ABADEAU ON THE LA PLANCHE. 81 



had crossed in the morning towards the town of Sack- 

 ville, which is distant fifteen miles. 



On our way we stopped at the bridge over the La 

 Blanche, one of the small streams I have spoken of, to 

 look at the works by which these dyked lands arc 

 drained and secured. The first thing done in drying 

 these marshes is to erect a dyke or sea-wall, by which 

 the ordinary tides are excluded ; the next, to establish 

 sluices at the mouths of the rivers, by which the tidal- 

 waters shall be prevented from ascending, while the 

 fresh-water from above shall be allowed to escape. 

 These operations are common enough in all sea and river 

 embankments. The interesting points to be observed 

 here are the numerous old dykes, many of them now 

 far inland, which are to be seen upon the plain, showing 

 the progress of the practice of dyking from&quot; the time 

 when it was commenced by the early Acadian settlers, 

 and the height and strength of the sluices, called in this 

 country abadeaus, by which the river-mouths are secured 

 against the entrance of the tide. We had stopped at 

 one of these powerful and extensive abadeaus. They 

 are of great height, in consequence of the high elevation 

 of 40 to 50 feet which the tide attains ; and they are 

 made of strength sufficient to withstand not only the 

 pressure from without, but that also of the accumulating 

 river-water within. These circumstances render the 

 construction of an abadeau an important and expensive 

 undertaking, and make the constructions themselves 

 objects of pride to those who have caused them to be 

 erected, and of interest to visitors who wish to form a 

 correct idea of the material resources of the district, and 

 of the energy and enterprise of its inhabitants. 



Crossing the Fort Lawrence Ridge, we descended to 

 the Missiquash River, passed it by a long wooden 

 bridge ; farther on, crossed the Cumberland Ridge ; then 

 VOL. II. F 



