FISHERIES OF THE PROVINCE OF QUEBEC 41 



shows that there is only one suitable site for settlement 

 around the entire basin, and that is in the position of the 

 present village of Barachois, which is admirably situated 

 in all respects. Not only are the situation and the land 

 of great excellence, but the part of the basin in front 

 forms an admirable harbour for fishing boats, the very best 

 place for this purpose anywhere in the basin. Here, accord- 

 ingly, the establishment of Pierre Denys must have stood, 

 though there is now no trace or tradition thereof in the vil- 

 lage. The site of the buildings at Isle Percee is not known, 

 but local tradition places them at North Beach, where now 

 are extensive fishing establishments; and the probabilities 

 favour this site. The Recollet Fathers received grants of 

 land from the Company on November 22, 1676, at both Pe- 

 tite Riviere and Isle Percee, a tract four arpents by forty 

 at the former place, and one arpent square, with house, at 

 the latter. But the enterprise of the company was not a suc- 

 cess. Pierre Denys, afflicted with failing sight which later led 

 to complete blindness, retired in favour of one of his brothers 

 and died in 1708. Later, the grant appears to have lapsed, 

 for another document of the Clairambault Collection shows 

 that in 1685 the residents of Isle Percee, who had been in the 

 employ of Pierre Denys, petitioned Richard Denys for grants 

 of their lands, as if the rights thereto had reverted to their 

 original owner, Nicolas Denys. There is some evidence that 

 in 1687 Denys de Bonaventure, the son of Pierre Denys, who 

 had aided him at the settlement, received a new grant at 

 Isle Percee. In 1690 both settlements were destroyed." 



HOW THE FRENCH FISHERMEN WERE PAID. 



Among the many documents recently copied for me from 

 the French archives, through the kind offices of the Dominion 

 Archivist, Dr. A. G. Doughty, C.M.G., are a number of me- 

 moirs concerning the Denys establishment at Perce, 1 which 



i On the back of an inventory of goods at the fishing station 

 of Perce, made on the 12th July, 1676. (No. 295, Vol. 1016 of the 

 Clairambault Collection, Bibliotheque Nationale.) 



