NOV A SCOTIA. 113 



great within a period incredibly short for Provincial rates of 

 progress. Shediac is noted for its oysters, and is a calling- 

 point for the Gulf Port steamers that ply between Pictou 

 and Quebec. The most desirable hotels at these several 

 places are the "Victoria" at St. John, the "Clifton" at 

 Windsor, the "Halifax" at Halifax, the "Prince of Wales" 

 at Truro, kept by a hale old Scotchman by the name of 

 McKenzie, who knows all the fishing-grounds in that region, 

 "Eobson's" at Pictou, '• Johnson's " at Charlottetown,.and 

 the " Weldon " at Shediac. 



Xova Scotia is also reached by weekly ocean steamer 

 (Thursdays) from Boston to Halifax; by weekly steamer 

 from Portland to Yarmouth, on Thursdays ; and by the " In- 

 ternational" steamers from Boston to St. John, as before 

 mentioned. 



Twelve or thirteen years ago the author of " Sparrowgrass 

 Papers " wrote an entertaining sketch of Halifax and a part 

 of Xova Scotia as it then was, or rather, as he saw it — as fair 

 and truthful a sketch, perhaps, as the fog and the limit of a 

 month's observation permitted. Nevertheless, he evidently 

 closed but one eye upon his native j)rejudices. It was impos- 

 sible to divest his mind entirely of the popular notion that 

 Halifax, notwithstanding its fogs and dampness, was but the 

 correlative term for a place unmentionable and infernally 

 hot — a " mouldy old town," with dingy gables, predestined 

 to dilapidation. And the country : the other eye failed to 

 discover in it much that was attractive, civil, or indicative of 

 thrift and civilization — very httle inducement for a progres- 

 sive Yankee to immigrate. Since then, we of the United 

 States have been led by circumstances to look more kindly, 

 not to say covetously, upon this "Bluenose" capital and 

 realm. The possibility that thie wealthy province may some 

 day constitute a valuable slice of the great American domain, 

 invests it with vastly increased interest. Besides, time and 

 " the inexorable logic of events " have erased many of the 

 defects of Halifax, and multiplied its attractions. Two great 

 8 



