Newfoundland in 1897 - Rumbolt

ENGLAND'S OLDEST COLONY. 145
who carry back with them glowing reports of the
wonderful
world."
attractions of this "gem of the Western
Newfoundland has been well named " the Norway
of the New World." In many points it strikingly
resembles that country to which tourists flock from
all lands. Its deep fiords which indent the shores,
everywhere guarded by lofty cliffs, whose forms are
reflected in the clear bright waters of the bays, have
a remarkable resemblance to those of Norway, and are
frequently not less magnificent in their scenery. Many
of these great watery ravines, running inland for eighty
or ninety miles, and exhibiting a wonderful variety of
scenery along the great arms which they project in all
directions, are on a grander scale than the famous
Norwegian fiords. The great bays of Trinity and
Placentia, which almost cut the island in two, have no
parallel in respect of size among the Norwegian fiords.
Then, in their short but beautiful summers, their bright
skies, their exhilarating atmosphere, their population
of fishermen so abundant in insular peculiarities and
primitive characteristics, hidden away, in nooks remote
from all the outer world, quaint in manners, gracious to
strangers the two countries resemble each other very
strikingly. Norway was once as little known as New-
foundland, and its natural beauties as little appreciated.
Now it is the resort, each summer, of many hundreds
of travellers, and, by its fine system of roads,
it has
been rendered everywhere accessible. Another point
of resemblance is that the inhabitants of both countries
are noted catchers of cod and herring, and have long
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