PRINCE EDWARD ISLAND. 79 "Sand' U hay" serves to fix the sand and pre¬ vent its being blown away. Nevertheless, occasionally gaps are cut through by the influence of die sea and the wind, and it is within living memory when an entrance was cut through almost the highest part near Lot n, and a channel made by which the fishermen could find egress and ingress to the deep water outside. Generally speaking, however, the location of these sandhills is permanent. How they came is a question often asked. There can be little doubt that the action of the sea is the principal cause. Looking at a map of "The Island," as the inhabitants constantly call their small province, it will be noticed that the concave side of its cres¬ cent shape is accentuated at the part of Prince county where these hills principally exist The prevailing winds are west to northwest and north, and the waves sweeping round the , only 15 or 20 miles further north, turn and expend thdr force at this part of the north shore. Possibly the gulf ice, drifting south with the northerly winds of winter and early spring, and strik¬ ing- the outer shore with great force may, operating through ages, have been one chief cause. Another feature of Prince county'is what are known as "the barrens"—certain lands upon which, seemingly, but little grows save some low growing bushes, upon one of which a small berry, dark blue in color and about the size of a pea, is produced. It is named from its color, the blueberry, and is a mild tasting and much relished fruit. There is little doubt that these lands are made barren by large forest fires which happen in mid¬ summer during a heated spell of weather. Occasionally, in a generation, so great is the summer drought, that some thin soils are almost completely robbed of their moisture. When such is the case and a forest fire be¬ gins, it sweeps everything before it—even the soil in some favourable places. When this takes place many years must elapse be¬ fore soil again accumulates sufficiently to grow the more advanced grasses and shrubs, and later still spruce trees. One such cycle is well authenticated. About the year 1840 a big fire began in the woods on the northern border of Lot 12, between the settlements now known as Conway on the north and Ellerslie on the south. So great was the conflagration that some settlers' houses were in imminent danger and it was only through great exertions that the dwellings and barns were saved. The fire swept some hundreds of acres of spruce woodland almost bare. In 1870 this district was almost covered with blueberry bushes, besides other vegetation. Yet here and there were the remains of the burned tree trunks, but well washed with the spring and autumn rains, until the charred and consequently black appearance had com¬ pletely given way to the grey, of weather- beaten wood. Since then the seeds of the spruce and fir—called var in the province— have gradually spread front the surrounding woods, until—with an ever increasing ac¬ cumulation of soil, almost the whole of this part or as much of h as has not been settled upon and become farm land—is now covered with spruces and fir trees from ten to twenty feet in height. Another feature of the western county, although doubtless the same obtains in the other counties, is the dykes along the sides of rivers, or rather inlets—for what afe called rivers here are merely the ramifica¬ tions of the arms of the sea, the small riven, save a very few exceptions, being but brooks. These dykes are found between the rivers and low-lying swampy areas alongside, and are a few feet in height, and as many broad.