260 NOVA SCOTIA AND NEW BRUNSWICK. 



Trade. ...The amount of imports from Great Britain into this coun- 

 try was, in 1753, 934/.; of exports 29,552/. In 1810, the imports, at 

 the port of Halifax alone, amounted to 600,000/. ; and the imports 

 into the whole province amounted to 1,200,000/. The articles ex- 

 ported are, timber and fish. Two hundred thousand tons of timber 

 were exported from the two provinces in 1810. 



History and settlement. ...Notwithstanding the forbidding ap- 

 pearance of this country, it was here that some of the first European 

 settlements were made. The first grant of lands in it was given by 

 James I, to his secretary, Sir William Alexander, from whom it had 

 the name of Nova Scotia, or New Scotland. Since then, it has fre- 

 quently changed hands, from one private proprietor to another, and 

 from the French to the English nation, backward and forward. It 

 was not confirmed to the English till the peace of Utrecht ; and their 

 design in acquiring it does not seem to have so much arisen from 

 any prospect of direct profit to be obtained by it, as from an appre- 

 hension that the French by possessing this province, might have had 

 it in their power to annoy our other settlements. Upon this prin- 

 ciple, 3000 families were transported, in 1749, at the charge of the 

 government into this country, where they erected the town of Hali- 

 fax, so called from the earl of that name, to whose wisdom and care 

 we owe this settlement. 



