The climate of this Island partakes in an eminent degree of the well-known healthfulness of the neighbouring countries of Nova Scotia, New Brunswick and Canada, to all of which it is in some respects superior, being intirely free from the fogs by which the two first are so much infested, and unincumbered with lakes of fresh water which so often generate sickly seasons in the latter, producing intermittent and other fevers, happily unknown here, to which we may add that the cold is not by many degrees so great in winter; for which our insular situation, and distance from any high land will naturally account; it is a common expression with Canadians who occasionally visit the Island, when they see the houses of our new settlers, " If we were not to use other precautions against the winter, we should be all frozen in our beds :" Canadian houses must be all warmed by stoves, here stoves are by no means common, houses tolerably finished are as completely warmed by a common fire-place as in England, not that we can compare the temperature of the two climates as by any means similar, but our fires have only a dry elastic cold to get the better of. English cold is a raw damp obstinate intruder. In Canada the severity of the winter otherwise healthy, often produces the pleuresy, which frequently carries off the young and healthy, here the complaint is almost unknown.

The seasons here have been variously described, often as has suited the humour or views of the relator, and accordingly falsehood has not been spared either in exaggeration or depreciation: if we have had sanguine individuals, who overlooking the disadvantages of a winter, of above four months continuance, and all the difficulties incident to a new country in such a climate, have injured themselves and deceived others, the Island has equally suffered from disappointed unprincipled adventurers, some of them speculators in land, others on the public offices of the colony, the one wild and extravagant in their expectations, the others turbulent and flagitious in their schemes. The former disappointed by their own folly, the latter by the good sense and spirit of the colony, have in revenge equally contributed, and often united their utmost endeavours to misrepresent and depreciate the Island, both in respect to its natural qualities, and the administration of its public affairs: hence the various accounts in circulation of the climate, soil, and circumstances of the country, than which, nothing, can be more contradictory.

The winter of this climate, is the season which has created the greatest controversy among those who pretend to describe it, I shall therefore begin with that season, and as far as my experience will enable me, endeavour to give my readers a clear idea of its nature and duration. In the first place, I must state, that the changes of temperature ill our winters, are much greater, and more rapid, than any thing of the kind ever experienced in Great Britain, without however producing any ill effects, that I have ever observed, on the general health of the inhabitants.

The commencement and duration of the winter varies much in one year from another, the Hillsburgh river opposite Charlotte Town, has been crossed on the ice, as early as the first week in December, and on other years has been open as late as the 20th of January, and on several years successively, as late as the 8th or 10th of that month, and in the spring we have the same harbour, sometimes not clear of ice before the 20th of April, and on other years, open at the same time in March; these are varieties of such an extent as to furnish the means of deception either way, to those who are not very scrupulous, and accordingly accounts are to be met with, which state our winters to be of six months continuance, while others will allow us to have little more than three; but, it is to be observed, that with respect to the temperature and character of this season, nothing can be concluded from the circumstance of its commencing early, as experience teaches us, that a winter which is early in its commencement, is often mild throughout, and on the other hand, winters late of setting in, are commonly severe in proportion; our hardest winters however, have a great deal of mild weather, even during that part of the season, when the most severe cold might be looked for. The following circumstances, I think will be readily admitted by all who know the country, as pretty accurately describing our winter. The last half of November and the first half of December, English winter weather, sometimes raining, sometimes freezing, sometimes snowing with gales of wind, not often however so hard as is common in Europe at this season, but this period like the whole of our winters, varies much in one year from another; sometimes a great part of it is real winter weather, in other years, the whole is quite mild, the thermometer often rising higher than it ever does in England at this season, sometimes the first part of this period is a little winter, and the last mild autumnal weather; on other years, the weather continues uninterruptedly mild, till the middle of December, and then the winter sets in steadily at once; from the middle to the latter end of this month, we generally have the winter set in in earnest, but in other years it is quite mild, till after the commencement of the new year; for two years successively I have ploughed all the last week of December; this, however, is the natural time to look for our winter, and in which it will be both beneficial and agreeable, there cannot be a pleasanter contrast in regard to winter weather, than between our dry clear bracing cold, and the raw moist unsteady weather which sometimes precedes it and which is so common for a great part of the winter in many countries. I may here observe that from our latitude, we of course have the sun considerably longer above the horizon than in England at this season, which added to the general clear state of our atmosphere gives us at least two hours more day light than in any part of Great Britain at this period of the year. In January and February we look for a great deal of steady cold weather, yet it often happens, that after fifteen or twenty days severe frost, the weather changes, and it becomes mild for as long a time, the mercury falling only a few degrees below the freezing point, and sometimes by the winds coming to the S. W. for several days together; the weather becomes so warm as to form a very extraordinary contrast to the surface of the earth, and the waters all covered with ice; and though we generally have the deepest snows in these months, yet in some years we have much bare ground at this time, which is by no means desirable, as it interferes with our winter employments, by preventing the use of sledges on the roads from the want of snow for them to run on, whereby the getting of timber and fire wood out of the woods, and hay from the marshes is much impeded; the want of snow at this period is also injurious to our grass lands, by exposing them too much to the severity of the frost when it happens that after a thaw or a tract of mild weather the cold again becomes severe before any snow falls to cover and protect the surface.

Though the weather is never so severe in March as frequently happens in the two preceding months, a great part of it is sometimes boisterous and cold, and that most frequently happens when the preceding part of the winter has been remarkably mild, but in what is called a natural winter this month produces very pleasant weather, the days are now long, the sky in general very clear, and in the middle of the day the heat of the sun very considerable, dissolving the snow and ice rapidly; it is general]y in this month that most of our timber is brought out of the forest, and also a stock of fire wood laid in for the remainder of the year. About the middle of the month the sap begins to rise in the trees, and towards the latter end of it the business of making maple sugar commences. The mouths of the harbour's, channels where the tides are rapid, the heads of the rivers and creeks which have been frozen during the preceding months now open; and aquatic birds begin to return from the southward.

In this and the two preceding months, a freezing rain, or as it is commonly called, a silver thaw, sometimes happens on these occasions, the trees are frequently so incrusted with ice, that many of the smaller branches break with its weight, as the smallest twig will sometimes have an inch of ice round it, this state of the weather generally takes place in the night, and continues but a few hours. If the sun happens to shine while the trees are in this state, nothing can exceed the splendor of the forest, every branch seems enclosed in diamonds, and reflects the rays of the sun with the utmost brilliancy; it is impossible to describe the effects of the scene that this state of the weather occasionally exhibits.

The month of April is often more variable and unsteady than its predecessors, frequently exhibiting summer and winter alternately in the course of a week; when the wind is to the southward or S. W. we have always genuine mild spring, sometimes indeed very warm for many days together, exhibiting a most tantalizing contrast to the surrounding objects, and when we are expecting that a few days more will secure us against the return of winter, perhaps the wind suddenly chops round to the northward, and it becomes as unnaturally cold, with considerable falls of snow, but which seldom lays on the ground above a day or two; sometimes there is much easterly wind in this month, which on this coast is always damp and disagreeable, and often attended with rain: in other years, the first part of the month will be cold, and all the rest fine steady spring weather, the snow disappearing rapidly, and the ground getting dry very soon, ploughing often commences about the middle of the month, and in warm sheltered situations, there is a considerable degree of vegetation towards the latter part of it. In some years the spring is so forward as to enable the farmers to commit a good deal of seed to the ground before the end of the month.

The month of May is subject to easterly winds, which are always damp, chilly, and disagreeable, and we have still occasionally night frosts after a N. W. wind, but when the wind is to the S. W. the weather is very fine, and vegetation advances rapidly; by the 20th the fields will generally be green, and towards the latter end of the month the trees commonly get into leaf: from the middle of the month, the weather sets in dry, little rain falling from this time, till towards the end of July: rains, with a wind from the eastward in this month, are cold and injurious to vegetation; when they happen with the wind from the westward, they are highly beneficial.

In June the face of the country, assumes the most vivid appearance, and the air is most delightfully perfumed by the blossoms of the trees, and the flowers of various aromatic shrubs and herbs, the atmosphere is so loaded with the farina of the trees, that great quantities of it which fall on the water is driven ashore by the winds, and collects at high water mark, in the form of a beautiful yellow powder: from the middle of the month the S. W. wind sets in steadily, and the weather then becomes nearly as warm as in the two succeeding months: it generally blows a fresh breeze during the day, but at sun-set the wind dyes away, and the nights continue calm. In a forward season, a few of our wild strawberries will be found ripe on a southern aspect about the end of the month; and I have more than once seen green pease at the same time.

In July the weather is very fine and steadily warm, the thermometer standing generally between seventy and eighty, sometimes it rises as high as eighty-six, the wind blows almost constantly at south-west a fresh breeze, and coming immediately off the water serves to temper the heat; when the wind fails in the evening and the night continues calm, the heat is at this time more disagreeable during the night than in the day, the weather often continues dry through the greater part of the month but we are generally relieved from any drought by heavy showers, though of very short duration, which accompany thunder storms; these storms very seldom do any mischief, they are always over in two or three hours, and the weather immediately becomes clear and steady. From the middle of this month most of the vegetables common in England at this season will be found in great abundance in our gardens. About the 20th hay-harvest generally commences, and by the end of the month early sown barleys will often be fit to cut.

In August the heat generally continues the same as last month, but commonly more rain falls; heavy dews are frequent when the weather is dry, which are very beneficial; by the middle of the month the harvest is pretty general over the Island.

The first part of the month of September the weather in general is nearly as warm as in August, but about the equinox the winds become more variable, being sometimes to the northward of west, which soon cools the air, and also veering to the eastward with rain, high winds are common for some days after the equinox, and after the middle of the month frosts are frequent about the heads of creeks, rivulets, and low springy lands: upon the whole the weather is now more like the weather in England at the same season than any other part of the year.

October though sometimes wet is often the pleasantest month in the year; the heats are gone and the weather generally fine; the gales of wind which happen about the equinox, and the frosty evenings and mornings which are common, seem to purify the atmosphere, and the air is remarkably pure, elastic, and exhilerating. The same kind of weather often continues through the first fortnight of November; sometimes it is so mild that the native strawberries come into blossom on southern aspects, as luxuriantly as in the month of May; on other years it is wet and variable, with frost and showers of snow, but which does not yet lie on the ground more than a few hours. The leaves fall off the trees during the last part of October and the beginning of November.

I have already observed that we are in a great degree free of fogs, which will appear the more surprising as we are in the vicinity of countries known to be extremely subject to them, so near indeed, that many people may be inclined to doubt the possibility of our being so perfectly free from them as I have asserted, to such I can with great truth aver that I have seen two years successively pass without producing one foggy hour, and 1 am confident I have seen more fog in one month of November in London, than I witnessed in all the time I have passed in this Island; I have heard many attempts to account for an exemption so singular, but none of them perfectly satisfactory. Some account for it from the high land of the Island of Cape Breton lying between us and the Banks of Newfoundland and those on the eastern coast of Nova Scotia, which are the great scenes of fog, and from which it spreads over all the sea coast of that country, New Brunswick and the coast of New England, particularly the first, where it prevails much in all the summer months; if the intervention of the Island of Cape Breton between us and the Banks is the only reason of our enjoying a clear sky and dry atmosphere while the contrary prevails so near; it seems difficult to account for a circumstance that is constantly observed. By looking at the chart of this coast it will be observed that the Gut of Canso divides the Island of Cape Breton from the peninsula of Nova Scotia, the eastern end of this strait terminates in Chedabuctou Bay on the coast of Nova Scotia, it is often observed in the months of June and July that this Bay and all the land around it is frequently enveloped in fog for eight and ten days together, and that the fog seldom comes entirely through the Gut, which is only twenty one miles in length for several days together it will not come above two or three miles into it, and sometimes not at all, when it does come through the Gut it seldom lasts above a few hours. It is also observed that the mouth of the River St. Laurence, and the coast from. Cape Rosier to the Bay of Chaleur, though not so much subject to fogs as the coast of Nova Scotia, has a good deal of foggy weather in the spring and the first part of the summer, yet the wind blowing directly from thence over the Gulph, does not bring the fog to this Island. It has been often said that we are to attribute our freedom from fogs to the nature of our soil, which is warm and dry. and also to the small depth of water in all the southern part of the Gulph, which seldom exceeds twenty five fathoms. It is probable that an attentive consideration and comparison of the circumstances by which we are favoured with so fortunate an exemption may hereafter enable Naturalists to account in a more satisfactory manner than has yet been done, for these fogs which are so injurious to some of the neighbouring countries: intailing on them the unpleasant prospect of continuing for ever, subject to the necessity of relying on the importation of bread-corn for their daily consumption.

The north east winds are always attended with rain from May till the middle of November, after that they generally bring snow, all our heaviest falls of snow come with them. After a fall of snow if it comes to blow fresh before the surface hardens, the snow drifts much on the cleared lands, and on the ice, which makes travelling difficult till the wind subsides, it also fills up the roads, which must be beat again; in a populous neighbourhood that is soon accomplished, by every person turning out with their sleighs and teams for that purpose. In the forest the snow never drifts, which makes travelling there more comfortable at this season.

The light frosts which have been mentioned to commence after the middle of September, do not affect the high open lands for many weeks after that period, being chiefly confined to the heads of creeks, the neighbourhood of springs, and low wet lands: near the salt water in places open to the W. and S. W. it will often be the latter end of October before the potatoe tops are affected by it. It. is not till after -the middle of September, that a fire, evening and morning, becomes a desirable companion, and it does not come into constant use till November. In April it is not steadily attended to, in May it is often allowed to go out, and early in June is generally given up, except during a north-east wind. Cattle are seldom regularly housed till the beginning of December, and by many not till the latter end of that month, and some remain out in the forest a great part of the winter, which season they frequently survive when strayed, living like deer by brouzing upon the young wood.

In the summer a white mist rises in the night, upon the creeks and runs of fresh water, which is always an indication of fine weather for the ensuing day; when these mists do not rise on the creeks at this season, rain may be expected in the course of the ensuing day: they do not spread above a few yards beyond the water from which they originate, and are always dissipated before the sun is half an hour above the horizon.

The Aurora Borealis is observed at all seasons of the year, and is commonly the forerunner of a southerly wind and rain: this luminous appearance is sometimes extremely beautiful, and in our pure atmosphere is seen to great advantage, it generally begins in the north, runs up to the Zenith, and sometimes overspreads the whole concave with streams of light, variegated with blue, red, and yellow of various tints; in a calm night, the sound caused by its flashings, may often be distinctly heard.

Many people will be apt to conclude that the great and rapid changes to which our climate is subject, must have a bad effect on the health of mankind, yet I think I may venture to assert that it will be very difficult to mention another spot on the face of the earth, where the inhabitants enjoy more uninterrupted health. The fevers and other diseases of the United States are entirely unknown here, no person ever saw an intermittent fever produced on the Island, nor will that complaint when brought here, ever stand above a few days against the influence of the climate; I have seen thirty Hessian soldiers who brought this complaint from the southward, and who were so much reduced thereby, as to be carried on shore in blankets, all recover in a very short time; few of them had any return or fit of the complaint, after the first forty-eight hours from their landing on the Island. Pulmonary consumptions which are so common, and so very destructive, in the northern and central States of America, are not often met with here; probably ten cases of this complaint have not occurred since the commencement of the settlement. Colds and rheumatisms are the most common complaints, the first generally affects the head more than the breast, and the last seldom proves mortal. A very large proportion of people live to old age, and then die of no acute disease, but by the gradual decay of nature. Deaths between twenty and fifty years of age, are few, when compared with most other countries; and I trust I do not exaggerate the fact, when I state, that not one person in an hundred (all accidents included) dies in a year.

It follows from what has been said, that mankind must increase very fast in such a climate, accordingly, large families are almost universal, six or seven children in as many years, seems to be the common rule, and few leave off without doubling that number. We seldom find a pair without a family where they have come together under such circumstances as to give them a reasonable ground of hope on that subject, and instances have sometimes occurred when people who had given up every idea of the kind, by removing to this Island have had large families. Many people here grow to a large size, perhaps in no other country will the proportion of men of six feet high be found greater; the countenances as well as stature of the young people, whose families came from the highlands of Scotland, often exhibit a remarkable contrast to the hard features, and low stature of their parents; plenty of wholesome food, as well as salubrity of air, no doubt contributes to this difference. Industry will always secure a comfortable existence, which encourages early marriages, the women are grandmothers at forty, and the mother and daughter may frequently be seen with each a child at the breast at the same time.

People determined upon going to America, will do well to compare this, with .the representation given by that celebrated writer and traveller, Volney: Speaking of the climate of the United States, under his third general head, he says:

" Autumnal intermittent fevers, or quotidian agues, tertian, quartan, &c. constitute another class of diseases, that prevail in the United States to a degree, of which no idea could be conceived, They are particularly endemic in places recently cleared, in valleys on the border of waters, either running or stagnant, near ponds, lakes, mill dams, marshes, &c. In the autumn of 1796, in a journey of more than seven hundred miles, I will venture to say, I did not find twenty houses perfectly free from them: the whole course of the Ohio, a great part of Kentucky, all the environs of Lake Erie, and particularly the Genesee and its five or six lakes, the course of the Mohawk, &c. are annually visited by them. Setting off from Fort Cincinnati on the 8th of September, with the convoy of the Pay-master General of the Army, Major Swan, to go to Fort Detroit, about two hundred and fifty miles distant, we did not encamp a single night without at least, one of the twenty-five of us in company, being seized with an intermittent fever. At Grenville, the magazine and head quarters of the army that had just conquered the country, of three hundred and seventy persons, or thereabout, three hundred had the fever; when we arrived at Detroit, there were but three of our company in health, and the day following, both Major Swan and I were taken dangerously ill with a malignant fever. The malignant fever annually visits the garrison of Fort Miami, where it has already more than once assumed the character of the yellow fever. These autumnal fevers are not directly fatal, but they gradually undermine the constitution, and very sensibly shorten life. Other travellers have observed before me, that in South Carolina for instance, a person is as old at fifty, as in Europe at sixty-five or seventy; and I have heard all the Englishmen with whom I was acquainted in the United States, say, that their friends who had been settled a few years in the southern or central States, appeared to them to have grown as old again as they would have done in England or Scotland. If these fevers once fix on a person at the end of October, they will not quit him the whole winter, but reduce him to a state of deplorable weakness and langour. Lower Canada and the cold countries adjacent, are scarcely at all subject to them. They are common in the temperate and flat countries; and particularly on the sea shores more than on the mountains."*

*View of the climate and soil of the United States of America. translated from the French of C. F. Volner London, printed for J. Johnson. St. Paul's Church Yard, 1804. Page 285.