﻿T~P NEW YORK STATE MUSEUM 



Ramees 



Ramea < 

 Ramies 



Cbamplain applied the name Ramee-Brion to the entire group, 

 Ramee having reference to the way in which the islands are 

 strung together by bars. The name was in use before Cham- 

 plain's time as it appears in Fisher's narrative of 1591 and 

 Drake's, 1593: "Called by the Britons of S. Malo the Isle of 

 Ramea." 



Les Araynes 

 I. des Arenos 

 I. des Arenes 

 I. aux Sablons 

 I. aux Sabloens 

 I. Duoron 



Cartier, in his second voyage, speaks of crossing over from 



Brion to the sands, " les araynes," meaning the sands of 



> Grosse Isle and southward. The name appears on early 



charts in the alternative forms given and applied to all 



the group except Brion and Alezay. 



Entry I. "j A very early name, though evidently not Cartier's. It guards 



1, de l'Entree ( the southeastern portal of the group. 



money, to go to a higher court. So matters take their course. Apathy and 

 discouragement reign supreme in the islands which only await the coming of 

 a new regime to become a storehouse of abundance. The tenants continue 

 to pay local and school taxes while their lord and master rigorously exacts 

 the annual rental of the lands — rents which are exorbitant compared with 

 those elsewhere. Nevertheless in the midst of this secret discontent, some of 

 the old settlers find a way to be satisfied with their position. Many of them 

 have a hundred acres under cultivation for which they pay annually only five 

 shillings or a quintal of cod. These are the kings of the isles and they are 

 the envy of those about them ; for a young settler who wishes to rent the 

 same amount of land uncultivated and unwooded would be obliged to pay 

 twenty cents a year per acre. Fulfilling this condition he becomes a tenant. 

 For a while youth, ambition and love of work let loose their forces. Under 

 his plow the desert becomes fertile fields. The fish help to make good his 

 deficit. He will be able to live comfortably and be happy though only a 

 tenant. But bad times come, the rent is behind; then come the threats of the 

 agents. The demon of expropriation hovers over his little property; nothing 

 remains to the unhappy man but exile or servitude. 



It is not surprising that nearly all this population which otherwise might be 

 enterprising and rich live here, half asleep and in poverty. Strangers flee 

 from this nest of feudalism. These vexatious conditions have resulted in a 

 large migration from the islands to Labrador. More than three hundred 

 heads of families have left the islands and established themselves at Kekaska, 

 Natashqouan and Esquimaux Point. These departures have weakened the 

 population of the islands. Every year large numbers go to join those that 

 have already left and it looks as though in the near future the islands may 

 become entirely deserted. 



The remedy for the condition pictured here has been found in legislation 

 by the Quebec Parliament which enacted a law in 1895 (Statutes of 

 Quebec, 58 Victoria, Cap. XLV) regulating the form of the land tenure, 

 declaring outstanding occupants to be proprietors subject to payment of 

 rentals and insuring the right of redemption of capital. This law seems to 

 have brought a much desired confidence and sense of security to the islanders 

 without detracting from the income of the seignieur, who now being an heir 

 and substitute of the original proprietor, had, it seems, no legal right to alter 

 the form of the first leases. The province has still further alleviated the 

 condition of the islanders by assuring in amendments to the law cited (59 



