MAGDALEN TSLANDS. 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 are under the government of Canada ,* 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 officiates. 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.