200 The French in Prince Edward Island 
     
    
   
   
    
     It is obvious that Boishebert found some habitans 
     
     upon whom he could rely for provisions and who were 
     
     able to support him in the ambuscade. By this time 
     
     the Acadians were adepts at living in hiding, as the 
     
     English were to find when they sent for the parish 
     
     that had been left by Lord Rollo. Early in the spring 
     
     of 1759, Governor Whitmore sent two armed sloops 
     
     and two transports to the island to relieve the garri- 
     
     son and take off the remainder of the inhabitants, 
     
     but on their arrival, Captain Johnson, who had given 
     
     the spirited answer to Boishebert, informed them 
     
     that the French had all gone off to Canada.** But 
     
     this was not the case. A few may have gone, sufficient 
     
     to give support to the rumor, but many must have 
     
     been in hiding, particularly in the western part of 
     
     the island; and these retained their loyalty to 
     
     France, still hoping for her ultimate return. A re- 
     
     port of Governor Wilmot dated June 2, 1764, states 
     
     that there were upward of 300 Acadians on Isle 
     
     Saint Jean who “recently in a most solemn manner” 
     
     declared that they would recognize no sovereign save 
     
     the King of France.** When Captain Holland made 
     
     his survey in 1765 he estimated thirty Acadian fami- 
     
     lies on the island; and in 1767 Captain Morris gave 
     
     the specific number 207. It would appear then that 
     
     between 200 and 300 inhabitants were all that re- 
     
     mained after fifty years of effort to perpetuate the 
     
     French race and character in Isle Saint Jean. 
     
    
   
   
    
     18 M, Vol. 221, p. 204. 
     
     14.N.S.A., Vol. 74, pp. 14, 65.