ON CAPE BEETON. 273 



there are probably eight thousand i^ersous of French and French Acadian descent in Rich- 

 mond. Descousse is now the most thriving settlement, and is outstripping Arichat and 

 Acadiaville in essential respects, chiefly owing to the fact that the people own a fine 

 fishing fleet which prosecutes the fisheries in the North Bay and elsewhere with enter- 

 prise and success. The shore fisheries, heretofore carried on in boats, have of late years 

 become relatively insignificant, and this accounts for the prosperity of a ])lace like Des- 

 cousse which has shown enterprise in seeking fresh " sea pastures." Fishing and sailing 

 are the chief occupations of the majority of the men though there are few families who 

 do not own their little farms or plots of ground which they cultivate. Their villages are 

 neatly whitewashed, and have generally a thrifty appearance. As a rule according to one 

 who has long lived among them and from my own individual observation, they are plain 

 and simple in their habits. In this corner of the continent, remote from the great centres 

 of industry and activity, " they know little of the wants of the great world outside, and 

 consequently are content to live on in their frugal, simple way, not desiring, because 

 knowing nothing of the luxuries which are considered necessaries by the wealthy and 

 even the well-to-do classes elsewhere." Their dress is still very plain in the small settle- 

 ments and villages, though new fashions have begun to creep in among the young 

 women, who visit the towns of the provinces or of the United States. In places like 

 Arichat, where they live alongside the English-speaking people, there is little left by 

 which they are distinguished in dress from the people of other nationalities. In many 

 cases, elsewhere, they adhere to the primitive attire of their ancestors, the traditional 

 Norman kirtle which has many attractions on a pretty young girl, with a well formed 

 figure. In their domestic life they have retained a good deal of the original sim^îlicity of 

 the Acadian French of old times. French is, of course, essentially the language of the 

 home. They go to bed early and are noted for their habits of early rising. " I may say," 

 writes the reverend gentleman to whom I am indebted for much information on this 

 subject, " that when going or returning from a sick call abou.t day-break I can distinguish 

 at a distance the Acadian houses by the smoke curling skyward while in all probability 

 not a sign of life is visible in the homes of their English neighbours." While the men 

 pursue their vocations as fishermen or sailors — in the coasting or foreign trade — the 

 women contribute by their indirstry their full share to the support of their ferailies. 

 They plant and sow, tend cattle, shear the sheep, spin and weave. In many families 

 nothing is worn which is not the product of their own looms. As in all other classes, 

 there are shiftless and improvident persons among them, but " on the whole they may be 

 said to belong to that middle, and let me say, happy class, which, withovrt knowing want, 

 have little to spare of this world's goods, but are nevertheless content with their lot." 

 All of them, it is hardly necessary to add, have adhered loyally to the Roman Catholic 

 church, and "rationalism" is a word unknown in their simple vocabulary. 



Then we come to the adjacent county of Inverness which stretches from about the 

 middle of Canso Strait to the heights that end with Cape St. Lawrence, and includes the 

 westerly section of the great northern division of the island, so remarkable for its 

 mountains, and rugged scenery. It is a county presenting few harbours of value 

 compared with those in Richmond and Cape Breton. 



Port Hawkesbury in the Strait of Canso has now become a more important place than 



Sec. II. 1891. 35. 



