR BY C. G. LOWTHER LONDON ADAM AND CHARLES BLACK 1912 LONDON ADAM AND CHARLES BLACK 1912 Printed in Great Britain...

It would not be an exaggeration to say that Newfoundland, although it is the most ancient of the British Colonies, is less known and understood in Great Britain than any of her oversea possessions. It is generally believed that Newfoundland is somewhere in the Arctic Circle; that the inhabitants are clothed in furs, live in snow huts, feed on codfish; and that for six months of the year the island is unapproachable on account of barriers of ice and impenetrable fogs. This is altogether untrue. I

There is always something interesting in an account of the early inhabitants of a country; but, unfortunately, it is not possible to trace the first dwellers upon the soil of Britain’s ancient Colony of Newfoundland. There is much tradition associated with the researches of historians, and very few descriptions of the races inhabiting this large island in the early ages can be considered at all authentic. The Red Indians can be traced with accuracy so long ago as 1497, when Cabot, the celebrated

As the livelihood of the people of Newfoundland is almost entirely dependent upon the fisheries, it is natural that they should have to face the perils of the sea. And through what perils the poor fishermen have to pass! Wind, rain, fog, snow, and ice sweep over the fishing-grounds, carrying many a slender craft far out to sea, never again to reach the peaceful harbours and coves from whence they started. During one of those wild hurricanes that often visit the Newfoundland coast wives and child

In a land where the winter is long, and sometimes very cold, it is to be expected that a good deal of time is spent at home. Moreover, in many of the small towns there is little attraction out of doors to draw one from the fireside except skating and sleighing; and as there is only a small theatre, there is little in the way of operas, dramas, or musical entertainments. Concerts are given occasionally in the churches or public halls, but these are mostly amateur performances in the interest of c

Since the days when Cabot left Bristol to roam across the Atlantic in search of new lands and new peoples, the fishing-grounds of the Grand Banks have become known all over the world. Indeed, their riches have been coveted by many countries, and more than one battle has been fought between nation and nation to gain possession of the famous “gold-mine of the Newfoundland fishery, richer than the famous treasures of Golconda and Peru.” There are several kinds of fishing prosecuted by the fishermen

Although it may be many years before Newfoundland is known as an agricultural country, every effort is now being made by the Government to make known the richness of the soil in many sections of the country. The fishing industry has been remunerative for so many generations that little attention has been devoted to the possibilities of the soil, and probably the close proximity of Canada, and its popularity as a country of great rewards for emigrants who are prepared to till the soil, have tende

The most impressive feature about the railway in Newfoundland is that it should exist at all. Twenty years ago the late Sir Robert Reid began to invade the trackless wilderness with an army of navvies, and in a very short time the iron horses went snorting and panting through the lonely woods and desolate tracts that form the vast interior of the island. Only a great mind could have surmounted the obstacles that confronted the undertaker of so gigantic a scheme. There were mountains and rivers t

By so many generations has Newfoundland been looked upon as an island of damp and dreary swamp that it will be many years before that erroneous impression is dispelled. And yet what a beautiful land it is! The inhabitants themselves do not fully appreciate the wealth of scenery with which Providence has so abundantly enriched them. It is true that one is not met by the garden-like scenery of England, to the making of which so many human hands have been devoted; but there is probably no country i

If the Atlantic Ocean is associated with mystery and romance, it is associated with tragedy too. Alas! how many of its tragedies are unrecorded upon the pages of history! Until the sea gives up its dead, many of the deeds that have been perpetrated upon its bosom will remain as obscure as the treasures at the base of its restless waters. Off the coast of Newfoundland many were the diabolical deeds of pirates in the days that are no more. Very few have found their way to the written page, but the

Among all the dangers and discomforts of seafaring life on the Atlantic, there is nothing a captain so much dreads as contact with the great mountains of ice that come floating down the Newfoundland coast from the Arctic Ocean. Fog, rain, snow, and blizzards may be fought and overpowered, but it is seldom that an ocean liner survives a collision with an iceberg. Some of these encounters with the “Arctic travellers,” as they are called, are most thrilling. Upon even the darkest night the white ap

There are no boys in the world more plucky than the sons of the fisher-folk of Newfoundland. If every tale of daring and heroism on the coastal waters were related, only a bulky volume could possibly contain them. There seems to be no fear in the hearts of these lads, and their endurance in times of distress is amazing. At the time of writing there comes to hand a story of the sufferings of two boys living at Harbour Breton who, a few weeks ago, strayed in a dory from the fishing-grounds. Someti

The Newfoundland dog is known and loved all over the world, and he is deserving of that popularity and esteem. What a noble and gentle animal he is, with his soft, brown, sympathetic eyes, shining black coat, strong-set legs, and commanding head! How the children love him! And how he loves the children! It is a common sight to see him harnessed, drawing a small cart in which is seated a little child. You can tell by the joyous wag of his tail, and his proud walk, that he appreciates the task of

Whale-hunting around Newfoundland was almost abandoned for many years, but during the last fifteen years it has been prosecuted with such vigour that its value has increased from $1,581 in 1897 to $168,131 in 1909. According to authentic records, the most commercially valuable whale, the Balæna mysticetus , disappeared from Newfoundland waters in 1850, and the fin-whales, bottle-noses, blue whales, hump-backs, and common rorquals were considered of no value for whalebone. Their yield of oil was

Now Newfoundland is becoming better known, the living treasures of her forests, moors, and waters are attracting an annually increasing number of sportsmen from Great Britain, the United States, and Canada. “Far from the madding crowd’s ignoble strife,” the sportsman may return for a season to the simpler life lived by races of men in the days when modern commercial methods were undreamed of, when the starry sky was the hunter’s jewelled roof, when the spongelike moss was his pillow, when time w

If you were to read some of the voyages of the intrepid explorers of Queen Elizabeth’s day, you would be charmed by their accounts of wonderful birds, marvellous beasts and fishes, which they met in that part of the new Western world discovered by John Cabot and his West of England crews: soles three yards long, huge sea-cows with long white tusks, seals, bears, and monstrous whales. Among all these animals and fishes, none is more interesting than the hair-seal of the North Atlantic. The birth,

As Labrador adjoins the provinces of Quebec and Ungava, it is often erroneously thought that the whole of it is under the jurisdiction of the great Dominion of Canada, and the majority of boys will be surprised to hear that the coast of this little-known country is a dependency of Newfoundland. It is associated with the life of the Eskimos, a people who dwell in “thrilling regions of thick-ribb’d ice,” and is considered by the outside world as There is a great deal of tradition interwoven with t