CHAP. XXIX. FRENCH SETTLEMENTS. 129 



Anterior to the grant to M. de Coiirtemanche of the Bay 

 of Bradore and adjacent country, concessions were made 

 to French companies of a tract lying to the north of 

 Blanc Sablon, within the Straits of Belle Isle, which 

 always appears, from the most distant to the most recent 

 times, to have been the point to which they attached 

 the greatest importance for fishing purposes ; and pro- 

 l^ably Avitli great justice, as these straits are the highway 

 of the vast migratory shoals of fish which come from the 

 Arctic seas into the Gulf of St. Lawrence, and one of 

 the keys to this prolific land-locked sea. 



Among the manuscripts relating to the history of Xew 

 France in the library of Parliament at Quebec, there is a 

 letter dated October 19, 1705, by M. de Vandreuil et de 

 Beauharnais, ' Sur les affidres generales de la colonic,' and 

 among other subjects reference is made to the ' etablisse- 

 ment du Sieur de Courtemanche sur la cote du Labrador.' 

 Also, under date August 10, 1717, is a MS. ' Memoire du 

 Sieur Brouagnes, second du Sieur de Courtemanche, ren- 

 dant au Conseil de Marine un compte exact de ce qui 

 s'est passe sur la cote de Labrador, pendant I'annee ; ' 

 and under date September 9, 1718, there is a 'lettre 

 de Madame de Courtemanche au ministre, le remerciant 

 d'avoir accorde a son fils le commandement de la cote du 

 Labrador.' A letter on the subject of Missions to the 

 Labrador bears date October 22, 1720, and official 

 communications on the maintenance of estabUshments on 

 the Labrador coast in 1729. All of these facts show that 

 the coast of Labrador, near the Straits of Belle Isle, was 

 at a very early period regarded by the French with per- 

 haps more interest than in 1857, when the fisheries in the 



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