The most prominent feature on the east, and that which was nearest to
Europe, was the large island of NEWFOUNDLAND, 42,000 square miles in
extent, that is to say, nearly as large as England without Wales. It
seems to bar the way of the direct sea access by the Gulf of St.
Lawrence to the very heart of North America; and, until the Straits of
Belle Isle and of Cabot were discovered, did certainly arrest the
voyages of the earliest pioneers. Newfoundland, as you can see on the
map, has been cut into and carved by the forces of nature until it has
a most fantastic outline. Long peninsulas of hills alternate with
deep, narrow gulfs, and about the south-east and east coasts there are
innumerable islets, most of which in the days of the early discoverers
were the haunt of millions of sea birds who resorted there for
breeding purposes. The heart of Newfoundland, so to speak, is an
elevated country with hills and mountains rising to a little over 2000
feet. A great deal of the country is, or was, dense forests, chiefly
consisting of fir trees. As numerous almost as the sea birds were the
seals and walruses which frequented the Newfoundland coasts. Inland
there were very large numbers of reindeer, generally styled nowadays
by the French-Canadian name of _Caribou_[1]. Besides reindeer there
were wolves, apparently of a smaller size than those of the mainland.
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