195 
For this purpose an interpreter was sent into some 
of the southern provinces, which were one hundred 
leagues distant from Louisbourg. A sergeant was also 
despatched with an interpreter, and one hundred and 
fifty blacks, wdth instructions to explore the country 
across to the western coast, and to make establish¬ 
ments in their march—to enter into treaties with the 
chiefs of the interior, and convince them of the 
advantages that would result from a commerce with 
the whites—to discover the principal branches of 
trade—to observe their political strength, manners, 
inclinations, the climate of the country,—and, in short, 
to neglect nothing that might contribute to the good 
of the establishment. 
The services in which the colonists were obliged 
to engage, were of such a nature as to reduce them 
to great distress. The station was surrounded with 
marshes, which rendered it very unhealthy, and con¬ 
sequently required filling up: the fortifications like¬ 
wise demanded immediate attention, in order to be 
prepared against an attack from the natives. These 
labours of the day, rendered doubly severe by the 
excessive heat, were succeeded by the military ser¬ 
vices of the night, and, together, they enervated the 
men to a great degree. To heighten the distress, they 
were destitute of all those accommodations necessary 
in such a situation : not a surgeon on the establish¬ 
ment, with very few medicines in the hospital-chests, 
or stores in the magazines; and the supplies pro¬ 
mised by the governor of the Isle of France, were 
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