206 'The French in Prince Edward Island 
     
    
   
   
    
     serious damage to the settlement but also caused the 
     
     death of two families comprising thirteen persons. 
     
     In this case the Minister complained that these fires 
     
     were becoming all too frequent and that something 
     
     ought to be done to prevent them. Though the Aca- 
     
     dians were unfamiliar with forest clearings there is 
     
     no reason for concluding that they were unnecessa- 
     
     rily careless. All pioneers in similar circumstances 
     
     have had similar experiences conditioned by the 
     
     winds and the seasons. But the results were serious 
     
     not only because of the immediate damage but also 
     
     because even the firewood was destroyed; and as early 
     
     as 1751 Franquet reported that the inhabitants of 
     
     St. Peters and the Northeast River had to draw 
     
     their wood from a distance. But these two settlements 
     
     were not unique. The case of East Poimt was even 
     
     worse. Here the original settlement had been on the 
     
     south side of the point, but im 1752 de La Roque 
     
     found that this settlement had been reduced to a 
     
     wilderness by fire, traces of which were found for 
     
     miles along the north shore. As a result the inhabit- 
     
     ants had established themselves on the north shore 
     
     at a distance of six miles from the point. Though 
     
     they had cleared some land, they had not been able 
     
     to procure a bushel of seed. In such cases fire was 
     
     a bad master. 
     
    

    
     Other calamities befell these Acadians in their new 
     
     homes. In 1724, 1728, and 1738 their crops were 
     
     absolutely destroyed by field mice which on the latter 
     
     date left nothing but desolation behind them from 
     
     Malpeque to Three Rivers. Malpeque suffered from