Ford Fairford

“ 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 children are kept in an agony of suspense, not knowing whether they will ever again see the faces of those upon whom they rely for their daily bread. How courageous these fishermen are, too! ”

“ Yes, the stalwart sons of Newfoundland are brainy enough when the forces of Nature call their brains into play. You can see them returning from the woods with timber, roughly hewn at first; but if you were to inquire for that same timber a few months afterwards you would be shown a beautiful schooner that had already been out and fought a battle with ice and wind, and now lay in the harbour, her sides bulging with fish, their snow-white bellies glimmering in the sunlight. ”

“ 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. ”

“ Now it is an open space, through which a long procession of trees, bowing their tips to the east, extend a welcome to the fox, the bear, and the Arctic hare; now it is a wilderness of tree-stumps that stand motionless in a vast expanse of luxuriant undergrowth and infant trees struggling to maintain life in the company of their long-dead ancestors. By many tourists these remnants of forest fires are looked upon as disfigurements of the landscape; but they have a beauty that is peculiar to all dead things—the beauty of death. ”

“ It is exhilarating labour. One great expanse of forest, field and water, a clear blue sky above, a fresh breeze blowing, the haunting cry of the great northern diver—who in the heart of a smoke-laden city would not sigh for a life such as this? When the logger’s work is finished in the evening he can sit by the side of the river, or take a punt across the lake and throw out his line for a few hours of sport with the salmon, trout, and other fishes. ”

“ ACROSS NEWFOUNDLAND BY RAIL 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. ”

“ But when they are about a mile from the shore, the wind suddenly changes, the distant sky grows black, and a blinding snow comes whistling through the air before they have time to return to the shore. The ice begins to grind on the coast, which is the first sign that the great sheets and blocks have decided to move out to sea. All available boats are then pushed into the sea to follow up closely the drifting ice, so that when the band of casual hunters reach the edge they can be lifted into them and rowed safely to the land. ”

“ THE NEWFOUNDLAND DOG 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! ”

“ SHOOTING AND FISHING 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 was not divided into sections, and he was not forced to calculate ”

“ Away you start at a rattling pace, and in a short73 time you find yourself in the heart of primitive scenery. What does it matter if the trout refuse to bite? The air has given you a new lease of life, the blue sky has got into your soul, the odour of the avenues of spruce-trees makes you smack your lips, and at every turn in the road you are greeted by some stream that babbles through a cluster of ferns and flowers. ”

“ The clusters of spruce-trees quiver to their roots. Shrieking before the blast,35 the gulls skim down to their coverts in the rocks, only to rise again in a few moments, for one can tell that they love the wind as much as they love the sea. ”

“ MOUNTAINS OF ICE 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. ”

“ By the aid of these torches the souls are led across the dark abyss at the edge of the world to a celestial region where sorrow and death never come, and where they no longer feel the pangs of hunger, for food and water are abundant there. ”

“ A school of whales may be sighted a long distance off, and then the hunters make a dash for sport. On more than one occasion these sportsmen have reached the school a few moments too late, for with a splash and a plunge the whales have gone below, as if conscious that they were surrounded by an enemy thirsting for their blood.
To the deck of the whaler is fixed a large and powerful windlass, which answers the same purpose as an angler’s rod and line. When the whale feels the effect of the shot he darts madly downwards, dragging with him several lengths of rope. ”

“ 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. ”

“ 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. ”

“ 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. ”

“ Among all these animals and fishes, none is more interesting than the hair-seal of the North Atlantic. The birth, habits, and migration of the seal are just as marvellous as any other branch of natural history. Centuries ago the seals could make their home near the coasts of Newfoundland, for there were no white men to molest their “ancient, solitary reign”; but during the last century they have fled before the gaff of the hunters to the waters far to the north of Labrador. ”

“ The air is filled with the scent of the spruce-trees, and it clings to your lips like honey. Through these forests the Indians at one time hunted for game, and who shall say that their spirits do not linger still among their wild and much-loved haunts? ”

“ Some of these encounters with the “Arctic travellers,” as they are called, are most thrilling. Upon even the darkest night the white apparel of these giant ghosts can be detected in time to avert disaster; but when the fog is thick across the bows of the steamer, then it is that the nerves of a captain and crew are tested.
One of the most appalling collisions with an iceberg was in May, 1876, when off the coast of Labrador the Caledonia, with eighty-two souls on board, came in contact with an unwelcome wanderer. ”

“ Rowing-boats are on the most popular waters, and the boys and girls can row together across the magnificent lakes; for every Newfoundland boy and almost every girl knows how to manage a pair of oars. Every boy knows how to use a fishing-rod, too, and as many as fifty trout have been drawn out of the water in a single day by one boy, and these trout weigh from one to five pounds.
When they are tired of rowing and fishing, they scamper away to the woods, where raspberries, strawberries, partridge-berries, and blue-berries grow abundantly in luscious clusters. ”

“ AT PETTY HARBOUR, WHERE ELECTRIC POWER FOR ST. JOHN’S IS GENERATED.
The fishermen not only have to battle with the storms of the sea: they have disappointments too. Sometimes great pans of ice are tightly wedged against the shore, and they have to wait week after week for a wind off the land to drive the heavy ice-blocks out to sea. When the favourable wind arrives and the ice is blown away from the land, they hopefully throw out their lines, only to draw them in again and again with no reward for their labours. ”

“ A PERILOUS ADVENTURE 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. ”

“ 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 tended to keep Newfoundland in the background as a suitable Colony for the agricultural emigrants from England and the Continent. But whatever may be the future of agriculture, it is certain that the timber and minerals of the island will be a growing source of revenue each succeeding year. ”

“ There are incidents on record where crews have become separated during a fog or blizzard, and have been driven on a sheet of floating ice, to perish in the biting cold far out at sea.
Probably the most appalling disaster on record is that which befell the ship Greenland many years ago. Forty-five of the men were out upon the ice killing the young seals one night, when a terrific blizzard suddenly sprang up and cut off their retreat to the ship. When the blizzard had spent its force, the poor hunters were found lifeless on the great stretch of snow-covered ice. ”

“ In the long cold winter evenings, when the family gather around the stove in the kitchen, the grey-haired sea-rovers love to relate thrilling tales of the old pirate days, and the same tales, I suppose, will be handed down from generation to generation. ”

“ The crew were kept busy for thirty-six hours fighting against fearful odds, and when they were towed into Trepassey every man was exhausted, but more than thankful that they had escaped a watery grave. Everything had been washed from the deck, even the iron chains, and for fifteen hours, without food, the captain had been lashed securely to the wheel.
These perilous adventures on the sea make the fishermen very brave and self-reliant; they make them very kind-hearted too. If a ship is in distress, they are always ready to risk their lives in an attempt to save the lives on board. ”

“ Just as everything was in full swing a sail hove in sight, and the pirate thought that more prey was within her reach. But she very soon discovered her mistake, and realized her own danger, for as the ships neared each other their true colours were seen, and their opposite characters clearly known. One was a pirate, the other a British man-o’-war—a frigate. At once the frigate gave chase, and the pirate made a desperate effort to outsail her; but the odds were too great: the man-o’-war was too many guns for her, and so her doom was fixed. ”

“ The whistling wind is interpreted as the breath of two large-headed spirits who stand one at each corner of the earth. It is natural for ignorant people to associate superstition with the magnificent displays of the Aurora Borealis. ”

“ Tom Martin was the son of a fisherman, and he lived on the north shore of Conception Bay. His father had been drowned while seal-hunting, and so Tom was the only support of his mother and two little sisters. He had a favourite Newfoundland dog, named Bob, and wherever you saw Tom you were certain to see Bob, except in the little dory that Tom used to fish from. Tom never would allow Bob to accompany him on a fishing expedition, because he was afraid that if he became frolicsome he might upset the boat. ”