< 
SOME OLD FORTS BY THE SEA. 19 
powder magazine. The nunnery and hospital of St. Jean de Dieu were situated in the 
centre of the city—the latter being connected with a church and well laid out in wide 
regular streets crossing each other at right angles, six running east and west, and seven north 
and south. Some of the houses were wholly of brick or stone, but generally they were of 
wood upon stone foundations. The materials in many cases had been purchased from 
New Englanders, then, as now, always ready to trade with anybody who could pay well. 
Between the years 1720 and 1745, Louisburg cost the French nation the enormous sum cf 
nearly $6,000,000, and still, as a French historian informs us, the fortifications were 
unfinished and likely to remain so, because the cost had far exceeded the estimates, and it 
was found that such a large garrison would be required for their defence that the govern- 
ment had abandoned the idea of completing them according to the original design. 
This formidable fortress, the American Dunkirk, sustained two sieges, both of which 
have been fully described in the histories of this continent. It was first taken by the 
New England colonists, led by Pepperell, who received a baronetcy for his eminent 
services, and was otherwise distinguished by the British government. Cape Breton, by 
the Treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle, again became a French possession; but only thirteen years 
after its capture by the colonists it fell once more into the hands of the large naval and 
land forces under Boscawen and Wolfe. Subsequently, the English government, fearful 
that Louisburg might again be seized by France, ordered that the fortifications should be 
razed to the earth, and all the cannon and valuable building material distributed in 
Halifax or elsewhere. Old houses can still be seen in Nova Scotia whose foundations are 
made of stone brought from the French fortress a century ago. Some fishing huts now 
- stand on the site of the old city, whilst a few coal vessels or fishing boats are the only 
tenants of the harbour where the Canadian and West Indian fleets anchored in old times. 
It is very easy now-a-days, with the assistance of a map and a guide, always to be 
found on the spot, to trace the lines of the old fortifications and the site of the principal 
buildings. The most prominent objects among the ruins are some bomb-proof casemates, 
which serve as a shelter for cattle in stormy weather. The roofs are covered with stalac- 
tites of the colour of oyster shells —at least that was the case when the writer last 
visited the place. The guide is sure to offer you a drink out of the well said to have 
belonged to the governor’s mansion. 
The battery on the islet at the entrance of the harbour has long since yielded to the 
encroachments of the waves, and no signs now remain of the hulls of the French frigates 
that were sunk during the second siege, and the ribs of which were plainly visible on 
a calm day not many years since. The visitor can always purchase relics of the days of 
the French régime—old locks, keys, gun-barrels, shells, for instance—as they are being 
constantly dug up from the cellars or washed ashore by the waves. In the course ofa few 
summers ago a Boston tourist discovered an interesting memorial which is now in an 
American Museum, like most of the relics which have been found in Acadia. This relic 
consists of a wrought-iron bar, an inch and a half in diameter, nearly four feet long, 
attached at one end to an iron joint, with strong attachments to fit solid stone masonry. 
Near the hook end of the bar is fastened a chain consisting of several strong links, which 
led to a lock which had also been attached to the masonry. The chain was still fast in 
the lock when it was discovered. Every part of the structure was made in the strongest 
manner, capable of great resistance, and weighed some hundred pounds. Although some- 
