It is built on gently rising ground, looking toward the south. It is on the north of the East river, and near its junction with the North and West rivers. The streets cross each other at right angles. The six main streets are one hundred feet wide, and run north and south. The other nine streets, crossing the former at right angles, vary in width from sixty to thirty feet. The colonial building is a beautiful and commodious edifice, built of Nova Scotia freestone. The corner-stone of this building was laid on the 16th day of May, 1843, by Sir Henry Vere Huntly, the lieutenant-governor. This building cost about $72,500. In 1848, the population of Charlottetown was 4,000; in 1855, 6,513; in 1861, 6,706.

The only town in King's county is Georgetown. It is about thirty miles from the capital, and contains a popu lation of about 800.

The only town in Prince's county is Summerside. It lies on the north side of Bedeque harbor. Its distance from the capital is forty miles. It is only thirty-five miles from the town of Shediac, New Brunswick. It is a town of recent growth, but it is rapidly increasing, and its trade is considerable.

There are no railways in Prince Edward Island, but its highways are excellent in summer and winter; in the fall and spring they are usually very deep and miry. There is no country of the same size in British North America where there is so much good turnpike road. It has telegraphic communication with the continent of America by means of a submarine cable, eleven miles in length, connecting it with New Brunswick. There is also telegraphic communication between Charlottetown and some of the principal places in the island.

The standing grievance of Prince Edward Island has been the Land Question. The royal commissioners, who sat on this subject in 1861, among other things, recommend the purchase of the estates of large non-resident proprietors by the government, at an equitable rate, to be sold

again in retail to the tenants. If the government decline, or is not in circumstances to make the purchase, then the award of the commissioners is, that the sale of the land to the occupant tenants be compulsory on the part of the landlords, on the receipt of a just and reasonable price. They also fixed twenty years' rent as the highest sum that could be demanded by any proprietor. The award further determines, that all arrears of rent due previous to first of May, 1858, are now cancelled. Their report is very able and elaborate, and has had a beneficial effect already. It may be further noticed, that their award does not compel proprietors of less than 1,500 acres to sell their lands to those who may be occupying them as tenants.

NEWFOUNDLAND.

CHAPTER I.

SITUATION, DISCOVERY, AND EARLY HISTORY.

SITUATION AND EXTENT.-Newfoundland is an island in the form of an irregular triangle, situate on the east side of the Gulf of St. Lawrence, and lying between the parallels of 46° 40′ and 51° 39′ north latitude, and the meridians of 52° 44′ and 59° 31' west longitude. On the eastern shore it is bounded by the Atlantic; on the north and northeast by the Strait of Bellisle-fifty miles long by twelve wide; on the northwest by the Gulf of St. Lawrence; on the south and southwest by the Atlantic. Its extreme length, from Cape Race to Grignet Bay, is 420 miles; extreme breadth, from Cape Ray to Cape Bonavista, 300 miles. Its circuit is estimated at 1,000 miles; its area, 36,000 square miles. It is nearer to Europe than any part of the American continent; the distance from St. John's, in Newfoundland, to Valenti, in the west of Ireland, being 1,656 miles.

DISCOVERY, SETTLEMENT, &c.—It is said that in the year 1001, A. D., Biorn, a sea-king of Iceland, took possession of this island, and settled near Harbor Grace. Both Robertson and Pinkerton are of opinion that its colonization was at least attempted by the Norwegians, in the eleventh and twelfth centuries. John Cabot, the Venetian, under a commission for discovery from Henry VII. of England, on the 24th of June, 1497, observed a headland of this island, and taking it for a lucky omen, called it Bonavista, which is its name till the present day. The island was then inhabited by a savage race of Indians, with whom it

was very difficult to establish any amicable relations. They suffered greatly, in consequence, at the hands of the many adventurers who resorted thither. It is supposed that the last remnant of them emigrated to Labrador. It is some years since one of them has been seen on the island. A colony of Micmacs from Nova Scotia helped to drive them off. They have left many traces of their labors and energy behind them: one of these is a fence, which extends over thirty miles. Its object was to be of help to them in catching deer. It was built from water to water, with one gap, close to which the hunters posted themselves, and watched for their prey.

The earliest attempt at colonizing this island by the English, was in 1536. "Master John Hore," a London merchant, "with divers other gentlemen," sailed thither in that year, but were reduced to great extremities, and were compelled to return to England in the winter, and would have perished had they not met with a French ship laden with provisions, which they seized and brought with them to England.

In 1578, another fruitless attempt was made to settle a colony there, by Sir Humphrey Gilbert, the half-brother of Sir Walter Raleigh. The island having now become a common resort for fishermen and traders of all nations, even pirates having made it a place of rendezvous with impunity, Sir Humphrey Gilbert again, in 1583, embarked with 200 people, in several ships, landed at Bay St. John's, and took possession of it in the name of Queen Elizabeth of England, in the presence of the crews of Sir Humthirty-six fishing vessels of various nations.

phrey Gilbert was lost on his way home to England the succeeding winter, his little ship, the Little Squirrel, having foundered in a terrific gale near the Azores. Of all the armament that went out with him, the Golden Hind alone reached England, and she in the most dilapidated condition. Sir Bernard Drake made a further attempt a few years later, but without much success.

The next

attempt was made in 1610, under a patent granted by James I., to Lord Bacon and others, who established the first permanent colony on the island at Conception Bay.

In 1617, a Welsh settlement was established on the south part of the island, called Cambriol (now Little Britain), under the direction of Captain Whitbourne. In 1623, Sir George Calvert--who afterward, as Lord Baltimore, settled Maryland-formed an important and prosperous settlement at Ferryland, where he remained about twenty years. A few years later, Lord Falkland (Cary) sent a small colony of Irishmen there. About the year 1646 there were sixteen settlements planted on various parts of the coast. Sir David Kirk brought a number of settlers to the island in 1654. There were 350 British families there about this date. The French had a colony of some strength at Placentia. For the next eighty years the colony suffered greatly for the want of regular government, which was mainly caused by the selfish cruelty and mistaken policy of the "Lords of Trades and Plantations," who imagined that a well regulated government would be injurious to their interests there. They even moved the British government, through their misrepresentations and influence, to send Sir John Berry ont with orders for the deportation of the settlers, the destruction of their houses, and the wholesale demolition of a colony which had been planted and reared at a heavy cost of blood and treasure to the nation. Sir John Berry was a man of humane character, and while with his left hand he reluctantly and tardily carried out his orders, with his right hand he pleaded successfully for the colonists.

In 1696 all the English settlements of Newfoundland, except Bonavista and Carbonear, were seized by the French, who always set a high value on this island on account of its fisheries. It was the scene of much conflict between Great Britain and France, for many subsequent years. The Treaties of Utrecht, 1715; of Paris, 1763; of Ver