ACADEMY AT SACKVILLE. 83 



minerals and of philosophical instruments, in a very 

 creditable state of forwardness, form part of the educa 

 tional apparatus of the institution. My wonder is how, 

 in such mere outlines of countries as these North Ameri 

 can colonies still are, so many separate institutions of a 

 higher kind can be established and maintained, and so 

 large a number of persons can afford to pay the com 

 paratively high, though very reasonable, annual charge 

 which is made for the board and education of the pupils. 



At Sackville I was the more happy to avail myself of 

 the ready hospitality of the Honourable Mr Crane, as I 

 unexpectedly found that I had already a slight acquaint 

 ance with a member of his family, with whom I had had 

 the pleasure of crossing the Atlantic a few months before. 



Saturday, Oct. 27. Whoever has examined the dyked 

 lands of Holland, may have observed that their natural 

 level declines as we leave the immediate banks of the 

 Rhine, or of the other rivers upon which they are situ 

 ated. So on the dyked low r -lands of eastern Lincoln 

 shire, the immediate coast-line is higher in level than the 

 inner country, and the warped-lands on the Humber and 

 the Trent are higher than the wide peaty or sandy moor 

 lands which are frequently met with many miles from 

 their banks. 



The same is the case with the marsh and alluvial flats 

 at the head of the Bay of Fundy. The stiff clays of the 

 coast-line, and of the immediate banks of the rivers, 

 decline in level as we leave the shores and the river 

 beds. The dryncss of the soil and its value also 

 diminish, and we advance from a firm alluvial soil to a 

 more and more uncertain marsh, and finally find our 

 selves, when we are six or eight miles inland, upon an 

 unstable and dangerous bog, the surface of which is 

 several feet below the level of high-water in the bay. A 

 few miles above Sackville, the rich Tantamare marsh 

 declines into a worthless bog of this kind; and I made an 



