VIII. — PrcTou Island. — Bv A. H. MacKav, B. A., B. Sc, 



F. R. 8. C. 



Pictou Island lies in the Straits of NortliuniLerltind, mid-way 

 between Pictou County, Nova Scotia, and Prince Edward Island, 

 l:)etween lat. N. 45^ 48' and 45" 50^ and Ion. W. 62" 30' and 62° 

 35\ It is about five miles long and one wide, the axis of its 

 greatest length feeing nearly due magnetic east and west, i. e.. 

 astronomically al)Out N. 65° E. A circle describe<l from the 

 centre of the island with a radius of about eleven miles would 

 touch the approximately parallel coast of Prince Edward Island 

 on the one side and come within a mile of the nearly parallel 

 island of Merigomish and adjacent coast line on the other side, 

 wdiile it would reach the land near the mouth of Pictou Harbor, 

 cutting off the head of the peninsula on which the town is l)uilt, 

 leaving the mainland tangential to the coast line of Carriboo 

 Harbor. The island rises from 100 feet in the west to 150 feet 

 in its eastern half above the level of the sea : and its rock base 

 exposed by the action of the water around the coast line, is cap- 

 ped to the depth of manj^ feet with boulder clay and gravel drift 

 forming a gently undulating surface and a superior soil for all 

 agricultural purposes. Seven or eight miles towards Prince 

 Edward Island, the water attains a depth eijual to the island's 

 extreme height, and on the other side towards Merip'omish it 

 attains a depth of onl}^ one half, al)0ut 75 feet. 



Fr(nn a glance at the map it will be observed that the corru- 

 gations of the earth surface running northeasterly and soutli- 

 westerly are well marked in Nova Scotia and New Brunswick. 

 The general elevation of Nova Scotia above the water is in 

 this direction, as is also the coast line, the mountains, and the 

 depressions of the Bras d'Or in Cape Breton, the coast line of 

 Nova Scotia from near Pictou Harbor to Cape George, the 

 s_ynclinal depression of Pictou Harbor itself, which appears to 

 run out in tlie strait parallel to the coast, the depression of the 

 Hillsl)or()ugli River in Prince Edward Island, and portions of 



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