ST. JOHN: SABLE ISLAND. 35 
I have no doubt but Indian Corn might be produced, but not in large 
quantities." 
In 1850, Joseph Howe \nsited Sable Island, and reported', "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- 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. * * * fhe 
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. * * * jj^ ^l^g 
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^ a charming little book on Sable 
Island in which he devotes one paragraph to its l)otanical features: 
"A Botanist would give a scientific list of tliirty or forty varieties 
of shrubs and plants. Trees there are none, and the usual shrubs 
are dwarft to a few inches; a little ground juniper and low with-wood 
would not alloril a riding-caiie. 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 pva eiianu-l the 
valleys. Strawberries, l)luel)erries and eranlx-rries are in al)iin(lane(\ 
They are measured by l)iieket-fulls; atid as Aiitunin heats yellow the 
niowe, Joseph: Appendix to .loiiia. of House of Asseiiihly, I'rov. of .\. S. 
no. 24, 161-lG4(lSril). 
2 The Leisure Hour, xxx. 432-4:};i (ISSl). 
'Gilpin, J. Hornanl: Sable Island, Its Past History, Present .\ppearance, 
Natural History etc. IS~]<) (ISoS). 
