392 CAPE BRETON.

of Doctor Johnson when surveying the ruins of Iona. \Ve observe in Louisburg the desolation which destiny entailed on the splendid cities of the

ancient world. All is silent, excepting the reverbe- V.

ration of the sea, as the waves roll in along the beach, or the bleating of the scattered sheep, as they gather towards their resting abodes, when the solitude of evening approaches.

A few huts, the habitations of poor unambitious fishermen, form only a melancholy contrast to the superb edifices, scientific fortifications, naval gran- deur, military pomp, and commercial activity of which Louisburg was once the splendid theatre.

From Louisburg to St Peter’s, the coast of Cape Breton is naked and rocky, and the soil only in a few places fit for cultivation, until we arrive at St Esprit, :where the country assumes a more fertile appear- ance. Gabarus Bay, at which there are a few fami- lies of American foyalists, subsisting by fishing, and cultivating some small spots of ground, and three other small harbou~rs,-'where a few fishermen reside, are the only settlements that intervene.

At St Esprit and Grand River, the inhabitants are Scottish emigrants. Settlements are also forming on the fertile lands around the lakes that discharge into Grand River. There is at Ardoise, between Cape Hinchinbrooke and St Peter’s, a settlement of Acadian French, who follow the cod and herring fisheries.

St Peter’s Bay, and the whole course of Lennox passage to the Gut of Canseau, exhibits broken indented shores, innumerable coves, harbours, and