Seattle daily post-intelligencer. [volume] (Seattle, W.T. [Wash.]) 1881-1888, 1884-08-02
TIE GEOGRAPHY OF SEwForyp
LAND.

correspondent Of the New YorL
I''ioHne, writing from St. Johns. Y p
says that the statistics given in oeov-
/ IfaPhles with regard to Newfoundland
have been proved by the recent oeoloyi.
cal survey of that island to be very De-
/ fective. No
All, or nearly all Of the sch,.oI hooks
on geography place the area of the col.
ony at 16.OOO square miles. They ars
also faulty with regard to the length
ana breadth of the island. Accordino
10 the recent careful survey the area 81
this island is 1900 square miles ~
land. II Is 81 miles in length and 3If
miles IN breadth. Il il therefore tbs
tenth largest island in the worlg. II is
one third larger than New Bruus xict
more than twice the SIZE Of Nova Sen,ia
contains 10000 square miles NOR
than Ireland; 1900 square mics
more than Scotland; is three timea
as large as Holland, and t,Eica
as large as Denmark. Grand Lake
hitherto almost unknown. proves to have
an area of 1872 square miles. while Como
IN Italy, has only 30 square miles. and
the equally celebrated Killarney only g
square miles. Ga1der Lake, sf which
We knew nothing until the RoyaI Geo
graphical Surveyor, Captain Murray. X.
T., explored IL, has An area of a snuare
miles, and Red Indian Lake 60 sonare
miles. In the world there il not an
equal area with such sn extent of coast
line rs Newfoundland, which. according
TO the surveyors report, cannot be less
than 3OCO miles in length. This IL ov-
ing to the fact that the shores are in
dented with SO many bays. arms and
lniets of the sea, thus furnishing the
most splendid facilities for comIuereiaI
intercourse, and At the same time carry
ing the finny tribes far inland. within
reach of the fisherman's hook and net
Captain Murray has calculated that
there are nsa' iy 3,000.000 acres of land
suitable for settlement on the eastern
and western shores, all at present uno,-
cnpled. The fears that the main re-.
source of the island. its fisheries. are
becoming exhausted, are shown TO he
quite unfound. d. Within II wears the
value OF Goldfish. the great staple of the
island, has doubled, and With the aid of
science, the fisheries of Newfoundland
are capable of indefinite expansion.
The total number Of vessels epployed
in catching and procuring fish in this
colony ia 100, with tonnage of 81 ISL
tons, manned by 5000 fisherman sail.
ors. Asout 40 years ago the bank fish
ing, so far as regards Newfoundland.
entirely ceased. and the fishing has
since been carried on altogether within
shore, and Is extending year by wear
further and further up Labrador. The
way In which the Arctic current, which
sweeps along these shores, sustains the
fisheries Ia explained by Prof. Kinds
official report. He maintains that il is
popular error that the cold of the
Arctic seas is unfavorable to tish life.
In truth the Arctic seas and the great
currents flowing from them are in many
places living mass, vast ocean OF
living slime, and the all pervadinp life
which exists there affords the true solu
ton OF the problem which has 80 often
presented itself-where the food comes
from which gives sustenane to the mil
lions of fish which swarm wherever the
Arctic current exerts an active infiu-
eHce. This slime of the ocean appears
TO live most abundantly IN the coldest
water and the neighborhood of ice.