NEWFOUNDLAND, an island on the east coast of America, opposite the gulf of St. Lawrence, is separated from the Continent on the north, by the strait of Bellisle, about 21 milcs wide. It is of a triangular form, extend ing from 46° 45' to 51° 46' north latitude, and from 52° 31' to 59° 40' west longitude. The length is about 380 miles, the breadth from 40 to 287, the circuit 900 ; and the surface is estimated at 35,500 square miles.
The shore of this island is lofty, desolate, and rocky ; but its serrated structure renders it abundant in excel lent ports. The whole circumference of Newfoundland is indented, at intervals of two or three miles, by deep bays, having generally a smooth bottom, and a rivulet of pure fresh water at the head. It is in such situations the inhabitants have built their hamlets ; their fishing craft being secured among the rocks. The interior of the country has been little explored; the wetness of the soil in summer, the coldness of the air in winter, render ing this a difficult and perilous undertaking : but what little of it has been viewed, is not found more hospitable than the coast was inviting. A multitude of small lakes are observed, with copious marshes around them ; hills of considerable elevation, scantily clothed with sorry birches or fir-trecs ; and spaces between, which, if not drenched with moisture, are frequently stretched out into plains of considerable size, bearing nothing but a few stunted shrubs and a little heath, among the rocks -which cover them. Almost the only practicable mode of travelling is by sledges on the frozen rivers.
The climate of Newfoundland is of a character with its soil. During great part of the year, the south-east, the only inhabited portion of the island, is enveloped in almost perpetual vapours ; ships crossing the Great Bank are obliged to ring bells, lest they fall foul of each other ; and the fortress of St. John's keeps firing a gun every half hour, to prevent them ftom running ashore against the rocks. The penguins of Bacalao island are protected under a penalty by law, because their cry an swers a similar purpose. In winter the cold is rigorous;
the whole country is ice-bound, inaccessible to vessels, and beaten %%WI whirlwinds of sleet and snow, from which, even when congealed, the breezes often load themselves with thousands of icy spiculx, so minute that they. penetrate the smallest aperture, and greatly aug __ ment the discomforts of the season. Yet in the absence of these frost-smokes, as they are called, a Newfoundland winter is said to be less fierce than a Canadian one, and has some beauties peculiar to itself. The moon and stars shine with a lustre unknown in Europe; and the north ern lights are often exhibited during the calm frost in all their brilliancy. About the commencement of April some symptoms of thaw display themselves ; and a few days completes the process. As in Siberia and such other regions, the snow is melted both from above and below : it soon yields to this double agency, and impe tuous torrcnts, loaded with half dissolved fragments, and every kind of debris, rush headlong. towards the coast, from all points of the island. At the same period, thou sands of floating masses of ice arrive From Davis' Straits; they surround the shore on every side; they move in every direction ; and their mutual shocks, aided by the agitation of a turbulent sea, with the deluge flowing from the land, produce a confusion which resembles chaos. Sometimes a strong north-wester will at once recongeal every thing, and bring winter back again with new bit terness. Befote June, the summer, without any spring intervening, has arrived. The air is now hot to suffoca tion, and infested with musquitoes. About the middle of August, the weather begins to be moderate; some days are even said to be delightful. They are of short continuance : before the end of October, the fogs, never long absent at any season, have resumed their empire steadily ; and this obscuration of the sun, the deeper hue and the harsher roaring of the sea, the prevalence of cold and snow, announce the approach of winter.