Halifax 
up into the land apparently for the purpose of 
affording pleasant sites on its hilly shores for the 
homes of the more prosperous " Haligonians." 
Close to Halifax, where the Basin contracts 
into " the narrows," by which it joins tlie bay, 
is a picturesque negro settlement, looking very 
much out of place in this cold northern land ; 
and we wondered how these children of the 
tropics found their way here, until we recalled — 
but not with pride — the slavery epoch in our 
own history. 
Halifax has the site for a splendid city. It 
lies on a peninsula clasped in bright arms of 
the sea, and from the centre rises a beautiful 
hill two hundred and fifty feet high, that looks 
in all directions over sea and land. Upon this 
hill stands the citadel, for Halifax has the dis- 
tinction of being the most important naval 
station of the British Empire in the Western 
Hemisphere, and in order to support this heavy 
responsibility it is armed to the teeth. 
It began its career as a fort, long ago, when 
the Acadians and Indians were misbehaving, 
and when its name was Chebucto. Its fortifi- 
cations have grown with its growth, rather 
faster indeed ; for with a population of less 
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