60 THEISLAND ACADIANS

Rustico, where | reside, is on the verge of being abandoned by the Acadians. I am sure that [...] in no time at all the inhabitants will be forced to leave the place. Rather than decreasing, the rent that they are now unable to pay only increases. By this spring, most of them will be obliged to go to Labrador [Lake Bras d’Or] in Cape Breton where Mr. Gaulin assured them they would find Crown land. Finding themselves surrounded and interspersed with peoples from different nations, those who do stay will follow the same course as the others. (TR)?®

In early September of the same year, Father Cécile informed Bishop Plessis in another letter that thirty-six families were preparing to go over to Cape Breton’’. This outflow appears to have lasted for several years, since we know that another five families resettled in Cape Breton in 1829°°.

Despite the fears of Father Cécile, the bulk of the population in Rustico did not move. A few privileged people managed to buy their lands while the majority remained tenants, often indebted to their landlord. The circumstances worsened with each generation. As the lands were divided up to make room for the younger families, the farms became smaller and smaller. As a result it was extremely difficult to make a decent living on the land. Around 1860 the situation became very critical in Rustico. Father George-Antoine Belcourt’s arrival in the parish in 1859 was to be providential.

MALPEQUE

It is not known exactly where on Malpeque Bay the Acadians resettled after the expulsion. It might have been in Lot 18, near the present-day village of Malpeque. In fact there were Acadian families there in 1770 since in that year they gave shelter to the shipwrecked Scottish immigrants from the Annabella*'. This was the same year the first governor, Walter Patterson, arrived on the Island. He was joint owner of Lot 19 and also became the agent for the proprietor of Lot 17**. He therefore invited Acadians, probably living in Lot 18 and elsewhere, to relocate to the Lots in which he had interests**. Later on, many Acadian families did settle in Lot 16 along the shores of Malpeque Bay. It is not known under what conditions the Acadians took up residence in these Lots, but it is quite possible that they became tenants almost immediately’.