It Has A Town Of Six
Thousand People, And An Extensive Shipbuilding Trade, And, Lastly, It Has
A Prime Minister.
As it has not been tourist-ridden, like Canada or the
States, and is a terra incognita to many who are tolerably familiar with
the rest of our North American possessions, I must briefly describe it,
though I am neither writing a guide-book nor an emigrant's directory.
This island was discovered by Sebastian Cabot in 1497, and more than two
centuries afterwards received the name of St. John, by which it is still
designated in old maps. It received the name of Prince Edward Island in
compliment to the illustrious father of our Queen, who bestowed great
attention upon it. It has been the arena of numerous conflicts during the
endless wars between the French and English. Its aboriginal inhabitants
have here, as in other places, melted away before the whites. About three
hundred remain, earning a scanty living by shooting and fishing, and
profess the Romish faith.
This island is 140 miles in length, and at its widest part 34 in breadth.
It is intersected by creeks; every part of its coast is indented by the
fierce flood of the Gulf of St. Lawrence, and no part of it is more than
nine miles distant from some arm of the sea. It bears the name throughout
the British provinces of the "Garden of British America." That this title
has been justly bestowed, none who have ever visited it in summer will
deny.
While Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, and the banks of the St. Lawrence are
brown, even where most fertile, this island is clothed in brilliant green.
I suppose that the most elevated land in it is less than 400 feet above
the level of the sea; there is not a rock in any part of it, and the
stones which may be very occasionally picked up in the recesses of the
forest cause much speculation in the minds of the curious and scientific.
The features of this country are as soft as the soil. The land is
everywhere gently undulating, and, while anything like a hill is unknown,
it has been difficult to find a piece of ground sufficiently level for a
cricket-field. 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.
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