104 
Forest and Stream 
Courtesy Canadian Pacific Railroad 
They stood at the border of the lake in the misty light of dawn 
IN THE HEART OF NOVA SCOTIA 
A LOVE OF OPEN PLACES AND THE WILD LIFE EXISTING THERE 
ACTUATED A CANOE JOURNEY INTO THE UNTOUCHED WILDERNESS 
W E wanted to visit the moose at 
home and observe the monarch 
of the Canadian woods in his 
native haunts. We had no de¬ 
sire to slaughter this splendid animal nor 
any aspirations to being photographed 
astride the stricken victim of nature’s 
treachery, nor yet to bear home a mag¬ 
nificent spread of antlers to adorn our 
den and furnish us with a postprandial 
narrative for the remainder of our 
mortal existences. We are rather 
pleased to think now that we were 
actuated to this little excursion purely 
from a love of the open and the wild 
things existing in it, and our sole object 
was to observe the forest king in his 
kingdom and do him no harm. We had 
a fermenting idea that the moth-eaten 
specimens we had seen at the zoo, shorn 
of all regal bearing, were mere travesties 
of this greatest of Canadian fauna and 
we greatly desired to see him yet a king, 
reigning supreme in the woodland, not 
heartbroken with the oppressive knowl¬ 
edge that his wild roaming was at an 
end. We sought advice and it was given 
in four words: “Go to Nova Scotia.” 
We headed for the heart of the Penin¬ 
sula Province and incidentally the reach¬ 
ing it was not uninteresting, but on the 
contrary full of charm and exhilaration. 
Nova Scotia has been so economically 
developed that its settled areas lie close 
to the shores of the peninsula. The 
fertile waters off the long coast line 
furnish the resources which go to con¬ 
stitute the province’s leading industry, 
while running parallel to the shores lie 
undulating, fruitful valleys where many 
forms of agriculture have been profitably 
followed as far back as Canadian history 
goes. The vast interior of the province 
is often described as a wilderness, this 
term being apparently designed to de- 
By E. L. CHICANOT 
scribe one of Canada's most splendid, 
expansive, and varied stretches of forest 
land, broken up by limpid lakes of vary¬ 
ing extent and transcendent loveliness. 
It is a wilderness of which any country 
might be supremely proud of owning as 
a present possession and future inher¬ 
itance, and one which, intelligently con¬ 
served, will be an asset of inestimable 
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The Nova Scotia wilderness is a 
region of arboreal beauty. It pul¬ 
sates with the life of a myriad wild 
creatures and is destined to he a 
perpetual heritage to man and an 
eternal refuge for the children of 
Nature. 
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worth to the province of Nova Scotia 
and the whole Canadian Dominion for 
all time. 
The journey into this incomparable 
woodland fastness is entertaining and 
enjoyable throughout, and though one 
can reach it from the coast in a single 
day, every type and description of 
scenery is traversed from the serene and 
tranquil cultivated valleys overlooking 
the Bay of Fundy to the wild and 
primitive grandeur of the primeval 
forest. For the greater distance one 
travels in an atmosphere most redolent 
of mediaeval Europe, of such engaging 
tranquillity and brooding calm that the 
automobilist unconsciously sighs for the 
more leisurely caravan or other means 
of tardy journeying that he might browse 
the longer on the exquisite scenery 
of the countryside in a manner it 
thoroughly justifies. 
'T'HE first leg of the journey is across 
the Bay of Fundy from St. John, 
a delightful little sea voyage that is just 
long enough. On a clear day the trav¬ 
eler is scarcely out of sight of land at 
all, and shortly after the busy water¬ 
front of St. John fades in the distance 
the shores of the Nova Scotia coast 
loom up. In less than three hours the 
vessel is gliding serenely between the 
graceful slopes of Digby basin, with 
their quaint fisher cottages and pretty 
bungalows peeping out on either side. 
Digby, built in a straggling semi-circle 
on the bay, is as charming a little spot 
as Canada possesses, snuggled in an 
immense cherry grove with an aroma 
that is sweetly pastoral, over which a 
brooding peace seems continually to 
hover. 
Here we left the sea behind, turning 
at right angles to the renowned An¬ 
napolis Valley and the historic country 
of Evangeline at Grand Pre, passing 
through a region of diminutive farms 
and comfortable orchards, while the tang 
of salt in the air grew fainter and 
fainter. The countryside is romantically 
picturesque. The apple is predominant, 
and orderly orchards on both sides of 
the road prolific with laden branches 
borne to the ground. Apple trees even 
grow wild along the roadside and the 
wayfarer may pick his fill and be in¬ 
debted to no man. The horse seems to 
be almost ahead of history there. Teams 
of oxen, harnessed to wagon or stone- 
boat, are encountered all along the route 
and their leisurely gait and philosophic 
mien are more characteristic of the 
country and its people. The huge lum¬ 
bering animals fit harmoniously into the 
general scheme of the countryside and 
its peaceful life. 
