sate ambitious climbers by vistas that embrace the Cape Breton shore, the Straits of Canso, 30 miles away, the Bay and all the lovely realm between.
One magnificent farm, 9 miles from Antigonish town, has 600 acres extending back from the bay. The great barn, largest in all the province, has a capacity of nearly 200 tons of hay.
The county-seat is a mile from the head of a newly-dredged harbour which will admit shipping and pleasure-craft to wharves near the town. Though the number of inhabitants is but 2000 and has scarcely varied in twenty years, the three banks of the town have a million and a half dollars on deposit.
The harbour shore was the district settled first by Acadians, then by English officers and privates who were granted land in Nova Scotia in recompense for their services in the war of the Colonies against Great Britain. The rigours of the wilderness put out the enthusiasm of most of these, but in a short time, Highlanders, expatriated by ruthless landlords, came to New Scotland and found in the braes and leas of Antigonish County a solace for their misfortune. "In their new homes," relates Monsignor Gillis, Professor of Philosophy at St. Francis Xavier, and sponsor for these brief historical notes, "the Catholics and the Presbyterians selected different localities for their settlements—a circumstance which explains the groupings of the adherents of their respective churches
