38 



THE LABKADOK PENINSULA. 



CHAP. XXII. 



gentleman, at a rental of 1,200/. a year. There were then 

 nine posts, all of which, with the exception of the Moisie and 

 Seven Islands, had been previously occupied by the French,* 

 and some of them at a comparatively remote period. 



The post at Metabetshuan is near the mouth of a river 

 of that name, flowing into Lake St. John. In the 

 seventeenth century the Jesuits had an establishment 

 there, and the furrows made by the plough are still seen 

 in the lands near the garden. These lands, which were 

 once cleared, are overgrown again with a forest of spruce 

 asj)en, fir, birch, and pine. The apple and plum trees 

 which existed in the memory of people living in 1832 have 

 disappeared. At the King's Posts and fisheries in 1832, 

 450 men were employed, and 500 in the Indian trade. 

 Subsequently the territory was leased to the Hudson's 

 Bay Company, and extensive estabhshments carried on, all 

 of which, however, have greatly declined latterly. The 

 following list of posts in the occupation of the Company, 

 situated within the hmits described above, was given in 

 the returns presented to the House of Commons in 1857 : — 



* The principal posts in 1832 were: — 1. Tadousac. 2. Chicoutimi. 

 3. Lake St. John. 4. Necoubau. 5. Mistassinni. 6. Papinachois. 7. Mus- 

 kapis. 8. Moisie. 9. Seven Islands. There were also outposts at Lake 

 Chamachoui, on the Saugenay ; Assuapmoussin, on a river of that name ; and 

 Metabetshuan, on Lake St. John. 



