THE CHARM OF CAPE BRETON ISLAND 



OO 



of a primitive community solely by the 

 virtue of an extraordinary personality, 

 and when more than seventy years of age 

 was the moving spirit in almost whole- 

 sale emigration of the Highland settlers 

 to the other side of the world. 



He discountenanced the small vanities 

 of the womenfolk and once forbade the 

 wearing of muslin rufflings, then the 

 vogue for Sunday headgear. An official 

 of the kirk was sent from door to door 

 to collect the irons used for fluting the 

 accessory, and these vexations of the 

 pioneer spirit were consigned to the 

 depths of St. Anns Bay. 



THE HOME OF A FAMOUS GIANT 



Englishtown was the home of Angus 

 McAskill, the Cape Breton giant who 

 toured the globe under the same manage- 

 ment as Tom Thumb. 



That McAskill w r as seven feet nine 

 inches in height, with the girth of two 

 men, and lifted hundred-pound weights 

 with two fingers, still interests the tour- 

 ist, who can see the giant's grave and the 

 clothes that he wore, and may, if he 

 wishes, try on his boots. But by his 

 Cape Breton neighbors Angus McAskill 

 is also remembered as a personality, and 

 anecdotes of his kindliness and personal 

 charm are as current as are those of his 

 herculean size and strength. 



Beyond St. Anns and Englishtown, 

 with their hills and cliffs and encircling 

 blue waters, the drive along the North 

 Shore is surpassingly lovely. Landward 

 there are ever the hills, near and remote, 

 the green meadows of farmlands 

 "abounding in the richest of milk and 

 Celtic respectability and gravity and hos- 

 pitality" ; seaward the Atlantic, and in 

 the distance, sheer out of the ocean 

 towers ''Smoky/' 



Once seen, the view looking south- 

 ward from Smoky is never forgotten. 

 Headland after headland in outline 

 reaching out to the eastward, plaster 

 cliffs dazzling white against the distant 

 blue, and, 1,200 feet below, the long roll 

 of the Atlantic. 



Across Smoky is the village of South 

 Ingonish, with magnificent sand beach 

 and surf bathing, and beyond the road 

 leads over hill and barren to Neils Har- 



two men wearing the waistcoat of 



cape breton's famous giaxt. mc- 



askiee: his boot is showx 



at the right 



bor, and farther still to Dingwall and 

 Cape North (see pages 57-58). 



These coast villages are cosy fishing 

 communities, settled in great part bv 

 Newfoundland fishermen, with some 

 families of Irish extraction and a sprink- 

 ling of Scots. Traces of the early Por- 

 tuguese occupation have been found 

 along these coasts. 



Ingonish, originally Niganiche, was 

 one of Louisburg's outlying posts. In 

 1729 it had a considerable population 

 and an imposing church. About 70 

 years ago the bell, weighing more than 

 200 pounds, was found buried in the 



