But a start is made for the west, and the country is almost immediately reached. Here plenty of evidence is seen of the great productiveness of these eastern lands, for “stooks” of wheat are standing on end in great quantities. At Wellington the small upper waters of a stream flow northward. It is tributary to the Ellis River, into which other streams flow. This stream soon widens out considerably and runs into Richmond or Malpeque Bay on the north shore. The river and the lakes nearby are all fished, and lobsters and clams are plentifully found. At Port Hill and adjoining places, fine-looking sheep are seen in large numbers, grazing in good pastures, and there are herds of the cleanest cattle in the fresh-appearing meadows. The land hereabouts is like an almost level prairie, and everywhere the harvest of wheat and oats meet the eye in pleasant array; newly gathered and dotting the whole of the surrounding fields with innumerable sheaves, stacked up on end, and ready to gather into the barns that will surely be overtaxed—so rich and plentiful are the crops of this verdant isle.
In the neighborhood of Portage there are extensive tracts of young woods, and in places, for miles around, the country resembles cultivated park lands. In some parts there is plenty of evidence that heavy timber has formerly been cut down, for, the harvest work about done, fierce and glowing fires are seen consuming great tree-stumps to make a perfect clearing.
Mixed trains, usually avoided by all who are not compelled to use them, are really the best for seeing all the pleasant little by-places of the Garden Province; for while freight is being handled at each station, it is possible to alight and ramble a little in nearby luxurious paths that fringe the railroad along its whole extent. This applies not only to the route from Summerside to Tignish, but also to the whole railway system of the Island. As is perhaps generally known, the Prince Edward Island Railway is part of the extensive system known as the Canadian Government Railways.
Hunter River, P.E.I.
Little barefoot boys with freckled faces—health showing in every movement of their active limbs—watch the passenger cars as the shunting is being done. They stand on the station platform and gaze wonderingly at the stranger from the outer world. Little girls, too, emboldened by the presence of their older brothers, pluck up courage to pass the car windows and take shy glances at the people from the great cities. To see their fresh young faces and artless simplicity of manner is alone well worth the railway fare from some far-off metropolis.
Extensive dairying farms are seen as Elmsdale is neared. Pleasant knolls of land spread out in every direction, and the belts of trees of various tints, as well as the trim orchards, give an attractive appearance to the whole countryside.
And now Alberton is reached, near to Holland or Cascumpeque Bay:
“The echoes of the surges roar