186 NEWFOUNDLAND . CHAPTER IV . Description of John's, and other Settlements. The port and town of John's is situated at the east side of the island, and on the peninsula that once formed Lord Baltimore 's province of . The entrance to the harbour from the is so nar¬ row, that two large ships can little more than safely pass abreast. There is twelve fathoms water in the middle of the channel; and the only dangers are, the rocks close under the north head and light-house, and the Chain Rock, which lies a little more than half¬ way from the entrance to the basin, which forms one of the finest harbours in the world. On the north side, the precipices rise perpendicu¬ larly to an immense height; and on the opposite shore, the altitude of the abrupt rocky cliffs, although less, is also great. At the south head, which is rather low, near the shore, but very high, a little back, there is a battery and signal-post, where signals are made, giving information of the ships in sight, which are again repeated at the fort, on the lofty eminence nearly perpendicular to the sea, called Sig¬ nal Hill. The Chain Rock received its name from a chain fixed to it, for the purpose of stretching across