rugs from discarded clothing. Some very useful mats were made from binder twine dyed and either

braided or hooked.

TRANSPORTATION

As there were no roads in the Belmont area, the French settlers of the 18th Century depended on the water for travel; by canoe in summer and by snowshoe on the ice in winter.

The early residents of Belmont, both French and English, looked across the harbour to Malpeque about 5% miles distance to supply their essential needs.

That such communication existed can be establ- ished from the following sources:

F.H. MacArthur in Fables of Prince Edward Island tells of the Indians at Malpeque in summer communication with the Indians across the Bay at Belmont.

In the winter of l77S-l776 Thomas Curtis, who was a survivor of the wrecked sailing vessel Elizabeth reports of communication across the ice of Richmond Bay.

Duncan Campbell in History of P.E.I. l870 tells of Dr. Keir‘s pastoral call to Malpeque by 64 persons of the First Presbyterian Church. Some of these people lived on the western shores of Richmond Bay.

in the eighteen hundreds transportation out of Belmont was very much different than in the

present day. Motorized vehicles were yet unheard of.

Dufing the winter months, when the ice on Richmond Bay became solid and trustworthy, roads were bushed on it. This job was done by some of the local people in Belmont and it was financed by the Government. They would cut holes in the ice about two or three inches in diameter and spaced #4 yards apart. A bush about 6 or 7 feet high would be placed therein, thus making a guide