ON CAPE BEETON. 199 



of the liospital, as well as several nuns bolongiug to the Congrégation de Notre-Dame,' 

 which had been founded by the pious Sister Bourgeoys in the infancy of the Canadian 

 colony, for the education of young girls- The hospital brothers also acted as physicians 

 for the whole community in the absence of any regular doctors and druggists, apart from 

 the surgeons of the troops. No mention is made by any writer of schools for the children, 

 of whom there must have been a considerable number since there were, at least, between 

 three and four thousand people in the island at one time and another from 1748 to 1758. 

 In all probability, in Cape Breton as in Canada, education was exclusively in the hands 

 of the priests and the religious orders. 



The codfishery was of course the staple industry of the people, and was carried on 

 chiefly at Louisbourg and the adjacent bays. During the French occupation, New Eng- 

 land fishermen were also largely engaged in the deep sea fisheries, and had for years a 

 depot at Oanseau, and many of them were in the habit of selling their cargoes to the 

 French, although it was contrary to the French regulations. Nearly all the staple articles 

 required for the use of the colony were brought from France. Before tlie jilace fell into 

 the possession of England in 1758, the anticipations of the Kaudots were in course of 

 realization, and Louisbourg was obtaining some importance as a port of call for the West 

 Indian and Canadian fleets. In the autumn of 1744, the fleet that sailed from Louisbourg 

 consisted of three men of war, six India ships, thirty-one other ships, nine brigautines, 

 five "snows" ^ and two schooners, mostly engaged in the West Indian trade. A small 

 trade also grew up between Louisbourg and the West Indies and the ports of Boston and 

 New York, although both the English and French governments prohibited direct com- 

 mercial relations between the island and their colonies, since it was the practice of those 

 days to confine all commerce to the vessels of their own nations. The French authorities 

 on the island, however, for their own reasons, winked at an illicit trade in fish and various 

 articles of English and colonial iiroduction, and a good deal of smuggling was carried on 

 for years at Loviisbourg and other ports of Cape Breton. Sugar, cofl'ee and tobacco from 

 the French West Indies, and wines and brandy from France, found their way on board 

 New England vessels in exchange for codfish, brick, boards, meal and various colonial 

 commodities. As early as 1725 we find there were a number of New England vessels 

 carrying on this trade regularly with Louisbourg. One of them, we read, took a whole 

 cargo of claret and brandy for the use of the people of New York, who were, even in 

 those days, as fond of good living as they are row.* 



The value of the fisheries and commerce of Cape Breton necessarily varied from year 

 to year on account of the constantly recurring wars between France and England, and 

 the consequent derangement of trade in the French possessions in America. Elsewhere' 

 will be found some interesting details of fisheries and trade gathered from official sources 

 of information in Paris. The French government took great pains to obtain regular 



' This congregation, whose parent house is still in Montreal, lias now branches at Sydney, Arichat and West 

 Arichat or Acadiaville. (See infra, sec. X.) 



'' See Faillon, "Histoire do la Colonie Française en Canada" (Montreal, 1865), ii. 281-286, 



^ A ''snow" is described in the nautical dictionaries as "a vessel equipped with two masts resembling the main 

 and foremasts of a ship and a third small mast just abaft the main masi, carrying a sail nearly similar to a ship's 

 mizzen." But Preble (New Eng. Hist, and Gen. Reg., 1S6S, p. 396) says the largest two-masted vessels were sometimes 

 called "snows" or "galleys." 



* Murdoch, "Hist, of N. S.," i. 430. ^ See App. XVIII to this work. 



