I read each misty mountain sign,
I know the voice of wave and pine,
And I am yours, and ye are mine.
* * * * *
Life’s burdens fall, its discords cease,
I lapse into the glad release
Of nature’s own exceeding peace.”
A favorite drive is that from Baddeck to the upper waters of the Baddeck River, and also by way of St. Ann’s to the North River. It was at St. Ann’s that Nicholas Denys had one of his fortified posts in early days. The river scenery is everywhere charming, with pretty brooks, green woodland, banks of ferns, and clustering patches of wild flowers. At St. Ann’s and North River the water views are very choice, and the drive is a constant succession of delights. There is a grand side to the scenery of this district, for the mighty hills have been riven asunder in many places, and romantic gorges are seen from numerous places on the way. Indian Brook, with precipitous banks, and rocky waterfall, is a delightful scene.
The little places on the coast road to Ingonish are far remote from travel routes, and they are full of interest. The scenes are extremely bold and striking, and by some are thought to resemble the features of Norway. Cap Enfumé, commonly called “Old Smoky” on account of its almost perpetual cap of mist, is a bold object in the view, for it towers up almost perpendicularly for some twelve hundred feet. This cape has been termed one of the eastern bulwarks of North America, where the mighty deep lashed into fury by the eastern tempests, thunders in vain against this eternal rampart.
