64 The French in Prince Edward Island

mice and the reproof of the Commandant, a census was taken of the colony. The record shows 54 houses, 76 men, 51 women, 156 children, 14 domestics, a total of 297 persons to whom should be added 125 fisher- men for the 8 goelettes and 19 shallops engaged in the fisheries. The catch for the year was 4874 quin- tals of cod.

For 1729 the records are silent with exception of the fact that the English who were about the island in great numbers had a boat pillaged and burned by the Indians—a species of intimidation that kept them at a safe distance for some time to come. De Pensens again wintered at Louisburg, leaving the garrison in charge of Lieutenant du Haget and the Chevalier de Pensens who held the rank of Ensign; and Dubuisson was granted a salary of 600 livres.

But in 1730 there was much rejoicing over a boun- teous crop which stimulated the colonies to clear more land, some twofold, others fourfold. Port La Joye gathered over 200 hogsheads of grain, Mal- peque forty, Tracadie thirty, Havre a l’Anguille or Savage Harbor thirty, and St. Peters over fifty, although most of the inhabitants of the latter were fishers. The forty hogsheads gathered at Malpeque were all the product of two farmers. This yield at- tracted the attention of Acadians, particularly since it was being discovered that this port was one of the best agr sonilbtie al districts and at the same time equal to St. eters for fishing. This year also, the fish were abundant and only the shortage of salt had pre- vented the fishermen of St. Peters from preserving