QUEENS COUNTY . By D. A. MacKinnon . A county originally the territory of a count or earl now means a definite division of a country for political or administrative purposes. About a year after the cession of our Island to Great Britain it was divided into three counties by a surveyor general of lands. The pains taken and the judgment ex¬ ercised by him in locating situations for towns and dividing the country while a dense forest had a very material bearing on its fu¬ ture. Pre-eminence was accorded the middle county. In it was chosen a site for the capi¬ tal, Charlottetown , named after the Consort of King George III , the then youthful Queen Charlotte of Mechlen Strelitz, and the coun¬ ty itself was called Queens. Two general boundary lines were decided upon, dividing Queens from the other counties. About ten years later an act was passed 1 >y the Assembly for the purpose of making the whole of the Island one county. This act continued .1 short period and expired. Provision was made by an act of assembly in 1834 for the appointment of commissioners to run, mark and stake two county lines and to sur¬ vey any township boundaries required and fix a square post or stone in the corner of such township. An act with this object had been passed four years previously but His Majesty's consent had not been signified. Several amendments were afterward made in order to locate the real boundaries. This was accordingly accomplished and the lo¬ cation of the county lines continues to the present day. Queens is the largest county. Its land area comprises seven hundred and sixty square miles or four hundred and eighty-six thousand four hundred acres. The waters of the Gulf of St. Lawrence lave its northern shores, and the southern overlook the straits of Northumberland. It is difficult to find so extensively and so purely-watered country. This is a striking feature. The land sur¬ face is rising and falling in gentle slopes, not mountainous, but hilly in such places as Strathgartney , , Culloden and affording the most entertaining prospects. The lakes are very few and small, viz: Pisquid , Verde and Keefe's, but there are numerous ponds or rather river enlarge¬ ments chiefly near the northern shore. Bays indent the coast at Tracadie , Cove- head, Rustico and New London on the north into which flow the following named rivers: Winter, Black, Wheatley, Hope, Stanley, Southwest and French with numerous tribu¬ taries. On the south the Hillsborough bay embracing the lesser ones of Orwell and Pownal is. the largest and mingling with its waters will be found the overflowings of the three rivers which unite in the harbor of Charlottetown , the Hillsborough , York and Elliot, commonly known as East, North and West rivers. There are other small rivers such as the Belle, Flat and Pinette rivers, Newton, Orwell, Vernon and Seal rivers, and Victoria. The chief tributaries of the Murray, Montague and Dunk have their sources in this county. Many beautiful streams flow into these rivers. Picturesque coves where "waves rolling slide" are to be found in the shores of the bays.