372 CAPE BRETON . numerous bays and arms, nearly divides the island into two. Woods, with the exceptions of small patches cleared for cultivation, and such spots as are thrown open where rocks occupy the surface, cover the whole island. The trees are of much the same kind and description as those in Prince Edward Island , unless it be on the sea-coast and mountains, in which situa¬ tions they are of a dwarfish character. It is usually conjectured that this island has been de¬ tached from the continent of by some violent convulsion. This, like most speculative opinions for which we have no historical data, will most likely ever remain uncertain. The Gut of Canseau, which di¬ vides from Nova Scotia , is not, for a dis¬ tance of five leagues, more than a mile and a half wide, and in some places less. The Highlands also, rising on each side rather abruptly, make the width of the strait to seem much less, and impart to it, at the same time, the appearance of an immense fissure laid open by the explosion of some tremendous agency. There is not, however, a striking resemblance in the geological structure of the opposite shores of and Nova Scotia ; but this is no uncom¬ mon circumstance in nature ; and we often, in Ame¬ rica, meet with a chain of granite predominating on one side of a river, and a calcarious region prevailing on the other. The geology and mineralogy of , can only be said to be known in outline. From all that I have observed, however, and from all the information