26

FORMATION AND FILLING UP

miles. The northern ridge consists of trap, resting upon a red sandstone, and forms the southern boundary of the Bay of Fundy. The southern ridge, called the South Mountains, consists of granite and of, more or less, metamorphic (Silurian and Cambrian) slates. The surface of the former has been crumbled by the action of the weather sufficiently to form over the greater part of the North Mountains a considerable depth of soil, which, like that of so many other trap rocks, is said by Dr Gesner to be rich and fertile. The granites and slates of the South Mountains have in general been slowly acted upon by the weather, and have unwillingly produced poor and scanty soils.

Between these ridges runs a long valley, widening towards the Bay of Minas, and affording at that extremity a larger expansion for the fertile alluvials of Cornwallis and Horton. In this valley lies, or formerly lay, a red sandstone deposit-that which still dips beneath the trap of the North Mountains-resting probably on some of the softer slates of the Silurian age.

In the drift period, when the whole of this country was submerged, the northern current, of which we have so many traces in these countries, rushing between the two lofty ridges of hard rock, scooped out the softer and less coherent red sandstones and marls and softer slates, and produced the existing valley, which, like the Bay of Fundy -a wider and longer excavation-has a north-east and south-westerly course.

And now, when the land was elevated to the existing level, the tides began to act as at present upon the Bay of Fundy, and to run round either end of the North Mountains, which, from Cape Blomedon to the Digby Gut, formed a long narrow island, having the Bay of Fundy on one side and the Strait of Annapolis on the other.

But the natural entrance of the tide into the strait

OF THE VALLEY OF ANNAPOLIS.

27

between the two ridges was through the Gut of Digby or Annapolis—a gut or opening through the lower end of the North Mountains into the Bay of Fundy-and here it would therefore enter when the waters reached it on their way up the Bay of Fundy. But through this narrow gut the tide could not advance with a velocity equal to that with which it ascended the open bay, and thus the tidal waters would round Cape Blomedon into the Bay of Minas, and, rushing westward towards Cornwallis, would meet the smaller arm of the tide which had come through the gut somewhere in the strait. Here a struggle would ensue, which would be repeated every tide, would shift its locality a little with the height of the tidal waters, and with the direction of the wind, but the effect of which would be to sweep into, and deposit on the site of the struggle, all the loose materials which the rains and streams brought down from either mountain-side, or which the tides themselves might tear from them. Thus a growing sandbank, and finally a bar, would be established in the strait, which would be a virtual water-shed, separating, as now, the tidal waters of the Bay of Annapolis from those of the Bay of Minas. On either side of this dividing line, the muddy waters of each bay would begin to deposit the rich slime which has consolidated into the fertile dyked land. And as the tendency always is, where such deposits take place, to raise the land highest near the water, the first formed dividing bank would remain at a lower level than the alluvial soil of newer formation, and thus a lake would be formed upon it, to dry up sooner or later into a bog or marsh. The great Carriboo bog, which still forms the water-shed and the origin of both rivers, stands on the site of the original bank, the scene of the once daily struggle of the two opposing tides.

The rest is easy. The deposits from the muddy water have gone on as they are doing now, till they have filled

28

FINE FUTURE OF NOVA SCOTIA.

the whole of the space which the valley now occupies. And if the Annapolis dyked lands are less rich than those of Cornwallis, it is because the waters of the Bay of Fundy, coming in from the Atlantic, are less loaded with enriching matter as they enter the Gut of Digby than they are after they round Cape Blomedon; and because the discharge of fresh water into the west end of the valley is less, and the streams come through geological formations that yield their materials less largely to the waters which pass over them.

Annapolis is a quiet clean town, with considerable shipping capabilities, but little traffic. The drought, the potato failure, and other causes, had made the farmers poor; the home trade was therefore dull, and the good people of Annapolis in consequence discontented. As they could not think the cause of their interrupted prosperity was in any way to be traced to themselves, they were inclined to believe, with the Canadians, that it must be the fault of the Home Government, and that the certain cure was to shake themselves free of the mother country. I had not had much time to become initiated in local politics, but I was certainly pleased in listening to some of the warmer Annapolis politicians, to find them so very unsuccessful in making for this province anything approaching to a reasonable grievance against the Colonial Office. I pictured to myself Upper Canada in the character of one London jarvie saying to Nova Scotia in the guise of another, "What, no raw?" and thus exciting the ambition of his brother chip to discover or establish one. My present impression of Nova Scotia is, that it has a fine future before it. The friends of humanity will regret if its local rulers-its inhabitants, that is-shall suffer microscopic or imaginary evils to retard the discovery and development of its many natural resources, on which the rapid and sure realisation of that fine future so much depends.

On my arrival at Annapolis, I found that the steamer

ICE-HOLES IN THE NORTH MOUNTAINS.

29

to St John did not sail till Monday; so that I had two days to amuse myself in this neighbourhood. Part of one of these I spent in crossing the bay, and climbing the North Mountains, to visit a spot where I had been told that ice was to be met with all the year round. The day was hot, and the hill steep, and when we were fairly in the woods, I occasionally, for a short cut, forsook my guide and the trail, and fell among windfalls, so that I was not a little pleased when he announced our arrival at the spot. A windfall, in the English sense, usually means a bit of good luck; but when an Englishman gets into an American forest, he will soon unlearn this home sense of the term, and come to class it among unlucky events, with the occurrence of an alder swamp or a Carriboo bog.

The spot we had come to was a kind of notch in the side and summit of the mountain, where angular fragments and rocky masses of trap were piled one upon another, a little runner flowing down the centre of the notch. The whole was overgrown with mixed timber, chiefly hardwood, the roots of the trees fixing themselves wherever a holding-place among the stones was to be found. At various spots a freezing cold air was felt to issue from among the stones; and, on digging under the fallen leaves among the stony crevices, we succeeded in obtaining some lumps of ice, which, with the water of the brook and a little brandy-a prohibited drink in these parts-formed a refreshing beverage after our fatiguing ascent. This locality resembles those which have been described in different parts of Europe, where ice occurs, even in hot weather, among masses of collected rocky fragments. The air proceeds most probably from caverns in the mountain, which are filled with ice during the long and severe winters of this latitude, and are rarely melted by the warm air that enters them even during a hot and protracted summer.

3309

ORES AND IRON-WORKS ON BEAR RIVER.

I heard many complaints of the excessive drought in this part of the province. Parties who are badly off for hay are in the habit, in ordinary years, of sending to those who have hay to spare, three cattle at the beginning of winter, to receive back two in spring. This year five were already spoken of to get back three, and higher payments might become necessary.

The Bay of Annapolis is about twenty miles long, and at the foot of it stands the town of Digby. Several rivers flow into it from the South Mountains, among which the Moose river is distinguished by the occurrence of deposits of iron ore a few miles above its mouth. Another deposit of the same ore occurs on the Nictau river, which descends from the same mountains into the valley, about half-way between Cornwallis and Annapolis. Both ores are very rich, and that of Nictau abounds in casts of Silurian fossils.

Some years ago a company was formed for the purpose of mining and smelting these ores; and buildings were erected at the mouth of Bear River, where the manufacture was established and carried on. But differences arose among the partners, and the works were stopped. The site of the works is ten or twelve miles below Annapolis; and I was indebted to the kindness of Dr Lesliea Scotchman possessed of the perfervidum ingenium of his country both in heart and head-for driving me to the spot. The site appeared to be well chosen, especially for convenience of shipment. There were also heaps of ore, and many tons of unfinished blooms, lying in the crumbling buildings, showing how summarily operations had been stopped. The furnaces and workshops were already falling to ruin, for want of that stitch in time with which masons, as well as tailors, can keep things in repair at a small expense. The locality is admirably adapted for the supply of iron to the markets of the two provinces, and of the Atlantic States; and if the adjoining