ON CAPE BEETON. 331 



Hon. W. Smitl), who was formerly surgeon on llio military establishment of Cape Breton (see supra, sec. VIII) 

 and chief-justice in 1799, was anther of "A Caveat against Emigration to America, with the state of the Island of 

 Cape Breton, from tho year 1784 lo the present year ; and snggestions for the benefit of the British Settlements in 

 North America" (London, ISO.T, pp. 1.5S, Svo.) See Jlortran's " Bibliotlieca Canadensis." 



In the second vohimo of "Tlie British Dominions in North America, etc.," by Joseph Boucliotfe, surveyor- 

 general of Lower Canada (London, 1832, 2 vols., pp. 72-92), there aro two chapters gi^■ing a topographical and 

 statistical account of the island, including a description and three sl<et<'hes of the daugerous rocky island, ten 

 miles northeast of Cape Breton, known as St. Paul's Island. Much of tho information in these chapters is taken 

 from Ilaliburton's and McGregor's accounts of the island. Bouchette's works in their day were of great value to 

 Canada— indeed the most accurate and complete of their kind ever published in the Dominion. He was tho Eng- 

 lish surveyor who, with the United States surveyor, John Johnson, erected a new monument in 1817, under the 

 treaty of Ghent, at the source of tlie St. Croix river, wliicli had been determined by commissioners in 1798, under 

 the treaty of 1794. (See vol. i, pp. l.S-14.) 



Valuable references to the importance and natural advantages of Cape Breton will be fonnd in "The Indus- 

 trial Resources of Nova Scotia, etc.," by Abraham Gosner, surgeon, fellow of tho Geological society, etc. (Halifax, 

 1849). Dr. Gesner was a scientific man of fair attainments. He visited Cape Breton in the flagship of the famous 

 Earl of Dundonald, who took much interest in the scientific investigations of the author. The admiral was an 

 uncle of the l>undonald who was surprised at a redoubt near the sliore and killed by tho Frencli in a sortie during 

 the siege of H.iS ; for Dr. Gesner is wrong in stating that " he fell in approaching the fortress along the line of the 

 sea-wall." (.See siipra, sec. VII, and Brown, 310.) He devotes a number of pages (.300-312) to a general description of 

 the climate, scenery and resources of the island, as woll as to the appearance of Louisbourg in 1849. Like all other 

 persons who have visited and studied the island of Cape Breton, Dr. Gesner had a high opinion of its natural 

 advantages. " A glance at the map," he says on p. 312, " would almost satisfy the inveterate sceptic that nowhere 

 can there be fcund a position so favourable for maritime pursuits as that of Cape Breton. It was with this view 

 that France expended her millions of livres in fortifying Louisbourg. Where aro there to be found such harbours, 

 mines, fisheries, facilities of inland transport and schools for .seamen, anil to these has been .added a soil capable of 

 yielding the ordinary bounties produced by husbandry." 



Judge Marshall, who was the first judge appointed to the island after its annexation to Nova Scotia in 1820, 

 left behind him a short monograph giving his personal reminiscences of the hardships and difficulties that 

 att<?nded a judicial circuit in those days, " when large portions of my journeys were performed in Indian canoes, 

 in which I have fomotimes p.assed tho greater part or the whole of the night, occasionally paddling to lessen chilli- 

 ness, and to afford the poor, tired squaw a partial relief." The old judge — he died in his 94th year— describes the 

 lawless elements which existed during his time in this sparsely settled island. (See "The late Judge Marshall; 

 or, the Record of an Earnest Life," by J. G. Bourinot, in 'Canadian Monthly,' 1880.) 



The wreck of the Augusta, mentioned in sec XI, is described in " Les Anciens Canadiens," by Philippe Auliert 

 de Gaspé (Quebec, 1SG3, and Montreal, 1886), whose chief merit is that he has given us a faithful record of the 

 times of which he writes and preserved memoirs of events which otherwise would have disappeared with those 

 who had taken part in them. General Murray was responsible for sending the unfortunate people in the wretched 

 old hulk, which went ashore in the fall of 17C1, apparently from the description, on tho northeastern coast of Cape 

 Breton, a little south of Cape North. Only five or six passengers were saved ; these succeeded at last in reaching 

 the Acadian settlements, the names of which are not given. Among these was M. de la Corne do Saint-Luc, who 

 published an account of the disaster at Montreal in 1778, from which M. de Gaspé corrected his own version, at 

 first largely drawn from the memory of stories told him by members of his own family. Seean excellent trans- 

 lation of the book by Prof Roberts, tho Cana<lian poet (New York, 1890); also LeîMoine's "Maple Leaves," new 

 series, 79, 115 ; Faucher de St. Maurice, " De Tribord à Bâbord," 18(1-189. 



"A History of Nova Scotia, Cape Breton, the Sable Islands, Now lîrnnswick, Prince Edward Island, the Ber- 

 mudas, Newfoundland," by E. Jlontgomory Martin, F.S.S. (London, 1837), contains two chapters, of forty-five 

 pages in all, describing the history, the geography, tlie physical features, the geology and the products of Cape 

 Breton. The historical part, which is very imperfect, is made up of information furnished him liy Judge Hali- 

 biirton, the autlior of the history already mentioned. The description of tho natural features and resources is 

 interesting and correct for the time when written. Martin wrote other works of tho same character on the pro- 

 vinces of old Canada, and, like his book on the maritime provinces, their chief value lies in the statistical state- 

 ments. Works of the same cla.ss were .1. McGregor's "British America, etc." (Edinburgh, 18.32, 2 vols.), and 

 Hugh Murray's " British America, etc." (Edinburgh, 1839, 3 vols.) 



Hugh Gray, in a series of letters written from Canada during 1S0G-1S08 (London, 1809 ; 2nd ed. 1814), dwells 

 on the commercial importance of Cape Breton. 



