202 NEWFOUNDLAND.

It is at present tolerably well settled, has places of worship, schools, and some respectable mercantile establishments. The Isle of Boys, near this place, was fortified in 1761 as a place of refuge, while the French had possession of St John’s.

Trepassy (formerly called Abram Trepaza) is a bay between Cape Race and Cape Freels. On the west side there is a good harbour. The eastern shores are dangerous to approach. Several families are settled here, who subsist by means of fishing, raising a few cattle, and a little cultivation.

West of Trepassy Bay, opening to the south, are three great bays, namely, St Mary’s, Placentia, and Fortune. These have within them countless har- bours and islands, and contain a scattered, but alto- gether a numerous, population.

St Mary’s Bay has several settlements and exten- sive cod-fisheries. A salmon-fishery is also carried on. This bay is more than thirty miles deep, and from fifteen to twenty broad. The distance between Salmon river, at its head, to Holyrood, at the head of Conception Bay, is about ten miles, and from Collinet, another branch, to Trinity Bay, about eight miles.

Placentia Bay is also full of harbours and islands. It is about sixty miles deep, and about forty-five miles broad from Cape St Mary’s to Corbin Head, and from twenty to thirty miles broad at different places farther up. There is excellent cod-fishing in this bay; salmon abound in its rivers, and herring, &c., frequent it, as well as all these bays, periodically.