POPULATION OF NOVA SCOTIA-INDIANS.

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ties of agricultural produce is shipped for the West Indies, &c. The banks on either side of the Annapolis are composed of rich and verdant meadows, which with the high lands on the east and west form a most pleasing landscape. At Pictou there are three rivers which empty themselves into the harbour; the East, West, and Middle rivers: they are navigable for large vessels.

The other rivers it will be sufficient to name, viz: Macan, Napan, Gasperaux and Phillipe in Cumberland; the Charles, St. Mary, Musquodobit, Little Indian, Antigonish, Salmon and John rivers in the east part of the province; the Liverpool, Stormont, Sable, Jordan, Clyde, Shelburne, Tusket, Salmon and Sissiboo in the S. W. of the colony. While the tide rises with extraordinary rapidity to the height of 75 feet in the Bay of Minas and Chigenecto, it does not rise in the Pictou harbour on the south shore more than six feet.

POPULATION.*-When first discovered Nova Scotia, as well as other parts of America, was inhabited by Indians of a reddish-brown colour, with high cheek-bones, large lips and mouths, long black coarse hair, and fine intelligent penetrating eyes; the males in height from five feet eight inches to six feet, with broad shoulders and strong limbs. The two principal tribes the Mic-macs and Richibuctoos, differing in features and in dialect, were equally savage in their mode of life and manners, but to some extent civilized and made nominal christians, by the early French settlers, who trained the Indians to assist them in their wars against the English.

The wars between the rival contestors for the possession of Nova Scotia, the introduction of the small pox, and above all (strange to say) the maddening use of spirituous liquors, have swept off nearly every Indian from the face of the country where he was once master, and but few (not one thousand) of the Mic-macs still exist. Indolent, when not roused by the * The vegetable and animal kingdoms being similar to those of Canada, require no separate description.

↑ In order to infuriate the semi-christianized Indians against the English, the French jesuitically inspired them with the horrible idea that it was the English who crucified Christ!

322 EARLY CENSUS-PROGRESSIVE INCREASE OF COLONISTS.

stimulus of hunger or revenge, the Indian dreams away life in a silent monotonous existence-his only wants are food, raiment, and shelter of the humblest kinds, and within a few years more the remnant of this extraordinary specimen of the human race will have entirely passed away.*

I have been unable to find any very accurate early details of the progress of population in the colony : in 1749, about 140 years after the settlement of the colony, the Acadians amounted to 18,000 in number; after the removal of these people from Nova Scotia, in 1755 the British settlers were computed at only 5,000, and in 1764 the number of souls was reckoned at 13,000, including 2,600 Acadians; in 1772 the reported numbers were 19,120, but in 1781, in consequence of a number of persons having quitted the colony the number was reduced to 12,000. Two years after 20,000 loyalists arrived, so that the numbers were increased to 32,000, but by the subsequent separation of New Brunswick, Prince Edward's Isle, and Cape Breton into distinct governments, Nova Scotia had of course a diminished population. In 1807 the number of mouths was estimated at 65,000 (exclusive of Cape Breton Isle then 2,515). Two censuses have since been made at intervals of ten years each, the result of which was as follows:-†

• Notwithstanding the peculiar sombreness of the Indian, he is capable of exercising his wit upon occasion-for example one of the Mic-macs, not long since, entering a tavern in one of the country towns, to purchase some spirits, for which 10s. per gallon was demanded, double the retail Halifax price, the black, or rather yellow man, expostulated on the extravagant price asked, the landlord endeavoured to justify it by explaining the expense of conveyance, the loss of interest, &c., and illustrated his remarks by saying that, "it was as expensive to keep a hogshead of rum as a Milch cow;" the Indian humourously replied, may be it drinks as much water," alluding to its adulteration, "but certain no eat so much hay.”

The mass of the present inhabitants consist of descendants from seven original emigrants from Great Britain, Ireland, Germany, New England and seven Acadians. The majority in the East, the Pictou and Sydney, are Scotch. New Englanders about Annapolis, &c.

The foregoing is exclusive of King's troops, which amounted in 1817 to 1,302; it is also exclusive of Cape Breton Isle, containing in 1817 14,000, and in 1827 30,000.

It will be observed that the census of 1827 is differently arranged from that of 1817-the number of males during the former period was 72,971, and of females 69,577, the annual births 5,246, the deaths 2,124, and the marriages 1,073.

The aggregate of the census of 1827 (the last that has been taken) shews the number of male and female servants, exclusive of masters, as follows:

POPULATION OF NOVA SCOTIA IN 1827.

I do not know whether the term free blacks in the census of 1817 (and which I do not find in the census of 1827), applies to the aboriginal inha

324

BEAUTIFUL APPEARANCE OF NOVA SCOTIA.

Nova Scotia has been so long and so unjustly considered in England a bleak, marshy, and almost uninhabitable country, that I may be excused entering into some detail as to its inhabitants and localities, for as has been truly observed by a native of the colony, the extended and well-cultivated valley of the Annapolis-the diversified and picturesque country of Horton and Cornwallis-the richness and extent of views in the vicinity of Windsor-the unrivalled beauty of Mahone Bay, with its numerous verdant islets-the whole country bordering on the Shubenaccadie-very many spots in the eastern parts of the province—and the extensive townships of Newport and Yarmouth cannot fail to excite the wonder of strangers, that they exist in a territory which has always been represented as the most uninteresting part of the continent of North America.

The territorial distribution of the Nova Scotia government is-1, Eastern division-2, Middle-3, Western-4, Halifax-5, Cape Breton, (see next chapter); there are ten counties, some of which are again subdivided into districts and townships for the more convenient administration of justice.* Halifax division, containing part of the county of the

bitants of the colony, or to the residue of a large party of maroons, who were shipped from Jamaica (see vol. ii.) to Nova Scotia, and who becoming dissatisfied, were for the greater part subsequently trans-shipped to Sierra Leone.

* The only counties divided into districts are, Halifax into three, viz. Halifax, Colchester, and Pictou; and Sydney into Lower and Upper.

The townships are not all of equal extent, nor of equal number in each county, viz. in Halifax there are Halifax, Dartmouth, Preston, and Lawrence Town (in Halifax District); Truro, Onslow, and Londonderry (in Colchester Distrct); Pictou, Egerton, and Maxwelton (in Pictou District);—Lunenburg, Chester, Lunenburg, and Dublin.-Queen's, Liverpool. Shelburne, Shelburne, Yarmouth, Barrington, Argyle, and Pubnico.-Annapolis, Digby, Clements, Clare, Annapolis, Granville, and Wilmot.-King's, Aylesworth, Cornwallis, Horton, and Sherbrooke.Cumberland, Wallace, Amherst, and Pamborough.-Hants, Falmouth, Windsor, Rawdon, Kempt, Douglas, and Newport.-Sydney, St. Mary's, Guysborough, Manchester, Wilmot, and Dorchester, or Antigonish. In each township the inhabitants meet as in an English parish, and assess themselves for the support of the poor.

INHABITANTS, STOCK AND PRODUCE OF HALIFAX, &c. 325

same name, and the townships of Halifax, Dartmouth, Preston, and Lawrence town is thus presented at the last census :

The naval capital of British North America, Halifax, has been before described, and Dartmouth requires no separate account: we may, therefore, proceed to the eastern division, containing the districts of Colchester, Pictou, and the counties of Sydney and Cumberland. The district of Colchester is a part of the county of Halifax, and is bounded