Near the main street, with its Celtic Hall, its shops and its curling rink is the Royal George Hotel, one of the few in the provinces completely modern in equipment. The wide streets are arched by splendid trees that remind one of New England. Though seven-eighths of the population is Scotch Catholic, by agreement among the citizens a Romanist is elected to the mayoralty one term and a Protestant the next, an arrangement whose tolerance increases one's already agreeable impression of the town.
The road from Antigonish (a name inherited from the Indians) winds through Antigonish and Guysboro Counties to villages on the Atlantic Coast. Snug cottages and domineering hay and cattle barns are their own commentary on the fertility of this farm country which nowhere is more than twenty miles from salt water. The summer temperature in this belt averages 62°, the winter temperature, 26° Fahrenheit. The vital statistics of the County of Antigonish show that fifteen per cent. of those that die within its bounds are over eighty years of age, and three per cent. live to be over ninety. In a certain year, seven died aged over one hundred—an interesting testimonial to the climate and the original stock of the race.
Sherbrooke, 40 miles from Antigonish, is the centre of a district productive of big game and gold quartz. At Goldenville, across the St. Mary River, there is a paying plant in operation. There
