274 J. G. BOUEINOT 



Arichat, and secoud only io the Sydueys as a port. The coviuty, however, has fine 

 stretches of meadow lauds, and on the grassy slopes of its uplands and hills there are 

 great facilities for grazing and the rearing of fine cattle. The Mabou and Margaree, 

 (Marguerite) in their courses run through a beautiful country, which has not only a charm 

 for the tourist "seeking fresh woods and pastures new," but shows to the practical eyes 

 of the agriculturist that energy and good farming could here reap rich results. As I have 

 already said it is on the fine farming lauds of the Margaree that descendants of the French 

 Acadians have had their homes for a century and more. 



Between Margaree and Cheticamp there is a considerable population of the same class, 

 while in the latter district we meet with probably the best types of the Acadians, with all 

 their simple primitive ways, entirely free from the influences of the large Gaelic popula- 

 tion that elsewhere, as in Cape Breton and Victoria counties, and even on the Margaree, 

 has intermingled with the Acadians and changed their habits and methods of life in 

 many respects. The total French Acadian population of the county is probably between 

 four or five thousand souls, and the number is not likely to decrease for the same reason 

 as in Richmond. 



Indeed, the emigration of this people even from the rugged hills of Cheticamp 

 appears rather on the decrease compared with what it was thirty years ago. Since then 

 there has been a decided improvement in the condition of the people. "While many of 

 them cling to their primitive habits, they display much more enterprise and energy than 

 their ancestors. As in Richmond the majority adhere to the French language, esi^ecially 

 in the Cheticamp district, though wherever they are in the neighborhood of large English 

 settlements they speak English with facility. Fishing and farming are the principal 

 occupations of the people as heretofore, but as one well-informed person writes, " while 

 thirty years ago not a single individual among them was engaged in trade, now they 

 take a share in all the active pursuits of life, with energy, intelligence and enterprise, and 

 are no longer the apparently subdued, timid people they were for many years after the 

 possession of Cape Breton and Nova Scotia by England." 



Inquiring into the intellectual position of this class in Cape Breton I find that they 

 are in this respect considered somewhat inferior to other nationalities. Though it is 

 shown they are displaying much more energy and activity in the various industrial occu- 

 pations of life, yet they seem in the majority of places to lag behind the English-speaking 

 members of the community from an educational point of view. One reverend gentleman 

 to whom I am so much indebted for information of the condition of this people in Rich- 

 mond, accounts for their eduimtioual deficiencies by the fact, that in forming the public 

 school law of Nova Scotia, '■ the legislature gave little or no recognition to the existence 

 of this important element of the population, and the consequence is that the young Aca- 

 dian children have to acquire knowledge in the public schools through the agency of an 

 unknown tongue." They must begin their elementary education, it seems, " by one of 

 the most difficult of all tasks, the acquisition of an alien tongue, and then with an imper- 

 fect knowledge of that language they must proceed to acquire through its medium an 

 acquaintance with all the branches which form a course of education in the public 

 schools." In other words, English is the only recognized language of the public schools, 

 and the Acadians are necessarily subject to a great disadvantage compared with the English 



