. ., ~66—

1840, except that the white houses would be fewer and there would be unbrOken stretches of dark spruce. In that year, postage stamps'were first introduced to the world. Queen VictOris became a Wife and mother, the first steamship crossed the Atlantic to a Canadian port, Prince Edward Is- land passed an Act authoriziEg the building of a lunatic asylum, and souris held its first Fair. ‘

Nearly a hundred years before. 1840, Souris had its first white inhabitants when several Acadian families set- tled near the site cf the present town in 1745-1748. This early Settlement‘was probably abandoned immediately follow- ing thevcapture of Louisburg in 1758. Not till early in the nineteenth century was Souris reborn, when some Acedian ' French moved in from adjoining Lots, at the same time as sev- eral old country French families arrived by way of Cape Bre— ton° "To Souris river came English.and Irish settlers in lBIOsIBlZ drawn by the good wages paid in the shipyards which were establiShed on the west side of the river. In Souris East and east of that, the thDonalds, MscAuleys, and other Scotch farmers were on long farms with their feet in water frontage, and their heads set snugly in valuable timber lendss ‘ ' The waterfront would scarcely be recognizable tam daya 'There may have been a small private wharf at Souris west et’this time, but there was no bridge; a ferry provided transport across the rivere A beach road was on the send, flats and was nice travelling at low tidea A Post Office had yet to be establishedampeople went to Charlottetown for their mail, or some obliging trsveller brought it outo SOuris West had all the bigger stores, and the main business connected with the building of ships and the loading of them with farm produce or pine deals for their maiden.voyages and sale 1n some foreign port, was all transacted in Souris west. Donald Benton, Souris East, Edwg Kickhem, Souris West, were in business; John Knight came to Souris in 1835; about 1840 he still had a small store in Souris West, later moving to Souris East, where he established a large and thriving busi» ness; at his death about 1875, he owned about 35,000 acres of Eastern Kings Co. He was not interested to any great extent in agriculture in contrast to his contemporary John MacGowsn. thGowsnnwas the son of Peter MacGowan, Charlotte- town, one of the first attorneys-general appointed on the Island (1800). A licensed retailer to sell spirituous liquor was Wh. McKay & Co. John.Coughlin had the only licensed tavern;*

In early Charlotte Town history, church services