THE CHARM OF CAPE BRETON ISLAND 



53 



the nervous diseases of all the ages, could 

 not but find peace in this scene of tran- 

 quil beauty, and sail on into a great and 

 deepening contentment." 



The Bras d'Or lakes are all this and 

 more. Words seem poor things, applied 

 to the sparkle of blue waters under mid- 

 summer sun, the flash of seagulls' wings 

 in purple shallows, or to headlands some- 

 times blue in the distance, sometimes 

 brilliant with October coloring and hazy 

 under the heat of Indian summer, or 

 snow-capped and vivid against dazzling 

 winter skies. 



A CHARM PECULIARLY ITS OWN 



Those who are fond of seeing in every- 

 thing a likeness to something else com- 

 pare Cape Breton scenery variously to 

 the Highlands of Scotland or to Killar- 

 ney; but the world-traveled Americans 

 who have made it their summer home 

 since its rediscovery by Warner find that, 

 as lovely as all these, it has a charm pe- 

 culiarly its own. 



Besides these great stretches of inland 

 sea, there are several beautiful fresh- 

 water lakes — the largest, Lake Ainslie, 

 with a length of twelve miles ; Loch Lo- 

 mond, as picturesque as its name, and 

 the Lakes-o-Law, headwaters of the Mar- 

 garee River, of salmon-fishing fame. 

 For loveliness these lake districts rival 

 the Bras d'Or. There are graceful 

 wooded hills, rich upland pastures, and 

 stretches of fertile intervale between. 



Lake Ainslie is in the heart of a rich 

 farming country that extends from the 

 Baddeck and Middle rivers through the 

 beautiful valley of the Margaree, and re- 

 minds one of how much underrated are 

 the agricultural possibilities of Cape Bre- 

 ton. 



THE ISLAND'S DIVERSIFIED PHYSICAL 

 FEATURES 



No country in the world is better 

 adapted for mixed farming or has greater 

 rapidity of growth, once vegetation is 

 started. Oddly enough, the lateness of 

 the spring gives Cape Breton fruit-grow- 

 ers an advantage over those of the famous 

 Annapolis Vallev of the neighboring 

 peninsula, as the blossom buds do not de- 

 velop too early and the proximity to the 

 lakes is a safeguard from early autumn 

 frosts. 



If one had to use just a single word to 

 describe Cape Breton, it would have to 

 be "diversified." There is a diversity of 

 people, of products, of industries/ but 

 especially of physical features. Beyond 

 the fertile Margaree Valley, stretching 

 away 1,100 square miles to the north, is 

 a great elevated table-land, in some places 

 1,200 feet above sea-level and only broken 

 by the ranges of mountains lining the 

 coasts. 



This plateau is covered with stunted 

 spruce, moss, and rock, and is a natural 

 game reserve that until recent years af- 

 forded the finest of moose and deer and 

 caribou hunting. 



There are still caribou and deer and 

 brown bears, and good partridge shoot- 

 ing in the hills, but the moose have been 

 exterminated and the "barrens" are most 

 frequented for the quantities of luscious 

 blueberries in season. The berries are of 

 great size and fine flavor and have been 

 canned successfully for the market. 



There are tracts of peat-bogs here that 

 may account for the complaint of the 

 traveler that "the higher you go in Cape 

 Breton the wetter it gets." 



The north of the island can be reached 

 by steamer from the Sydneys or over- 

 land. 



A STRANGE HEGIRA TO NEW ZEALAND 



Overland from Baddeck, which un- 

 questionably has the most beautiful sur- 

 roundings of any spot on the island, the 

 historic St. Anns Bay district is the first 

 stage of the journey. Here the fathers 

 of the Society of Jesus labored among 

 the "sauvages" in the days before Louis- 

 burg, and here are the remains of the 

 later French fortifications, built when 

 Louis XIV and his ministers debated 

 whether this or Louisburg harbor should 

 be their naval base in the Americas. 



The little cove can be seen where the 

 bark Margaret was launched, the first of 

 the six vessels built for that strange 

 hegira to New Zealand of the Rev. Nor- 

 man Macleod and more than eight hun- 

 dred of his flock. 



St. Anns folk still tell of the power of 

 this "prophet, priest, and king," who dis- 

 claimed any earthly authority higher 

 than his own, dealt with the Old Adam 



