210 ‘The French in Prince Edward Island 
     
    
   
   
    
     As to the character of the people, contemporary 
     
     opinion is not unanimous. De Pensens found them 
     
     lazy, but he was called upon to initiate young men, 
     
     who had been brought up among the marshes of Aca- 
     
     dia, into the difficulties of clearing a farm of heavy 
     
     timber. Naturally they undertook the work with re- 
     
     luctance. De Bonnaventure made the same complaint, 
     
     but he was dealing with disheartened refugees who 
     
     wondered whether the good God had not forsaken 
     
     them utterly. Besides they were scantily clad, half- 
     
     starved, and had not found conditions in the Island 
     
     as they had been represented to them before they left 
     
     their smiling homes in Acadia. 
     
    

    
     On the other hand Forant, Franquet, and Prevost 
     
     all found the Acadians strong, vigorous, obedient, 
     
     intelligent, handy with the axe, submissive to reli- 
     
     gion, even a little superstitious. These agree that 
     
     they were not so much lazy as inclined to avoid hard 
     
     labor and to concern themselves only with the necessi- 
     
     ties of life, leaving the luxuries to those who valued 
     
     them more highly. Franquet and Forant both ac- 
     
     cused them of being self-seeking and fond of money, 
     
     but for the latter they can be pardoned as they saw 
     
     little enough of it, and much that they received from 
     
     the French was card-money that was later dis- 
     
     honored. Naturally, then, they became mistrustful 
     
     and demanded coin of the realm before parting with 
     
     the hard-earned products of their industry. 
     
    

    
     In general one may accept Franquet’s observation 
     
     that the Acadians, although good-natured, were not 
     
     always easy to manage, that they submitted more