4©4 A VOtAGE to . BooKrX. 



fiiuft however be imputed to the rigour of the clirriate,- 

 and the badnefs of the foil, more than to any negledl 

 of the proprietors, who feldom are wanting in induf- 

 try, when they have a probability of fuitable advan- 

 tages. The inhabitants relate, that it was formerly 

 peopled by a race of favage Indians, who fince have 

 itdrcd to the continent nor do they often vifit the 

 iHand, and even when they do, they (lay but a very 

 fmail time, returning to the continent from whence 

 they caine. 1 his was indeed their cuftom before ever 

 tlie names of French or Englifli were known in the 

 ifland, retiring from the feverity of the frolis at the 

 approach of winter. Thefe Indians generally live 

 by fifliing and hunting and both this illand, the 

 iQe royale, and the adjacent parts of Canada, abound 

 }i bufiards and wild geefe. There are alio founds 

 though in no gr.%at numbers, the quadrupeds of this 

 country, as foxes, bears, beavers, and others : but 

 the continual f^arch after them for the fake of their 

 fkins has much lefTened their numbers. 



Under all the feverity of the climate, they are 

 not without fome horned cattle ^ but thefe are pre- 

 ferved with no lefs care and difficulty than ,at Lou-^ 

 iibourg. The inhabitants have alio their little kitchen 

 gardens for fummer herbs : but all the other fpecies 

 of provifrons, as fjour, fak, meat, &c. they are fup- 

 plied with from Bofton, Pennfylvania, and other co- 

 ionies to the fouthward. With regard to the goods o€ 

 ether kinds, they are brought from England, 



EIavi?:g obferved in chapter feven that the greateft 

 part of the French fnips employed in the cod-trade da 

 not take in their lading at Louiibourg, it will be ne- 

 ceiTary to explain the nature of this trade; and in or- 

 der to a more clear underilanding of this traffick it is ta 

 be obicrved, thiat the fliips both of that nation and 

 thefe of England, have two' methods of carrying io- 

 on ; one is to go to the nfhing villages, and there buy 

 k cargo in barter for goods, or to load with cod oi% 



tlieii? 



