Cape Smoky 
stances do they place themselves close to the 
road, which they seem to regard with so much 
distrust. 
The fences are often as picturesque as the 
zigzag rail fence known as the "Virginia 
snake," though it belongs as much to New 
England as to Virginia. Cape Breton fences 
are sometimes made of small tree-trunks with 
the bark on, and these are laid together in a 
manner local to the place and pleasing to the 
eye. The gates are even prettier than the 
fences and are more varied in design, each sec- 
tion seeming to possess its own style of gate- 
architecture. 
The gates do not open into dooryards but 
into wide fields, somewhere beyond which the 
house is safely intrenched. Sometimes there 
are several intervening fields, and he who would 
visit must open several gates before he can get 
to his neighbours. They are wide gates as a 
rule, through which loads of hay can pass. 
The small gate, quickly opened and quickly 
closed, a sort of invitation to enter, is seldom 
seen here. 
The people often shut their doors when they 
saw us coming, and upon one occasion an old 
215 
