CLIMATE. 375

west coast, also in the valleys, and along the small rivers, low lands with deep and rich soils prevail.

The land fit for profitable cultivation on the island may be considered about 500,000 acres, a great part of which is alluvial. The whole of the lands afford good pasturage, and great numbers of black cattle and sheep might be reared. From the humidity of the climate, especially on the Atlantic coast, wheat is liable, in ripening, to casual failures, which would likely not be the case if the country were extensively opened, by clearing away the woods, as cultivation and exposure to the sun would dry up the ground more readily, and early frosts would not be so fre- quent. Barley, buck-wheat, potatoes, and all culi- nary vegetables may be raised in abundance; and I believe hemp and flax would succeed here as well as in Russia or Canada.

The climate of Cape Breton differs from that of Prince Edward Island, in its being subject, particu— larly on the Atlantic coast, to fogs , and, in the inland pal ts, to a more humid atmosphere, which may be ac- counted for by its geographical position, and the 1n- terior abounding with lakes and arms of the sea; while the soil, oWing to its stiffness, does not so readily ab- sorb the rain, nor the water which remains on the ground after the snow melts. Fogs are not, however, frequent in the interior, or within the Bras d’Or, and a clear sky is visible generally, even when fogs pre- vail, which seldom rise high from the surface of the land or sea. '

The bays and rivers which open to the Atlantic,