The staple exports of the port of Halifax are the various products of the sea fisheries, in which a large number of the nhabitants of Nova Scotia are regularly employed. The extent of this business at Halifax is thus stated:

Return of the quantities of fish and fish oil exported from Halifax in the year 1851.

The following return exhibits the number of ships, and their tonnage, which entered inward at the port of Halifax during the year 1851, as also the value of imports by such vessels, distinguishing British from foreign. This return furnishes a good general idea of the import trade of Halifax, as at present existing:

Besides its staple export arising from the fisheries, the province of Nova Scotia also sends abroad a very considerable quantity of bituminous coal.

A notice of the abundant mineral wealth of this colony is given in my former report to the Treasury Department, published by order of the Senate; but some portions of this it may be necessary to repeat at present, in order to point out clearly the existing state of the coal trade of Nova Scotia.

The coal mines at present opened and worked in this colony are four in number. They are as follows:

1st. The Albion mines, near Pictou, on the Gulf of St. Lawrence. 2d and 3d. The Sydney and Bridgeport mines, in Cape Breton. 4th. The Cumberland mines, at the head of the Bay of Fundy. The mines near Pictou are about eighty miles by water from the western extremity of the strait of Canso, which separates Cape Breton from Nova Scotia. Here there are ten strata of coal; the main coal band is thirty-three feet in thickness, with twenty-four feet of good coal. Out of this only thirteen feet is fit for exportation; the remaining part is valuable for furnaces and forges.

In consequence of a general subsidence of the ground, to the extent of six feet, over all the old workings, new pits have recently been opened at the Pictou mines, which are only 150 feet deep; the main coal hand being struck at a higher level than in the old pits.

The average cost of mining coals here is thirty cents per chaldron, the various expenses of the mines, engines, &c., increase the cost of coals at the pit mouth to sixty-two and a half cents per ton. The cost of screening, transporting to the loading-ground by railway-a distance of nine miles-with other incidental charges, adds' seventy-five cents per ton to the cost of the coals.

The shipping season commences at Pictou about the first of May, and continues until the middle of November, after which the northern harbors of Nova Scotia are frozen up.

At Pictou, coals are delivered by the single cargo, at three dollars and thirty cents per chaldron. Purchasers of one thousand chaldrons, or more, obtain a deduction of thirty cents per chaldron. The slack, or fine coal, is delivered on board at one dollar and a half per chaldron, with a discount of three per cent. for cash payment.

The average weight of a chaldron of Pictou coals is 3,456 pounds. The average required in the United States is 2,940 pounds the chaldron.

One hundred chaldrons of coals, Pictou measure, are equal to 120 chaldrons, Boston measure. The usual freight from Pictou to Boston is $2.75 per chaldron, Boston measure.

Pictou is in latitude 45° 41' north; longitude 62° 40' west; rise and fall of tide 4 to 6 feet.

The Sydney coal field occupies the southeast portion of the island of Cape Breton, and is estimated to contain two hundred and fifty miles of workable coal. The thickness of the coal-bed worked at Sydney is six feet. It is delivered on board vessels, after being transported three miles by railway, to the loading-ground, at $3 60 per chaldron, with the same deduction to large purchasers as at Pictou. This coal, as a domestic fuel, is accounted equal to the best Newcastle; it is soft, close-burning, and highly bituminous.

The Bridgeport mines are fifteen miles from Sydney. The coalseam at these mines is nine feet thick, and contains two thin partings of shale. The coal is of excellent quality, of the same description as at Sydney, and not at all inferior.

The coals from Cape Breton overrun the Boston measure from 18 to 20 per cent.

Sydney is in latitude 46° 18′ north; longitude 60° 9' west; rise and fall of tide 6 feet.

The Cumberland coal mines are on the coast of Chignecto, which forms the northeastern termination of the Bay of Fundy. These mines have been but recently opened. The seam worked is about four and a half feet in thickness. The coal is bituminous, but is alleged to contain more sulphur than any other description in Nova Scotia.

The principal exportation of coals from Nova Scotia and Cape Breton is to ports in Massachusetts and Rhode Island, with a small quantity to New York. Many American vessels in this trade, especially since the change in the navigation laws, obtain freights for Nova Scotia, Newfoundland, the French islands of St. Peter, Prince Edward island, and the New Brunswick ports on the Gulf of St. Lawrence, and load with coals as their return cargo.

The mean price of Sydney and Pictou coal for the chaldron, of 48

pushels, weighing 3,750 (nominally one ton and a quarter) is $3 10, which is equal to $2 32 per chaldron of 36 bushels. The freight to Boston is $2 75 per chaldron; the duty under the tariff of 1846 (thirty per cent. ad valorem) is seventy cents per chaldron, amounting in all to $5 77 per chaldon. To this must be added: insurance, two per cent.; and commission, two and a half per cent. The price paid in Boston by actual consumers for this same coal is about eight dollars per chaldron.

Anthracite coal does not exist in any of the colonies, and they bid fair to become consumers of Pennsylvania anthracite, the importation of which has already commenced, to some extent, in New Brunswick for steamboats and foundries. Under liberal arrangements on both sides, the consumption of anthracite coals would greatly increase in the colonies, and even in Nova Scotia, it being for many purposes better fitted and more economical than the bituminous coal of that colony.

The following return shows the quantities of coal, in chaldrons, shipped to the United States from the different mines in Nova Scotia, in the years 1849 and 1850:

The foregoing return was furnished by the Hon. S. Cunard, the general agent for all the mines of Nova Scotia. No return has been received for the year 1851; but Mr. Cunard states that the quantity fell off about twelve thousand chaldrons in that season.

CAPE BRETON.

This valuable island is in shape nearly triangular, its shores indented, with many fine, deep harbors, and broken with innumerable coves and inlets.

Cape Breton is almost separated into two islands by the great inlet called the Bras D'Or, which enters on its east side, facing Newfoundland, by two passages hereafter described, and afterwards spreading out into a magnificent sheet of water, ramifies in the most singular manner throughout the island, rendering every part of its interior easily accessible.

The Bras D'Or (or "Arm of Gold") creates two natural divisions in Cape Breton, which are in striking contrast; the northern portion being high, bold, and steep; while that to the south is low, intersected by water, diversified with moderate elevations, and rises gradually from

its interior shore until it presents abrupt cliffs toward the Atlantic

ocean.

The whole area of Cape Breton is estimated at 2,000,000 of acres ; its population somewhat exceeds 50,000 souls.

In the southern division of Cape Breton, the highest land does not exceed 800 feet; but in the northern division the highlands are higher, bolder, and more continuous, terminating at North Cape, which is 1,800 feet in height, and faces Cape Ray on the opposite coast of Newfoundland. Between these two capes, which are 48 miles apart, is the main entrance to the Gulf of and river St. Lawrence-a pass of great importance.

The Bras D'Or appears to have been an eruption of the ocean, caused by some earthquake or convulsion, which admitted the water within the usual boundary of the coast. This noble sea-water lake is 50 miles in length, and its greatest breadth about 20 miles. The depth of water varies from 12 to 60 fathoms, and it is everywhere secure and navigable. Sea-fisheries of every kind are carried on within the Bras D'Or to a very considerable extent, as also a salmon fishery. Quantities of codfish and herrings are taken on this lake during winter through holes cut in the ice. The entrance to this great sea-lake is divided into two passages by Boulardrie island; the south passage is 23 miles long, and from a quarter of a mile to three miles wide; but it is not navigable for large vessels, owing to a bar at its mouth. The north passage is 25 miles long, from two to three miles wide, with a free navigation, and above 60 fathoms of water. The shores of these entrances are settled by Scotch Highlanders and emigrants from the Hebrides, who prosecute the fisheries in boats with much success. These fisheries are most extensive and valuable, not exceeded in any part of America; but, from their inland position, are at present wholly inaccessible to our citizens, who have never yet participated in them in the least degree.

In several of the large bays connected with the Bras D'Or, the large timber ships from England receive their cargoes at 40 and 60 miles distance from the sea. The timber is of good size, and of excellent

quality.

The rich coal deposites of Cape Breton occupy not less than 120 square miles, all containing available seams for working of bituminous coal of the best quality.

The extensive and varied fisheries; the rich deposites of the finest coal, with the best iron ore; the superior quality of the timber, and extraordinary facilities and conveniences for ship-building; the rare advantage of inland navigation, bordered by good land for agricultural purposes; the existence also of abundant salt springs, lofty cliffs of the best gypsum, and the finest building stone of all kinds; with the geographical situation of the island as the key of the St. Lawrence, and the position which commands the entire commerce and fisheries of the northeastern portion of North America-all combine to render Cape Breton one of the most important and most desirable possessions of British North America.

The possession of Cape Breton is of the utmost consequence to Great Britain. The naval power of France, it is well known and admitted,