NOVA SCOTIA is a peninsular ptovince of British America, which stretches into the Atlantic from the province of New Brunswick. It lies between 43° 30' and 48° 4' of North Lat. and 58° 50' and 67° of West Long. It is about 307 miles long, 154 broad, and has a supeificial extent of nearly 14,000 square miles. IL is bounded on the .N. E. by the Gulf of St. Lawrence, on the E. the S. and S. 'W. by the Atlantic, and on the W. by the Bay of Florida and the province of New Brunswick, with which it is connected by an isthmus about eighteen miles wide. On the north-east coast, the general aspect of the country is bleak and barren, and the south-west coast, particularly in the county of Lunenburg, exhibits traccs of industry and cultivation. The counties on the bay of Fundi arc moun tainous, and the hills which have not been cleared are covered with hard wootl of various kinds. The sum mit of the remarkable land of Aspotageon is 500 feet above the level of the sea. Grain is raised in great abundance in the south-west counties upon a rich coarse loam. Iron, copper, limestone, gypsum, and freestone, are the principal mineral productions.
The principal rivers in Nova Scotia are, the .inna polls river, which, at high tidcs, is navigable for 14 miles by vessels of 100 tons ; the _Shubenacaddie, which flows into Chebequid Bay, after a course of 55 miles; and the Pigaquid, which runs 29 miles, and falls into the Bay of Minas. At high tides, vessels of 400 tons go up to 'Windsor, and those of 100 tons five miles higher.
The principal lakes are Rossignol, Porter's Lake, 15 miles long, and half a mile broad, Potowack Lake, and Shubenacaddie. Nova Scotia abounds in the finest bays, the largest of which is the Bay of Fundi, which stretches about 150 miles below New Brunswick and Nova Scotia. It is about 100 miles broad at its mouth,
but at the Gut of Annapolis it contracts to 36 miles. It terminates in two branches, the western one of which is called Chignecto Channel, and the castern the Ba sin of Alinas. In the Bay of Fundi, the tides rise 30 feet, 40 in the Basin of Minas, and 60 in Chignecto Channel.
This province is divided into eight counties, which are divided into townships. The chief towns are HA LIFAX, (already described under that articIe,) Pictou, containing about 500 inhabitants, chiclly Scotch ; Li verpool, containing about 200 houses; Lutienburg, Barrington, Argyle, Yarmouth, Digley, ANNAPOLIS, (already described under that at ticle,) and Windsor.
At Windsor, a college, callc:cl King's College, was established in 1789, and a charter was granted in 1802. The library is good. It has three scholarships of X30 per annum, for students in divinity. There is a small SCI1001 in almost every town, and each mission has a schoolmaster, who receives a salary from the Society for the Propagation of the Gaspe!.
The population of Nrova Scotia is about S8 000, the great body of which are of Biitiso origin. Lie esta blished religion is that of the church of England.
In the year 1594, the coast of Nova Szotia was first visited by one May, an Englishman. In 1621, Sir W. Alexander obtained from James I. of Scotland a patent of Nova Scotia ; and, in 1763, the province was finally ceded to Great Britain by the treaty of Paris. Sec 'Morses's Geografthy, p. 81.