62 . ALL AFLOAT 



transatlantic trade never seem to have equalled 

 in number those that came from France. 



The restrictions on colonial trade were rigidly 

 enforced ; no manufacture of goods was allowed 

 in the colonies, and no direct trade except 

 with France and French possessions. Canada 

 imported manufactured goods and exported 

 furs, timber, fish, and grain. The deep-water 

 tonnage required for Canada was not over ten 

 or twelve thousand, distributed among perhaps 

 forty vessels on the European route and twenty 

 more that only visited the French West Indies. 

 A complete round trip usually meant a cargo of 

 manufactures from France to Canada, a cargo 

 of timber, fish, and grain from Canada to the 

 West Indies, and a third cargo — of sugar, 

 molasses, and rum — from the West Indies 

 home to France. Quite half the vessels, how- 

 ever, returned direct to France with a Canadian 

 cargo. Louisbourg was a universal port of call, 

 the centre of a partly contraband coasting trade 

 with the British Americans, and a considerable 

 importing point for food-stuffs from Quebec. 



French commerce on the sea had, however, 

 a mighty rival. The encroaching British were 

 working their way into every open water in 

 America. The French gallantly disputed their 

 advance in Hudson Bay and won several 



