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+The Project Gutenberg EBook of Acadia, by Frederic S. Cozzens
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
+
+
+Title: Acadia
+       or, A Month with the Blue Noses
+
+Author: Frederic S. Cozzens
+
+Release Date: November 8, 2007 [EBook #23409]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ASCII
+
+*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK ACADIA ***
+
+
+
+
+Produced by A www.PGDP.net Volunteer, Brownfox and the
+Online Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net
+
+
+
+
+
+
+[Illustration: _"This, with the antique kirtle and picturesque petticoat
+is an Acadian portrait." PAGE 56._]
+
+[Illustration: _"There is nothing modern in the face or drapery of this
+figure. She might have stepped out of Normandy a century ago." PAGE
+40._]
+
+                             ACADIA;
+
+                               OR,
+
+                   A MONTH WITH THE BLUE NOSES.
+
+                               BY
+
+                       FREDERIC S. COZZENS,
+
+                 AUTHOR OF "SPARROWGRASS PAPERS."
+
+
+                 This is Acadia--this is the land
+                 That weary souls have sighed for;
+                 This is Acadia--this is the land
+                 Heroic hearts have died for:
+                 Yet, strange to tell, this promised land
+                 Has never been applied for!
+
+                             PORTER.
+
+                            NEW YORK:
+
+                 DERBY & JACKSON, 119 NASSAU STREET.
+
+                              1859.
+
+       Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1859, by
+
+                       FREDERIC S. COZZENS,
+
+ In the Clerk's Office of the District Court of the United States for the
+                   Southern District of New York.
+
+                   W.H. TINSON, Stereotyper.
+
+                   GEO. RUSSELL & Co., Printers.
+
+
+
+
+PREFACE.
+
+
+As I have a sort of religion in literature, believing that no author can
+justly intrude upon the public without feeling that his writings may be of
+some benefit to mankind, I beg leave to apologize for this little book. I
+know, no critic can tell me better than I know myself, how much it falls
+short of what might have been done by an abler pen. Yet it is
+something--an index, I should say, to something better. The French in
+America may sometime find a champion. For my own part, I would that the
+gentler principles which governed them, and the English under William
+Penn, and the Dutch under the enlightened rule of the States General, had
+obtained here, instead of the narrower, the more penurious, and most
+prescriptive policy of their neighbors.
+
+I am indebted to Judge Haliburton's "History of Nova Scotia" for the main
+body of historical facts in this volume. Let me acknowledge my
+obligations. His researches and impartiality are most creditable, and
+worthy of respect and attention. I have also drawn as liberally as time
+and space would permit from chronicles contemporary with the events of
+those early days, as well as from a curious collection of items relating
+to the subject, cut from the London newspapers a hundred years ago, and
+kindly furnished me by Geo. P. Putnam, Esq. These are always the surest
+guides. To Mrs. Kate Williams, of Providence, R. I., I am indebted also.
+Her story of the "Neutral French," no doubt, inspired the author of the
+most beautiful pastoral in the language. The "Evangeline" of Longfellow,
+and the "Pauline" of this lady's legend, are pictures of the same
+individual, only drawn by different hands.
+
+A word in regard to the two Acadian portraits. These are literal
+ambrotypes, to which Sarony has added a few touches of his artistic
+crayon. It may interest the reader to know that these are the first, the
+only likenesses of the real Evangelines of Acadia. The women of
+Chezzetcook appear at day-break in the city of Halifax, and as soon as the
+sun is up vanish like the dew. They have usually a basket of fresh eggs, a
+brace or two of worsted socks, a bottle of fir-balsam to sell. These
+comprise their simple commerce. When the market-bell rings you find them
+not. To catch such fleeting phantoms, and to transfer them to the
+frontispiece of a book published here, is like painting the burnished
+wings of a humming-bird. A friend, however, undertook the task. He rose
+before the sun, he bought eggs, worsted socks, and fir-balsam of the
+Acadians. By constant attentions he became acquainted with a pair of
+Acadian women, niece and aunt. Then he proposed the matter to them:
+
+"I want you to go with me to the daguerreotype gallery."
+
+"What for?"
+
+"To have your portraits taken."
+
+"What for?"
+
+"To send to a friend in New York."
+
+"What for?"
+
+"To be put in a book."
+
+"What for?"
+
+"Never mind 'what for,' will you go?"
+
+Aunt and niece--both together in a breath--"No."
+
+So my friend, who was a wise man, wrote to the priest of the settlement of
+Chezzetcook, to explain the "what for," and the consequence was--these
+portraits! But these women had a terrible time at the head of the first
+flight of stairs. Not an inch would these shy creatures budge beyond. At
+last, the wife of the operator induced them to rise to the high flight
+that led to the Halifax skylight, and there they were painted by the sun,
+as we see them now.
+
+Nothing more! Ring the bell, prompter, and draw the curtain.
+
+
+
+
+CONTENTS.
+
+CHAPTER I.
+
+Vague Rumors of Nova Scotia--A Fortnight upon Salt Water--Interesting
+Sketch of the Atlantic--Halifax!--Determine to stay in the
+Province--Province Building and Pictures--Coast Scenery--Liberty in
+Language, and Aspirations of the People--Evangeline and Relics of
+Acadia--Market-Place--The Encampment at Point Pleasant--Kissing
+Bridge--The "Himalaya"--A Sabbath in a Garrison Town--Grand Celebration
+of the Peace, and Natal Day of Halifax--And a Hint of a Visit to
+Chezzetcook                                                              13
+
+CHAPTER II.
+
+Fog clears up--The One Idea not comprehended by the American Mind--A
+June Morning in the Province--The Beginning of the Evangeliad--Intuitive
+Perception of Genius--The Forest Primeval--Acadian Peasants--A Negro
+Settlement--Deer's Castle--The Road to Chezzetcook--Acadian Scenery--A
+Glance at the Early History of Acadia--First Encroachments of the
+English--The Harbor and Village of Chezzetcook, etc., etc.               34
+
+CHAPTER III.
+
+A Romp at Three Fathom Harbor--The Moral Condition of the Acadians--The
+Wild Flowers of Nova Scotia--Mrs. Deer's Wit--No Fish--Picton--The
+Balaklava Schooner--And a Voyage to Louisburgh                           58
+
+CHAPTER IV.
+
+The Voyage of the "Balaklava"--Something of a Fog--A Novel
+Sensation--Picton bursts out--"Nothing to do"--Breakfast under Way--A
+Phantom Boat--Mackerel--Gone, Hook and Line--The Colonists--Sectionalism
+and Prejudices--Cod-fishing and an Unexpected Banquet--Past the old
+French Town--A Pretty Respectable Breeze--We get past the
+Rocks--Louisburgh                                                        77
+
+CHAPTER V.
+
+Louisburgh--The Great French Fortress--Incidents of the Old French
+War--Relics of the Siege--Description of the Town--The two
+Expeditions--A Yankee _ruse de guerre_--The Rev. Samuel Moody's
+Grace--Wolfe's Landing--The Fisherman's Hutch--The Lost Coaster--The
+Fisheries--Picton tries his hand at a Fish-pugh                         102
+
+CHAPTER VI.
+
+A most acceptable Invitation--An Evening in the Hutch--Old Songs--Picton
+in High Feather--Wolfe and Montcalm--Reminiscences of the
+Siege--Anecdotes of Wolfe--A Touch of Rhetoric and its Consequences     121
+
+CHAPTER VII.
+
+The other side of the Harbor--A Foraging Party--Disappointment--Twilight
+at Louisburgh--Long Days and Early Mornings--A Visit and View of an
+Interior--A Shark Story--Picton inquires about a Measure--Hospitality
+and the Two Brave Boys--Proposals for a Trip Overland to Sydney         133
+
+CHAPTER VIII.
+
+A Blue-Nosed Pair of the most Cerulean Hue--Prospects of a Hard
+Bargain--Case of Necessity--Romantic Lake with an Unromantic Name--The
+Discussion concerning Oatmeal--Danger of the Gasterophili--McGibbet
+makes a Proposition--Farewell to the "Balaklava"--A Midnight
+Journey--Sydney--Boat Excursion to the Micmacs--Picton takes off his
+Mackintosh                                                              154
+
+CHAPTER IX.
+
+The Micmac Camp--Indian Church-warden and Broker--Interior of a
+Wigwam--A Madonna--A Digression--Malcolm Discharged--An Indian
+Bargain--The Inn Parlor, and a Comfortable Night's Rest                 176
+
+CHAPTER X.
+
+Over the Bay--A Gigantic Dumb Waiter--Erebus--Reflections--White and
+Black Squares of the Chess-Board--Leave-taking--An Interruption--The
+Aibstract Preencipels of Feenance                                       185
+
+CHAPTER XI.
+
+The Bras d'Or Road--Farewell to Picton--Home, Sweet Home--The Rob Roys of
+Cape Breton--Note and Query--Chapel Island--St. Peter's--Enterprise--The
+Strait of Canseau--West River--The Last Out-post of the Scottish Chiefs 196
+
+CHAPTER XII.
+
+The Ride from West River--A Fellow Passenger--Parallels of History--One
+Hundred Romances--Baron de Castine--His Character--Made Chief of the
+Abenaquis--Duke of York's Charter--Encroachments of the
+Puritans--Church's Indian Wars--False Reports--Reflections              212
+
+CHAPTER XIII.
+
+Truro--On the Road to Halifax--Drive to the Left--A Member of the
+Foreign Legion--Irish Wit at Government Expense--The first Battle of the
+Legion--Ten Pounds Reward--Sir John Gaspard's Revenge--The Shubenacadie
+Lakes--Dartmouth Ferry, and the Hotel Waverley                          224
+
+CHAPTER XIV.
+
+Halifax again--Hotel Waverley--"Gone the Old Familiar Faces"--The Story
+of Marie de la Tour                                                     237
+
+CHAPTER XV.
+
+Bedford Basin--Legend of the two French Admirals--An Invitation to
+the Queen--Visit to the Prince's Lodge--A Touch of Old England--The
+Ruins                                                                   251
+
+CHAPTER XVI.
+
+The Last Night--Farewell, Hotel Waverley--Friends Old and New--What
+followed the Marriage of La Tour le Borgne--Invasion of Col. Church     258
+
+CHAPTER XVII.
+
+A few more Threads of History--Acadia again lost--The Oath of
+Allegiance--Settlement of Halifax--The brave Three Hundred--Massacre at
+Norridgewoack--Le Pere Ralle                                            269
+
+CHAPTER XVIII.
+
+On the road to Windsor--The great Nova Scotia Railway--A Fellow
+Passenger--Cape Sable Shipwrecks--Seals--Ponies--Windsor--Sam Slick--A
+lively Example                                                          279
+
+CHAPTER XIX.
+
+Windsor-upon-Avon--Ride to the Gasperau--The Basin of
+Minas--Blomidon--This is the Acadian Land--Basil, the
+Blacksmith--A Yankee Settlement--Useless Reflections                    293
+
+CHAPTER XX.
+
+The Valley of Acadia--A Morning Ride to the Dykes--An unexpected
+Wild-duck Chase--High Tides--The Gasperau--Sunset--The Lamp of
+History--Conclusion                                                     302
+
+APPENDIX                                                                317
+
+
+
+
+ACADIA.
+
+CHAPTER I.
+
+Vague Rumors of Nova Scotia--A Fortnight upon Salt Water--Interesting
+Sketch of the Atlantic--Halifax!--Determine to stay in the
+Province--Province Building and Pictures--Coast Scenery--Liberty in
+Language, and Aspirations of the People--Evangeline and Relics of
+Acadia--Market-Place--The Encampment at Point Pleasant--Kissing
+Bridge--The "Himalaya"--A Sabbath in a Garrison Town--Grand Celebration
+of the Peace, and Natal Day of Halifax--And a Hint of a Visit to
+Chezzetcook.
+
+
+It is pleasant to visit Nova Scotia in the month of June. Pack up your
+flannels and your fishing tackle, leave behind you your prejudices and
+your summer clothing, take your trout-pole in one hand and a copy of
+Haliburton in the other, and step on board a Cunarder at Boston. In
+thirty-six hours you are in the loyal little province, and above you
+floats the red flag and the cross of St. George. My word for it, you
+will not regret the trip. That the idea of visiting Nova Scotia ever
+struck any living person as something peculiarly pleasant and cheerful,
+is not within the bounds of probability. Very rude people are wont to
+speak of Halifax in connection with the name of a place never alluded to
+in polite society--except by clergymen. As for the rest of the Province,
+there are certain vague rumors of extensive and constant fogs, but
+nothing more. The land is a sort of terra incognita. Many take it to be
+a part of Canada, and others firmly believe it is somewhere in
+Newfoundland.
+
+In justice to Nova Scotia, it is proper to state that the Province is a
+province by itself; that it hath its own governor and parliament, and
+its own proper and copper currency. How I chanced to go there was
+altogether a matter of destiny. It was a severe illness--a gastric
+disorder of the most obstinate kind, that cast me upon its balmy shores.
+One day, after a protracted relapse, as I was creeping feebly along
+Broadway, sunning myself, like a March fly on a window-pane, whom should
+I meet but St. Leger, my friend. "You look pale," said St. Leger. To
+which I replied by giving him a full, complete, and accurate history of
+my ailments, after the manner of valetudinarians. "Why do you not try
+change of air?" he asked; and then briskly added, "You could spare a
+couple of weeks or so, could you not, to go to the Springs?" "I could,"
+said I, feebly. "Then," said St. Leger, "take the two weeks' time, but
+do not go to the Springs. Spend your fortnight on the salt water--get
+out of sight of land--that is the thing for you." And so, shaking my
+hand warmly, St. Leger passed on, and left me to my reflections.
+
+A fortnight upon salt water? Whither? Cape Cod at once loomed up;
+Nantucket, and Martha's Vineyard. "And why not the Bermudas?" said a
+voice within me; "the enchanted Islands of Prospero, and Ariel, and
+Miranda; of Shakspeare, and Raleigh, and Irving?" And echo answered:
+"Why not?"
+
+It is but a day-and-a-half's sail to Halifax; thence, by a steamer, to
+those neighboring isles; for the Curlew and the Merlin, British
+mail-boats, leave Halifax fortnightly for the Bermudas. A thousand miles
+of life-invigorating atmosphere--a week upon salt water, and you are
+amid the magnificent scenery of the Tempest! And how often had the vague
+desire impressed me--how often, indeed, had I visited, in imagination,
+those beautiful scenes, those islands which have made Shakspeare our
+near kinsman; which are part and parcel of the romantic history of Sir
+Walter Raleigh! For, even if he do describe them, in his strong old
+Saxon, as "the Bermudas, a hellish sea for Thunder, and Lightning, and
+Storms," yet there is a charm even in this description, for doubtless
+these very words gave a title to the great drama of William of
+Stratford, and suggested the idea of
+
+    "The still-vexed Bermooethes."
+
+Ah, yes! and who that has read Irving's "Three Kings of Bermuda" has not
+felt the influence of those Islas Encantadas--those islands of palms and
+coral, of orange groves and ambergris! "A fortnight?" said I, quoting St.
+Leger; "I will take a month for it." And so, in less than a week from the
+date of his little prescription, I was bidding farewell to some dear
+friends, from the deck of the "Canada," at East Boston wharf, as Captain
+Lang, on the top of our wheel-house, shouted out, in a very briny voice:
+"Let go the starboard bow chain--go slow!"
+
+It would be presumptuous in me to speak of the Atlantic, from the limited
+acquaintance I had with it. The note-book of an invalid for two days at
+sea, with a heavy ground swell, and the wind in the most favorable
+quarter, can scarcely be attractive. As the breeze freshened, and the tars
+of old England ran aloft, to strip from the black sails the wrappers of
+white canvas that had hid them when in port; and as these leathern,
+bat-like pinions spread out on each side of the funnel, there was a
+moment's glimpse of the picturesque; but it was a glimpse only, and no
+more. One does not enjoy the rise and dip of the bow of a steamer, at
+first, however graceful it may be in the abstract. To be sure, there were
+some things else interesting. For instance, three brides aboard! And one
+of them lovely enough to awaken interest, on sea or land, in any body but
+a Halifax passenger. I hope those fair ladies will have a pleasant tour,
+one and all, and that the view they take of the great world, so early in
+life, will make them more contented with that minor world, henceforth to
+be within the limits of their dominion. Lullaby to the young wives! there
+will be rocking enough anon!
+
+But we coasted along pleasantly enough the next day, within sight of the
+bold headlands of Maine; the sky and sea clear of vapor, except the long
+reek from the steamer's pipe. And then came nightfall and the northern
+stars; and, later at night, a new luminary on the edge of the
+horizon--Sambro' light; and then a sudden quenching of stars, and horizon,
+lighthouse, ropes, spars, and smoke stack; the sounds of hoarse voices of
+command in the obscurity; a trampling of men; and then down went the
+anchor in the ooze, and the Canada was fog-bound in the old harbor of
+Chebucto for the night, within a few miles of the city.
+
+But with the early dawn, we awoke to hear the welcome sounds of the
+engines in motion, and when we reached the deck, the mist was drifted with
+sunlight, and rose and fell in luminous billows on water and shore, and
+then lifted, lingered, and vanished!
+
+"And this is Halifax?" said I, as that quaint, mouldy old town poked its
+wooden gables through the fog of the second morning. "This is Halifax?
+This the capital of Nova Scotia? This the city that harbored those loyal
+heroes of the Revolution, who gallantly and gayly fought, and bled, and
+ran for their king? Ah! you brave old Tories; you staunch upholders of the
+crown; cavaliers without ringlets or feathers, russet boots or
+steeple-crown hats, it seems as if you were still hovering over this
+venerable tabernacle of seven hundred gables, and wreathing each
+particular ridge-pole, pigeon-hole, and shingle with a halo of fog."
+
+The plank was laid, and the passengers left the steamer. There were a few
+vehicles on the wharf for the accommodation of strangers; square, black,
+funereal-like, wheeled sarcophagi, eminently suggestive of burials and
+crape. Of course I did not ride in one, on account of unpleasant
+associations; but, placing my trunk in charge of a cart-boy with a
+long-tailed dray, and a diminutive pony, I walked through the silent
+streets towards "The Waverley."
+
+It was an inspiriting morning, that which I met upon the well-docked
+shores of Halifax, and although the side-walks of the city were neither
+bricked nor paved with flags, and the middle street was in its original
+and aboriginal clay, yet there was novelty in making its acquaintance.
+Everybody was asleep in that early fog; and when everybody woke up, it was
+done so quietly that the change was scarcely apparent.
+
+But the "Merlin," British mailer, is to sail at noon for the Shakspeare
+Island, and breakfast must be discussed, and then once more I am with you,
+my anti-bilious ocean. It chanced, however, I heard at breakfast, that the
+"Curlew," the mate of the "Merlin," had been lost a short time before at
+sea, and as there was but one, and not two steamers on the route, so that
+I would be detained longer with Prospero and Miranda than might be
+comfortable in the approaching hot weather, it came to pass that I had
+reluctantly to forego the projected voyage, and anchor my trunk of
+tropical clothing in room Number Twenty, Hotel Waverley. It was a great
+disappointment, to be sure, after such brilliant anticipations--but what
+is life without philosophy? When we cannot get what we wish, let us take
+what we may. Let the "Merlin" sail! I will visit, instead of those Islas
+Encantadas, "The Acadian land on the shore of the Basin of Minas." Let the
+"Merlin" sail! I will see the ruined walls of Louisburgh, and the harbors
+that once sheltered the Venetian sailor, Cabot. "Let her sail!" said I,
+and when the morn passed I saw her slender thread of smoke far off on the
+glassy ocean, without a sigh of regret, and resolutely turned my face from
+the promised palms to welcome the sturdy pines of the province.
+
+The city hill of Halifax rises proudly from its wharves and shipping in a
+multitude of mouse-colored wooden houses, until it is crowned by the
+citadel. As it is a garrison town, as well as a naval station, you meet in
+the streets red-coats and blue-jackets without number; yonder, with a
+brilliant staff, rides the Governor, Sir John Gaspard le Marchant, and
+here, in a carriage, is Admiral Fanshawe, C.B., of the "Boscawen"
+Flag-ship. Every thing is suggestive of impending hostilities; war, in
+burnished trappings, encounters you at the street corners, and the air
+vibrates from time to time with bugles, fifes, and drums. But oh! what a
+slow place it is! Even two Crimean regiments with medals and decorations
+could not wake it up. The little old houses seem to look with wondrous
+apathy as these pass by, as though they had given each other a quiet nudge
+with their quaint old gables, and whispered: "Keep still!"
+
+I wandered up and down those old streets in search of something
+picturesque, but in vain; there was scarcely any thing remarkable to
+arrest or interest a stranger. Such, too, might have been the appearance
+of other places I wot of, if those staunch old loyalists had had their way
+in the days gone by!
+
+But the Province House, which is built of a sort of yellow sand-stone,
+with pillars in front, and trees around it, is a well-proportioned
+building, with an air of great solidity and respectability. There are in
+it very fine full-lengths of King George II. and Queen Caroline, and two
+full-lengths of King George III. and Queen Charlotte; a full-length of
+Chief-Justice Haliburton, and another full-length, by Benjamin West, of
+another chief-justice, in a red robe and a formidable wig. Of these
+portraits, the two first-named are the most attractive; there is something
+so gay and festive in the appearance of King George II. and Queen
+Caroline, so courtly and sprightly, so graceful and amiable, that one is
+tempted to exclaim: "Bless the painter! what a genius he had!"
+
+And now, after taking a look at Dalhousie College with the parade in
+front, and the square town-clock, built by his graceless Highness the Duke
+of Kent, let us climb Citadel Hill, and see the formidable protector of
+town and harbor. Lively enough it is, this great stone fortress, with its
+soldiers, swarming in and out like bees, and the glimpses of country and
+harbor are surpassingly beautiful; but just at the margin of this slope
+below us, is the street, and that dark fringe of tenements skirting the
+edge of this green glacis is, I fear me, filled with vicious inmates.
+Yonder, where the blackened ruins of three houses are visible, a sailor
+was killed and thrown out of a window not long since, and his shipmates
+burned the houses down in consequence; there is something strikingly
+suggestive in looking upon this picture and on that.
+
+But if you cast your eyes over yonder magnificent bay, where vessels
+bearing flags of all nations are at anchor, and then let your vision sweep
+past and over the islands to the outlets beyond, where the quiet ocean
+lies, bordered with fog-banks that loom ominously at the boundary-line of
+the horizon, you will see a picture of marvellous beauty; for the coast
+scenery here transcends our own sea-shores, both in color and outline. And
+behind us again stretch large green plains, dotted with cottages, and
+bounded with undulating hills, with now and then glimpses of blue water;
+and as we walk down Citadel Hill, we feel half-reconciled to Halifax, its
+queer little streets, its quaint, mouldy old gables, its soldiers and
+sailors, its fogs, cabs, penny and half-penny tokens, and all its little,
+odd, outlandish peculiarities. Peace be with it! after all, it has a quiet
+charm for an invalid!
+
+The inhabitants of Halifax exhibit no trifling degree of freedom in
+language for a loyal people; they call themselves "Halligonians." This
+title, however, is sometimes pronounced "'Alligonians," by the more rigid,
+as a mark of respect to the old country. But innovation has been at work
+even here, for the majority of Her Majesty's subjects aspirate the letter
+H. Alas for innovation! who knows to what results this trifling error may
+lead? When Mirabeau went to the French court without buckles in his shoes,
+the barriers of etiquette were broken down, and the Swiss Guards fought in
+vain.
+
+There is one virtue in humanity peculiarly grateful to an invalid; to him
+most valuable, by him most appreciated, namely, hospitality. And that the
+'Alligonians are a kind and good people, abundant in hospitality, let me
+attest. One can scarcely visit a city occupied by those whose grandsires
+would have hung your rebel grandfathers (if they had caught them), without
+some misgivings. But I found the old Tory blood of three Halifax
+generations, yet warm and vital, happy to accept again a rebellious
+kinsman, a real live Yankee, in spite of Sam Slick and the Revolution.
+
+Let us take a stroll through these quiet streets. This is the Province
+House with its Ionic porch, and within it are the halls of Parliament, and
+offices of government. You see there is a red-coat with his sentry-box at
+either corner. Behind the house again are two other sentries on duty, all
+glittering with polished brass, and belted, gloved, and bayoneted, in
+splendid style. Of what use are these satellites, except to watch the
+building and keep it from running away? On the street behind the Province
+House is Fuller's American Book-store, which we will step into, and now
+among these books, fresh from the teeming presses of the States, we feel
+once more at home. Fuller preserves his equanimity in spite of the
+blandishments of royalty, and once a year, on the Fourth of July, hoists
+the "stars and stripes," and bravely takes dinner with the United States
+Consul, in the midst of lions and unicorns. Many pleasant hours I passed
+with Fuller, both in town and country. Near by, on the next corner, is the
+print-store of our old friends the Wetmores, and here one can see costly
+engravings of Landseer's fine pictures, and indeed whole portfolios of
+English art. But of all the pictures there was one, the most touching, the
+most suggestive! The presiding genius of the place, the unsceptred Queen
+of this little realm was before me--Faed's Evangeline! And this reminded
+me that I was in the Acadian land! This reminded me of Longfellow's
+beautiful pastoral, a poem that has spread a glory over Nova Scotia, a
+romantic interest, which our own land has not yet inspired! I knew that I
+was in Acadia; the historic scroll unrolled and stretched its long
+perspective to earlier days; it recalled De Monts, and the la Tours; Vice
+Admiral Destournelle, who ran upon his own sword, hard by, at Bedford
+Basin; and the brave Baron Castine.
+
+The largest settlement of the Acadians is in the neighborhood of Halifax.
+In the early mornings, you sometimes see a few of these people in the
+streets, or at the market, selling a dozen or so of fresh eggs, or a pair
+or two of woollen socks, almost the only articles of their simple
+commerce. But you must needs be early to see them; after eight o'clock,
+they will have all vanished. Chezzetcook, or, as it is pronounced by the
+'Alligonians, "Chizzencook," is twenty-two miles from Halifax, and as the
+Acadian peasant has neither horse nor mule, he or she must be off betimes
+to reach home before mid-day nuncheon. A score of miles on foot is no
+trifle, in all weathers, but Gabriel and Evangeline perform it cheerfully;
+and when the knitting-needle and the poultry shall have replenished their
+slender stock, off again they will start on their midnight pilgrimage,
+that they may reach the great city of Halifax before day-break.
+
+We must see Chezzetcook anon, gentle reader.
+
+Let us visit the market-place. Here is Masaniello, with his fish in great
+profusion. Codfish, three-pence or four-pence each; lobsters, a penny; and
+salmon of immense size at six-pence a pound (currency), equal to a dime of
+our money. If you prefer trout, you must buy them of these Micmac squaws
+in traditional blankets, a shilling a bunch; and you may also buy baskets
+of rainbow tints from these copper ladies for a mere trifle; and as every
+race has a separate vocation here, only of the negroes can you purchase
+berries. "This is a busy town," one would say, drawing his conclusion from
+the market-place; for the shifting crowd, in all costumes and in all
+colors, Indians, negroes, soldiers, sailors, civilians, and
+Chizzincookers, make up a pageant of no little theatrical effect and
+bustle. Again: if you are still strong in limb, and ready for a longer
+walk, which I, leaning upon my staff, am not, we will visit the encampment
+at Point Pleasant. The Seventy-sixth Regiment has pitched its tents here
+among the evergreens. Yonder you see the soldiers, looking like masses of
+red fruit amidst the spicy verdure of the spruces. Row upon row of tents,
+and file upon file of men standing at ease, each one before his knapsack,
+his little leather household, with its shoes, socks, shirts, brushes,
+razors, and other furniture open for inspection. And there is Sir John
+Gaspard le Marchant, with a brilliant staff, engaged in the pleasant duty
+of picking a personal quarrel with each medal-decorated hero, and marking
+down every hole in his socks, and every gap in his comb, for the honor of
+the service. And this Point Pleasant is a lovely place, too, with a broad
+look-out in front, for yonder lies the blue harbor and the ocean deeps.
+Just back of the tents is the cookery of the camp, huge mounds of loose
+stones, with grooves at the top, very like the architecture of a
+cranberry-pie; and if the simile be an homely one, it is the best that
+comes to mind to convey an idea of those regimental stoves, with their
+seams and channels of fire, over which potatoes bubble, and roast and
+boiled scud forth a savory odor. And here and there, wistfully regarding
+this active scene, amid the green shrubbery, stands a sentinel before his
+sentry-box, built of spruce boughs, wrought into a mimic military temple,
+and fanciful enough, too, for a garden of roses. And look you now! If here
+be not Die Vernon, with "habit, hat, and feather," cantering gayly down
+the road between the tents, and behind her a stately groom in gold-lace
+band, top-boots, and buck-skins. A word in your ear--that pleasant
+half-English face is the face of the Governor's daughter.
+
+The road to Point Pleasant is a favorite promenade in the long Acadian
+twilights. Mid-way between the city and the Point lies "Kissing Bridge,"
+which the Halifax maidens sometimes pass over. Who gathers toll nobody
+knows, but I thought there was a mischievous glance in the blue eyes of
+those passing damsels that said plainly they could tell, "an' they would."
+I love to look upon those happy, healthy English faces; those ruddy
+cheeks, flushed with exercise, and those well-developed forms, not less
+attractive because of the sober-colored dresses and brown flat hats, in
+which, o' summer evenings, they glide towards the mysterious precincts of
+"The Bridge." What a tale those old arches could tell? _?Quien sabe?_ Who
+knows?
+
+But next to "Kissing Bridge," the prominent object of interest, now, to
+Halifax ladies, is the great steamer that lies at the Admiralty, the
+Oriental screw-steamer Himalaya--the transport ship of two regiments of
+the heroes of Balaklava, and Alma, and Inkerman, and Sebastopol. A vast
+specimen of naval architecture; an unusual sight in these waters; a marine
+vehicle to carry twenty-five hundred men! Think of this moving town; this
+portable village of royal belligerents covered with glory and medals,
+breasting the billows! Is there not something glorious in such a
+spectacle? And yet I was told by a brave officer, who wore the decorations
+of the four great battles on his breast, that of his regiment, the
+Sixty-third, but thirty men were now living, and of the thirty, seventeen
+only were able to attend drill. That regiment numbered a thousand at Alma!
+
+No gun broke the silence of the Sabbath morning, as the giant ship moved
+from the Admiralty, on the day following our visit to Point Pleasant, and
+silently furrowed her path oceanward on her return to Gibraltar. A long
+line of thick bituminous smoke, above the low house-tops, was the only
+hint of her departure, to the citizens. It was a grand sight to see her
+vast bulk moving among the islands in the harbor, almost as large as they.
+
+And now, being Sunday, after looking in at the Cathedral, which does not
+represent the usual pomp of the Romish Church, we will visit the Garrison
+Chapel. A bugle-call from barracks, or Citadel Hill, salutes us as we
+stroll towards the chapel; otherwise, Halifax is quiet, as becomes the
+day. Presently we see the long scarlet lines approaching, and presently
+the men, with orderly step, file from the street through the porch into
+the gallery and pews. Then the officers of field and line, of ordnance and
+commissary departments, take their allotted seats below. Then the chimes
+cease, and the service begins. Most devoutly we prayed for the Queen, and
+omitted the President of the United States.
+
+As the Crimeans ebbed from the church, and, floating off in the distance,
+wound slowly up Citadel Hill against the quiet clear summer sky, I could
+not but think of these lines from Thomas Miller's "Summer Morning:"
+
+      "A troop of soldiers pass with stately pace,
+        Their early music wakes the village street:
+      Through yon turned blinds peeps many a lovely face,
+        Smiling perchance unconsciously how sweet!
+      One does the carpet press with blue-veined feet,
+        Not thinking how her fair neck she exposes,
+      But with white foot timing the drum's deep beat;
+        And when again she on her pillow dozes,
+      Dreams how she'll dance that tune 'mong summer's sweetest roses
+
+      "So let her dream, even as beauty should!
+        Let the while plumes athwart her slumbers away!
+      Why should I steep their swaling snows in blood,
+        Or bid her think of battle's grim array?
+      Truth will too soon her blinding star display,
+        And like a fearful comet meet her eyes.
+      And yet how peaceful they pass on their way!
+        How grand the sight as up the hill they rise!
+      _I will not think of cities reddening in the skies._"
+
+It was my fate to see next day a great celebration. It was the celebration
+of peace between England and Russia. Peace having been proclaimed, all
+Halifax was in arms! Loyalty threw out her bunting to the breeze, and
+fired her crackers. The civic authorities presented an address to the
+royal representative of Her Majesty, requesting His Excellency to transmit
+the same to the foot of the throne. Militia-men shot off municipal cannon;
+bells echoed from the belfries; the shipping fluttered with signals; and
+Citadel Hill telegraph, in a multitude of flags, announced that ships,
+brigs, schooners, and steamers, in vast quantities, "were below." Nor was
+the peace alone the great feature of the holiday. The eighth of June, the
+natal day of Halifax, was to be celebrated also. For Halifax was founded,
+so says the Chronicle, on the eighth of June, 1749, by the Hon. Edward
+Cornwallis (not our Cornwallis), and the 'Alligonians in consequence made
+a specialty of that fact once a year. And to add to the attraction, the
+Board of Works had decided to lay the corner-stone of a Lunatic Asylum in
+the afternoon; so there was no end to the festivities. And, to crown all,
+an immense fog settled upon the city.
+
+Leaning upon my friend Robert's arm and my staff, I went forth to see the
+grand review. When we arrived upon the ground, in the rear of Citadel
+Hill, we saw the outline of something glimmering through the fog, which
+Robert said were shrubs, and which I said were soldiers. A few minutes'
+walking proved my position to be correct; we found ourselves in the centre
+of a three-sided square of three regiments, within which the civic
+authorities were loyally boring Sir John Gaspard le Merchant and staff, to
+the verge of insanity, with the Address which was to be laid at the foot
+of the throne. Notwithstanding the despairing air with which His
+Excellency essayed to reply to this formidable paper, I could not help
+enjoying the scene; and I also noted, when the reply was over, and the few
+ragamuffins near His Excellency cheered bravely, and the band struck up
+the national anthem, how gravely and discreetly the rest of the
+'Alligonians, in the circumambient fog, echoed the sentiment by a
+silence, that, under other circumstances, would have been disheartening.
+What a quiet people it is! As I said before, to make the festivities
+complete, in the afternoon there was a procession to lay the corner-stone
+of a Lunatic Asylum. But oh! how the jolly old rain poured down upon the
+luckless pilgrimage! There were the "Virgins" of Masonic Lodge No.--, the
+Army Masons, in scarlet; the African Masons, in ivory and black; the
+Scotch-piper Mason, with his legs in enormous plaid trowsers, defiant of
+Shakspeare's theory about the sensitiveness of some men, when the bag-pipe
+sings i' the nose; the Clerical Mason in shovel hat; the municipal
+artillery; the Sons of Temperance, and the band. Away they marched, with
+drum and banner, key and compasses, BIBLE and sword, to Dartmouth, in
+great feather, for the eyes of Halifax were upon them.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER II.
+
+Fog clears Up--The One Idea not comprehended by the American Mind--A June
+Morning in the Province--The Beginning of the Evangeliad--Intuitive
+Perception of Genius--The Forest Primeval--Acadian Peasants--A Negro
+Settlement--Deer's Castle--The Road to Chezzetcook--Acadian Scenery--A
+Glance at the Early History of Acadia--First Encroachments of the
+English--The Harbor and Village of Chezzetcook--Etc., etc.
+
+
+The celebration being over, the fog cleared up. Loyalty furled her flags;
+the civic authorities were silent; the signal-telegraph was put upon short
+allowance. But the 'Alligonian papers next day were loaded to the muzzle
+with typographical missiles. From them we learned that there had been a
+great amount of enthusiasm displayed at the celebration, and "everything
+had passed off happily in spite of the weather." "Old Chebucto" was right
+side up, and then she quietly sparkled out again.
+
+There is one solitary idea, and only one, not comprehensible by the
+American mind. I say it feebly, but I say it fearlessly, there is an idea
+which does not present anything to the American mind but a blank. Every
+metaphysical dog has worried the life out of every abstraction but this. I
+strike my stick down, cross my hands, and rest my chin upon them, in
+support of my position. Let anybody attempt to controvert it! "I say, that
+in the American mind, there is no such thing as the conception even, of an
+idea of tranquillity!" I once for a little repose, went to a "quiet
+New-England village," as it was called, and the first thing that attracted
+my attention there was a statement in the village paper, that no less than
+twenty persons in that quiet place had obtained patent-rights for
+inventions and improvements during the past year. They had been at
+everything, from an apple-parer to a steam-engine. In the next column was
+an article "on capital punishment," and the leader was thoroughly fired up
+with a bran-new project for a railroad to the Pacific. That day I dined
+with a member of Congress, a peripatetic lecturer, and the principal
+citizens of the township, and took the return cars at night amid the glare
+of a torch-light procession. Repose, forsooth? Why, the great busy city
+seemed to sing lullaby, after the shock of that quiet New-England village.
+
+But in this quaint, mouldy old town, one _can_ get an idea of the calm and
+the tranquil--especially after a celebration. It has been said: "Halifax
+is the only place that is finished." One can readily believe it. The
+population has been twenty-five thousand for the last twenty-five years,
+and a new house is beyond the memory of the oldest inhabitant.
+
+The fog cleared up. And one of those inexpressibly balmy days followed.
+June in Halifax represents our early May. The trees are all in bud; the
+peas in the garden-beds are just marking the lines of drills with faint
+stripes of green. Here and there a solitary bird whets his bill on the
+bare bark of a forked bough. The chilly air has departed, and in its place
+is a sense of freshness, of dewiness, of fragrance and delight. A sense of
+these only, an instinctive feeling, that anticipates the odor of the rose
+before the rose is blown. On such a morning we went forth to visit
+Chezzetcook, and here, gentle reader, beginneth the Evangeliad.
+
+The intuitive perception of genius is its most striking element. I was
+told by a traveller and an artist, who had been for nearly twenty years on
+the northwest coast, that he had read Irving's "Astoria" as a mere
+romance, in early life, but when he visited the place itself, he found
+that _he was reading the book over again_; that Irving's descriptions were
+so minute and perfect, that he was at home in Astoria, and familiar, not
+only with the country, but with individuals residing there; "for," said
+he, "although many of the old explorers, trappers, and adventurers
+described in the book were dead and gone, yet I found the descendants of
+those pioneers had the peculiar characteristics of their fathers; and the
+daughter of Concomly, whom I met, was as interesting a historical
+personage at home as Queen Elizabeth would have been in Westminster Abbey.
+At Vancouver's Island," said the traveller, "I found an old dingy copy of
+the book itself, embroidered and seamed with interlineations and marginal
+notes of hundreds of pens, in every style of chirography, yet all
+attesting the faithfulness of the narrative. I would have given anything
+for that copy, but I do not believe I could have purchased it with the
+price of the whole island."
+
+What but that wonderful clement of genius, _intuitive perception_, could
+have produced such a book? Irving was never on the Columbia River, never
+saw the northwest coast. "The materials were furnished him from the
+log-books and journals of the explorers themselves," says Dr. Dryasdust.
+True, my learned friend, but suppose I furnish you with pallet and colors,
+with canvas and brushes, the materials of art, will you paint me as I sit
+here, and make a living, breathing picture, that will survive my ashes for
+centuries? "I have not the genius of the artist," replies Dr. Dryasdust.
+Then, my dear Doctor, we will put the materials aside for the present, and
+venture a little farther with our theory of "intuitive perception."
+
+Longfellow never saw the Acadian Land, and yet thus his pastoral begins:
+
+    "This is the forest primeval. The murmuring pines and the hemlocks."
+
+This is the opening line of the poem: this is the striking feature of Nova
+Scotia scenery. The shores welcome us with waving masses of foliage, but
+not the foliage of familiar woods. As we travel on this hilly road to the
+Acadian settlement, we look up and say, "This is the forest primeval," but
+it is the forest of the poem, not that of our childhood. There is not, in
+all this vast greenwood, an oak, an elm, a chestnut, a beech, a cedar or
+maple. For miles and miles, we see nothing against the clear blue sky but
+the spiry tops of evergreens; or perhaps, a gigantic skeleton, "a
+rampike," pine or hemlock, scathed and spectral, stretches its gaunt
+outline above its fellows. Spruces and firs, such as adorn our gardens,
+cluster in never-ending profusion; and aromatic and unwonted odor pervades
+the air--the spicy breath of resinous balsams. Sometimes the sense is
+touched with a new fragrance, and presently we see a buckthorn, white
+with a thousand blossoms. These, however, only meet us at times. The
+distinct and characteristic feature of the forest is conveyed in that one
+line of the poet.
+
+And yet another feature of the forest primeval presents itself, not less
+striking and unfamiliar. From the dead branches of those skeleton pines
+and hemlocks, these _rampikes_, hang masses of white moss, snow-white,
+amid the dark verdure. An actor might wear such a beard in the play of
+King Lear. Acadian children wore such to imitate "_grandpere_," centuries
+ago; Cowley's trees are "Patricians," these are Patriarchs.
+
+                            ----"The murmuring pines and the hemlocks,
+    _Bearded with moss_, and in garments green, indistinct in the twilight,
+    Stand like Druids of old, with voices sad and prophetic,
+    _Stand like harpers hoar with beards that rest on their bosoms_."
+
+We are re-reading Evangeline line by line. And here, at this turn of the
+road, we encounter two Acadian peasants. The man wears an old tarpaulin
+hat, home-spun worsted shirt, and tarry canvas trowsers; innovation has
+certainly changed him, in costume at least, from the Acadian of our fancy;
+but the pretty brown-skinned girl beside him, with lustrous eyes, and soft
+black hair under her hood, with kirtle of antique form, and petticoat of
+holiday homespun, is true to tradition. There is nothing modern in the
+face or drapery of that figure. She might have stepped out of Normandy a
+century ago,
+
+    "Wearing her Norman cap, and her kirtle of blue, and the ear-rings
+    Brought in the olden time from France, and since, as an heir-loom,
+    Handed down from mother to child, through long generations."
+
+Alas! the ear-rings are worn out with age! but save them, the picture is
+very true to the life. As we salute the pair, we learn they have been
+walking on their way since dawn from distant Chezzetcook: the man speaks
+English with a strong French accent; the maiden only the language of her
+people on the banks of the Seine.
+
+    "Fair was she to behold, that maiden of seventeen summers,
+    Black were her eyes as the berry that grows on the thorn by the
+            way-side:
+    Black, yet how softly they gleamed beneath the brown shade of her
+            tresses."
+
+Who can help repeating the familiar words of the idyl amid such scenery,
+and in such a presence?
+
+"We are now approaching a Negro settlement," said my _compagnon de voyage_
+after we had passed the Acadians; "and we will take a fresh horse at
+Deer's Castle; this is rough travelling." In a few minutes we saw a log
+house perched on a bare bone of granite that stood out on a ragged
+hill-side, and presently another cabin of the same kind came in view. Then
+other scare-crow edifices wheeled in sight as we drove along; all forlorn,
+all patched with mud, all perched on barren knolls, or gigantic bars of
+granite, high up, like ragged redoubts of poverty, armed at every window
+with a formidable artillery of old hats, rolls of rags, quilts, carpets,
+and indescribable bundles, or barricaded with boards to keep out the air
+and sunshine.
+
+"You do not mean to say those wretched hovels are occupied by living
+beings?" said I to my companion.
+
+"Oh yes," he replied, with a quiet smile, "these are your people, your
+_fugitives_."
+
+"But, surely," said I, "they do not live in those airy nests during your
+intensely cold winters?"
+
+"Yes," replied my companion, "and they have a pretty hard time of it.
+Between you and I," he continued, "they are a miserable set of devils;
+they won't work, and they shiver it out here as well as they can. During
+the most of the year they are in a state of abject want, and then they are
+very humble. But in the strawberry season they make a little money, and
+while it lasts are fat and saucy enough. We can't do anything with them,
+they won't work. There they are in their cabins, just as you see them, a
+poor, woe-begone set of vagabonds; a burden upon the community; of no use
+to themselves, nor to anybody else."
+
+"Ye who listen with credulity to the whispers of fancy and pursue with
+eagerness the phantoms of hope, who expect that age will perform the
+promises of youth, and that the deficiencies of the present day will be
+supplied by the morrow, attend to the history of Rasselas, here in his
+happy valley."
+
+"Now then," said my companion, as this trite quotation was passing through
+my mind. The wagon had stopped in front of a little, weather-beaten house
+that kept watch and ward over an acre of greensward, broken ever and anon
+with a projecting bone of granite, and not only fenced with stone, but
+dotted also with various mounds of pebbles, some as large as a
+paving-stone, and some much larger. This was "Deer's Castle." In front of
+the castle was a swing-sign with an inscription:
+
+    "William Deer, who lives here,
+    Keeps the best of wine and beer,
+    Brandy, and cider, and other good cheer;
+    Fish, and ducks, and moose, and deer.
+    Caught or shot in the woods just here,
+    With cutlets, or steaks, as will appear;
+    If you will stop you need not fear
+    But you will be well treated by WILLIAM DEER,
+    And by Mrs. DEER, his dearest, deary dear!"
+
+I quote from memory. The precise words have escaped me, but the above is
+the substance of the sense, and the metre is accurate.
+
+It was a little, weather-beaten shanty of boards, that clung like flakes
+to the frame-work. A show-box of a room, papered with select wood-cuts
+from _Punch_ and the _Illustrated London News_, was the grand banquet-hall
+of the castle. And indeed it was a castle compared with the wretched
+redoubts of poverty around it. Here we changed horses, or rather we
+exchanged our horse, for a diminutive, bantam pony, that, under the
+supervision of "Bill," was put inside the shafts and buckled up to the
+very roots of the harness. This Bill, the son and heir of the Castellen,
+was a good-natured yellow boy, about fifteen years of age, with such a
+development of under-lip and such a want of development elsewhere, that
+his head looked like a scoop. There was an infinite fund of humor in
+Billy, an uncontrollable sense of the comic, that would break out in spite
+of his grave endeavors to put himself under guard. It exhibited itself in
+his motions and gestures, in the flourish of his hands as he buckled up
+the pony, in the looseness of his gait, the swing of his head, and the
+roll of his eyes. His very language was pregnant with mirth; thus:
+
+"Bill!"
+
+"Cheh, cheh, sir? cheh."
+
+"Is your father at home?"
+
+"Cheh, cheh, father? cheh, cheh."
+
+"Yes, your father?"
+
+"Cheh, cheh, at home, sah? cheh."
+
+"Yes, is your father at home?"
+
+"I guess so, cheh, cheh."
+
+"What is the matter with you, Bill? what are you laughing about?"
+
+"Cheh, cheh, I don't know, sah, cheh, cheh."
+
+"Well, take out the horse, and put in the pony; we want to go to
+Chizzencook."
+
+"Cheh, Cheh'z'ncook? Yes, sah," and so with that facetious gait and droll
+twist of the elbow, Bill swings himself against the horse and unbuckles
+him in a perpetual jingle of merriment.
+
+"And this," said I to my companion, as we looked from the door-step of the
+shanty upon the spiry tops of evergreens in the valley below us, and at
+the wretched log-huts that were roosting up on the bare rocks around us,
+"this is the negro settlement?"
+
+"Yes," he replied.
+
+"Are all the negro settlements in Nova Scotia as miserable, as this?"
+
+"Yes," he answered; "you can tell a negro settlement at once by its
+appearance."
+
+"Then," I thought to myself, "I would, for poor Cuffee's sake, that
+much-vaunted British sympathy and British philanthropy had something
+better to show to an admiring world than the prospect around Deer's
+Castle."
+
+Notwithstanding the very generous banquet spread before the eyes of the
+traveller, on the sign-board, we were compelled to dismiss the pleasant
+fiction of the poet upon the announcement of Mrs. Deer, that "Nathin was
+in de house 'cept bacon," and she "reckoned" she "might have an egg or two
+by de time we got back from Chizzincook."
+
+"But you have plenty of trout here in these streams?"
+
+"Oh! yes, plenty, sah."
+
+"Then let Bill catch some trout for us."
+
+And so the pony being strapped up and buckled to the wagon, we left the
+negro settlement for the French settlement. They are all in "settlements,"
+here, the people of this Province. Centuries are mutable, but prejudices
+never alter in the Colonies.
+
+But we are again in the Acadian forest--a truce to moralizing--let us
+enjoy the scenery. The road we are on is but a few miles from the
+sea-shore, but the ocean is hidden from view by the thick woods. As we
+ride along, however, we skirt the edges of coves and inlets that
+frequently break in upon the landscape. There is a chain of fresh-water
+lakes also along this road; sometimes we cross a bridge over a rushing
+torrent; sometimes a calm expanse of water, doubling the evergreens at its
+margin, comes in view; anon a gleam of sapphire strikes through the
+verdure, and an ocean-bay with its shingly beach curves in and out between
+the piny slopes. At last we reach the crest of a hill, and at the foot of
+the road is another bridge, a house, a wharf, and two or three coasters at
+anchor in a diminutive harbor. This is "Three Fathom Harbor." We are
+within a mile of Chezzetcook.
+
+Now if it were not for Pony we should press on to the settlement, but we
+must give Pony a respite. Pony is an enthusiastic little fellow, but his
+lungs are too much for him, they have blown him out like a bagpipe. A mile
+farther and then eleven miles back to Deer's Castle, is a great
+undertaking for so small an animal. In the meanwhile, we will ourselves
+rest and take some "home-brewed" with the landlord, who is harbor-master,
+inn-keeper, store-keeper, fisherman, shipper, skipper, mayor, and
+corporation of Three Fathom Harbor, beside being father of the town, for
+all the children in it are his own. A draught of foaming ale, a whiff or
+two from a clay pipe, a look out of the window to be assured that Pony had
+subsided, and we take leave of the corporate authority of Three Fathom
+Harbor, and are once more on the road.
+
+One can scarcely draw near to a settlement of these poor refugees without
+a feeling of pity for the sufferings they have endured; and this spark of
+pity quickly warms and kindles into indignation when we think of the story
+of hapless Acadia--the grievous wrong done those simple-minded, harmless,
+honest people, by the rapacious, free-booting adventurers of merry
+England, and those precious filibusters, our Pilgrim Fathers.
+
+The early explorations of the French in the young hemisphere which
+Columbus had revealed to the older half of the world, have been almost
+entirely obscured by the greater events which followed. Nearly a century
+after the first colonies were established in New France, New England was
+discovered. I shall not dwell upon the importance of this event, as it has
+been so often alluded to by historians and others; and, indeed, I believe
+it is generally acknowledged now, that the finding of the continent itself
+would have been a failure had it not been for the discovery of
+Massachusetts. As this, however, happened long after the establishment of
+Acadia, and as the Pilgrim Fathers did not interfere with their French
+neighbors for a surprising length of time, it will be as well not to
+expatiate upon it at present. In the course of a couple of centuries or
+so, I shall have occasion to allude to it, in connection with the story of
+the neutral French.
+
+In the year 1504, says the Chronicle, some fishermen from Brittany
+discovered the island that now forms the eastern division of Nova Scotia,
+and named it "Cape Breton." Two years after, Dennys of Harfleur, made a
+rude chart of the vast sheet of water that stretches from Cape Breton and
+Newfoundland to the mainland. In 1534, Cartier, sailing under the orders
+of the French Admiral, Chabot, visited the coast of Newfoundland, crossed
+the gulf Dennys had seen and described twenty-eight years before, and took
+possession of the country around it, in the name of the king, his master.
+As Cartier was recrossing the Gulf, on his return voyage, he named the
+waters he was sailing upon "St. Lawrence," in honor of that saint whose
+day chanced to turn up on the calendar at that very happy time. According
+to some accounts, Baron de Lery established a settlement here as early as
+1518. Some authorities state that a French colony was planted on the St.
+Lawrence as early as 1524, and soon after others were formed in Canada and
+Nova Scotia. In 1535, Cartier again crossed the waters of the Gulf, and
+following the course of the river, penetrated into the interior until he
+reached an island upon which was a hill; this he named "_Mont Real_."
+Various adventurers followed these first discoverers and explorers, and
+the coast was from time to time visited by French ships, in pursuit of the
+fisheries.
+
+Among these expeditions, one of the most eminent was that of Champlain,
+who, in the year 1609, penetrated as far south as the head waters of the
+Hudson River; visited Lake George and the cascades of Ticonderoga; and
+gave his own name to the lake which lies between the proud shores of New
+York and New England. Thence le Sr. Champlain, "_Capitaine pour le Roy_,"
+travelled westward, as far as the country of the Hurons, giving to the
+discovered territory the title of Nouvelle France; and to the lakes
+Ontario, Erie, and Huron, the names of St. Louis, Mer Douce, and Grand
+Lac; which any person can see by referring to the original chart in the
+State library of New York. But before these discoveries of Champlain, an
+important step had been taken by the parent government. In the year 1603,
+an expedition, under the patronage of Henry IV., sailed for the New World.
+The leader of this was a Protestant gentleman, by name De Monts. As the
+people under his command were both Protestants and Catholics, De Monts had
+permission given in his charter to establish, as one of the fundamental
+laws of the Colony, the free exercise of "religious worship," upon
+condition of settling in the country, and teaching the Roman Catholic
+faith to the savages. Heretofore, all the countries discovered by the
+French had been called New France, but in De Monts' Patent, that portion
+of the territory lying east of the Penobscot and embracing the present
+provinces of New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, and part of Maine was named
+"Acadia."
+
+The little colony under De Monts flourished in spite of the rigors of the
+climate, and its commander, with a few men, explored the coast on the St.
+Lawrence and the bay of Fundy, as well as the rivers of Maine, the
+Penobscot, the Kennebec, the Saco and Casco Bay, and even coasted as far
+south as the long, hook-shaped cape that is now known in all parts of the
+world as the famous Cape Cod. In a few years, the settlement began to
+assume a smiling aspect; houses were erected, and lands were tilled; the
+settlers planted seeds and gathered the increase thereof; gardens sprang
+out of the wilderness, peace and order reigned everywhere, and the savage
+tribes around viewed the kind, light-hearted colonists with admiration and
+fraternal good-will. It is pleasant to read this part of the
+chronicle--of their social meetings in the winter at the banqueting hall;
+of the order of "_Le Bon Temps_," established by Champlain; of the great
+pomp and insignia of office (a collar, a napkin, and staff) of the grand
+chamberlain, whose government only lasted for a day, when he was
+supplanted by another; of their dinners in the sunshine amid the
+corn-fields; of their boats, banners, and music on the water; of their
+gentleness, simplicity, and honest, hearty enjoyments. These halcyon days
+soon came to an end. The infamous Captain Argall, hearing that a number of
+white people had settled in this hyperborean region, set sail from
+Jamestown for the colony, in a ship of fourteen guns, in the midst of a
+profound peace, to burn, pillage, and slaughter the intruders upon the
+territory of Virginia! Finding the people unprepared for defence, his
+enterprise was successful. Argall took possession of the lands, in the
+name of the King of England, laid waste some of the settlements, burned
+the forts, and, under circumstances of peculiar perfidy, induced a number
+of the poor Acadians to go with him to Jamestown. Here they were treated
+as pirates, thrown into prison, and sentenced to be executed. Argall, who
+it seems had some touch of manhood in his nature, upon this confessed to
+the Governor, Sir Thomas Dale, that these people had a patent from the
+King of France, which he had stolen from them and concealed, and that they
+were not pirates, but simply colonists. Upon this, Sir Thomas Dale was
+induced to fit out an expedition to dislodge the rest of them from Acadia.
+Three ships were got ready, the brave Captain Argall was appointed
+Commander-in-chief, and the first colony was terminated by fire and sword
+before the end of the year. This was in 1613, ten years after the first
+planting of Acadia.
+
+"Some of the settlers," says the Chronicle, "finding resistance to be
+unavailing, fled to the woods." What became of them history does not
+inform us, but with a graceful appearance of candor, relates that the
+transaction itself "was not approved of by the court of England, nor
+resented by that of France." Five years afterward we find Captain Argall
+appointed Deputy-Governor of Virginia.
+
+This outrage was the initial letter only of a series that for nearly a
+century and a half after, made the successive colonists of Acadia the prey
+of their rapacious neighbors. We shall take up the story from time to
+time, gentle reader, as we voyage around and through the province.
+Meanwhile let us open our eyes again upon the present, for just below us
+lies the village and harbor of Chezzetcook.
+
+A conspiracy of earth and air and ocean had certainly broken out that
+morning, for the ominous lines of Fog and Mist were hovering afar off upon
+the boundaries of the horizon. Under the crystalline azure of a summer
+sky, the water of the harbor had an intensity of color rarely seen, except
+in the pictures of the most ultra-marine painters. Here and there a green
+island or a fishing-boat rested upon the surface of the tranquil blue. For
+miles and miles the eye followed indented grassy slopes, that rolled away
+on either side of the harbor, and the most delicate pencil could scarcely
+portray the exquisite line of creamy sand that skirted their edges and
+melted off in the clear margin of the water. Occasional little cottages
+nestle among these green banks, not the Acadian houses of the poem, "with
+thatched roofs, and dormer windows projecting," but comfortable,
+homely-looking buildings of modern shapes, shingled and un-weather-cocked.
+No cattle visible, no ploughs nor horses. Some of the men are at work in
+the open air; all in tarpaulin hats, all in tarry canvas trowsers. These
+are boat-builders and coopers. Simple, honest, and good-tempered enough;
+you see how courteously they salute us as we ride by them. In front of
+every house there is a knot of curious little faces; Young Acadia is out
+this bright day, and although Young Acadia has not a clean face on, yet
+its hair is of the darkest and softest, and its eyes are lustrous and
+most delicately fringed. Yonder is one of the veterans of the place, so we
+will tie Pony to the fence, and rest here.
+
+"Fine day you have here," said my companion.
+
+"Oh yes! oh yes!" (with great deference and politeness).
+
+"Can you give us anything in the way of refreshment? a glass of ale, or a
+glass of milk?"
+
+"Oh no!" (with the unmistakable shrug of the shoulders); "we no have milk,
+no have ale, no have brandy, no have noting here: ah! we very poor peep'
+here." (Poor people here.)
+
+"Can we sit down and rest in one of your houses?"
+
+"Oh yes! oh yes!" (with great politeness and alacrity); "walk in, walk in;
+we very poor peep', no milk, no brandy: walk in."
+
+The little house is divided by a partition. The larger half is the hall,
+the parlor, kitchen, and nursery in one. A huge fire-place, an antique
+spinning-wheel, a bench, and two settles, or high-backed seats, a table, a
+cradle and a baby very wide awake, complete the inventory. In the
+apartment adjoining is a bin that represents, no doubt, a French bedstead
+of the early ages. Everything is suggestive of boat-builders, of Robinson
+Crusoe work, of undisciplined hands, that have had to do with ineffectual
+tools. As you look at the walls, you see the house is built of timbers,
+squared and notched together, and caulked with moss or oakum.
+
+"Very poor peep' here," says the old man, with every finger on his hands
+stretched out to deprecate the fact. By the fire-side sits an old woman,
+in a face all cracked and seamed with wrinkles, like a picture by one of
+the old masters. "Yes," she echoes, "very poor peep' here, and very cold,
+too, sometime." By this time the door-way is entirely packed with little,
+black, shining heads, and curious faces, all shy, timid, and yet not the
+less good-natured. Just back of the cradle are two of the Acadian women,
+"knitters i' the sun," with features that might serve for Palmer's
+sculptures; and eyes so lustrous, and teeth so white, and cheeks so rich
+with brown and blush, that if one were a painter and not an invalid, he
+might pray for canvas and pallet as the very things most wanted in the
+critical moment of his life. Faed's picture does not convey the Acadian
+face. The mouth and chin are more delicate in the real than in the ideal
+Evangeline. If you look again, after the first surprise is over, you will
+see that these are the traditional pictures, such as we might have fancied
+they should be, after reading the idyl. From the forehead of each you see
+at a glance how the dark mass of hair has been combed forward and over the
+face, that the little triangular Norman cap might be tied across the crown
+of the head. Then the hair is thrown back again over this, so as to form a
+large bow in front, then re-tied at the crown with colored ribbons. Then
+you see it has been plaited in a shining mesh, brought forward again, and
+braided with ribbons, so that it forms, as it were, a pretty coronet,
+well-placed above those brilliant eyes and harmonious features. This, with
+the antique kirtle and picturesque petticoat, is an Acadian portrait. Such
+is it now, and such it was, no doubt, when De Monts sailed from Havre de
+Grace, two centuries and a half ago. In visiting this kind and simple
+people, one can scarcely forget the little chapel. The young French priest
+was in his garden, behind the little tenement, set apart for him by the
+piety of his flock, and readily admitted us. A small place indeed was it,
+but clean and orderly, the altar decorated with toy images, that were not
+too large for a Christmas table. Yet I have been in the grandest
+tabernacles of episcopacy with lesser feelings of respect than those which
+were awakened in that tiny Acadian chapel. Peace be with it, and with its
+gentle flock.
+
+"Pony is getting impatient," said my companion, as we reverently stepped
+from the door-way, "and it is a long ride to Halifax." So, with courteous
+salutation on both sides, we take leave of the good father, and once more
+are on the road to Deer's Castle.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER III.
+
+A Romp at Three Fathom Harbor--The Moral Condition of the Acadians--The
+Wild Flowers of Nova Scotia--Mrs. Deer's Wit--No Fish--Picton--The
+Balaklava Schooner--And a Voyage to Louisburgh.
+
+
+Pony is very enterprising. We are soon at the top of the first long hill,
+and look again, for the last time, upon the Acadian village. How cosily
+and quietly it is nestled down amid those graceful green slopes! What a
+bit of poetry it is in itself! Jog on, Pony!
+
+The corporate authority of Three Fathom Harbor has been improving his time
+during our absence. As we drive up we find him in high romp with a brace
+of buxom, red-cheeked, Nova Scotia girls, who have just alighted from a
+wagon. The landlady of Three Fathom Harbor, in her matronly cap, is
+smiling over the little garden gate at her lord, who is pursuing his
+Daphnes, and catching, and kissing, and hugging, first one and then the
+other, to his heart's content. Notwithstanding their screams, and slaps,
+and robust struggles, it is very plain to be seen that the skipper's
+attentions are not very unwelcome. Leaving his fair friends, he catches
+Pony by the bridle and stops us with a hospitable--"Come in--you must come
+in; just a glass of ale, you'll want it;" and sure enough, we found when
+we came to taste the ale, that we did want it, and many thanks to him, the
+kind-hearted landlord of the Three Fathoms.
+
+"It is surprising," said I to my companion, as we rolled again over the
+road, "that these people, these Acadians, should still preserve their
+language and customs, so near to your principal city, and yet with no more
+affiliation than if they were on an island in the South Seas!"
+
+"The reason of that," he replied, "is because they stick to their own
+settlement; never see anything of the world except Halifax early in the
+morning; never marry out of their own set; never read--I do not believe
+one of them can read or write--and are in fact _so slow_, so destitute of
+enterprise, so much behind the age"----
+
+I could not avoid smiling. My companion observed it. "What are you
+thinking about?" said he.
+
+The truth is, I was thinking of Halifax, which was anything but a _fast_
+place; but I simply observed:
+
+"Your settlements here are somewhat novel to a stranger. That a mere
+handful of men should be so near your city, and yet so isolated: that this
+village of a few hundred only, should retain its customs and language,
+intact, for generation after generation, within walking distance of
+Halifax, seems to me unaccountable. But let me ask you," I continued,
+"what is the moral condition of the Acadians?"
+
+"As for that," said he, "I believe it stands pretty fair. I do not think
+an Acadian would cheat, lie, or steal; I know that the women are virtuous,
+and if I had a thousand pounds in my pocket I could sleep with confidence
+in any of their houses, although all the doors were unlocked and everybody
+in the village knew it."
+
+"That," said I, "reminds one of the poem:
+
+    'Neither locks had they to their doors, nor bars to their windows,
+    But their dwellings were open as day and the hearts of their owners;
+    There the richest was poor, and the poorest lived in abundance.'"
+
+Poor exiles! You will never see the Gasperau and the shore of the Basin of
+Minas, but if this very feeble life I have holds out, I hope to visit
+Grandpre and the broad meadows that gave a name to the village.
+
+One thing Longfellow has certainly omitted in "Evangeline"--the wild
+flowers of Acadia. The roadside is all fringed and tasselled with white,
+pink, and purple. The wild strawberries are in blossom, whitening the turf
+all the way from Halifax to Chezzetcook. You see their starry settlements
+thick in every bit of turf. These are the silver mines of poor Cuffee; he
+has the monopoly of the berry trade. It is his only revenue. Then in the
+swampy grounds there are long green needles in solitary groups, surmounted
+with snowy tufts; and here and there, clusters of light purple blossoms,
+called laurel flowers, but not like our laurels, spring up from the bases
+of grey rocks and boulders; sometimes a rich array of blood-red berries
+gleams out of a mass of greenery; then again great floral white radii,
+tipped with snowy petals, rise up profuse and lofty; down by the ditches
+hundreds of pitcher plants lift their veined and mottled vases, brimming
+with water, to the wood-birds who drink and perch upon their thick rims;
+May-flowers of delightful fragrance hide beneath those shining,
+tropical-looking leaves, and meadow-sweet, not less fragrant, but less
+beautiful, pours its tender aroma into the fresh air; here again we see
+the buckthorn in blossom; there, scattered on the turf, the scarlet
+partridge berry; then wild-cherry trees, mere shrubs only, in full bud;
+and around all and above all, the evergreens, the murmuring pines, and the
+hemlocks; the rampikes--the grey-beards of the primeval forest; the spicy
+breath of resinous balsams; the spiry tops, and the serene heaven. Is this
+fairy land? No, it is only poor, old, barren Nova Scotia, and yet I think
+Felix, Prince of Salerno, if he were here, might say, and say truly too,
+"In all my life I never beheld a more enchanting place;" but Felix, Prince
+of Salerno, must remember this is the month of June, and summer is not
+perpetual in the latitude of forty-five.
+
+We reach at last Deer's Castle. Pony, under the hands of Bill, seems
+remarkably cheerful and fresh after his long travel up hill and down. When
+he pops out of his harness, with his knock-knees and sturdy, stocky little
+frame, he looks very like an animated saw-buck, clothed in seal-skin; and
+with a jump, and snort, and flourish of tail, he escorts Bill to the
+stable, as if twenty miles over a rough road was a trifle not worth
+consideration.
+
+A savory odor of frying bacon and eggs stole forth from the door as we
+sat, in the calm summer air, upon the stone fence. William Deer, Jr., was
+wandering about in front of the castle, endeavoring to get control of his
+under lip and keep his exuberant mirth within the limits of decorum; but
+every instant, to use a military figure, it would flash in the pan. Up on
+the bare rocks were the wretched, woe-begone, patched, and ragged log
+huts of poor Cuffee. The hour and the season were suggestive of
+philosophizing, of theories, and questions.
+
+"Mrs. Deer," said I, "is that your husband's portrait on the back of the
+sign?" (there was a picture of a stag with antlers on the reverse of the
+poetical swing-board, either intended as a pictographic pun upon the name
+of "Deer," or as a hint to sportsmen of good game hereabouts).
+
+"Why," replied Mrs. Deer, an old tidy wench, of fifty, pretty well bent by
+rheumatism, and so square in the lower half of her figure, and so spare in
+the upper, that she appeared to have been carved out of her own hips:
+"why, as to dat, he ain't good-looking to brag on, but I don't think he
+looks quite like a beast neither."
+
+At this unexpected retort, Bill flashed off so many pans at once that he
+seemed to be a platoon of militia. My companion also enjoyed it immensely.
+Being an invalid, I could not participate in the general mirth.
+
+"Mrs. Deer," said I, "how long have you lived here?"
+
+"Oh, sah! a good many years; I cum here afore I had Bill dar." (Here
+William flashed in the pan twice.)
+
+"Where did you reside before you came to Nova Scotia?"
+
+"Sah?"
+
+"Where did you live?"
+
+"Oh, sah! I is from Maryland." (William at it again.)
+
+"Did you run away?"
+
+"Yes, sah; I left when I was young. Bill, what you laughing at? _I_ was
+young once."
+
+"Were you married then--when you run away?"
+
+"Oh yes, sah!" (a glance at Bill, who was off again).
+
+"And left your husband behind in Maryland?"
+
+"Yes, sah; but he didn't stay long dar after I left. He was after me putty
+sharp, soon as I travelled;" (here Mrs. Deer and William interchanged
+glances, and indulged freely in mirth).
+
+"And which place do you like the best--this or Maryland?"
+
+"Why, I never had no such work to do at home as I have to do here,
+grubbin' up old stumps and stones; dem isn't women's work. When I was
+home, I had only to wait on misses, and work was light and easy." (William
+quiet.)
+
+"But which place do you like the best--Nova Scotia or Maryland?"
+
+"Oh! de work here is awful, grubbin' up old stones and stumps; 'tain't
+fit for women." (William much impressed with the cogency of this
+repetition.)
+
+"But which place do you like the best?"
+
+"And de winter here, oh! it's wonderful tryin." (William utters an
+affirmative flash.)
+
+"But which place do you like the best?"
+
+"And den dere's de rheumatiz."
+
+"But which place do you like the best, Mrs. Deer?"
+
+"Well," said Mrs. Deer, glancing at Bill, "I like Nova Scotia best."
+(Whatever visions of Maryland were gleaming in William's mind, seemed to
+be entirely quenched by this remark.)
+
+"But why," said I, "do you prefer Nova Scotia to Maryland? Here you have
+to work so much harder, to suffer so much from the cold and the
+rheumatism, and get so little for it;" for I could not help looking over
+the green patch of stony grass that has been rescued by the labor of a
+quarter century.
+
+"Oh!" replied Mrs. Deer, "de difference is, dat when I work here, I work
+for myself, and when I was working at home, I was working for other
+people." (At this, William broke forth again in such a series of platoon
+flashes, that we all joined in with infinite merriment.)
+
+"Mrs. Deer," said I, recovering my gravity, "I want to ask you one more
+question."
+
+"Well, sah," said the lady Deer, cocking her head on one side, expressive
+of being able to answer any number of questions in a twinkling.
+
+"You have, no doubt, still many relatives left in Maryland?"
+
+"Oh! yes," replied Mrs. Deer, "_all_ of dem are dar."
+
+"And suppose you had a chance to advise them in regard to this matter,
+would you tell them to run away, and take their part with you in Nova
+Scotia, or would you advise them to stay where they are?"
+
+Mrs. Deer, at this, looked a long time at William, and William looked
+earnestly at his parent. Then she cocked her head on the other side, to
+take a new view of the question. Then she gathered up mouth and eyebrows,
+in a puzzle, and again broadened out upon Bill in an odd kind of smile; at
+last she doubled up one fist, put it against her cheek, glanced at Bill,
+and out came the answer: "Well, sah, I'd let 'em take dere _own_ heads for
+dat!" I must confess the philosophy of this remark awakened in me a train
+of very grave reflections; but my companion burst into a most obstreperous
+laugh. As for Mrs. Deer, she shook her old hips as long as she could
+stand, and then sat down and continued, until she wiped the tears out of
+her eyes with the corner of her apron. William cast himself down upon a
+strawberry bank, and gave way to the most flagrant mirth, kicking up his
+old shoes in the air, and fairly wallowing in laughter and blossoms. I
+endeavored to change the subject. "Bill, did you catch any trout?" It was
+some time before William could control himself enough to say, "Not a
+single one, sah;" and then he rolled over on his back, put his black paws
+up to his eyes, and twitched and jingled to his heart's content. I did not
+ask Mrs. Deer any more questions; but there is a moral in the story,
+enough for a day.
+
+As we rattled over the road, after our brief dinner at Deer's Castle, I
+could not avoid a pervading feeling of gloom and disappointment, in spite
+of the balmy air and pretty landscape. The old ragged abodes of
+wretchedness seemed to be too clearly defined--to stand out too
+intrusively against the bright blue sky. But why should I feel so much for
+Cuffee? Has he not enlisted in his behalf every philanthropist in England?
+Is he not within ten miles of either the British flag or Acadia? Does not
+the Duchess of Sutherland entertain the authoress of Uncle Tom's Cabin,
+and the Black Swan? Why should I sorrow for Cuffee, when he is in the
+midst of his best friends? Why should I pretend to say that this appears
+to be the raggedest, the meanest, the worst condition of humanity, when
+the papers are constantly lauding British philanthropy, and holding it up
+as a great example, which we must "bow down and worship?" For my own part,
+although the pleasant fiction of seeing Cuffee clothed, educated, and
+Christianized, seemed to be somewhat obscured in this glimpse of his real
+condition, yet I hope he will do well under his new owners; at the very
+least, I trust his berry crop will be good, and that a benevolent British
+blanket or two may enable him to shiver out the winter safely, if not
+comfortably. Poor William Deer, Sen'r, of Deer's Castle, was suffering
+with rheumatism in the next apartment, while we were at his eggs and bacon
+in the banquet hall; but Deer of Deer's Castle is a prince to his
+neighbors. I shall not easily forget the brightening eye, the swift glance
+of intelligence in the face of another old negro, an hostler, in Nova
+Scotia. He was from Virginia, and adopting the sweet, mellifluous language
+of his own home, I asked him whether he liked best to stay where he was,
+or go back to "Old Virginny?" "O massa!" said he, with _such_ a look, "you
+_must know_ dat I has de warmest side for my own country!"
+
+We rattled soberly into Dartmouth, and took the ferry-boat across the bay
+to the city. At the hotel there was no little questioning about
+Chezzetcook, for some of the Halifax merchants are at the Waverley. "GOED
+bless ye, what took ye to Chizzencook?" said one, "I never was there een
+in my life; ther's no bizz'ness ther, noathing to be seen: ai doant think
+there is a maen in Halifax scairsly, 'as ever seen the place."
+
+At the supper-table, while we were discussing, over the cheese and ale,
+the Chezzetcook and negro settlements, and exhibiting with no little
+vainglory a gorgeous bunch of wild flowers (half of which vanity my
+_compagnon de voyage_ is accountable for), there was a young English-Irish
+gentleman, well built, well featured, well educated: by name--I shall call
+him Picton.
+
+Picton took much interest in Deer's Castle and Chezzetcook, but slily and
+satirically. I do not think this the best way for a young man to begin
+with; but nevertheless, Picton managed so well to keep his sarcasms within
+the bounds of good humor, that before eleven o'clock we had become pretty
+well acquainted. At eleven o'clock the gas is turned off at Hotel
+Waverley. We went to bed, and renewed the acquaintance at breakfast.
+Picton had travelled overland from Montreal to take the "Canada" for
+Liverpool, and had arrived too late. Picton had nearly a fortnight before
+him in which to anticipate the next steamer. Picton was terribly bored
+with Halifax. Picton wanted to go somewhere--where?--"he did not care
+where." The consequence was a consultation upon the best disposal of a
+fortnight of waste time, a general survey of the maritime craft of
+Halifax, the selection of the schooner "Balaklava," bound for Sydney in
+ballast, and an understanding with the captain, that the old French town
+of Louisburgh was the point we wished to arrive at, into which harbor we
+expected to be put safely--three hundred and odd miles from Halifax, and
+this side of Sydney about sixty-two miles by sea. To all this did captain
+Capstan "seriously incline," and the result was, two berths in the
+"Balaklava," several cans of preserved meats and soups, a hamper of ale,
+two bottles of Scotch whisky, a ramshackle, Halifax van for the luggage, a
+general shaking of hands at departure, and another set of white sails
+among the many white sails in the blue harbor of Chebucto.
+
+The "Balaklava" glimmered out of the harbor. Slowly and gently we swept
+past the islands and great ships; there on the shore is Point Pleasant in
+full uniform, its red soldiers and yellow tents in the thick of the pines
+and spruces; yonder is the admiralty, and the "Boscawen" seventy-four,
+the receiving-ship, a French war-steamer, and merchantmen of all flags.
+Slowly and gently we swept out past the round fort and long barracks, past
+the lighthouse and beaches, out upon the tranquil ocean, with its ominous
+fog-banks on the skirts of the horizon; out upon the evening sea, with the
+summer air fanning our faces, and a large white Acadian moon, faintly
+defined overhead.
+
+Picton was a traveller; anybody could see that he was a traveller, and if
+he had then been in any part of the habitable globe, in Scotland or
+Tartary, Peru or Pennsylvania, there would not have been the least doubt
+about the fact that he was a traveller travelling on his travels. He
+looked like a traveller, and was dressed like a traveller. He had a
+travelling-cap, a travelling-coat, a portable-desk, a life-preserver, a
+water-proof blanket, a travelling-shirt, a travelling green leather
+satchel strapped across his shoulder, a Minie-rifle, several trunks
+adorned with geographical railway labels of all colors and languages,
+cork-soled boots, a pocket-compass, and a hand-organ. As for the
+hand-organ, that was an accident in his outfit. The hand-organ was a
+present for a little boy on the other side of the ocean; but nevertheless,
+it played its part very pleasantly in the cabin of the "Balaklava." And
+now let me observe here, that when we left Halifax in the schooner, I was
+scarcely less feeble than when I left New York. I mention it to show how
+speedily "roughing it" on the salt water will bring one's stomach to its
+senses.
+
+The "Balaklava" was a fore-and-aft schooner in ballast, and very little
+ballast at that; easily handled; painted black outside, and pink inside;
+as staunch a craft as ever shook sail; very obedient to the rudder; of
+some seventy or eighty tons burden; clean and neat everywhere, except in
+the cabin. As for her commander, he was a fine gentleman; true, honest,
+brave, modest, prudent and courteous. Sincerely polite, for if politeness
+be only kindness mixed with refinement, then Captain Capstan was polite,
+as we understand it. The mate of the schooner was a cannie Scot; by name,
+Robert, Fitzjames, Buchanan, Wallace, Burns, Bruce; and Bruce was as jolly
+a first-mate as ever sailed under the cross-bones of the British flag. The
+crew was composed of four Newfoundland sailor men; and the cook, whose
+h'eighth letter of the h'alphabet smacked somewhat strongly of H'albion.
+As for the rest, there was Mrs. Captain Capstan, Captain and Mrs. Captain
+Capstan's baby; Picton and myself. It is cruel to speak of a baby, except
+in terms of endearment and affection, and therefore I could not but
+condemn Picton, who would sometimes, in his position as a traveller,
+allude to baby in language of most emphatic character. The fact is, Picton
+_swore_ at that baby! Baby was in feeble health and would sometimes bewail
+its fate as if the cabin of the "Balaklava" were four times the size of
+baby's misfortunes. So Picton got to be very nervous and uncharitable, and
+slept on deck after the first night.
+
+"How do you like this?" said Picton, as we leaned over the side of the
+"Balaklava," looking down at the millions of gelatinous quarls in the
+clear waters.
+
+"Oh! very much; this lazy life will soon bring me up; how exhilarating the
+air is--how fresh and free!
+
+    "'A life on the ocean wave,
+    A home on the rolling deep.'"
+
+Just then the schooner gave a lurch and shook her feathers alow and aloft
+by way of chorus. "I like this kind of life very much; how gracefully this
+vessel moves; what a beautiful union of strength, proportion, lightness,
+in the taper masts, the slender ropes and stays, the full spread and sweep
+of her sails! Then how expansive the view, the calm ocean in its solitude,
+the receding land, the twinkling lighthouse, the"----
+
+"Ever been sea-sick?" said Picton, drily.
+
+"Not often. By the way, my appetite is improving; I think Cookey is
+getting tea ready, by the smoke and the smell."
+
+"Likely," replied Picton; "let us take a squint at the galley."
+
+To the galley we went, where we saw Cookey in great distress; for the wind
+would blow in at the wrong end of his stove-pipe, so as to reverse the
+draft, and his stove was smoking at every seam. Poor Cookey's eyes were
+full of tears.
+
+"Why don't you turn the elbow of the pipe the other way?" said Picton.
+
+"Hi av tried that," said Cookey, "but the helbow is so 'eavy the 'ole
+thing comes h'off."
+
+"Then, take off the elbow," said Picton.
+
+So Cookey did, and very soon tea was ready. Imagine a cabin, not much
+larger than a good-sized omnibus, and far less steady in its motion,
+choked up with trunks, and a table about the size of a wash-stand; imagine
+two stools and a locker to sit on: a canvas table-cloth in full blotch;
+three chipped yellow mugs by way of cups; as many plates, but of great
+variety of gap, crack, and pattern; pewter spoons; a blacking-bottle of
+milk; an earthen piggin of brown sugar, embroidered with a lively gang of
+great, fat, black pismires; hard bread, old as Nineveh; and butter of a
+most forbidding aspect. Imagine this array set before an invalid, with an
+appetite of the most Miss Nancyish kind!
+
+"One misses the comforts here at sea," said the captain's lady, a pretty
+young woman, with a sweet Milesian accent.
+
+"Yes, ma'am," said I, glancing again at the banquet.
+
+"I don't rightly know," she continued, "how I forgot the rocking-chair;"
+and she gave baby an affectionate squeeze.
+
+"And that," said the captain, "is as bad as me forgetting the potatoes."
+
+Pic and I sat down, but we could neither eat nor drink; we were very soon
+on deck again, sucking away dolefully at two precious cigars. At last he
+broke out:
+
+"By gad, to think of it!"
+
+"What is the matter?" said I.
+
+"Not a potato on board the 'Balaklava!'"
+
+So we pulled away dolefully at our segars, in solemn silence.
+
+"Picton," said I, "did you ever hear 'Annie Laurie?'"
+
+"Yes," replied Picton, "about as many times as I want to hear it."
+
+"Don't be impolite, Picton," said I; "it is not my intention to sing it
+this evening. Indeed, I never heard it before I heard it in Halifax. I had
+the good fortune to make one of a very pleasant company, at the house of
+an old friend in the city, and I must say that song touched me, both the
+song and the _singing_ of it. You know it was _the_ song in the Crimea?"
+
+"Yes," said Picton, smoking vigorously.
+
+"I asked Major ----," said I, "if 'Annie Laurie' was sung by the soldiers
+in the Crimea; and he replied 'they did not sing anything else; they sang
+it,' said he, 'by thousands at a time.' How does it go, Picton? Come now!"
+
+So Picton held forth under the moon, and sang "Annie Laurie" on the
+"Balaklava." And long after we turned in, the music kept singing on--
+
+    "Her voice is low and sweet,
+      And she's all the world to me;
+    And for bonnie Annie Laurie
+      I'd lay me down and dee."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IV.
+
+The Voyage of the "Balaklava"--Something of a Fog--A Novel
+Sensation--Picton bursts out--"Nothing to do"--Breakfast under Way--A
+Phantom Boat--Mackerel--Gone, Hook and Line--The Colonists--Sectionalism
+and Prejudices--Cod-fishing and an Unexpected Banquet--Past the Old French
+Town--A Pretty Respectable Breeze--We get past the Rocks--Louisburgh.
+
+
+"Picton!"
+
+"Hallo!" replied the traveller, sitting up on his locker; "what is the
+matter now?"
+
+"Nothing, only it is morning; let us get up, I want to see the sun rise
+out of the ocean."
+
+"Pooh!" replied Picton, "what do you want to be bothering with the sun
+for?" And again Picton rolled himself up in his sheet-rubber
+travelling-blanket, and stretched his long body out on the locker. I got
+up, or rather got down, from my berth, and casting a bucket over the
+schooner's side soon made a sea-water toilet. I forgot to mention the
+sleeping arrangements of the "Balaklava." There were two lower berths on
+one side the cabin, either of which was large enough for two persons; and
+two single upper berths on the other side, neither of which was large
+enough for one person. At the proper hour for retiring, the captain's lady
+shut the cabin-door to keep out intruders, deliberately arrayed herself in
+dimity, turned in with baby in one of the large berths, and reoepened the
+door. There she lay, wide awake, with her bright eyes twinkling within the
+folds of her night cap, unaffected, chatty, and agreeable; then the
+captain divested himself of boots and pea-jacket and turned in beside his
+lady (the mate slept, when off his watch, in the other double berth).
+Picton rolled himself up in his blanket and stretched out on his locker; I
+climbed into the narrow coop, over the salt beef and hard biscuit
+department; and so we dozed and talked until sleep reigned over all. In
+the morning the ceremonies were reversed, with the exception of the
+Captain, who was up first. "I never see a man sleep so little as the
+captain," said Bruce; "about two hoors, an' that's aw."
+
+The sun was already risen when I came out on the deck of the "Balaklava;"
+but where _was_ the sun? Indeed, where was the ocean, or anything? The
+schooner was barely making steerage-way, with a light head-wind, over a
+small patch of water, not much larger apparently than the schooner
+herself. The air was filled with a luminous haze that appeared to be
+penetrable by the eye, and yet was not; that seemed at once open and
+dense; near yet afar off; close yet diffuse; contracted yet boundless.
+There was no light nor shade, no outline, distance, aerial perspective.
+There was no east and west, nor blushing Aurora, rising from old Tithonus'
+bed; nor blue sky, nor green sea, nor ship, nor shore, nor color, tint,
+hue, ray, or reflection. There was nothing visible except the sides of the
+vessel, a maze of dripping rigging, two sailors bristling with drops, and
+the captain in a shiny sou-wester. The feeling of seclusion and security
+was complete, although we might have been run down by another vessel at
+any moment; the air was deliciously bland, invigorating, and pregnant with
+life; to breathe it was a transport; you felt it in every globule of
+blood, in every pore of the lungs. I could have hugged that fog, I was so
+happy!
+
+Up and down the rolling deck I marched, and with every inspiration of the
+moist air, felt the old, tiresome, lingering sickness floating away. Then
+I was startled with a new sensation, I began to get hungry!
+
+It was between four and five o'clock in the morning, and the "Balaklava"
+did not breakfast until eight. Reader, were you ever hungry _at sea_?
+Were you ever on deck, upon the measureless ocean, four hours earlier than
+the ring of the breakfast-bell? Were you ever awake on the briny deep, in
+advance, when the cook had yet two hours to sleep; when the stove in the
+galley was cold, and the kindling-wood unsplit; the coffee still in its
+tender, green, unroasted innocence? Were you ever upon "the blue, the
+fresh, the ever free," under these circumstances? If so, I need not say to
+_you_ that the sentiment, then and there awakened, is stronger than
+avarice, pride, ambition or, love.
+
+Presently Picton burst out like a flower on deck, in a mass of over-coats,
+with an India-rubber mackintosh by way of calyx. These were his
+night-clothes. Picton could do nothing except in full costume; he could
+not fish, in ever so small a stream, without being booted to the hips; nor
+shoot, in ever so good a cover, without being jacketed above the hips. He
+shaved himself in front of a silver-mounted dressing-case, wrote his
+letters on a portable secretary, drew off his boots with a patent
+boot-jack, brewed his punch with a peripatetic kettle, and in fact carried
+a little London with him in every quarter of the globe. "Well," said
+Picton, looking around at the fog with a low and expressive whistle, "this
+_is_ serene!"
+
+Although Picton used the word "serene" ironically, just as a man riding in
+an omnibus and suddenly discovering that he was destitute of the needful
+sixpence might exclaim, "This is pleasant," yet the phrase was not out of
+place. The "Balaklava" was gliding lazily over the water, at the rate of
+three knots an hour, sometimes giving a little lurch by way of shaking the
+wet out of her invisible sails, for the fog obscured all her upper canvas,
+and the mind and body easily yielded to the lullaby movement of the
+vessel. Talk of lotus-eating; of Castles of Indolence; of the dreamy ether
+inhaled from amber-tubed narghile; of poppy and mandragora, and all the
+drowsy syrups of the world; of rain upon the midnight roof; the cooing of
+doves, the hush of falling snow, the murmur of brooks, the long summer
+song of grasshoppers in the field, the tinkling of fountains, and
+everything else that can soothe, lull, or tranquillize; and what are these
+to the serenity of this sail-swinging, ripple-stirring, gently-creaking
+craft, in her veil of luminous vapor? "How delightful this is!" said I.
+
+The traveller eyed me with surprise, but at last comprehending the idea,
+admitted, that with the exception of the fog and the calm, the scarcity of
+news, the damp state of the decks, and the want of the morning papers, it
+was very charming indeed. Then the traveller got a little restive, and
+began to peer closely into the fog, and look aloft to see if he could make
+out the stay-sails, and then he entered into a long confidential talk with
+the captain, in relation to the chances of "getting on," of a fresh breeze
+springing up, and the fog lifting; whether we should make Louisburgh by
+to-morrow night, and if not, when; with various other salt-water
+speculations and problems. Then Picton climbed up on the patent-windlass
+to get a full view of the fog at the end of the bow-sprit, and took
+another survey of the buried stay-sails, and the flying-jib. Then he and
+the Newfoundland sailor on the look-out, had a long consultation of great
+gravity and importance; and finally he turned around and came up to the
+place where I was standing, and broke out: "I say, what the devil are we
+to do with ourselves this morning?"
+
+"What are we to do?" That eternal question. It instantly seemed to double
+the thickness of the fog, to arrest the slow movement of the vessel.
+Picton had nothing to do for a fortnight, and I had left home with the
+sole object of going somewhere where soul and body could rest. "Nothing to
+do," was precisely the one thing needful. "Nothing to do," is exquisite
+happiness, for real happiness is but a negation. "Nothing to do," is
+repose for the body, respite for the mind. It is an ideal hammock
+swinging in drowsy tropical groves, apart from the roar of the busy,
+relentless world; away from the strife of faction, the toils of business,
+the restless stretch of ambition, wealth's tinsel pride, poverty's galling
+harness. "Nothing to do," is the phantom of young Imagination, the
+evanescent hope that promises to crown
+
+    "A youth of labor with an age of ease."
+
+"Nothing to do," was the charm that lured us on board the "Balaklava," and
+now "nothing to do," was with us like the Bottle-Imp, an incubus, still
+crying out: "You may yet exchange me for a smaller coin, if such there
+be!" "Nothing to do," is an imposture. Something to do is the very life of
+life, the beginning and end of being. "Picton," said I, "one thing we must
+do, at least, this morning."
+
+"What is that?" replied the traveller, eagerly opening his mackintosh, and
+drawing it off so as to be ready to do it.
+
+"Taking into consideration the slow and sleepy nature of this climate, the
+thickness of the fog, the faint, thin air that impels the vessel, the
+early time of day, and the regulations of the 'Balaklava,' it seems to me
+we shall have to be steadily occupied, for at least three hours, in
+waiting for breakfast."
+
+Then Picton got hungry! He was a large, stout man, wrapped up by a
+multitude of garments to the thickness of a polar bear, and when he got
+hungry, it was on a scale of corresponding dimensions. First he alluded to
+the fact that we had gone supperless to bed the night before; then he
+buttoned up his mackintosh, had a brief interview with the captain,
+shouted down the gang-way for the cook, and finally disappeared in the
+forecastle. Then he came up again with that officer, rummaged in the
+galley for the ship's hatchet, and split up all the kindling-wood on deck;
+then he shed his petals (mackintosh and over-coats) and instructed Cookey
+in the mystery of building a fire. Then he emerged from the intolerable
+smoke he had raised in the galley, and devoted himself to the stove-pipe
+outside, Cookey, meanwhile, within the caboose, getting the benefit of all
+the experiments.
+
+At last a faint smell of coffee issued forth from the caboose, a little
+Arabia breathed through the humid atmosphere, and a sound, as if Cookey
+were stirring the berries in a pan, was heard in the midst of the smoke.
+Meanwhile Picton descends in the hold with a bucket of salt-water to enjoy
+the luxury of a bath, and reappears in full toilet just as Cookey is
+grinding the berries, burnt and green, with a hand-mill between his knees.
+The pan by this time is put to a new use; it is now lined with bacon in
+full frizzle; presently it will be turned to account as a bake-pan, for
+pearl-ash cakes of chrome-yellow complexion: everything must take its
+turn; the pan is the actor of all work; it accepts coffee, cakes, pork,
+fish, pudding, besides being general dish-washer and soup-warmer, as we
+found out before long.
+
+During the preparation of these successive courses, Picton and I sat on
+deck in hungry silence. Now and then an anxious glance at the galley, or a
+tormenting whiff of the savory viands, would give new life to the demon
+that raged within us. I believe if Cookey had accidentally upset the
+coffee tea-kettle, and put out the fire, his sanctuary would have been
+sacked instantly. Eight o'clock came, and yet we had not broken bread. We
+walked up and down the deck to relieve our appetites. At last we saw the
+three cracked mugs, our tea-cups, which had been our ale-glasses of the
+night before, brought up for a rinse, and then we knew that breakfast was
+not far off. The cloth was spread, the saffron cakes, ship's butter,
+yellow mugs, coffee, pork, and pismires temptingly arrayed. We did not
+wait to hear the cook ring the bell. We watched him as he came up with it
+in his hand, and squeezed past him before he shook out a single vibration.
+
+Then we made a MEAL!
+
+Breakfast being over, the fog lightened a little. Our tiny horizon widened
+its boundaries a few hundred feet, or so; we could see once more the
+top-mast of the schooner. So we lazily swung along, with nothing to do
+again. Sometimes a distant fog-bell; sometimes a distant sound across the
+face of the deep, like the falling of cataract waters.
+
+"What is that sound, Bruce?"
+
+"It's the surf breakin' on the rocks," responds Bruce; "I hae been
+listenen to it for hoors."
+
+"Are we then so near shore?"
+
+"About three miles aff," replies the mate.
+
+Presently we heard the sound of human voices; a laugh; the stroke of oars
+in the row-locks, plainly distinguishable in the mysterious vapor. The
+captain hailed: "Hallo!" "Halloo!" echoes in answer. The strokes of the
+oars are louder and quicker; they are approaching us, but where? "Halloo!"
+comes again out of the mist. And again the captain shouts in reply. Then a
+white phantom boat, thin, vapory, unsubstantial, now seen, now lost again,
+appears on the skirts of our horizon.
+
+"Where are we?" asks the captain.
+
+"Off St. Esprit," answer the boatmen.
+
+"What are you after?" asks the captain.
+
+"Looking for our nets," is the reply; and once more boat and boatmen
+disappear in the luminous vapor. These are _mackerel fishermen_; their
+nets are adrift from their stone-anchors: the fish are used for bait in
+the cod-fisheries, as well as for salting down. If we could but come
+across the nets, what a rare treat we might have at dinner!
+
+Lazily on we glide--nothing to do. Picton is reading a stunning book; the
+captain, his lady, the baby, and I making a small family circle around the
+wheel; the mate is on the look-out over the bows; all at once, he shouts
+out: "_There they are! the nets!_" Down goes Picton's book on the deck;
+Bruce catches up a rope and fastens it to a large iron hook; the sailors
+run to the side of the vessel; captain releases his forefinger from baby's
+hand, and catches the wheel; all is excitement in a moment. "_Starboard!_"
+shouts the mate, as the nets come sweeping on, directly in front of the
+cut-water. The schooner obeys the wheel, sheers off, and now, as the
+floats come along sidewise, Bruce has dropped his hook in the mesh--_it
+takes hold!_ and the heavy mass is partially raised up in the water.
+"Thousands of them," says Picton; sure enough, the whole net is alive with
+mackerel, splashing, quivering, glistening. "Catch hold here, I canna
+hold them; O the beauties!" says the mate. Some grasp at the rope, others
+look around for another hook. "Hauld 'em! hauld 'em!" shouts Bruce; but
+the weighty piscatorial mass is too much for us, it will drag us
+desperately along the deck to the stern of the vessel. The schooner is
+going slowly, but still she is going. Another hook is rigged and thrown at
+the struggling mesh; but it breaks loose, the mackerel are dragging behind
+the rudder; we are at our rope's end. At last, rope, hook, and nets are
+abandoned, and again we have nothing to do.
+
+High noon, and a red spot visible overhead; the captain brings out his
+sextant to take an observation. This proceeding we viewed with no little
+interest, and, for the humor of the thing, I borrowed the sextant of the
+captain and took a satirical view of a great luminary in obscurity. As I
+had the instrument upside down, the sailors were in convulsions of
+laughter; but why should we not make everybody happy when we have it in
+our power?
+
+High noon, and again hunger overtook us. Picton, by this time, had brought
+out the cans of preserved meats, the curried tin chicken, the portable
+soup, the ale and pickles. The cook was put upon duty; pot and pan were
+scoured for more delicate viands; Picton was _chef de cuisine_; we had a
+magnificent banquet that day on the "Balaklava."
+
+To give a zest to the entertainment, the captain's lady dined with us; the
+mate kindly undertaking the charge of the baby.
+
+When we came on deck, after a repast that would have been perfect but for
+the absence of potatoes, Bruce was marching up and down, dangling the baby
+in a way that made it appear all legs; "I doan't see," said he, "hoo a
+wummun can lug a baby all day aboot in her airms! I hae only carried this
+one half an 'our, and boath airms is sore. But I suppose it's naturely,
+it's naturely--everything to its nature."
+
+The dinner having been a success, Picton was in great spirits for the rest
+of the day. The fog spread its munificent halo around us, and before
+nightfall broke into myriads of white rainbows--sea-dogs the sailors call
+them--and finally lifted so high that we could see the spectral moon
+shining through the thin rack. Once more we sang "Annie Laurie;" the
+traveller brought out his travelling blanket for a dewy slumber on deck;
+the lady of the "Balaklava" put on her night-cap and retired with baby to
+the double berth: Bruce took the helm. As I was passing the light in the
+binnacle, I looked in at the compass for a moment. "She's nailed there,"
+said the old mate. Nailed there, true to her course, as steadfast to the
+guiding rudder as truth is to religion. We were but a few miles from a
+dangerous coast, in a vessel of the frailest kind, but she was "nailed
+there," obedient to man's intelligence, and that was security and safety.
+What a text to say one's prayers upon!
+
+"Picton," said I, the next morning, after the schooner-breakfast, "it
+seems to me the strangest thing that Mrs. Capstan should have the pure
+Irish pronunciation and the mate the thorough Scotch brogue, although both
+were born in Newfoundland, and of Newfoundland parents. I must confess to
+no small amount of surprise at the complete isolation of the people of
+these colonies; the divisions among them; the separate pursuits,
+prejudices, languages; they seem to have nothing in common; no aggregation
+of interests; it is existence without nationality; sectionalism without
+emulation; a mere exotic life with not a fibre rooted firmly in the soil.
+The colonists are English, Irish, Scotch, French, for generation after
+generation. Why is this, O Picton? Why is it that the captain's lady has
+high cheek-bones, and speaks the pure Hibernise? why is the only railroad
+in the colony but nine and three-quarter miles long, and the great
+Shubenacadie Canal yet unfinished, although it was begun in the year
+1826; a canal fifty-three mortal miles in length, already engineered and
+laid out by nature in a chain of lakes, most conveniently arranged with
+the foot of each little lake at the head of the next one--like 'orient
+pearls at random strung'--requiring but a few locks to be complete: the
+head of the first lake lying only twelve hundred and ten yards from
+Halifax harbor, and the Shubenacadie River itself at the other end,
+emptying in the place of destination, namely, the Basin of Minas; a work
+that, if completed, would cut off more than three hundred miles of outside
+voyaging around a stormy, foggy, dangerous coast; a work that was
+estimated to cost but seventy-five thousand pounds, and for which fifteen
+thousand pounds had already been subscribed by the government; a work that
+would be the saving of so many vessels, crews, and cargoes of so much
+value; a work that would traverse one of the most fertile countries in
+America; a work that would bring the inland produce within a few hours of
+the seaboard; a work so necessary, so obvious, so easily completed, that
+no Yankee could see it undone, if it were within the limits of his county,
+and have one single night's rest until the waters were leaping from lock
+to lock, from lake to lake in one continuous flood of prosperity from
+Minas to Chebucto? Why is this, O traveller of the 'Balaklava?'"
+
+"The reason of it all," replied Picton, with great equanimity of manner,
+"is entirely owing to the stupidity of the people here; the British
+government is the best government, sir, in the world; it fosters,
+protects, and supports the colonies, with a sort of parental care, sir;
+the colonies, sir, afford no recompense to the British government for its
+care and protection, sir; each colony is only a bill of expense, sir, to
+the mother country, and if, with all these advantages, the people of these
+colonies will persist, sir, in being behind the age, sir, what can we do
+to prevent it, I would like to know, sir?"
+
+"It does seem to me, Picton, this fostering, protecting, and paying the
+governmental expenses of the colonies, is very like pampering and amusing
+a child with sweetmeats and nick-nacks, and at the same time keeping it in
+leading-strings. It is very certain that these colonists would not be the
+same people if their ancestors had been transplanted, a century or so ago,
+to our side of the Bay of Fundy; no, not even if they had pitched their
+tents at the 'jumping-off place,' as it is called--Eastport, for even
+there they would have produced a crop of pure Yankees, although grown from
+divers nations, religions, and tongues."
+
+Here Picton turned up his lip, and smiled out of a little battery of
+sarcasm: "And you think," said he, after a pause, "that these colonists
+would no longer revel in those little prejudices and sectionalisms so dear
+to every American heart, if they were transplanted to your own favored
+coasts? Why, sir, there is more sectionalism in the country you would
+transport these people to, than in any one nation I ever heard of; every
+one of your States is a petty principality; it has its own separate
+interests; its own bigoted boundaries; its conventionalisms; its pet laws;
+and as for its prejudices, I will just ask you, as a candid man, not as a
+Yankee, but as a traveller like myself, a cosmopolite, if you please, what
+you think of the two great eternal States of Massachusetts and South
+Carolina, and whether prejudices and sectionalisms are to be fairly
+charged upon these colonies, and upon them only?"
+
+"Picton, I will be frank with you. The States you name are looked upon as
+the great game-cocks of the Union, and we give them a tolerably large
+arena to fight their battles in. Either champion has flapped its wings and
+crowed its loudest, and drawn in its local backers, but the great States
+of my country are not these two. I feel at this moment an almost
+irrepressible desire to instance a single one as an example; but insomuch
+as nobody has ever flapped wing or crowed because of it, I will not be the
+first to break the silence. This much I will say, there are some States,
+and those the very greatest in the Union, that neither claim to be, nor
+make a merit of being _provincial_."
+
+"But, even in your State, you have your stately prejudices," said Picton,
+with a marked emphasis upon the "stately."
+
+"No, sir, we have no stately prejudices, at least among those entitled to
+have them, the native-born citizens; nor do I believe such prejudices
+exist in many of the States with us at home, sir."
+
+"But as you admit there is a sectional barrier between your people," said
+Picton, "I do not see why our form of government is not as wise as your
+form of government."
+
+"The difference, Picton, is simply this: your government is foreign, and
+almost unchangeable; ours is local, and mutable as the flux and reflux of
+the tide. As a consequence, sectionalism is active with us, and apathetic
+with you. Your colonists have nothing to care for, and we have everything
+to care for."
+
+"Then," said Picton, "we can sleep while you struggle?"
+
+"Yes, Picton, that is the question----
+
+    'Whether 'tis best to roam or rest.
+    The land's lap, or the water's breast?'
+
+We think it is best to choose the active instead of the stagnant; if a man
+cannot take part in the great mechanism of humanity, better to die than to
+sleep. And Picton, so far as this is concerned, so far as the general
+interests of humanity are concerned, your colonists are only _dead men_,
+while our "stately" men are individually responsible, not only to their
+own kind, but to all human kind, and herein each form of government tells
+its own story."
+
+"I think you are rather severe upon poor Nova Scotia this morning," said
+Picton, drily.
+
+"You mistake me, Picton; I do not intend to cast any reflections upon the
+people; I am only contrasting the effects produced by two different forms
+of government upon neighboring bodies of men that would have been alike
+had either a republican or monarchical rule obtained over both."
+
+"Likely," said Picton, sententiously.
+
+Meantime the schooner was lazily holding her course through the fog, which
+was now dense as ever. What an odd little bit of ocean this is to be on!
+"The sea, the sea, the open sea," all your own, with a diameter of perhaps
+forty yards. Picton, who is full of activity, begins to unroll the log
+line; the captain turns the glass, away goes the log. "Stop," "not three
+knots!" and then comes the question again: "What shall we do?--we are
+getting becalmed!"
+
+"By Jove!" said Picton, slapping his thigh, "I have it--_cod-fish_!"
+
+There are plenty of hooks on board the "Balaklava," and unfortunately only
+one cod-line; but what with the deep-sea lead-and-line, and a roll of blue
+cord, with a spike for a sinker, and the hooks, we are soon in the midst
+of excitement. Now we almost pray for a calm; the schooner _will_ heave
+ahead, and leave the lines astern; but nevertheless, up come the fine
+fish, and plenty of them, too; the deck is all flop and glister with cod,
+haddock, pollock; and Cookey, with a short knife, is at work with the
+largest, preparing them for the banquet, according to the code
+Newfoundland. Certainly the art of "cooking a cod-fish" is not quite
+understood, except in this part of the world. The white flakes do not
+exhibit the true conchoidal fracture in such perfection elsewhere; nor
+break off in such delicious morsels, edged with delicate brown. "Another
+bottle of ale, please, and a granitic biscuit, and a pickle, by way of
+dessert."
+
+Lazily along swings the "Balaklava." Picton brings up his travelling
+blanket, and we stretch out upon it on deck, basking in the warm, humid
+light, and leisurely puffing away at our segars, for we have nothing else
+to do. Towards evening it grows colder, very much colder; over-coats are
+in requisition; the captain says we are nearing some icebergs; the fog
+folds itself up and hangs above us in strips of cloud, or rolls away in
+voluminous masses to the edges of the horizon. The stars peep out between
+the strips overhead, the moon sends forth her silver vapors and finally
+emerges from the "crudded clouds;" the wake of the schooner is one long
+phosphoric trail of flame; the masts are creaking, sails stretching, the
+waters pouring against the bows; out on the deep, white crests lift and
+break, the winds are loosened, and now good speed to the "Balaklava."
+Meanwhile, the hitherto listless Newfoundland men are now wide awake, and
+busy; the man at the wheel is on the alert; the captain is looking at his
+charts; Picton and I walking the deck briskly, but unsteadily, to keep off
+the cold; Mrs. Capstan has turned in with the baby. Blacker and larger
+waves are rising, with whiter crests; on and on goes the schooner with dip
+and rise--tossing her yards as a stag tosses his antlers. On and on goes
+the brave "Balaklava," the captain at the bows on the look-out; the sky is
+mottled with clouds, but fortunately there is no fog; nine, ten o'clock,
+and at last a light begins to lift in the distance. "Is it Louisburgh
+light, captain?" "I don't make it out yet," replies Captain Capstan, "but
+I think it is not." After a pause, he adds: "Now I see what it is; it is
+Scattarie light--we have passed Louisburgh."
+
+This was not pleasant; we had undertaken the voyage for the sake of
+visiting the old French town. To be sure, it was a great disappointment.
+But then we were rapidly nearing Scattarie light; and after we doubled the
+island, the wind would be right astern of us, and by breakfast time we
+would be in the harbor of Sydney.
+
+"Captain," said we, after a brief consultation, "we will leave the matter
+entirely to you; although we had hoped to see Louisburgh this night, yet
+we can visit it overland to-morrow; and as the wind is so favorable for
+you, why, crack on to Sydney, if you like."
+
+With that we resumed our walk to keep up the circulation.
+
+"It is strange," said Picton, "the captain should have passed the light
+without seeing it."
+
+"Ever since we left Richmond," said the man at the wheel, "his eyes has
+been weak, so as he couldn't see as good as common."
+
+"Did you see the light?" we asked.
+
+"Oh, yes; I can see it now, right astern of us."
+
+We looked, and at last made it out: a faint, nebulous star, upon the very
+edge of the gloomy waters.
+
+"There is the light, captain."
+
+"Where?"
+
+"Right astern."
+
+The captain walked aft to the steersman and peered anxiously in the
+distance. Then he came forward again, and shouted down the forecastle:
+"Hallo, hallo, turn out there! all hands on deck! turn out, men! turn
+out!"
+
+"What now, captain?"
+
+"Nothing," said he, "only I am going to _about-ship_."
+
+And sure enough, the little schooner came up to the wind; the men hauled
+away at the sheets, the sails fluttered--filled upon the new tack, and in
+a few minutes our bows were pointed for Louisburgh.
+
+The "Balaklava" had barely broadened out her sails to the fair wind, after
+she had been put about, when we were conscious of an increased straining
+and chirping of the masts and sails, an uneasy, laborious motion of the
+vessel; of blacker and larger waves, of whiter and higher crests, that
+sometimes broke over the bows, even, and made the deck wet and slippery.
+The moon was now rising high, but the clouds were rapidly thickening, and
+her majesty seemed to be reeling from side to side, as we bore on, with
+plunge and shudder, for the light ahead of us. Bruce had taken the wheel;
+all hands were on deck, and all busy, hauling upon this rope or that,
+taking in the stay-sails and flying-jib, as the captain shouted out from
+time to time; and looking ahead, with no little appearance of anxiety.
+
+"Ah! she's a pretty creature," said the mate; "look there," nodding with
+his head at the compass, "did'na I tell you? She's nailed there." Then he
+broke out again: "Ay, she's a flyin' noo; see hoo she's _raisin' the
+light_!"
+
+It was, indeed, surprising to see the great beacon rising higher and
+higher out of the water.
+
+"Is it a good harbor, Bruce?"
+
+"_When ye get in_," answered the mate; "but it's narrar, it's narrar; ye
+can pitch a biscuit ashore as ye go through; and inside o't is the 'Nag's
+Head,' a sunken bit o' rock, with about five feet water; if ye _miss_
+that, ye're aw right!" We were now rapidly approaching the beacon, and
+could fairly see the rocks and beach in the track of its light. On the
+other side there were great masses of savage surf, whirling high up in the
+night, the indications of the three islands on the west of the harbor. The
+captain had climbed up in the rigging to keep a good look-out ahead; the
+light of the beacon broadened on the deck; we were within the very jaws
+of the crags and surf; the wild ocean beating against the doors of the
+harbor; the churning, whirling, whistling danger on either side, lighted
+up by the glare of the beacon! past we go, and, with a sweep, the
+"Balaklava" evades the "Nag's Head," and rounding too, drops sail and
+anchor beside the walls of Louisburgh.
+
+Then the thick fog, which had been pursuing us, came, and enveloped all in
+obscurity.
+
+"It is lucky," said Captain Capstan, "that it didn't come ten minutes
+sooner."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER V.
+
+Louisburgh--The Great French Fortress--Incidents of the Old French
+War--Relics of the Siege--Description of the Town--The two Expeditions--A
+Yankee _ruse de guerre_--The Rev. Samuel Moody's Grace--Wolfe's
+Landing--The Fisherman's Hutch--The Lost Coaster--The Fisheries--Picton
+tries his hand at a fish-pugh.
+
+
+Nearly a century has elapsed since the fall of Louisburgh. The great
+American fortress of Louis XV. surrendered to Amherst, Wolfe, and Boscawen
+in 1758. A broken sea-wall of cut stone; a vast amphitheatre, inclosed
+within a succession of green mounds; a glacis; and some miles of
+surrounding ditch, yet remain--the relics of a structure for which the
+treasury of France paid Thirty Millions of Livres!
+
+We enter where had been the great gate, and walk up what had been the
+great avenue. The vision follows undulating billows of green turf that
+indicate the buried walls of a once powerful military town. Fifteen
+thousand people were gathered in and about these walls; six thousand
+troops were locked within this fortress, when the key turned in the
+stupendous gate.
+
+A hundred years since, the very air of the spot where we now stand,
+vibrated with the chime of the church-bells and the roll of the stately
+organ, or wafted to devout multitudes the savor of holy incense. Here were
+congregated the soldiers, merchants, artisans of old France; on these high
+walls paced the solemn sentry; in these streets the nun stole past in her
+modest hood; or the romantic damsel pressed her cheek to the latticed
+window, as the young officer rode by and, martial music filled the avenues
+with its inspiring strains; in yonder bay floated the great war-ships of
+Louis; and around the shores of this harbor could be counted battery after
+battery, with scores of guns bristling from the embrasures.
+
+The building of this stronghold was a labor of twenty-five years. The
+stone walls rose to the height of thirty-six feet. In those broken arches,
+studded with stalactites, those casemates, or vaults of the citadel, you
+still see some evidence of its former strength. You will know the citadel
+by them, and by the greater height of the mounds which mark the walls that
+once encompassed it. Within these stood the smaller military chapel. Think
+of looking down from this point upon those broad avenues, busy with life,
+a hundred years ago!
+
+Neither roof nor spire remain now; nor square nor street; nor convent,
+church, or barrack. The green turf covers all: even the foundations of the
+houses are buried. It is a city without an inhabitant. Dismantled cannon,
+with the rust clinging in great flakes; scattered implements of war;
+broken weapons, bayonets, gun-locks, shot, shell or grenade, unclaimed,
+untouched, corroded and corroding, in silence and desolation, with no
+signs of life visible within these once warlike parapets except the
+peaceful sheep, grazing upon the very brow of the citadel, are the only
+relics of once powerful Louisburgh.
+
+Let us recall the outlines of its history. In the early part of the last
+century, just after the death of Louis XIV., these foundations were laid,
+and the town named in honor of the ruling monarch. Nova Scotia proper had
+been ceded, by recent treaty, to the filibusters of Old and New-England,
+but the ancient Island of Cape Breton still owned allegiance to the lilies
+of France. Among the beautiful and commodious harbors that indent the
+southern coast of the island, this one was selected as being most easy of
+access. Although naturally well adapted for defence, yet its fortification
+cost the government immense sums of money, insomuch as all the materials
+for building had to be brought from a distance. Belknap thus describes it:
+"It was environed, two miles and a half in circumference, with a rampart
+of stone from thirty to thirty-six feet high, and a ditch eighty feet
+wide, with the exception of a space of two hundred yards near the sea,
+which was inclosed by a dyke and a line of pickets. The water in this
+place was shallow, and numerous reefs rendered it inaccessible to
+shipping, while it received an additional protection from the side-fire of
+the bastions. There were six-bastions and eight batteries, containing
+embrasures for one hundred and forty-eight cannon, of which forty-five
+only were mounted, and eight mortars. On an island at the entrance of the
+harbor was planted a battery of thirty cannon, carrying twenty-eight pound
+shot; and at the bottom of the harbor was a grand, or royal battery, of
+twenty-eight cannon, forty-two pounders, and two eighteen-pounders. On a
+high cliff, opposite to the island-battery, stood a light house, and
+within this point, at the north-east part of the harbor, was a careening
+wharf, secure from all winds, and a magazine of naval stores. The town was
+regularly laid out in squares; the streets were broad and commodious, and
+the houses, which were built partly of wood upon stone foundations, and
+partly of more durable materials, corresponded with the general appearance
+of the place. In the centre of one of the chief bastions was a stone
+building, with a moat on the side near the town, which was called the
+citadel, though it had neither artillery nor a structure suitable to
+receive any. Within this building were the apartments of the governor, the
+barracks for the soldiers, and the arsenal; and, under the platform of the
+redoubt, a magazine well furnished with military stores. The parish
+church, also, stood within the citadel, and without was another, belonging
+to the hospital of St. Jean de Dieu, which was an elegant and spacious
+structure. The entrance to the town was over a drawbridge, near which was
+a circular battery, mounting sixteen guns of fourteen-pound shot."
+
+This cannon-studded harbor was the naval depot of France in America, the
+nucleus of its military power, the protector of its fisheries, the key of
+the gulf of St. Lawrence, the Sebastopol of the New World. For a quarter
+of a century it had been gathering strength by slow degrees: Acadia, poor
+inoffensive Acadia, from time to time, had been the prey of its rapacious
+neighbors; but Louisburgh had grown amid its protecting batteries, until
+Massachusetts felt that it was time for the armies of Gad to go forth and
+purge the threshing-floor with such ecclesiastical iron fans as they were
+wont to waft peace and good will with, wherever there was a fine opening
+for profit and edification.
+
+The first expedition against Louisburgh was only justifiable upon the
+ground that the wants of New England for additional territory were
+pressing, and immediate action, under the circumstances, indispensable.
+Levies of colonial troops were made, both in and out of the territories of
+the saints. The forces, however, actually employed, came from
+Massachusetts, Connecticut, and New Hampshire; the first supplying three
+thousand two hundred, the second five hundred, the third three hundred
+men. The cooeperation of Commodore Warren, of the English West-Indian
+fleet, was solicited; but the Commodore declined, on the ground "that the
+expedition was wholly a provincial affair, undertaken without the assent,
+and probably without the knowledge, of the ministry." But Governor Shirley
+was not a man to stop at trifles. He had a heart of lignum vitae, a rigid
+anti-papistical conscience, beetle brows, and an eye to the cod-fisheries.
+Higher authority than international law was pressed into the service.
+George Whitefield, then an itinerant preacher in New-England, furnished
+the necessary warrant for the expedition, by giving a motto for its
+banner: "_Nil desperandum Christo duce_"--Nothing is to be despaired of
+with CHRIST for leader. The command was, however, given to William
+Pepperel, a fish and shingle merchant of Maine. One of the chaplains of
+the filibusters carried a hatchet specially sharpened, to hew down the
+wooden images in the churches of Louisburgh. Everything that was needed to
+encourage and cheer the saints, was provided by Governor Shirley,
+especially a goodly store of New England rum, and the Rev. Samuel Moody,
+the lengthiest preacher in the colonies. Louisburgh, at that time feebly
+garrisoned, held out bravely in spite of the formidable array concentrated
+against it. In vain the Rev. Samuel Moody preached to its high stone
+walls; in vain the iconoclast chaplain brandished his ecclesiastical
+hatchet; in vain Whitefield's banner flaunted to the wind. The fortress
+held out against shot and shell, saint, flag and sermon. New England
+ingenuity finally circumvented Louisburgh. Humiliating as the confession
+is, it must be admitted that our pious forefathers did actually abandon
+"CHRISTO duce," and used instead a little worldly artifice.
+
+Commodore Warren, who had declined taking a part in the siege of
+Louisburgh, on account of the regulations of the service, had received,
+after the departure of the expedition, instructions to keep a look-out for
+the interests of his majesty in North America, which of course could be
+readily interpreted, by an experienced officer in his majesty's service,
+to mean precisely what was meant to be meant. As a consequence, Commodore
+Warren was speedily on the look-out, off the coast of Cape Breton, and in
+the course of events fell in with, and captured, the "Vigilant,"
+seventy-four, commanded by Captain Stronghouse, or, as his title runs,
+"the Marquis de la Maison Forte." The "Vigilant" was a store-ship, filled
+with munitions of war for the French town. Here was a glorious
+opportunity. If the saints could only intimate to Duchambon, the Governor
+of Louisburgh, that his supplies had been cut off, Duchambon might think
+of capitulation. But unfortunately the French were prejudiced against the
+saints, and would not believe them under oath. But when probity fails, a
+little ingenuity and artifice will do quite as well. The chief of the
+expedition was equal to the emergency. He took the Marquis of Stronghouse
+to the different ships on the station, where the French prisoners were
+confined, and showed him that they were treated with great civility; then
+he represented to the Marquis that the New England prisoners were cruelly
+dealt with in the fortress of Louisburgh; and requested him to write a
+letter, in the name of humanity, to Duchambon, Governor, in behalf of
+those suffering saints; "expressing his approbation of the conduct of the
+English, and entreating similar usuage for those whom the fortune of war
+had thrown in his hands." The Marquis wrote the letter; thus it begins:
+"On board the 'Vigilant,' _where I am a prisoner_, before Louisburgh, June
+thirteen, 1745." The rest of the letter is unimportant. The confession of
+Captain Stronghouse, that he was a prisoner, was the point; and the
+consequences thereof, which had been foreseen by the filibustering
+besiegers, speedily followed. In three days Louisburgh capitulated.
+
+Then the Rev. Samuel Moody greatly distinguished himself. He was a painful
+preacher; the most untiring, persevering, long-winded, clamorous,
+pertinacious vessel at craving a blessing, in the provinces. There was a
+great feast in honor of the occasion. But more formidable than the siege
+itself, was the anticipated "grace" of Brother Moody. New England held its
+breath when he began, and thus the Reverend Samuel: "Good Lord, we have so
+many things to thank Thee for, that time will be infinitely too short to
+do it; we must therefore leave it for the work of eternity."
+
+Upon this there was great rejoicing, yea, more than there had been upon
+the capture of the French stronghold. Who shall say whether Brother
+Moody's brevity may not stretch farther across the intervals of time than
+the longest preaching ever preached by mortal preacher?
+
+In three years after its capture, Louisburgh was restored to the French by
+the treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle. Ten years after its restoration, a heavier
+armament, a greater fleet, a more numerous army, besieged its almost
+impregnable walls. Under Amherst, Boscawen, and Wolfe, no less than
+twenty-three ships of war, eighteen frigates, sixteen thousand land
+forces, with a proportionable train of cannon and mortars, were arrayed
+against this great fortress in the year 1758. Here, too, many of our own
+ancestral warriors were gathered in that memorable conflict; here Gridley,
+who afterwards planned the redoubt at Bunker Hill, won his first laurels
+as an engineer; here Pomeroy distinguished himself, and others whose names
+are not recorded, but whose deeds survive in the history of a republic.
+The very drum that beat to arms before Louisburgh was braced again when
+the greater drama of the Revolution opened at Concord and Lexington.
+
+The siege continued for nearly two months. From June 8th until July 26th,
+the storm of iron and fire--of rocket, shot, and shell--swept from yonder
+batteries, upon the castellated city. Then when the King's, the Queen's,
+the Dauphin's bastions were lying in ruins, the commander, Le Chevalier
+de Drucour, capitulated, and the lilies of the Bourbon waved over
+Louisburgh no more.
+
+And here we stand nearly a century after, looking out from these war-works
+upon the desolate harbor. At the entrance, the wrecks of three French
+frigates, sunk to prevent the ingress of the British fleet, yet remain;
+sometimes visited by our still enterprising countrymen, who come down in
+coasters with diving-bell and windlass, to raise again from the deep,
+imbedded in sea-shells, the great guns that have slept in the ooze so
+long. Between those two points lay the ships of the line, and frigates of
+Louis; opposite, where the parapets of stone are yet visible, was the
+grand battery of forty guns: at Lighthouse Point yonder, two thousand
+grenadiers, under General Wolfe, drove back the French artillerymen, and
+tamed their cannon upon these mighty walls. Here the great seventy-four
+blew up; there the English boats were sunk by the guns of the fortress;
+day and night for many weeks this ground has shuddered with the thunders
+of the cannonade.
+
+And what of all this? we may ask. What of the ships that were sunk, and
+those that floated away with the booty? What of the soldiers that fell by
+hundreds here, and those that lived? What of the prisoners that mourned,
+and the captors that triumphed? What of the flash of artillery, and the
+shattered wall that answered it? Has any benefit resulted to mankind from
+this brilliant achievement? Can any man, of any nation, stand here and
+say: "This work was wrought to my profit?" Can any man draw such a breath
+here amid these buried walls, as he can upon the humblest sod that ever
+was wet with the blood of patriotism? I trow not.
+
+A second time in possession of this stronghold, England had not the means
+to maintain her conquest; the fortification was too large for any but a
+powerful garrison. A hundred war-ships had congregated in that harbor:
+frigates, seventy-fours, transports, sloops, under the _Fleur-de-lis_.
+Although Louisburgh was the pivot-point of the French possessions, yet it
+was but an outside harbor for the colonies. So the order went forth to
+destroy the town that had been reared with so much cost, and captured with
+so much sacrifice. And it took two solid years of gunpowder to blow up
+these immense walls, upon which we now sadly stand, O gentle reader! Turf,
+turf, turf covers all! The gloomiest spectacle the sight of man can dwell
+upon is the desolate, but once populous, abode of humanity. Egypt itself
+is cheerful compared with Louisburgh!
+
+"It rains," said Picton.
+
+It had rained all the morning; but what did that matter when a hundred
+years since was in one's mind? Picton, in his mackintosh, was an
+impervious representative of the nineteenth century; but I was as fully
+saturated with water as if I were living in the place under the old French
+_regime_.
+
+"Let us go down," said Picton, "and see the jolly old fishermen outside
+the walls. What is the use of staying here in the rain after you have seen
+all that can be seen? Come along. Just think how serene it will be if we
+can get some milk and potatoes down there."
+
+There are about a dozen fishermen's huts on the beach outside the walls of
+the old town of Louisburgh. When you enter one it reminds you of the
+descriptive play-bill of the melo-drama--"Scene II.: Interior of a
+Fisherman's Cottage on the Sea-shore: Ocean in the Distance." The walls
+are built of heavy timbers, laid one upon another, and caulked with moss
+or oakum. Overhead are square beams, with pegs for nets, poles, guns,
+boots, the heterogeneous and picturesque tackle with which such ceilings
+are usually ornamented. But oh! how clean everything is! The knots are
+fairly scrubbed out of the floor-planks, the hearth-bricks red as
+cherries, the dresser-shelves worn thin with soap and sand, and white as
+the sand with which they have been scoured. I never saw drawing-room that
+could compare with the purity of that interior. It was cleanliness itself;
+but I saw many such before I left Louisburgh, in both the old town and the
+new.
+
+We sat down in the "hutch," as they call it, before a cheery wood-fire,
+and soon forgot all about the outside rain. But if we had shut out the
+rain, we had not shut out the neighboring Atlantic. That was near enough;
+the thunderous surf, whirling, pouring, breaking against the rocky shore
+and islands, was sounding in our ears, and we could see the great white
+masses of foam lifted against the sky from the window of the hutch, as we
+sat before the warm fire.
+
+"You was lucky to get in last night," said the master of the hutch, an
+old, weather-beaten fisherman.
+
+"Yes," replied Picton, surveying the grey head before him with as much
+complacency as he would a turnip; "and a serene old place it is when we
+get in."
+
+To this the weather-beaten replied by winking twice with both eyes.
+
+"Rather a dangerous coast," continued Picton, stretching out one thigh
+before the fire. "I say, don't you fishermen often lose your lives out
+there?" and he pointed to the mouth of the harbor.
+
+"There was only two lives lost _in seventy years_," replied the old man
+(this remarkable fact was confirmed by many persons of whom we asked the
+same question during our visit), "and one of them was a young man, a
+stranger here, who was capsized in a boat as he was going out to a vessel
+in the harbor."
+
+"You are speaking now of lives lost in the fisheries," said Picton, "not
+in the coasting trade."
+
+"Oh!" replied the old man, shaking his head, "the coasting trade is
+different; there is a many lives lost in that. Last year I had a brother
+as sailed out of this in a shallop, on the same day as yon vessel,"
+pointing to the Balaklava; "he went out in company with your captain; he
+was going to his wedding, he thought, poor fellow, for he was to bring a
+young wife home with him from Halifax, but he got caught in a storm off
+Canseau, and we never heard of the shallop again. He was my youngest
+brother, gentlemen."
+
+It was strange to be seated in that old cottage, listening to so dreary a
+story, and watching the storm outside. There was a wonderful fascination
+in it, nevertheless, and I was not a little loth to leave the bright
+hearth when the sailors from the schooner came for us and carried us on
+board again to dinner.
+
+The storm continued; but Picton and I found plenty to do that day.
+Equipped with oil-skin pea-jackets and sou'-westers, with a couple of
+_fish-pughs_, or poles, pointed with iron, we started on a cruise after
+lobsters, in a sort of flat-bottomed skiff, peculiar to the place, called
+a _dingledekooch_. And although we did not catch one lobster, yet we did
+not lose sight of many interesting particulars that were scattered around
+the harbor. And first of the fisheries. All the people here are directly
+or indirectly engaged in this business, and to this they devote themselves
+entirely; farming being scarcely thought of. I doubt whether there is a
+plough in the place; certainly there was not a horse, in either the old or
+new town, or a vehicle of any kind, as we found out betimes.
+
+The fishing here, as in all other places along the coast, is carried on in
+small, clinker-built boats, sharp at both ends, and carrying two sails. It
+is marvellous with what dexterity these boats are handled; they are out in
+all weathers, and at all times, night or day, as it happens, and although
+sometimes loaded to the gunwale with fish, yet they encounter the roughest
+gales, and ride out storms in safety, that would be perilous to the
+largest vessels.
+
+"I can carry all sail," said one old fellow, "when the captain there would
+have to take in every rag on the schooner."
+
+And such, too, was the fact. These boats usually sail a few miles from the
+shore, rarely beyond twelve; the fish are taken with hand-lines generally,
+but sometimes a set line with buoys and anchors is used. The fish, are
+cured on _flakes_, or high platforms, raised upon poles from the beach, so
+that one end of the staging is over the water. The cod are thrown up from
+the boat to the flake by means of the fish-pugh--a sort of one-pronged,
+piscatory pitchfork--and cleaned, salted, and cured there; then spread out
+to dry on the flake, or on the beach, and packed for market. _Nothing can
+be neater and cleaner than the whole system of curing the fish!_ popular
+opinion to the contrary notwithstanding. The fishermen of Louisburgh are a
+happy, contented, kind, and simple people. Living, as they do, far from
+the jarring interests of the busy world, having a common revenue, for the
+ocean supplies each and all alike; pursuing an occupation which is
+constant discipline for body and soul; brave, sincere, and hospitable by
+nature, for all of these virtues are inseparable from their relations to
+each other; one can scarcely be with them, no matter how brief the visit,
+without feeling a kindred sympathy; without having a vague thought of
+"sometime I may be only too glad to escape from the world and accept this
+humble happiness instead;" without a dreamy idea of "Perhaps _this_, after
+all, is the real Arcadia!"
+
+While I was indulging in these reflections, it was amusing to see Picton
+at work! The heads and entrails of the cod-fish, thrown from the "flakes"
+into the water, attract thousands of the baser tribes, such as sculpins,
+flounders, and toad-fish, who feed themselves fat upon the offals, and
+enjoy a peaceful life under the clear waters of the harbor. As the
+dingledekooch floated silently over them, they lay perfectly quiet and
+unsuspicious of danger, although within a few feet of the fatal fish-pugh,
+and in an element almost as transparent as air. Lobster, during the storm,
+had gone off to other grounds; but here were great flat flounders and
+sculpin, within reach of the indefatigable Picton. Down went the fish-pugh
+and up came the game! The bottom of the skiff was soon covered with the
+spearings of the traveller. Great flounders, those sub-marine buckwheat
+cakes; sculpins, bloated with rage and wind, like patriots out of office;
+toad-fish, savage and vindictive as Irishmen in a riot. Down went the
+fish-pugh! It was rare sport, and no person could have enjoyed it more
+than Picton--except perhaps some of the veteran fishermen of Louisburgh,
+who were gathered on the beach watching the doings in the dingledekooch.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VI.
+
+A most acceptable Invitation--- An Evening in the Hutch--Old Songs--Picton
+in High Feather--Wolfe and Montcalm--Reminiscences of the Siege--Anecdotes
+of Wolfe--A Touch of Rhetoric and its Consequences.
+
+
+Quite a little crowd of fishermen gathered around us, as the dingledekooch
+ran bows on the beach, and Picton, warm with exercise and excitement,
+leaped ashore, flourishing his piscatorial javelin with an air of triumph,
+which oddly contrasted with the faces of the Louisburghers, who looked at
+him and at his game, with countenances of great gravity--either real or
+assumed. Presently, another boat ran bows on the beach beside our own, and
+from this jumped Bruce, our jolly first mate, who had come ashore to spend
+a few hours with an old friend, at one of the hutches. To this we were
+hospitably invited also, and were right glad to uncase our limbs of stiff
+oil-skin and doff our sou'-westers, and sit down before the cheery fire,
+piled up with spruce logs and hackmatack; comfortable, indeed, was it to
+be thus snugly housed, while the weather outside was so lowering, and the
+schooner wet and cold with rain. To be sure, our gay and festive hall was
+not so brilliant as some, but it was none the less acceptable on that
+account; and, before long, a fragrant rasher of bacon, fresh eggs, white
+bread, and a strong cup of bitter tea made us feel entirely happy. Then
+these viands being removed, there came pipes and tobacco; and as something
+else was needed to crown the symposium, Picton whispered a word in the ear
+of Bruce, who presently disappeared, to return again after a brief
+absence, with some of our stores from the schooner. Then the table was
+decked again, with china mugs of dazzling whiteness, lemons, hot water,
+and a bottle of old Glenlivet; and from the centre of this gallant show,
+the one great lamp of the hutch cast its mellow radiance around, and
+nursed in the midst of its flame a great ball of red coal that burned like
+a bonfire. Then, when our host, the old fisherman, brought out a bundle of
+warm furs, of moose and cariboo skins, and distributed them around on the
+settles and broad, high-backed benches, so that we could loll at our ease,
+we began to realize a sense of being quite snug and cozy, and, indeed, got
+used to it in a surprisingly short space of time.
+
+"Now, then," said Picton, "this is what I call serene," and the traveller
+relapsed into his usual activity; after a brief respite--"I say, give us
+a song, will you, now, some of you; something about this jolly old place,
+now--'Brave Wolfe,' or 'Boscawen,'" and he broke out--
+
+    "'My name d'ye see's Tom Tough, I've seen a little sarvice,
+        Where mighty billows roll and loud tempests blow;
+    I've sailed with noble Howe, and I've sailed with noble Jarvis,
+        And in Admiral Duncan's fleet I've sung yeo, heave, yeo!
+            And more ye must be knowin',
+            I was cox'son to Boscawen
+            When our fleet attacked Louisburgh,
+                And laid her bulwarks low.
+            But push about the grog, boys!
+            Hang care, it killed a cat,
+            Push about the grog, and sing--
+                Yeo, heave, yeo!'"
+
+"Good Lord!" said the old fisherman, "I harn't heard that song for more'n
+thirty years. Sing us another bit of it, please."
+
+But Picton had not another bit of it; so he called lustily for some one
+else to sing. "Hang it, sing something," said the traveller. "'How stands
+the glass around;' that, you know, was written by Wolfe; at least, it was
+sung by him the night before the battle of Quebec, and they call it
+Wolfe's death song--
+
+    'How stands the glass around?
+      For shame, ye take no care, my boys!
+    How stands the glass around?'"
+
+Here Picton forgot the next line, and substituted a drink for it, in
+correct time with the music:
+
+    "'The trumpets sound;
+        The colors flying are, my boys,
+    To fight, kill, or wound'"----
+
+Another slip of the memory [drink]:
+
+    "'May we still be found,'"
+
+He has found it, and repeats emphatically:
+
+    "'May we still be found!
+    Content with our hard fare, my boys,
+
+[all drink]
+
+    On the cold ground!'
+
+"Then there is another song," said Picton, lighting his pipe with coal and
+tongs; "'Wolfe and Montcalm'--you must know that," he continued,
+addressing the old fisherman. But the ancient trilobite did not know it;
+indeed, he was not a singer, so Picton trolled lustily forth--
+
+    "'He lifted up his head,
+        While the cannons did rattle,
+    To his aid de camp he said,
+        'How goes the battail?'
+    The aid de camp, he cried,
+        ''Tis in our favor;'
+    'Oh! then,' brave Wolfe replied,
+        'I die with pleasure!'"
+
+"There," said Picton, throwing himself back upon the warm and cosy furs,
+"I am at the end of my rope, gentlemen. Sing away, some of you," and the
+traveller drew a long spiral of smoke through his tube, and ejected it in
+a succession of beautiful rings at the beams overhead.
+
+"Picton," said I, "what a strange, romantic interest attaches itself to
+the memory of Wolfe. The very song you have sung, 'How stands the glass
+around,' although not written by him, for it was composed before he was
+born, yet has a currency from the popular belief that he sang it on the
+evening preceding his last battle. And, indeed, it is by no means certain
+that Gray's Elegy does not derive additional interest from a kindred
+tradition."
+
+"What is that?" said the traveller.
+
+"Of course you will remember it. When Gray had completed the Elegy, he
+sent a copy of it to his friend, General Wolfe, in America; and the story
+goes, that as the great hero was sitting, wrapped in his military cloak,
+on board the barge which the sailors were rowing up the St. Lawrence,
+towards Quebec, he produced the poem, and read it in silence by the waning
+light of approaching evening, until he came to these lines, which he
+repeated aloud to his officers:
+
+    'The boast of heraldry, the pomp of power,
+        And all that beauty, all that wealth e'er gave,
+      Await alike the inevitable hour'----"
+
+Then pausing for a moment, he finished the stanza:
+
+    "'The paths of glory lead but to the grave.'"
+
+"Gentlemen," he added, "I would rather be the writer of this poem, than
+the greatest conqueror the world ever produced."
+
+"That's true," said the old fisherman, sententiously. "We are all bound to
+that place, sometime or other."
+
+"What place?" said Picton, rousing up.
+
+"The berrying-ground," answered the ancient; "that is if we don't get
+overboard instead."
+
+"But," he continued, "since you are speaking of General Wolfe, you must
+know my grandfather served under him at Minden, and at the battle here,
+too, where he was wounded, and left behind, when the general went back to
+England."
+
+"I thought he went from this place to Quebec," said Picton.
+
+"No, sir," replied the old man, "he went first to London, and came back
+again, and then went to Canada. Well," he continued, "my grandfather
+served under him, and was left here to get over his wownds, and so he
+married my grandmother, and lived in Louisburgh after the French were all
+sent away." Here the veteran placed his paws on the table, and looked out
+into the infinite. We could see we were in for a long story. "All the
+French soldiers and sailors, you see, were sent to England prisoners of
+war--and the rest of the people were sent to France; the governor of this
+here place was named Drucour; he was taken to Southampton, and put in
+prison. Well now, as I was saying, this hutch of mine was built by my
+father, just here by Wolfe's landing, for grandfather took a fancy to have
+it built on this spot; you see, Wolfe rowed over one night in a boat all
+alone from Lighthouse point yonder, and stood on the beach right under
+this here old wall, looking straight up at the French sentry over his
+head, and taking a general look at the town on both sides. There wasn't a
+man in all his soldiers who would have stood there at that time for a
+thousand pounds."
+
+"What do you suppose the old file was doing over here?" inquired Picton,
+who was getting sleepy.
+
+"I don't know," answered our host, "except it was his daring. He was the
+bravest man of his time, I've heard say--and so young"----
+
+"Two and thretty only," said Bruce.
+
+"And a tall, elegant officer, too," continued the ancient fisherman.
+"I've heard tell how the French governor's lady used to send him
+sweetmeats with a flag of truce, and he used to return his compliments and
+a pine apple, or something of that kind. Ah, he was a great favorite with
+the ladies! I've heard say, he was much admired for his elegant style of
+dancing, and always ambitious to have a tall and graceful lady for his
+partner, and then he was as much pleased as if he was in the thick of the
+fight. He was a great favorite with the soldiers, too; very careful of
+them, to see they were well nursed when they were sick, and sharing the
+worst and the best with them; but my grandfather used to say, very strict,
+too."
+
+"Who was in command here, Wolfe or Amherst?"
+
+"General Amherst was in command, and got the credit of it, too; but Wolfe
+did the fighting--so grandfather used to say."
+
+"What was the name of his leddy in the old country?" said Bruce.
+
+"I do not remember," replied the ancient, "but I've heard it. You know he
+was to be married, when he got back to England. And when the first shot
+struck him in the wrist, at Quebec, he took out _her_ handkerchief from
+his breast-pocket, smiled, wrapped it about the place, and went on with
+the battle as if nothing had happened. But, soon after he got another
+wound, and yet he wasn't disheartened, but waved his ratan over his head,
+for none of the officers carried swords there, and kept on, until the
+third bullet went through and through his breast, when he fell back, and
+just breathed like, till word was brought that the French were retreating,
+when he said, then 'I am content,' and so closed his eyes and died."
+
+Here there was a pause. Our entertainer, waving his hand towards our mugs
+of Glenlivet, by way of invitation, lifted his own to his mouth by the
+handle, and with a dexterous tilt that showed practice, turned its bottom
+towards the beams of the hutch.
+
+"Do you remember any farther particulars of the siege of Louisburgh?" I
+asked.
+
+"Oh, yes," replied the old man, "I remember grandfather telling us how he
+saw the bodies of fifteen or sixteen deserters hanging over the walls;
+they were Germans that had been sold to the French, four years before the
+war, by a Prussian colonel. Some of them got away, and came over to our
+side. He used to say, the old town looked like a big ship when they came
+up to it; it had two tiers of guns, one above the other, on the
+south--that is towards Gabarus bay, where our troops landed. And now I
+mind me of his telling that when they landed at Gabarus, they had a hard
+fight with the French and Indians, until Col. Fraser's regiment of
+Highlanders jumped overboard, and swam to a point on the rocks, and drove
+the enemy away with their broad-swords."
+
+"That was the 63d Highlanders," said Bruce, with immense gravity.
+
+"Among the Indians killed at Gabarus," continued our host, "they say there
+was one Micmac chief, who was six feet nine inches high. The French
+soldiers were very much frightened when the Highland men climbed up on the
+rocks; they called them English savages."
+
+"That showed," said Bruce, "what a dommed ignorant set they were!"
+
+"And, while I think of it," added our host, rising from his seat, "I have
+a bit of the old time to show you," and so saying, he retreated from the
+table, and presently brought forth a curious oak box from a mysterious
+corner of the hutch, and after some difficulty in drawing out the sliding
+cover, produced a roll of tawny newspapers, tied up with rope yarn, a
+colored wood engraving in a black frame--a portrait, with the inscription,
+"James Wolfe, Esq'r, Commander in Chief of His Majesty's Forces in the
+Expedition to Quebec," and on the reverse the following scrap from the
+London Chronicle of October 7, 1759:
+
+    "Amidst her conquests let Britannia groan
+    For Wolfe! her gallant, her undaunted son;
+    For Wolfe, whose breast bright Honor did inspire
+    With patriot ardor and heroic fire;
+    For Wolfe, who headed that intrepid band,
+    Who, greatly daring, forced Cape Breton's strand.
+    For Wolfe, who following still where glory call'd,
+    No dangers daunted, no distress appall'd;
+    Whose eager zeal disasters could not check,
+    Intent to strike the blow which gained Quebec.
+    For Wolfe, who, like the gallant Theban, dy'd
+    In th' arms of victory--his country's pride."
+
+This inscription I read aloud, and then, under the influence of the
+loquacious potable, leaned back in my furry throne, crossed my hands over
+my forehead, looked steadily into the blazing fire-place, and continued
+the theme I had commenced an hour before.
+
+"What a strange interest attaches itself to the memory of Wolfe! A
+youthful hero, who, under less happy auspices, might have been known only
+as the competent drill-master of regiments, elevated by the sagacity of
+England's wisest statesman to a prominent position of command; there to
+exhibit his generalship; there to retrieve the long list of disasters
+which followed Braddock's defeat; there to annihilate forever every
+vestige of French dominion in the Americas; to fulfill gloriously each
+point of his mission; to achieve, not by long delays, but by rapid
+movements, the conquest of two of the greatest fortresses in the
+possession of the rival crown; to pass from the world amid the shouts of
+victory--content in the fullness of his fame, without outliving it! His
+was a noble, generous nature; brave without cruelty; ardent and warlike,
+yet not insensible to the tenderest impulses of humanity. To die betrothed
+and beloved, yet wedded only to immortal honor; to leave a mother, with a
+nation weeping at her feet; to serve his country, without having his
+patriotism contaminated by titles, crosses, and ribbons; this was the most
+fortunate fate of England's greatest commander in the colonies! No wonder,
+then, that with a grateful sympathy the laurels of his mother country were
+woven with the cypress of her chivalric son; that hundreds of pens were
+inspired to pay some tribute to his memory; that every branch of
+representative art, from stone to ink, essayed to portray his living
+likeness; that parliament and pulpit, with words of eloquence and
+gratitude, uttered the universal sentiment!
+
+"Brave Wolfe," I continued, "whose memory is linked with his no less
+youthful rival, Montcalm"----here I was interrupted by the voice of the
+mate of the Balaklava--
+
+"I'll be dommed," said he, "if some person isn't afire!"
+
+Then I unclasped my hands, opened my eyes, and looked around me.
+
+The scene was a striking one. Right before me, with his grey head on the
+table, buried in his piscatorial paws, lay the master of the hutch, fast
+asleep. On a settle, one of the fishermen, who had been a devout listener
+to all the legends of the grandson of the veteran of Louisburgh, was in a
+similar condition; Bruce, our jolly first mate, with the pertinacity of
+his race, was wide awake, to be sure, but there were unmistakable signs of
+drowsiness in the droop of his eyelids; and Picton? That gentleman, buried
+in moose and cariboo skins, prostrate on a broad bench, drawn up close by
+the fire-place, was dreaming, probably, of sculpins, flounders, fish-pugh,
+and dingledekooch!
+
+"I say! wake up here!" said the jolly mate of the Balaklava; bringing his
+fist down upon the table with an emphatic blow, that roused all the
+sleepers except the traveller. "I say, wake up!" reiterated Brace, shaking
+Picton by the shoulder. Then Picton raised himself from his couch, and
+yawned twice; walked to the table, seated himself on a bench, thrust his
+fingers through his black hair, and instantly fell asleep again, after
+shaking out into the close atmosphere of the hutch a stifling odor of
+animal charcoal.
+
+"A little straw makes a great reek," said Bruce, laughing, "and when a mon
+gives out before his pipe, he is like to be burnet," and he pointed to a
+long black and brown singe on the worsted comforter of the traveller, by
+which we understood that Picton had fallen asleep, pipe in mouth, and then
+dropped his lighted _dudeen_ just on the safest part of his neck.
+
+Once again we roused the sleeper; and so, shaking hands with our
+hospitable host, we left the comfortable hutch at Wolfe's Landing, and
+were soon on our way to the jolly little schooner.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VII.
+
+The other side of the Harbor--A Foraging Party--Disappointment--Twilight
+at Louisburgh--Long Days and Early Mornings--A Visit and View of an
+Interior--A Shark Story--Picton inquires about a Measure--Hospitality and
+the Two Brave Boys--Proposals for a Trip overland to Sydney.
+
+
+To make use of a quaint but expressive phrase, "it is patent enough," that
+travellers are likely to consume more time in reaching a place than they
+are apt to bestow upon it when found. And, I am ashamed to say, that even
+Louisburgh was not an exception to this general truth; although perhaps
+certain reasons might be offered in extenuation for our somewhat speedy
+departure from the precincts of the old town. First, then, the uncertainty
+of a sailing vessel, for the "Balaklava" was coquettishly courting any and
+every wind that could carry her out of our harbor of refuge. Next, the
+desire of seeing more of the surroundings of the ancient fortress--the
+batteries on the opposite side, the new town, the lighthouse, and the wild
+picturesque coast. Add to these the wish of our captain to shift his
+anchorage, to get on the side where he would have a better opening towards
+the ocean, "when the wind came on to blow,"--to say nothing of being in
+the neighborhood of his old friends, whose cottages dotted the green
+hill-sides across the bay, as you looked over the bows of the jolly little
+schooner. And there might have been other inducements--such as the hope of
+getting a few pounds of white sugar, a pitcher of milk (delicious,
+lacteous fluid, for which we had yearned so often amid the briny waves);
+and last, but not least, a hamper of blue-nosed potatoes. So, when the
+shades of the second evening were gathering grandly and gloomily around
+the dismantled parapets, and Louisburgh lay in all the lovely and romantic
+light of a red and stormy sunset, it seemed but fitting that the
+cable-chain of the anchor should clank to the windlass, and the die-away
+song of the mariner should resound above the calm waters, and the canvas
+stretch towards the land opposite, that seemed so tempting and delectable.
+And presently the "Balaklava" bore away across the red and purple harbor
+for the new town, leaving in her wake the ruined walls of Louisburgh that
+rose up higher the further we sailed from them.
+
+The schooner dropped anchor inside the little cove on the opposite side of
+the old town, which the reader will see by referring to the map; and the
+old battles of the years '45 and '58 were presently forgotten in the new
+aspects that were presented. The anchor was scarcely dropped fairly,
+before the yawl-boat was under the stroke of the oars, and Picton and I
+_en route_ for the store-house; the general, particular, and only exchange
+in the whole district of Louisburgh. It was a small wooden building with a
+fair array of tarpaulin hats, oil-skin garments, shelves of dry-goods and
+crockery, and boxes and barrels, such as are usually kept by country
+traders: on the beach before it were the customary flake for drying fish,
+the brown winged boats, and other implements of the fisheries.
+
+But alas! the new town, that looked so pastoral and pleasant, with its
+tender slopes of verdure, was not, after all, a Canaan, flowing with milk
+and blue-nosed potatoes. Neither was there white sugar, nor coffee, nor
+good black tea there; the cabin of the schooner being as well furnished
+with these articles of comfort as the store-house of McAlpin, towards
+which we had looked with such longing eyes. Indeed, I would not have cared
+so much about the disappointment myself, but I secretly felt sorry for
+Picton, who went rummaging about the barrels in search of something to eat
+or to drink. "No white sugar?" said the traveller. "_We don't have white
+sugar in this town_," was the answer. "Nor coffee?" "No, Sir." And the tea
+had the same flavor of musty hay, with which we were so well acquainted.
+At last Picton stumbled over a prize--a bushel-basket half-filled with
+potatoes, whereat he raised a bugle-note of triumph.
+
+It may seem strange that a gentleman of fine education, a traveller, who
+had visited the famous European capitals, London, Paris, Rome, Madrid,
+Vienna; who had passed between the Pillars of Hercules, and voyaged upon
+the blue Mediterranean, far as the Greek Archipelago; who had wandered
+through the galleries of the Vatican, and mused within the courts of the
+Alhambra; who had seen the fire-works on the carnival dome of St. Peter's,
+and the water-works of Versailles; the temples of Athens, and the Boboli
+gardens of Florence; the sculptures of Praxiteles, and the frescoes of
+Raphael; should exhibit such emotion as Picton exhibited, over a
+bushel-basket only half-filled with small-sized blue-nosed tubers. But
+Picton was only a man, and "_Homo sum_----" the rest of the sentence it is
+needless to quote. I saw at a glance that the potatoes were cut in halves
+for planting; but Picton was filled with the divine idea of a feast.
+
+"I say, we want a peck of potatoes."
+
+"A peck?" was the answer. "Why, man, I wouldn't sell ye my seed-potatoes
+at a guinea apiece."
+
+Here was a sudden let-down; a string of the human violin snapped, just as
+it was keyed up to tuning point. Slowly and sorrowfully we regained the
+yawl after that brief and bitter experience, and a few strokes of the oars
+carried us to the side of the "Balaklava."
+
+It may seem absurd and trifling to dwell upon such slight particulars in
+this itinerary of a month among the Blue Noses (as our brothers of Nova
+Scotia are called); but to give a correct idea of this rarely-visited part
+of the world, one must notice the salient points that present themselves
+in the course of the survey. Louisburgh would speedly become rich from its
+fisheries, if there were sufficient capital invested there and properly
+used. Halifax is now the only point of contact between it and the outside
+world; Halifax supplies it with all the necessary articles of life, and
+Halifax buys all the produce of its fisheries. Therefore, Halifax reaps
+all the profits on either side, both of buying and selling, in all not
+amounting to much--as the matter now stands. But insomuch as the sluggish
+blood of the colonies will never move without some quickening impulse from
+exterior sources, and as Louisburgh is only ten days' sail, under canvas,
+from New York, and as the fisheries there would rapidly grow by kindly
+nurture into importance, it does seem as if a moderate amount of capital
+diverted in that direction, would be a fortunate investment, both for the
+investor and hardy fishermen of the old French town.
+
+I have alluded before to the long Acadian twilights, the tender and loving
+leave-takings between the day and his earth; just as two fond and foolish
+young people separate sometimes, or as the quaint old poet in Britannia's
+Pastorals describes it:
+
+    "Look as a lover, with a lingering kiss,
+    About to part with the best half that's his:
+    Fain would he stay, but that he fears to do it,
+    And curseth time for so fast hastening to it:
+    Now takes his leave, and yet begins anew
+    To make less vows than are esteemed true:
+    Then says, he must be gone, and then doth find
+    Something he should have spoke that's out of mind:
+    _And while he stands to look for't in her eyes,
+    Their sad, sweet glance so ties his faculties
+    To think from what he parts that he is now
+    As far from leaving her, or knowing how,
+    As when he came_; begins his former strain,
+    To kiss, to vow, and take his leave again;
+    Then turns, comes back, sighs, pants, and yet doth go,
+    Fain to retire, and loth to leave her so."
+
+Even so these fond and foolish old institutions part company in northern
+regions, and, at the early hour of two o'clock in the morning, the amorous
+twilight reappears in his foggy mantle, to look at the fair face of his
+ancient sweetheart in the month of June.
+
+Tea being over, the "cluck" of the row-locks woke the echoes of the
+twilight bay, as our little yawl put off again for the new town, with a
+gay evening party, consisting of the captain, his lady, the baby, Picton
+and myself, with a brace of Newfoundland oarsmen. If our galley was not a
+stately one, it was at least a cheerful vessel, and as the keel grated on
+the snow-white pebbles of the beach, Picton and I sprang ashore, with all
+the gallantry of a couple of Sir Walter Raleighs, to assist the queen of
+the "Balaklava" upon _terra firma_. Her majesty being landed, we made a
+royal procession to the largest hutch on the green slope before us, the
+captain carrying the insignia of his marital office (the baby) with great
+pomp and awkward ceremony, in front, while his lady, Picton and I,
+loitered in the rear. We had barely crossed the sill of the hutch-door,
+before we felt quite at home and welcome. The same cheery fire in the
+chimney-place, the spotless floor, the tidy rush-bottomed chairs, and a
+whole nest of little white-heads and twinkling eyes, just on the border of
+a bright patchwork quilt, was invitation enough, even if we had not been
+met at the threshold by the master himself, who stretched out his great
+arms with a kind, "Come-in-and-how-are-ye-all."
+
+And what a wonderful evening we passed in that other hutch, before the
+blazing hearth-fire! What stories of wrecks and rescues, of icebergs and
+whales, of fogs and fisheries, of domestic lobsters that brought up their
+little families, in the mouths of the sunken cannon of the French
+frigates; of the great sharks that were sometimes caught in the meshes of
+the set-nets! "There was one shark," said our host, another old fisherman,
+who, by the way, wore a red skull-cap like a cardinal, and had a habit of
+bobbing his head as he spoke, so as to put one continually in mind of a
+gigantic woodpecker--"there was one shark I mind particular. My two boys
+and me was hauling in the net, and soon as I felt it, says I, 'Boys,
+here's something more than common.' So we all hauled away, and O my!
+didn't the water boil when he come up? Such a time! Fortnatly, he come up
+tail first. LORD, if he'd a come up head first he'd a bit the boat in two
+at one bite! He was all hooked in, and twisted up with the net. I s'pose
+he had forty hooks in him; and when he got his head above water, he was
+took sick, and such a time as he had! He must a' vomited up about two
+barrels of bait--true as I set here. Well, as soon as he got over that,
+then he tried to get his head around to bite! LORD, if he'd got his head
+round, he'd a bit the boat in two, and we had it right full of fish, for
+we'd been out all day with hand-lines. He had a nose in front of his gills
+just like a duck, only it was nigh upon six feet long."
+
+"It must have been a shovel-nose shark," said Picton.
+
+"That's what a captain of a coaster told me," replied Red-Cap; "he said it
+must a been a shovel-nose. If he'd only got that shovel-nose turned
+around, he'd a shovelled us into eternity, fish and all."
+
+"What prevented him getting his head around?" said Picton.
+
+"Why, sir, I took two half-hitches round his tail, soon as I see him come
+up. And I tell ye when I make two half-hitches, they hold; ask captain
+there, if I can't make hitches as will hold. What say, captain?"
+
+Captain assented with a confirmatory nod.
+
+"What did you do then?" said Picton. "Did you get him ashore?"
+
+"Get him ashore?" muttered Red-Cap, covering his mouth with one broad
+brown hand to muffle a contemptuous laugh; "get him ashore! why, we was
+pretty well off shore for such a sail."
+
+"You might have rowed him ashore," said Picton.
+
+"Rowed him ashore?" echoed Red-Cap, with another contemptuous smile under
+the brown hand; "rowed him ashore?"
+
+The traveller, finding he was in deep water, answered: "Yes; that is, if
+you were not too far out."
+
+"A little too far out," replied Red-Cap; "why if I had been a hundred
+yards only from shore, it would ha' been too far to row, or sail in, with
+that shovel-nose, without counting the set-nets."
+
+"And what did you do?" said Picton, a little nettled.
+
+"Why," said Red-Cap, "I had to let him go, but first I cut out his liver,
+and that I did bring ashore, although it filled my boat pretty well full.
+You can judge how big it was: after I brought it ashore I lay it out on
+the beach and we measured it, Mr. McAlpin and me, and he'll tell you so
+too; we laid it out on the beach, that ere liver, and it measured
+seventeen feet, and then we didn't measure all of it."
+
+"Why the devil," said Picton, "didn't you measure all of it?"
+
+"Well," replied Red-Cap, "because we hadn't a measure long enough."
+
+Meantime the good lady of the hutch was busy arranging some tumblers on
+the table, and to our great surprise and delight a huge yellow pitcher of
+milk soon made its appearance, and immediately after an old-fashioned iron
+bake-pan, with an upper crust of live embers and ashes, was lifted off the
+chimney trammel, and when it was opened, the fragrance of hot ginger-bread
+filled the apartment. Then Red-Cap bobbed away at a corner cupboard, until
+he extracted therefrom a small keg or runlet of St. Croix rum of most ripe
+age and choice flavor, some of which, by an adroit and experienced crook
+of the elbow, he managed to insinuate into the milk, which, with a little
+brown sugar, he stirred up carefully and deliberately with a large spoon,
+Picton and I watching the proceedings with intense interest. Then the
+punch was poured out and handed around; while the good wife made little
+trips from guest to guest with a huge platter filled with the brown and
+fragrant pieces of the cake, fresh from the bake-pan. And so the baby
+having subsided (our baby of the "Balaklava"), and the twilight having
+given place to a grand moonlight on the bay, and the fire sending out its
+beams of warmth and happiness, glittering on the utensils of the dresser,
+and tenderly touching with rosy light the cheeks of the small,
+white-headed fishermen on the margin of the patchwork quilt; while there
+was no lack of punch and hospitality in the yellow pitcher, who shall say
+that we were not as well off in the fisherman's hutch as in a grand
+saloon, surrounded with frescoes and flunkeys, and served with thin
+lemonade upon trays of silver?
+
+I do not know why it is, but there always has been something very
+attractive to me in the faces of children; I love to read the physiognomy
+of posterity, and so get a history of the future world in miniature,
+before the book itself is fairly printed. And insomuch as Nova Scotia and
+Newfoundland are said to be the nurseries of England's seamen, it was with
+no little interest that I caught a glimpse of two boys, one thirteen, the
+other eleven years old, the eldest children of our friend Red-Cap.
+
+They came in just as we entered the hutch, and quietly seated themselves
+together by the corner of the fire-place, after modestly shaking hands
+with all the guests. They were dressed in plain home-spun clothes, with
+something of a sailor rig, especially the neat check shirts, and
+old-fashioned, little, low-quartered, round-toed shoes, such as are always
+a feature in the melo-drama where Jack plays a part. It is not usual, too,
+to see such stocky, robust frames as these fisher-boys presented; and in
+all three, in the father and his two sons, was one general, pervading
+idea of cleanliness and housewifery. And then, to notice the physiognomy
+again, each small face, though modest as that of no girl which I could
+recall at the moment, had its own tale of hardihood to tell; there was a
+something that recalled the open sea, written in either countenance;
+courage and endurance; faith and self-reliance; the compass and the
+rudder; speaking plainly out under each little thatch of white hair. And
+indeed, as we found out afterwards, those young countenances told the
+truth; those fisher-boys were Red-Cap's only boat-crew. In all weathers,
+in all seasons, by night and by day, the three were together, the parent
+and his two children, upon the perilous deep.
+
+"If I were the father of those boys," I whispered to Red-Cap, "I would be
+proud of them."
+
+"Would ye?" said he, with a proud, fatherly glance towards them; "well, I
+thought so once mysel'; it was when a schooner got ashore out there on the
+rocks; and we could see her, just under the lights of the lighthouse,
+pounding away; and by reason of the ice, nobody would venture; so my boys
+said, says they, 'Father, we can go, any way.' So I wouldn't stop when
+they said that, and so we laid beside the schooner and took off all her
+crew pretty soon, and they mostly dead with the cold; but it was an awful
+bad night, what with the darkness and the ice. Yes," he added, after a
+pause, "they are good boys now; but they won't be with me many years."
+
+"And why not?" I inquired, for I could not see that the young Red-Caps
+exhibited any migratory signs of their species to justify the remark.
+
+"Because all our boys go to the States just as soon as they get old
+enough."
+
+"To the States!" I echoed with no little surprise; "why, I thought they
+all entered the British Navy, or something of that kind."
+
+"Lord bless ye," said Red-Cap, "not one of them. Enter the British Navy!
+Why, man, you get the whole of our young people. What would they want to
+enter the British Navy for, when they can enter the United States of
+America?"
+
+"The air of Cape Breton is certainly favorable to health," said I, in a
+whisper, to Picton; "look, for example, at the mistress of the hutch!" and
+so surely as I have a love of womanity, so surely I intended to convey a
+sentiment of admiration in the brief words spoken to Picton. The wife of
+_Bonnet Rouge_ was at least not young, but her cheek was smooth, and
+flushed with the glow of health; her eyes liquid and bright; her hair
+brown, and abundant; her step light and elastic. Although neither Picton,
+captain, or anybody else in the hutch would remind one of the Angel
+Raphael, yet Mrs. Red-Cap, as
+
+    ----"With dispatchful looks, in haste
+    She turned, on hospitable thoughts intent,"
+
+was somewhat suggestive of Eve; her movements were grand and simple; there
+was a welcome in her face that dimpled in and out with every current
+topic; a Miltonic grandeur in her air, whether she walked or waited. I
+could not help but admire her, as I do everything else noble and easily
+understood. Mrs. Red-Cap was a splendid woman; the wife of a fisherman,
+with an unaffected grace beyond the reach of art, and poor old Louisburgh
+was something to speak of. Picton expressed his admiration in stronger and
+profaner language.
+
+We were not the only guests at Red-Cap's. The lighthouse keeper, Mr.
+Kavanagh, a bachelor and scholar, with his sister, had come down to take a
+moonlight walk over the heather; for in new Scotland as in old Scotland,
+the bonny heather blooms, although not so much familiarized there by song
+and story. But we shall visit lighthouse Point anon, and spend some hours
+with the two Kavanaghs. Forthright, into the teeth of the harbor, the wind
+is blowing: "The wind bloweth where it listeth, and thou nearest the sound
+therof, but canst not tell whence it cometh, and whither it goeth." How
+long the "Balaklava" may stay here is yet uncertain. So, with a good-night
+to the Red-Caps and their guests, we once more bear away for the cabin of
+the schooner and another night's discomfort.
+
+As I have said before in other words, this province is nothing more than a
+piece of patchwork, intersected with petty boundary lines, so that every
+nation is stitched in and quilted in spots, without any harmony, or
+coherence, or general design. The people of Louisburgh are a kind,
+hospitable, pleasant people, tolerably well informed for the inhabitants
+of so isolated a corner of the world; but a few miles further off we come
+upon a totally different race: a canting, covenanting, oat-eating,
+money-griping, tribe of second-hand Scotch Presbyterians: a transplanted,
+degenerate, barren patch of high cheek-bones and red hair, with nothing
+cleaving to them of the original stock, except covetousness and that
+peculiar cutaneous eruption for which the mother country is celebrated.
+But we shall soon have enough of these Scotsmen, good reader. Our present
+visit is to Lighthouse Point, to look out upon the broad Atlantic, the
+rocky coast, and the island battery, which a century since gave so much
+trouble to our filibustering fathers of New England. As we walked towards
+the lighthouse over the pebbly beach that borders the green turf, Picton
+suddenly starts off and begins a series of great jumps on the turf, giving
+with every grasshopper-leap a sort of interjectional "Whuh! whuh!" as
+though the feat was not confined to the leg-muscles only, but included
+also a necessary exercise of the lungs. And although we shouted at the
+traveller, he kept on towards the lighthouse, uttering with every jump,
+"Heather, heather." At last he came to, beside a group of evergreens, and
+grew rational. The springy, elastic sod, the heather of old Scotland,
+reproduced in new Scotland, had reminded him of reels and strathspeys,
+"for," said he, "nobody can walk upon this sort of thing without feeling a
+desire to dance upon it. Thunder and turf! if we only had the pipes now!"
+
+And sure enough here was the heather; the soft, springy turf, which has
+made even Scotchmen affectionate. I do not wonder at it; it answers to the
+foot-step like an echo, as the string of an instrument answers its
+concord; as love answers love in unison. I do not wonder that Scotchmen
+love the heather; I am only surprised that so much heather should be
+wasted on Scotchmen.
+
+We had anticipated a fine marine view from the lighthouse, but in place of
+it we could only see a sort of semi-luminous vapor, usually called a fog,
+which enveloped ocean, island, and picturesque coast. We could not
+discover the Island Battery opposite, which had bothered Sir William in
+the siege of '45; but nevertheless, we could judge of the difficulty of
+reaching it with a hostile force, screened as it was by its waves and
+vapors. The lighthouse is striped with black and white bars, like a zebra,
+and we entered it. One cannot help but admire such order and neatness, for
+the lighthouse is a marvel of purity. We were everywhere--in the
+bed-rooms, in the great lantern with its glittering lamps, in the hall,
+the parlor, the kitchen; and found in all the same pervading virtue; as
+fresh and sweet as a bride was that old zebra-striped lighthouse. The
+Kavanaghs, brother and sister, live here entirely alone; what with books
+and music, the ocean, the ships, and the sky, they have company enough.
+One could not help liking them, they have such cheerful faces, and are so
+kind and hospitable. Good bye, good friends, and peace be with you always!
+On our route schooner-ward we danced back over the heather, Picton with
+great joy carrying a small basket filled with his national fruit--a
+present from the Kavanaghs. What a feast we shall have, fresh fish,
+lobster, and above all--potatoes!
+
+It is a novel sight to see the firs and spruces on this stormy sea-coast.
+They grow out, and not up; an old tree spreading over an area of perhaps
+twenty feet in diameter, with the inevitable spike of green in its centre,
+and that not above a foot and a half from the ground. The trees in this
+region are possessed of extraordinary sagacity; they know how hard the
+wind blows at times, and therefore put forth their branches in full squat,
+just like country girls at a pic-nic.
+
+On Sunday the wind is still ahead, and Picton and I determine to abandon
+the "Balaklava." How long she may yet remain in harbor is a matter of
+fate; so, with brave, resolute hearts, we start off for a five-mile walk,
+to McGibbet's, the only owner of a horse and wagon in the vicinity of
+Louisburgh. Squirrels, robins, and rabbits appear and disappear in the
+road as we march forwards. The country is wild, and in its pristine state;
+nature everywhere. Now a brook, now a tiny lake, and "the murmuring pines
+and the hemlocks." At last we arrive at the house of McGibbet, and
+encounter new Scotland in all its original brimstone and oatmeal.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VIII.
+
+A Blue-Nosed Pair of the most Cerulean Hue--Prospects of a Hard
+Bargain--Case of Necessity--Romantic Lake with an Unromantic Name--The
+Discussion concerning Oatmeal--Danger of the Gasterophili--McGibbet
+makes a Proposition--Farewell to the "Balaklava"--A Midnight
+Journey--Sydney--Boat Excursion to the Mic Macs--Picton takes off his
+Mackintosh.
+
+
+Some learned philosopher has asserted that when a person has become
+accustomed to one peculiar kind of diet, it will be expressed in the
+lineaments of his face. How much the constant use of oatmeal could produce
+such an effect, was plainly visible in the countenances of McGibbet and
+his lady-love. Both had an unmistakable equine cast; McGibbet, wild,
+scraggy, and scrubby, with a tuft on his poll that would not have been out
+of place between the ears of a plough-horse, stared at us, just as such an
+animal would naturally over the top of a fence; while his gentle mate, who
+had more of the amiable draught-horse in her aspect, winked at us with
+both eyes from under a close-crimped frill, that bore a marvellous
+resemblance to a head-stall. The pair had evidently just returned from
+kirk. To say nothing of McGibbet's hat, and his wife's shawl, on a chair,
+and his best boots on the hearth (for he was walking about in his
+stockings), there was a dry _preceese_ air about them, which plainly
+betokened they were newly stiffened up with the moral starch of the
+conventicle, and were therefore well prepared to drive a hard bargain for
+a horse and wagon to Sydney. But what surprised me most of all was the
+imperturbable coolness of Picton. Without taking a look scarcely at the
+persons he was addressing, the traveller stalked in with an--"I say, we
+want a horse and wagon to Sydney; so look sharp, will you, and turn out
+the best thing you have here?"
+
+The moral starch of the conventicle stiffened up instantly. Like the
+blacksmith of Cairnvreckan, who, as a _professor_, would drive a nail for
+no man on the Sabbath or kirk-fast, unless in a case of absolute
+necessity, and then always charged an extra saxpence for each shoe; so it
+was plain to be seen that McGibbet had a conscience which required to be
+pricked both with that which knows no law, and the saxpence extra. He
+turned to his wife and addressed her in _Gaelic_! Then we knew what was
+coming.
+
+Mrs. McGibbet opened the subject by saying that they were both accustomed
+to the observance of the Sabbath, and that "she didn't think it was right
+for man to transgress, when the law was so plain"----
+
+Here McGibbet broke in and said that--"He was free to confess he had
+commeeted a grreat menny theengs kwhich were a grreat deal worse than
+Sabbath-breaking."
+
+Upon which Mrs. McG. interrupted him in turn with a few words, which,
+although in Gaelic, a language we did not understand, conveyed the
+impression that she was not addressing her liege lord in the language of
+endearment, and again continued in English: "That it was held sinful in
+the community to wark or do anything o' the sort, or to fetch or carry
+even a sma bundle"----
+
+"For kwich," said McGibbet, "is a fine to be paid to the meenister, of
+five shillins currency"----
+
+Here Picton stopped whistling a bar of "Bonny Doon," and observed to me:
+"About a dollar of your money. We'll pay the fine."
+
+"Yes," chimed in McGibbet, "a dollar"----and was again stopped by his
+wife, who raised her eyebrows to the borders of her kirk-frill and brought
+them down vehemently over her blue eyes at him.
+
+"Or to travel the road," she said, "even on foot, to say nothing of a
+wagon and horse."
+
+"But," interrupted Picton, "my dear madam, we must get on, I tell you; I
+must be in Sydney to-morrow, to catch the steamer for St. John's."
+
+At this observation of the traveller the pair fell back upon their Gaelic
+for a while, and in the meantime Picton whispered me: "I see; they want to
+raise the price on us: but we won't give in; they'll be sharp enough after
+the job by and by."
+
+The pair turned towards us and both shook their heads. It was plain to be
+seen the conference had not ended in our favor.
+
+"Ye see," said the gude-wife, "we are accustomed to the observance of the
+Sabbath, and would na like to break it, except"--
+
+"In a case of necessity; you are perfectly right," chimed in Picton; "I
+agree with you myself. Now this is a case of necessity; here we are; we
+must get on, you see; if we don't get on we miss the steamer to-morrow for
+St. John's--she only runs once a fortnight there--it's plain enough a
+clear case of necessity; it's like," continued Picton, evidently trying to
+corner some authority in his mind, "it's like--let me see--it's
+like--a--pulling--a sheep out of a ditch--a--which they always do on the
+Sabbath, you know, to a--get us on to Sydney."
+
+Both McGibbet and his wife smiled at Picton's ingenuity, but straightway
+put on the equine look again. "It might be so; but it was clean contrary
+to their preenciples."
+
+"I'll be hanged," whispered Picton, "if I offer more than the usual price,
+which I heard at Louisburgh was one pound ten, to Sydney, and the fine
+extra. I see what they are after."
+
+There was an awkward pause in the negotiations. McGibbet scratched his
+poll, and looked wistfully at his wife, but the kirk-frill was stiffened
+up with the moral starch, as aforesaid.
+
+Suddenly, Picton looked out of the window. "By Jove!" said he, "I think
+the wind is changed! After all, we may get around in the 'Balaklava.'"
+
+McGibbet looked somewhat anxiously out of the window also, and grunted out
+a little more Gaelic to his love. The kirk-frill relented a trifle.
+
+"Perhaps the gentlemen wad like a glass of milk after thae long walk? and
+Robert" (which she pronounced Robbut), "a bit o' the corn-cake."
+
+Upon which Robbut, with great alacrity, turned towards the bed-room, from
+whence he brought forth a great white disk, that resembled the head of a
+flour-barrel, but which proved to be a full-grown griddle cake of
+corn-meal. This, with the pure milk, from the cleanest of scoured pans,
+was acceptable enough after the long walk.
+
+We had observed some beautiful streams, and blue glimpses of lakes on the
+road to McGibbet's, and just beyond his house was a larger lake, several
+miles in extent, with picturesque hills on either side, indented-with
+coves, and studded with islands, sometimes stretching away to distant
+slopes of green turf, and sometimes reflecting masses of precipitous rock,
+crowned with the spiry tops of spruces and firs. Indeed, all the country
+around, both meadow and upland, was very pleasing to the sight. A low
+range of hills skirted the northern part of what seemed to be a spacious,
+natural amphitheatre, while on the south side a diversity of highlands and
+water added to the whole the charm of variety.
+
+"You have a fine country about you, Mr. McGibbet," said I.
+
+"Ay," he replied.
+
+"And what is it called here?"
+
+"We ca' it Get-Along!" said Robbut, with an intensely Scotch accent on the
+"Get."
+
+"And yonder beautiful lake--what is the name of that?" said I, in hopes of
+taking refuge behind something more euphonious.
+
+"Oh! ay," replied he, "that's just Get-Along, too. We doan't usually speak
+of it, but whan we do, we just ca' it Get-Along Lake, and it's not good
+for much."
+
+I thought it best to change the subject. "Do you like this as well as the
+oat-cake?" said I, with my mouth full of the dry, husky provender.
+
+"Nae," said McGibbet, with an equine shake of the head, "it's not sae
+fellin."
+
+Not so filling! Think of that, ye pampered minions of luxury, who live
+only upon delicate viands; who prize food, not as it useful, but as it is
+tasteful; who can even encourage a depraved, sensual appetite so far as to
+appreciate flavor; who enjoy meats, fish, and poultry, only as they
+minister to your palates; who flirt with spring-chickens and trifle with
+sweet-breads in wanton indolence, without a thought of your cubic
+capacity; without a reflection that you can live just as well upon so many
+square inches of oatmeal a day as you can upon the most elaborate French
+kickshaws; nay, that you can be elevated to the level of a scientific
+problem, and work out your fillings, with nothing to guide you but a slate
+and pencil!
+
+"Then you like oatmeal better than this?" said Picton, soothing down a
+husky lump, with a cup of milk.
+
+"Ay," responded McGibbet.
+
+"And you always eat it, whenever you can get it, I suppose?" continued
+Picton, with a most innocent air.
+
+"Ay," responded McGibbet.
+
+"I should think some of you Scotchmen would be afraid of contracting a
+disease that is engendered in the system by the use of this sort of grain.
+I hope, Mr. McGibbet," said Picton, with imperturbable coolness, "you keep
+clear of the bots, and that sort of thing, you know?"
+
+"Kwat?" said Robbut, with the most startled, horse-like look he had yet
+put on.
+
+"The gasterophili," replied Picton, "which I would advise you to steer
+clear of, if you want to live long."
+
+As this was a word with too many gable-ends for Robbut's comprehension, he
+only responded by giving such a smile as a man might be expected to give
+who had his mouth full of aloes, and as the conversation was wandering off
+from the main point, addressed himself to Mrs. McG. in the vernacular
+again.
+
+"We would like to obleege ye," said the lady, "if it was not for the
+transgression; and we do na like to break the Sabbath for ony man."
+
+"Although," interposed Robbut, "I am free to confess that I have done a
+great many things worse than breakin' the Sabbath."
+
+"But if to-morrow would do as well," resumed his wife, "Robbut would take
+ye to Sydney."
+
+To this Picton shook his head. "Too late for the steamer."
+
+"Or to-night; I wad na mind that," said the pious Robbut, "_if it was
+after dark_, and that will bring ye to Sydney before the morn."
+
+"That will do," said Picton, slapping his thigh. "Lend us your horse and
+wagon to go down to the schooner and get our luggage; we will be back this
+evening, and then go on to Sydney, eh? That will do; a ride by moonlight;"
+and the traveller jumped up from his seat, walked with great strides
+towards the fire-place, turned his back to the blaze, hung a coat-tail
+over each arm, and whistled "Annie Laurie" at Mrs. McGibbet.
+
+The suggestion of Picton meeting the views of all concerned, the diplomacy
+ended. Robbut put himself in his Sunday boots, and hitched up a spare rib
+of a horse before a box-wagon without springs, which he brought before the
+door with great complacency. The traveller and I were soon on the
+ground-floor of the vehicle, seated upon a log of wood by way of cushion;
+and with a chirrup from McGibbet, off we went. At the foot of the first
+hill, our horse stopped; in vain Picton jerked at the rein, and shouted at
+him: not a step further would he go, until Robbut himself came down to the
+rescue. "Get along, Boab!" said his master; and Bob, with a mute, pitiful
+appeal in his countenance, turned his face towards salt-water. At the
+foot of the next hill he stopped again, when the irascible Picton jumped
+out, and with one powerful twitch of the bridle, gave Boab such a hint to
+"get on," that it nearly jerked his head off. And Boab did get on, only to
+stop at the ascent of the next hill. Then we began to understand the
+tactics of the animal. Boab had been the only conveyance between
+Louisburgh and Sydney for many years, and, as he was usually
+over-burdened, made a point to stop at the up side of every hill on the
+road, to let part of his freight get out and walk to the top of the
+acclivity with him. So, by way of compromise, we made a feint of getting
+out at every rise of ground, and Boab, who always turned his head around
+at each stopping-place, seemed to be satisfied with the observance of the
+ceremony, and trotted gaily forward. At last we came to a place we had
+named Sebastopol in the morning--a great sharp edge of rock as high as a
+man's waist, that cut the road in half, over which we lifted the wagon,
+and were soon in view of the bright little harbor and the "Balaklava" at
+anchor. Mr. McAlpin kindly gave quarters to our steed in his out-house,
+and offered to raise a signal for the schooner to send a boat ashore. As
+he was Deputy United States Consul, and as I was tired of the red-cross of
+St. George, I asked him to hoist his consular flag. Up to the flag-staff
+truck rose the roll of white and red worsted, then uncoiled, blew out, and
+the blessed stars and stripes were waving over me. It is surprising to
+think how transported one can be sometimes with a little bit of bunting!
+
+And now the labor of packing commenced, of which Picton had the greatest
+share by far; the little cabin of the schooner was pretty well spread out
+with his traps on every side; and this being ended, Picton got out his
+travelling-organ and blazed away in a _finale_ of great tunes and small,
+sometimes fast, sometimes slow, as the humor took him. After all, we
+parted from the jolly little craft with regret: our trunks were lowered
+over the side; we shook hands with all on board; and were rowed in silence
+to the land.
+
+I have had some experience in travelling, and have learned to bear with
+ordinary firmness and philosophy the incidental discomforts one is certain
+to meet with on the road; but I must say, the discipline already acquired
+had not prepared me for the unexpected appearance of our wagon after
+Picton's luggage was placed in it. First, two solid English trunks of
+sole-leather filled the bottom of the vehicle; then the traveller's
+Minie-rifle, life-preserver, strapped-up blankets, and hand-bag were
+stuffed in the sides: over these again were piled my trunk and the
+traveller's valise (itself a monster of straps and sole-leather); then
+again his portable-secretary and the hand-organ in a box. These made such
+a pyramid of luggage, that riding ourselves was out of the question. What
+with the trunks and the cordage to keep them staid, our wagon looked like
+a ship of the desert. To crown all, it began to rain steadily. "Now,
+then," said Picton, climbing up on his confounded travelling equipage,
+"let's get on." With some difficulty I made a half-seat on the corner of
+my own trunk; Picton shouted out at Boab; the Newfoundland sailors who had
+brought us ashore, put their shoulders to the wheels, and away we went,
+waving our hats in answer to the hearty cheers of the sailors. It was down
+hill from McAlpin's to the first bridge, and so far we had nothing to care
+for, except to keep a look-out we were not shaken off our high perch. But
+at the foot of the first hill Boab stopped! In vain Picton shouted at him
+to get on; in vain he shook rein and made a feint of getting down from the
+wagon. Boab was not intractable, but he was sagacious; he had been fed on
+that sort of chaff too long. Picton and I were obliged to humor his
+prejudices, and dismount in the mud, and after one or two feeble attempts
+at a ride, gave it up, walked down hill and up, lifted the wagon by inches
+over Sebastopol, and finally arrived at McGibbet's, wet, tired, and
+hungry. That Sabbath-broker received us with a grim smile of satisfaction,
+put on the half-extinguished fire the smallest bit of wood he could find
+in the pile beside the hearth, and then went away with Boab to the stable.
+"Gloomy prospects ahead, Picton!" The traveller said never a word.
+
+Now I wish to record here this, that there is no place, no habitation of
+man, however humble, that cannot be lighted up with a smile of welcome,
+and the good right-hand of hospitality, and made cheerful as a palace hung
+with the lamps of Aladdin!
+
+McGibbet, after leading his beast to the stable, returned, and warming his
+wet hands at the fire, grunted out; "It rains the nigcht."
+
+"Yes," answered Picton, hastily, "rains like blue blazes: I say, get us a
+drop of whisky, will you?"
+
+To this the equine replied by folding his hands one over the other with a
+saintly look. "I never keep thae thing in the hoose."
+
+"Picton," said I, "if we could only unlash our luggage, I have a bottle of
+capital old brandy in my trunk, but it's too much trouble."
+
+"Oh! na," quoth Robbut with a most accommodating look, "it will be nae
+trooble to get to it."
+
+"Well, then," said Picton, "look sharp, will you?" and our host, with
+great swiftness, moved off to the wagon, and very soon returned with the
+trunk on his shoulder, according to directions.
+
+"But," said I, taking out the bottle of precious fluid, "here it is,
+corked up tight, and what is to be done for a cork-screw?"
+
+"I've got one," said the saint.
+
+"I thought it was likely," quoth Picton, drily; "look sharp, will you?"
+
+And Robbut did look sharp, and produced the identical instrument before
+Picton and I had exchanged smiles. Then Robbut spread out three green
+tumblers on the table, and following Picton's lead, poured out a stout
+half-glass, at which I shouted out, "Hold up!" for I thought he was
+filling the tumbler for my benefit. It proved to be a mistake; Robbut
+stopped for a moment, but instantly recovering himself, covered the
+tumbler with his four fingers, and, to use a Western phrase, "got outside
+of the contents quicker than lightning." Then he brought from his bed-room
+a coarse sort of worsted horse-blanket, and with a "Ye'll may-be like to
+sleep an hour or twa?" threw down his family-quilt and retired to the arms
+of Mrs. McG. Picton gave a great crunching blow with his boot-heel at the
+back-stick, and laid on a good supply of fuel. We were wet through and
+through, but we wrapped ourselves in our travelling-blankets like a brace
+of clansmen in their plaids, put our feet towards the niggardly blaze, and
+were soon bound and clasped with sleep.
+
+At two o'clock our host roused us from our hard bed, and after a stretch,
+to get the stiffness out of joints and muscles, we took leave of the
+Presbyterian quarters. The day was just dawning: at this early hour, lake
+and hill-side, tree and thicket, were barely visible in the grey twilight.
+The wagon, with its pyramid of luggage, moved off in the rain, McGibbet
+walking beside Boab, and Picton and I following after, with all the
+gravity of chief mourners at a funeral. To give some idea of the road we
+were upon, let it be understood, it had once been an old _French_ military
+road, which, after the destruction of the fortress of Louisburgh, had been
+abandoned to the British Government and the elements. As a consequence, it
+was embroidered with the ruts and gullies of a century, the washing of
+rains, and the tracks of wagons; howbeit, the only traverse upon it in
+later years were the wagon of McGibbet and the saddle-horse of the
+post-rider. "Get-Along" had a population of seven hundred Scotch
+Presbyters, and therefore it will be easy to understand the condition of
+its turnpike.
+
+Up hill and down hill, through slough and over rock, we trudged, for mile
+after mile. Sometimes beside Get-Along Lake, with its grey, spectral
+islands and woodlands; sometimes by rushing brooks and dreary farm-fields;
+now in paths close set with evergreens; now in more open grounds, skirted
+with hills and dotted with silent, two-penny cottages. Sometimes Picton
+mounted his pyramid of trunk-leather for a mile or so of nods; sometimes I
+essayed the high perch, and holding on by a cord, dropped off in a
+moment's forgetfulness, with the constant fear of waking up in a mud-hole,
+or under the wagon-wheels. But even these respites were brief. It is not
+easy to ride up hill and down by rock and rut, under such conditions. We
+were very soon convinced it was best to leave the wagon to its load of
+sole-leather, and walk through the mud to Sydney.
+
+After mouldy Halifax, and war-worn Louisburgh, the little town of Sydney
+is a pleasant rural picture. Everybody has heard of the Sydney coal-mines:
+we expected to find the miner's finger-marks everywhere; but instead of
+the smoky, sulphurous atmosphere, and the black road, and the sulky,
+grimy, brick tenements, we were surprised with clean, white,
+picket-fences; and green lawns, and clever, little cottages, nestled in
+shrubbery and clover. The mines are over the bay, five miles from South
+Sydney. Slowly we dragged on, until we came to a sleepy little one-story
+inn, with supernatural dormer windows rising out of the roof, before
+which Boab stopped. We _paid_ McGibbet's kirk-fine, wagon-fare, and his
+unconscionable charge for his conscience, without parleying with him; we
+were too sleepy to indulge in the luxury of a monetary skirmish. A pretty,
+red-cheeked chambermaid, with lovely drooping eyes, showed us to our
+rooms; it was yet very early in the morning; we were almost ashamed to get
+into bed with such dazzling white sheets after the dark-brown
+accommodations of the "Balaklava;" but we did get in, and slept; oh! how
+sweetly! until breakfast at one!
+
+"Twenty-four miles of such foot-travel will do pretty well for an invalid,
+eh, Picton?"
+
+"All serene?" quoth the traveller, interrogatively.
+
+"Feel as well as ever I did in my life," said I, with great satisfaction.
+
+"Then let's have a bath," and, at Picton's summons, the chambermaid
+brought up in our rooms two little tubs of fair water, and a small pile of
+fat, white napkins. The bathing over, and the outer men new clad, "from
+top to toe," down we went to the cosy parlor to breakfast; and such a
+breakfast!
+
+I tell you, my kind and gentle friend; _you_, who are now reading this
+paragraph, that here, as in all other parts of the world, there are a
+great many kinds of people; only that here, in Nova Scotia, the
+difference is in spots, not in individuals. And I will venture to say to
+those philanthropists who are eternally preaching "of the masses," and "to
+the masses," that here "masses" can be found--concrete "masses," not yet
+individualized: as ready to jump after a leader as a flock of sheep after
+a bell-wether; only that at every interval of five or ten miles between
+place and place in Nova Scotia, they are apt to jump in contrary
+directions. There are Scotch Nova Scotiaites even in Sydney. Otherwise the
+place is marvellously pleasant.
+
+I must confess that I had a romantic sort of idea in visiting Sydney; a
+desire to return by way of the _Bras d'Or_ lake, the "arm of gold," the
+inland sea of Cape Breton, that makes the island itself only a border for
+the water in its interior. And as the navigation is frequently performed
+by the Micmac Indians, in their birch-bark canoes, I determined to be a
+_voyageur_ for the nonce, and engage a couple of Micmacs to paddle me
+homewards, at least one day's journey. The wigwams of the tribe were
+pitched about a mile from the town, and I proposed a visit to their camp
+as an afternoon's amusement. Picton readily assented, and down we went to
+the wharf, where the landlady assured us we would find some of the tribe.
+These Indians, often expert coopers, are employed to barrel up fish; the
+busy wharf was covered with laborers, hard at work, heading and hooping
+ship loads of salt mackerel; and among the workmen were some with the
+unmistakable lozenge eyes, high cheek-bones, and rhubarb complexion of the
+native American. Upon inquiry, we were introduced to one of the
+Rhubarbarians. He was a little fellow, not in leggings and
+quill-embroidered hunting-shirt, with belt of wampum and buckskin
+moccasins; armed with bow and arrow, tomahawk and scalping-knife; such as
+one would expect to navigate a wild, romantic lake with, in birch-bark
+canoe; but a pinched-up specimen of a man, in a seedy black suit, out of
+which rose a broad, flat face, like the orb of a sun-flower, bearing one
+side the aboriginal black eye, and on the other the civilized, surrounded
+with the blue and purple halo of battle. We had barely opened our business
+with the Indian, when a bonny Scotchman, a fellow-cooper of salt mackerel,
+introduced himself:
+
+"Oh, ye visit the Micmacs the day?"
+
+No answer.
+
+"De'il a canoe has he to tak ye there" (the Indian slunk away), "but I'll
+tak ye tull 'em for one and saxpence, in a gude boat."
+
+The fellow had such an honest face, and the offer was so fair and
+earnest, that Picton's and my own trifling prejudices were soon overcome,
+and we directed Malcolm, for that was his name, to bring his boat under
+the inn-windows after the dinner-hour. I regret to say that we found
+Malcolm tolerably drunk after dinner, with a leaky boat, under the
+inn-windows. And farther, I am pained to state the national characteristic
+was developed in Malcolm drunk, from which there was no appeal to Malcolm
+sober, for he insisted upon double fare, and time was pressing. To this we
+assented, after a brief review of former prejudices. We got in the boat
+and put off. We had barely floated away into the beautiful landscape when
+a fog swept over us, and Malcolm's nationality again woke up. He would
+have four times as much as he had charged in the first instance, or "he'd
+tak us over, and land us on the ither side of the bay."
+
+Then Picton's nationality woke up, and he unbuttoned his mackintosh. "Now,
+sir," said he to Malcolm, as he rose from his seat in the boat, his head
+gracefully inclined towards his starboard shirt-collar, and his two
+tolerably large fists arrayed in order of battle within a few brief inches
+of the delinquent's features, "did I understand you to say that you had
+some idea of taking this gentleman and myself _to the other side of the
+bay_?"
+
+There was a boy in our boat--a fair-haired, blue-eyed representative of
+Nova Scotia; a sea-boy, with a dash of salt-water in his ruddy cheeks, who
+had modestly refrained from taking part in the dispute.
+
+"Come, now," said he to Malcolm, "pull away, and let us get the gentlemen
+up to the camp," and he knit his boy brow with determination, as if he
+meant to have it settled according to contract.
+
+"Yes," said Picton, nodding at the boy, "and if he don't"----
+
+"I'm pullin' an't I?" quoth the descendant of King Duncan, a little
+frightened, and suiting the action to the word; "I'm a-pewlin," and here
+his oar missed the water, and over he tumbled with a great splash in the
+bottom of the boat. "I'm a-pewlin," he whined, as he regained his seat and
+the oar, "and all I want is to hae my honest airnins."
+
+"Then pull away," said Picton, as he resumed his seat in the stern-sheets.
+
+"Ay," quoth the Scotchman, "I know the Micmacs weel, and thae squaws too;
+deil a one o' 'em but knows Malcolm"----
+
+"Pull away," said the boy.
+
+"They are guid-lookin', thae squaws, and I'm a bachelter; and I tell ye
+when I tak ye tull em--for I know the hail o' em--if ye are gentlemen,
+ye'll pay me my honest airnins."
+
+"And I tell you," answered Picton, his fist clenched, his eye flashing
+again, and his indignant nostrils expressing a degree of anger language
+could not express; "I tell you, if you do not carry us to the Micmac camp
+without further words, I'll pay you your honest earnings before you get
+there: I'll punch that Scotch head of yours till it looks like a
+photograph!"
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IX.
+
+The Micmac Camp--Indian Church-warden and Broker--Interior of a Wigwam--A
+Madonna--A Digression--Malcolm discharged--An Indian Bargain--The Inn
+Parlor, and a Comfortable Night's Rest.
+
+
+The threat had its effect: in a few minutes our boat ran bows-on up the
+clear pebbled beach before the Micmac camp.
+
+It was a little cluster of birch-bark wigwams, pitched upon a carpet of
+greensward, just at the edge of one of the loveliest harbors in the world.
+The fog rolled away like the whiff of vapor from a pipe, and melted out of
+sight. Before us were the blue and violet waters, tinged with the hues of
+sunset, the rounded, swelling, curving shores opposite, dotted with
+cottages; the long, sweeping, creamy beaches, the distant shipping, and,
+beyond, the great waters of the Gulf of St. Lawrence. Nearer at hand were
+"the murmuring pines and the hemlocks," the tender green light seen in
+vistas of firs and spruces, the thin smoke curling up from the wigwams,
+the birch-bark canoes, the black, bright eyes of the children, the sallow
+faces of the men, and the pretty squaws, arrayed in blue broad-cloth
+frocks and leggings, and modesty, and moccasins.
+
+"Now, here we are," said Malcolm, triumphantly, "and wha d'ye thenk o' the
+Micmacs? Deil a wan o' the yellow deevils but knows Malcolm, an I'll
+introjewce ye to the hail o' em."
+
+"Stop, sir," said Picton, sternly, "we want none of your company. You can
+take your boat back," (here I nodded affirmatively), "and we'll walk
+home."
+
+It was quite a picture, that of our oarsman, upon this summons to depart.
+He had just laid his hand upon the shoulder of a fat, good-natured looking
+squaw, to commence the introjewcing; one foot rested on the bottom of an
+overturned canoe, in an attitude of command; his old battered tarpaulin
+hat, his Guernsey shirt, and salt-mackerel trowsers, finely relieved
+against the violet-tinted water; but oh! how chop-fallen were those rugged
+features under that old tarpaulin!
+
+The scene had its effect; I am sure Picton and myself would gladly have
+paid the quadruple sum on the spot--after all, it was but a trifle--for we
+both drew forth a sovereign at the same moment.
+
+Unfortunately Malcolm had no change; not a "bawbee." "Then," said we, "go
+back to the inn, and we'll pay you on our return."
+
+"And," said Malcolm, in an unearthly whine that might have been heard all
+over the camp, "d' ye get me here to take advantage o' me, and no pay me
+my honest airnins?"
+
+"What the devil to do with this fellow, short, of giving him a drubbing, I
+do not know," said Picton. "Here, you, give us change for a sovereign, or
+take yourself off and wait at the hotel till we get back again."
+
+"I canna change a sovereign, I tell ye"----
+
+"Then be off with you, and wait."
+
+"Wad ye send me away without my honest airnins?" he uttered, with a whine
+like the bleat of a bagpipe.
+
+Picton drew a little closer to Malcolm, with one fist carefully doubled up
+and put in ambush behind his back. But the boy interposed--"Perhaps the
+Micmac chief could change the sovereign."
+
+"Oh! ay," quoth Malcolm, who had given an uneasy look at Picton as he
+stepped towards him; "Oh! ay; I'se tak ye tull 'im;" and without further
+ado he stepped off briskly towards the centre of the camp, and we followed
+in his wake. When our file-leader reached the wigwam of the chief, he
+went down on hands and knees, lifted up a little curtain or blanket in
+front of the low door of the tent, crawled in head first, and we followed
+close upon his heels.
+
+As soon as the eye became accustomed to the dim and uncertain light of the
+interior, we began to examine the curious and simple architecture of this
+human bee-hive. A circle of poles, say about ten feet in diameter at the
+base, and tied together to an apex at the top, covered with the thin bark
+of the birch-tree, except a space above to let out the smoke, was all the
+protection these people had against the elements in summer or winter. The
+floor, of course, was the primitive soil of Cape Breton; in the centre of
+the tent a few sticks were smouldering away over a little pile of ashes:
+the thin smoke lifted itself up in folds of blue vapor until it stole
+forth into the evening air from the opening in the roof. Through this
+aperture the light--the only light of the tent--fell down upon the group
+below: the old chief with his great silver cross, and medal, and
+snow-white hair; the young and beautiful squaw with her pappoose at the
+breast, like a Madonna by Murillo; Malcolm's battered tarpaulin and
+Guernsey shirt; and the two unpicturesque objects of the party--Picton and
+myself. Around the central fire a broad, green border of fragrant hemlock
+twigs, extending to the skirts of the tent, was raised a few inches from
+the ground. Upon this couch we sat, and opened our business with the aged
+sagamore.
+
+Old Indian was very courteous; he drew forth a bag of clinking dollars,
+for strange as it may seem, he was a churchwarden: the Micmacs being all
+Catholics, the chief holds the silver keys of St. Peter. But venerable and
+pious as he appeared, with his silver cross and silver hair, the old
+fellow was something too of a broker! He demanded a fair rate of
+commission--eight per cent. premium on every dollar! Even this would not
+answer our purpose; it was as difficult to make change with the old
+churchwarden as with Malcolm: there was no money in the camp except hard
+silver dollars.
+
+No change for a sovereign!
+
+So we went forth from the wigwam again on all fours, and it was only by
+another promise of a sound drubbing that Malcolm was finally persuaded to
+drop off and leave us.
+
+Aboriginal certainly is the camp of the Micmacs. The birch-bark wigwams;
+the canoes that lined the beach; the paddles, the utensils; the bows and
+arrows; the parti-colored baskets, are independent of, are earlier than
+our arts and manufactures. So far as these people are concerned, the
+colonial government has been mild and considerate. Although there are
+game-laws in the Province, yet Micmac has a privilege no white man can
+possess. At all seasons he may hunt or fish; he may stick his _aishkun_ in
+the salmon as it runneth up the rivers to spawn, and shoot the partridge
+on its nest, if he please, without fine and imprisonment. Some may think
+it better to preserve the game than to preserve the Indian; but some think
+otherwise. For my part, when the question is between the man and the
+salmon, I am content to forego fish.
+
+As we walked through the Micmac camp we met our semi-civilized friend with
+the lozenge eyes, and I made a contract with him for a brief voyage on le
+Bras d'Or. But alas! Indian will sometimes take a lesson from his white
+comrades! Micmac's charge at first was one pound for a trip of twenty-four
+miles on the "Arm of Gold;" cheap enough. But before we left the camp it
+was two pounds. That I agreed to pay. Then there was a portage of three
+miles, over which the canoe had to be carried. "Well?" "And it would take
+two men to paddle." "Well?" "And then the canoe had to be paddled back."
+"Well?" "And then carried over the portage again." "Well?" "And so it
+would be four pounds!" Here the negotiations were broken off; how much
+more it would cost I did not ascertain. The rate of progression was too
+rapid for further inquiry.
+
+So we walked home again amid the fragrant resinous trees, until we gained
+the high road, and so by pretty cottages, and lawns, and picket fences;
+sometimes meeting groups of wandering damsels with their young and happy
+lovers; sometimes twos and threes of horse-women, in habits, hats, and
+feathers; now catching a glimpse of the broad, blue harbor; now looking
+down a green lane, bordered with turf and copse; until we reached our
+comfortable quarters at Mrs. Hearn's, where the pretty chambermaid, with
+drooping eyes, welcomed us in a voice whose music was sweeter than the
+tea-bell she held in her hand. And here, too, we found Malcolm, waiting
+for his pay, partially sober and quiet as a lamb.
+
+I trust the reader will not find fault with the writer for dwelling upon
+these minute particulars. In this itinerary of the trip to the Acadian
+land, I have endeavored to portray, as faithfully as may be, the salient
+features of the country, and particularly those contrasts visible in the
+settlements; the jealous preservation of those dear, old, splendid
+prejudices, that separate tribe from tribe, clan from clan, sect from
+sect, race from race. I wish the reader to see and know the country as it
+is, not for the purpose of arousing his prejudices against a neighboring
+people, but rather with the intent of showing to what result these
+prejudices tend, in order that he may correct his own. A mere aggregation
+of tribes is not a great people. Take the human species in a state of
+sectionalism, and it does not make much difference whether it is in the
+shape of the Indian, proud of the blue and red stripes on his face, or the
+Scotchman, proud of the blue and red stripes on his plaid, the inferiority
+of the human animal, with his tribal sheep-mark on him, is evident enough
+to any person of enlarged understanding. Therefore I have been minute and
+faithful in describing the species McGibbet and Malcolm, and in
+contrasting them with the hardy fisherman of Louisburgh, the Micmacs of
+Sydney, the negroes of Deer's Castle, the Acadians of Chizzetcook, and as
+we shall see anon with other sectional specimens, just as they present
+their kaleidoscopic hues in the local settlements of this colony.
+
+It is just a year since I was seated in that cosy inn-parlor at Sydney, and
+how strangely it all comes back again: the little window overlooking the
+harbor, the lights on the twinkling waters; the old-fashioned house-clock
+in the corner of the room; the bright brass andirons; the cut paper
+chimney-apron; the old sofa; the cheerful lamp, and the well-polished
+table. And I remember, too, the happy, tranquil feeling of lying in the
+snow-white sheets at night, and talking with Picton of our overland journey
+from Louisburgh; of McGibbet and Malcolm; and then we branched out on the
+great subject of Indian rights, and Indian wrongs; of squaws and pappooses;
+of wigwams and canoes, until at last I dropped off in a doze, and heard
+only a repetition of Micmac--Micmac--Micmac--Mic--Mac----Mic------Mac! To
+this day I am unable to say whether the sound I heard came from Picton, or
+the great house-clock in the corner.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER X.
+
+Over the Bay--A Gigantic Dumb Waiter--Erebus--Reflections--White and Black
+Squares of the Chess-board--Leave-taking--An Interruption--The Aibstract
+Preencipels of Feenance.
+
+
+Bright and early next morning we arose for an expedition across the bay to
+North Sydney and the coal-mines. A fresh breakfast in a sunny room, a
+brisk walk to the breezy, grass-grown parapet, that defends the harbor; a
+thought of the first expedition to lay down the telegraph line between the
+old and new hemispheres, for here lie the coils of the sub-marine cable,
+as they were left after the stormy essay of the steamer "James Adger," a
+year before--what a theme for a poet!
+
+    "Perhaps in this neglected spot is laid
+    Some spark, now dormant, of electric fire:
+    News, that the board of brokers might have swayed,
+    Or broke the banks that trembled with the wire."
+
+--and we take an airy seat on the poop-deck of the little English steamer,
+and are wafted across the harbor, five miles, to a small sea-port, where
+coal-schutes and railways run out over the wharfs, and coasters, both
+fore-and-aft, and square-rigged, are gathered in profusion. A glass of
+English ale at a right salt-sea tavern, a bay horse, and two-wheeled
+"jumper" for the road, and away we roll towards the mines. Now up hill and
+down; now passing another Micmac camp on the green margin of the beach;
+now by trim gardens without flowers; now getting nearer to the mines,
+which we know by the increasing blackness of the road; until at last we
+bowl past rows of one story dingy tenements of brick, with miners' wives
+and children clustered about them like funereal flowers; until we see the
+forges and jets of steam, and davits uplifted in the air; and hear the
+rattle of the iron trucks and the rush of the coal as it runs through the
+schutes into the rail-cars on the road beneath. We tie our pony beside a
+cinder-heap, and mount a ladder to the level of the huge platform above
+the shaft. A constant supply of small hand-cars come up with demoniac
+groans and shrieks from the bowels of the earth through the shaft. These
+are instantly seized by the laborers and run over an iron floor to the
+schute, where they are caught in titantic trammels, and overturned into
+harsh thunder. Meanwhile the demon car-bringer has sunk again on its
+errand; the suspending rope wheeling down with dizzy swiftness. As one
+car-bearer descends, another rises to the surface with its twin
+wheel-vessels of coal.
+
+"Would you like to go down?"
+
+"How far down?"
+
+"Sixty fathoms."
+
+Three hundred and sixty feet! Think of being suspended by a thread, from a
+height twice that of Trinity's spire, and whirled into such a depth by
+steam! We crawled into the little iron box, just large enough to allow us
+to sit up with our heads against the top, both ends of our parachute being
+open; the operator presses down a bar, and instantly the earth and sky
+disappear, and we are wrapt in utter darkness. Oh? how sickening is this
+sinking feeling! Down--down--down! What a gigantic dumb-waiter! Down,
+down, a hot gust of vapor--a stifling sensation--a concussion upon the
+iron floor at the foot of the shaft; a multitude of twinkling lamps, of
+fiends, of grimy faces, and no bodies--and we are in a coal-mine.
+
+There was a black, bituminous seat for visitors, sculptured out of the
+coal, just beyond the shaft, and to this we were led by the carboniferous
+fiends. My heart beat violently. I do not know how it went with Picton,
+but we were both silent. Oh! for a glimpse of the blue sky and waving
+trees above us, and a long breath of fresh air!
+
+As soon as the stifling sensation passed away, we breathed more freely,
+and the lungs became accustomed to the subterranean atmosphere. In the
+gloom, we could see the smutted features only, of miners moving about, and
+to heighten the Dantesque reality, new and strange sounds, from different
+parts of the enormous cavern, came pouring towards the common centre--the
+shaft of the coal-pit.
+
+These were the laden cars on the tram-ways, drawn by invisible horses,
+from the distant works in the mine, rolling and reverberating through the
+infernal aisles of this devil's cathedral. One could scarcely help
+recalling the old grandfather of Maud's Lord-lover:
+
+                    ----"lately died,
+    Gone to a _blacker pit_, for whom
+    Grimy nakedness, dragging his trucks
+    And laying his trams, _in a poisoned gloom_
+    Wrought, till he crept from a gutted mine
+    Master of half a servile shire,
+    And left his coal all turned into gold
+    To a grandson, first of his noble line."
+
+Intermingled with these sounds were others, the jar and clash of gateways,
+the dripping and splashing of water, the rolling thunder of the ascending
+and descending iron parachutes in the shaft, the trampling of horses, the
+distant report of powder-blasts, and the shrill jargon of human speakers,
+near, yet only partially visible.
+
+"Is it a clear day overhead?" said the black bust of one of the miners,
+with a lamp in its _hat_!
+
+Just think of it! We had only been divorced from the aerial blue of a June
+sky a minute before. Our very horse was so high above us that we could
+have distinguished him only by the aid of a telescope--that is, if the
+solid ribs of the globe were not between us and him.
+
+As soon as we became accustomed to the place, we moved off after the
+foreman of the mine. We walked through the miry tram-ways under the low,
+black arches, now stepping aside to let an invisible horse and car,
+"grating harsh thunder," pass us in the murky darkness; now through a
+door-way, momently closed to keep the foul and clear airs separate, until
+we came to the great furnace of the mine that draws off all the noxious
+vapors from this nest of Beelzebub. Then we went to the stables where
+countless horses are stalled--horses that never see the light of day
+again, or if they do, are struck blind by the apparition; now in wider
+galleries, and new explorations, where we behold the busy miners,
+twinkling like the distant lights of a city, and hear the thunder-burst,
+as the blast explodes in the murky chasms. At last, tired, oppressed, and
+sickened with the vast and horrible prison, for such it seems, we retrace
+our steps, and once more enter the iron parachute. A touch of the magic
+lever, and again we fly away; but now upwards, upwards to the glorious
+blue sky and air of mother earth. A miner with his lamp accompanies us. By
+its dim light we see how rapidly we spin through the shaft. Our car
+clashes again at the top, and as we step forth into the clear sunshine, we
+thank GOD for such a bright and beautiful world up stairs!
+
+"Do you know," said I, "Picton, what we would do if we had such a devil's
+pit as that in the States?"
+
+"Well?" answered the traveller, interrogatively.
+
+"We would make niggers work it."
+
+"I dare say," replied Picton, drily and satirically; "but, sir, I am proud
+to say that our government does not tolerate barbarity; to consign an
+inoffensive fellow-creature to such horrible labor, merely because he is
+black, is at variance with the well-known humanity of the whole British
+nation, sir."
+
+"But those miners, Picton, were black as the devil himself."
+
+"The miners," replied Picton, with impressive gravity, "are black, but not
+negroes."
+
+"Nothing but mere white people, Picton?"
+
+"Eh?" said the traveller.
+
+"Only white people, and therefore we need not waste one grain of sympathy
+over a whole pit full of them."
+
+"Why not?"
+
+"Because they are not niggers, what is the use of wasting sympathy upon a
+rat-hole full of white British subjects?"
+
+"I tell you what it is," said Picton, "you are getting personal."
+
+We were now rolling past the dingy tenements again. Squalid-looking,
+care-worn women, grimy children:
+
+    "To me there's something touching, I confess,
+    In the grave look of early thoughtfulness,
+    Seen often in some little childish face,
+    Among the poor;"--
+
+But these children's faces are not such. A child's face--God bless it!
+should always have a little sunshine in its glance; but these are mere
+staring faces, without expression, that make you shudder and feel sad.
+Miners by birth; human moles fitted to burrow in darkness for a life-time.
+Is it worth living for? No wonder those swart laborers underground are so
+grim and taciturn: no wonder there was not a face lighted up by those
+smoky lamps in the pit, that had one line of human sympathy left in its
+rigidly engraved features!
+
+But we must have coal, and we must have cotton. The whole plantations of
+the South barely supply the press with paper; and the messenger of
+intelligence, the steam-ship, but for coal could not perform its glorious
+mission. What is to be done, Picton? If every man is willing to give up
+his morning paper, wear a linen shirt, cross the ocean in a clipper-ship,
+and burn wood in an open fire-place, something might be done.
+
+As Picton's steamer (probably fog-bound) had not yet arrived in Sydney,
+nor yet indeed the "Balaklava," the traveller determined to take a
+Newfoundland brigantine for St. John's, from which port there are vessels
+to all parts of the world. After leaving horse and jumper with the
+inn-keeper, we took a small boat to one of the many queer looking,
+high-pooped crafts in the harbor, and very soon found ourselves in a tiny
+cabin, panelled with maple, in which the captain and some of the men were
+busy over a pan of savory _lobscouse_, a salt-sea dish of great
+reputation and flavor. Picton soon made his agreement with the captain for
+a four days' sail (or more) across to the neighboring province, and his
+luggage was to be on board the next morning. Once more we sailed over the
+bay of Sydney, and regained the pleasant shelter of our inn.
+
+"Picton," said I, after a comfortable supper and a pensive segar, "we
+shall soon separate for our respective homes; but before we part, I wish
+to say to you how much I have enjoyed this brief acquaintance; perhaps we
+may never meet again, but I trust our short voyage together, will now and
+then be recalled by you, in whatever part of the world you may chance to
+be, as it certainly will by me."
+
+The traveller replied by a hearty, earnest grasp of the hand; and then,
+after this formal leave-taking, we became suddenly estranged, as it were,
+sad, and silent, and shy; the familiar tone of conversation lost its
+key-note; Picton looked out of the inn window at the luminous moon-fog on
+the bay, and I buried my reflections in an antiquated pamphlet of
+"Household Words." We were soon interrupted by a stranger coming into the
+parlor, a chance visitor, another dry, preceese specimen of the land of
+oat-cakes.
+
+After the usual salutations, the conversation floated easily on, upon
+indifferent topics, until Picton happened to allude, casually, to the
+general banking system of England. This was enough for a text. Our visitor
+immediately launched forth upon the subject, and gaed us a twa-hours
+discourse on the system of banking in Scotland; wherein the superiority of
+the method adopted by his countrymen, to wring the last drop of interest
+out a shilling, was pertinaciously and dogmatically argued, upon the great
+groundwork of "the general and aibstract preencepels of feenance!"
+
+It was in vain that the traveller endeavored to silence him by a few
+flashes of sarcasm. He might as well have tried to silence a park of
+artillery with a handful of torpedoes! On and on, with the doggedness of a
+slow-hound, the Scot pursued the theme, until all other considerations
+were lost in the one sole idea.
+
+But thus it is always, when you come in contact with people of "aibstract
+preencepels." All sweet and tender impulses, all generous and noble
+suggestions, all light and shade, all warmth and color, must give place to
+these dry husks of reason.
+
+"Confound the Scotch interloper," said Picton, after our visitor had
+retired, "what business had he to impose upon our good nature, with his
+threadbare 'aibstract preencepels?' Confound him and his beggarly high
+cheek-bones, and his Caledonian pock-pits. I am sorry that I ever came to
+this part of the world; it has ruined a taste which I had acquired, with
+much labor, for Scottish poetry; and I shall never see 'Burns's Works'
+again without a sickening shudder."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XI.
+
+The Bras d'Or Road--Farewell to Picton--Home sweet Home--The Rob Roys of
+Cape Breton--Note and Query--Chapel Island--St. Peter's--Enterprise--The
+Strait of Canseau--West River--The last Out-post of the Scottish Chiefs.
+
+
+The road that skirts the Arm of Gold is about one hundred miles in length.
+After leaving Sydney, you ride beside the Spanish River a short distance,
+until you come to the portage, which separates it from the lake, and then
+you follow the delicious curve of the great beach until you arrive at St.
+Peter's. From St. Peter's you travel across a narrow strip of land until
+you reach the shore upon the extreme westerly end of the island of Cape
+Breton, where you cross the Strait of Canseau, and then you are upon the
+mainland of Nova Scotia. I had fondly hoped to voyage upon the Bras d'Or,
+instead of beside it; but was obliged to forego that pleasure. Romance, at
+one dollar per mile, is a dear piece of extravagance, even in so ethereal
+a vehicle as a birch-bark canoe. Therefore I engaged a seat in the Cape
+Breton stage, instead of the aboriginal conveyance, in which you have to
+sit or lie in the bottom, at the risk of an upset, and trust to fair
+weather and the dip of the paddle.
+
+At day-break (two o'clock in the morning in these high latitudes) the
+stage drove up to the door of our pleasant inn. I was speedily dressed,
+and ready--and now--"Good bye, Picton!"
+
+The traveller stretched out a hand from the warm nest in which he was
+buried.
+
+"Good bye," he said, with a hearty hand-shake, and so we parted.
+
+It was painful to leave such an agreeable companion, but then what a
+relief it was to escape from the cannie Scots! The first inhalation of the
+foggy air went tingling through every vein; the first movement of the
+stage, as we rolled westward, was indescribable happiness; I was at last
+homeward bound; in full health, in full strength; swift upon my sight came
+the vision of the one familiar river; the cottage and the chestnuts; the
+rolling greensward, and the Palisades; and there, too, was my _best_
+friend; and there--
+
+    "My young barbarians all at play."
+
+Drive on, John Ormond!
+
+Our Cape Breton stage is an easy, two-seated vehicle; a quiet, little
+rockaway-wagon, with a top; and although H. B. M. Royal Mail Coach,
+entirely different from the huge musk-melon upon wheels with which we are
+familiar in the States. In it I am the only passenger. Thank Heaven for
+that! I might be riding beside an aibstract preencepel.
+
+But never mind! Drive on, John Ormond; we shall soon be among another race
+of Scotsmen, the bold Highlandmen of romance; the McGregors, and
+McPhersons, the Camerons, Grahams, and McDonalds; and as a century or so
+does not alter the old-country prejudices of the people in these
+settlements, we will no doubt find them in their pristine habiliments; in
+plaids and spleuchens; brogues and buckles; hose and bonnets; with
+claymore, dirk, and target; the white cockade and eagle feather, so
+beautiful in the Waverley Novels.
+
+We left the pretty village of Sydney behind us, and were not long in
+gaining the margin of the Bras d'Or. This great lake, or rather arm of the
+sea, is, as I have said, about one hundred miles in length by its shore
+road; but so wide is it, and so indented by broad bays and deep coves,
+that a coasting journey around it is equal in extent to a voyage across
+the Atlantic. Besides the distant mountains that rise proudly from the
+remote shores, there are many noble islands in its expanse, and
+forest-covered peninsulas, bordered with beaches of glittering white
+pebbles. But over all this wide landscape there broods a spirit of
+primeval solitude; not a sail broke the loneliness of the lake until we
+had advanced far upon our day's journey. For strange as it may seem, the
+Golden Arm is a very useless piece of water in this part of the world;
+highly favored as it is by nature, land-locked, deep enough for vessels of
+all burden, easy of access on the gulf side, free from fogs, and only
+separated from the ocean at its western end by a narrow strip of land,
+about three quarters of a mile wide; abounding in timber, coal, and
+gypsum, and valuable for its fisheries, especially in winter, yet the Bras
+d'Or is undeveloped for want of that element which scorns to be alien to
+the Colonies, namely, _enterprise_.
+
+If I had formed some romantic ideas concerning the new and strange people
+we found on the road we were now travelling, the Highlandmen, the Rob Roys
+and Vich Ian Vohrs of Nova Scotia, those ideas were soon dissipated. It is
+true here were the Celts in their wild settlements, but without bagpipes
+or pistols, sporrans or philabegs; there was not even a solitary thistle
+to charm the eye; and as for oats, there were at least two Scotchmen to
+one oat in this garden of exotics. I have a reasonable amount of respect
+for a Highlandman in full costume; but for a carrot-headed, freckled,
+high-cheeked animal, in a round hat and breeches, that cannot utter a word
+of English, I have no sympathy. One fellow of this complexion, without a
+hat, trotted beside our coach for several miles, grunting forth his
+infernal Gaelic to John Ormond, with a hah! to every answer of the driver,
+that was really painful. When he disappeared in the woods his red head
+went out like a torch. But we had scarcely gone by the first Highlandman,
+when another darted out upon us from a by-path, and again broke the
+sabbath of the woods and waters; and then another followed, so that the
+morning ride by the Bras d'Or was fringed with Gaelic. Now I have heard
+many languages in my time, and know how to appreciate the luxurious Greek,
+the stately Latin, the mellifluous Chinese, the epithetical Sclavic, the
+soft Italian, the rich Castilian, the sprightly French, sonorous German,
+and good old English, but candor compels me to say, that I do not think
+much of the Gaelic. It is not pleasing to the ear.
+
+Yet it was a stately ride, that by the Bras d'Or; in one's own coach, as
+it were, traversing such old historic ground. For the very name, and its
+associations, carry one back to the earliest discoveries in America, carry
+one back behind Plymouth Rock to the earlier French adventurers in this
+hemisphere; yea, almost to the times of Richard Crookback; for on the
+neighboring shores, as the English claim, Cabot first landed, and named
+the place _Prima Vista_, in the days of Henry the Seventh, the "Richmond"
+of history and tragedy.
+
+"Le Bras d'Or! John Ormond, do you not think le Bras d'Or sounds much like
+Labrador?"
+
+"'Deed does it," answered John.
+
+"And why not? That mysterious, geological coast is only four days' sail
+from Sydney, I take it? Labrador! with its auks and puffins, its seals and
+sea-tigers, its whales and walruses? Why not an offshoot of le Bras d'Or,
+its earlier brother in the family of discovery. But drive on, John Ormond,
+we will leave etymology to the pedants."
+
+Well, well, ancient or modern, there is not a lovelier ride by
+white-pebbled beach and wide stretch of wave. Now we roll along amidst
+primeval trees, not the evergreens of the sea-coast, but familiar growths
+of maple, beech, birch; and larches, juniper or hackmatack--imperishable
+for ship craft. Now we cross bridges, over sparkling brooks, alive with
+trout and salmon, and most surprising of all, pregnant with _water-power_.
+"Surprising," because no motive-power can be presented to the eye of a
+citizen of the young republic without the corresponding thought of "Why
+not use it?" And why not, when Bras d'Or is so near, or the sea-coast
+either, and land at forty cents an acre, and trees as closely set, and as
+lofty, as ever nature planted them? Of a certainty, there would be a
+thousand saw-mills screaming between this and Canseau if a drop of Yankee
+blood had ever fertilized this soil.
+
+Well, well, perhaps it is well. But yet to ride through a hundred miles of
+denationalized, high-cheeked, red, or black-headed Highlandmen, with
+illustrious names, in breeches and round hats, without pistols or
+feathers, is a sorry sight. Not one of these McGregors can earn more than
+five shillings a day, currency, as a laborer. Not a digger upon our canals
+but can do better than that; and with the chance of _rising_. But here
+there seems be no such opportunity. The colonial system provides that
+every settler shall have a grant of about one hundred and twenty acres, in
+fee, and free. What then? the Government fosters and protects him. It
+sends out annually choice stocks of cattle, at a nominal price; it
+establishes a tariff of duties on foreign goods, so low that the revenue
+derived therefrom is not sufficient to pay the salaries of its officers.
+What then? The colonist is only a parasite with all these advantages. He
+is not an integral part of a nation; a citizen, responsible for his
+franchise. He is but a colonial Micmac, or Scotch-Mac; a mere
+sub-thoughted, irresponsible exotic, in a governmental cold grapery. By
+the great forefinger of Tom Jefferson, I would rather be a citizen of the
+United States than _own_ all the five-shilling Blue Noses between Sydney
+and Canseau!
+
+As we roll along up hill and down, a startling flash of sunlight bursts
+forth from the dewy morning clouds, and touches lake, island, and
+promontory, with inexpressible beauty. Stop, John Ormond, or drive slowly;
+let us enjoy _dolce far niente_. To hang now in our curricle upon this
+wooded hill-top, overlooking the clear surface of the lake, with leafy
+island, and peninsula dotted in its depths, in all its native grace,
+without a touch or trace of hand-work, far or near, save and except a
+single spot of sail in the far-off, is holy and sublime.
+
+And there we rested, reverentially impressed with the week-day sabbath. We
+lingered long and lovingly upon our woody promontory, our eyrie among the
+spruces of Cape Breton.
+
+    "Clear, placid Leman! thy contrasted lake,
+    With the wild world I dwelt in, is a thing
+    Which warns me, with its stillness, to forsake
+    Earth's troubled waters for a purer spring."
+
+Down hill go horses and mail-coach, and we are lost in a vast avenue of
+twinkling birches. For miles we ride within breast-high hedges of sunny
+shrubs, until we reach another promontory, where Bras d'Or again breaks
+forth, with bay, island, white beach, peninsula, and sparkling cove. And
+before us, bowered in trees, lies Chapel Island, the Micmac Mecca, with
+its Catholic Church and consecrated ground. Here at certain seasons the
+red men come to worship the white CHRIST. Here the western descendants of
+Ishmael pitch their bark tents, and swing their barbaric censers before
+the Asiatic-born REDEEMER. "They that dwell in the wilderness shall bow
+before HIM." That gathering must be a touching sermon to the heart of
+faith!
+
+But we roll onwards, and now are again on the clearings, among the
+log-cabins of the Highlandmen. Although every settler has his governmental
+farm, yet nearly the whole of it is still in forest-land. A log hut and
+cleared-acre lot, with Flora McIvor's grubbing, hoeing, or chopping, while
+their idle lords and masters trot beside the mail-coach to hear the news,
+are the only results of the home patronage. At last we come to a gentle
+declivity, a bridge lies below us, a wider brook; we cross over to find a
+cosy inn and a rosy landlord on the other side; and John Ormond lays down
+the ribbons, after a sixty-mile drive, to say: "This is St. Peter's."
+
+Now so far us the old-fashioned inns of New Scotland are concerned, I
+must say they make me ashamed of our own. Soap, sand, and water, do not
+cost so much as carpets, curtains, and fly-blown mirrors; but still, to
+the jaded traveller, they have a more attractive aspect. We sit before a
+snow-white table without a cloth, in the inn-parlor, kitchen, laundry, and
+dining-room, all in one, just over against the end of the lake; and enjoy
+a rasher of bacon and eggs with as much gusto as if we were in the midst
+of a palace of fresco. Ornamental eating has become with us a species of
+gaudy, ostentatious vulgarity; and a dining-room a sort of fool's
+paradise. I never think of the little simple meal at St. Peter's now,
+without tenderness and respect.
+
+Here we change--driver, stage, and horses. Still no other passenger. The
+new whip is a Yankee from the State of Maine; a tall, black-eyed, taciturn
+fellow, with gold rings in his ears. Now we pass the narrow strip of land
+that divides Bras d'Or from the ocean. It is only three-quarters of a mile
+wide between water and water, and look at Enterprise digging out a canal!
+By the bronze statue of De Witt Clinton, if there are not three of the
+five-shilling Rob Roys at work, with two shovels, a horse, and one cart!
+
+As we approach Canseau the landscape becomes flat and uninteresting; but
+distant ranges of mountains rise up against the evening sky, and as we
+travel on towards their bases they attract the eye more and more.
+Ear-rings is not very communicative. He does not know the names of any of
+them. Does not know how high they are, but has heard say they are the
+highest mountains in Nova Scotia. "Are those the mountains of Canseau?"
+Yes, them's them. So with renewed anticipations we ride on towards the
+strait "of unrivalled beauty," that travellers say "surpasses anything in
+America."
+
+And, indeed, Canseau can have my feeble testimony in confirmation. It is a
+grand marine highway, having steep hills on the Cape Breton Island side,
+and lofty mountains on the other shore; a full, broad, mile-wide space
+between them; and reaching from end to end, fifteen miles, from the
+Atlantic to the Gulf of St. Lawrence. As I took leave of Ear-rings, at
+Plaister Cove, and wrapped myself up in my cloak in the stern-sheets of
+the row-boat to cross the strait, the full Acadian moon, larger than any
+United States moon, rose out of her sea-fog, and touched mountain, height,
+and billow, with effulgence. It was a scene of Miltonic grandeur. After
+the ruined walls of Louisburgh, and the dark caverns of Sydney, comes
+Canseau, with its startling splendors! Truly this is a wonderful country.
+
+Another night in a clean Nova-Scotian inn on the mountain-side, a deep
+sleep, and balmy awakening in the clear air. Yet some exceptions must be
+taken to the early sun in this latitude. To get up at two o'clock or four;
+to ride thirty or forty miles to breakfast, with a convalescent appetite,
+is painful. But yet, "to him, who in the love of Nature holds communion
+with her visible forms, she speaks a various language." Admiration and
+convalescent hunger make a very good team in this beautiful country. You
+look out upon the unfathomable Gulf of St. Lawrence, and feel as if you
+were an unfathomable gulf yourself. You ride through lofty woods, with a
+tantalizing profusion of living edibles in your path; at every moment a
+cock-rabbit is saying his prayers before the horses; at every bosk and
+bole a squirrel stares at you with unwinking eyes, and Robin Yellow-bill
+hops, runs, and flies before the coach within reach of the driver's whip,
+_sans peur_! And this too is the land of moose and cariboo: here the
+hunters, on snow-shoes, track the huge animals in the season; and moose
+and cariboo, in the Halifax markets, are cheaper than beef with us. And to
+think this place is only a four days' journey from the metropolis, in the
+languid winter! By the ashes of Nimrod, I will launch myself on a pair of
+snow-shoes, and shoot a moose in the snow before I am twelve months
+older, as sure as these ponies carry us to breakfast!
+
+"How far are we from breakfast, driver?"
+
+"Twenty miles," quoth Jehu.
+
+Now I had been anxious to get a sight of our ponies, for the sake of
+estimating their speed and endurance; but at this time they were not in
+sight. For the coach we (three passengers) were in, was built like an
+omnibus-sleigh on wheels, with a high seat and "dasher" in front, so that
+we could not see what it was that drew our ark, and therefore I climbed up
+in the driver's perch to overlook our motors. There were four of them;
+little, shaggy, black ponies, with bunchy manes and fetlocks, not much
+larger than Newfoundland dogs. Yet they swept us along the road as rapidly
+as if they were full-sized horses, up hill and down, without visible signs
+of fatigue. And now we passed through another French settlement,
+"Tracadie," and again the Norman kirtle and petticoat of the pastoral,
+black-eyed Evangelines hove in sight, and passed like a day-dream. And
+here we are in an English settlement, where we enjoy a substantial
+breakfast, and then again ride through the primeval woods, with an
+occasional glimpse of the broad Gulf and its mountain scenery, until we
+come upon a pretty inland village, by name Antigonish.
+
+At Antigonish, we find a bridal party, and the pretty English landlady
+offers us wine and cake with hospitable welcome; and a jovial time of it
+we have until we are summoned, by crack of whip, to ride over to West
+River.
+
+I must say that the natural prejudices we have against Nova Scotia are
+ill-placed, unjust, and groundless. The country itself is the great
+redeeming feature of the province, and a very large portion of it is
+uninfested by Scotchmen. Take for instance the road we are now travelling.
+For hours we bowl along a smooth turnpike, in the midst of a deep forest:
+although scarce a week has elapsed since these gigantic trees were
+leafless, yet the foliage has sprung forth as it were with a touch, and
+now the canopy of leaves about us, and overhead, is so dense as scarcely
+to afford a twinkle of light from the sun. Sometimes we ride by startling
+precipices and winding streams; sometimes overlook an English settlement,
+with its rolling pasture-lands, bare of trees and rich in verdure. At last
+we approach the precincts of Northumberland Strait, and are cleverly
+carried into New Glasgow. It is fast-day, and the shops are closed in
+Sabbath stillness; but on the sign-boards of the village one reads the
+historic names of "Ross" and "Cameron;" and "Graham," "McGregor" and
+"McDonald." What a pleasant thing it must be to live in that village!
+Here too I saw for the first time in the province a thistle! But it was a
+silver-plated one, in the blue bonnet of a "pothecary's boy." A metallic
+effigy of the ORIGINAL PLANT, that had bloomed some generations ago in
+native land. There was poetry in it, however, even on the brow of an
+incipient apothecary.
+
+When we had put New Glasgow behind us, we felt relieved, and rode along
+the marshes on the border of the strait that divides the Province from
+Prince Edward's Island, so named in honor of his graceless highness the
+Duke of Kent, Edward, father of our Queen Victoria. Thence we came forth
+upon higher ground, the coal-mines of Pictou; and here is the great Pictou
+railway, from the mines to the town, six miles in length. Then by rolling
+hill and dale down to West River, where John Frazer keeps the Twelve-Mile
+House. This inn is clean and commodious; only twelve miles from Pictou;
+and, reader, I would advise you, as twelve miles is but a short distance,
+to go to Pictou without stopping at West River. For John Frazer's is a
+house of petty annoyances. From the moment you enter, you feel the
+insolence of the surly, snarling landlord, and his no less gifted lady;
+the same old greed which has no eye except for money; the miserly table,
+for which you are obliged to pay before hand; the lack of attendance; the
+abundance of impertinence. Just as you are getting into bed you are
+peremptorily called to the door to pay for your room, which haply you had
+forgotten; if you want your boots brushed the answer is, "Perhaps"--if you
+request them to call you in the morning, for the only stage, they say,
+"Just as it happens;" (indeed, it was only by accident that the
+stage-driver discovered he had one more trunk than his complement of
+passengers, and so awoke me just as the coach was on the point of
+departure;) if you can submit to all this, then, reader, go to Twelve-Mile
+House, at West River.
+
+We left this last outpost of the Scotch settlements with pleasure. After
+all, there is a secret feeling of joy in contrasting one's self with such
+wretched, penurious, mis-made specimens of the human animal. And from this
+time henceforth I shall learn to prize my own language, and not be carried
+away by any catch-penny Scotch synonyms, such as the _lift_ for the sky,
+and the _gloamin_ for twilight. And as for _poortith cauld_, and _pauky
+chiel_, I leave them to those who can appreciate them:
+
+    "Farewell, farewell, beggarly Scotland,
+      Cold and beggarly poor countrie;
+    If ever I cross thy border again,
+      The muckle deil maun carry me."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XII.
+
+The Ride from West River--A Fellow Passenger--Parallels of History--One
+Hundred Romances--Baron de Castine--His Character--Made Chief of the
+Abenaquis--Duke of York's Charter--Encroachments of the Puritans--Church's
+Indian Wars--False Reports--Reflections.
+
+
+It would make a curious collection of pictures if I had obtained
+photographs of all the coaches I travelled in, and upon, during my brief
+sojourn in the province; some high, some low, some red, some green, or
+yellow as it chanced, with horses few or many, often superior
+animals--stylish, fast, and sound; and again, the most diminutive of
+ponies, such as Monsieur the Clown drives into the ring of his canvass
+coliseum when he utters the pleasant salute of "Here I am, with all my
+little family?" This morning we have the old, familiar stage-coach of
+Yankee land--red, picked out with yellow; high, narrow, iron steps; broad
+thoroughbraces; wide seats; all jingle, tip, tilt, and rock, from one end
+of the road to the other. My fellow traveller on the box is a little man
+with a big hat; soft spoken, sweet voiced, and excessively shy and
+modest. But this was a most pleasing change from the experiences of the
+last few hours, let me tell you; and, if you ever travel by West River,
+you will find any change pleasant--no matter what.
+
+My companion was shy, but not taciturn; on the contrary, he could talk
+well enough after the ice was broken, and long enough, too, for that
+matter. I found that he was a Church of England clergyman by profession,
+and a Welshman by birth. He was well versed in the earlier history of the
+colony--that portion of it which is by far the most interesting--I mean
+its French or Acadian period. "There are in the traditions and scattered
+fragments of history that yet survive in this once unhappy land," he said,
+in a peculiarly low and mellifluous voice, "much that deserves to be
+embalmed in story and in poetry. Your Longfellow has already preserved one
+of the most touching of its incidents; but I think I am safe in asserting
+that there yet remain the materials of one hundred romances. Take the
+whole history of Acadia during the seventeenth century--the almost
+patriarchal simplicity of its society, the kindness, the innocence, the
+virtues of its people; the universal toleration which prevailed among
+them, in spite of the interference of the home government; look," said
+he, "at the perfect and abiding faith which existed between them and the
+Indians! Does the world-renowned story of William Penn alone merit our
+encomiums, except that we have forgotten this earlier but not less
+beautiful example? And with the true spirit of Christianity, when they
+refused to take up arms in their own defence, preferring rather to die by
+their faith than shed the blood of other men; to what parallel in history
+can we turn, if not to the martyred Hussites, for whom humanity has not
+yet dried all its tears?"
+
+As he said this, a little flush passed over his face, and he appeared for
+a moment as if surprised at his own enthusiasm; then shrinking under his
+big hat again, he relapsed into silence.
+
+We rode on for some time without a word on either side, until I ventured
+to remark that I coincided with him in the belief that Acadia was the
+romantic ground of early discovery in America; and that even the fluent
+pen of Hawthorne had failed to lend a charm to the harsh, repulsive,
+acrimonious features of New England's colonial history.
+
+"I have read but one book of Hawthorne's," said he--"'The Scarlet Letter.'
+I do not coincide with you; I think that to be a remarkable instance of
+the triumph of genius over difficulties. By the way," said he, "speaking
+of authors, what an exquisite poem Tom Moore would have written, had he
+visited Chapel Island, which you have seen no doubt? (here he gave a
+little nod with the big hat) and what a rich volume would have dropped
+from the arabesque pen of your own Irving (another nod), had he written
+the life of the Baron de St. Castine, chief of the Abenaquis, as he did
+that of Philip of Pokanoket."
+
+"Do you know the particulars of that history?" said I.
+
+"I do not know the particulars," he replied, "only the outlines derived
+from chronicle and tradition. Imagination," he added, with a faint smile,
+"can supply the rest, just as an engineer pacing a bastion can draw from
+it the proportions of the rest of the fortress."
+
+And then, from under the shelter of the big hat, there came low and sad
+tones of music, like a requiem over a bier, upon which are laid funeral
+flowers, and sword, and plume; a melancholy voice almost intoning the
+history of a Christian hero, who had been the chief of that powerful
+nation--the rightful owners of the fair lands around us. Even if memory
+could now supply the words, it would fail to reproduce the effect conveyed
+by the tones of _that voice_. And of the story itself I can but furnish
+the faint outlines:
+
+                           FAINT OUTLINES.
+
+Baron de St. Castine, chief of the Abenaquis, was a Frenchman, born in the
+little village of Oberon, in the province of Bearn, about the middle of
+the seventeenth century. Three great influences conspired to make him
+unhappy--first, education, which at that time was held to be a reputable
+part of the discipline of the scions of noble families; next, a delicate
+and impressible mind, and lastly, he was born under the shadow of the
+Pyrenees, and within sight of the Atlantic. He had also served in the wars
+of Louis XIV. as colonel of the Carrignan, Cavignon, or Corignon regiment;
+therefore, from his military education, was formed to endure, or to think
+lightly of hardships. Although not by profession a Protestant, yet he was
+a liberal Catholic. The doctrines of Calvin had been spread throughout the
+province during his youth, and John la Placette, a native of Bearn, was
+then one of the leaders of the free churches of Copenhagen, in Denmark,
+and of Utrecht, in Holland.
+
+But, whatever his religious prejudices may have been, they do not intrude
+themselves in any part of his career; we know him only as a pure
+Christian, an upright man, and a faithful friend of humanity. Like many
+other Frenchmen of birth and education in those days, the Baron de St.
+Castine had been attracted by descriptions of newly discovered countries
+in the western hemisphere, and fascinated by the ideal life of the
+children of nature. To a mind at once susceptible and heroic, impulsive by
+temperament, and disciplined to endure, such promptings have a charm that
+is irresistible. As the chronicler relates, he preferred the forests of
+Acadia, to the Pyrenian mountains that compassed the place of his
+nativity, and taking up his abode with the savages, on the first year
+behaved himself so among them as to draw from them their inexpressible
+esteem. He married a woman of the nation, and repudiating their example,
+did not change his wife, by which he taught his wild neighbors that God
+did not love inconstancy. By this woman, his first and only wife, he had
+one son and two daughters, the latter were afterwards married, "very
+handsomely, to Frenchmen, and had good dowries." Of the son there is
+preserved a single touching incident. In person the baron was strikingly
+handsome, a fine form, a well featured face, with a noble expression of
+candor, firmness and benevolence. Possessed of an ample fortune, he used
+it to enlarge the comforts of the people of his adoption; these making him
+a recompense in beaver skins and other rich furs, from which he drew a
+still larger revenue, to be in turn again devoted to the objects of his
+benevolence. It was said of him, "that he can draw from his coffers two or
+three hundred thousand crowns of good dry gold; but all the use he makes
+of it is to buy presents for his _fellow savages_, who, upon their return
+from hunting, present him with skins to treble the value."
+
+Is it then surprising that this man, so wise, so good, so faithful to his
+_fellow savages_, should, after twenty years, rise to the most eminent
+station in that unsophisticated nation? That indeed these simple Indians,
+who knew no arts except those of peace and war, should have looked up to
+him as their tutular god? By the treaty of Breda, the lands from the
+Penobscots to Nova Scotia had been ceded to France, in exchange for the
+island of St. Christopher. Upon these lands the Baron de St. Castine had
+peacefully resided for many years, until a new patent was granted to the
+Duke of York, the boundaries of which extended beyond the limits of the
+lands ceded by the treaty. Oh, those patents! those patents! What wrongs
+were perpetrated by those remorseless instruments; what evil councils
+prevailed when they were hatched; what corrupt, what base, what knavish
+hands formed them; what vile, what ignoble, what ponderous lies has
+history assumed to maintain, or to excuse them, and the acts committed
+under them?
+
+The first English aggression after the treaty, was but a trifling one in
+respect to immediate effects. A quantity of wine having been landed by a
+French vessel upon the lands covered by the patent, was seized by the Duke
+of York's agents. This, upon a proper representation by the French
+ambassador at the court of Charles II., was restored to the rightful
+owners. But thereupon a new boundary line was run, _and the whole of
+Castine's plantations included within it_. Immediately after this, the
+Rose frigate, under the command of Captain Andross, sailed up the
+Penobscot, plundered and destroyed Castine's house and fort, and sailed
+away with all his arms and goods. Not only this, intruders from other
+quarters invaded the lands of the Indians, took possession of the rivers,
+and spoiled the fisheries with seines, turned their cattle in to devour
+the standing corn of the Abenaquis, and committed other depredations,
+which, although complained of, were neither inquired into nor redressed.
+
+Then came reprisals; and first the savages retaliated by killing the
+cattle of their enemies. Then followed those fearful and bloody campaigns,
+which, under the name of Church's Indian Wars, disgrace the early annals
+of New England. Night surprises, butcheries that spared neither age nor
+sex, prisoners taken and sold abroad into slavery, after the glut of
+revenge was satiated, these to return and bring with them an
+inextinguishable hatred against the English, and desire of revenge. Anon a
+conspiracy and the surprisal of Dover, accompanied with all the appalling
+features of barbaric warfare--Major Waldron being tied down by the Indians
+in his own arm-chair, and each one of them drawing a sharp knife across
+his breast, says with the stroke, "Thus I cross out my account;" these,
+and other atrocities, on either side, constitute the principal records of
+a Christian people, who professed to be only pilgrims and sojourners in a
+strange land--the victims of persecution in their own.
+
+Daring all this dark and bloody period, no name is more conspicuous in the
+annals than that of the Chief of the Abenaquis. Like a frightful ogre, he
+hovers in the background, deadly and ubiquitous--the terror of the
+colonies. It was he who had stirred up the Indians to do the work. Then
+come reports of a massacre in some town on the frontier, and with it is
+coupled a whisper of "Castine!" a fort has been surprised, he is there!
+Some of Church's men have fallen in an ambuscade; the baron has planned
+it, and furnished the arms and ammunition by which the deed was
+consummated! Superstition invests him with imaginary powers; fanaticism
+exclaims, 'tis he who had taught the savages to believe that we are the
+people who crucified the Saviour.
+
+But in spite of all these stories, the wonderful Bernese is not captured,
+nor indeed seen by any, except that sometimes an English prisoner escaping
+from the enemy, comes to tell of his clemency and tenderness; he has bound
+up the wounds of these, he has saved the lives of those. At last a small
+settlement of French and Indians is attacked by Church's men at Penobscot,
+every person there being either killed or taken prisoner; among the latter
+a daughter of the great baron, with her children, from whom they learn
+that her unhappy father, ruined and broken-hearted, had returned to
+France, the victim of persecutors, who, under the name of saints,
+exhibited a cruelty and rapacity that would have disgraced the reputation
+of a Philip or an Alva!
+
+"It is a matter of surprise to the historical student," said the little
+man, "that with a people like yours, so conspicuous in many rare examples
+of erudition, that the history of Acadia has not merited a closer
+attention, throwing as it does so strong a reflective light upon your
+own. Such a task doubtless does not present many inviting features,
+especially to those who would preserve, at any sacrifice of truth, the
+earlier pages of discovery in America, pure, spotless, and unsullied. But
+I think this dark, tragic background would set off all the brighter the
+characters of those really good men who flourished in that period, of whom
+there were no doubt many, although now obscured by the dull, dead
+moonshine of indiscriminate forefathers' flattery. I know very well that
+in some regards we might copy the example of a few of the first planters
+of New England, but for the rest I believe with Adam Clark, that for the
+sake of humanity, it were better that such ages should never return."
+
+"We talk much," says he, "of ancient manners, their _simplicity and
+ingenuousness_, and say that _the former days were better than these_. But
+who says this who is a judge of the times? In those days of celebrated
+simplicity, there were not so _many_ crimes as at present, I grant; but
+what they wanted in _number_, they made up in _degree_; _deceit_,
+_cruelty_, _rapine_, _murder_, and _wrong_ of almost every kind, then
+flourished. _We_ are _refined_ in our vices, they were _gross_ and
+_barbarous_ in theirs. They had neither so many _ways_ nor so many _means_
+of sinning; but the _sum_ of their moral turpitude was greater than ours.
+We have a sort of _decency_ and good _breeding_, which lay a certain
+restraint on our passions; they were boorish and beastly, and their bad
+passions ever in full play. Civilization prevents barbarity and atrocity;
+mental cultivation induces decency of manners--those primitive times were
+generally without these. Who that knows them would wish such ages to
+return?"[A]
+
+[A] Adam Clark's "Commentary on Book of Kings." II. Samuel, chap. iii.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIII.
+
+Truro--On the Road to Halifax--Drive to the Left--A Member of the Foreign
+Legion--Irish Wit at Government Expense--The first Battle of the
+Legion--Ten Pounds Reward--Sir John Gaspard's Revenge--The Shubenacadie
+Lakes--Dartmouth Ferry, and the Hotel Waverley.
+
+
+Pleasant Truro! At last we regain the territories of civility and
+civilization! Here is the honest little English inn, with its cheerful
+dining-room, its clean spread, its abundant dishes, its glass of ripe ale,
+its pleased alacrity of service. After our long ride from West River, we
+enjoy the best inn's best room, the ease, the comfort, and the fair aspect
+of one of the prettiest towns in the province. Truro is situated on the
+head waters of the Basin of Minas, or Cobequid Bay, as it is denominated
+on the map, between the Shubenacadie and Salmon rivers. Here we are within
+fifty miles of the idyllic land, the pastoral meadows of Grand-Pre! But,
+alas! there is yet a long ride before us; the path from Truro to Grand-Pre
+being in the shape of an acute angle, of which Halifax is the apex. As
+yet there is no direct road from place to place, but by the shores of the
+Basin of Minas. Let us look, however, at pleasant Truro.
+
+One of the striking features of this part of the country is the
+peculiarity of the rivers; these are full or empty, with every flux and
+reflux of the tide; for instance, when we crossed the Salmon, we saw only
+a high, broad, muddy ditch, drained to the very bottom. This is owing to
+the ocean tides, which, sweeping up the Bay of Fundy, pour into the Basin
+of Minas, and fill all its tributary streams; then, with prodigal
+reaction, sweeping forth again, leave only the vacant channels of the
+rivers--if they may be called by that name. This peculiar feature of
+hydrography is of course local--limited to this section of the
+province--indeed if it be not to this corner of the world. The country
+surrounding the village is well cultivated, diversified with rolling hill
+and dale, and although I had not the opportunity of seeing much of it, yet
+the mere description of its natural scenery was sufficiently tempting.
+Here, too, I saw something that reminded me of home--a clump of
+cedar-trees! These of course were exotics, brought, not without expense,
+from the States, planted in the courtyard of a little aristocratic
+cottage, and protected in winter by warm over-coats of wheat straw. So we
+go! Here they grub up larches and spruces to plant cedars.
+
+The mail coach was soon at the door of our inn, and after taking leave of
+my fellow-traveller with the big hat, I engaged a seat on the stage-box
+beside Jeangros, a French Canadian, or Canuck--one of the best whips on
+the line. Jeangros is not a great portly fellow, as his name would seem to
+indicate, but a spare, small man--nevertheless with an air of great
+courage and command. Jeangros touched up the leaders, the mail-coach
+rattled through the street of the town, and off we trotted from Truro into
+the pleasant road that leads to Halifax.
+
+One thing I observed in the province especially worthy of imitation--the
+old English practice of turning to the _left_ in driving, instead of to
+the _right_, as we do. Let me exhibit the merits of the respective systems
+by a brief diagram. By the English system they drive thus:
+
+[Illustration]
+
+The arrows represent the drivers, as well as the directions of the
+vehicles; of course when two vehicles, coming in opposite directions,
+pass each other on the road, each driver is nearest the point of contact,
+and can see readily, and provide against accidents. Now contrast our
+system with the former:
+
+[Illustration]
+
+no wonder we have so many collisions.
+
+    "The rule of the road is a paradox quite,
+      In driving your carriage along,
+    If you keep to the left, you are sure to go right,
+      If you keep to the right, you go wrong."
+
+It would be a good thing if our present senseless laws were reversed in
+this matter, and a few lives saved, and a few broken limbs prevented.
+
+When I took leave of my native country for a short sojourn in this
+province, the great question then before the public was the invasion of
+international law, by the British minister and a whole solar system of
+British consuls. I had the pleasure of being a fellow exile on the Canada
+with Mr. Crampton, Mr. Barclay, and Mr.----, Her British Majesty's
+representatives, and of course felt no little interest to know the fate of
+the _Foreign Legion_.
+
+Before I left Halifax, I learned some particulars of that famous flock of
+jail birds. All that we knew, at home, was that a number of recruits for
+the Crimea had been picked up in the streets and alleys of Columbia, and
+carried, at an enormous expense, to Halifax, there to be enrolled. And
+also, that as a mere cover to this infraction of the law of Neutrality,
+the men were engaged as laborers, to work upon the public improvements of
+Nova Scotia. The sequel of that enterprise remained to be told. A majority
+of these recruits were Irishmen--some of them not wanting in the mother
+wit of the race. So when they were gathered in the great province building
+at Halifax, and Sir John Gaspard le Marchant, in chapeau, feather and
+sword, came down to review his levies, with great spirit and military
+pomp, "Well, my men," said he, "you are here to enlist, eh, and serve Her
+Majesty?" To which the spokesman of the Foreign Legion, fully
+understanding the beauty of his position, replied, with a sly twinkle of
+the eye, "We didn't engage to 'list at all, at all, but to wurruk on the
+railroad." Upon which Sir John Gaspard, seeing that Her Majesty had been
+imposed upon, politely told the legion to go to----Dante's Inferno.
+
+Now whether the place to which the Foreign Legion was consigned by Sir
+John Gaspard, possessed even less attractions than Halifax, or from
+whatever reason soever, it chanced that the jolly boys, raked from our
+alleys and jails, never stirred a foot out of the province; and while the
+peace of the whole world was endangered by their abduction, as that of
+Greece and Troy had been by the rape of Helen, they were quietly enlisting
+in less warlike expeditions--in fact, engaging themselves to work upon
+that great railroad, of which mention has been made heretofore.
+
+Now we have seen something of the clannish propensities of the people of
+the colonies, and the contractors knew what sort of material they had to
+deal with. And, inasmuch as there was a pretty large group of
+five-shilling Highlandmen, grading, levelling, and filling in one end of a
+section of the road, the gang of Irishmen was placed at the opposite end,
+as far from them as possible, which no doubt would have preserved peaceful
+relations between the two, but for the fact, that as the work progressed
+the hostile forces naturally approached each other. It was towards the
+close of a summer evening, that the ground was broken by the gentlemen of
+the shamrock, within sight of the shanties decorated with the honorable
+order of the thistle. A lovely evening in the month of June! Not with
+spumy cannon and prickly bayonets, but with peaceful spade and mattock,
+advanced the sons of St. Patrick towards the children of a sister isle.
+Then did Roderick Dhu step forth from his shanty, and inquire, in choice
+Gaelic, if a person named Brian Borheime was in the ranks of the
+approaching forces. Then then did Brian Borheime advance, spade in hand,
+and with a single spat of his implement level Roderick, as though he had
+been a piece of turf. Then was Brian flattened out by the spade of Vich
+Ian Vohr; and Vich Ian Vohr, by the spade of Captain Rock. Then fell
+Captain Rock by the spade of Rob Roy; and Rob Roy smelt the earth under
+the spade of Handy Andy. In a word, the fight became general--the bagpipe
+blew to arms--Celt joined Celt, there was the tug of war; but the sun set
+upon the lowered standard of the thistle, and victory proclaimed Shamrock
+the conqueror. Several of the natives were left for dead upon the field of
+battle, the triumphant Irish ran away, to a man, to avoid the
+consequences, and I blush to say it, as I do to record any act of
+heartless ingratitude, handbills were speedily posted up by the order of
+government, offering a reward of ten pounds apiece for the capture of
+certain members of the Foreign Legion, who had been the ringleaders in the
+riot, which handbill was not only signed by that seducer of soldiers, Sir
+John Gaspard le Marchant, but also ornamented with the horn of the unicorn
+and the claws of the British lion.
+
+But there is a Nemesis even in Nova Scotia, for this riot produced
+effects, unwonted and unlooked for. One of the prominent leaders in the
+Nova Scotia Parliament, a gentleman distinguished both as an orator and as
+a poet--the Hon. Joseph Howe, who had signalized himself as an advocate of
+the right of Her Majesty to recruit for the Crimea in the streets of
+Columbia, and was ready to pit the British Lion against the American Eagle
+in support of that right, fell by the very legion he had been so zealous
+to create. The Hon. Joseph Howe, M. P., by the support of the Irish
+population, could always command a _popular_ majority and keep his seat in
+the house, so long as he maintained his loyalty to this votive class of
+citizens. But, unfortunately, Hon. Joseph Howe, in alluding to the riot,
+took the Scotch side of the broil. This was sufficient. At the election
+following he was a defeated candidate, and politely advised to retire to
+private life. Thus was the Hon. J. H. "hoist by his own petard," the first
+man to fall by this expensive military company.
+
+An adventure upon the Shubenacadie brought one of these heroes into
+prominent relief. After we had parted from pleasant Truro, at every nook
+and corner of the road, there seemed to be a passenger waiting for the
+Halifax coach. So that the top of the vehicle was soon filled with dusty
+fellow-travellers, and Jeangros was getting to be a little impatient. Just
+as we turned into the densest part of the forest, where the evening sun
+was most obscured by the close foliage, we saw two men, one decorated with
+a pair of handcuffs, and the other armed with a brace of pistols. The
+latter hailed the coach.
+
+"What d'ye want?" quoth Jeangros, drawing up by the roadside.
+
+"Government prisoner," said the man with the pistols.
+
+"What the ---- is government prisoner to me?" quoth Jeangros.
+
+"I want to take him to Dartmouth," said the tall policeman.
+
+"Then take him there," said our jolly driver, shaking up the leaders.
+
+"Hold up," shouted out the tall policeman, "I will pay his fare."
+
+"Why didn't you say so, then?" replied Jeangros, full of the dignity of
+his position as driver of H. B. M. Mail-coach, before whose tin horn
+everything must get out of the way.
+
+There was a doubt which was the drunkenest, the officer or the prisoner.
+We found out afterwards that the officer had conciliated his captive with
+drink, partly to keep him friendly in case of an attempted rescue, and
+partly to get him in such a state that running away would be
+impracticable. And, indeed, there would have been a great race if the
+prisoner had attempted to escape. The prisoner too drunk to run--the
+officer too drunk to pursue.
+
+The pair had scarcely crawled up among the luggage upon the stage-top,
+before there was an outcry from the passengers on the box in
+front--"Uncock your pistols! uncock your pistols!" for the officer had
+dropped his fire-arms, cocked and capped, upon the top of our coach, with
+the muzzles pointed towards us. And indeed I may affirm here, that I never
+saw metallic cylinders with more menacing aspect, than those which lay
+quietly behind us, ready to explode--unconscious instruments as they
+were--and carry any of the party into the next world upon the slightest
+lurch of the stage-coach.
+
+"Uncock your pistols," said the passengers.
+
+But the officer, in the mellifluous dialect of his mother country, replied
+that "He'd be ---- if he would. Me prishner," said he, "me prishner might
+escape; or, the divil knows but there might be a rescue come to him, for
+there's a good many of the same hereabouts."
+
+It struck me that no person upon the top of the stage-coach was so
+particularly interested in this dispute as the member of the Foreign
+Legion, who was on his way either to the gallows or a perpetual prison. I
+observed that he nervously twitched at his handcuffs, perhaps--as I
+thought--to prepare for escape in case of an explosion; or else to be
+ready for the rescue; or else to take advantage of his captor, the tall
+policeman--jump from the stage, and run for dear life and liberty. Never
+was I more mistaken. True to his race, and to tradition, Pat was only
+striving to free himself from the leather shackles, in order to fight any
+man who was an enemy to his friend the policeman, and the pistols, that
+were cocked to shoot himself. But had not poor Paddy made such blunders in
+all times? The hubbub increased, a terrific contest was impending; the
+travellers below poked their heads out of the windows; there was every
+prospect of a catastrophe of some kind, when suddenly Jeangros rose to his
+feet, and said, in a voice clear and sharp through the tumult as an
+electric flash through a storm, "_Uncock those pistols, or I will throw
+you from the top of the coach!_"
+
+There was a pause instantly, and we heard the sharp click of the cocks, as
+they were lowered in obedience to the little stage-driver. It had a
+wonderful power of command, that voice--soft and clear, but brief,
+decisive, authoritative.
+
+It is quite interesting to ride fellow-passenger with a person who has
+played a part in the national drama, but more villainous face I never saw.
+Mr. Crampton, with whom I sailed on the Canada, had a much more amiable
+expression; indeed I think we should all be obliged to him for ridding us
+of at least a portion of his fellow-countrymen.
+
+But now we ride by the Shubenacadie lakes, a chain--a bracelet--binding
+the province from the Basin of Minas to the seaboard. The eye never tires
+of this lovely feature of Acadia. Lake above lake--the division, the
+isthmus between, not wider than the breadth of your India shawl, my lady!
+I must declare that, all in all, the scenery of the province is
+surpassingly beautiful. As you ride by these sparkling waters, through the
+flowery, bowery, woods, you feel as if you like to pitch tent here--at
+least for the summer.
+
+And now we approach a rustic inn by the roadside, rich in shrubbery before
+it, and green moss from ridge-pole to low drooping eaves, where we change
+horses. And as we rest here upon the wooden inn-porch, dismounted from our
+high perch on the stage-coach, we see right above us against the clear
+evening sky, Her Majesty's _ci-devant_ partisan, now prisoner--by merit
+raised to that bad eminence. The officer hands him a glass of brandy, to
+keep up his spirits. The prisoner takes it, and, lifting the glass high in
+air, shouts out with the exultation of a fiend:
+
+    "Here's to the hinges of liberty--may they never want oil,
+    Nor an Orangeman's bones in a pot for to boil."
+
+Once more upon the stage to Dartmouth, where we deposit our precious
+fellow-travellers, and then to the ferry, and look you! across the harbor,
+the twinkling lights of dear old mouldy Halifax. And now we are crossing
+Chebucto, and the cab carries us again to our former quarters in the Hotel
+Waverley.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIV.
+
+Halifax again--Hotel Waverley--"Gone the Old Familiar Faces"--The Story of
+Marie de la Tour.
+
+
+Again in old quarters! It is strange how we become attached to a place, be
+it what it may, if we only have known it before. The same old room we
+occupied years ago, however comfortless then, has a familiar air of
+welcome now. There is surely some little trace of self, some unseen
+spider-thread of attachment clinging to the walls, the old chair, the
+forlorn wash-stand, and the knobby four-poster, that holds the hardest of
+beds, the most consumptive of pillows, and a bolster as round, as white,
+and as hard, as a cathedral mass-candle. Heigho, Hotel Waverley! Here am I
+again; but where are the familiar faces? Where the brave soldier of
+Inkerman and Balaklava? Where the jolly old Captain of the native rifles?
+Where the Colonel, with his little meerschaum pipe he was so intent upon
+coloring? Where the party of salmon-fishermen, the Solomons of
+piscatology? Where the passengers by the "Canada?" And where is Picton?
+Gone, like last year's birds!
+
+"A glass of ale, Henry, and one cigar, only _one_; I wish to be solitary."
+
+I like this bed-room of mine at the Waverley, with its blue and white
+striped curtain at the window, through which the gas-lights of Halifax
+streets appear in lucid spots, as I wait for Henry, with the candles. Now
+I am no longer alone. I shut my chamber door, as it were, upon one world,
+only that I may enjoy another. So I trim the candles, and spread out the
+writing materials, and at once the characters of two centuries ago awake,
+and their life to me is as the life of to-day.
+
+There is nothing more captivating in literature, than the narrative of
+some heroic deed of woman. Very few such are recorded; how many might be,
+if the actors themselves had not shunned notoriety, and "uncommended
+died," rather than encounter the ordeal of public praise? Of such the poet
+has written:
+
+    "Full many a flower is born to blush unseen,
+    And waste its sweetness on the desert air."
+
+Of such, many have lived and died, to live again only in fiction; whereas
+their own true histories would have been greater than the inventions of
+authors. We read of heroes laden with the "glittering spoils of empire,"
+but the heroic deeds of woman are oftentimes, all in all, as great,
+without the glitter; without the pomp and pageantry of triumphal
+processions; without the pealing trumpet of renown. Boadicea, chained to
+the car of Suetonius, is the too common memorial of heroic womanity.
+
+The story I relate is but a transcript, a mere episode in the sad history
+of Acadia: yet the record will be pleasing to those who estimate the
+merits of brave women. This, then, is the legend of
+
+                          MARIE DE LA TOUR.
+
+In the year 1621, Sir William Alexander, afterwards Earl of Sterling,[B] a
+romantic poet, and favorite of King James I., was presented by that
+monarch with a patent to all the land known as Acadia, in the Americas.
+Royalty in those days made out its parchment deeds for a province, without
+taking the trouble to search the record office, to see if there were any
+prior liens upon the territory. The good old rule obtained thus--
+
+    "That they may take who have the power,
+    And they may keep who can."
+
+or, to quote the words of another writer--
+
+    "For the time once was here, to all be it known,
+    That all a man sailed by or saw was his own."
+
+It is due to Sir William Alexander to say that he gave the province the
+proud name which at present it enjoys, of Nova Scotia, or New Scotland, a
+title much more appropriate than that of "Acadia,"[C] which to us means
+nothing.
+
+[B] This William Alexander, Earl of Sterling, was the ancestor of
+General Lord Sterling, one of the most distinguished officers in the
+American Revolution.
+
+[C] The name "Acadia," is, no doubt, a primitive word, from the Abenaqui
+tongue--we find it repeated in _Tracadie_, _Shubenacadie_, and elsewhere
+in the province.
+
+At this time the French Colony was slowly recovering from the effects of
+the Argall expedition, that eight years before had laid waste its fair
+possessions. Among a number of emigrants from the Loire and the Seine, two
+gentlemen of birth and education, La Tour by name, father and son, set out
+to seek their fortunes in the New World. It must be remembered that in the
+original patent of Acadia, given by Henry IV. to De Monts, freedom of
+religious opinion was one of the conditions of the grant, and therefore
+the fact, that both the La Tours were Huguenots, did not prevent them
+holding commissions under the French crown, the father having in charge a
+small fleet of transports then ready to sail from the harbor of Brest; the
+son, being the commander of a fort and garrison at Cape Sable, upon the
+western end of Acadia.
+
+Affairs being in this condition, it chanced that the English and French
+ships set sail for the same port, at about the same time; and it so
+happened that Sir William Alexander's fleet running afoul of the elder La
+Tour's in a fog, not only captured that gallant chieftain but also his
+transports, munitions of war, stores, artillery, etc. etc., and sailed
+back with the prizes to England. I beg you to observe, my dear reader,
+that occurrences of this kind were common enough at this period even in
+times of peace, and not considered piracy either, the ocean was looked
+upon as a mighty chessboard, and the game was won by those who could
+command the greatest number of pieces.
+
+Claude de la Tour, not as a prisoner of war, but as an enforced guest of
+Sir William, was carried to London; and there robbed of his goods, but
+treated like a gentleman; introduced at Court, although deprived of his
+purse and liberty, and in a word, found himself surrounded with the most
+hostile and hospitable conditions possible in life. It is not surprising
+then that with true French philosophy he should have made the best of it;
+gained the good will of the queen, played off a little _badinage_ with the
+ladies of the court, and forgetting the late Lady de la Tour, asleep in
+the old graveyard in the city of Rochelle, essayed to wear his widower
+weeds with that union of grace and sentiment for which his countrymen are
+so celebrated. The consequence was one of her majesty's maids of honor
+fell in love with him; the queen encouraged the match; the king had just
+instituted the new order of Knights Baronet, of Nova Scotia; La Tour, now
+in the way of good fortune, was the first to be honored with the novel
+title, and at the same time placed the matrimonial ring upon the finger of
+the love-sick maid of honor. Indeed Charles Etienne de la Tour, commandant
+of the little fort at Cape Sable, had scarcely lost a father, before he
+had gained a step-mother.
+
+That the French widower should have been so captivated by these marks of
+royal favor as to lose his discretion, in the fullness of his gratitude;
+and, that after receiving a grant of land from his patron, as a further
+incentive, he should volunteer to assist in bringing Acadia under the
+British Crown, and as a primary step, undertake to reduce the Fort at Cape
+Sable; I say, that when I state this, nobody will be surprised, except a
+chosen few, who cherish some old-fashioned notions, in these days more
+romantic than real. "Two ships of war being placed under his command," he
+set sail, with his guns and a Step-mother, to attack the Fort at Cape
+Sable. The latter was but poorly garrisoned; but then it contained a
+Daughter-in-law! Under such circumstances, it was plain to be seen that
+the contest would be continued to the last ounce of powder.
+
+Opening the trenches before the French fort, and parading his Scotch
+troops in the eyes of his son, the elder La Tour attempted to capture the
+garrison by argument. In vain he "boasted of the reception he had met with
+in England, of his interest at court, and the honor of knighthood which
+had been conferred upon him." In vain he represented "the advantages that
+would result from submission," the benefits of British patronage; and
+paraded before the eyes of the young commander the parchment grant, the
+seal, the royal autograph, and the glittering title of Knight Baronet,
+which had inspired his perfidy. His son, shocked and indignant, declined
+the proffered honors and emoluments that were only to be gained by an act
+of treason; and intimated his intention "to defend the Fort with his life,
+sooner than deliver it up to the enemies of his country." The father used
+the most earnest entreaties, the most touching and parental arguments.
+Charles Etienne was proof against these. The Baronet alluded to the large
+force under his command, and deplored the necessity of making an assault,
+in case his propositions were rejected. Charles Etienne only doubled his
+sentinels, and stood more firmly intrenched upon his honor. Then the elder
+La Tour ordered an assault. For two days the storm continued; sometimes
+the Mother-in-law led the Scotch soldiers to the breach, but the French
+soldiers, under the Daughter-in-law, drove them back with such bitter
+fury, that of the assailants it was hard to say which numbered most, the
+living or the dead. At last, La Tour the elder abandoned the siege; and
+"ashamed to appear in England, afraid to appear in France," accepted the
+humiliating alternative of requesting an asylum from his son. Permission
+to reside in the neighborhood was granted by Charles Etienne. The Scotch
+troops were reembarked for England; and the younger and the elder Mrs. de
+la Tour smiled at each other grimly from the plain and from the parapet.
+Further than this there was no intercourse between the families. Whenever
+Marie de la Tour sent the baby to grandmother, it went with a troop of
+cavalry and a flag of truce; and whenever Lady de la Tour left her card at
+the gate, the drums beat, and the guard turned out with fixed bayonets.
+
+Such discipline had prepared Marie de la Tour for the heroic part which
+afterwards raised her to the historical position she occupies in the
+chronicles of Acadia. I have had occasion to speak of freedom of opinion
+existing in this Province--but for the invasion of English and Scotch
+filibusters, this absolute liberty of faith would have produced the
+happiest fruits in the new colonies. But unfortunately in a weak and
+newly-settled country, union in all things is an indispensable condition
+of existence. This very liberty of opinion, in a great measure
+disintegrated the early French settlements, and separated a people which
+otherwise might have encountered successfully its rapacious enemies.
+
+At this time the French Governor of Acadia, Razillia, died. Charles
+Etienne la Tour as a subordinate officer, had full command of the eastern
+part of the province, as the Chevalier d'Aulney de Charnise, had of the
+western portion, extending as far as the Penobscot. As for the Sterling
+patent, Sir William, finding it of little value, had sold it to the elder
+La Tour, but the defeated adventurer of Cape Sable by the treaty of St.
+Germains in 1632, was stripped of his new possessions by King Charles I.,
+who conveyed the whole of the territory again to Louis XIII. of France.
+Thus it will be seen, that two claimants only were in possession of
+Acadia; namely, the younger La Tour and D'Aulney. The elder La Tour now
+retires from the scene, goes to England with his wife, and is heard of no
+more.
+
+Between the rival commanders in Acadia, there were certain points of
+resemblance--both were youthful, both were brave, enterprising and
+ambitious, both the happy husbands of proud and beautiful wives. Otherwise
+La Tour was a Huguenot and D'Aulney a Catholic--thus it will be seen that
+the latter had the most favor at the French court, while the former could
+more securely count upon the friendship of the English of Massachusetts
+Bay--no inconsiderable allies as affairs then stood. Under such
+circumstances, it is not to be wondered at that there was a constant feud
+between the two young officers, and their young wives. The chronicles of
+the Pilgrims, the records of Bradford, Winthrop, Mather, and Hutchinson,
+are full of the exploits of these pugnacious heroes. At one time La Tour
+appears in person at Boston, to beat up recruits, as more than two hundred
+years after, another power attempted to raise a foreign legion, and,
+although the pilgrim fathers do not officially sanction the proceeding,
+yet they connive at it, and quote Scripture to warrant them. Close upon
+this follows a protest of D'Aulney, and with it the exhibition of a
+warrant from the French king for the arrest of La Tour. Upon this there
+is a meeting of the council and a treaty, offensive and defensive, made
+with D'Aulney.
+
+Meanwhile, Marie de la Tour arrived at Boston from England, where she had
+been on a visit to her mother-in-law. The captain of the vessel upon which
+she had reembarked for the new world, having carried her to this city
+instead of to the river St. John, according to the letter of the charter,
+was promptly served with a summons by that lady to appear before the
+magistrates to show cause why he did it; and the consequence was, madame
+recovered damages to the amount of two thousand pounds in the Marine Court
+of the Modern Athens. With this sum in her pocket, she chartered a vessel
+for the river St. John, and arrived at a small fort belonging to her
+husband, on its banks, just in time to defend it against D'Aulney, who had
+rallied his forces for an attack upon it, during the absence of Charles
+Etienne.
+
+Marie de la Tour at this time was one of the most beautiful women in the
+new world. She was not less than twenty, nor more than thirty years of
+age; her features had a charm beyond the limits of the regular; her eyes
+were expressive; her mouth intellectual; her complexion brown and clear,
+could pale or flush with emotions either tender or indignant. Before such
+a commandress D'Aulney de Charnise set down his forces in the year 1644.
+
+The garrison was small--the brave Charles Etienne absent in a distant part
+of the province. But the unconquerable spirit of the woman prevailed over
+these disadvantages. At the first attack by D'Aulney, the guns of the fort
+were directed with such consummate skill that every shot told. The
+besieger, with twenty killed and thirteen wounded, was only too happy to
+warp his frigate out of the leach of this lovely lady's artillery, and
+retire to Penobscot to refit for further operations. Again D'Aulney sailed
+up the St. John, with the intention of taking the place by assault. By
+land as by water, his forces were repulsed with great slaughter. A host of
+Catholic soldiers fell before a handful of Protestant guns, which was not
+surprising, as the cannon were well pointed, and loaded with grape and
+canister. For three days the French officer carried on the attack, and
+then again retreated. On the fourth day a Swiss hireling deserted to the
+enemy and betrayed the weakness of the garrison. D'Aulney, now confident
+of success, determined to take the fort by storm; but as he mounted the
+wall, the lovely La Tour, at the head of her little garrison, met the
+besiegers with such determined bravery, that again they were repulsed.
+That evening D'Aulney hung the traitorous Swiss, and proposed honorable
+terms, if the brave commandress would surrender. To these terms Marie
+assented, in the vain hope of saving the lives of the brave men who had
+survived; the remnants of her little garrison. But the perfidious
+D'Aulney, who, from the vigorous defence of the fort, had supposed the
+number of soldiers to have been greater, instead of feeling that
+admiration which brave men always experience when acts of valor are
+presented by an enemy, lost himself in an abyss of chagrin, to find he had
+been thrice defeated by a garrison so contemptible in numbers, and led by
+a _female_. To his eternal infamy let it be recorded, that pretending to
+have been deceived by the terms of capitulation, D'Aulney hanged the brave
+survivors of the garrison, and even had the baseness and cruelty to parade
+Madame de la Tour herself on the same scaffold, with the ignominious cord
+around her neck, as a reprieved criminal.
+
+To quote the words of the chronicler: "The violent and unusual exertions
+which Madame la Tour had made, the dreadful fate of her household and
+followers, and the total wreck of his fortune, had such an effect that she
+died soon after this event."
+
+So perished the beautiful, the brave, the faithful, the unfortunate!
+Shall I add that her besieger, D'Aulney, died soon after, leaving a
+bereaved but blooming widow? That Charles Etienne la Tour, to prevent
+further difficulties in the province, laid siege to that sad and
+sympathizing lady, not with flag and drum, shot and shell, but with the
+more effectual artillery of love? That Madame D'Aulney finally
+surrendered, and that Charles Etienne was wont to say to her, after the
+wedding: "Beloved, _your_ husband and _my_ wife have had their pitched
+battle, but let _us_ live in peace for the rest of our days, my dear."
+
+Quaint, old, mouldy Halifax seems more attractive after re-writing this
+portion of its early history. The defence of that little fort, with its
+slender garrison, by Madame la Tour, against the perfidious Charnise,
+brings to mind other instances of female heroism, peculiar to the French
+people. It recalls the achievements of Joan of Arc, and Charlotte Corday.
+Not less, than these, in the scale of intrepid valor, are those of Marie
+de la Tour.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XV.
+
+Bedford Basin--Legend of the two French Admirals--An Invitation to the
+Queen--Visit to the Prince's Lodge--A Touch of Old England--The Ruins.
+
+
+The harbor of Chebucto, after stretching inland far enough to make a
+commodious and beautiful site for the great city of Halifax, true to the
+fine artistic taste peculiar to all bodies of water in the province,
+penetrates still further in the landscape, and broadens out into a superb
+land-locked lake, called Bedford Basin. The entrance to this basin is very
+narrow, and it has no other outlet. Oral tradition maintains that about a
+century ago a certain French fleet, lying in the harbor, surprised by the
+approach of a superior body of English men-of-war in the offing, weighed
+anchor and sailed up through this narrow estuary into the basin itself,
+deceived by seeing so much water there, and believing it to be but a twin
+harbor through which they could escape again to the open sea. And further,
+that the French Admiral finding himself caught in this net with no chance
+of escape, drew his sword, and placing the hilt upon the deck of his
+vessel, fell upon the point of the weapon, and so died.
+
+This tradition is based partly upon fact; its epoch is one of the most
+interesting in the history of this province, and probably the turning
+point in the affairs of the whole northern continent. The suicide was an
+officer high in rank, the Duke d'Anville, who in 1746, after the first
+capture of Louisburgh, sailed from Brest with the most formidable fleet
+that had ever crossed the Atlantic, to re-take this famous fortress; then
+to re-take Annapolis, next to destroy Boston, and finally to _visit_ the
+West Indies. But his squadron being dispersed by tempestuous weather, he
+arrived in Chebucto harbor with but a few ships, and not finding any of
+the rest of his fleet there, was so affected by this and other disasters
+on the voyage, that he destroyed himself. So says the _London Chronicle_
+of August 24th, 1758, from which I take this account. The French say he
+died of apoplexy, the English by poison. At all events, he was buried in a
+little island in the harbor, after a defeat by the elements of as great an
+armament as that of the Spanish Armada. Some idea of the disasters of this
+voyage may be formed from one fact, that from the time of the sailing of
+the expedition from Brest until its arrival at Chebucto, no less than
+1,270 men died on the way from the plague. Many of the ships arriving
+after this sad occurrence, Vice-Admiral Destournelle endeavored to fulfill
+the object of the mission, and even with his crippled forces essay to
+restore the glory of France in the western hemisphere. But he being
+overruled by a council of war, plucked out his sword, and followed his
+commander, the Duke d'Anville. What might have come of it, had either
+admiral again planted the _fleur de lis_ upon the bastions of Louisburgh?
+
+But to return to the to-day of to-day. Bedford Basin is now rapidly
+growing in importance. The great Nova Scotia railway skirts the margin of
+its storied waters, and already suburban villas for Haligonian
+Sparrowgrasses, are being erected upon its banks.
+
+I was much amused one morning, upon opening one of the Halifax papers, to
+find in its columns a most warm and hearty invitation from the editor to
+her majesty, Queen Victoria, soliciting her to visit the province, which,
+according to the editorial phraseology, would be, no doubt, as interesting
+as it was endeared to her, as the former residence of her gracious father,
+the Duke of Kent.
+
+In the year 1798, just twenty years before her present majesty was born,
+the young Prince Edward was appointed Commander-in-Chief of the forces in
+British North America. Loyalty, then as now, was rampant in Nova Scotia,
+and upon the arrival of his Royal Highness, among other marks of
+compliment, an adjacent island, that at present rejoices in a governor and
+parliament of its own, was re-christened with the name it now bears,
+namely--Prince Edward's Island. But I am afraid Prince Edward was a sad
+reprobate in those days--at least, such is the record of tradition.
+
+The article in the newspaper reminded me that somewhere upon Bedford Basin
+were the remains of the "Prince's Lodge;" so one afternoon, accompanied by
+a dear old friend, I paid this royal bower by Bendemeer's stream, a visit.
+Rattling through the unpaved streets of Halifax in a one horse vehicle,
+called, for obvious reasons, a "jumper," we were soon on the high-road
+towards the basin. Water of the intensest blue--hill-slopes, now
+cultivated, and anon patched with evergreens that look as black as squares
+upon a chess board, between the open, broken grounds--a fine road--a
+summer sky--an atmosphere spicy with whiffs of resinous odors, and no
+fog,--these are the features of our ride. Yonder is a red building,
+reflected in the water like the prison of Chillon, where some of our
+citizens were imprisoned during the war of 1812--ship captives doubtless!
+And here is the customary little English inn, where we stop our steed to
+let him cool, while the stout landlord, girt with a clean white apron,
+brings out to his thirsty travellers a brace of foaming, creamy glasses of
+"right h'English h'ale." Then remounting the jumper, we skirt the edge of
+the basin again, until a stately dome rises up before us on the road,
+which, as we approach, we see is supported by columns, and based upon a
+gentle promontory overhanging the water. This is the "Music House," where
+the Prince's band were wont to play in days "lang syne." Here we stop, and
+leaving our jumper in charge of a farmer, stroll over the grounds.
+
+That peculiar arrangement of lofty trees, sweeping lawns, and graceful
+management of water, which forms the prevailing feature of English
+landscape gardening, was at once apparent. Although there were no trim
+walks, green hedges, or beds of flowers; although the whole place was
+ruined and neglected, yet the magic touch of art was not less visible to
+the practised eye. The art that concealed art, seemed to lend a charm to
+the sweet seclusion, without intruding upon or disturbing the intentions
+of nature.
+
+Proceeding up the gentle slope that led from the gate, a number of
+columbines and rose-bushes scattered in wild profusion, indicated where
+once had been the Prince's garden. These, although now in bloom and
+teeming with flowers, have a vagrant, neglected air, like beauties that
+had ran astray, never to be reclaimed. A little further we come upon the
+ruins of a spacious mansion, and beyond these the remains of the library,
+with its tumbled-down bricks and timbers, choking up the stream that wound
+through the vice-regal domains: and here the bowling-green, yet fresh with
+verdure; here the fishing pavilion, leaning over an artificial lake, with
+an artificial island in the midst; and here are willows, and deciduous
+trees, planted by the Prince; and other rose-bushes and columbines
+scattered in wild profusion. I could not but admire the elegance and
+grace, which, even now, were so apparent, amid the ruins of the lodge, nor
+could I help recalling those earlier days, when the red-coats clustered
+around the gates, and the grounds were sparkling with lamps at night; when
+the band from the music-house woke the echoes with the clash of martial
+instruments, and the young Prince, with his gay gallants, and his
+powdered, patched, and painted Jezebels, held his brilliant court, with
+banner, music, and flotilla; with the array of soldiery, and the pageantry
+of ships-of-war, on Bedford Basin.
+
+I stood by the ruins of a little stone bridge, which had once spanned the
+sparkling brook, and led to the Prince's library; I saw, far and near, the
+flaunting flowers of the now abandoned garden, and the distant columns of
+the silent music house, and I felt sad amid the desolation, although I
+knew not why. For wherefore should any one feel sad to see the temples of
+dissipation laid in the dust? For my own part, I am a poor casuist, but
+nevertheless, I do not think my conscience will suffer from this feeling.
+There is a touch of humanity in it, and always some germ of sympathy will
+bourgeon and bloom around the once populous abodes of men, whether they
+were tenanted by the pure or by the impure.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVI.
+
+The Last Night--Farewell Hotel Waverley--Friends Old and New--What
+followed the Marriage of La Tour le Borgne--Invasion of Col. Church.
+
+
+Faint nebulous spots in the air, little red disks in a halo of fog,
+acquaint us that there are gas-lights this night in the streets of
+Halifax. Something new, I take it, this illumination? Carbonated hydrogen
+is a novelty as yet in Chebucto. But in this soft and pleasant atmosphere,
+I cannot but feel some regret at leaving my old quarters in the Hotel
+Waverley. If I feel how much there is to welcome me elsewhere, yet I do
+not forsake this queer old city--these strange, dingy, weather-beaten
+streets, without reluctance; and chiefly I feel that now I must separate
+from some old friends, and from some new ones too, whom I can ill spare.
+And if any of these should ever read this little book, I trust they will
+not think the less of me because of it. If the salient features of the
+province have sometimes appeared to me, a stranger, a trifle distorted,
+it may be that my own stand-point is defective. And so farewell! To-morrow
+I shall draw nearer homeward, by Windsor and the shores of the Gasperau,
+by Grand-Pre and the Basin of Minas. Candles, Henry! and books!
+
+The marriage of La Tour to the widow of his deceased rival, for a time
+enabled that brave young adventurer to remain in quiet possession of the
+territory. But to the Catholic Court of France, a suspected although not
+an avowed Protestant, in commission, was an object of distrust. No matter
+what might have been his former services, indeed, his defence of Cape
+Sable had saved the French possessions from the encroachments of the
+Sterling patent, yet he was heretic to the true faith, and therefore
+defenceless in an important point against the attacks of an enemy. Such a
+one was La Tour le Borgne, who professed to be a creditor of D'Aulney, and
+pressing his suit with all the ardor of bigotry and rapacity, easily
+succeeded in "obtaining a decree by which he was authorized to enter upon
+the possessions of his _deceased debtor_!" But the adherents of Charles
+Etienne did not readily yield to the new adventurer. They had tasted the
+sweets of religious liberty, and were not disposed to come within the
+arbitrary yoke without a struggle. Disregarding the "decree," they stood
+out manfully against the forces of Le Borgne. Again were Catholic French
+and Protestant French cannon pointed against each other in unhappy Acadia.
+But fort after fort fell beneath the new claimant's superior artillery,
+until La Tour le Borgne himself was met by a counter-force of bigotry,
+before which his own was as chaff to the fanning-mill. The man of England,
+Oliver Cromwell, had his little claim, too, in Acadia. Against his forces
+both the French commanders made but ineffectual resistance. Acadia for the
+third time fell into the hands of the English.
+
+Now in the history of the world there is nothing more patent than this:
+that persecution in the name of religion, is only a ring of calamities,
+which ends sooner or later where it began. And this portion of its history
+can be cited as an example. Charles Etienne de la Tour, alienated by the
+unjust treatment of his countrymen, decided to accept the protection of
+his national enemy. As the heir of Sir Claude de la Tour, he laid claim to
+the Sterling grants (which it will be remembered had been ceded to his
+father by Sir William Alexander after the unsuccessful attack upon Cape
+Sable,) and in conjunction with two English Puritans obtained a new patent
+for Acadia from the Protector, under the great seal, with the title of Sir
+Charles La Tour. Then Sir Thomas Temple (one of the partners in the
+Cromwell patent) purchased the interest of Charles Etienne in Acadia. Then
+came the restoration, and again Acadia was restored to France by Charles
+II. in 1668. But Sir Thomas having embarked all his fortune in the
+enterprise, was not disposed to submit to the arbitrary disposal of his
+property by this treaty; and therefore endeavored to evade its articles by
+making a distinction between such parts of the province as were supposed
+to constitute Acadia proper, and the other portions of the territory
+comprehended under the title of Nova Scotia. "This distinction being
+deemed frivolous," Sir Thomas was ordered to obey the letter of the
+treaty, and accordingly the _whole of Nova Scotia_ was delivered up to the
+Chevalier de Grande Fontaine. During twenty years succeeding this event,
+Acadia enjoyed comparative repose, subject only to occasional visits of
+filibusters. At the expiration of that time, a more serious invasion was
+meditated. Under the command of Sir William Phipps, a native of New
+England, three ships, with transports and soldiers, appeared before Port
+Royal, and demanded an unconditional surrender. Although the fort was
+poorly garrisoned, this was refused by Manivel, the French governor, but
+finally terms of capitulation were agreed upon: these were, that the
+French troops should be allowed to retain their arms and baggage, and be
+carried to Quebec; that the inhabitants should be maintained in the
+peaceable possession of their property, and in the exercise of their
+religion; and that the honor of the women should be observed. Sir William
+agreed to the conditions, but declined signing the articles, pompously
+intimating that the "word of a general was a better security than any
+document whatever." The French governor, deceived by this specious parade
+of language, took the New England filibuster at his word, and formally
+surrendered the keys of the fortress, according to the verbal contract.
+Again was poor Acadia the victim of her perfidious enemy. Sir William,
+disregarding the terms of the capitulation, and the "word of a general,"
+violated the articles he had pledged his honor to maintain, disarmed and
+imprisoned the soldiers, sacked the churches, and gave the place up to all
+the ruthless cruelties and violences of a general pillage. Not only this,
+the too credulous Governor, Manivel, was himself imprisoned, plundered of
+money and clothes, and carried off on board the conqueror's frigate, with
+many of his unfortunate companions, to view the further spoliations of his
+countrymen. Many a peaceful Acadian village expired in flames during that
+coasting expedition, and to add to the miseries of the defenceless
+Acadians, two _piratical_ vessels followed in the wake of the pious Sir
+William, and set fire to the houses, slaughtered the cattle, hanged the
+inhabitants, and deliberately burned up one whole family, whom they had
+shut in a dwelling-house for that purpose.
+
+Soon after this, Sir William was rewarded with the governorship of New
+England, as Argall had been with that of Virginia, nearly a century
+before.
+
+Now let it be remembered that in these expeditions, very little, if any,
+attempt was made by the invaders to colonize or reside on the lands they
+were so ready to lay waste and destroy. The mind of the species "Puritan,"
+by rigid discipline hardened against all frivolous amusements, and
+insensible to the charms of the drama, and the splendors of the mimic
+spectacle, with its hollow shows of buckram, tinsel, and pasteboard, seems
+to have been peculiarly fitted to enjoy these more substantial
+enterprises, which, owing to the defenceless condition of the French
+province, must have appeared to the rigid Dudleys and Endicotts merely as
+a series of light and elegant pastimes.
+
+Scarcely had Sir William Phipps returned to Boston, when the Chevalier
+Villabon came from France with troops and implements of war. On his
+arrival, he found the British flag flying at Port Royal, unsupported by
+an English garrison. It was immediately lowered from the flag-staff, the
+white flag of Louis substituted, and once more Acadia was under the
+dominion of her parental government.
+
+Villabon, in a series of petty skirmishes, soon recovered the rest of the
+territory, which was only occupied at a few points by feeble New England
+garrisons, and, in conjunction with a force of Abenaqui Indians, laid
+siege to the fort at Pemaquid, on the Penobscot, and captured it. In this
+affair, as we have seen, the famous Baron Castine was engaged.
+
+The capture of the fort at Pemaquid, led to a train of reprisals,
+conspicuous in which was an actor in the theatre of events who heretofore
+had not appeared upon the Acadian stage. This was Col. Church, a
+celebrated bushwhacker and Indian-fighter, of memorable account in the
+King Philip war.
+
+In order to estimate truly the condition of the respective parties, we
+must remember the severe iron and gunpowder nature of the Puritan of New
+England, his prejudices, his dyspepsia; his high-peaked hat and ruff; his
+troublesome conscience and catarrh; his natural antipathies to Papists and
+Indians, from having been scalped by one, and roasted by both; his
+English insolence; and his religious bias, at once tyrannic and
+territorial.
+
+Then, on the other, we must call to view the simple Acadian peasant,
+Papist or Protestant, just as it happened; ignorant of the great events of
+the world; a mere offshoot of rural Normandy; without a thought of other
+possessions than those he might reclaim from the sea by his dykes;
+credulous, pure-minded, patient of injuries; that like the swallow in the
+spring, thrice built the nest, and when again it was destroyed,
+
+      ----"found the ruin wrought,
+    But, not cast down, forth from the place it flew,
+    And with its mate fresh earth and grasses brought,
+      And built the nest anew."
+
+Against such people, the expedition of Col. Church, fresh from the
+slaughter of Pequod wars, bent its merciless energies. Regardless of the
+facts that the people were non-resistants; that the expeditions of the
+French had been only feeble retaliations of great injuries; and always by
+levies from the mother country, and not from the colonists; that Villabon,
+at the capture of Pemaquid, had generously saved the lives of the soldiers
+in the garrison from the fury of the Mic-Macs, who had just grounds of
+retribution for the massacres which had marked the former inroads of
+these ruthless invaders; the wrath of the Pilgrim Fathers fell upon the
+unfortunate Acadians as though they had been a nation of Sepoys.[D]
+
+[D] One incident will suffice to show the character of these forays. A
+small island on Passamaquoddy Bay was invaded by the forces under Col.
+Church, at night. The inhabitants made no resistance. All gave up;
+"but," says Church in his dispatch to the governor, "looking over a
+little run, I saw something look black just by me: stopped and heard a
+talking; stepped over and saw a little hut, or wigwam, with a crowd of
+people round about it, which was contrary to my former directions. I
+asked them what they were doing? They replied, 'there were some of the
+enemy in a house, and would not come out.' I asked what house? They
+said, 'a bark house' I hastily bid them pull it down, _and knock them on
+the head, never asking whether they were French or Indians, they being
+all enemies alike to me_." Such was the merciless character of these
+early expeditions to peaceful Acadia.
+
+    "Herod of Galilee's babe-butchering deed
+      Lives not on history's blushing page alone;
+    Our skies, it seems, have seen like victims bleed,
+      And our own Ramahs echoed groan for groan;
+    The fiends of France, whose cruelties decreed
+      Those dexterous drownings in the Loire and Rhone,
+    Were, at their worst, but copyists, second-hand,
+    Of our shrined, sainted sires, the Plymouth Pilgrim band."
+
+
+
+One of the severest cruelties practised upon these inoffensive people, was
+that of requiring them to betray their friends, the Indians, under the
+heaviest penalties. In Acadia, the red and the white man were as brothers;
+no treachery, no broken faith, no over-reaching policy had severed the
+slightest fibre of good fellowship on either side. But the Abenaqui race
+was a warlike people. At the first invasion, under Argall, the red man had
+seen with surprise a mere handful of white men disputing for a territory
+to which neither could offer a claim; so vast as to make either occupation
+or control by the adventurers ridiculous; and therefore, with good-natured
+zeal, he had hastened to put an end to the quarrel, as though the white
+people had only been fractious but not irreconcilable kinsmen. But as the
+power of New England advanced more and more in Acadia, the first generous
+desire of the red man had merged into suspicion, and finally hatred of the
+peaked hat and ruff of Plymouth. In all his dealings with the Acadians,
+the Indian had found only unimpeachable faith and honor; but with the
+colonist of Massachusetts, there had been nothing but over-reaching and
+treachery: intercourse with the first had not led to a scratch, or a
+single drop of blood; while on the other hand a bounty of "one hundred
+pounds was offered for each male of their tribe if over twelve years of
+age, if scalped; one hundred and five pounds if taken prisoner; fifty
+pounds for each _woman and child scalped_, and fifty pounds when brought
+in alive."
+
+The Abenaqui tribes therefore, first, to avenge the injuries of their
+unresisting friends, the Acadians, and after to avenge their own, waged
+war upon the invaders with all the severities of an aggrieved and
+barbarous people. And, as I have said before, the severest cruelty
+inflicted upon the Acadian colonist, was to oblige him to betray his best
+friend and protector, the painted heathen, with whom he struck hands and
+plighted faith. To the honor of these colonists, be it said, that although
+they saw their long years' labor of dykes broken down, the sea sweeping
+over their farms, the fire rolling about their homesteads, their cattle
+and sheep destroyed, their effects plundered, and wanton and nameless
+outrages committed by the English and Yankee soldiery, yet in no instance
+did they purchase indemnity from these, by betraying a single Indian.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVII.
+
+A few more Threads of History--Acadia again lost--The Oath of
+Allegiance--Settlement of Halifax--The brave Three Hundred--Massacre at
+Norridgewoack--Le Pere Ralle.
+
+
+During the invasion of Col. Church, the inhabitants of Grand-Pre were
+exposed to such treatment as may be conceived of. The smoke from the
+borders of the five rivers, overlooked by Blomidon, rose in the stilly
+air, and again the sea rolled past the broken dykes, which for nearly a
+century had kept out its desolating waters between the Cape and the
+Gasperau. Driven to despair, a few of the younger Acadians took up arms to
+defend their hearthstones, but the great body of the people submitted
+without resistance. A brief stand was made at Port Royal, but this last
+outpost finally capitulated. By the terms of the articles agreed upon, the
+inhabitants were to have the privilege of remaining upon their estates for
+two years, upon taking an oath of allegiance to remain faithful to her
+majesty, Queen Anne, during that period. Upon that consideration, those
+who lived _within cannon-shot_ of the fort, were to be protected in their
+rights and properties. This was but a piece of _finesse_ on the part of
+the invaders, an entering wedge, as it were, of a novel kind of tyranny,
+namely, that inasmuch as those within cannon-shot had taken the oath of
+allegiance, those without the reach of artillery, at Port Royal, also,
+were bound to do the same. And a strong detachment of New England troops,
+under Captain Pigeon, was sent upon an expedition to enforce the arbitrary
+oath. But Captain Pigeon, in the pursuit of his duty, fell in with an
+enemy of a less gentle nature than the Acadians. A body of Abenaqui came
+down upon him and his men, and smote them hip and thigh, even as the three
+hundred warriors of Israel smote the Midianites in the valley of Moreh.
+Then was there temporary relief in the land until the year 1713, when by a
+treaty Acadia was formally surrendered to England. The weight of the oath
+of allegiance now fell heavily upon the innocent colonists. We can
+scarcely appreciate the abhorrence of a people, so conscientious as this,
+to take an oath of fidelity to a race that had only been known to them by
+its rapacity. But partly by persuasion, partly by menace, a majority of
+the Acadians took the oath, which was as follows:
+
+"_Je promets et jure sincerement, en foi de Chretien, que je serai
+entierement fidele et obeirai vraiment sa Majeste le roi George, que je
+reconnaias pour le Souverain seigneur de l'Acadie, ou Nouvelle Ecosse,
+ainsi Dieu me soit en aide_."
+
+Under the shadow of the protection derived from their acceptance of this
+oath, the Acadians reposed a few years. It did not oblige them to bear
+arms against their countrymen, nor did it compromise their religious
+independence of faith. Again the dykes were built to resist the
+encroachments of the sea; again village after village arose--at the mouth
+of the Gasperau, on the shores of the Canard, beside the Strait of
+Frontenac, at Le Have, and Rossignol, at Port Royal and Pisiquid. During
+all these years no attempt had been made by the captors of this province,
+to colonize the places baptized with the waters of Puritan progress.
+Lunenburgh was settled with King William's Dutchmen; the walls of
+Louisburgh were rising in one of the harbors of a neighboring island; but
+in no instance had the filibusters projected a _colony_ on the soil which
+had been wrested from its rightful owners. The only result of all their
+bloody visitations upon a non-resisting people, had been to make
+defenceless Acadia a neutral province. From this time until the close of
+the drama, in all the wars between the Georges and the Louises, in both
+hemispheres, the people of Acadia went by the name of "The Neutral
+French."
+
+Meantime the walls of Louisburgh were rising on the island of Cape Breton,
+which, with Canada, still remained under the sovereign rule of the French.
+The Acadians were invited to remove within the protection of this
+formidable fortress, but they preferred remaining intrenched behind their
+dykes, firmly believing that the only invader they had now to dread was
+the sea, inasmuch as they had accepted the oath of fidelity, in which, and
+in their inoffensive pursuits, they imagined themselves secure from
+farther molestation. Some of their Indian neighbors, however, accepted the
+invitation of the Cape Breton French, and removed thither. These simple
+savages, notwithstanding the changes in the government, still regarded the
+Acadians as friends, and the English as enemies. They could not comprehend
+the nature of a treaty by which their own lands were ceded to a hostile
+force; a treaty in which they were neither consulted nor considered.[E]
+They had their own injuries to remember, which in no wise had been
+balanced in the compact of the strangers. The rulers in New France (so
+says the chronicler) "affected to consider the Indians as an independent
+people." At Canseau, at Cape Sable, at Annapolis, and Passamaquoddy,
+English forts, fishing stations, and vessels were attacked and destroyed
+by the savages with all the circumstances that make up the hideous
+features of barbaric reprisal. Unhappy Acadia came in for her share of
+condemnation. Although her innocent people had no part in these
+transactions, yet her missionaries had converted the Abenaqui to faith in
+the symbol of the crucifixion, and it was currently reported and credited
+in New England, that they had taught the savages to believe also the
+English were the people who had crucified our Saviour. To complicate
+matters again, the Chevalier de St. George (of whom there is no
+recollection except that he was anonymous, both as a prince, and as a man)
+sent his son, the fifth remove in stupidity, of the most stupid line of
+monarchs (not even excepting the Georges) that ever wore crowns, to stir
+up an insurrection among the most obtuse race of people that ever wore, or
+went without, breeches. A war between France and England followed the
+descent of the Pretender. A war naturally followed in the Colonies.
+
+[E] In the treaty of Utrecht, no mention was made either of the Indians
+or of their lands.
+
+Again the ring of fire and slaughter met and ended in a treaty; the treaty
+of Aix la Chapelle, by which Cape Breton was ceded to France, and Nova
+Scotia, or Acadia, to England. Up to this time no attempt at colonizing
+the fertile valleys of Acadia, by its captors, had been attempted. At
+last, under large and favorable grants from the Crown, a colony was
+established by the Hon. Edward Cornwallis, at a place now known as
+Halifax. No sooner was Halifax settled, than sundry tribes of red men made
+predatory visits to the borders of the new colony. Reprisals followed
+reprisals, and it is not easy to say on which side lay the largest amount
+of savage fury. At the same time, the Acadians remained true to the spirit
+and letter of the oath they had taken. "They had relapsed," says the
+chronicler, "into a sort of sullen neutrality." This was considered just
+cause of offence. The oath which had satisfied Governor Phipps, did not
+satisfy George II. A new oath of allegiance was tendered, by which the
+Acadians were required to become loyal subjects of the English Crown, to
+bear arms against their countrymen, and the Indians to whom the poor
+colonists were bound by so many ties of obligation and affection. The
+consciences of these simple people revolted at a requisition "so repugnant
+to the feelings of human nature." Three hundred of the younger and braver
+Acadians took up arms against their oppressors. This overt act was just
+what was desired by the wily Puritans. Acadia, with its twenty thousand
+inhabitants, was placed under the ban of having violated the oath of
+neutrality in the persons of the three hundred. In vain the great body of
+the people protested that this act was contrary to their wishes, their
+peaceful habits, and beyond their control. At the fort of Beau Sejour, the
+brave three hundred made a gallant stand, but were defeated. Would there
+had been a Leonidas among them! Would that the whole of their kinsmen had
+erected forts instead of dykes, and dropped the plough-handles to press
+the edge of the sabre against the grindstone! Sad indeed is the fate of
+that people who make any terms with such an enemy, except such as may be
+granted at the bayonet's point. Sad indeed is the condition of that people
+who are wrapt in security when Persecution steals in upon them, hiding its
+bloody hands under the garments of sanctity.
+
+Among the many incidents of these cruel wars, the fate of a Jesuit priest
+may stand as a type of the rest. Le Pere Ralle had been a missionary for
+forty years among the various tribes of the Abenaqui. "His literary
+attainments were of a high order;" his knowledge of modern languages
+respectable; "his Latin," according to Haliburton, "was pure, classical
+and elegant;" and he was master of several of the Abenaqui dialects;
+indeed, a manuscript dictionary of the Abenaqui languages, in his
+handwriting, is still preserved in the library of the Harvard University.
+Of one of these tribes--the Norridgewoacks--Father Ralle was the pastor.
+Its little village was on the banks of the Kennebeck; the roof of its tiny
+chapel rose above the pointed wigwams of the savages; and a huge cross,
+the emblem of peace, lifted itself above all, the conspicuous feature of
+the settlement in the distance. By the tribe over which he had exercised
+his gentle rule for so many years, Le Pere Ralle was regarded with
+superstitious reverence and affection.
+
+It does not appear that these people had been accused of any overt acts;
+but, nevertheless, the village was marked out for destruction. Two hundred
+and eight Massachusetts men were dispatched upon this errand. The
+settlement was surprised at night, and a terrible scene of slaughter
+ensued. Ralle came forth from his chapel to save, if possible, the lives
+of his miserable parishioners. "As soon as he was seen," says the
+chronicler,[F] "he was saluted with a great shout and a shower of bullets,
+and fell, together with seven Indians, who had rushed out of their tents
+to defend him with their bodies; and when the pursuit ceased, the Indians
+who had fled, returned to weep over their beloved missionary, and found
+him dead at the foot of the cross, his body perforated with balls, his
+head scalped, his skull broken with blows of hatchets, his mouth and eyes
+filled with mud, the bones of his legs broken, and his limbs dreadfully
+mangled. After having bathed his remains with their tears, they buried him
+on the site of the chapel, that had been hewn down with its crucifix, with
+whatever else remained of the emblems of idolatry." Such was the merciless
+character of the invasion of Acadia; such the looming phantom of the
+greater crime which was so speedily to spread ruin over her fair valleys,
+and scatter forever her pastoral people.
+
+[F] Charlevoix.
+
+The tranquillity of entire subjugation followed these events in the
+province. The New Englander built his menacing forts along the rivers, and
+pressed into his service the labors of the neutral French. "The
+requisitions which were made of them were not calculated to conciliate
+affection," says the chronicler; the poor Acadian peasant was informed, if
+he did not supply the garrison fuel, his own house would be used for that
+purpose, and that neglect to furnish timber for the repairs of a fort,
+would be followed by drum-head courts martial, and "military execution."
+
+To all these exactions, these unhappy people patiently submitted. But in
+vain. The very existence of the subjugated race had become irksome to
+their oppressors. A cruelty yet more intolerable to which the history of
+the world affords no parallel, remained to be perpetrated.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVIII.
+
+On the road to Windsor--The great Nova Scotia Railway--A Fellow
+Passenger--Cape Sable Shipwrecks--Seals--Ponies--Windsor--Sam Slick--A
+lively Example.
+
+
+A dewy, spring-like morning is all I remembered of my farewell to Halifax.
+A very sweet and odorous air as I rode towards the railway station in the
+funereal cab; a morning without fog, a sparkling freshness that twinkled
+in the leaves and crisped the waters.
+
+So I take leave of thee, quaint old city of Chebucto. The words of a
+familiar ditty, the memory of the unfortunate Miss Bailey, rises upon me
+as the morning bugle sounds--
+
+    "A captain bold in Halifax, who lived in country quarters,
+    Seduced a maid, who hung herself next morning in her garters;
+    His wicked conscience smoted him, he lost his spirits daily,
+    He took to drinking ratifia, and thought upon Miss Bailey."
+
+While the psychological features of the case were puzzling his brain and
+keeping him wide awake--
+
+    "The candles blue, at XII. o'clock, began to burn quite paley,
+    A ghost appeared at his bedside, and said--
+                                      behold, Miss Bailey!!!"
+
+Even such a sprite, so dead in look, so woe-begone, drew Priam's curtain
+in the dead of night to tell him half his Troy was burned; but this visit
+was for a different purpose, as we find by the words which the gallant
+Lothario addressed to his victim:
+
+    "'You'll find,' says he, 'a five-pound note in my regimental
+            small-clothes;
+    'T will bribe the sexton for your grave,' the ghost then vanished
+            gaily,
+    Saying, 'God bless you, wicked Captain Smith, although you've
+            ruined Miss Bailey.'"
+
+There is no end to these legends; the whole province is full of them. The
+Province Building is stuffed with rich historical manuscripts, that only
+wait for the antiquarian explorer.[G]
+
+[G] Since my visit this work has actually commenced. At the close of the
+legislative session of 1857, the Hon. Joseph Howe moved, and the Hon.
+Attorney-General seconded, and the House, after some demur, resolved,
+that his Excellency be requested to appoint a commission for examining
+and arranging the records of the Province. Dining the recess the office
+was instituted, and Thomas B. Akins, Esq., a gentleman distinguished for
+antiquarian taste and research, was appointed commissioner. It was known
+that in the garrets or cellars of the Province Building were heaps of
+manuscript records, of various kinds; but their exact nature and value
+were only surmised. Some of these had vanished, it is said, by the
+agency of rats and mice; and moth and mold were doing their work on
+other portions. To stay the waste, to ascertain what the heaps
+contained, and to arrange documents at all worthy of preservation, the
+commission was appointed. Mr. Akins has been for some months at the
+superintendence of the work, helped by a very industrious assistant, Mr.
+James Farquhar. Very pleasing results indeed have been realized. Several
+boxes of documents, arranged and labelled, have been packed, and fifteen
+or twenty volumes of interesting manuscripts have been prepared. Some of
+these are of great interest, relative to the history of the Province,
+and of British America generally, being original papers concerning the
+conquest and settling of the Provinces, and having reference to the
+Acadian French, the Indians, the taking of Louisburgh, of Quebec, and
+other matters of historic importance connected with the suppression of
+French dominion in America. We understand some of these documents prove,
+as many previously believed, that what appeared to be a stern necessity,
+and not wanton oppression or tyranny, caused the painful dispersion of
+the former French inhabitants of the more poetic and pastoral parts of
+Acadia. If this be so, some excellent sentiment and eloquent romance
+will have to be taken with considerable modification. A few of the most
+indignant bursts (?) in Longfellow's fine poem of "Evangeline" may be in
+this predicament; and may have to be read, not exactly as so much
+gospel, but rather as rhetorical extremes, unsubstantial, but too
+elegant to be altogether discarded. In volumes alluded to, of the record
+commission, the dispatches, and letters, and other documents of a former
+age, and in the handwriting, or from the immediate dictation, of eminent
+personages, will present very attractive material for those who find
+deep interest in such venerable inquiries; who obtain from this kind of
+lore a charming renewal of the past, a clearing up of local history, and
+an almost face-to-face conference with persons whose names are landmarks
+of national annals. The commission not only examines and arranges, but
+forms copious characteristic "contents" of the volumes, and an index for
+easy reference; it also keeps a journal of each day's proceedings. The
+"contents" tell the nature and topics of each document, and will thus
+facilitate research, and prevent much injurious turning over of the
+manuscripts. The work, too long delayed, has been happily commenced. Its
+neglect was felt to be a fault and a reproach, and serious loss was
+known to impend; but still it was put off, and spoken lightly of, and
+sneered at, and a very mistaken economy pretended, until last
+legislative session, when it was adopted by accident apparently, and is
+now in successful operation. The next questions are, how will the
+arranged documents be preserved? who will have them in charge? will they
+be allowed to be scattered about in the hands of privileged persons, to
+be lost wholesale? or will they, as they should, be sacredly conserved,
+a store to which all shall have a common but well-guarded light of
+access and research.--_Halifax Sun_, _Dec. 9, 1857_.
+
+But now we approach the station of the great Nova Scotia Railway, nine and
+three-quarter miles in length, that skirts the margin of Bedford Basin,
+and ends at the head of that blue sheet of water in the village of
+Sackville. It is amusing to see the gravity and importance of the
+conductor, in uniform frock-coat and with crown and V. R. buttons, as he
+paces up and down the platform before starting; and the quiet dignity of
+the sixpenny ticket-office; and the busy air of the freight-master,
+checking off boxes and bundles for the distant terminus--so distant that
+it can barely be distinguished by the naked eye. But it was a pleasant
+ride, that by the Basin! Not less pleasant because of the company of an
+old friend, who, with wife and children, went with me to the end of the
+iron road. Arrived there, we parted, with many a hearty hand-shake, and
+thence by stage to Windsor, on the river Avon, forty-five miles or so west
+of Halifax.
+
+My fellow-passenger on the stage-top was a pony! Yes, a real pony! not
+bigger, however, than a good sized pointer dog, although his head was of
+most preposterous horse-like length. This equine Tom Thumb, was one of the
+mustangs, or wild horses of Sable Island, some little account of which
+here may not be uninteresting. But first let me say, in order not to tax
+the credulity of my reader too much, that pony did not stand upright upon
+the roof of the coach, as may have been surmised, but was very cleverly
+laid upon his side, with his four legs strapped in the form of a saw-buck,
+precisely as butchers tie the legs of calves or of sheep together, for
+transportation in carts to the shambles, only pony's fetters were not so
+cruel--indeed he seemed to be quite at his ease--like the member of the
+foreign legion on the road to Dartmouth.
+
+Now then, pony's birth-place is one of the most interesting upon our
+coast. Do you remember it, my transatlantic traveller? The little yellow
+spot that greets you so far out at sea, and bids you welcome to the
+western hemisphere? I hope you have seen it in fine weather; many a goodly
+ship has left her bones upon that yellow island in less auspicious
+seasons. The first of these misadventurers was Sir Humphrey Gilbert, who
+was lost in a storm close by; the memorable words with which he hailed his
+consort are now familiar to every reader: "Heaven," said he, "is as near
+by sea as by land," and so bade the world farewell in the tempest. Legends
+of wrecks of buccaneers, of spectres, multiply as we penetrate into the
+mysterious history of the yellow island. And its present aspect is
+sufficiently tempting to the adventurous, for whom--
+
+    "If danger other charms have none,
+    Then danger's self is lure alone."
+
+The following description, from a lecture delivered in Halifax, by Dr. J.
+Bernard Gilpin, will commend itself to our modern Robinson Crusoes:
+
+"Should any one be visiting the island now, he might see, about ten miles'
+distance, looking seaward, half a dozen low, dark hummocks on the horizon.
+As he approaches, they gradually resolve themselves into hills fringed by
+breakers, and by and by the white sea beach with its continued surf--the
+sand-hills, part naked, part waving in grass of the deepest green, unfold
+themselves--a house and a barn dot the western extremity--here and there
+along the wild beach lie the ribs of unlucky traders half-buried in the
+shifting sand. By this time a red ensign is waving at its peak, and from a
+tall flag-staff and crow's nest erected upon the highest hill midway of
+the island, an answering flag is waving to the wind. Before the anchor is
+let go, and the cutter is rounding to in five fathoms of water, men and
+horses begin to dot the beach, a life-boat is drawn rapidly on a boat-cart
+to the beach, manned, and fairly breasting the breakers upon the bar. It
+may have been three long winter months that this boat's crew have had no
+tidings of the world, or they may have three hundred emigrants and wrecked
+crews, waiting to be carried off. The hurried greetings over, news told
+and newspapers and letters given, the visitor prepares to return with them
+to the island. Should it be evening, he will see the cutter already under
+weigh and standing seaward; but, should it be fine weather, plenty of
+day, and wind right off the shore, even then she lies to the wind anchor
+apeak, and mainsail hoisted, ready to run at a moment's notice, so sudden
+are the shifts of wind, and so hard to claw off from those treacherous
+shores. But the life-boat is now entering the perpetual fringe of surf--a
+few seals tumble and play in the broken waters, and the stranger draws his
+breath hard, as the crew bend to their oars, the helmsman standing high in
+the pointed stern, with loud command and powerful arm keeping her true,
+the great boat goes riding on the back of a huge wave, and is carried high
+up on the beach in a mass of struggling water. To spring from their seats
+into the water, and hold hard the boat, now on the point of being swept
+back by the receding wave, is the work of an instant. Another moment they
+are left high and dry on the beach, another, and the returning wave and a
+vigorous run of the crew has borne her out of all harm's way.
+
+"Such is the ceremony of landing at Sable Island nine or ten months out of
+the year: though there are at times some sweet halcyon days when a lad
+might land in a flat. Dry-shod the visitor picks his way between the
+thoroughly drenched crew, picks up a huge scallop or two, admires the
+tumbling play of the round-headed seals, and plods his way through the
+deep sand of an opening between the hills, or gulch (so called) to the
+head-quarters establishment. And here, for the last fifty years, a kind
+welcome has awaited all, be they voluntary idlers or sea-wrecked men.
+Screened by the sand-hills, here is a well-stocked barn and barnyard,
+filled with its ordinary inhabitants, sleek milch cows and heady bulls,
+lazy swine, a horse grazing at a tether, with geese and ducks and fowls
+around. Two or three large stores and boat-houses, quarters for the men,
+the Superintendent's house, blacksmith shop, sailors' home for sea-wrecked
+men, and oil-house, stand around an irregular square, and surmounted by
+the tall flag-staff and crow's nest on the neighboring hill. So abrupt the
+contrast, so snug the scene, if the roar of the ocean were out of his
+ears, one might fancy himself twenty miles inland.
+
+"Nearly the first thing the visitor does is to mount the flag-staff, and
+climbing into the crow's nest, scan the scene. The ocean bounds him
+everywhere. Spread east and west, he views the narrow island in form of a
+bow, as if the great Atlantic waves had bent it around, nowhere much above
+a mile wide, twenty-six miles long, including the dry bars, and holding a
+shallow late thirteen miles long in its centre.
+
+"There it all lies spread like a map at his feet--grassy hill and sandy
+valley fading away into the distance. On the foreground the outpost men
+galloping their rough ponies into head-quarters, recalled by the flag
+flying above his head; the West-end house of refuge, with bread and
+matches, firewood and kettle, and directions to find water, and
+head-quarters with flag-staff on the adjoining hill. Every sandy peak or
+grassy knoll with a dead man's name or old ship's tradition--Baker's Hill,
+Trott's Cove, Scotchman's Head, French Gardens--traditionary spot where
+the poor convicts expiated their social crimes--the little burial-ground
+nestling in the long grass of a high hill, and consecrated to the repose
+of many a sea-tossed limb; and two or three miles down the shallow lake,
+the South-side house and barn, and staff and boats lying on the lake
+beside the door. Nine miles further down, by the help of a glass, he may
+view the flag-staff at the foot of the lake, and five miles further the
+East-end look-out, with its staff and watch-house. Herds of wild ponies
+dot the hills, and black duck and sheldrakes are heading their young
+broods on the mirror-like ponds. Seals innumerable are basking on the
+warm sands, or piled like ledges of rock along the shores. The Glascow's
+bow, the Maskonemet's stern, the East Boston's hulk, and the grinning ribs
+of the well-fastened Guide are spotting the sands, each with its tale of
+last adventure, hardships passed, and toil endured. The whole picture is
+set in a silver-frosted frame of rolling surf and sea-ribbed sand."
+
+
+The patrol duty of the hardy islander is thus described:
+
+"Mounted upon his hardy pony, the solitary patrol starts upon his lonely
+way. He rides up the centre valleys, ever and anon mounting a grassy hill
+to look seaward, reaches the West-end bar, speculates upon perchance a
+broken spar, an empty bottle, or a cask of beef struggling in the
+land-wash--now fords the shallow lake, looking well for his land-range, to
+escape the hole where Baker was drowned; and coming on the breeding-ground
+of the countless birds, his pony's hoof with a reckless smash goes
+crunching through a dozen eggs or callow young. He fairly puts his pony to
+her mettle to escape the cloud of angry birds which, arising in countless
+numbers, dent his weather-beaten tarpaulin with their sharp bills, and
+snap his pony's ears, and confuse him with their sharp, shrill cries. Ten
+minutes more, and he is holding hard to count the seals. There they lie,
+old ocean flocks, resting their wave-tossed limbs--great ocean bulls, and
+cows, and calves. He marks them all. The wary old male turns his broad
+moustached nostrils to the tainted gale of man and horse sweeping down
+upon them, and the whole herd are simultaneously lumbering a retreat. And
+now he goes, plying his little short whip, charging the whole herd to cut
+off their retreat for the pleasure and fun of galloping in and over and
+amongst fifty great bodies, rolling and tumbling and tossing, and
+splashing the surf in their awkward endeavors to escape."
+
+
+And now to return to our pony, who seems to sympathize with his
+fellow-traveller, for every instant he raises his head as if he would peep
+into his note-book. Let me quote this of him and of his brethren:
+
+"When the present breed of wild ponies was introduced, there is no record.
+In an old print, seemingly a hundred years old, they are depicted as being
+lassoed by men in cocked hats and antique habiliments. At present, three
+or four hundred are their utmost numbers, and it is curious to observe
+how in their figures and habits they approach the wild races of Mexico or
+the Ukraine. They are divided into herds or gangs, each having a separate
+pasture, and each presided over by an old male, conspicuous by the length
+of his mane, rolling in tangled masses over eye and ear down to his fore
+arm. Half his time seems taken up in tossing it from his eyes as he
+collects his out-lying mares and foals on the approach of strangers, and
+keeping them well up in a pack boldly faces the enemy whilst they retreat
+at a gallop. If pressed, however, he, too, retreats on their rear. He
+brooks no undivided allegiance, and many a fierce battle is waged by the
+contending chieftains for the honor of the herd. In form they resemble the
+wild horses of all lands: the large head, thick, shaggy neck of the male,
+low withers, paddling gait, and sloping quarters, have all their
+counterparts in the mustang and the horse of the Ukraine. There seems a
+remarkable tendency in these horses to assume the Isabella colors, the
+light chestnuts, and even the piebalds or paint horses of the Indian
+prairies or the Mexican Savannah. The annual drive or herding, usually
+resulting in the whole island being swept from end to end, and a kicking,
+snorting, half-terrified mass driven into a large pound, from which two
+or three dozen are selected, lassoed, and exported to town, affords fine
+sport, wild riding, and plenty of falls."
+
+
+Thus much for Sable Island.
+
+    "Dark isle of mourning! aptly art thou named,
+      For thou hast been the cause of many a tear;
+    For deeds of treacherous strife too justly famed,
+      The Atlantic's charnel--desolate and drear;
+      A thing none love, though wand'ring thousands fear--
+    If for a moment rest the Muse's wing
+      Where through the waves thy sandy wastes appear,
+    'Tis that she may one strain of horror sing,
+    Wild as the dashing waves that tempests o'er thee fling."[H]
+
+[H] Poem by the Hon. Joseph Howe.
+
+And now pony we must part. Windsor approaches! Yonder among the embowering
+trees is the residence of Judge Halliburton, the author of "Sam Slick."
+How I admire him for his hearty hostility to republican institutions! It
+is natural, straightforward, shrewd, and, no doubt, sincere. At the same
+time, it affords an example of how much the colonist or satellite form of
+government tends to limit the scope of the mind, which under happier skies
+and in a wider intelligence might have shone to advantage.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIX.
+
+Windsor-upon-Avon--Ride to the Gasperau--The Basin of
+Minas--Blomidon--This is the Acadian Land--Basil, the Blacksmith--A Yankee
+Settlement--Useless Reflections.
+
+
+Windsor lies upon the river Avon. It is not the Avon which runs by
+Stratford's storied banks, but still it is the Avon. There is something in
+a name. Witness it, O river of the Blue Noses!
+
+I cannot recall a prettier village than this. If you doubt my word, come
+and see it. Yonder we discern a portion of the Basin of Minas; around us
+are the rich meadows of Nova Scotia. Intellect has here placed a crowning
+college upon a hill; opulence has surrounded it with picturesque villas. A
+ride into the country, a visit to a bachelor's lodge, studded with horns
+of moose and cariboo, with woodland scenes and Landseer's pictures, and
+then--over the bridge, and over the Avon, towards Grand-Pre and the
+Gasperau! I suppose, by this time, my dear reader, you are tired of
+sketches of lake scenery, mountain scenery, pines and spruces, strawberry
+blossoms, and other natural features of the province? For my part, I rode
+through a strawberry-bed three hundred miles long--from Sydney to
+Halifax--diversified by just such patches of scenery, and was not tired of
+it. But it is a different matter when you come to put it on paper. So I
+forbear.
+
+Up hill we go, soon to approach the tragic theatre. A crack of the whip, a
+stretch of the leaders, and now, suddenly, the whole valley comes in view!
+Before us are the great waters of Minas; yonder Blomidon bursts upon the
+sight; and below, curving like a scimitar around the edge of the Basin,
+and against the distant cliffs that shut out the stormy Bay of Fundy, is
+the Acadian land--the idyllic meadows of Grand-Pre lie at our feet.
+
+The Abbe Reynal's account of the colony, as it appeared one hundred years
+ago, I take from the pages of Haliburton:
+
+"Hunting and fishing, which had formerly been the delight of the colony,
+and might have still supplied it with subsistence, had no further
+attraction for a simple and quiet people, and gave way to agriculture,
+which had been established in the marshes and low lands, by repelling with
+dykes the sea and rivers which covered these plains. These grounds yielded
+fifty for one at first, and afterwards fifteen or twenty for one at
+least; wheat and oats succeeded best in them, but they likewise produced
+rye, barley and maize. There were also potatoes in great plenty, the use
+of which was become common. At the same time these immense meadows were
+covered with numerous flocks. They computed as many as sixty thousand head
+of horned cattle; and most families had several horses, though the tillage
+was carried on by oxen. Their habitations, which were constructed of wood,
+were extremely convenient, and furnished as neatly as substantial farmer's
+houses in Europe. They reared a great deal of poultry of all kinds, which
+made a variety in their food, at once wholesome and plentiful. Their
+ordinary drink was beer and cider, to which they sometimes added rum.
+Their usual clothing was in general the produce of their own flax, or the
+fleeces of their own sheep; with these they made common linens and coarse
+cloths. If any of them had a desire for articles of greater luxury, they
+procured them from Annapolis or Louisburg, and gave in exchange corn,
+cattle or furs. The neutral French had nothing else to give their
+neighbors, and made still fewer exchanges among themselves; because each
+separate family was able, and had been accustomed to provide for its own
+wants. They therefore knew nothing of paper currency, which was so common
+throughout the rest of North America. Even the small quantity of gold and
+silver which had been introduced into the colony, did not inspire that
+activity in which consists its real value. Their manners were of course
+extremely simple. There was seldom a cause, either civil or criminal, of
+importance enough to be carried before the Court of Judication,
+established at Annapolis. Whatever little differences arose from time to
+time among them, were amicably adjusted by their elders. All their public
+acts were drawn by their pastors, who had likewise the keeping of their
+wills; for which, and their religious services, the inhabitants paid a
+twenty-seventh part of their harvest, which was always sufficient to
+afford more means than there were objects of generosity.
+
+"Real misery was wholly unknown, and benevolence anticipated the demands
+of poverty.[I] Every misfortune was relieved, as it were, before it could
+be felt, without ostentation on the one hand, and without meanness on the
+other. It was, in short, a society of brethren; every individual of which
+was equally ready to give, and to receive, what he thought the common
+right of mankind. So perfect a harmony naturally prevented all those
+connections of gallantry which are so often fatal to the peace of
+families. This evil was prevented by early marriages, for no one passed
+his youth in a state of celibacy. As soon as a young man arrived to the
+proper age, the community built him a house, broke up the lands about it,
+and supplied him with all the necessaries of life for a twelvemonth. There
+he received the partner whom he had chosen, and who brought him her
+portion in flocks. This new family grew and prospered like the others. In
+1755, all together made a population of eighteen thousand souls. Such is
+the picture of these people, as drawn by the Abbe Reynal. By many, it is
+thought to represent a state of social happiness totally inconsistent with
+the frailties and passions of human nature, and that it is worthy rather
+of the poet than the historian. In describing a scene of rural felicity
+like this, it is not improbable that his narrative has partaken of the
+warmth of feeling for which he was remarkable; but it comes much nearer
+the truth than is generally imagined. Tradition is fresh and positive in
+the various parts of the United States where they were located respecting
+their guileless, peaceable, and scrupulous character; and the descendants
+of those, whose long cherished and endearing local attachment induced them
+to return to the land of their nativity, still deserve the name of a mild,
+frugal, and pious people."
+
+[I] At the present moment, the poor in the Township of Clare are
+maintained by the inhabitants at large; and being members of one great
+family, spend the remainder of their days in visits from house to house.
+An illegitimate child is almost unknown in the settlements.
+
+
+As we rest here upon the summit of the Gasperau Mountain, and look down on
+yonder valley, we can readily imagine such a people. A pastoral people,
+rich in meadow-lands, secured by laborious dykes, and secluded from the
+struggling outside world. But we miss the thatch-roof cottages, by
+hundreds, which should be the prominent feature in the picture, the vast
+herds of cattle, the belfries of scattered village chapels, the murmur of
+evening fields,
+
+    "Where peace was tinkling in the shepherd's bell,
+    And singing with the reapers."
+
+These no longer exist:
+
+    "Naught but tradition remains of the beautiful village of Grand-Pre."
+
+I sank back in the stage as it rolled down the mountain-road, and fairly
+covered my eyes with my hands, as I repeated Webster's boast: "Thank God!
+I too am an American." "But," said I, recovering, "thank God, I belong to
+a State that has never bragged much of its great moral antecedents!" and
+in that reflection I felt comforted, and the load on my back a little
+lightened.
+
+A few weeping willows, the never-failing relics of an Acadian settlement,
+yet remain on the roadside; these, with the dykes and Great Prairie
+itself, are the only memorials of a once happy people. The sun was just
+sinking behind the Gasperau mountain as we entered the ancient village.
+There was a smithy beside the stage-house, and we could see the dusky glow
+of the forge within, and the swart mechanic
+
+    "Take in his leathern lap the hoof of the horse as a plaything,
+    Nailing the shoe in its place."
+
+But it was not Basil the Blacksmith, nor one of his descendants, that held
+the horse-hoof. The face of the smith was of the genuine New England type,
+and just such faces as I saw everywhere in the village. In the shifting
+panorama of the itinerary I suddenly found myself in a hundred-year-old
+colony of genuine Yankees, the real true blues of Connecticut, quilted in
+amidst the blue noses of Nova Scotia.
+
+But of the poor Acadians not one remains now in the ancient village. It is
+a solemn comment upon their peaceful and unrevengeful natures, that two
+hundred settlers from Hew England remained unmolested upon their lands,
+and that the descendants of those New England settlers now occupy them. A
+solemn comment upon our history, and the touching epitaph of an
+exterminated race.
+
+Much as we may admire the various bays and lakes, the inlets,
+promontories, and straits, the mountains and woodlands of this
+rarely-visited corner of creation--and, compared with it, we can boast of
+no coast scenery so beautiful--the valley of Grand-Pre transcends all the
+rest in the Province. Only our valley of Wyoming, as an inland picture,
+may match it, both in beauty and tradition. One has had its Gertrude, the
+other its Evangeline. But Campbell never saw Wyoming, nor has Longfellow
+yet visited the shores of the Basin of Minas. And I may venture to say,
+neither poet has touched the key-note of divine anger which either story
+might have awakened.
+
+But let us be thankful for those simple and beautiful idyls. After all, it
+is a question whether the greatest and noblest impulses of man are not
+awakened rather by the sympathy we feel for the oppressed, than by the
+hatred engendered by the acts of the oppressor?
+
+I wish I could shake off these useless reflections of a bygone period. But
+who can help it?
+
+    "This is the forest primeval; but where are the hearts that beneath it
+    Leaped like the roe when it hears in the woodland the voice of the
+            huntsman?
+    Where is the thatch-roof village, the home of Acadian farmers--
+    Men whose lives glided on like rivers that water the woodlands?
+    Waste are those pleasant farms, and the farmers forever departed!"
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XX.
+
+The Valley of Acadia--A Morning Ride to the Dykes--An unexpected Wild-duck
+Chase--High Tides--The Gasperau--Sunset--The Lamp of History--Conclusion.
+
+
+The eastern sun glittered on roof and window-pane next morning. Neat
+houses in the midst of trim gardens, rise tier above tier on the
+hill-slopes that overlook the prairie lands. A green expanse, several
+miles in width, extends to the edge of the dykes, and in the distance,
+upon its verge, here and there a farmhouse looms up in the warm haze of a
+summer morning. On the left hand the meadows roll away until they are
+merged in the bases of the cliffs that, stretching forth over the blue
+water of the Basin, end abruptly at Cape Blomidon. These cliffs are
+precise counterparts of our own Palisades, on the Hudson. Then to the
+right, again, the vision follows the hazy coast-line until it melts in the
+indistinct outline of wave and vapor, back of which rises the Gasperau
+mountain, that protects the valley on the east with corresponding barriers
+of rock and forest. Within this hemicycle lie the waters of Minas,
+bounded on the north by the horizon-line, the clouds and the sky.
+
+Once happy Acadia nestled in this valley. Does it not seem incredible that
+even Puritan tyranny could have looked with hard and pitiless eyes upon
+such a scene, and invade with rapine, sword and fire, the peace and
+serenity of a land so fair?
+
+A morning ride across the Grand-Pre convinced me that the natural opulence
+of the valley had not been exaggerated. These once desolate and bitter
+marshes, reclaimed from the sea by the patient labor of the French
+peasant, are about three miles broad by twenty miles long. The prairie
+grass, even at this time of year, is knee-deep, and, as I was informed,
+yields, without cultivation, from two to four tons to the acre. The
+fertility of the valley in other respects is equally great. The dyke lands
+are intersected by a network of white causeways, raised above the level of
+the meadows. We passed over these to the outer edge of the dykes. "These
+lands," said my young companion, "are filled in this season with immense
+flocks of all kinds of feathered game." And I soon had reason to be
+convinced of the truth of it, for just then we started up what seemed to
+be a wounded wild-duck, upon which out leaped my companion from the wagon
+and gave chase. A bunch of tall grass, upon the edge of a little pool,
+lay between him and the game; he brushed hastily through this, and out of
+it poured a little feathered colony. As these young ones were not yet able
+to fly, they were soon captured--seven little black ducks safely nestled
+together under the seat of the wagon, and poor Niobe trailed her broken
+wing within a tempting distance in vain.
+
+We were soon upon the dykes themselves, which are raised upon the edge of
+the meadows, and are quite insignificant in height, albeit of great extent
+otherwise. But from the bottom of the dykes to the edge of yonder
+sparkling water, there is a bare beach, full three miles in extent. What
+does this mean? What are these dykes for, if the enemy is so far off? The
+answer to this query discloses a remarkable phenomenon. The tide in this
+part of the world rises sixty or seventy feet every twelve hours. At
+present the beach is bare; the five rivers of the valley--the Gasperau,
+the Cornwallis, the Canard, the Habitant, the Perot--are empty. Betimes
+the tide will roll in in one broad unretreating wave, surging and
+shouldering its way over the expanse, filling all the rivers, and dashing
+against the protecting barriers under our feet; but before sunset the
+rivers will be emptied again, the bridges will uselessly hang in the air
+over the deserted channels, the beach will yawn wide and bare where a
+ship of the line might have anchored. Sometimes a stranger schooner from
+New England, secure in a safe distance from shore, drops down in six or
+seven fathom. Then, suddenly, the ebb sweeps off from the intruder, and
+leaves his two-master keeled over, with useless anchor and cable exposed,
+"to point a moral and adorn a tale." Sometimes a party will take boat for
+a row upon the placid bosom of this bay; but woe unto them if they consult
+not the almanac! A mistake may leave them high and dry on the beach, miles
+from the dykes, and as the tide comes in with a _bore_, a sudden influx,
+wave above wave, the risk is imminent.
+
+I passed two days in this happy valley, sometimes riding across to the
+dykes, sometimes visiting the neighboring villages, sometimes wandering on
+foot over the hills to the upper waters of the rivers. And the Gasperau in
+particular is an attractive little mountain sylph, as it comes skipping
+down the rocks, breaking here and there out in a broad cascade, or
+rippling and singing in the heart of the grand old forest. I think my
+friend Kensett might set his pallet here, and pitch a brief tent by Minas
+and the Gasperau to advantage. For my own part, I would that I had my
+trout-pole and a fly!
+
+But now the sun sinks behind the cliffs of Blow-me-down. To-morrow I must
+take the steamer for home, "sweet home!" What shall I say in conclusion?
+Shall I stop here and write _finis_, or once more trim the lamp of
+history? I feel as it were the whole wrongs of the French Province
+concentrated here, as in the last drop of its life blood, no tender dream
+of pastoral description, no clever veil of elaborate verse, can conceal
+the hideous features of this remorseless act, this wanton and useless deed
+of New England cruelty. Do not mistake me, my reader. Do not think that I
+am prejudiced against New England. But I hate tyranny--under whatever
+disguise, or in whatever shape--in an individual, or in a nation--in a
+state, or in a congregation of states; so do you; and of course you will
+agree with me, that so long as the maxim obtains, "that the object
+justifies the means," certain effects must follow, and this maxim was the
+guiding star of our forefathers when they marched into the French
+province.
+
+The peculiar situation of the Acadians, embarrassed the colonists of
+Massachusetts. The French _neutrals_, had taken the oath of fidelity, but
+they refused to take the oath of allegiance which compelled them to bear
+arms against their countrymen, and the Indians, who from first to last had
+been their constant and devoted friends. The long course of persecution,
+for a century and a half, had struck but one spark of resistance from
+this people--the stand of the three hundred young warriors at Fort Sejour.
+Upon this act followed the retaliation of the Pilgrim Fathers. They
+determined to remove and disperse the Acadians among the British colonies.
+To carry out this edict, Colonel Winslow, with five transports and a
+sufficient force of New England troops, was dispatched to the Basin of
+Minas. At a consultation, held between Colonel Winslow and Captain Murray,
+it was agreed that a proclamation should be issued at the different
+settlements, requiring the attendance of the people at the respective
+posts on the same day; which proclamation would be so ambiguous in its
+nature, that the object for which they were to assemble could not be
+discerned, and so peremptory in its terms, as to insure implicit
+obedience. This instrument having been drafted and approved, was
+distributed according to the original plan. That which was addressed to
+the people inhabiting the country now comprised within the limit of King's
+County, was as follows:
+
+"'_To the inhabitants of the District of Grand-Pre, Minas, River Canard,
+etc.; as well ancient, as young men and lads_:
+
+"'Whereas, his Excellency the Governor has instructed us of his late
+resolution, respecting the matter proposed to the inhabitants, and has
+ordered us to communicate the same in person, his Excellency, being
+desirous that each of them should be fully satisfied of his Majesty's
+intentions, which he has also ordered us to communicate to you, such as
+they have been given to him: We therefore order and strictly enjoin, by
+these presents, all of the inhabitants, as well of the above-named
+District, as of all the other Districts, both old men and young men, as
+well as all the lads of ten years of age, to attend at the church at
+Grand-Pre, on Friday the fifth instant, at three of the clock in the
+afternoon, that we may impart to them what we are ordered to communicate
+to them; declaring that no excuse will be admitted on any pretence
+whatever, on pain of forfeiting goods and chattels, in default of real
+estate.--Given at Grand-Pre, second September, 1755, and twenty-ninth year
+of his Majesty's reign.
+                                                            JOHN WINSLOW.'
+
+
+"In obedience to this summons, four hundred and eighteen able-bodied men
+assembled. These being shut into the church (for that too had become an
+arsenal), Colonel Winslow placed himself with his officers, in the centre,
+and addressed them thus:
+
+"'GENTLEMEN: I have received from his Excellency, Governor Lawrence, the
+King's commission, which I have in my hand; and by his orders you are
+convened together, to manifest to you his Majesty's final resolution to
+the French inhabitants of this his province of Nova Scotia; who, for
+almost half a century, have had more indulgence granted them than any of
+his subjects in any part of his dominions; what use you have made of it
+you yourselves best know. The part of duty I am now upon, though
+necessary, is very disagreeable to my natural make and temper, as I know
+it must be grievous to you, who are of the same species; but it is not my
+business to animadvert, but to obey such orders as I receive, and
+therefore, without hesitation, shall deliver you his Majesty's orders and
+instructions, namely, that your lands and tenements, cattle of all kinds
+and live stock of all sorts, are forfeited to the Crown; with all other
+your effects, saving your money and household goods, and you yourselves to
+be removed from this his province.
+
+"'Thus it is peremptorily his Majesty's orders, that the whole French
+inhabitants of these Districts be removed; and I am, through his Majesty's
+goodness, directed to allow you liberty to carry off your money and
+household goods, as many as you can without discommoding the vessels you
+go in. I shall do everything in my power that all those goods be secured
+to you, and that you are not molested in carrying them off; also that
+whole families shall go in the same vessel, and make this remove, which I
+am sensible must give you a great deal of trouble, as easy as his
+Majesty's service will admit: and hope that, in whatever part of the world
+you may fall, you may be faithful subjects, a peaceable and happy people.
+I must also inform you that it is his Majesty's pleasure that you remain
+in security under the inspection and direction of the troops I have the
+honor to command.'
+
+"The poor people, unconscious of any crime, and full of concern for having
+incurred his Majesty's displeasure, petitioned Colonel Winslow for leave
+to visit their families, and entreated him to detain a part only of the
+prisoners as hostages; urging with tears and prayers their intention to
+fulfill their promise of returning after taking leave of their kindred and
+consoling them in their distresses and misfortunes. The answer of Colonel
+Winslow to this petition was to grant leave of absence to twenty only, for
+a single day. This sentence they bore with fortitude and resignation, but
+when the hour of embarkation arrived, in which they were to part with
+their friends and relatives without a hope of ever seeing them again, and
+to be dispersed among strangers, whose language, customs, and religion,
+were opposed to their own, the weakness of human nature prevailed, and
+they were overpowered with the sense of their miseries. The young men were
+first ordered to go on board of one of the vessels. This they instantly
+and peremptorily refused to do, declaring that they would not leave their
+parents; but expressed a willingness to comply with the order, provided
+they were permitted to embark with their families. The request was
+rejected, and the troops were ordered to fix bayonets and advance toward
+the prisoners, a motion which had the effect of producing obedience on the
+part of the young men, who forthwith commenced their march. The road from
+the chapel to the shore--just one mile in length--was crowded with women
+and children; who, on their knees, greeted them as they passed, with their
+tears and their blessings; while the prisoners advanced with slow and
+reluctant steps, weeping, praying, and singing hymns. This detachment was
+followed by the seniors, who passed through the same scene of sorrow and
+distress. In this manner was the whole male part of the population of the
+District of Minas put on board the five transports stationed in the river
+Gasperau."
+
+Now, my dear lady; you who have followed the fortunes of Evangeline, in
+Longfellow's beautiful poem, and haply wept over her weary pilgrimage,
+pray give a thought to the rest of the 18,000 sent into a similar exile!
+And you, my dear friend, who have listened to the oracles of Plymouth
+pulpits, take a Sabbath afternoon, and calmly consider how far you may
+venture to place your faith upon it, whether you can subscribe to the
+idolatrous worship of that boulder stone, and say--
+
+    "Rock of ages cleft for me,
+    Let me to thy bosom flee;"
+
+or whether you measure any other act between this present time and the
+past eighteen hundred years, except by the eternal principles of
+Righteousness and Truth?
+
+Gentle reader, as we sit in this little inn-room, and see the ragged edge
+of the moon shimmering over the meadows of Grand-Pre, do we not feel a
+touch of the sin that soiled her garments a hundred years ago? Had we not
+better abstain from blowing our Puritan trumpets so loudly, and wreathe
+with crape our banners for a season? Let us rather date from more recent
+achievements. Let us take a fresh start in history and brag of nothing
+that antedates Bunker Hill. Here everybody has a hand to applaud. But for
+the age that preceded it, the least said about it the better! There, out
+lamp! and good night! to-morrow "Home, sweet Home!" But I love this
+province!
+
+
+
+
+APPENDIX.
+
+
+Peccavi! I hope the reader will forgive me for my luckless description of
+the procession to lay the corner stone of the Halifax Lunatic Asylum, in
+Chapter I. No person can trifle or jest with the _object_ of so noble a
+charity. But the procession itself was pretty much as I have described it;
+indeed, pretty much like all the civic processions I have ever witnessed
+in any country. The following account of the results of that good work may
+interest the reader:
+
+"A visit to the LUNATIC ASYLUM building, on the eastern side of the
+harbor, furnishes some notes of interest. The walk from the ferry has very
+pleasing features of village, farming and woodland character. The building
+stands on a rising ground, which commands a noble view of the western bank
+of the harbor opposite; northward, of the Narrows and Basin; and
+southward, of the islands, headlands and ocean. The medical superintendent
+of the institution is actively engaged carrying out plans toward the
+completion of the building, and gives very courteous facilities to
+visitors. The part of the Asylum which now appears of such respectable
+dimensions is just one-third part of the intended building. It is expected
+to accommodate ninety patients; the completed building, two hundred and
+fifty. The private and public rooms, cooking, serving, heating and other
+apartments appear to be very judiciously arranged, with an eye to good
+order, cheerfulness and thorough efficiency. The building is well drained,
+defective mason-work has been remedied, and all appears steadily advancing
+towards the consummation of wishes long entertained by its philanthropic
+projectors. The building is to be lighted with gas manufactured on the
+premises; all the apartments are to be heated by steam; and the water
+required for various purposes of the establishment, after being conveyed
+from the lakes, is to be raised to the loft immediately under the roof,
+and there held in tanks, ready for demand. The roofing we understand to be
+a model for lightness of material and firmness of construction. The
+heating apparatus occupies the underground floor. It consists of numerous
+coils of metal tubes, to which the steam is conveyed from an out-building,
+which contains the furnace and other apparatus. From the hot-air apartment
+the warm air is conveyed, by means of flues, to the various rooms of the
+building, each flue being under the immediate control of the officers of
+the institution. Ventilation is obtained by flues communicating with the
+space just below the roof; and the impure air is expected to pass off
+through openings in the cupola which rises above the roof ridges. By the
+heating apparatus the danger and trouble consequent on numerous fires are
+avoided, at about the same expense which the common mode would cause. Very
+judicious arrangements for drainage, laying off the grounds, etc., appear
+to have been adopted, and are in progress. The building is to be
+approached by a gracefully curved carriage road. The grounds are to be
+surrounded by a hawthorn fence, immediately within which will be a shaded,
+thoroughly drained path for walking. The slopes of the hill in front are
+in course of levelling, and will soon present a scene of lawn and grain
+field; while a southwest area is laid off as an extensive garden and
+nursery of trees and shrubs. This important appendage to such an
+institution is charmingly situated, as regards scenery; and, with its
+terraces, plantation, vegetable and flower departments, etc., will soon be
+a very admirable place of resort for purposes of sanitary toil, or
+retirement and rest. We rejoice that, altogether, the establishment
+promises to be a very decided proof of provincial advance, and a credit to
+the country. After all the difficulties, delays and doubts that have
+occurred, this is a very gratifying result. The building is expected to be
+ready for reception of patients sometime in September, or the early part
+of October."--_Halifax Morning Sun_, _June 14, 1858_.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+HALIFAX.--The following letter of a correspondent of the _New York Times_
+may interest the reader. It is a very fair account of the aspect of the
+chief city of this Province:
+
+"The Lieutenant-Governor, Sir J. Gaspard le Marchant, is said to be a
+severe disciplinarian. He served in the wars of the Peninsula, and is now
+being rewarded for his distinguished services as Governor of this
+Province. He reviews the troops twice a week upon the Common, and is very
+strict. The evolutions of the rank and file are the most perfect
+exhibitions of the kind I have ever witnessed. During one of these reviews
+I took occasion to remark to a citizen that they were _almost_ equal to
+the Seventh Regiment of New York. The bystanders laughed incredulously.
+The bands are as perfect in movement as the troops. The whole affair
+passes off literally like clock-work, a pendulum being kept in sight of
+the reviewing officers, by which to measure the music of the bands, and
+step of the soldiers. Each review concludes with a presentation of the
+royal standard--the identical colors which were first unfurled upon the
+Redan by this regiment at the fall of Sebastopol. The ceremony is
+impressive, an almost superstitious reverence being paid to the triumphant
+bunting. The review ended, the band remains for a half hour to play for
+the entertainment of the citizens, who generally attend in large numbers.
+
+"There are among the officers and soldiers of the 62d and 63d many bearing
+upon their left breasts the Victoria medal, and other decorations bestowed
+for distinguished bravery at Sebastopol. The most eminent of these is
+Colonel Ingall, who has both breasts covered with these testimonials of
+bravery. They are not, however, confined to the officers, but many of the
+rank and file are favored in like manner.
+
+"The military as a whole are popular among the citizens, and many of the
+officers, and not a few of the privates since their return from the
+Crimea, have stormed other Malakoffs, when the victory has been as signal,
+if the risks have not been as great, carrying off, as trophies, some of
+the finest girls in the place.
+
+"Upon entering this harbor from the sea the principal objects of interest
+to a stranger are the fortifications which line its two sides, the first
+three or four being round castles pierced for two tiers of guns, and
+having temporary wooden roofs thrown over them to protect the works; they
+are situated upon prominent points and islands commanding both entrances.
+The first principal fort is that situated at the junction of the
+'northwest arm' with the harbor. This is a granite structure of some
+pretensions, and during the past season was, with the high, level lands
+which surround it, made the head-quarters or camping-ground for the
+troops. Tents here covered all the hill-side, presenting a very
+picturesque appearance; camp life was adopted in all its details, and the
+most thorough drilling was gone through with, including the digging of
+trenches, throwing up earth-works, etc. The fortifications upon George's
+Island, just below the town, are being extended and strengthened, and when
+completed, will be the principal defence of the harbor. The Citadel or
+Fort George, occupies the high, round hill which rises directly back of
+the town, to about three hundred feet above the tide, and perfectly
+commands the town and adjacent harbor. There is said to be room enough
+within its walls for all the inhabitants of the town, to which they could
+retreat in case of a siege. From a personal inspection, however, I judge
+they would have to pack them pretty closely. The works cover an area of
+about six acres, there being a double line of forts, composed of massive
+granite, and presenting every variety of angle. A ditch twenty-five feet
+deep and sixty feet wide surrounds it on all sides, with a single entrance
+or bridgeway, on the east aide, which could be removed in an hour. Two
+ravelins, which have been lately completed within the walls, are elegant
+specimens of masonry. The whole hill is being rounded off, and a line of
+earth-works are to be constructed at its base at every salient angle. The
+parapet is now covered at wide intervals, with 32-pounders, mounted upon
+iron carriages. Extensive changes and improvements are being adopted, and
+when the present plans are complete, this fort, it is said, will mount
+over 400 guns. The cast-iron swivel carriages are condemned as being too
+liable to injury from cannon-shots, and are all to be replaced by others
+made of teak-wood.
+
+"There exists, evidently, some reluctance among the officers in command to
+a close inspection of these works by foreigners. An instance in point
+occurred to-day. There were two young men, Americans, looking at the fort.
+They had obtained permission, which is given in writing by the
+Quartermaster-General, to inspect the Signal-Station, etc., but they were
+observed with paper and pencil in hand, taking down particular memoranda
+of the fortification, the size of guns, their number, the positions of the
+ravelins and what not. As this was considered a palpable breach of
+courtesy, a sergeant tapped them on the shoulder and led them out of the
+gate, with a reprimand for what he called their want of good manners. It
+is a long time since anything of the kind has occurred.
+
+"This Citadel is the place from which all vessels are signalled to the
+town. The signal stations are four in number; the first being at the
+Citadel, the second at 'York Redcut,' five miles down the harbor, the
+third, 'Camperdown,' some ten miles further, and the fourth, with which
+this last signals, is the island of 'Sambro,' ten miles south of the
+entrance to the harbor. The system is carried on by means of a series of
+black balls, which are hoisted in different positions upon two yard-arms,
+a long and a short one, placed one above the other on a tall flag-staff.
+The communication is very rapid, and is exempt from liability to mistakes.
+A sentence transmitting an order of any kind from one of the lower
+stations is sent and received in less than two minutes. The distance from
+'Sambro,' the outer station, is about twenty miles from the Citadel.
+Maryatt's code of marine signals is in use here. The new marine code,
+lately issued under the auspices of the London Board of Trade, 'for all
+nations,' is pronounced by the operator as too complicated to become of
+any practical use, necessitating, as it would, the employment of a
+'flag-lieutenant' on board every ship, who should do nothing but the
+signalling, since not one captain in a hundred would ever have the time or
+patience to acquaint himself with its mysteries.
+
+"Some works of internal improvement are in progress, which will be
+important in promoting the prosperity and in developing the resources of
+this Province. A railroad across the Isthmus to Truro, with a branch-road
+to Windsor, will connect the interior towns with Halifax, and furnish
+_modern_ facilities for communication with the other Provinces and with
+the States. Twenty-two miles of the road are already completed, and the
+remainder will be finished soon. A canal is also in progress from the head
+of Halifax harbor (north side) in the direction of Truro, which is to
+connect a remarkable chain of lakes with the Shubenacadie River, which
+empties into Minas' Basin at the head of the Bay of Fundy. Great results
+are anticipated in favor of the farming and other interests along its
+route. The work is in an advanced stage towards completion.
+
+"There is, it is said, no portion of the American Continent so abundantly
+supplied with water communication as Nova Scotia. The whole interior is a
+continuous chain of lakes. The coast is rocky and most unpromising, but
+the interior is said to contain some of the best farming land east of
+Illinois. Hon. Albert Pillsbury, the American Consul, who is thoroughly
+conversant with the resources of the Province, declares it, in his
+opinion, the richest portion of the American Continent--richest in coal,
+minerals and agricultural resources. Mr. Pillsbury takes advantage of his
+well-deserved popularity in the Province to tell the Blue Noses some home
+truths. On one occasion he told them it was evident the Lord knew they
+were the laziest people on the earth, and had, therefore, taken pity on
+them, and given them more facilities for transacting their business than
+were possessed by any other people under the sun.
+
+"In the newspaper line Nova Scotia appears to be fully up to the spirit of
+the age. The following is a list of all kinds published in the Province:
+
+"_Tri-Weeklies._--Morning Journal, Morning Chronicle, Morning Advertiser,
+the Sun, and British Colonist.
+
+"_Weeklies._--Acadian Recorder, Nova Scotian, Weekly Sun, and Weekly
+Colonist.
+
+"_Religious (?)._--Church Times, Episcopal; Presbyterian Witness,
+Presbyterian Church of Nova Scotia, etc.; Monthly Record, Established
+Church of Scotland or Kirk; Christian Messenger, Baptist; Catholic, Roman
+Catholic; Wesleyan, Methodist.
+
+"_Temperance._--The Abstainer.
+
+"_Weeklies._--Yarmouth Herald, published at Yarmouth; Yarmouth Tribune
+(semi-weekly); Liverpool Transcript, Liverpool; Western News, Bridgetown;
+Avon Herald (semi-weekly), Windsor; Eastern Chronicle, Pictou; Antigonish
+Casket, Antigonish; Cape Breton News, Sidney, C. B.
+
+"In telegraphs they are better supplied than any other portion of the
+world of equal territory, and the same number of inhabitants. There are
+thirty-nine offices, and 1,300 miles of telegraphic wire in this
+Province.
+
+"The Reciprocity Treaty has largely increased the trade of Nova Scotia,
+but the means of intercommunication are still far behind the wants of the
+people. When it was proposed a year ago to place a steamer upon the line
+from Halifax to Boston, to carry freight and passengers, the idea was
+scouted as chimerical, and certain to fail. The Eastern State, a
+Philadelphia-built propeller of 330 tons, was purchased and commenced to
+ply fortnightly; she has accommodations for fifty passengers, and two
+hundred tons of freight. She has seldom had less than fifty passengers
+upon any trip, and upon the last one from Halifax there were one hundred
+and sixty-three. The fare from Boston to Halifax is $10, meals included.
+She has also had a good supply of freight, and has cleared for her owners
+the last year over $2,500. Captain Killam, her commander, is highly
+esteemed, for his sailorly and gentlemanly qualities. In the opinion of
+shrewd business men, a steamer would pay between this and New York direct.
+At present, Boston virtually controls the fish-market in part by her
+intimate relations with the Provinces, and New York buys second-hand from
+them, when they might as well have their fish from first hands.
+
+"Government lands are to be purchased in any quantity at $1 per acre, and
+by an act of the Provincial Legislature, aliens are as free to purchase as
+native citizens or residents. Several American capitalists have availed
+themselves of the opening, and invested largely in the 'timber and farming
+lands of Nova Scotia, and an infusion of this element is all that is
+required to develop a prosperous future for this Province.'      "SAILE."
+
+"TORIES.--The number of loyalists who arrived in Nova Scotia was very
+great. They constituted a large proportion of the original settlers in
+almost every section of the colony. So termed because of their loyalty to
+the sovereign, and unwillingness to remain in the revolted and independent
+States, they found their way hither chiefly in the years 1783-4. Sometimes
+termed refugees, because of their seeking refuge on British soil from
+those with whom they had contended in the great Revolutionary struggle,
+the names are often interchanged, whilst sometimes they are joined
+together in the title of 'Loyalist Refugees.' No less than 20,000 arrived
+prior to the close of the year in which the Independence of the United
+States was acknowledged. These chose spots suited to their inclinations,
+if not always adapted to their wants, in the counties of Digby, Annapolis,
+Guysboro', Shelburne, and Hants. In these five counties, for the most
+part, are resident the children of the loyalists, though, as hinted, they
+are to be met with in smaller companies elsewhere.
+
+"We cannot doubt that the purest motives and highest sense of duty
+actuated very many, though not all, of this vast number, when they turned
+their backs upon the houses and farms, the pursuits and business, the
+friends and relations of past years. To this may, in some measure, be
+attributed the marked loyalty of this province. Principles of obedience to
+the laws, and allegiance to the crown, were instilled into the minds of
+their children, who in their turn handed down the sentiments of their
+ancestors until the good leaven spread, and tended to strengthen that
+loyalty which already existed in the hearts of the people. More than once
+has this trait been manifested by our countrymen in town and country. When
+the first blood of the rebellion in Canada was shed in 1837, meetings
+were held in every village and settlement in the province, each
+proclaiming in fervent language the deepest attachment to the sovereign
+and the government, while in Halifax the people determined to support the
+wives and children of the absent troops. When two years later the
+inhabitants of the State of Maine prepared to invade New Brunswick, the
+announcement was received with intense feelings of regard for the honor of
+the British Crown. The House, which was then sitting, voted L100,000, and
+8,000 men to aid the New Brunswickers in repelling the invaders, and
+rising in a body gave three cheers for the queen, and three for their
+loyal brethren of the sister province. Long may the feeling continue to
+exist, and grow within our borders! long may we remain beneath the mild
+away of that gracious queen, whose virtues shed lustre on the crown she
+wears! long may every Nova Scotian's voice exclaim, 'God save our noble
+Queen.'"--_Nova Scotia and Nova Scotians, by_ REV. GEO. W. HILL, A.M.
+
+"NEGROES.--There are to be found in the colony some five thousand negroes,
+whose ancestors came to the province in four distinct bodies, and at
+different times. The first class were originally slaves, who accompanied
+their masters from the older colonies; but as the opinion prevailed that
+the courts would not recognize a state of slavery, they were liberated. On
+receiving their freedom they either remained in the employment of their
+former owners, or obtaining a small piece of land in the neighborhood,
+eked out a miserable existence, rarely improving their condition, bodily
+or mental.
+
+"There were, secondly, a number of free negroes, who arrived at the
+conclusion of the American Revolutionary war; but an immense number of
+these were removed at their own request to Sierra Leone, being
+dissatisfied with both the soil and climate.
+
+"Shortly after the removal of these people, the insurgent negroes of
+Jamaica were transported to Nova Scotia; they were known by the name of
+Maroons in the island, and still termed so, on their landing at Halifax.
+Their story is replete with interest: during their brief stay in Nova
+Scotia they gave incredible trouble from their lawless and licentious
+habits, in addition to costing the government no less a sum than ten
+thousand pounds a year. Their idleness and gross conduct at last
+determined the government to send them, as the others, to Sierra Leone,
+which was accordingly done in the year 1803, after having resided at
+Preston for the space of four years.
+
+"The last arrival of Africans in a body was at the conclusion of the
+second American War in 1815, when a large number were permitted to take
+refuge on board the British squadron, blockading the Chesapeake and
+southern harbors, and were afterwards landed at Halifax. The blacks now
+resident in Nova Scotia are descendants chiefly of the first and last
+importations--the greater part of the two intermediate having been
+removed. Even some of these last were transported by their own wish to
+Trinidad, while those who remained settled down at Preston and Hammonds
+Plains, or wandered to Windsor and other places close at hand.
+
+"But little changed in any respect--their persons and their property--they
+have passed through much wretchedness during the last half century. Their
+natural indolence and love of ease being ill suited to our latitude, in
+which a long and severe winter demands unceasing diligence, and more than
+ordinary prudence, in those who depend upon manual labor for their means
+of subsistence. Amongst them, however, are to be found a few who are
+prudent, diligent and prosperous. These are worthy of the more esteem, in
+proportion as they have met with greater obstacles, and happily have
+surmounted them."--_Ibid._
+
+EMINENT MEN.--Besides many gentlemen of rare talents, distinguished in the
+annals of the province, the following Nova Scotians have won a more
+extended reputation: Sir EDWARD BELCHER, the famous Arctic navigator;
+Rear-Admiral PROVO WALLIS, who captured our own vessel the Chesapeake,
+after the death of his superior, Captain Brooke. The words of Lawrence,
+"Don't give up the ship," record the memorable achievement of this naval
+officer. DONALD MCKAY, who after perfecting his education in New York as a
+ship-builder, removed to Boston, Massachusetts, and there has won for that
+city distinguished honors; THOMAS C. HALIBURTON, the author of "Sam
+Slick," and a great number of other clever books; SAMUEL CUNARD, the
+father of the Cunard line! who does not know him? General BECKWITH, not
+less known in the annals of philanthropy; GILBERT STUART NEWTON, artist;
+General Inglis, the defender of Lucknow, and General William Fenwick
+Williams, the hero of Kars. The mere mention of such names is
+sufficient--their eulogy suggests itself.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+Transcriber's note: For clarity, changes have been applied to the text
+as follows:
+
+Page
+
+15. Final hyphen (chapter 3) replaced by em-dash
+
+16. Chapters 3 and 4: 'Louisburg' replaced with Louisburgh
+
+26. Closing quotation marks added after ...a halo of fog.
+
+49. Hyphen removed from 'sun-shine' to ensure consistency with other uses
+
+54. Hyphen removed from 'bag-pipe' to ensure consistency with other uses.
+
+56. Hyphen removed from 'main-land' to ensure consistency with other uses
+
+69. Hyphen removed from 'road-side' to ensure consistency with other uses
+
+70. Hyphen added to 'sawbuck' to ensure consistency with other uses
+
+71. Ending quotation marks added to end of paragraph: ...like a beast
+neither.
+
+76. Full stop replaced by comma between ...such a look and "you must
+know...
+
+77. Hyphen removed from 'over-land' to ensure consistency with other uses
+
+79. Hyphen removed from 'light-house' to ensure consistency with other uses
+
+79. Hyphen removed from 'over-head' to ensure consistency with other uses
+
+88. Hyphen added to 'overcoats' to ensure consistency with other uses
+
+89. Hyphen removed from 'mid-night' to ensure consistency with other uses
+
+96. Hyphen removed from 'over-head' to ensure consistency with other uses
+
+97. Hyphen removed from 'night-fall' to ensure consistency with other uses
+
+97. Duplicate 'of' removed from ...the lady of of the "Balaklava" put on...
+
+99. Hyphen removed from 'sea-board' to ensure consistency with other uses
+
+100. Hyphen removed from 'sweet-meats' to ensure consistency with other
+uses
+
+101. Opening quotation marks added to paragraph Picton, I will be frank...
+
+118. Closing quotation marks removed from ..."On board the 'Vigilant,'
+
+122. Closing quotation marks added to paragraph ...milk and potatoes
+down there.
+
+134. Closing quotation marks added to paragraph ...the inevitable hour'----
+
+134. Opening quotation marks added to paragraph 'The paths of glory lead...
+
+147. Hyphen replaced by space in 'Nova-Scotia' to ensure consistency
+
+153. Hyphen removed in 'moon-light' to ensure consistency
+
+154. Hyphen removed in 'patch-work' to ensure consistency
+
+154. Hyphen removed in 'chamber-maid' to ensure consistency
+
+160. 'Kavanah' replaced by 'Kavanagh' to ensure consistency
+
+161. Hyphen removed in 'oat-meal' to ensure consistency
+
+197. Hyphen added to 'doorway' to ensure consistency
+
+200. Hyphen added to 'fireplace' to ensure consistency
+
+201. Hyphen added to 'keynote' to ensure consistency
+
+208. Spelling of 'melliflous' corrected to 'mellifluous'
+
+209. Spelling of 'hackmatack' standardised to ensure consistency with
+other uses
+
+211. Hyphen removed from 'sunlight' to ensure consistency with other
+uses
+
+217. Comma removed from At, last we approach...
+
+222. Opening quotation marks added after em dash in ...said he--'The
+Scarlet Letter.'...
+
+232. Hyphen added to 'Grand Pre' to ensure consistency with other uses
+
+233. Hyphen added to 'overcoats' to ensure consistency with other uses
+
+242. Uncock capitalised in  "uncock those pistols
+
+245. Closing quotation marks added after ..."Canada?
+
+266. Hyphen added to 'gaslights' to ensure consistency
+
+284. Hyphen removed in 'hand-writing' to ensure consistency
+
+316. Hyphen added to 'Grand Pre' to ensure consistency with other uses
+
+329. Hyphen added to 'headquarters' to ensure consistency
+
+
+
+
+
+End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Acadia, by Frederic S. Cozzens
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