Shubenacadie and Annapolis. By the census of 1911 there were 3900 Micmacs, of which about half were in Nova Scotia. Once they were fierce and war-like; the only appeal made upon our imagination by the race of the present is their lore of the woods and their store of nature myths. Among the farms of the Bras d'Or, where every house holds its McNeil or MacPherson, the tribal designation of the Micmacs seems peculiarly apt.
The trip of £5 miles from Baddeck to Whycocomagh through the hill-skirted Channel of St. Pattrick involves a night's stay at "The Head of the Bay," since the boat does not return to Baddeck and Sydney until the next morning. But ensconced in the home-like hotel which does the honours at Whycocomagh one may let several boat-days pass before being willing to relinquish the extraordinary beauties of this region. Under varying skies the highlands and the lake assume new depths, new shadows, new violets and tints of green. Across the water is an Indian church with an intricate oriental-looking tower, nearer by is a severe Gaelic one. The long sweep of field and pasture that carries to the crest of the hills is dappled with grain patches and nestling roofs above which drift the wraiths of the evening mist. The view from Salt Mountain reaches from Lake Ainslie and the Craignish Hills to Bras d'Or bays. The peak of Skye Mountain scans a still wider field of scenes that recall Old Scotland.
