16 NOTES ON SABLE ISLAND—-MACDONALD. 
became desperate. With no law to restrain, nor punishment to 
fear, each man’s hand was turned against his fellow, and several 
had come to a violent end. The remainder, from ill-prepared 
food and exposure, became reduced in spirits, and had lately led 
more quiet lives. After being landed on the Island they managed 
to erect huts from the remains of a Spanish vessel wrecked in 
the breakers, and maintained existence by eating the raw flesh 
of the cattle Baron de Lery, or the Portuguese, had placed on 
the Island many years before, and which had become very numer- 
ous. In a short time their clothes were worn out, and they 
dressed themselves in the skins of seals. 
On their arrival in France they were presented to the king. 
Their savage expression, unkempt hair and beards, which reached 
to their waists, together with their pitiful tale of want and 
exposure, so moved the king that he gave them fifty crowns 
a piece and permission to return to theirhomes. Strange to say, 
they afterwards sought passage to the island, where they accu- 
mulated a large quantity of fur. 
In 1638, John Rose, of Boston, lost his vessel—the “ Mary 
& Jane”—at this place. He was here three months constructing 
a yawl from the remains of his vessel, by which he reached the 
main land. His reports of having seen “more than 800 head of 
wild cattle, and a great many foxes, many of which were black,” 
so interested the Acadians that 17 of them embarked in a vessel, 
taking Rose as pilot. After this Rose returned to New Eng- 
land, where the tidings of this wonderful Island soon spread. 
A company was soon formed at Boston to hunt on the Island. 
On their arrival they found that the 17 Frenchman who had 
wintered on the Island, had built houses and a fort, and so 
slaughtered the cattle that only 150 remained. 
About 100 years later,a French clergyman named LeMercier, 
claiming to be an Englishman by naturalization, sent thither a 
number of cattle, previous to removing with his family. He had 
petitioned Governor Armstrong, at Annapolis, for a grant of the 
Island, but declining to pay a Quit rent to the government, the 
grant was withheld. A proclamation was issued forbidding per- 
sons from killing those animals, and they continued there for many 
