362 ROYAL SOCIETY OF CANADA 
(2)—THE INTERPROVINCIAL BOUNDARIES. 
(a4)—THE New Brunswick-Nova SCOTIA BOUNDARY. 
All of the modern maps of New Brunswick represent the boundary 
between this province and Nova Scotia as formed by the Bay of Fundy 
and the River Misseguash to the head of tide, thence by lines following 
the latter approximately to its source, thence by a due east line to 
the River Tidnish which is followed to Bay Verte, and the latter 
completes the boundary. It impresses one, and the more so the 
better he knows the country concerned, as upon the whole a natural 
and excellent boundary. Yet it did not escape the fate of New 
Brunswick boundary lines, for it was long in controversy, aroused 
much partizan feeling, and was only settled in the end by the labours 
of two special commissions, resulting in a compromise line. 
This boundary is, with the exception of the part between the 
Misseguash and the Tidnish, essentially a natural one, determined by 
the topography of the region, and hence it is not surprising that it 
has been used more than once. We have seen that it had been at 
least three times a boundary prior to its final adoption ; it had separ- 
ated the New Alexandria and the New Caledonia of Alexander, the 
government of LaTour from that of Charnisay, and it was the tacitly 
recognized boundary between the dominions of the English and French 
during the time when the limits of Acadia were under discussion — 
prior to 1755. Its final choice in 1784, however, was probably not 
influenced by its earlier use (unless as to the choice of the Missegu- 
ash instead of the Aulac), but was determined by topographical condi- 
tions. 
The present New Brunswick formed a part of Nova Scotia until 
1784. The causes leading to its separation, hitherto obscure, have 
been set forth recently with the most satisfactory clearness by Rev. 
W. O. Raymond through his volume of the “Winslow Papers,” and 
elsewhere. In brief the separation was brought about primarily by 
the inability of the authorities at Halifax to cope with the situation 
produced by the coming of the loyalists to the province, and in August, 
1784, the King in Council erected New Brunswick into a separate 
province. The first official description of the boundaries of the new 
province occurs in the commission dated Aug. 16, 1784, to Thomas 
Carleton, as Captain General and Governor in Chief (unpublished Ms. 
