II. THE PROVINCES.— [For the sake of con venience and completeness, the physical features and topography of the provinces comprising the Dominion are here briefly treated. The articles in this work on the individual provinces should be consulted for further information.] Nova Scotia.— The province of Nova Sco tia, the most southerly member of the Appala chian region in Canada, consists of a peninsula about 250 miles long and 100 at its greatest breadth, and its continuation, the island of Cape Breton, which is separated from Nova Scotia proper by a narrow strait, the Gut of Canso. More or less parallel to the length of the pen insula run ranges of low hills, which near the Atlantic become mere ridges of rock. The country on this, the southern side of the prov ince, is wild and rocky, covered with forests and dotted with small lakes. Agriculture is confined to the alluvial land along the river valleys, and the villages and towns for the most part are situated on the coast at the heads of the numerous bays which here indent it. The north shore of the peninsula is of a totally dif ferent aspect. The extended ridge of trap which forms the southern shore of the Bay of Fundy is broken into in a few places only, and long narrow bays are thus formed, into which the tide rushes with great force. The chief agri cultural district of the province is behind this protecting wall of trap, and the hills beyond are covered with fertile soil and clothed to their tops with dense hardwood forests. The marshes formed by the enormous tides of Minas Basin and Chignecto Bay, the two heads of the Bay of Fundy, have been reclaimed and diked, and form a rich pasture country. The orchards of the sheltered valleys on this side of the penin sula are celebrated. The chief region of min ing and industrial development is the northeast portion, facing Northumberland Strait and the Gulf of Saint Lawrence. Here coal apd iron are extensively worked; gypsum also occurs in large quantities and is exported principally from the district around Minas Basin. Gold, on the other hand, is found in the wild rocky region along the southern or Atlantic coast, and is mined on this side from one end of the peninsula to the other. The fisheries of Nova Scotia have always been an important industry, carried on from every harbor of the province. Cape Breton Island, of illegular shape, about 100 miles long by 80 broad, forms part of the province of Nova Scotia. An arm of the sea, entering from the northeast, almost divides the , island in two; actual division is accomplished by a canal across the narrow neck of land. A
great part of the island to the north is a high forest-covered table-land, and the centre about the Bras d'Or channel is the most picturesque • 'district in the province. At the east side occur the coal and iron ore deposits which are making Sydney, its chief town, one of the industrial centres of Canada.
New second in import ance of the maritime provinces is New Bruns wick, occupying the centre of the Appalachian region of Canada. It forms an irregular square of about 200 miles in extreme length and breadth, bounded on the north by the Bay of Chaleur and the province of Quebec, on the east by the Gulf of Saint Lawrence and North umberland Strait, on the south by Nova Scotia (at the isthmus) and the Bay of Fundy, and on the west by the State of Maine and the province of Quebec. Two lines of hills traverse the province; one follows the coast-line of the Bay of Fundy, the other, starting from the same southwestern angle, runs diagonally across the province to the northeast. Between the two lies a triangular low-lying plain, sloping down to the east coast, and beyond the diagonal range of hills the northwest region of the province is a rolling country, fertile and well suited for agriculture, but at, present covered with forests. New Brunswick is a country of fine rivers, which have cut broad valleys through the soft rocks of the interior and afford access from the sea-coast to the innermost recesses of the prov ince. The Saint John River flows south from the extreme northwest angle, entering the Bay of Fundy not much more than 50 miles from the international boundary. The Saint Croix, forming the boundary, also falls into the Bay of Fundy. The Restigouche, flowing into the Bay of Chaleur, the Miramichi into flowing Bay in the Gulf of Saint Lawrence, and the Richibucto, into Northumberland Strait, are the other large rivers. A dense forest, chiefly spruce, still covers most of the province, and lumbering is the principal industry. The fish eries are second in importance. Agriculture follows the river valleys mainly, but the marsh lands at the head of the Bay of Fundy have been converted into rich pastures, and new land in the interior is continually being brought under cultivation. In time, no doubt, the whole of the level area in the centre of the province will be devoted to agriculture, when the forest wealth has been exhausted in that region. The mineral resources of New Brunswick have not yet been developed to any extent.