4 FROM BLOMIDON TO SMOKY. 



giving it freer range through well-tilled mead- 

 ows and undulating fields. Evening, heralded 

 by rolling masses of dark clouds, seemed to be 

 upon us, as our horses slowly climbed the steep 

 slope of the Gaspereaux back of Wolfville. 

 The air grew cold, and when we reached the 

 crest of the ridge a strong wind wrestled with 

 us, and carried a chill from Fimdy to the very 

 marrow of our bones. Then it was that, gaining 

 the edge of the northern slope, we suddenly saw 

 the marvelous panorama of the Cornwallis Val- 

 ley, North Mountain, Blomidon, the Basin of 

 Minas, the Acadian dike lands including Grand 

 Pre, and the mouth of the Gaspereaux, spread 

 before us under the sunset lights and the em- 

 phatic contrasts of speeding wind clouds. 



The tide was out, and miles of basin bottom 

 lay red and shining in the sunlight. The dike 

 lands were intensely green, the sands, or mud, 

 all shades of terra cotta, the shallows strange 

 tones of purple, and the deeper waters varying 

 shades of blue. Color ran riot in meadow, mud, 

 and bay. Above and beyond all, directly in 

 front of us, miles away, at the extremity of a 

 grand sweep of shore which curved towards it 

 from our left, was a dark red bluff crowned 

 with evergreens. Its profile was commanding. 

 From the edge of its forest it fell one quarter of 

 the way to the sea in a line perfectly perpen- 



