tains Clarge, Digby, and part of Clements, has not the same advantages of salt marshes and fertile intervals as the eastern district, nor is the upland in general so favourable for tillage. The surface soil however is no where impracticable, the growth of native wood is excellent, and abundant, the pasturage remarkably sweet, healthy, and (considering the nature of the climate) of long duration,and the streams of fresh water, both numerous and durable.-To this enumeration of its advantages may be added the peculiar formation of the district, which, owing to the indentations made by Annapolis basin and St. Mary's bay, brings fish, sea manure, and boat navigation within the reach of every settler. The district yields for exportation, beyond what is required for its own consumption, considerable quantities of dry and pickled fish, lumber, neat cattle, sheep, butter, oats, and barley. The culture of wheat, rye, and indian corn, is more or less practis ed, but not with such success as to preclude the ne cessity of importing a proportion of those articles. Green crops of all kinds succeed well, and in general the same may be said of pulse, hops, fruits, and gar den stuff. Much of this western district yet remains in a rude and uncultivated state, but the rapid in crease of population must soon subdue it. By the census taken A. D. 1827, the number of souls appeared to be about six thousand; and upon a careful comparison of older tables, it would seem that the annual increase has been at the rate of nearly five per cent.

72701 5182 314 2713 8315 1291

STOCK.

COUNTY OF SHELBURNE.

This County is bounded on the east by Queen's County, on the north by Annapolis County, and on the south and west by the Atlantic ocean. It contains four Townships-Yarmouth, Argyle, Barrington, Shelburne.

The Township of Yarmouth lies between Clare and Argyle, with the latter of which it forms a district, and is bounded on the west by the Atlantic ocean, and on the east by ungranted lands. Its medium length is about twenty, and its breadth twelve miles. It comprises about 100,000 acres of land, exclusive of allowances for lakes, of which eighty have been already explored. The principal one, lake George, is, next to Rossignol, the largest in the Province. Besides these lakes, the township is intersected by the Yarmouth, Chebogue, Chegoggin, Beaver, Salmon, and Tusket Rivers. The face of the country is very agreeably diversified, and in point of scenery it is one of the most beautiful portions of Nova-Scotia. The climate is more temperate than that of less insulated parts of the Province, the mercury very rarely falling as low as Zero, nor rising higher than 80°. The mean temperature is about 480. At a short distance from the salt water, apples, plumbs, and cherries, succeed well; and on the banks of the Tusket-pears, peaches, and melons ripen. The sea breeze and the fogs which occasionally occur in summer, render Yarmouth more suitable for the production of potatoes and grass, the manufacture of butter and cheese, and the rearing of cattle, than for the culture of grain, of which not more than five thousand bushels were raised in 1827. The soil of

the upland is in general strong and productive, but requires much labour in the first instance, before it can be brought into a state of culture. The marshes, inferior to those at the

though extensive, are very

They yield when dyked

head of the Bay of Fundy. good grass, but are too spongy to admit of the use of the plough, partaking more of the quality of peat,than of alluvial deposit. The principal harbour is Cape Forchu, which is large and well sheltered. It is surrounded by mud flats, that are bare at low tides, but the channel is navigable for large ships, as far as the upper part of Yarmouth village, and for sinall craft, as far as the foot of the lock at Milton, while the sound affords good anchorage, for vessels of any size. Chebogue river is navigable six or seven miles from the sea, and expands at its mouth into a good harbour. The first white inhabitants in this part of the country, were a few Acadians from the Port Royal Colony, who formed several little settlements in the district, since called Yarmouth. The remains of a flourishing one still exist at the head of the Chegoggin marsh, and the apple trees, stone walls, and cellars, at Crocker's point, on Chebogue river, are said to be the relicts of an extensive hamlet of the same people. The most compact village was at Raynard's falls, fifteen miles up the Tusket river. To this place they fled for refuge, when the sentence of general transportation was passed upon them in 1755. But even the solitude and seclusion of this spot did not shelter them from the pursuit of their enemies. A boat, dispatched from an armed vessel in the mouth of the Tusket, and guided by native pilots, ascended the river and its chain of lakes, to invade

this asylum, and advanced within a mile of the village. At a narrow strait, where the river is contracted to twenty or thirty yards in width, and the umbrageous branches of the sombre pines overarched the pass, and enveloped it in shade. An ambuscade had been formed by the fugitives, and the unsuspecting crew, surprised under the very muzzles of their assailant's guns, received a most dreadful discharge of musketry, which either killed or wounded the whole party. This petty triumph, though it might gratify revenge, and procrastinate their captivity, only served to render their fate more certain, and they were at last compelled to fly. Some escaped to the woods, and becoming domiciliated with the Indians, never after wished to return to the haunts, or the habits of white men; but the greater part were captured, and transported with their families to New England. After the pacification of 1763, they were permitted to return, and the Acadians of Clare, Eel Brook, and Pubnico, are chiefly the descendants of these people. During the period which intervened between their expulsion and their return, the country was settled by the English.

On the 9th of June, 1761, a few families, finally amounting to 85 souls, arrived from Sandwich, a small town near Plymouth, in New-England. Their chief inducement to remove to Nova-Scotia, was the extensive marsh of Chebogue, and the convenience of the coast for carrying on the fishery. The greater part of them settled at the head of the marsh, on the site of a French settlement, and in most instances they erected their houses on the cellars, which had been dug by their predecessors. Having finished