the triangular peninsula that provides the site of Halifax. This beautiful property comprising 250 acres of natural woodland is owned by the Dominion and leased to the Province at a shilling a year. One day in every twelve-month sentries are posted to keep out the public, in order that the Government's authority over the right of way be established.
Driving beneath the pine trees and inhaling the zephyrs blowing from Harbour and Arm, one's tranquil reveries are interrupted by the thrust of cannon and the brusque bulking of earth-works. Several batteries fringe the shore, all of them of recent construction except the old Chain Fort below the cottage where Joe Howe was born over a century ago. At the mouth of the North West Arm chains used to be drawn across to defend the inlet from hostile invasion.
In a clearing near-by stands the grey Martello Tower, concerning whose origin there are conflicting accounts. One of Howe's biographers asserts that the fortress was built in his boyhood. But the Dickensesque caretaker who pilots one about the circular, thick-walled corridors implies a much earlier date by relating that the French fortified this spot before Cornwallis came to Halifax, though she concedes that the wooden roof was laid by the English. Whatever its age or one-time worth as a defence, its deep embrasures are blithe now with swaying nasturtiums and the warble of
