8th. Annapolis County is divided into two districts, and contains six townships--Wilmot, Granville, Annapolis, Clements, Digby, Clare. 9th. Shelburne is divided into two districts, and contains four townships-Yarmouth, Argyle, Barrington, Shelburne. 10th. Cape-Breton is divided into three districts, and contains seven townships-Sydney, St. Andrew, St. Patrick, Canseau, Port Hood, Ainslie and Margaree. ca. CHAPTER II. Section 1.--HALIFAX DIVISION. The Halifax division comprises only a part of the County of that name, and contains four townshipsHalifax, Dartmouth, Preston, and Lawrence Town. The harbour of Halifax is one of the finest in AmeriA thousand vessels may ride in it in safety. It is accessible at all seasons of the year, and is to be prized for the facility of its entrance, general situation, and proximity to the Bay of Fundy, and all the interior settlements of the Province. It is situ ated in latitude 440 40 north, and 630 40 west longitude. It lies nearly north and south, extending about sixteen miles in length, and terminating in a beautiful sheet of water called Bedford Basin, within which are ten square miles of safe anchorage. The entrance is marked by Sambro Island, on which a Light-House was erected soon after the settlement of Halifax by the English. A small party of artillery are stationed here, to correspond with the town by signals, and are furnished with two twenty-four pounders as alarm guns. Three miles from Halifax, and near the mouth of the harbour, is McNab's island, which is three miles in length, and half a mile in breadth, and contains about 1,090 acres. On its western side is a long gravelly point of low land, called Mauger's Beach, on which stands Sherbrooke Tower, a circular stone battery. The foundation of this building was strengthened by timber driven into the ground; but it has been found to yield to the pressure of the structure erected upon it. On the top of the tower is a lantern, by the light of which vessels avoid the dangers of the Thrumb-cap shoals, which extend for some distance to the southward of the beach. McNab's Island forms two entrances to the harbour, the eastern and western passage. At the mouth of the former is Duggan's or Macnamara's Island, which is well wooded, and composed of a deep good soil. This passage, which gradually contracts in width to a quarter of a mile, is obstructed by a sand bar, and is only used by small vessels. The north end of this strait is protected by a stone tower, called the eastern battery. Immediately opposite to the town, and midway between it and Dartmouth, is George's Island, which is regularly fortified, and from its admirable position, forms one of the chief defences of the place. The beauty and safety of this harbour attracted the notice of speculators at a very early period, and many applications were at different times made, for a grant of the land in its vicinity. The famous projector, Captain Coram, was engaged in 1718, in a scheme for settling here; and a petition was presented by Sir Alexander Cairn, James Doug las, and Joshua Gee, in behalf of themselves and others, praying for a grant upon the sea coast, five leagues S. W. and five leagues N. W. of Chebucto, upon condition of building a town, improving the country round it, by raising hemp, making pitch, tar and turpentine, and of settling two hundred families upon it within three years. This petition received a favourable report from the Lords of Trade; but as it was opposed by the Massachusetts' agents, on account of a clause restricting the fishery, it was rejected by the Council. The eagerness with which these petitions were pressed upon the attention of Government, and the political importance of the port, induced the Ministry to undertake the settlement at the public expense. Colonel Cornwallis was selected to carry this measure into execution, and appointed the Governor of the Colony. About the last of June, 1749, he arrived at Chebucto, and laid the foundation of the Town of Halifax. Such was the ardour with which the work was undertaken, that before the ensuing winter, three hundred comfortable wooden houses were built, and the whole secured by a strong wooden pallisade.Eleven years afterwards (1760) it is thus described in a letter, addressed by one of the inhabitants to the Rev. Dr. Stiles, of Boston, and preserved in the collections of the Massachusetts' Historical Society: "It is now divided into three towns Halifax, Irish town (South suburbs) and Dutch town (North suburbs.) The whole may contain about 1000 houses, great and small, many of which are employed as Barracks, Hospitals for the army and navy, and other public uses. The inhabitants may be about 3000, one third of which are Irish, and many of them Roman Catholics, about one fourth Germans and Dutch, the most industrious and useful settlers amongst us, and the rest English, with a very small number of Scotch. We have upwards of 100 licensed houses, and perhaps as many more which retail spirituous liquors without license, so that the business of one half of the town is to sell rum, and the other half to drink it. You may, from this single circumstance, judge of our morals, and naturally infer that we are not enthusiasts in religion. Though our present fortifications have cost large sums of money, at least the Government has given and is charged with immense sums, (how much of it has been misapplied, I will not take upon myself to say), yet I would now engage that two ships of the line would destroy the whole settlement; but that will not be the case, when the citadel is completed, as it overlooks the town, commands the harbour, and is too high for ships to reach or make any impression on it." Halifax is situated on the western side of the harbour, on the declivity of a commanding hill, whose summit is about 256 feet above the level of the sea. There are eight streets running through the centre of the town, only two of which reach its southern and three its northern extremity. These are again intersected by fifteen others. The town and suburbs are upwards of two miles in length, and its general width about half a mile. In 1790 it contained 4,000 inhabitants and 700 houses. In 1817, the houses amounted to 1,200, and in June, 1828, the population was 14,439 and the houses 1,580. |