there were many idlers among them, hobe chief inducement to visit Nova-Scotia, was the provision they were entitled to receive, as a bounty for their emigration. When the most industrious could not obtain the necessaries of life without the greatest exertion, it is not surprising that persons of this class availed themselves of the first opportunity of quitting the country, as soon as the government rations were withheld. The English found the dikes very much dilapidated, and most of the meadows under water. As they were ignorant of the manner of rebuilding these embankments, they contented themselves for many years with gathering salt grass, and such other herbage as the higher parts of the Grand Prarie still afforded them. As they increased in population and acquired experience, they at length succeeded in shutting out the tide from all the land that had been formerly enclosed. But it was not until the year 1810, that that extensive meadow, which is bounded by the Grand Prarie on the east, and Wolfeville on the west, was finally encircled by a substantial dike. This embankment, and the nine aboiteauxs connected with it, which secure 687 acres of land, were erected at an expence of £9,858. The cost of keeping these dikes in repair, varies according to their exposure, and the nature of the materials with which they are built. The annual assessment for the support of that on the Grand Prarie, is upon an average about one shilling and six-pence per acre; while others containing less land and equally exposed, are maintained at a greater expence. This township includes about 4000 acres of diked land, exclusive of salt marshes and intervals.

The upland is hilly, and in some places broken; and though embracing, like every other part of NovaScotia, of the same extent, a great variety of soil, is for the most part good tillage land. The farmhouses are larger and better built than in Windsor or Falmouth, and few of them are to be seen without an orchard adjacent. The Packet which plies between Windsor and Parrsborough, touches at Horton, for the convenience of those who wish to cross the Basin of Minas. At the upper part of this township, and near its junction with Cornwallis, is situated the village of Kentville, containing several well built private houses, the Court-House, and Jail. It is distant from Halifax about seventy-two miles, and from Annapolis sixty, forming the central point, at which the stage-coaches meet, that run between those two towns. There is a good gramniar school at this place; and it is said that the Baptists of NovaScotia have it in contemplation to found an Academy within a few miles of it, which shall be open for the reception of the youth of every denomination, but under the particular controul of the general association. The views in this neighbourhood are remarkably fine, and the formation of the land, such as to present a great variety in the landscape. No part of the Province can boast more beautiful and diversified scenery, than the township of Horton. Beside the splendid prospect from the mountain just mentioned, and those in the vicinity of Kentville, there are others still more interesting at a distance from the post road. It would be difficult to point out another landscape, at all equal to that which is beheld. from the hill, that overlooks the site of the ancient

village of Minas. On either hand extend undulating hills richly cultivated, and intermingled with farm houses and orchards. From the base of these high lands, extend the alluvial meadows, which add so much to the appearance and wealth of Horton. The Grand Prarie is skirted by Boot and Long Islands, whose fertile and well tilled fields are sheltered from the north, by evergreen forests of dark foliage. Beyond are the wide expanse of waters of the Basin of Minas, the lower part of Cornwallis, and the isles, and blue highlands of the opposite shores. charm of this prospect consists in the unusual combination of hill, dale, woods, and cultivated fields; in the calm beauty of agricultural scenery, and in the romantic wildness of the distant forests. During the summer and autumnal months, immense herds of cattle are seen quietly cropping the herbage of the Grand Prarie; while numerous vessels plying on the Basin, convey a pleasing evidence of the prosperity and resources of this fertile district.

The

The River Gaspereaux rises in the south-west part of the township, in a lake of the same name, situated near the source of Gold River, in Lunenburg County. For the first few miles, and as it flows. through the settlement of Canaan, there is a wild grandeur and beauty in the scenery. It rushes impetuously between two lofty and almost perpendicular hills-its bed resembling a chasm made in the heart of the mountain, by some violent convulsion of nature. From this place the course of the stream is so serpentine, that within a small space, the horizon is bounded on all sides by the hills, that in their circumference recede from the river, which, in this

deep recess, appears like a small central point. Here a narrow foot-path winds down the precipitous steep, by which the traveller, with much exertion and some danger of a more rapid descent, reaches the margin of the stream, where a scene of indescribable beauty is presented to view. As the river pursues its course, the hills become more accessible, and admit of cultivation; at length the mountains recede, and alluvial meadows form the peaceful valley of the Gaspereaux, through which, as if resting from the rapidity of its previous course, the river meanders with a gentle current until within a short distance of the post road, where salt marsh is formed by the mingling of its waters with the returning tide. On the Gaspereaux there are several mills and four bridges. Trouts are abundant, and vast quantities Excellent salof smelts are taken in their season.

mon are also obtained here, but the fish from which the river has derived its name, are most predominant. There are in this township, an Episcopalian church, two Baptist, one Presbyterian, and two Methodist meeting-houses; also eleven grist mills, five saw mills, two oat mills, two carding machines, one flax mill, and three fulling mills.

Cornwallis.-This extensive Township is bounded on the north by the Bay of Fundy, on the east by the Bason of Minas, on the west by Aylesford, and on the south by the Horton river. It was settled at the same time with Horton, and by persons who emigrated from the same colony, Connecticut. They sailed together in a fleet of twenty-two vessels, convoyed by a brig of war, mounting sixteen guns, commanded by Captain Pigot. They arrived on the

4th June, 1760, and took possession of the lands formerly occupied by the Acadians. At the place where they disembarked, (a point of land near the town-plot of Cornwallis) they found sixty ox carts, and as many yokes, which the unfortunate French had used in conveying their baggage to the vessels that carried them away from the country; and at the skirts of the forest, heaps of the bones of sheep and horned cattle, that, deserted by their owners, had perished in winter for want of food. They also met with a few straggling families of Acadians, who had escaped from the scrutinizing search of the soldiers, at the removal of their countrymen, and who, afraid of sharing the same fate, had not ventured to till the land, or to appear in the open country. They had eaten no bread for five years, and had subsisted on vegetables, fish, and the more hardy part of the cattle, that had survived the severity of the first winter of their abandonment. The cultivated country bore a strong resemblance to those parts of Horton which had been previously settled. The cleared lands every where skirted the meadows, and were by no means extensive. On all of them were found the ruins of the houses, that had been burned by the Provincials, small gardens encircled by cherry trees and currant bushes, and inconsiderable orchards, or rather clumps of apple trees. Six hundred acres of marsh were secured from the sea, but in a very indifferent state of repair, and as many more, which had been enclosed, but were flooded by the salt water that had broken the dikes for want of their usual reparations. As the Indians were both numerous and unfriendly, and apprehensions entertained that