ON CAPE BRRTOK 339 



the passage-way of a postern to the moat, constructed of masonry, 12 It. in length and IS ft. in widtli, and covered 

 with slate. It is intended to answer the same purpose as the one last mentioned. 



" Ahove tho Maurepas trate is a small liuildinir, i- ft. 7 in. in lenjjth and 11 ft. 10 in. in width, built of masonry 

 and covered with slate. This building mu.st have cost a good deal, on account of the quantity of freestone with 

 which it is decorated, but at present it is falling to pieces and will be probably ere long pulled down and its 

 materials used for other purposes. 



" Ice-House : 



" At the foot of the glacis of the angle of tlie right branch of the covered way of the entrance of the King's 

 bastion is an ice-house of 22 ft. in diameter, built of masonry and covered with shingles. 



" Vaults: 



■ " Under each of the two flanks of the King's bastion are six underground vaults of 32 ft. in length and 12 ft. 

 in width, and another extending from the two sides of the bastion. Altogether fourteen underground vaults, five 

 of which are used as dungeons for prisoners. 



" Wooden Sentry-Boxes : 



" There are in the place forty-five sentry-boxes made of timber, placed at different parts of the rampart and 

 in the interior of the town. 



" Stone Sen try-Boxes : 



" There are at the angles of the walls enclosing the different works within the place seven stone sentry-boxes- 



" Sluices : • 



"There are in this place two sluices, one in the mid<ll6 of the embankment (batardeau) of the Dauphin gate- 

 Its passage of 2 ft. in width and 2 ft. 2 in. in height is closed by a sluice gale. It. is used to drain the waters of 

 the marsli which protects the curtain lietwcen the King's bastion and the Daupliin's bastion. 



" The other is sitnale<l in the middle of the right face of the front, facing the port, with a passage of :! ft. 6 in. 

 in height and 2 ft. S in. in width ; it serves at low tide to empty the waters of the pond. 



" Wdh : 



" There are in the place nineteen wells, either jiuldic on the streets or private in the houses, all kept up at the 

 expense of the king. 



" Breniery : 



" The allowance of beer each month for the soldiers renders a brewer}' necessary. As there was none in town 

 at the time the French regained possession of the place, it was necessary to rent a house at the.rate of 2.")0 livres a 

 year. But this house wa.s a tuniMe-dowu afl'air, and it was necessary to build another, S toises 2 ft. 3 in. in 

 length and 3 toi.ses 4 ft. :! in. in width, entirely of masonry, and furnish it with eight boilers. It stands on tho 

 street in the vicinity of tho English barracks. ^ 



" A storehouse for wood and coal, required for the beating of tlie garrison, is situated on the edge of the pond 

 opposite the wharf in that vicinity. The situation is exposed to tho high tides, from which it is only protected by 

 palisades, and was only chosen on account of the neighbourhood of the wharf and to avoid any long carriage. 



"The king's garden is situated at the foot of the glacis of the left branch of the coveied way of the entrance of 

 the King's bastion, atd surrounded by a picket fence. It is 30 toises 5 ft. in length and 21 toi.ses5 ft. in width 



" Bone at Louisbourg, 9th Oct-, 17.53." 



[The signature to this document has been cut by the binder of the archives and cannot bo read, but it was 

 probal)ly ( 'ommiss.ary Pn'vost's. On the margin of the documents there are remarks as to tho condition of the 

 buildings, their furniture, and the accommodation they afl'orded. The writer states, in the course of his observa- 

 tions, that tlie garrison .at that time (1753) was nominally composed of twenty-five companies of 50 men each, 

 but five of these were constantly on duty elsewhere, even out of the island itself, and the total force was actually 

 1,000 men in barracks. The accommodation, according to the writer, was not sufficient for the comfort and con- 

 venience of the military- J. G. B.] 



XVIII. .St.vtdmbnts REsrEcriNH the FisnEniRS and Co^r^reKCE of Cape Breton, 1 74,5-1 7.''>8. 



From the "Archives Coloniales de la Marine," Paris. "Colonies — Isle Royale— General Correspondence — 

 1775-1 74.S — M. Bigot, Commissary," vol. xxvii, c. ii, folio 312. 



" The importance of Cape Breton to tho English nation is shown by the following computation (mppitlation) of 

 the French fisheries, according to the latest data at hand. 



" From the Gut of Canso down along tlie shore of LouisbouTg, and from thence to the northeast part of Cape 

 Breton, there was yearly employed at least 500 shallops. And these required, on sea and on shore, 5 men each, 

 which amount to 2,,500 men, and GO brigantines, schooners and sloops, each of 1.5 men, making 900 men more, 

 which together make 3,400 men. 



"Allow the .500 sh.allops to catch 300 quintals of fish each in tlie summer season, and the whole is 150,000 

 quintals, and the (10 brigs, schooners, etc., each GOO quintals, which make 36,000 more. So that there is made at 

 Cape Breton annually of fish 186,000 quintals. 



