CHAPTER VI. 



CAPE BRETOX. 



CAPE BRETON is the highlands of Nova Scotia, and fitly 

 enough we find it settled by Highlanders whose ancestors 

 came out from Scotland about the commencement of the 

 century, and finding a country that somewhat reminded 

 them of their own, since it was lashed by the same ocean, 

 enveloped in the same fog, and pelted by the same merci- 

 less snow, sleet, and rain; finding the surface of the 

 country, its rocks and its hills, something like Scotland ; 

 the lakes and rivers inhabited by the same kinds of fish ; 

 the soil yielding the same sort of crops ; finding so many 

 points of resemblance between Cape Breton and their 

 native laud, these hardy fellows settled down among the 

 Acadians whom they found there. 



The scenery of Cape Breton is very fine. The hills foil 

 somewhat short of mountains, but they rise boldly from 

 the water's edge, and are clothed to the summits with 

 beech, maple, and birch, the light green of the deciduous 

 trees being relieved by the dark green, almost black, of the 

 fir tribe which grow in sombre masses in the ravines, and 

 " gulches " forming an effective setting to the hills. Cape 

 Breton has an extraordinary length of coast-line. Instead 

 of being one island, it narrowly escapes being a group of 

 islands. The Bras d'Or, a pretty landlocked sea, navigable 

 for vessels of any size, which has its outlet into the ocean 



