The Durham daily globe. (Durham, N.C.) 1889-1894, 1894-10-18
A7ABLE AREA OF CANADA.
to n Narrow Strip Along the
ENrIer of the United States.

Some Canadians oStentatiously boast
that their colony is OF greater area than
the republic of the United States, while
they quietly ignore the facts that about
One-half of their dependency is covered
with perpetual or all out perpetual
snow and ice, and that 40 small part Of
the remainder is but sparsely inhab-
tied or habitable except by Indians and
Indian-French h&lf-breeds, who exc
out a precarious subsistence by fishing,
by the scanty proceeds from slaughter
ing fur-bearing animals. and on meager
governn ent rations. The arabic por-
ton Of Canada, says the Springfield
Republican, is in general but a very
broken and irregular fringe on the
northern boundary of the United
States; and although the European set
Element of the country began nearly
800 years ago, its present population is
only about 5000, OO0-from the Atlantic
t. the Pacifc-or over $50, 200 less than
tie population of the state of Pennsyl-
vania! Canada to-day consists of but
seven provinces. One of these, Prince
Edward island, is a little more than
one-fifth the area of the little state of
Vermont, and another, British Column
bia, a sea of notwithstanding some
100000 square miles-cOntains less ara
BILE land than the comparatively small
contiguous state of Washington. The
desirable LAND for tillage in the three
small maritime provinces of Now
Scotia, Prince Edward island and
New Brunswick is O chiefly occupied
by an excellent Scotch English people,
whose number is all but stationary or
rctrOgrade. About one-half of what is
claimed to be the Province of Quebec is
sparsely inhabited by Indians, Cana
dian-French ~half-breeds and the hardi-
est Of 'habitans." Much of the re-
maindcr, on both banks Of the River
St. Lawrence and on the northeast
bank of the Ottawa river, is a good
quality Of soil, and the greater part of it
is now densely populated by Canadian
French
a portion of the province of Quebec,
consisting of about 100 townships,
called the eastern townships, lying be-
tween the parishes south of the ST.
Lawrence and the northern boundaries
of the states of New York, Vermont
and New Hampshire, is good general
farming land, o in great part occu-
pied by a mixed population composed
of ''Old country English-speaking peo-
pie, Canadian French and some de-
scendants Of the New England royal
lists Of the last century. For many
years the English-speaking people have
been steadily nearing a minority.
There are at present but two cities of
any considerable size and business i'm
pOrtance in the whole of Canada-the
one, Montreal, in the province of
Quebec, making a population about
two-thirds Canadian-French) of ONE
what owe 200, 900; and the other, To-
ronto, the capital of the province OF
Ontario, with a population (mostly
English speaking) something below
10000. There are also seven other
considerable towns called "cities,"
ranging from about $4,000 to GO, 900 in
habitants; eleven from so, 900 to about
10000, and nearly twenty-five of from
5000 to 10000 each. These are nearly
all the towns in Canada from ocean to
cean; and not a few of them are
spoken of by the people themselves as
being stationary Or decaying towns.
The St. Lawrence Atlantic ports of
Quebec and Montreal are arctic ice
bound about One-half the year.