188 NEWFOUNDLAND . when deputy paymaster at John's, used to raise a great quantity of very good fruit in the garden at¬ tached to his house.* There is no doubt but a great abundance of vegetables for the use of the town might be raised in its environs. The town of John's is built chiefly of wood ; it extends nearly along the whole of the north side of the port; and there can scarcely be said to be more than one street, the others being only irregidar lanes. A few of the houses are built of stone or brick, and some of the buildings are handsome ; but the appear¬ ance of the town altogether, indicates at once what it was intended for—a kind of lodging-place for a con¬ venient time; a collection of stores for depositing fish, with wharfs along the whole shore for the con¬ venience of shipping. John's, like Halifax , and other towns built of wood, has suffered severely by fires. In the winter of 1816, great loss of property and individual distress was occasioned by a dreadful conflagration that took place ; and on the 7th of November, 1817, one hun¬ dred and forty houses, and L .500,000 value in pro¬ perty, were destroyed by a like calamity. Another fire, on the 21st of the same month, destroyed a great part of the town that had escaped the conflagration of the 7th ; and on the 21st of August following, the town experienced a fourth calamity of the same kind, * The attorney-general, Mr Simms , who now occupies the above property, continues to raise both fruit and vegetables with success. The lands surrounding Quidi Vidi are also very welJ cultivated.