RIVERS-GEOLOGY.

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large boats to a much greater distance; 20 miles above Annapolis it is bridged, and thence great quantities of agricultural produce is shipped for the West Indies, &c. The banks on either side of the Annapolis are composed of rich and verdant meadows, which, with the high lands on the east and west, form a most pleasing landscape. At Pictou there are three rivers which empty themselves into the harbour, the East, West, and Middle rivers; they are navigable for large vessels.

The other rivers it will be sufficient to name, viz. Macan, Napan, Gasperaux, and Phillipe, in Cumberland; the Charles, St. Mary, Musquodobit, Little Indian, Antigonish, Salmon, and John rivers, in the east part of the province; the Liverpool, Stormont, Sable, Jordan, Clyde, Shelburne, Tusket, Salmon, and Sissiboo, in the south-west of the colony. While the tide rises with extraordinary rapidity to the height of seventy-five feet in the Bay of Minas and Chigenecto, it does not rise in the Pictou harbour, on the south shore, more than six feet. The vegetable and animal kingdoms, being similar to those of Canada, require no separate description.

GEOLOGY.-A great variety of rocks present themselves in Nova Scotia, but granite, trap, and clay slate predominate, particularly in the Cobeguid hills, (or as they are called mountains) and probably in the other elevated parts of the province: the most abundant variety is the grey granite, which prevails along the shore, and is well adapted for mill-stones; trap-rocks, sometimes interstratified with clay-slate,

protrude in various places, in immense parallel ridges, above the surface, and frequently in piles of loose masses heaped confusedly together, traversed frequently by veins of quartz. Within four miles of Halifax is a granite rock, seventy-five feet in circumference, weighing upwards of one hundred and fifty tons, poised so evenly on a flinty base of twelve inches, that the strength of one hand will put it in motion. Several extensive and beautiful grottoes are to be found in different parts of the coast; one at Pictou is one hundred feet long, with beautiful stalactites suspended from the roof; another at the Bay of Fundy, after passing a narrow entrance from the sea, expands into magnificent halls, apparently adorned with brilliant gems. There are also several other extensive caverns. Clay-slate is of extensive formation in the eastern section of the colony; it is generally of a very fine quality, and used as building stone at Halifax. Greywacke, and greywacke-slate extend along both shores of Chedabucto Bay, in which are found beds of limestone and numerous species of specular iron ore. The grindstones so much esteemed in the United States, under the term of "Nova Scotia blue grits," are obtained from a stratum of sand-stone, which is found between the coal and limestone; they afford a valuable branch of trade to the colony. Connected with carboniferous limestone are the valuable coal-fields of Nova Scotia, which, together with those of Cape Breton, (now working) afford sufficient of this important mineral to supply the whole continent of America, and when

the coal mines of even old England are exhausted, we may look to our North American colonies for a supply1. Varieties of iron, copper, and lead ores are abundant, and we may expect that at no distant day this portion of the British dominions will become the great mining district of the New World 2. The soil of Nova Scotia is of various qualities; there are extensive alluvial tracts producing as rich crops as any soil in England would do; some of the uplands are sandy and poor, while, singular enough, the tops of the hills are productive to a high degree. On the south coast the land is so rocky as to be difficult of cultivation, but when the stones are removed excellent crops are yielded; the banks of rivers and the heads of bays on the north coast afford many fine fertile tracts.

CLIMATE. The temperature of Nova Scotia is milder in winter, and the heat less intense in summer, than is the case at Quebec; the air is highly salubrious, eighty years being a frequent age in the full use of bodily and mental faculties; many settlers pass one hundred with ease and comfort. There are no diseases generated in the colony, which is also free from intermittent and other fevers. In order to remove the prevailing idea in England, that Nova Scotia is a region of snow and fog, I may state that the orchards of the province are equal to those of any part of America; plumbs, pears, quinces, and cherries,

1 There is no anthracite coal in the United States: it is a bituminous substance, which is worked at Pennsylvania, &c. unfit for steam vessels.

2 See Cape Breton for mining operations.

NOVA SCOTIA.

C

are found in all gardens, and of the most excellent quality. Cider of superior quality forms an article of export, and peaches and grapes ripen in ordinary seasons without any artificial aid. The summer heat is moderate and regular, with a soft south-west wind, changing materially on any inclination north or south of that point; the autumn is a delicious season, and there is seldom any severe weather until the end of December. Frost binds the earth from Christmas to April, with almost invariably an intervening thaw in January, as already described under Lower Canada: the heaviest fall of snow is in February, during the predominance of the north-west wind. Rain falls most frequently in spring and autumn, and a fog prevails on the south shore, near the mouth of the Bay of Fundy, but does not extend far inland. As the country becomes cleared, or owing to the causes stated in my first chapter, the climate is becoming milder; the following Meteorological Register is for Halifax :

CHAPTER III.

POPULATION DIVISION INTO COUNTIES CULTIVATION STOCK AND PRODUCE OF EACH DISTRICT, &c.

WHEN first discovered, Nova Scotia, as well as other parts of America, was inhabited by Indians of a reddish-brown colour, with high cheek-bones, large lips and mouths, long black coarse hair, and fine intelligent, penetrating eyes; the males in height from five feet eight inches to six feet, with broad shoulders and strong limbs. The two principal tribes the Mic-macs and Richibuctoos, differing in features and in dialect, were equally savage in their mode of life and manners, but to some extent civilized and made nominal Christians, by the early French settlers, who trained the Indians to assist them in their wars against the English '.

The wars between the rival contenders for the possession of Nova Scotia, the introduction of the small pox, and above all (strange to say) the maddening use of spirituous liquors, have swept off nearly every Indian from the face of the country where he was once master, and but few (not one

1 In order to infuriate the semi-Christianized Indians against the English, the French jesuitically inspired them with the horrible idea that it was the English who crucified Christ!