Purpose of the hyphen and the use of preposition "of"

[anhnha]

Visitors to Prince Edward Island, Canada, delight in the "unspoiled" scenery - the well-kept farms and peaceful hamlets of the island's central core and the rougher terrain of the east and west. In reality, the Island ecosystems are almost entirely artificial.
1. What is the purpose of the hyphen between "Visitors to Prince Edward Island, Canada, delight in the "unspoiled" scenery" and "the well-kept farms and peaceful hamlets of the island's central core and the rougher terrain of the east and west."?
2. Can I replace the preposition "of" in "peaceful hamlets of the island's central core" by "at" or "in"?

 

[Grumpy]

1. It's not a hyphen; it's a "dash". Take another look at the original typescript, and the length of the "-" should be twice as long as that of a hyphen. In this case, the dash is being used in the same way as a colon: to provide a pause, and to introduce a list of things making up the "unspoiled scenery".

2. Yes.

 

[emsr2d2]

It is possible that the length of the dash will be identical to the length of a normal hyphen as some typefaces (and keyboards) don't have both. However, a dash will always have a space at either end - like this - but a hyphen won't, it will appear squashed between two letters.