CLlMATE. M5

the interior, to permit horses and cattle to pass along during summer.

Although Newfoundland was the first discovered of all the Biitisfiolonies, yet it is, in 1eality, the most impe1fectly known in Gieat Britain. It has been desc1ibed as thickly wooded, which is not the case: trees of any size are only found within the bays, near the water, and along the rivers. 0n the. Atlantic coast, there is but little wood of any value, except for fuel, and the building of small boats.

In the northern parts of the island, where the most extensive forests abounded, fires have destroyed the largest trees, which have been succeeded by those of a different and smaller species ; so that, although the island has probably a sufficient quantity of wood growing on it for its own use, yet it certainly cannot afford to export any, nor can it supply, as has been asserted, large masts for the navy.

The climate has generally been misrepresented, and declared to be unusually severe, humid, and dis- agreeable. On the east and south coasts, when the winds blow from the sea, humidity certainly prevails, and during winter the cold is severe.

The harbours on the Atlantic shore are not so long frozen over as the most southerly of those within the Gulf of St Lawrence. On the west coast, from Cape Ray north, and in the interior, the atmosphere is generally clear, and the climate is much the same as that of the district of Gaspé, in Lower Canada. There is no c0unt1y whe1e the inhabitants enjoy bette1

health, 01 whe1c, notwithstanding the fatigue and V01. K