Newfoundland, a former British colony, has historically been seen through English imperial eyes. In his entertaining travelogue, French geologist, cartographer, and oceanographer Julien Thoulet portrays the Newfoundland of 1886 from a French Enlightenment and Romantic perspective in which scientific discourse and historical and philosophical reflection are central. In his translation of Thoulet's travelogue, Scott Jamieson remains faithful to the elegance and wit of the original. A Voyage to Newfoundland is full of intriguing detail about the landscape, local culture, origins of place names,...