CUMBERLAND RIDGE AND FORT. 75 



flow little streams, which empty themselves, at different 

 points, into the head of the same bay. 



It thus happens that into the head of Cumberland 

 Bay, four streams, like the four fingers of a hand, empty 

 themselves between Sackville on the west and Amherst 

 on the east. Along each of these streams, becoming 

 especially wide at their mouths, stretch long bands of 

 marsh-land, separated by the island-ridges of upland 

 already described. 



Of these ridges of upland which divide the marsh into 

 separate portions, the loftiest is that called Cumberland 

 Ridge. This terminates in a promontory, which forms a 

 conspicuous object as it is seen from the waters of the 

 bay, and which has been occupied as a place of strength 

 (Cumberland Fort) at successive periods by the French 

 and the English. Immediately after breakfast, we were 

 on our way from Jolicur to this promontory among 

 other reasons, that we might enjoy the extensive view 

 it affords of the Bay of Cumberland, and of the wide 

 stretch of marsh-land, in both provinces, of which the 

 Cumberland Ridge forms a kind of centre. 



An hour s drive across the marsh, and then along the 

 high ground, brought us to the fort. It stands at the 

 extremity of a yellow or grey sandstone ridge, which 

 runs, as the other elevations do, nearly south-west, 

 separating two great divisions of the marsh-land, and 

 terminating in a promontory before it reaches the waters 

 of the Bay. The fort itself, now only a name for 

 ruined buildings and crumbling walls, was built by the 

 French, taken by the English, garrisoned by them for a 

 time, abandoned again when peace came, and refitted 

 for the last time in 1812, at the period of the American 

 war. Its dismounted cannon now do the duty of gater 

 posts, or serve for still viler uses. 



The view from the fort is .not only extensive and 

 beautiful, but economically interesting. In front, the 



