61 



his royal master, by letters patent, gave him the territory between the 

 40th and 46th degrees of latitude, and in the following year De Monts 

 came in person to explore and take possession of his domains. Sixteen 

 years before the landing of the pilgrims at Plymouth, he wintered upon 

 an island in the river St. Croix, which, since the adjustment of the 

 boundary line between the United States and New Brunswick, has 

 been considered within the limits of Maine. This island is claimed by 

 the heirs of the late General John Brewer, of Robbinston. Relics of 

 De Monts' sojourn upon it continue to be found. 



Annapolis — the Port Royal of the French — was founded befoi-e his 

 return, and is the oldest settlement in Nova Scotia. The "lieutenant gen- 

 eral of Acadia, and the circumjacent country," accomplished but little. 

 His patent allowed him to "carefull}'- search alter and to distinguish all 

 sorts of mines of gold and silver," and gave him the monopoly of the 

 trade in furs. He seems to have confined his attention to measures to 

 secure the latter ; yet fish were caught, cured, and carried to France. 

 A permanent fishery was established at Canscau. Acadia soon passed 

 from De Monts into Catholic hands, while the English grant to Sir Wil- 

 liam Alexander, in 1621, embraced a large part of it. As the events 

 connected with our subject at this time nppear in the account of the 

 French fisheries, there is nothing to demand our attention until after Nova 

 Scotia was permanently annexed to the British crown, by the treaty of 

 Utrecht, in 1713. 



Down to the period of our Revolution, Nova Scotia w^as hardly known 

 ■ except for its fisheries. The resident English population was so small 

 in 1719, that Phillips, the military governor, was compelled to select 

 the council required by his instructions from his garrison. Thirty-six 

 ycarrs later, the whole number of inhabitants was estimated at only 

 5,000. In ] 760, the township of Liverpool was settled by persons from 

 Massachusetts, who designed to prosecute the salmon fishery, and who, 

 successful in their labors, caught a thousand barrels in a season. They 

 were followed in 1763 by about one hundred and sixty fam.ilies from 

 Cape Cod, who selected the spot called Barrington, transported tliithcr 

 their stock and fishing vessels, and founded one of the most consiflerable 

 fishing towns at present in the colon3^ The whole value of the imports 

 at this period was less than five thousand dollars. In truth, the House 

 of Assembly asserted in 1775, that the amount of money in Nova Scotia 

 was .£1,200, (or $4,S00) of which one-fiiih was in the hands of farmers. 

 Such was the s'eneralconchtion. 



The settlement of Halifax, the capital, requires a more particular 

 notice. Thomas Coram, a famous projector of the time, whose name 

 occurs often in the history of Maine, engaged in a scheme to commence 

 a town on the site of this city as early as the year 1718, and his peti- 

 tion for a grant of land received a favorable report from the Lords of 

 Trade and Plantations ; but the agents of JMassachusctts opposed his 

 plans, because they interfered with the freedom of the fisheries, and he 

 was compelled to abandon his puq?ose.* 



* It is said, in Burke's Commoners of Englaud, that Major William Miirtham, (of the 

 family of Markham of Becca Hall,) who was bovu ia 16.36, built tiie fivst house in HaliiaS; 

 Nova Scotia. 



