for nothing more, there was an opportunity to sing a hymn and have a word of prayer and exhortation. We doubt if there is a more devout, God-fearing, pious community in the world than the Methodists in Newfoundland. And how they do sing! Battling with the winds and storms they acquire stentorian voices, communing with the great elemental forces of nature they have a realizing sense of God and his providence. Their simple piety finds expression in a fervor of song and prayer and Christian experience that are a perpetual cheer and inspiration.

After service we adjourned to the hospitable home of Captain John Bartlett, one of several sea-faring brothers, who would recount his experiences on the Labrador and on many far-off seas, akin to those of the old vikings of Norway. With piano music, books and magazines, and the elegances of life, the coast blossoms with the efflorescence of a higher Christian civilization.

We had many opportunities of enjoying the grand brotherhood of Methodism. At Harbor Grace the

Rev. Mr. Pincock met us at the wharf, carried us off to the parsonage, and insisted on lending us a steamer chair for the round trip to Labrador. At Carbonear, the Rev. A. A. Holmes captured us and drove us round the town and its vicinity. At Whitburn we dropped in upon the Rev. Henry Scott, just moving into the parsonage after Conference, and received. from himself and family no end of hospitality. There is no nobler freemasonry in the world than that of Methodist preachers. We would

rather be a member of that brotherhood than of the Order of the Garter.

At Twillingate is a prosperous town of nearly four thousand, surrounded by majestic scenery.

Proceeding on our northern route we glide along a vast wall of rock four to five hundred feet high and six miles in extent, its summits presenting every imaginable shape into which rocks can be torn or sculptured, one of the finest bits of rock scenery in the world. About ten miles still further north we pass Cape Bauld, the northern extremity of Newfoundland, a

dreary and desolate scene. Here great processions of stately icebergs may be often observed moving to the south from the Straits of Belle Isle. The island with a beautiful name in mid straits is a treeless, barren, desolate spot. The early mariners called it the Isle of Demons, imagining that they heard here a great clamor of men's voices, confused and inarticulate, such as you hear from a crowd at a fair or market place. The grinding of the ice floes and the crash of the lofty bergs during a gale would be quite

sufficient to give rise to these superstitious fancies.

The thousand mile trip up and down the coast of Labrador, and the intimate acquaintance which it gives with the life and adventures of the twenty-five thousand Newfoundland fishermen who every year visit that bleak and stormy coast, the interviews with the brave Moravian missionaries and with the heroic Dr. Grenfell and his fellow workers of the Deep Sea Mission, must wait for treatment in a future article.

the peculiar odors. Then we go home knowing as much as most of our fellow-citizens about our immigrants.

Our immigrants-who are they? Galicians, we are told, and in a vague way we begin to associate sheepskin coats and bright kerchiefs with a wellknown Pauline epistle. Where do they come from? We have an indistinct recollection of having heard the name of such a province when we studied geography at school. Where are they going? We hear for the first time of a new town on a recently-con

structed branch of the railroad. Strangers-they come from an unknown land-pass through our gateway and are lost in the boundless West.

As Canadians, as Christians, we cannot remain indifferent to this great immigration movement. In this paper we attempt to give some information about our immigrants and to consider our duty towards them.

As

many of the conditions in Canada are somewhat similar to those in the United States, it may be instructive to glance briefly at the history of immigration in that country. First came the early English immigration. From 1820 the Irish element began to predominate. In 1854 the Germans became the most numerous. In 1868 the Scandinavian influx began. In 1880 Russians, Austrians and Italians began to arrive in increasing numbers, until last year the Italians headed the list. The inferior class of immigrants, together with the pressure of popula

tion, has led to the enactment of laws restricting foreign immigration. At this juncture there comes the opening up of the Canadian West and the adoption by the Canadian Government of a progressive immigration policy.

What peoples compose our population? According to the census of 1901, the population of Canada was 5.371,315, of whom only 278,449 were foreign-born, and of these nearly onehalf were Americans, leaving only 150,550 "foreigners," or less than three per cent.

Let us turn to the immigration statistics for the past four years. In the fiscal year ending June 30th, 1901, over 12,000 "foreigners" arrived in Winnipeg; in 1902, 24,000; in 1903, 48,000; last year about the same number.

So that we are safe in saying that the whole "foreign" population of Canada has nearly doubled in the past four years. Note also that until the last year the rate of increase has been in geometrical ratio. The "for

eign element" will soon form no negligible proportion of our population.

To Christianize and Canadianize our immigrants-this is the problem of the

West.

As the immigrants are so heterogeneous, it will be necessary for us to make a rough classification and consider each group by itself.

First we have the English-speaking peoples. With the exception of our own people from Eastern Canada, these come largely from Great Britain and Ireland and from the United States. Last year nearly 51,000 emigrated to Canada from the British Isles, and over 43,000 from the United States, the majority of these comin to the West. The Old Country people must learn to adapt themselves to the

A STRANGE LAND.

conditions of a new land, and must be led to adopt Canadian ideals, which, in some instances-e.g., temperance— are higher than those held " at home." The United States' citizens have been accustomed to free institutions, but are often ignorant of British history, British laws and traditions, and are accustomed to considerable laxity on some great moral questions, e.g., the sanctity of marriage and the observance of the Lord's Day. They, too, must adopt the high standards of private and public morality which we have sought to keep before our own Canadian people. To this end we need no new organizations, but we must extend and multiply the old with great rapidity. The Church and the State both have a heavy responsibility before them in making adequate provision for the re