f coal are worked. Still more
important is the Sydney coal-field, which occupies the east coast from
Mira Bay to St Ann's. The outcrop is plainly visible at various points
along the coast, and coal has been mined in the neighbourhood from a
very early period. Since 1893 the operations have been greatly extended,
and over 3,000,000 tons a year are now shipped, chiefly to Montreal and
Boston. The coal is bituminous, of good quality and easily worked, most
of the seams dipping at a low angle. Several have been mined for some
distance beneath the ocean. Slate, marble, gypsum and limestone are
quarried, the latter, which is found in unlimited quantities, being of
great value as a flux in the blast-furnaces of Sydney. Copper and iron
are also found, though not in large quantities.

Its lumber, agricultural products and fisheries are also important.
Nearly covered with forest at the time of its discovery, it still
exports pine, oak, beech, maple and ash. Oats, wheat, turnips and
potatoes are cultivated, chiefly for home consumption; horses, cattle
and sheep are reared in considerable numbers; butter and cheese are
exported. The Bras d'Or lakes and the neighbouring seas supply an
abundance of cod, mackerel, herring and whitefish, and the fisheries
employ over 7000 men. Salmon are caught in several of the rivers, and
trout in almost every stream, so that it is visited by large numbers of
tourists and sportsmen from the other provinces and from the United
States. The Intercolonial railway has been extended to Sydney, and
crosses the Gut of Canso on a powerful ferry. From the same strait a
railway runs up the west coast, and several shorter lines are controlled
by the mining companies. Of these the most important is that connecting
Sydney and Louisburg. Numerous steamers, with Sydney as their
headquarters, ply upon the Bras d'Or lakes. The inhabitants are mainly
of Highland Scottish descent, and Gaelic is largely spoken in the
country districts. On the south and west coasts are found a number of
descendants of the original French settlers and of the Acadian exiles
(see NOVA SCOTIA), and in the mining towns numbers of Irish are
employed. Several hundred Mic Mac Indians, for the most part of mixed
blood, are principally employed in making baskets, fish-barrels and
butter-firkins. Nearly the whole population is divided between the Roman
and Presbyterian creeds, and the utmost cordiality marks the relations
between the two faiths. The