HALIFAX. 
29 
distance from the town—newly-made roads with their rough palings—the recently-erected 
wooden huts of the pioneer—then a line of felled trees, the front rank of the enemy which 
had succumbed in the fight—and, just beyond, the primeval forest. A canal running througn 
a series of lakes joins Halifax to where— 
“In the Acadian land, on the shores of the Basin of Minas, 
Distant, secluded, still, the little village of Grand-Pre 
Lay in the fruitful valley.” 
The town of Halifax is built upon a peninsula enclosed by two arms of the sea, and is 
protected by numerous forts. The eastern and wider arm forms the harbour proper of Halifax, 
separating the latter from Dartmouth on the opposite shore. Further inland, it first contracts 
to a narrow channel and then widens out into 
a lake-like basin, known as the Bedford Basin, 
whose pine-clad banks are a favourite resort 
of the Halifax people. 
Close to the water’s edge, and com¬ 
manding a beautiful view of the peaceful scene, 
stands Princes Lodge, originally erected for 
H.R. H. the Duke of Kent, father of Her Majesty Queen Victoria. Certainly no more 
attractive spot could have been selected wherein to repose from the cares and anxieties of 
public life. 
Amid the strains of the band of the “ Royal Alfred,” the Admiral’s flagship, and the 
cheers of her men, who had manned the yards, H.M.S. “Challenger” spread her sails in the 
/b 
H.M.S. “ CHALLENGER AT IRELAND ISLAND, BERMUDAS. 
afternoon of the 19th May. With the thermometer rising every hour, we soon passed from 
the green waters of the Arctic Current into the blue but still stormy waves of the Gulf Stream. 
To judge by our experience, it would seem as if the track of this warm current were the scene 
of perpetual atmospheric disturbances. The now familiar Bermudas came in sight at daybreak 
PRINCES LODGE, BEDFORD BASIN. 
