The North Shore Is Extremely Pretty; It Has Small Villages,
Green Clearings, Fine Harbours, With The Trees Growing Down To The Water's
Edge, And Shady Streams.
The land is very suitable for agricultural purposes, as also for the
rearing of sheep; but the island is totally destitute of mineral wealth.
It is highly favoured in climate.
The intense heat of a North American
summer is here tempered by a cool sea-breeze; fogs are almost unknown, and
the air is dry and bracing. Instances of longevity are very common; fever
and consumption are seldom met with, and the cholera has never visited its
shores. Wages are high, and employment abundant; land is cheap and
tolerably productive; but though a competence may always be obtained, I
never heard of any one becoming rich through agricultural pursuits.
Shipbuilding is the great trade of the island, and the most profitable
one. Everywhere, even twenty miles inland, and up among the woods, ships
may be seen in course of construction. These vessels are sold in England
and in the neighbouring colonies; but year by year, as its trade
increases, the island requires a greater number for its own use.
In summer, the island is a very agreeable residence; the sandy roads are
passable, and it has a bi-weekly communication with the neighbouring
continent. Shooting and fishing may be enjoyed in abundance, and the
Indians are always ready to lend assistance in these sports. Bears, which
used to be a great attraction to the more adventurous class of sportsmen,
are, however, rapidly disappearing.
In winter, I cannot conceive a more dull, cheerless, and desolate place
than Prince Edward Island. About the beginning of December steam
communication with the continent ceases, and those who are leaving the
island hurry their departure. Large stocks of fuel are laid in, the
harbour is deserted by the shipping, and all out-door occupations
gradually cease. Before Christmas the frost commences, the snow frequently
lies six feet deep, and soon the harbours and the adjacent ocean freeze,
and the island is literally "locked in regions of thick-ribbed ice" for
six long months. Once a fortnight during the winter an ice-boat crosses
Northumberland Strait, at great hazard, where it is only nine miles wide,
conveying the English mail; but sometimes all the circumstances are not
favourable, and the letters are delayed for a month - the poor islanders
being locked meanwhile in their icebound prison, ignorant of the events
which may be convulsing the world. Charlotte Town, the capital of the
island and the seat of government, is very prettily situated on a
capacious harbour, which was defended by several heavy guns. It is a town
of shingles, but looks very well from the sea. With the exception of
Quebec, it is considered the prettiest town in British America; but while
Quebec is a city built on a rock, Charlotte Town closely borders upon a
marsh, and its drainage has been very much neglected.
There are several commons in the town, the grass of which is of a
peculiarly brilliant green, and, as these are surrounded by houses, they
give it a cheerful appearance. The houses are small, and the stores by no
means pretentious. The streets are unlighted, and destitute of side walks;
there is not an attempt at paving, and the grips across them are something
fearful. "Hold on" is a caution as frequently given as absolutely
necessary. I have travelled over miles of corduroy road in a springless
waggon, and in a lumber waggon, drawn by oxen, where there was no road at
all, but I never experienced anything like the merciless joint-dislocating
jolting which I met with in Charlotte Town. This island metropolis has two
or three weekly papers of opposite sides in politics, which vie with each
other in gross personalities and scurrilous abuse.
The colony has "responsible government," a Governor, a Legislative
Council, and a House of Assembly, and storms in politics are not at all
unfrequent. The members of the Lower House are elected by nearly universal
suffrage, and it is considered necessary that the "Premier" should have a
majority in it. This House is said to be on a par with Irish poor-law
guardian meetings for low personalities and vehement vituperation.
The genius of Discord must look complacently on this land. Politics have
been a fruitful source of quarrels, misrepresentation, alienation, and
division. The opposition parties are locally designated "snatchers" and
"snarlers," and no love is lost between the two. It is broadly affirmed
that half the people on the island do not speak to the other half. And,
worse than all, religious differences have been brought up as engines
wherewith to wreak political animosities. I never saw a community in which
people appeared to hate each other so cordially. The flimsy veil of
etiquette does not conceal the pointed sneer, the malicious innuendo, the
malignant backbiting, and the unfounded slander. Some of the forms of
society are observed in the island - that extreme of civilisation vulgarly
called "cutting" is common; morning calls are punctiliously paid and
returned, and there are occasional balls and tea-parties. Quebec is
described as being the hottest and coldest town in the world, Paris the
gayest, London the richest; but I should think that Charlotte Town may
bear away the palm for being the most gossiping.
There is a general and daily flitting about of its inhabitants after news
of their neighbours - all that is said and done within a three-mile circle
is reported, and, of course, a great deal of what has neither been said
nor done. There are certain people whose business it is to make mischief,
and mischief-making is a calling in which it does not require much wit to
be successful.
The inhabitants are a sturdy race, more than one-half of them being of
Scotch descent. They are prevented from attaining settled business-like
habits by the long winter, which puts a stop to all out-door employment.
This period, when amusement is the only thing thought of, is called in the
colonies "blowin-time." All the country is covered with snow, and the
inhabitants have nothing to do but sleigh about, play ball on the ice,
drive the young ladies to quilting frolics and snow picnics, drink brandy-
and-water, and play at whist for sixpenny points.
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