132 CAPE BRETON. 



frowning hills, which rise to a vast eminence. From this vil- 

 lage an interior steamboat traverses Bras d'Or Lake to Sydney, 

 touching at two or three places on the trip. A steamboat 

 also runs from Halifax to Hawksbury in the Strait of Canso, 

 and there connects with a steamboat for Port Hood. From 

 Sydney there is a daily line of stages to Pictou, by which ac- 

 cess is had to the few salmon-streams of Eichmond county. 

 This drive of one hundred and fifty miles, long though it 

 seems, is of the most enjoyable character, and is well worth 

 the while. For the first fourth of the distance it skirts the 

 base of a mountain-chain that crowds down to the very 

 shore of one of the arms of Lake Bras d'Or ; then traversing 

 a country of constantly varying scenery it crosses the Strait 

 of Canso, with its bold highlands and deep channels con- 

 stantly crowded with vessels when the wind is light; then 

 skirts the base of the Tracadie Mountains, and touches the 

 water again at Antigonish ; then traverses the valley of the 

 Antigonish Mountain range, and on to the coal-mines of 

 New Glasgow, and thence quickly to Pictou. For a fort- 

 night's summer cruise, none can be more novel than one 

 from New York or Boston which includes this round trip 

 from Pictou to Sydney by stage, and return by steamboat. 



The geographical features of Cape Breton are mountain 

 and lake. Place the open hand palm downward upon an 

 area six times its size, and you have nearly the outline of 

 Lake Bras d'Or the fingers representing the several bodies 

 of water known as the East Bay, the Little Bras d'Or, the 

 Great Bras d'Or, and St. Patrick's Channel, which extends 

 into the Bedeque Eiver, and the thumb a large bay that 

 reaches almost to the Great Bay of St. Peter's on the east. 

 All these several vast sheets of water are indented by innu- 

 merable coves, inlets, and inflowing streams. The whole 

 western shore bordering the Gulf of St. Lawrence, is a suc- 

 cession of highlands that almost attain the dignity of a 

 mountain range, slashed at long intervals by gorges through 

 which rivers like the Margarie flow to the Gulf. Some of 



