It is the haunt of most of the game the
English sportsman knows so Veil, and some of its scenery differs but little from the Northern landscapes of the British Isles. The province itself is divided into two most distinct regions,—the fat and fertile lands of Annapolis and Yarmouth, and the rocky, fir-forested Northern portion much resembling Norway, with the rest of the rocky and unfertile portions of North America. As to the beautiful and fertile regions of the Annapolis Valley, Longfellow does not exaggerate their charm in " Evangeline." Yet with all the resemblance to England, it must be observed that the extremes of climate are greater in Nova Scotia. The July isotherm of 60° Fahr., which passes through the middle of England, runs well to the north of Nova Scotia, while the January isotherm of 32° Fehr., which passes below the maritime province, runs well above us, through part of Iceland in fact. But figures are not always facts ; the climate of Nova Scotia is a much nearer approach to ours than this would indicate. Mr. Silver describes this portion of maritime Canada with much skill and charm. It is easy to see that he is in love with the country, and the pictures he draws of the happy days spent by the sportsman in pursuit of moose and woodcock and salmon are instinct with real knowledge and freshness. The conventional accent of the sportsman is scarcely noticeable, though there is no lack of detail and interest- ing notes on habits of bird and beast. The "Farm-Cottage," it must be confessed, comes in for a very small share of attention. We gather from Mr. Silver that the province should be an ideal settlement for what he calls the "gentleman emigrant,"—that is to say, the emigrant with means. He throws out a warning, it is true, to those who may find the primeval instinct of the hunter interfering with work. His failure to harvest a fine crop of oats was not unconnected with a flight of black duck. The settler is not quite debarred from these sports, but he must do his work first. To say that the bond-fide settler is as far from the sports of the forest as the English farmer from deer-stalking is not quite the case ; but the settler would nevertheless be wise to accept it as a fact. This is a most readable book, and we have enjoyed the description of life and sport in a country naturally interesting to English people, and less than a week's sail from Liverpool.
Previous page
