[bourinot] BUILDEES OF NOVA SCOTIA 63 



then 1 never see'd a load' that's all. They have the hold chock full, deck 

 piled up to the pump handles, and scuppers under water." 



In these times, when all of us can atford to be less touchy than the 

 generation among whom the humourist lived, we cannot fail to be 

 amused at his references to the self-satisfaction which was and is a 

 conspicuous trait of our fellow-countrymen and to the want of "go- 

 aheaditiveness " which was too prevalent among a people whose relations 

 with the restless world of progress beyond them were relatively insig- 

 nificant. Even in these days Nova Scotians, who mix little with 

 communities beyond their provincial limits, carry about them an air of 

 supeiiority and a shade of disappointment that there are so man}- people 

 who have not had the advantage of being born and bred in the land of 

 the mayflower. Such traits were notably prevalent in the old times 

 when Nova Scotia had a distinct colonial government, and Haliburton 

 could not resist the temptation to hit oti' the self-conceit of a large class 

 in his inimitable book "The Clockmaker," and at the same time the brag 

 " of the most free and enlightened citizens on the face of the airth," 

 whom Sam Slick was always representing " as takin' the shine off all 

 creation." Sam Slick remains still one of the few original creations of 

 American humour, and new editions continue to be printed fi'om time to 

 time. All his other books are readable and full of" spicy " observations, 

 which show his keen knowledge of human nature, but they are little 

 read now-a-days and his reputation must always rest on the sayings and 

 doings of Sam Slick. His history of JS'ova Scotia in two octavo volumes 

 is distinguished by that lucidity of narrative which was one of his merits 

 as a writer, but it is no longer an authority in view of the new light 

 thrown upon the various epochs of our annals by the copying and 

 publication of important archives with which he was entirely un- 

 acquainted. In his first volume he is open to a charge of plagiarism, 

 since the narrative of the events of the seven years war, and especially 

 the account of the second siege of Louisbourg are either condensed, or 

 taken verbatim et literatim, from the English history by Smollet. The 

 Second volume is largely made up of contributions from residents of the 

 counties and townships, of which he gives interesting geographical and 

 topographical descriptions. For instance, the very full account of the 

 island of Cape Breton was written by Mr. W. 11. Crawley, who was 

 connected with the surveys of that island, and is much above the average 

 merit of the volume from a literary as well as economic point of view. 

 I do not, however, mention these facts with any desire to detract from 

 the undoubted merit of a history which at the time it was published — 

 seventy years ago — was the first attempt of importance made by a Nova 

 Scotian to give to the world of letters a history of the province, and at 

 the same time, describe its interesting scenery and valuable resources 

 then relatively little known to the great world of commerce and enter- 



