CHAPTER VI.

CAPE BRETON-Situation-Extent-Divisions-Harbours-Soil-Settlements.

THE island of CAPE BRETON constitutes a county of the province of Nova Scotia. Its extent is equal to about one-fourth of that of Nova Scotia Proper, and its population bears nearly the same proportion, yet it returns only two members to the provincial House of Assembly for the whole county. This island, formerly called by the French when they held it L'Isle Royale, forms with Newfoundland the entrance of the Gulf of St. Lawrence, and is situated between the latitudes 45° 27′ and 47° 5′ north, including the islands of Madame, Scatari, Boulardrie, St. Paul's, and minor islands, and longitude 59° 38′ and 61° 50' west; its greatest length north-east and south-west being about 100 miles, and the greatest width from south-east to north-west about eighty miles, comprising an area of about 2,000,000 acres, exclusive of the great masses of water contained within it. It is distant from the south-western extremity of Newfoundland about sixteen leagues, and is divided from Nova Scotia by St. George's Bay and the Gut of Canseau, twenty-one miles in length, and varying from one mile to one and a half in width. Its shape is nearly triangular, indented with many deep bays, and nearly separated by the waters of the Bras d'Or into two natural divisions; the one to the north being high, bold, and steep; the other to the south, low, and intersected by water; diversified with moderate elevations, and gradually rising from the interior shore of the Bras d'Or, until it presents abrupt cliffs towards the ocean. There are not any mountains, properly so called, in the island; the highest ridges in the southern division do not perhaps exceed an altitude of 600 feet. The highlands in the northern division are more elevated, bolder, and continuous; but even there the supposed highest point, Smoky Cape, does not probably exceed five hundred yards. There are several fresh water lakes, some of which are of no inconsiderable magnitude. The largest are Lake Marguerite, in the northern division,

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about forty miles in circumference, and the Grand River and Mire Lakes in the southern division; besides several others differing in size and shape, and scattered all over the island. The rivers, or rather rivulets and brooks, are numerous, but small, and not navigable. The whole coast of the southern division is broken into harbours, many of them of great depth and magnitude; but the northern coast does not afford nearly so many. The principal harbours for vessels of burden are the Bras d'Or, with its innumerable minor harbours, Sydney, Louisburg, Arichat, Basin of Inhabitants, Ship Harbour in Canseau Strait, Port Hood, and St. Anne's; besides several others of less importance.

The Bras d'Or is a vast internal sea, occupying a considerable portion of the area of Cape Breton, intersecting with its numerous arms every part of it, and dividing it almost into two islands. The entrance is on the eastern side of the island, facing Newfoundland, and it is divided into two passages by Boulardrie Island. The southern passage is called Little Bras d'Or; the northern passage, Great Bras d'Or; and the large sheet of inland waters itself, Bras d'Or, or the Great Lake. A sunken bar at the mouth of the Little Bras d'Or renders it unnavigable for vessels of heavy burden, and it is therefore never used. It is about twenty-three miles in length, and from a quarter of a mile to three miles wide. The Great Bras d'Or has no impediment to its navigation; it has above sixty fathom water, is from two to three miles wide, and about twenty-five miles in length: when at the head of Boulardrie Island it is joined by the Little Bras d'Or, and a few miles further on enters the Great Lake through the Straits of Barra. The Great Bras d'Or, before its junction with the Little one, or with the lake, communicates with, or rather sends its waters into the interior, forming several excellent harbours to the north-west of the Great Lake. The first is Bedeque Bay, and farther on a fine sheet of water called Whycocomagh Basin, upwards of forty miles from the main sea, and where the timber ships from England usually load. After passing the Straits of Barra the Great Lake sends off a number of branches. On the northern side the first is Brooklesby Bay, which runs to within half a mile of Whycocomagh Bay; next is the River Denys Basin, six miles long, and two broad, with numerous smaller branches, in which also the timber vessels

load; next follows St. George's Channel, which is six miles wide at its opening, is filled with creeks and inlets, and runs up, towards the Gut of Canseau side of the island, fifteen miles. On the southern shore the centre proceeds south-westerly through a number of small islands to the isthmus of St. Peter; thence again north-easterly, it makes a course of thirty-one miles to the head of East Bay, or St. Andrew's Channel, terminating in the Barrasoi, or Lagune of Tweednooge, (this bay is eighteen miles in length); from the north-eastern point of which at Benakady, it is five miles to the Straits of Barra, on which terminates the circuit of the Bras d'Or. From the entrance of the Great Bras d'Or to the head of the Great Lake at St. Peter's is above fifty miles in a straight course, and its greatest width about twenty miles. The depth varies from twelve to sixty fathoms, and it is every where secure and navigable. This extensive sheet of internal waters is of peculiar advantage to the island, for, exclusive of the fishery, which is carried on there to a considerable extent, it spreads out into such an extensive and ramified navigation, as to afford every part of the island the benefit of water communication, and enables every district, almost every farm, to ship its own produce without the intervention of land carriage.

The Isthmus of St. Peter, which divides the waters of the Bras d'Or from the Atlantic Ocean at St. Peter's Bay, is so narrow that a canal could be easily made between the two waters for ship navigation. The ground has been examined and surveyed by an eminent engineer, who has reported upon the complete practicability of such a work, and has estimated the expense at no more than 17,1507. The whole length of the canal required would not exceed 3,000 feet. The principal part of the expense would be the necessary works at the points of communication with both seas.

The soil of Cape Breton is considered quite equal to that of Nova Scotia, or any of the neighbouring countries. There is no dike land, such as is found in Nova Scotia, but the upland is of an excellent quality, and very productive; the increase of wheat on new land being in general ten or twelve fold. It is found capable of producing wheat, barley, oats, maize, potatoes, turnips, buckwheat, peas, beans, &c. It has been before remarked, that the area of the island comprises about

2,000,000 acres, exclusive of the great salt waters. Of this, 685,640 acres were granted away to settlers by the crown up to the year 1821; of the remainder, about 800,000 acres are supposed to be contained in the small lakes, hills, barrens, and swamps, leaving about 500,000 acres of land fit for cultivation undisposed of and distributed in several parts of the island. The greater part of the disposable land lies in the interior of the northern division of the island, between the gulf shore and the Bras d'Or waters. In the section of country between Port Hood, Whycocomagh, the Rivers St. Denis and Inhabitants, the Bras d'Or and the Gulf Shore, it is estimated that there are about 120,000 acres of good upland, fit for settlement; and in the north-eastern peninsula, from St. Anne's Bay on the one side and Lake Marguerite on the other to Cape St. Lawrence, there are supposed to be about 150,000 acres more. In the southern division through its whole length, from St. Peter's on the west to Sydney on the east, in the interior, including the lands on the Grand-River Lake and Mire Lake, there are supposed to be no less than 200,000 acres of good land undisposed of; besides which there are several other smaller portions scattered through the island.

The Island of Cape Breton, as has been before observed, is naturally divided by the Bras d'Or Lake into two parts, the northern and the southern. As a county, it has been divided into three districts—the north-eastern, north-western, and southern, without any respect to its natural divisions. The north-eastern district has been subdivided into the townships of Sydney, St. Andrew's, and St. Patrick; and the northwestern district into the townships of Canseau, Port Hood, Ainslie, and Marguerite; the southern district, being by much the smallest of the three, has not been as yet subdivided into townships. In describing the country, we shall adhere to the natural divisions.

Sydney is the shire town and capital of the island, and a free port. It is situated on the harbour of that name, on the eastern coast of the southern division of the island. The courts of justice and public offices are kept here, and here also the principal officers of the island reside. It contains about sixty houses, besides a government-house, governmentstores and barracks, a court-house; likewise episcopal, Roman catholic, and dissenting churches. The streets are regularly laid out, the houses tolerably

good, and the grounds in the vicinity cultivated with some taste, so that on the whole it presents a pleasing appearance. The population is about 500 souls. The harbour is one of the most capacious and secure in the provinces; it is two miles wide at its entrance, four miles above which it diverges into two extensive arms, upon one of which, about seven miles from the sea, the town of Sydney is built, on a peninsula affording abundant suitable situations for wharfs, dock-yards, &c. The surrounding country is one of the finest agricultural tracts in the island: the advantages for carrying on the fishery are excellent. The principal coal-works are carried on in the neighbourhood, where useful timber abounds. The vicinity of these works must eventually render Sydney a place of considerable importance.

All the settlements in Cape Breton have been made on the shores of the Atlantic, of the Gulf, and of the Bras d'Or. None have as yet been made to any considerable distance in the interior; and all the points on those shores fit for settlement are occupied. The line of coast from the Bras d'Or to Cow Bay may be called the coal coast, the whole range being faced with cliffs streaked with veins of that mineral.

The principal settlement is Sydney. There are several other small settlements along the shore, upon Lingen Bay, Windham River or Glace Bay, and Cow Bay, all of which have bars at their entrance, and are shoal harbours; but the adjacent lands are very fertile, and abound with fine timber. The settlers, consisting principally of the descendants of American loyalists, Scotch, and Irish, are industrious and comfortable. Miray Bay is a large arm of the sea into which falls the River Miray. This river, or rather succession of narrow lakes, has its source about forty miles in the interior, but its entrance being obstructed by a bar, its navigation does not afford all those advantages that otherwise belong to it: the lands upon it and around the bay are good, but the soil light: the best portion of it, consisting of about 100,000 acres, although granted some years ago to 100 individuals, has never been settled on or improved. There are several settlements on the bay, wherein agricultural operations are not considered as secondary to the fisheries. Beyond Miray Bay lies the small harbour of Menadon, or Main-à-dieu, on which is a settlement of active fishermen, who are also engaged in the coal and coasting trade from