HALIFAX. The capital of Nova Scotia, Can.. on the southeast or outer coast of the peninsula, in latitude 44° 39' N., and longitude 63° 35' W. (Map: Nova Scotia, F 5). It is built on the east slope of a small peninsula in Halifax harbor. The harbor, the Indian Chebucto—`chief of havens'—is one of the finest in the world. It is entered from the south, extends northward about six miles, terminates in a magnificent sheet of water called Bedford Basin, and offers at all times an easy access and safe anchorage to vessels of any magnitude. It has two entrances, made by M'Nab's Island, of which only the western is navigable for vessels of large tonnage. Hali fax is the chief naval station for British North America, with dockyards, a dry dock, and com plementary establishments. The head offices of the Nova Scotia Railway and the Nova Scotia Electric Telegraph Company are situated here. Halifax is also the eastern terminus of the Canadian Pacific Railway, and of the Inter Colonial Railway of Canada. The port has nearly all the foreign trade of the colony. Its export trade in agricultural produce, lumber, fish, and furs is large. The industrial establish ments comprise iron-foundries, machinery, agri cultural implement, cotton, woolen, tobacco, paper, and soap manufactories, sugar-refineries, tan yards, distilleries, and breweries. The city is the seat of various foreign consuls, including a consul-general of the United States. It is an im portant military post, defended by eleven forts and batteries, one of which, the Citadel crowning the hill on which Halifax is built, is said to be, after Quebec, the strongest fortification in Amer ica. Halifax and Quebec are the only places in Canada where British troops are stationed. The extensive and handsome barracks overlook the harbor. The city. with its suburbs, extends along the slope of a hill, and covers an area three miles long by one mile wide. The streets are well
laid out at right angles, and granite and free stone have replaced wood for building purposes. The principal edifices are the Dominion Building, containing the post-office, customs department, and a museum, the Provincial Parliament build ing, Government House, military hospital, admi ralty house, lunatic and blind asylums, provin cial penitentiary, court-house, exchange, thea tre, and Y. M. C. A. building. Halifax is the seat of the Anglican Bishop of Nova Scotia and Prince Edward Island, and of the Roman Catho lic Archbishop of Halifax, with their cathedrals. It also has numerous churches. Among its edu cational institutions are Dalhousie College and University, unsectarian and w ell equipped with faculties of arts, sciences, law, and medicine; 28 public schools, a ladies' college, a convent, and a Presbyterian theological college. Its publica tions include the oldest Canadian newspaper— the Halifax Gazette, dating from 1752. The city is lighted by electricity, has street railways, pub lic gardens where band concerts are given, at tractive parks, a fine water-supply, and a mod ern system of sewerage. It has become a favorite summer resort, owing to the beauty of its sur roundings, its sanitary conditions, and the brac ing climate. The city sends two representatives to the Dominion House of Commons, and three to the Provincial Legislature. Founded in 1749, and named in honor of the Earl of Halifax, the contemporary president of the British board of Trade, it supplanted Annapolis in 1750 as the seat of government. During the Revolutionary War it was one of the chief British bases of sup ply, and during the United States Civil War fitted out several blockade-runners. Population, in 1891, 38,495; in 1901, 40,787.