ACADIAN FHENCH. 409 Contented to exist as their progenitors did, they seem careless about living in a more comfortable, cleanly, and respectable style. It is, however, satisfactory and pleasing to know, that neither beggary, nor the ; want of necessary food and clothing, can be discovered i on the island* With few exceptions, the general characteristics of the people are honesty and hospitality; but many of the inhabitants about the Gut of Canseau, and a few in the vicinity of the , are considered as infamous characters as any who exist unpunished. These were probably the most worthless people in the countries from whence they came; and, living in this colony, until the last few years, almost without the limits of justice, their principles have not likely undergone a favourable change. Agriculture, generally speaking, is in a most slo¬ venly and barbarous condition. The inhabitants, it is true, within the Bras d'Or, aftd at a few Dlaw along the gulf shorn suWai pxincipally by cultivating the soil, and rearing cattle and sheep ; but wherever there are harbours for fishing or exporting timber, the farmers soon acquire the propensity, so common in , of dabbling in pursuits unconnected with agriculture, such as fishing, hewing timber, building schooners, &c. The Acadian French leave the cultivation of the soil, in a great measure, to the management of their wives, daughters, and younger sons. The quality of the soil in most places where they are settled, except at * Note B.