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PEEPS AT MANY LANDS NEWFOUNDLAND

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

Printed in Great Britain

CONTENTS

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS

Sketch-Map of Newfoundland on p. viii.

NEWFOUNDLAND

CHAPTER I THE OLDEST BRITISH COLONY

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.

If you consult a map of British North America, you will see that Newfoundland is an island a little to the north-east of Nova Scotia, in Canada. It stretches right across to the entrance of the Gulf of St. Lawrence, its south-western projection being only sixty miles from Cape Breton, from which point Canadians may reach the island in about six hours by crossing the Cabot Straits. The eastern coast of Newfoundland is 1,640 miles from Ireland, and the fastest “liner” crossing the Atlantic would cover the journey in from three to four days, although the steamships at present plying between Great Britain and the Colony are usually seven days accomplishing the voyage.

Upon first looking at the map of the Colony, you are at once impressed by the similarity of its physical features to England or Scotland. If you were to cut off the two peninsulas at the south-east corner, from Trinity Bay to Fortune Bay, the remaining land would not be at all unlike England.

The coast of Newfoundland is extremely rugged, and you will get an idea of the number and size of the bays if you bear in mind that the coast-line at present, measured from headland to headland, is about 1,000 miles; whereas, if the bays were straightened out, there would be a coast-line of probably 2,000 miles. Some of the bays are very deep, and the huge, high rocks towering above them present a picturesque and majestic appearance. There is, perhaps, no country in the world that has such secure natural harbours. These land-locked harbours are a great boon to the fishermen, for when the long, rolling waves of the Atlantic are eager to devour any vessels that may be in their way, the slender craft of the fishermen are securely nestled between a couple of immovable jutting headlands.

On a map of North America Newfoundland usually looks very small. Of course, in comparison with the United States and Canada, it is small. An idea of its size is best obtained by comparing it with Ireland, than which country it is said to be about one-fifth larger. Its breadth is about fifty miles greater than England, and its length 140 miles less. About one-fourth of the island’s surface is covered by water, so that one naturally expects to see many rivers, lakes, and ponds. Three large rivers are the Gander, the Exploits, and the Humber, all of which are teeming with what are considered to be the finest salmon in the world. Every summer British and American tourists flock to these rivers, for not only can excellent fishing be obtained, but absolute quiet and magnificent scenery are always to be enjoyed by those who seek sport, health, and rest from the dust and din of ordinary workaday life. Lakes, too, are very numerous, and to view sixty to seventy of them from the summit of a mountain is a scene never to be forgotten by the beholder. As these lakes are invariably surrounded by spruce and fir trees, their existence may never be known to the traveller unless he happen to be on some eminence far above the common track of the ordinary pedestrian. One striking feature in connection with many of the lakes is the secluded hollows in which they are to be found on the tops of the high hills, as though they had determined that their beauty should not be enjoyed without the effort of climbing on the part of the seeker of placid waters. When the climber reaches the crest of a high hill, it is quite a common experience to be unexpectedly confronted by a circle of water, from which scores of seagulls rise, startled by the intrusion of a stranger upon their solitary retreat.

Although there are no very lofty mountains in the island, there are numerous ranges of high hills, the Long Range extending for quite 200 miles in a north-easterly direction from Cape Ray. In the winter the hills present a beautiful appearance, with their innumerable white heads peering above the clumps of spruce and fir trees, the charm of the bright blue being greatly enhanced by the contrast. But they are most beautiful in autumn, when the undergrowth begins to change its colour, and the leaves of the wild berries put on their glamorous robes of scarlet.

However, as a chapter will be devoted to the scenery of this ancient island, we will pass on to an account of the early races, together with the present inhabitants, their mode, of living and the means by which they obtain a livelihood.

CHAPTER II THE INHABITANTS AND THEIR CHARACTERISTICS

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 navigator and explorer, found his way to the great stretches of fertile lands on the north-west of the Atlantic Ocean.

This race of Red Indians were known as the Beothiks. Doubtless they were a warlike people, and had their tribal battles, just as did the various tribes once so numerous in Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, and other parts of Canada. Their chief occupations would be hunting and fishing, for the island abounded in geese, wild-duck, ptarmigan, bears, foxes, and deer, whilst the rivers were abundantly stocked with beaver, as well as salmon, trout, and numerous other kinds of fishes. The weapons with which they captured their prey would be clubs, bows and arrows, spears, and slings, so that they would never be in need of food, and the furs of the wild animals would furnish them with all necessary clothing to keep them warm in the long, cold days of winter.

John Guy, who is supposed to be the first Englishman to successfully found a settlement in Newfoundland, describes the Beothiks as he found them in 1612: “They are of a reasonable stature, of an ordinary middle size. They goe bare-headed, wearing their hair somewhat long, but round; they haue no Beards; behind they have a great locke of haire platted with feathers, like a Hawkes Lure, with a feather standing in it vpright by the crowne of the head, and a small locke platted before; a short gown made of stags skins, the Furre innermost, that ranne down to the middle of their arme, and a Beauer skinne about their necke was all their apparell, saue that one of them had shooes and mittens, so that all went bare-legged and most bare-foote. They are full-eyed, of a blacke colour; the colour of their haire was diuers, some blacke, some browne and some yellow, and their faces something flat and broad, red with Oker, as all their apparell is, and the rest of their body; they are broad-brested, and bould, and stand very vpright.”

The Beothiks, however, were so cruelly treated by another tribe called Micmacs, and more particularly by French and English settlers, that by 1829 the last of this interesting race passed away in the person of Shawnandithit.

The present inhabitants are mostly of English, Irish, and Scotch descent, and number about 227,000. When it is borne in mind that the area of the island is 42,000 square miles, it will be seen how small the population is. St. John’s, the capital of Newfoundland, has a population of about 30,000. The rest of the inhabitants are scattered along the coasts. Comparatively few people dwell in the interior. Probably one-fourth of the people are engaged in the fishery, as this is the leading industry of the Colony. The fisher-folk live very simple and, on the whole, honest lives. They live chiefly on fish, tea, pork, and bread. Their houses are built of wood, and are usually erected by the tenants themselves. One could not call the fisher-folk educated, and it would be unjust to call them illiterate. To-day the Government are devoting more attention to education, and in a few years’ time the fisherman who cannot read or write will be looked upon as a curiosity. The children in the out-ports are receiving an education to-day in their own districts that their fathers could have obtained only by attending the schools of the larger towns. Even so recently as twenty years ago the fishermen in some of the settlements exchanged their fish for food and clothing, money not being in general circulation. The rate of mortality in some of the settlements is very high, which is due to the hardships of their calling, poor food, and small and ill-ventilated houses. In many of these small houses an ordinary fire-grate is sufficient for heating purposes, but the majority of them have a large stove standing in the middle of the kitchen, as this not only emits more heat, but it also performs the duties of a cooking-range.

When we consider how meagre have been the facilities for education in the past, we are astonished that there is so much morality in these small fishing settlements. Crimes of a serious nature are seldom heard of, and murder startles the whole population, so peace-loving are the people on the whole. They are men and women of religious faith, and always attend Divine service at the church of their creed at least once on Sunday. Nor is their religion confined solely to church-going: they are most practical in its exercise. If one settlement is in distress through the failure of the fisheries, the other settlements will always assist them so far as they are able. If an ill-fated schooner goes to the bottom with all hands, a subscription for the relief of the widows and orphans is opened immediately, and every man considers it a duty to contribute to the full extent of his means. Moreover, a mother with six children of her own will often take charge of three or four children of the settlement who have been unfortunate enough to lose their father at sea.