The Democratic advocate. [volume] (Westminster, Md.) 1865-1972, 1878-08-17

Leaving Halifax at 7:30 on Tuesday
morning, on our way to St. John, New
Brunswick, we passed through peculiar
and interesting country. After passing
out of the handsome railroad station, we
Immediately come upon the banks Of a
sheet of water called Bedford Basin. 1t
is about twenty miles in circumference and
is connected with Halifax harbor by a
narrow channel. The water of both chan
mel and basin is of great depth and the
navies of the world might lie in it land
locked except for a few hundred yards
But as Halifax harbor is sufficient for about
a hundred times as much shipping as it
contains, Bedford Basin is not much used.
The railroad, after leaving the shore of
this beautiful sheet of water, passes for
twenty or thirty miles through country
wild, dreary and desolate beyond any de-
scription. For miles there is not a sign
of q human habitation or q spot of
cleared land. Allis an unbroken, hilly
tract of original stunted forest, except
where fires have destroyed the trees, and
here there is underground, and the scene
rendered more dreary by the leahess and
branchless pine trees killed by the FIRE aud
left standing. In this tract, about twelve
miles from Halifax, we come to chain of
lakes from which the city is supplied with
water. There are great many of these
lakes and some of them are of great beauty.
The only kinds of trees are the birch,
larch, white and spruce pine and cedar,
among which are a great many bushes
which resemble the hazel-nut In some
of the gorges noticed ship spars and other
timber waiting for the freshets next spring
to take them to water. Emerging from this
wild country we come into Annapolis val
ley, the Land of Evangeline. This is called
by the inhabitants the Garden of Nova
Scotia.
Volumes have been written about itand
as it contrasts very favorably with the rest
of the country, it is much overrated. In
reality it is fine grazing country, nicely
improved aud with many beautiful land
scapes, but in point of productiveness not
to be compared with our lands, because
the climate is too severe for the cultiva-
ton of most crops. The principal aud al
most only crop is hay, the native grass,
which is not very heavy growth. The
cattle are by far the finest | have ever
seen-are large and very fat. Oxen and
ox-earts are used for hauling instead of
wagons, Just as is the case in some of the
lower counties of this State, but the Nova
Scotians have peculiar way of attaching
the oxen to the cart by their horns, which
must make them pull at great disadvan-
tage. A great deal of cheese and butter
is made here and these things and the
milk are of very superior quality. Ap-
pies are also very plenty, fifty thousand
barrels being annually exported from the
valley. The most interesting point on this
railway, leading from Halifax to Annapo-
lis, is Grand Pre-, the village which Long
fellow has rendered famous as the dwell
ing-place of Evangeline. 1t is q place
we'll calculated to attract poets or an
artists eye. The little village, the modern
Grand Pre-, stands among some gentle hills,
embowered in lovely trees, surrounded by a
beautiful and fertile country, and in view,
a short distance from the village, are far
extending tracts of meadow lands as level
and as green as a billiard table and pro-
tected from the tides of the Basin of Minas,
which is also in sight, by miles Of dykes.
These meadows are called dyke lands and
produce fine crops of hay. There are
| throughout them and in other lowlands in
the valley permanent platforms, built upon
stakes two or three feet high, upon which
are placed the shocks of hay, so that they
will be out of the way of water. Of course
there are no houses on the dyke lands.
A few hundred yards from the present
village of Grand Pre- is the site of the an
cient village of the same name, marked by
| the cellars, some foundations and debris Of
the old French town.
The mournful tragedy, of which this
village, like the other villages Of Arcadia,
was the scene, is sufficient to give it an
interest which will never grow less.
1t will be remembered that the coast of
Nova Scotia was seen by the Cabots on
their voyages of discovery, and that Eng
land claimed all the land they discovered.
But in 1904 Des Monts, Frenchman,
made settlement on the island of ST.
Croix, which was abandoned the next
year; the colonists all removing to Anna
polls, which they called Port Royal. This
was the first permanent settlement in the
Province. The settlement soon spread
over the whole valley of Arcadia. Upon
these settlements the English were con-
tinually making raids and once or twice
destroyed Port Royal. In 1710 an Eng
lish Expedition drove the French from
Port Royal and changed the name to An
napolis and first gave the name of Nova
Scotia to the Province. The whole of
Arcadia was not conquered, however, until
1855, when they gave in their submission
upon condition that they were to be pro-
tected in the practice of their religion and
would not be required to swear allegiance
to England. These conditions were gross
ly violated by the English. The oath was
required of the Arcadians and upon their
refusing to take it their rich farms and
comfortable homes were all coniseated.
They then wished to take the oath but
were not permitted. The crowning out
rage was then perpetrated, and the scenes
described by Longfellow in Evangeline
actually took place. On the 9th of Sep
tember, 1855, the whole population were
ordered to assemble in their respective
churches and then had the doors locked on
them. They we're then put, at the point
of the bayonet, on ships and distributed as
paupers among the English colonies. As
if this was not enough, care was taken to
separate the different members of families
from each other-husbands from their
wives, children from their parents. And
there can be no doubt but that many OF
them spent the remainder of their lives in
fruitless searches for those from whom they
had been separated, as is described in Long
fellows poem. Seven thousand we're thus
banished and the remainder were soon
driven away by persecution. Now there
are none of their descendants left in the
valley. Nearly the whole population OF
Nova Scotia is English, with the excep-
tion of very few Indians and few ne
groes in the suburbs of Halifax.
Next to its history, one of the most in
teresting things about the Annapolis val
ley is the peculiar way it is watered by
the tides of the bay of Fundy. Arms Of