Chaleur, which has several excellent harbours, is over 90 m. in length and from 20 to 25 m. in breadth. The other inlets of consequence on the east coast are Miramichi, Richibucto, Buctouche, Cocagne and Shediac Bays; on the south coast are Passamaquoddy Bay, St John Harbour and Chignecto Bay.
At the mouths of the rivers are in nearly every case excellent harbours. To the province belong the islands of Campobello and Grand Manan, at the entrance of the Bay of Fundy, from both of which important fisheries are carried on.
Geology.—Along the Bay of Fundy, for about 30 m. inland, is a band of hard Cambrian and Cambro-Silurian rocks, with smaller areas of Devonian, Huronian and Laurentian. The city of St John is built upon very hard Cambrian slates, in which interesting fossils are found. North of this belt grey sandstones and conglomerates of Carboniferous age occupy a triangular area, the apex of which is near Oromocto Lake, the south side extending to Nova Scotia and the north-west side to Bathurst. Along the western border this area is 400 to 600 ft. high, but near the coast it is low and flat. “The Carboniferous area of New Brunswick is continuous across the isthmus [of Chignecto] with that of Nova Scotia, so that from Miscou on the Bay of Chaleur to Sydney on the Atlantic coast of Cape Breton, the whole coast of the Gulf of St Lawrence is bordered by coal-bearing rocks” (S. E. Dawson, North America, London, 1897). North-west of the Carboniferous a belt of 40 to 50 m. wide is occupied by Ordovician and pre-Cambrian formations, with large masses of intrusive granite. The Ordovician is composed of schistose, micaceous, and foliated slates and quartzites, in places highly altered and disturbed. The pre-Cambrian rocks consist of very hard crystalline reddish felsite, chloritic quartzites, and felspathic and micaceous schists. The whole of this region is rugged and broken into numerous ranges of hills. The remainder of the province to the north-western boundary is occupied by Silurian rocks, mostly calcareous slates and shales associated with beds of limestone. The whole province has been mantled with ice in the Pleistocene period, and boulder-clay and later modified deposits occupy the surface. Marine clay and sand containing fossil shells are found along the coast.
Climate.—The climate, though subject to extremes, is healthy. The average mean temperature in summer is 60° F., and in winter 19° F. The average rainfall for thirty years (1875 to 1905 inclusive) was 32·6 in., whereas in the neighbouring province of Nova Scotia, with its larger coast-line, it was 39·6. The winters are severe, and snow falls to a great depth, but the harbour of St John is open throughout the year. During the period 1875–1905 the average yearly snowfall was 97·5 in., 20 in. more than in Nova Scotia. The autumn is delightful, especially during the "Indian summer," after the first frost, but before the weather has broken.
Area and Population.—Not including the territorial sea, the area of the province is 27,985 sq. m., of which 74 are water. It thus occupies an area rather larger than that of the mainland of Scotland. The population in 1901 was 311,120, and is practically stationary, there being little or no immigration, and a steady exodus to the United States and to the western provinces of the Dominion. The number of males slightly exceeds that of females. The bulk of the people are of English descent, the remainder Irish and French. The Scots, so prominent in nearly all the other provinces of the Dominion, are here less conspicuous. Of the original Indian inhabitants of the province, who were of Algonquian stock and divided into two tribes, the Micmacs and the Malicites, about 1700 remain many of whom have a greater or less proportion of white blood.
The capital is Fredericton, on the St John (pop. in 1901, 7117). The chief shipping and commercial centre is St John (pop. in 1901, 40,711). Moncton is a large railway centre (pop. in 1901, 9026). None of the other towns exceeds 5000 inhabitants. Owing to the large Irish and French element over one-third of the population belongs to the Roman Catholic Church. Campbellton (pop. 5000), a northern port on Chaleur Bay, with an important lumber trade, was destroyed by fire in July, 1910.
Administration.—The province sends ten senators and fourteen members of the House of Commons to the federal parliament. Since the abolition of the legislative council in 1892 the provincial legislature has consisted of lieutenant-governor and a legislative assembly. Though in this the members are nominally divided on party lines, the smallness of the population renders the division rather one of persons than of principles. Both city and county districts have an elective municipal system.
Education.—There is a good system of primary and secondary schools under provincial control. When in 1871 the system of free undenominational primary schools supported by the province was introduced, feeling rose so high among the Roman Catholics that rioting broke out and life was lost. In view of the provisions in the British North America Act for protecting the rights of religious minorities, the Roman Catholics sought to have the new system declared unconstitutional, but the case, after being carried to the judicial committee of the imperial privy council, was decided against them. In 1875 a compromise was arranged, by which practical though not theoretic satisfaction is given to that church. Renewed rioting broke out among the French Roman Catholics in 1890, but after some years the compromise of 1875 was confirmed. At Fredericton an efficient normal school for the training of teachers is maintained, and a school for the deaf and dumb. The lazaretto for lepers at Tracadie and the marine hospital at St John are supported by the Dominion. At Fredericton is a small provincial university, founded in 1800 and re-established in 1859; at Sackville is the university of Mount Allison College under Methodist control, and at Memramcook one, working chiefly among the French, is owned by the Roman Catholics. In all these an adequate training is given in law, theology and the literary subjects, but for science, whether pure or applied, most of the provincial students go either to the United States or to the universities of Upper Canada.
Either owing to the beauty of its scenery or to the excellence of its education New Brunswick has produced a school of poetry, headed by Charles Roberts, which is unique in the Dominion.
Agriculture.—The great predominance of the lumber industry has tended to keep agriculture in the background. There is also a steady flow of the most active young men to the greater opportunities offered by the Canadian and American west. Thus the area under crop tends slowly to decrease. Rather more than 6000 sq. m. is now occupied, of which about 1500 is under crop and about 700 used for pasture, the rest being for the most part still covered with forest. In all the river valleys, and especially on the fertile diked lands along the head of the Bay of Fundy, many rich and prosperous farms are found varying in size from 100 to 240 acres, and good crops of wheat, oats, buckwheat and all the staple grains and roots are grown. The raising of sheep and cattle, and the production of cheese and butter, are becoming industries of importance. A dairy school is maintained by the provincial government at Sussex (King’s county). Though no great development of agriculture is possible, a quiet, equable prosperity is attained by
