is brought to the ground. The strength and fierceness of this species of seal is such that this attempt is not unaccompanied with danger, and when they turn on their pursuer, they ward off the blow so dexterously that they sometimes seize the club in their mouth and escape. An ordinary handspike would be altogether unavailing, and a musket is equally ineffectual. When driven off of this shoal they land again on the north west Bar, where they are pursued in the same manner, after which they disappear altogether until the ensuing year. The chief value of the seal consists in the oil. When the animal is killed the fat is peeled off with knives, and the blubber tried out. The skin of a full grown one is worth 5s. and that of a whelp 1s. 6d. The proceeds of the sales of both the skins and oil are devoted to the benefit of the funds of the establishment. This interesting and valuable institution, which has preserved the lives of many hundreds of unfortunate people, has been maintained for twenty-four years at the sole expense of Nova-Scotia. The humble state of the Provincial Revenue at the time is was projected, and the selfishness which dictated that, as its benefits were enjoyed in common with other Colonies, the cost of its support should be also distributive, were obstacles of no ordinary nature; and the highest praise is due to the Legislature which, disregarding their consideration, had the good sense and liberality to commence this laudable establish. ment. CHAPTER IV. Progressive increase and present state of population-Negro Slaves-History of the Maroons-Chesapeake Blacks— manners and character of Nova-Scotians-Militia-comparative statement of the different religious sects-state of the Established Church-Catholic Clergy-Presbyterian Synod-Methodist Conference-Baptist Association— Education. The progressive increase of the population of Nova-Scotia has never been ascertained with any degree of certainty. During the whole period that the country was in the possession of the French, political changes, and the insecurity of property, had a tendency to divert the attention of the settlers from agriculture to the fisheries. This operated so powerfully in checking the increase of population, that in the year 1749, just one hundred and fortyfour years after the settlement of the Colony, the Acadians amounted to only 18,000. After the removal of these people from Nova-Scotia the British settlers in 1755 were numbered at 5,000, and in 1764, the following estimate was made, at the request of the Massachusets Historical Society : Falmouth, 278 13,000 In 1772 it was reported to be 19,120, but in consequence of the revolution in America, and the failure of extensive land jobbing speculations, a number of people quitted the country, and in 1781 it was supposed not to have exceeded 12,000. Two years afterwards there arrived 20,000 loyalists, so that in the year 1784 the number of inhabitants amounted to 32,000. Cape Breton, Prince Edward Island, and New Brunswick, having been formed into distinct Governments, Nova-Scotia suffered a loss in its population as well as its territory; and in a short time many of the loyalists either returned to the United States or removed elsewhere. In consequence of this decrease, it may be stated at 30,000 in the year 1790. The fluctuation to which it had been subject, previous to this period, and the uncertainty in which it is involved, is such that we cannot assign to it a permanent population at any earlier period. From this time it has steadily advanced, and its increase may be measured as in other countries. In the year 1817, a census of Nova-Scotia proper, was taken by order of the Earl of Dalhousie, which was as follows: |