ST. JOHN: SABLE ISLAND. 27 



no attempt to answer these questions that he has posed, but leaves 

 them for the reader, or to the observers of future generations. 



NATIVE AND INTRODUCED ANIMALS. 



Most of the early voyagers were drawn to Sable Island because of 

 the animal life, natural or introduced, that existed there. The Portu- 

 guese fishermen, about 1520, placed cattle on the island, where they 

 persisted and multiplied greatly. 



Johannes de Laet, in 1633, mentions the cattle and swine, as well 

 as seals and black foxes. 



The convicts abandoned by Marquis de la Roche in 1598, lived on 

 the cattle and clothed themselves in the skins of the seals. 



John Rose of Boston, when shipwrecked on Sable Island in 1633, 

 saw, "about 800 cattle, small and great all red, and the largest he 

 ever saw, and many foxes whereof some perfect black." In the 

 years that followed many parties sailed from Boston to the island to 

 hunt the wild cattle, black fox, and the walrus. 



The cattle must have been killed off in the mean time for Andrew 

 Le Mercier says, "When I took Possession of the Island [1738] there 

 was no four-footed creatures upon it, but a few foxes some red and 

 some black (some of which remain to this day) [1753]." From his 

 time on there are frequent mentions of wild horses or ponies on the 

 island, but these we consider elsewhere. 



In 1801, with the outfit of the Humane Establishment, there were 

 introduced on the island 1 three-year old bull, 2 young cows in calf, 

 1 young boar, 2 young sows, 1 male and 1 female goat, 2 rams, 8 

 ewes, and 1 horse. Superintendent Morris, in 1802, referred to the 

 wild horses, " the only animals found on the island, if we except the 

 rats and mice, which at one time became very troublesome." Of 

 the animals introduced, it was found that the sheep did not thrive, 

 all dying except two pet lambs brought up in the house. Several 

 later attempts were made to maintain them on the island, but though 

 done with care, all were unsuccessful. " The animals seemed to thrive, 

 but one after another would be found dead, though quite fat. The 

 officers in charge of the admiralty survey reported that they found a 

 plant which was fatal to sheep." 1 It has not been possible to deter- 

 mine who made this report, nor to what species it alludes. 



The hogs ran wild and soon became quite fierce. They were all 

 destroyed in 1814 because of their ghoulish tastes when shipwrecks 

 occurred. 



1 Patterson, George: Trans. Roy. Soc. Can. xii. 2, 20 (1894). 



