noticeable feature in the Canadian educational system. The Sunday school, originally used as an elementary one for children not having the benefit of ordinary day schools, is now recognised and adopted as beneficial to all, so much so that it has become the broad foundation on which the Protestant churches in Canada gather their supporters around them. Clergy and laity vie with one another in this field, and their influence for good is felt in the family and in the State. The Roman Catholics adopt the religious training of their youth as an essential part of their system in their universities, colleges, convents, and schools, but do not favour lay teaching. The universities of the several provinces are well attended, and well managed. Those of Ontario, in Toronto, Kingston, London, Ottawa, and Coburg, would do credit to any country. Even Manitoba has its colleges, both Protestant and Roman Catholic. In the Province of Quebec M'Gill and Laval, the former in Montreal and the latter in Quebec, are flourishing institutions. M'Gill University has several colleges affiliated with it, and is governed, under an amended charter, by a board who are the representatives of the "Royal Institution for the Advancement of Learning." It was founded by the late James M'Gill in 1811, received its charter in 1821, obtained a new charter in 1852, and was reorganised in 1854. It is specially referred to here as having received its original endowment, and as having been maintained almost entirely, by the munificence of the citizens of Montreal. Its characteristics are that it is Protestant but not denominational, and that under the management of Principal Dawson, LL.D., C.M.G., F.R.S., it has developed facilities for literary, scientific, and professional training, and has maintained so high a standard for graduation that it sheds a lustre on the educational system of Canada.

Already the several denominational colleges are crys

tallising around it; the names of some of its professors and associates have more than a local reputation in science; and it is attracting to Montreal the scientific associations of the neighbouring republic and of the leading nations of Europe.

The accompanying sketch of University College, Toronto, is illustrative of the style of building and size of an Ontario university

CHAPTER XVII.

NEWFOUNDLAND.

THIS island is the outpost of the continent of North America, and the nearest land to Europe, being only 1650 miles from the west coast of Ireland. It is the largest island in the Atlantic, and lies between 46° 38′ and 51° 40′ north latitude, and 52° 35′ and 59° 35' west longitude. Lying across the mouth of the Gulf of the St. Lawrence, it divides it into the Strait of Belle Isle, with the coast of Labrador to the north, and the main entrance with the island of Cape Breton to the south.

It is supposed that it was the first land in the New World visited by Europeans. The Icelanders are said to have landed on its shores in A.D. 1000; and the English in 1536 attempted the first settlements. In our day it has maintained the lead to which its geographical position entitles it, and received the first telegraphic cable on its shores which was laid across the Atlantic Ocean in 1861.

The superficial area of the island is 42,000 square miles, with a circumference of 1200 miles, and a coast line of 2000 miles. Its widest point between Capes Ray and Bonavista is 300 miles, and the extreme length from Cape Race to Griguet Bay is about 419 miles, measured on a curve. The form of the island is that of an irregular triangle, with indentations of several deep bays, the most remarkable of which are Hare, White, and Notre Dame Bays, Bay of Exploits, Bonavista, Trinity, and