Page:The American Cyclopædia (1879) Volume XII.djvu/299

 NEWFOUNDLAND 287 terpots," about 20 m. apart, which, are about 1,000ft. in height; the western range attains in one of its peaks an elevation of about 1,400 ft. E. and N. E. of the valley of Bay East river are three hills, called "Tolts," which are prob- ably more than 2,000 ft. high, the southern of which is named Mount Sylvester. The coast is for the most part precipitous and lofty, and is broken into numerous headlands and penin- sulas by deep bays, which in turn are indented by innumerable smaller inlets. The sinuosities measure several thousand miles. The W. coast is the most regular. The principal bays are Pistolet, at the N. extremity; Hare, Canada, White, Notre Dame, and the bay of Exploits, on the N. E. coast ; Bonavista, Trinity, and Conception, on the E. ; Trepassey, St. Mary's, Placentia, Fortune, Hermitage, and D'Espoir (called by many of the inhabitants Despair bay), on the S. ; and St. George's bay, bay of Islands, Bonne bay, and St. John's bay, on the W. coast. Between White bay on the east and the gulf of St. Lawrence and strait of. Belle Isle on the west the N. projection of the island forms an extensive peninsula. The peninsula of Avalon forms the S. E. extremity, and is connected with the mainland by an isthmus 8 m. wide, which separates Trinity bay N. E. from Placentia bay S. W. Between Placentia and Fortune bays is the peninsula of Burin. The most important capes are Cape Bauld, at the N. E. extremity of the island ; Partridge point, at the entrance of White bay ; Cape St. John, at the N. entrance of Notre Dame bay ; Cape Freels at the N., and Cape Bonavista at the S. entrance of Bonavista bay ; Cape St. Francis, at the S. entrance of Conception bay ; Cape Race, at the S. E. extremity of the island ; Cape Ray, at the S. W. point ; Cape Anguille at the S. and Cape St. George at the N. entrance of St. George's bay; Point Riche, on the N. portion of the W. coast ; and Cape Norman, at the N. W. extremity. At the most important and frequented points along the coast light- houses have been erected. There are numer- ous good harbors, but the entrance to many of them is obstructed by rocky ledges. Small islands abound in the bays and along the coast. The most important are Belle Isle, at the en- trance to the strait of that name; Quirpon island, at the N. E. extremity; Groais, South Belle Isle, and St. Barbe or Horse island, off the N. E. coast ; Twillingate and New World islands, in the bay of Exploits ; Fogo island, E. of these ; Random, in Trinity bay ; Mara- sheen, in Placentia bay ; and Brunet, in For- tune bay. The Miquelon islands and St. Pierre, off the extremity of the peninsula of Burin, which belong geographically to New- foundland, are subject to France. The interior of the island is so thickly strewn with lakes and ponds that it is estimated that a third of the surface is covered with water. The most extensive lakes are Grand pond, about 15 m. N. E. of the head of St. George's bay, 60 m. long by 5 m. wide ; Red Indian pond, 33 696 VOL. XIL 19 by 3 m. ; Gander pond, W. of Bonavista bay, 30 by 2 m. ; Terra Nova lake, 4 m. long by 2 m. wide, discharging through the river of the same name into Bonavista bay; and George the Fourth's, Jameson, and Bathurst lakes, in the S. part of the island, whose position and size have not been accurately ascertained. The principal rivers are the river of Exploits, which flows from Red Indian pond, and after a N. E. course of 70 m. falls into the bay of Exploits ; Terra Nova, about 100 m. long; Bay East, which flows into D'Espoir bay ; Great and Lit- tle Codroy rivers, which empty into the gulf of St. Lawrence between Capes Ray and Anguille ; and Humber, which discharges the waters of Grand pond, and after expanding into Deer lake falls into the Humber arm, an inlet of the bay of Islands. The Exploits, Humber, Terra Nova, and some other streams are navigable by canoes or flats. All the great ancient rock systems between the lower Laurentian and the coal measures are more or less represented in dif- ferent parts of Newfoundland. The series in descending order is as follows : carboniferous, Devonian, upper Silurian, lower Silurian, pri- mordial Silurian, Huronian or Cambrian, upper Laurentian, and lower Laurentian. The low- est of these systems appears to constitute the principal mountain ranges, coming to the sur- face through the more recent deposits on the axes of anticlinal lines, or brought out by great dislocations, most of which are nearly parallel with each other in a general bearing of N. N. E. and S. S. W. This regularity of bearing ex- plains the uniform N. E. and S. W. direction of the bays and of the principal lakes and streams. The Laurentian gneiss forms the Long Range, and is exhibited in the ranges in the S. W. portion of the island. A granitic and gneissoid belt stretches from the head of Pla- centia bay to Bonavista bay, and thence along the W. and N. shore of the latter to Cape Freels. The gneiss is also developed in the isl- and of Fogo, and forms the nucleus of the S. E. extremity of the peninsula of Avalon. On the W. flank of the Long Range, on the upper part of Great Codroy river, large fragments of white crystalline limestone with graphite are found, and toward the northeast on the same range oc- cur labradorite and other crystalline rocks, with masses of magnetic iron. In the peninsula of Avalon the crystalline rocks of the Laurentian .period are succeeded by a set of slates, with conglomerate bands, diorites, quartzites, and al- ternating green and reddish, hard silicious and felsite slates, surmounted by a great mass of thick-bedded green and red sandstone, the latter passing into a moderately coarse conglomerate, with many pebbles of red jasper at the top. These occupy the greater portion of the penin- sula. The calciferous formation yields fossils on Canada and Hare bays, and appears along the W. coast N. of St. George's bay. Rocks of upper or middle Silurian age are indica- ted by the presence of the characteristic fos- sils on White and Exploits bays. The carbon-