202 ANTICOSTI. 



the island is fitted. It is wholly unadapted for farming 

 on a large scale, and I am told stock imported from the 

 mainland last only one season and then pine away. Pro- 

 bably they die of starvation. Pigs and poultry, however, 

 would do well enough, and with care a few milch cows. 

 Manure, such as kelp, fish offal, &c., can be gathered 

 on the sea-coast in immense quantities. I visited the 

 island about ten years ago, and wrote a short description 

 of it,* which is here reprinted in an abridged form. With 

 the exception of the two or three small settlements above 

 alluded to, there has been no change in the island since 

 that time. 



" The north shore of Anticosti resembles the adjacent 

 country of Labrador, and is bold and rugged; but the 

 south, on the contrary, is low and flat, and in that respect 

 not unlike the opposite coast of New Brunswick. Along 

 high-water mark a sloping ridge of pebbly beach, some 

 12 feet high at the land side, separates the salt water from 

 the numerous swamps and lagoons. About half a mile 

 outside of this a line of breakers stretches almost uninter- 

 ruptedly along the south coast of the island, and will 

 probably at no very distant day resolve itself into a beach, 

 such as the one I have described. Within the line of 

 breakers the water is shoal, and in fine weather as smooth 

 as a duck pond. Outside it is also shoal for a long way 

 out. The bottom is flat, shelving rock, as smooth and 

 polished as a London pavement, so that there is literally 

 no anchorage for vessels. When the wind blows in shore, 

 a nasty sea gets up at once, but falls as suddenly as it 

 rises, owing to the shoalness of the water. 



* The ' Field ' newspaper. 



