The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1915-09-18
THE EyANGELINE COUNTRY.

that rest on their bosoms.
Loud from its rocky caverns, the deep
voiced neighboring ocean
Speaks, and, in accents disconsolate, an
swers the wall of the forest
Americans, journeying to the mari
time provinces of Canada for vaca-
ton, remembering Longfellow's story,
"Evangeline." and the pastoral scenes
of Mtnas Basin, set down Grand Pre-
are a short days journey, only, by
rail from Halifax (if one has not the
time to go by a more circuitous and di-
verse route), and the visit, lasting
overnight and the next day, is most
interesting episode of ores life
But whether one whiSks across the
peninsula by the quickest rail line, or
travels roundabout by land or sea, or
both, the journey is alive with interest
every mile of the way. For the
beauty and romance of Nova Scotia,
and the other maritime provinces as
well, are the landscapes: the smiling
valleys and wooded uplands; the hills.
rising into mountains; the lakes,
trimmed by "the murmuring pines and
the hemlocks;'' swift little rivers,
gravity to the sea; the "deep-voiced
neighboring ocean, herself; more
than all else, the remarkable tides of
Fundy. filling lesser basins and trib-
utary rivers with great depths many
miles inland twice, daily. At Grand
Pre-, the tides rise fifty-six feet.
The journey from Halifax to Minas
Bay may be made also all the way by
sea; taking a regular line of steam
ships on the Atlantic side to Var
mouth, at the southwestern end of the
peninsula, and catching rides by coast
wise vessels to destination. However,
more comfortable and less monoto-
nous Gf monotony be possible on this
COAST, in close view of town and coun-
try, is the route by rail around the
lower end of the peninsula; breaking
the journey at Yarmouth for one
night, more likely two, and continu-
ing by rail again along the Bay of
Fundy, northeasterly, to destination.
The ride on the Atlantic side may be
broken midway, and a cross-country
line taken to the railway On the Fundy
side.
From St. John, on the New Bruins
wick coast of F'undy, a regular line of
boats carries passengers to the rail-
way on the Nova Scotia side. Travel
also crosses Minas Basin to Grand
Pre-. However, it is economy both of
time and money, and more conducive
of comfort, to see the lower end of
the peninsula of Nova Scotia first;
afterward using the Intercolonial rail-
way from Halifax to Cape Breton, and
to ports whence boats cross the chan
mel to Prince Edwards Island; finally
taking a night train from Halifax to
time provinces without seeing st.
John, and the tides and river, is the
journey half done.
Travelling from Yarmouth along the
Fundy coast, the railway comes to
Digby, on Annapolis Basin, where
travellers, ticketed that way, take ship
across to ST. John, thirty miles or
more distant. Annapolis Basin re-
ceives the Annapolis river, which flows
@ff Il L, IL a1,
lies the Grand Prairie of Longfellows
idyl. On either side of the Annapolis
lies a range of hills, called North
Mountain and South Mountain. These
hills bound the most beautiful little
valley in the peninsula, and, since the
advent of the earliest English settlers,
it has been called the Garden of
Nova Scotia The railway follows
up this stream for perhaps seventy
five miles, whence it climbs over into
the meadowlands of Minas Basin
where Longfellow laid the early scenes
of his '-Evangeline.'' The historical
name, Grand Pre-, where Evangeline
lived, has been given to railway sta
ton, within rifleshot of which stands
a marble monument raised by de-
scendants of the early French settlers,
in memory of the great poet.
However, the traveller, going to
Grand Pre-, gets off at Wolfeville, a
prosperous little village three miles
southwest, and takes cab, or automo-
bile. For there is no accommodation
for travellers at Grand Pre-, and, be-
sides, visitors, who want to view the
landscape o'er'' we'll, require livery We
hicles to take them through the val
leys and over the intervening hills.
The counties of Kings and Hants
form a crescent around Minas Basin,
into which flow nineteen beautiful lit
tie rivers, rising out of the hills and
meadows of Kings county. The five
which most tourists see are the Gas
pereau, Grande Habitat, Petit Habitat,
Riviere aux Canards and Pereau.
These names, slightly anglicized, have
been preserved by the English. The
Avon, a stream of some pretension, es-
pecially when the tide is flowing, runs
out of HantS county. This is flat land
of forbidding aspect, and tourists are
cOntented with view of it from afar;
devoting their time to the valleys and
the intervening hills and the meadow
lands of Kings, and the sculptured
coast of the Bay of Fundy.
For twenty-five cents a boy will
show one the legendary signs of the
French habitations of Grand Pre-, but
horse-carriage or automobile must be
taken to the scenes outlying; unless
one be athletic and goes forth afoot.
Perhaps, if a tourist stays long enough
to pick up acquaintance, a villager
may take him in his family carryall,
scenes. First, the ride up the Gas
pereau, and over hills to the other
valleys, then a view of the meadows
of the Grand Prairie; the while, our
hospitable guide beguiling the hours
with legends of old Acadie. Grand
Pre- is on the Gaspereau, which is the
prettiest stream here. However, it
hardly is fair to institute the remoteSt
comparison; for not a stream flowing
into Minas Basin, excepting the Avon,
lacks pastoral beauty. And even the
Avon might be attractive if followed
beyond the forbidding red bed which
the ebb of tides lays bare. So even the
Avon is pretty when it is full.