95 I raised my eyes from the paper on which I had the property of of Judge Halliburton, the veribeen writing for several hours, and saw nothing. table author of "Sam Slick,"-whence it is A darkness seemed to fall on me. I stretched shipped in great quantities to Passamaquoddy, out my hand and knocked something from the on the American lines, and thence distributed table, a book I think; it fell on my foot, and caused throughout the United States. me to cry out with pain; I jumped forward, up- Provinces, and has been partially worked at Iron-ore is to be found in abundance in both setting my chair, and causing a terrible noise.- Picton, in the eastern part of Nova Scotia, and Could I have been asleep and dreaming? while at Moose River, near Annapolis. About fivegroping about the room for matches, I trod on something which went crash beneath my weight. the mouth of the river, for the purpose of and-twenty years since a company was formed at Halifax, and buildings were erected near At last I struck a light, but my candle was wasted smelting the ore, which is very rich. There in the socket. Getting another, I found my pipe was another advantage attending this locality broken, and from the quantity of tobacco lying by the bowl, I saw that I could not have smoked neighborhood, well adapted for the process of -an ample supply of sand was found in the it. Several books were scattered about, and a moulding. chair turned upside down; on the table lay a owing to the faulty construction of the chimBut the affairs of the company were mismanaged; the building caught fire quantity of paper scribbled over, which, on read-nies; and the enterprise was afterwards totally ing, I found to be the above tale. Should it be abandoned. Ore of a superior description is published, let it appear as written, and then its faults can only be laid at the door of a man, who wrote with his eyes shut, and brain dormant.Legally, persons in this state, are unaccountable beings. THE EASTERN BRITISH PROVINCES. No. II. THE Provinces of New Brunswick and Nova Scotia, including the island of Cape Breton, abound with mineral wealth, which has however been most unaccountably neglected until within comparatively a few years; the coalmines of Cape Breton alone were worked to any great extent, and it was from this source that the government of the island, before it was removed to Nova Scotia, derived its chief revenue. Subsequently, those of Picton were opened by private company in England, and with those a of Sidney have been extensively worked by the mining company referred to,-the right of the late Duke of York, to whom they were granted, having been transferred to Rundell and Bridges, a wealthy house in London, in payment of debts due by His Royal Highness to the firm. This grant embraces all mines in Nova Scotia, and also extensive coal fields that are found in the County of Cumberland, near the head of the Bay of Fundy. Crossing that bay, beyond which the Duke of York's grant, I believe, does not extend, there is probably the largest bed of coal to be found in the world, according to the Reports of Dr. Gesner who, for four or five years, was employed by the Government to make a geological survey of the Province. At Hillsborough, in that province, there is abundance of the purest gypsum, within a mile of the place of shipment; but the largest beds of this mineral, and which have been the most extensively worked, are those in the vicinity of Windsor,-partly on found about Londonderry, on the eastern. branch of the Bay of Fundy, seventy miles from Halifax, which, owing to the enterprise stand, extensively worked. A great deal of of Charles Archibald, Esq., are being, I underfault has been found with the granting the mines of Nova Scotia to the Duke of York, and their subseqent transfer to Messrs. Rundell and Bridges; but when we contrast the indisimprove them, with the outlay of capital by position of the monied men in Nova Scotia to the British mining company, it appears to me the people of the Province have much cause to rejoice at the occurrence. Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, and Prince The distinctive features of the colonies of Edward's Island in a social point of view, are widely different from each other; caused by the varied circumstances under which they were settled subsequent to their conquest; and which gave to Nova Scotia institutions of a far more liberal and popular character than were adopted by the other Provinces, and which have operated beneficially upon its rapidly increasing population, rendering them far more intelligent than those of the others. The most conspicuous among the causes of cation, is the constitution of its Grand Jury, this superiority, next to widely diffused eduwhich exercises a judicions control over the finances of the several counties, and which is an excellent substitute for a municipal body. the poor, local improvements, and other serThe annual assessment for the support of vices connected with the administration of county affairs, are controlled and regulated by the Grand Juries, who carefully investigate the expenditure of the monies thus raised. The main roads and bridges are opened and maintained by annual grants of the Legislature, both in Nova Scotia and New Brunswick, and also in Prince Edward's Island; for which purpose the grants in each of these Provinces have sometimes exceeded £40,000; and no where is any toli exacted. The granting of and in that part of New Brunswick which licenses to sell spirituous liquors is regulated adjoins it; the former, as I before observed, by the Grand Juries, who generally embody public sentiment. having engrafted on their code of laws, much of the tenor of those of Massachussetts, would While this body in Nova Scotia resembles seem to have been guided in their choice by that of Massachussetts, in New Brunswick on the desire for mental culture, for which the the contrary, its powers are assimilated to inhabitants of that State have been distinthat of England; and it was the opinion of the guished from the period of its original settlelate Attorney-General of the latter Province, ment; and which subsequently operated on that all it has to do is to ignore or find bills of the minds of the patriotic men to whom the indictment. It is true, an Act passed the direction of the infant colony was confided. Legislature a few years since, authorizing the | Similar motives, however, do not appear to Grand Jury to investigate the county accounts; have actuated the leading men of New Bruns but its provisions were designedly rendered wick, who seem to have feared that, if edu nugatory, by amendments made by the Coun- cation were generally disseminated, a class of cil. The result is, that there is not that whole-persons would be created, that would produce some surveillance that prevails in Nova Scotia; competition for office, and hence the inferiority and when the disbursements by 'he magis- of its rural population to that of Nova Scotia, trates have been extravagant and excessive, to whom they do not yield in natural shrewdapplication has to be made to the Legislature, ness or the more generous and kindly emotions for an Act to enable them to make up the of the heart. Within the last few years, deficiency. however, a college has been founded at Fre The total absence of all restraint in this par-dericton, the seat of government; but it has ticular, struk Sir William Colebrooke, the been less successful in its efforts than that of late Lieut. Governor of the Province, soon Windsor, either as respects the students or after his arrival, and he endeavored to intro- the community at large. And although gramduce municipal institutions, which was strenu- mar schools were established, yet the system ously opposed by the more influential class of of common schools was materially defective, society, who were naturally opposed to any and no care appears to have been taken in the measure that would curtail their power, or selection of teachers. Sir William Colebrooke throw the offices, which they held,open to pub|labored sedulously to remedy the evil, and the lic competition, by which the selection would Legislature was induced to direct its attention be made from the population generally. And to this important subject; a Superintendent of so ignorant was the mass of the people of the Schools has recently been appointed, and operation and advantages of those bodies, should the efforts that have been made in which it was cunn ngly represented would this respect be met by a corresponding action increase taxation, that, with few exceptions, on the part of the people generally, the rising they joined in the outery that was raised generation will bear comparison with that of against their introduction, and which would the sister Province. have elevated them in the scale of intelligence. Not only has there been this absence of There was another advantage which the efficient means for diffusing education, but the people of Nova Scotia possessed in the more pursuits of the inhabitants of the two Progeneral dissemination of education. The Pic- vinees have not been without their effects. ton Academy, established by the Rev. Dr. While those of Nova Scotia have mainly folM'Culloch, of the Free Church of Scotland, of lowed agricultural pursuits, and consequently whom I shall again have to speak, diffused a led a domestic life, those of New Brunswick liberal tone of public feeling, wherever its in-have for the most part engaged in lumbering, fluence was felt; and from that source ema- thus withdrawing them from their homes to nated those political views and principles, lead a semi-savage and demoralizing life in the which have since overturned the former esta- wilderness. As the autumn advances, the blished order of things in Nova Scotia. The lumbermen resort in parties to the forest, college at Windsor, although its advantages where they remain till spring restores them to were chiefly limited to the members of a par- the restraints of civilized life. When the ice ticular church and the sons of the wealthy, in the rivers has melted, they raft their timber yet produced a number of scholars of no ordi- to market; and after settling with the mernary attainments, who scattered over the Pro-chant, the employés for the most part spend vince as clergymen, lawyers, physicians, and the proceeds of their toil in dissipation during public officers, gave not only a high tone to the remaining summer months, and then public sentiment, but by the supervision which prepare again to return to the woods. they exercised over the grammar and common schools, led to the diffusion of general intelligence; and nowhere, during my extensive tours through the Colonies, and even in the United States, have I found better informed people than are to be met with in Nova Scotia, I have not room at present to enlarge upon the subject of lumbering as regards individuals and communities, but shall revert to it when I come to speak of New Brunswick and Lower Canada. Fortunately for Nova Scotia, her inhabitants are but partially engaged in the en terprise. The people about Pictou, and in the through all the varied and demoralizing scenes neighboring parts of the county of Cumber- of military life; years had rolled on since he land, it is true, embarked rather extensively in the business; but the panic of 1825 involved most of them in one general ruin, and the rural population again betook themselves to agriculture, and at present the county of Pictou is one of the finest in the Province. Nova Scotia, previous to the termination of the American Revolution, embraced New Brunswick, which, immediately after that event, was formed into a separate Province. The entire country was called "Acadie" by the French, and is so recognized in the Massachusetts charter of 1691, and in all the colonial public documents from 1635 to the conquest of Canada. It was bounded by Maine, whose original boundary was the Kennebec or St. Croix river, and was finally fixed by the English and French governments at the river Pemaquid-a short distance to the eastward of the Kennebec. quitted his youthful and peaceful home; and everything had conspired to obliterate, if possible, the events of his early days: yet no sooner had he formed around him the domestic circle, than he resumed the performance of those religious duties, which probably even in the camp had not been entirely neglected, the observance of which had been inculcated in childhood; and in the wilderness of the new world his aged partner and the children of their love joined with him in the utterance of hymns of gratitude and in humble prayer. We hear a great deal of the altered condition of the United States; but rarely has a greater change taken place anywhere there, than is exhibited in the eastern part of the Province of Nova Scotia, within the last forty or fifty years, and in the means of communicating with the capital. At the commencement of that period the mail was carried by a When New Brunswick was separated from man of the name of Stewart, who trudged Nova Scotia, the entire country was but along on foot; nor was there a road by which sparsely inhabited; but a number of persons a waggon, or perhaps a man on horseback, from the neighboring States, who retained could pass. Once a week this hardy Scotsman their attachmeut to their King and country, shouldered his mail-bag, and sometimes with sought refuge within its iron-bound and fogenveloped coast; and an influx of immigrants -chiefly from Great Britain and Ireland-has since converted both Provinces into thriving British colonies. By far the larger proportion of those from Scotland, settled about Pictou, in the eastern part of Nova Scotia, and of late years in Cape Breton, and, by their industry and agricultural tact, they have converted the forest into fruitful fields, which yield abundantly, and place their occupants ordinarily beyond the reach of poverty and want. To the present hour many of these people retain and speak their native Gaelic, in which language the services in many of their churches are performed during the early part of the day; and on sacramental occasions, hundreds of them may be seen partaking of that sacred ordinance in the open air, and beneath the cloudless canopy of heaven. an iron pot on his head, for which he received It was in 1824 that I first visited Pictou, at which time the road had not been altered. At the foot of the hill, Stewart, who by dint of frugality and perseverance, had saved sufficient to enable him to establish himself in another pursuit, kept a humble inn for the accommodation of travellers, where, with my wife, I stopped to obtain refreshment. Hearing the noise of a spinning-wheel up stairs, we entered to visit the apartment, where we found a tall, interesting-looking young woman busily employed, and whom I had not forgotten when about two years since I travelled the present road in a stage coach, and was glad to learn from a fellow passenger, that she kept the inn Family worship, in the observance of which the Scot is so remarkable, is frequently performed in the Gaelic; and I recollect, on one occasion, stopping a night at the cottage of a Highlander, at the head of the Nashwaak, in New Brunswick, who had been a sergeant in the gallant forty-second regiment, in which, during a large portion of his life, he had fought and served. Before retiring to rest, the family, at which we should stop to dine. as was customary, were assembled for " wor- Sterne has said of woman, that she carries ship," the Gaelic Bible and hymn-books were the principle of change about her; and I reproduced, and all the members joined with gret to say, that the remark was fully realised alacrity and fervor in the evening's devotion, in this instance-at least as far as appearance which went up an acceptable offering before was concerned. I had left her five-and-twenty the throne of the Most High. What stronger years before, a lithe and fragile creature, with proof can be adduced of the effects of early a countenance beaming with intelligence; and training and example? This man had passed as such she was still present in my mind's eye. VOL IIL-G When the woman of forty-three showed her-perative by their own misconduct, was essenself, it was impossible to recognise the fair tial to the peaceful settlement of the country, form of a quarter of a century before, still, not-and was productive of permanent tranquillity withstanding, her business intercourse with the and security. Since that period, the Indians world, her frank and generous nature, of who were formerly so powerful, and who were which her face had been the index, still re- so much dreaded, have diminished down to the mained, and we parted better friends than we mere remnant of two or three tribes; and these, met-she to pursue a life of usefulness at home, as everywhere is the case, are fast disappearand he who pens this notice, to buffet with the ing before civilization and its attendant vices, world. -accelerated in their downward course of ruin, by that appetite for ardent spirits, which savages everywhere exhibit. At present, the most remote and wild parts of the country, may be traversed or settled in perfect security; and if occasionally a few of its aboriginal inhabitants are met with by the solitary traveller in his lonesome journey, they excite no other feelings than those of commiseration and respect. Among the inducements which the Eastern Provinces offer to settlers, are the general fertility of the soil, the salubrity of the climate, owing to their proximity to the sea, and the abundance of fish, which may be taken on the coast, rivers and lakes. In the Western States, at a distance from the sea-board, an unwholesome miasma arises from the numerous swamps, and the vicinity of large bodies of fresh water, vitiating the atmosphere, carry everywhere within its influence, and, during the summer and autumn, scatter around disease and death, with fatal profusion. But in the Eastern Provinces there are none of those prolific sources of fever and ague; indeed, in Nova Scotia and New Brunswick, during my extensive travelling there, I never met with an instance; while on the river St. John and the other rivers of New Brunswick, instead of those lurking incentives of disease, there are numerous fertile intervales, as they are called, composed of rich alluvial deposit, upon which the receding waters of the floods of spring leave successive layers of soil. On the Aroostook river, which permeates the territory, recently very improperly surrendered to the Americans, these intervales are very extensive and abundant; of which ample evidence is afforded, in the size and quality of the timber which is annually floated down the St. John. The French portion of the inhabitants of both Provinces, are still called Acadian French; they are naturally an ingenuous, harmless people, completely under the control of their priests, without whose concurrence and sanction, they will not conclude the most trifling bargain-even to the buying of a horse or waggon, and their children usually grow up in great ignorance; while their houses are very filthy and destitute of comfort. Subsequent to the final surrender of Nova Scotia to England, they became very troublesome, and were continually exciting the Indians to the commission of atrocities; in this way causing the massacre of the settlers, even within the neighbourhood of Halifax, the present capital of Nova Scotia. After a time, a considerable number of the expatriated French returned to Nova Scotia, and were not molested. Families, however, be re-united; many individuals had died from had been separated, who were never again to disease and suffering, subsequent to their removal; and the spirit of those who came back, had been broken down and subdued by did not settle in one body, but formed detachadversity. On returning to Nova Scotia, they ed and distinct communities, uniformly retaining those habits, manners and dress, which their ancestors had brought with them from the shores of Europe. A considerable portion of them, settled at a place called Chesencook, about forty miles to the eastward of Halifax; another on the eastern shore of St. Mary's Bay--an arm of the Bay of Fundy-where for a number of years the Abbe Segoigne, who had left behind him France and its crimes, at the period of the revolution, was their priest, their counsellor and friend. By far the greater number, however, settled in what is now the Province of New Brunswick; and are still to be found in large communities, at and in the vicinity of the Baie de Chaleur, and southwardly, along the eastern shore, as far as Shediac, near the confines of Nova Scotia; and on the opposite island of Prince Edward. Another part settled on the Mememcook, and the left bank of the Petticodiac river, in the county of Westmerland; and another portion fixed at St. Anne's, now called Fredericton, and ultimately on the Upper St. John-forming what is called the Madawaska settlement, where they continued for a long time unnoticed and unknown. Every where they chose the most With the view of terminating these out- fertile tracts of land in that Province, of which rages, they were collected together on an ap- they continue to enjoy undisturbed possesspointed day, and sent out of the country, be-ion; cultivating the soil, it is to be regreting, for the most part, conveyed to the then ted, in an imprudent and imperfect manner, Southern Colonies of Great Britain, at present and exhausting it by their thriftless husbana part of the United States. This was doubt-dry. less an act of severity, but was rendered im AMICUS. LAIRD.-Quite cheap enow' in a' conscience. MAJOR.-Doctor, you must propose us at be a good idea to introduce chess to our your next meeting. By the way would it not Shanty? What say you Laird? puir hand at the game, still I like to puzzle LAIRD.-Vera guid indeed, tho' I'm but a o'er a problem now and then. [Doctor alone.] DOCTOR.-Our friends the Major and Laird are not over-punctual; yet, here they come, wending their way across yonder green as if fatigued with the heat and toils of the day. They are inseperable, those two; and as true to each other as friends can well be. Sterling fellows! I love you both, and though I occaDOCTOR.-Then you shall be gratified. I sionally would pass off a joke on you, you are will endeavour to procure you a problem for ever forgiving, and pardon the frivolity of your our next meeting, in the mean time I will give younger associate. Long may the Shanty you an enigma by one of our members, it is rejoice in your presence, and may your shadow not a diffiucult one, but will, at all events, serve never grow less within its wal's. [Enter to amuse you for a short time, if you are not a skilful player. Major and Laird.] Welcome, Major, welcome Bonnibraes! LAIRD.-Thankye, Doctor, thankye. We are ower late, but ye'll excuse us. DOCTOR.-I was before my time, for in truth I was anxious to tell you that I have been since our last sederunt elected member of a chess club. That MAJOR.-A chess club in Toronto! is good news indeed. When was it formed? DOCTOR.-A few weeks back, and it already numbers over five-and-twenty members. LAIRD.-Five-and-twenty. A guid beginning. An wha may they a' be. WHITE.-K, at KR 4th; R, at QB 6th; Kt, at K 3rd; B, at K 7th; P, at K 2nd. BLACK.-K, at K 5th; P, at QB 6th. White to play and mate in four moves. to solve MAJOR.-While the Laird is endeavouring your enigma, tell me Doctor what you propose giving us monthly in the way of chess matters? DOCTOR.-An original problem, and at least one or two original enigmas; if I cannot procure them, I will select a few of the best from some chess periodical. Such items also of chess intelligence as will be generally interesting to DOCTOR.-That I can hardly tell you, how-chess readers, and a report of the games of any ever the officers are a President, Professor matches our chess club may play, should I be Cherriman; and Secretary and Treasurer D. permitted. Crawford Esq The affairs of the club are man, aged by a committee of three, viz:-L. O'Brien, M.D., T. J. Robertson, and W. G. Draper, Esquires. The club meets weekly for play. MAJOR.-How are the members elected? Tell us all about it. DOCTOR.-By ballot; they are proposed at one meeting and ballotted for at the next. The annual subscription is only ten shillings, with an entrance fee of five. MAJOR.-Well, Doctor, it will be a good move, and render our Shanty, I hope, more acceptable to our visitors. LAIRD.-Nae doubt, nae doubt. Doctor, I gie ow'er the enigma for the present; yer clavers bewilder me, besides, we hae other things to discuss. For guidness sake open the window a bittock! A man might as weel try to breath in the black hole o' Calcutta, as in the shanty wi' the thermometer at 96 in the 9056391 |