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diff --git a/23409-8.txt b/23409-8.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..eae1481 --- /dev/null +++ b/23409-8.txt @@ -0,0 +1,7512 @@ +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: ISO-8859-1 + +*** 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 Père 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 Bermoöthes." + +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 "_grandpère_," 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 +Grandpré 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 Minié-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 reöpened 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, aërial 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 narghilé; 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 dépôt 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 coöperation 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 vitæ, 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 +_régime_. + +"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 +Minié-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 aërial 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-Pré! But, +alas! there is yet a long ride before us; the path from Truro to Grand-Pré +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 reëmbarked 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 Charnisé, 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 reëmbarked 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 Charnisé 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 Charnisé, +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-Pré 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 Père Ralle. + + +During the invasion of Col. Church, the inhabitants of Grand-Pré 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 sincèrement, en foi de Chrétien, que je serai +entièrement fidèle et obéirai vraiment sa Majesté 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 Séjour, 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 Père 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 Père 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-Pré 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-Pré lie at our feet. + +The Abbé 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 Abbé 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-Pré." + +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-Pré 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-Pré 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 Séjour. +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-Pré, 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-Pré, 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-Pré, 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-Pré, 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 £100,000, 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 Pré' 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 Pré' 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. 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