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 NOVA SCOTIA

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NOVA SCOTIA

(489); St. Honoratus (c. 500); St. Leo (c. 700), biog- rapher of St. Gaudentius; Adalgisus (c. 840), called Gemma Sacerdotum; Albertus, killed by the Counts of Biandrate in 1081; Litifredus (1122) and Papiniano della Rovere (1296); Guglielmo Amidano (1343), a learned theologian and former general of the Augus- tinians; Pietro Filargo (1388), later the Antipope Alexander V; Bartolomco Visconti (1429), deposed by Eugene IV, who suspected him of treachery, but fi- nally reinstated; Cardinal Gian Angelo Arcimboldi (1525) ; Gian Antonio Serbelloni (1560), founder of the seminary; Francisco Rossi (1579), founder of a second seminary; Carlo Bescap6 (1593), a Barnabite histo- rian of the diocese; Benedetto Odescalchi (1650), later Innocent XI. Suffragan of Vercelli, it has 372 par- ishes; 408,000 inhabitants; 11 religious houses of men and 14 of women; 2 schools for boys, and 6 for girls; and 3 Catholic weekly publications.

Savio, Gli anlichi vescovi d' Italia, I, Piemonte; Cappelletti, Le Chiese d' Italia, XIV: MORBIO, Storia di Novara (Milan, 1833).

U. Benigni.

Nova Scotia. — I. Geography. — Nova Scotia is one of the maritime provinces of Canada. It forms part of what was formerly Acadie or Acadia and now consists of what is known as the peninsula of Nova Scotia proper and the 1 sland of Cape Breton. The island is separated from the mainland by the Gut or Strait of Canso, an important international waterway connecting the At- lantic Ocean with the Gulf of St. Lawrence. This strait is about fifteen miles long and varies in width from half a mile to two miles. Sable Island, a dangerous sand ridge, on which in 1518 a Frenchman, named de Lery, made a fruitless attempt to form a settlement, was before the confederation of the provinces a part of the Pro\-ince of Nova Scotia, but by the Union Act (British North America Act of 1867) this island came under the exclusive legislative authority of the Dominion Parliament. It is about twenty-five miles long and of varying width. In some places it is about a mile and a half wide. From the numerous ship- wrecks that have occurred there. Sable Island has be- come known as "the graveyard of the Atlantic".

The Province of Nova Scotia lies between 43° 25' and 47° north latitude, and 59° 40' and 66° 35' west longitude. On the north it is bounded by the Bay of Fundy, Chignecto Bay, New Brunswick, Northum- berland Straits, and the Gulf of Saint Lawrence, and on all other sides by the Atlantic Ocean. The penin- sula is connected with the Province of New Brunswick by the Isthmus of Chignecto which is about twelve and a half miles wide. The total area of Nova Scotia is estimated at about 21,428 square miles. The sur- face is undulating. There are three mountain ranges, namely: the Cobequid Mountains, commencing at Cape Chignecto in Cumberland and running about one hundred miles through the Counties of Colches- ter, Pictou and Antigonish ; the North Mountains ex- tending from Cape Blomidon to Digby Neck, about one hundred and ten miles; and the South Mountains, a low range parallel with the North Mountains and with some interruptions running through the middle of the peninsula and through the Island of Cape Breton, the range being about three hundred and fifty miles long. The greatest height of these moun- tains is 1700 feet above sea-level. The rivers are small, and no part of the country is far from the sea. The lakes are numerous but not large. The Bras d'Or Lakes in Cape Breton divide the island into two parts and cover about 500 square miles. The coastline of Nova Scotia is about 1500 miles and there are numer- ous ports of refuge. The harbours of Halifax, Louis- burg, and Sydney are among the best in North America. The average temperature ranges from 65° F. in summer to 2.5° F. in winter. The high tides on the Bay of Fumly constitute an unusual physical fea- ture of the counties lying along the bay.

The resources of Nova Scotia are diversified. Farm- ing, mining, fishing, lumbering, and manufacturing yield an ample return to the industry of the inhabit- ants. In the counties lying along the Bay of Fundy and penetrated by the inlets are valuable dike-lands begun by the early French settlers, and continued after the expulsion of the Acadians by the colonists frorn New England, who in 1760 and 1761 took pos- session of the lands of the ex-pelled Acadians. The agricultural products of the country are hay, wheat, oats, barley, potatoes, and turnips, all of which obtain a local market. In the Annapolis Valley about 750,- 000 barrels of apples are annually produced and shipped to the English markets. There are large coal measures in the Counties of Cumberland, Pictou, In- verness, and Cape Breton. The coal is bituminous, and supplies the local demand and a large portion of the markets of the St. Lawrence River. Iron, copper, and gypsum are also mined. The coast fisheries are looked upon as very valuable. They consist of sal- mon, cod, shad, halibut, mackerel, herring, shellfish, and are exported to American and European markets. The forests produce maple, birch, hemlock, spruce, pine, and beech. The manufacturing interests are also extensive, the larger plants being the iron and steel works at Sydney and Sydney Mines.

II. Ethnography. — When the European colonists first came to Nova Scotia they found the country in- habited by a tribe of Indians known as the Micmacs. These savages were converted to Christianity by the early French missionaries. Their descendants, num- bering 1542 at the time of the last official census (1901), belong to the Catholic Church. They live principally on reservations set aside for them by the Government. The duty of caring for the Indians has been assigned by the British North American Act to the Parliament of Canada. The descendants of the French settlers form an important body. They numbered at the time of the last census 45, 161. They also are Catho- lics and are noted for their industry and frugality. The Germans form another important element. They are descended from the body of German settlers who arrived in Nova Scotia shortly after the founding of Halifax, and in 1753 removed to the County of Lunen- burg. Principally Lutherans and Anglicans, they are thrifty and industrious. The English settlers came in after the defeat of the French, and after the Revolu- tionary War from twenty to thirty thousand loyalists left the United States and settled in Nova Scotia. Later on came accessions from Ireland and Scotland. At the last census these last-mentioned races were esti- mated as follows: English, 159,753; Scottish, 143,382; liish, 54,710. There were also 5984 negroes in the pro\'ince. They are descended from slaves who were i)r(night to Nova Scotia before the abolition of slavery in British dominions. The total population of the Province of Nova Scotia in 1901 was 459,572, of whom 129,578 were returned as Catholics.

III. History. — John Cabot made his first voyage from Bristol in search of a westerly route to India in 1497. He made a landfall on the eastern coast of North America, but whether on Labrador, Newfound- land, or Nova Scotia is uncertain. No actual set- tlement immediately followed the voyages of the Cabots. In 1604 King Henry IV of France gave a commission to de Monts appointing him viceroy of the territory lying between the Gulf of St. Lawrence and the mouth of the Hudson River. De Monts arrived at the mouth of the La Have River on the coast of Nova Scotia and he then sailed up the Bay of Fundy and into the sheet of water which is now known as the An- napolis Basin. Here, near what is now the town of An- napoHs, a site was chosen for a settlement and to the place de Monts gave the name of Port-Royal. Leav- ing some of his companions there he sailed along the northern shore of the Bay of Fundy, entered the St. John River and later made his winter quarters at the