n 



his royal master, by letters patent, gave him the territory between the 

 40th and 46th degrees of latitude, and in the following year De Monts 

 came in, person to explore and take possession of his domains. Sixteen 

 years before thelanding of the pilgrims at Plymouth, he wintered upon, 

 an island in the river St. Croix;, which, siijce the adjustment of the 

 boundary line between the United States and New Brunswick, has. 

 been considered within the limits of Mame. This island is claimed by 

 the heirs of the late GeneralJohn Brewer, of Ilobbinston. Relics o^ 

 De Monta' sojourn upon it continue to be foun4. 



Annapolis — the Port RoyaJ of the French-r-was fcunded before hi^ 

 return, and is the oldest settlement in Nova Scotia. The "lieutenant gen- 

 eral of Acadia, and the circumjacent country," accomplished but little.. 

 His patent allowed him to "carefiiUy search alter and to distinguish all 

 sorts of mines of gold and silver," and gave him the monopoly of the 

 trade in fiifs. He seema to have confined his attention to measures to 

 secure the latter ; yet fish were caught, cured, and carried to France. 

 A permanent fishery was estabUshed at Canseau. Acedia soon passed 

 from De Monts into Catholic hands, while the English grant to Sir Wil-r 

 liam Alexander, in 1621, embraced a large part of it. As the events 

 connected with our subject at this time appear in the account of the 

 French fisheries, there is nothing to demand our attention until after Nova 

 Scotia was permanently annexed to the British crown, by the treaty of 

 Utrecht, in 1713, 



Down to the period of our Revolution, Nova Scotia was hardly known 

 except for its fisheries. The resident English population was so smaU 

 m 1719, that Phillips, the military governor, was compelled to select 

 the council required by his instructions fi'om his garrison. Thirty-six 

 years later, the whole number of inhabitants was estimated at only 

 5,000. In 1760, the township of Liverpool was settled by persons fi-om 

 Massachusetts, who designed to prosecute the salmon fishery, and who, 

 successful in their labors, caught a thousand barrels in a season. They 

 were followed in 1763 by about one hundred and sixty families frorn 

 Cape Cod, who selected the spot called Barringtpn, transported thither 

 their stock and fishing vessels., and founded one of the most considerable 

 fishing towns at present in the colony. The whole value of the imports 

 at this period was less than five thousand dollars. In truth, the House 

 ot Assembly asserted in 1775, that the amount of money in Nova Scotia 

 was ^1,200, (or $4,800) of which one-fifth was, in the hands of farmers. 

 Such was the general condition. 



The settlement of Halifax, the capital, requires a more particular 

 notice. Thomas Coram, a famous projector of the time, whose name 

 occurs often in the history of Maine, engaged in a scheme to commence 

 a town on the site of this city as, early as the year 1718, and his peti- 

 tion lor a grant of land received a favorable report from the Lords of 

 Trade and Plantations ; but the agents of Massachusetts opposed hip 

 plans, because, they interfered with the freedom of the fisheries, and he 

 was compelled to abandon his purpose.* 



* It is said, in Burke's Cominon^TS of England, that M^or William MaTkham, (of tha 

 family of Markham of Becca Hall,) wbo was bora in 1686, built tbe first house in Halifax, 

 Nova Scotia. 



