CHAP. XXX. SETTLEMENTS AT NATASIIQUAX. 1,53 



])ed, wliite and clean externally, it was soon painfully 

 evident that there were thousands of other occuj^ants, 

 which made sleep impossible. Six more families are ex- 

 pected at this settlement in the autumn, which will make 

 the whole number of families now living at Esquimaux 

 Point f<jrty-nine, the nucleus of a fishing village which 

 may yet rise to the dignity of a small town. They have 

 already some pigs and sheep, and are preparing to bring 

 cows from Gaspe or the Magdalen Islands. They enjoy 

 the ministrations of a resident priest, and have a school 

 for the young. Abbe Ferland asked one of the newly 

 arrived emigrants why he had brought his family from 

 the lono;-settled Maodalen Islands, and soutjlit a home on 

 the north shore. .'Why,' replied the Acadian, 'the 

 plagues of Egypt had fallen upon us. The first three 

 came with bad harvests, the seigneurs, and the traders ; 

 the remaining four arrived with the gentlemen of the 

 law. The moment lawyers set their feet upon our island, 

 there was no longer any hope left of maintaining ourselves 

 there.' East of Esquimaux Point there are not many 

 places where the advantages for settlement are so many 

 or so attractive ; but the new village is stiU some hundreds 

 of miles from the settlements on the coast of the estuary of 

 the St. Lawrence, and nearly 500 miles from Quebec by 

 the winter road. The A cadian settlers at Natashquan, some 

 forty families in number, will also soon have a priest in 

 residence ; they made an attempt to establish a school 

 two years since, but could not raise sufficient funds to 

 pay the teacher. These new settlements ought to obtain 

 their share of public money for school purposes, and 

 then it is probable that schools will soon be esta- 



