“Tantramar! Tantramar! I see thy cool green plains afar. Thy dykes where grey sea-grasses are, Mine eyes behold them yet."

A short railway line runs from Sackville to Cape Tormentine.

In winter the Northumberland Strait is frozen in heaVy ice, through which the regular summer steamships cannot force their way. Special ice-breaking steamers are therefore placed on the most open route between Pictou and Charlottetown 0r Georgetown; but the ice is occasionally so thick that even these powerful vessels are unable to force their way across the frozen strait. At such times the short crossing from Cape Tormentine to Cape Traverse is used, and the mail is carried in ice—boats with double keels made to act as ” runners.” These are pushed by hand over the ice, and put into open water as required. An account of a trip in this novel kind of ”ferry" forms part of the description under the heading ”Prince Edward Island.”

The Missiguash River being now passed, and the province of Nova Scotia entered, a brief description of the main features of the seaboard province is here given.

The peninsula of Nova Scotia is so nearly surrounded by water that it is frequently termed an island. It is connected to New Bruns- wick and the mainland by a comparatively narrow isthmus at the head of Chignecto Bay. The province of Nova Scotia is made up of this peninsula and the adjoining island of Cape Breton to the north— east, separated only by the Strait of Canso, which is not much more than a mile in width at its narrowest part.

As has already been stated, the four provinces of Quebec, New Brunswick, Prince Edward Island, and Nova Scotia offer wonderful contrasts in scenery and natural configuration. They also offer a pleasing variety of climate. As would be expected, it is cooler the nearer the approach to the open Atlantic shore; and it is cooler again the farther east and north one proceeds along the Atlantic seaboard. From this it will be understood that on the north, or Bay of Fundy and Northumberland Strait shore, it is warmer than on the south or open Atlantic side. On the north the climate. approx- imates closely to that of the Lower St. Lawrence and southern part of New Brunswick. The south shore, then, is the coolest part of the Maritime Provinces, and on the south shore itself an increasingly lower temperature may be enjoyed as progress is made up the coast in an easterly direction. It is important to remember this, for out

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