from the facility with which hay and straw may be carried from thence to Halifax, it lies generally in an impoverished state. Its present inhabitants consist of emigrants from Great Britain-a few survivors of the original settlers and their descendants. It abounds with roofing slate, of an excellent quality. * The Township of Douglas, is bounded on the north and east by Colchester Bay and the Shubenacadie River, on the south by Halifax, and on the west by Rawdon and Newport. It is one of the finest townships in the Province; embracing a great quantity of excellent marsh, interval and upland, and abounding with lime, gypsum, coal, slate, and free-stone. Noel, which was originally settled by the French, is situated on the borders of Colchester Bay; and after the expulsion of the Acadians, was granted to emigrants from the north of Ireland. The upland in this neighbourhood, and from thence to the Shubenacadie, is of a good quality; but the marshes, which are extensive, are by no means equal to those at the mouth of the river. Nothing can exceed the fertility of all that tract of country that adjoins this noble stream; the dyke lands are extensive, and in fruitfulness are alone equalled by those near Windsor, and the upland is uniformly good. Douglas also contains the Kenetcook, the five mile river, nine mile river, and the Gore settlements; all which were comprised in a grant of 105,000 acres, made to Lieut. Col. Small, in the year 1784, for the location of the 2d battalion of the 84th Regiment. The Kenet cook settlement lies on a river of that name, which * For an account of the Shubenacadie River, see the 2d Section of this Chapter, under the head of Truro. is about eighteen miles in extent,but is not navigable at this place. The upland here is indifferent, and the interval was the principal attraction to the first inhabitants, who were Americans that had enlisted in the 84th, while stationed on Long Island. The other three are promising and thriving places, the extent of which may be seen by reference to the statistical table subjoined to the description of this county. The Township of Kempt contains 80,000 acres, but though previously settled, was not formed into a township until the year 1825. It is situated on the borders of the Basin of Minas, and lies between Colchester Bay and the mouth of the Kenetcook. It consists almost wholly of upland, a great part of which is deep and productive. At the ebb of the tide, the shore which is flat, is exposed to view for nearly three miles, and affords an inexhaustable supply of excellent manure, in the alluvial deposit of which it is composed. In the several coves and inlets on this shore, there is a good cod and herring fishery. Kempt contains both gypsum and lime in abundance. Falmouth lies between Horton and Windsor, and is bounded by their external limits. The grant bears date, the 21st July, 1759, and conveys 50,000 acres. A long range of mountain land forms the rear-a gradually sloping upland the centre, and a border of marsh the front of this township. Though small, it is well cultivated and thickly settled, and the people are generally in comfortable circumstances. Falmouth contains about 1184 acres of diked marsh and interval, all of good quality. Neither this Township, Newport, Rawdon, Douglas, nor Kempt, contains any villages-Windsor being the only place within the County that merits the appellation. KING'S COUNTY Is bounded, on the south by the Counties of Lunenburg and Hant's, on the east by Cumberland, on the north by the Bay of Fundy, and on the west by the County of Annapolis. It contains four townships; Horton, Cornwallis, Parrsborough, and Aylesford. Horton. After leaving Falmouth, and proceed ing on the great western road, the attention of the traveller is arrested by the extent and beauty of a view, which bursts upon him very unexpectedly, as he descends the Horton mountains. A sudden turn of the road displays at once the townships of Horton and Cornwallis, and the rivers that meander through them. Beyond is a lofty and extended chain of hills, presenting a vast chasm, apparently burst out by the waters of nineteen rivers that empty into the Bason of Minas, and here escape into the Bay of Fundy. The variety and extent of this prospect, the beautiful verdant vale of the Gaspereaux ; the extended township of Horton interspersed with groves of wood and cultivated fields, and the cloud capt summit of the lofty cape that terminates the chain of the north mountain, form an assemblage of objects, rarely united with so striking an effect. The township of Horton was settled by the English, in the year 1760, and contains one hundred thousand acres. In that part of it bordering on the basin, was situated the French village Minas, of which frequent mention is made in the history of Nova-Scotia. No traces of it are now to be seen, except the cellars of the houses, a few aged orchards, and the never failing appendages of an Acadian settlement, scattered groups of willows. During the few last years of the occupation of Horton by the French, a small detachment of Provincials was stationed there, to keep them in subjection; and after their removal, it was continued for some time to overawe the Indians. The settlements of the Acadians extended from the mouth of the Gaspereaux river, to within two miles of Kentville. Satisfied with the abundant crops which were gathered from their diked fields, they gave themselves but little trouble in the cultivation of the upland, and seldom extended their clearings beyond the view of their meadows. They had enclosed and cultivated all the Grand Prarie, which then contained 2100 acres, besides smaller marshes on the Gaspereaux, and the Horton river. The former, they redeemed from the sea at different periods, and the remains of the old dikes, which, like the cells of a honey-comb, divide it into very numerous partitions, though still visible, are so crumbled by the corroding hand of time, as to be passed without difficulty by loaded teams. From the removal of these people in 1755, the country remained unsettled until the year 1760, when two hundred emigrants from Connecticut were invited to remove thither and take posses sion of it. The delays attending their embarkation and passage, unfortunately protracted their arrival until the season was too far advanced, to admit of their raising any crops that year. The succeeding winter was both tedious and severe, and as they had been accustomed to a milder climate, and the comforts and conveniences of an old colony, it was accompanied by much distress. Although the greater part of these settlers were respectable people, yet |