96 FISHERIES OF THE PROVINCE OF QUEBEC 



and Foucault had applied for the concession, and that 

 although the Sieur St-Paul merited the preference if he 

 insisted upon it, by virtue of the prior grant to his father, yet 

 he was not habituated to such voyages as would be necessi- 

 tated by the navigation of the waters between Quebec and Es- 

 quimaux Bay, having never been to sea, but living at Three 

 Rivers, engaged in traffic with the Indians who came there to 

 trade. 



Messrs. Beauharnois and Hocquart expressed the opinion 

 that an important commerce in whale-bone and oil and a con- 

 siderable seal hunt might be established at Esquimaux Bay, 

 though they also laid much stress upon what might be accom- 

 plished in the way of christianizing and civilizing the Esqui- 

 maux and of securing them as allies of the king of France. 



AFTER THE CESSION. 



The troubles between the Esquimaux of the Labrador 

 coast and the Canadian fishermen continued not only up to 

 the fall of New France, but also during some years of the 

 new regime. Only three years previous to Wolfe's siege of 

 Quebec they destroyed several fishing stands along the Straits 

 of Belle Isle, but were subsequently repulsed at Pennoyer 

 river by the crews of sealing ships. They had twice assaulted 

 Bradore during the times of Courtemanche and Brouague, 

 coming into the Straits early in the spring, in skin boats, and 

 burning buildings and boats and whatever they could not 

 carry away. 



After the taking of Quebec and the cession of Canada, 

 Labrador naturally fell into the hands of the English. At 

 that time, it is said the Esquimaux so infested the Straits 

 of Belle Isle that it was not safe for a fishing vessel to go 

 there alone. An organized band of Esquimaux came each 

 summer from the north, ostensibly for the purpose of trad- 

 ing, but they generally contrived to obtain very much more 

 of the coveted European goods by stratagem and force than 

 they did by fair means. Their plan was to creep along the 

 coast endeavoring to find some unsuspecting fishermen, and 

 at night or in foggy weather to make a sudden descent upon 



