222 NEWFOUNDLAND . places, are generally fatal, and occasion great mortal¬ ity. Consumptions do not appear to be so frequent as on the continent of . The air, though rare and cold, seems to invigorate the constitutions of the people ; and their strength in old age, when we consider the life of unremitting labour which they necessarily lead, is surprising. Men and women, at the age of eighty, are frequently observed attending the fish flakes. The great and primary business of the people of Newfoundland , is that of pursuing and catching the inhabitants of the ocean. If habit, as is generally allowed, becomes nature, the Newfoundlanders are naturally, from their pursuits, certainly the most adventurous and fearless men in the world. Courage and industry, which certainly prevail, are to them absolutely necessary. The seal fishery, as it is generally termed, has only become important within the last few years. It is little more than thirty years since the first vessels ventured among those formidable fields of ice that float from the northern regions, during the months of March, April, and May, down to the coast of Newfoundland . Those who are acquainted with the terrific gran¬ deur of the lofty islands and mountains of ice, cover¬ ing often from two to three hundred miles of the ocean, and occasionally arrested by the coasts or shoals, will admit that it requires as much intre¬ pidity to brave the dangers of such a scene, as to encounter a military fortification.