Rutland weekly herald. [volume] (Rutland, Vt.) 1859-1877, 1866-09-06
Correspondence
Notes OF N Tour Through New
brunswick and Nova scO-
tia.-No. 3.

A pleasant ride of fifteen miles from
Annapolis will take us to Bridgetown, a
thriving village at the head Of naviga-
tion on Annapolis river. Besides its ag-
ricultural products, which are abundant,
this place furnishes considerable lumber,
shipped in Scoops to st. Johns, N. b.,
| and various other places, even as far as
the West Indies.
Passing on the post road through Par
adise, and Nietaux, very prosperous ag-
ricultural districts, we come to Ayles-
ford; part of this township is fertile
and well inhabited, but the portion
through which runs the main road is
exceedingly sandy and barren. During
my ride of ten miles on these plains,
which can convey some idea Of the desert
| of Arabia, l was reminded of q remark
of "Sam Slick, the clockmaker," who
must have had this district of Nova
Scotia in view. Speaking of very bar
! rem place, he said "You NOW that
field with razor, then rake it with q
fine comb, and you will not have enough
of hay to keep grasshopper through
| the winter !"
In this region was shown large
| property belonging to the Protestant
bishop of Halifax, which is worth about
as much as property in the moon. l
| do mot l-pnm bnur ba hicbnr anpuirad
this property, but one thing is certain:
whether he bought it or received it as a
gift, he was shamefully cheated. l was
told another misfortune of this poor
man. A countryman went to him soon
after he came into possession Of this
| land and made an agreement with him
to clear it up at so much the acre, with
the privilege of clearing up as much as
he wished. The bishop soon found that
the land was not worth anything, and
had to pay the farmer to get rid of him,
after he had uselessly spent great deal
of money
The next township, called CORVALLIS,
is quite different it is, with Horton, the
| garden of Nova Scotia. These town
ships were settled by the French, and
we still find some of the trees they
planted and q few of the cellars of
houses they built, although more than
century has elapsed since they were
driven from these shores. The scenery
here is very fine. A sudden turn of the
road displays at once the whole district,
including the basin of Minas, which is
somewhat similar to that of Annapolis,
only much larger and more beautiful.
Not less than nineteen rivers empty into
that basin and escape into the Bay of
Fundy. The variety and extent Of this
prospect, the beautiful verdant vale of
the Gaspereaux, the groves of wood, and
cultivated fields, the cloud capt summit
Of the lofty cape that terminates the
North Mountain, form an assemblage Of
objects rarely united with so striking an
effect. 1t equals some Of the best scenery
l have seen in Switzerland.
The spot was most DESTROYS Of see
ing was Grand Pre-, the scene of Long
fellows beautiful poem EUamgelme. This
village took its name, as French scholars
can easily understand, from prairie on
the verge of which it was built. This
| great meadow, containing 1000 acres,
redeemed from the sea by bikes, has
4, hardly changed since the French were
there, but of the Acadian village there
remain only few stone foundations. the
indications of its principal street, and a
few trees, bowed down by age. l was
very fortunate in getting an old resident
to show me these Canadian ruins. He
| took me to the spot where the Catholic
church stood, in which the English as
sembled the French through strate-
gem, then declared them prisoners and
announced to them that their property
was confiscated and they were to be re-
moved to the then English colonies of
Massachusetts, Pennsylvania, Georgia
&C.,
We can conceive how thunderstruck
these people must have been when they
saw in what trap they had fallen and
what fate awaited them. In an instant
! they had passed from comparative
wealth into poverty, from liberty to i'm
| prisonment, from peaceful happiness to
most cruel distress. After being kept
five days in this place of confinement,
they were embarked in transports, and
their families in other vessels, with only
a small portion of their personal ef-
| fects.
The English, to prevent the Acadi-
cans from even thinking of returning,
burnt down their dwellings, and as the
exiles were sailing from their once hap
Ply country, the last spectacle they be-
held was their homes in flames The
whole population of this settlement
numbering about 1000 souls was thus
deprived of their property and thus cru
| ely treated. An historian has said
\