ST. JOHN: SABLE ISLAND. 35 



I have no doubt but Indian Corn might be produced, but not in large 

 quantities. " 



In 1850, Joseph Howe visited Sable Island, and reported 1 , " I was 

 agreeably surprised to find it covered, for nearly its whole length of 

 five and twenty miles, with natural grass and wild peas, and sustain- 

 ing by its spontaneous production, five hundred head of wild horses, 

 and ten or twelve head of cattle. 



" Cranberries of large size, and fine flavour, grow in abundance on 

 Sable Island. A few barrels of these are generally picked in the au- 

 tumn, but the cranberry, as a source of income, or a means of em- 

 ployment, has scarcely ever been thought of by our people." 



An anonymous writer 2 says, "It was in the year 1851, when employ- 

 ed as one of the assistants in the Admiralty Survey of the Gulf of St. 

 Lawrence, that orders were unexpectedly received to proceed to Sable 

 Island, and report upon the erection of a lighthouse. * * * The 

 amount and variety of vegetation on this gigantic sand bar is ex- 

 traordinary. Besides several kinds of grass, there are wild peas, and 

 other plants, affording subsistence to between 400 and 500 wild horses, 

 and an innumerable colony of rats and rabbits, as well as the domes- 

 tic cattle kept for the use of the establishment. * * * In the 

 neighbourhood of the chief residence, where white clover and other 

 grasses have been sown, so luxuriant is the yield that over 100 tons 

 of hay are made annually. There are several edible berries, the 

 strawberry in the richest profusion covering the ground upon which 

 we rode, with none to gather them. Cranberries abound/' 



In 1858, J. B. Gilpin published 3 a charming little book on Sable 

 Island in which he devotes one paragraph to its botanical features : 



" A Botanist would give a scientific list of thirty or forty varieties 

 of shrubs and plants. Trees there are none, and the usual shrubs 

 are dwarf t to a few inches; a little ground juniper and low with- wood 

 would not afford a riding-cane. Tall coarse grasses cover the sur- 

 face of the ground, alternating with sandy barrens and snowy peaks 

 of blown sand. The wild rose, blue lily, and wild pea enamel the 

 valleys. Strawberries, blueberries and cranberries are in abundance. 

 They are measured by bucket-fulls; and as Autumn heats yellow the 



1 Howe, Joseph: Appendix to Journ. of House of Assembly, Prov. of N. S. 

 no. 24, 161-164(1851). 



2 The Leisure Hour, xxx. 432-433 (1881). 



3 Gilpin, J. Bernard: Sable Island, Its Past History, Present Appearance, 

 Natural History etc. 18-19 (1858). 



