Down North and Up Along 
bestirred ourselves and found out that it is a 
silicate of aluminium, or, in common speech, 
just ordinary pipe clay, which is immorally used 
for adulterating candies and paint, but other- 
wise for whitening the sails of yachts and 
making irresistible the boot-tops, sword-belts, 
and scabbards of the brave soldier on parade 
day. 
After a time one begins to have a feeling 
that if he travels long enough in Nova Scotia 
he will find out where everything comes from 
without recourse to the encyclopaedias. It 
brings grindstones, plaster of Paris, and pipe- 
clay nearer to one's daily life, as it were, to 
behold with the mortal eye the rocks whence 
they come. Such things, like apples to the 
city-bred child, had always seemed to us to be 
the product of barrels and boxes in the back 
recesses of the city shops. 
Aside from gypsum, there is very little to 
interest one between Windsor and Halifax. 
The country is stony and overgrown with 
stunted evergreens. 
As one nears Halifax, Bedford Basin appears 
all the prettier for contrast with the wilderness. 
It is a long arm of the Atlantic that reaches 
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