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at North Cape, he named the principal harbour in what is now the Tignish area Otter Pond. He also noted: ”The Cod Fishery to the East is exceedingly good.”

Had Captain Holland found plenty of trees suitable for building His Majesty George the Second’s ships, the area’s entire history would have been different. In spite of being so far from Charlottetown, and indeed from any other settlement at that time, it would quickly have become a lumbering and perhaps even a shipbuilding centre. Instead he found spruce, and sailed away, apparently convinced that only fishing would be of economic interest in this remote spot. For it was remote, and would remain so almost up to the present time. Even now, in an age of motor vehicles, it retains its remote feeling, partly because the scale of Prince Edward Island is so small that ten miles or so may bring a major change in origins, life-styles, and at times in geography. A hundred miles may seem more like five hundred or even a thousand compared to larger- scale areas. In addition, those who live in the Tignish area have maintained the feeling of being far away from the rest of the Island, almost as if it were another country; many inhabitants of Charlottetown reciprocate this feeling.

In the eighteenth century, this area was a desirable place in which to settle. Plenty of food could be picked, fished or hunted all around. Acadian farmers knew the techniques for turning marshlands into fine agricultural land; the rest of the land was too acid for most crops. The forest afforded the means of shelter, not only providing material for houses and barns, but acting as protection from the winds which blew most of the time, usually from the northwest or northeast. And the small harbours could easily shelter canoes and schooners, the main types of craft in use then. Furthermore, if anyone for any reason desired to settle a long way from the rest of the Island’s relatively few inhabitants, the area was ideal. One would have to traverse some fifty miles (80 kilometres) of forest