186 ANTICOSTI. 



heard fifteen miles in a dead calm; with the wind fair, 

 twenty miles ; and in stormy weather from three to eight 

 miles. At West Point station a cannon is fired every hour 

 during fogs and snow-storms. All these humane provisions 

 have been established since 1831. 



If Anticosti had good harbors, where schooners could find 

 a safe shelter during stormy weather, there is no doubt that it 

 would be visited every spring by a large fleet, the fish always 

 being abundant in May ; but its shores are fraught with 

 dangers, especially at this season of the year, and fishermen 

 prefer to keep away from them. 



Not only is Anticosti rich in its natural fisheries of salmon, 

 cod, and herring, in its furs, and in its forests, but it has val- 

 uable mineral products of economic importance, such as 

 marble, limestone for building and other purposes, grind- 

 stones, peat bogs, salt springs, and extensive agricultural 

 capabilities. Nevertheless it remained without an inhabitant 

 until the year 1828, at which time the steamer "Granicus," 

 from Liverpool for Quebec, was lost, and those of its passen- 

 gers who escaped to the land all perished from cold and star- 

 vation. After the discovery of this melancholy disaster in the 

 spring succeeding this wreck which took place in Novem- 

 ber, just at the close of navigation the British Government 

 induced a family to take up an abode there by the payment 

 of a liberal pension. Then, in 1831, followed the construc- 

 tion of the first light-house, and afterwards the several im- 

 provements that have since been made. From time to time 

 fishermen have built permanent cabins and settled, induced 

 by the remunerative fisheries, so that there is now a consid- 

 erable hamlet on the southwesterly end. 



It was in the early spring of 1829, somewhere about the 

 end of April, that a few seal fishermen from Quebec ventured 

 to brave the rigors of the seagon and run down to Anticosti 

 for the spring fishing. Picking their way, one still morning, 

 among the debris of rocks that underlaid the cliffs of the 

 north side, they chanced to spy a rope depending from the 



