MAGDALEN IsLAan. 215

them for the purpose of hatching. I have seen shal- lops loaded with eggs, in bulk, which were brought from these islands to Nova Scotia and Prince Edward Island, for sale.

The Magdalen Islands are under the government of Canada,”6 and the inhabitants are amenable to the courts of Quebec, 600 miles distant ; a most inconvenient regulation, when they are so much nearer Prince Edward Island.

There is a chapel, in which a priest sent from Quebec ofliciates. Plentiful fishing banks, of which the Americans of the United States derive the prin- cipal advantage, abound in every direction near these

islands.

* Annexed to that government in 1809, by 49 Geo. III. cap. 27.