Newfoundland in 1897 - Rumbolt

158 NEWFOUNDLAND :
made accessible, it may be reasonably anticipated that
the next ten or twenty years will witness a large
increase of population. When the best lands along
the line of railway can be purchased for thirty cents
per acre, when forest lands can be had for lumbering
at a low rate, and when mining is extending rapidly
and various new industries taking root, it will not be
long
ere Newfoundland will attract no inconsiderable
rill from the great emigration current that is constantly
flowing westward past its shores.
The present population of the island has come of
good stock, being derived entirely from the Saxon and
Celtic races. Moreover, the blood in this isolated
region has been kept free from any
undesirable inter-
mixtures ; and so far this blended race has been
developed under favourable circumstances. The intermingling
of Saxon strength, energy, and endurance
with Celtic swiftness, brilliancy, and emotional activity,
ought to produce a superior race, having the best
qualities of the stocks from which they originated.
The proportion in which the two races stand to each
other, according to the last census, was Saxon,
129,354; Celtic, 72,696.
Thus on the side of Newfoundland, the tough,
enduring Saxon, and the more lively, versatile Celt,
have met in not very unequal proportions ; and from
this wholesome amalgamation of races have sprung the
stalwart men and comely matrons and maids whom the
traveller of to-day looks on with admiration. The
race has taken kindly to the soil, and thriven. Living
in one of the most salubrious climates in the world,