18 Success 0n the Edge 
     
    
   
   
    
     perfect, though the soil was not first-class. Quite a few of 
     
     those who settled near Tignish arrived there via the 
     
     Miramichi, just as the Riellys had, having travelled on 
     
     ships returning there for lumber. Since there was a fairly 
     
     steady trade between Ireland and Newfoundland as well 
     
     as between Prince Edward Island and Newfoundland, a 
     
     number of the Irish settlers arrived in that manner as well. 
     
     Others landed at Malpeque or Charlottetown and worked 
     
     their way northwest to the new settlement. 
     
    
   
   
    
     Sketch Map drawn" to illustrate shipping routes between Ireland and the 
     
     Atlantic Provinces of Newfoundland, New Brunswick and Prince Edward 
     
     Island. Note: This sketch is not drawn to scale and is only intended to show 
     
     the relative positions of the shipping lanes and the principal destinations. 
     
    
   
   
    
       
     
    
   
   
    
     (*Sketch provided by the author, E. E. Cran) 
     
    
   
   
    
     How and when the Irish first discovered there was 
     
     an Acadian colony nearby we do not know. Tradition tells 
     
     of a confrontation between an ambitious Irishman who 
     
     made an attempt to lord it over the Acadians with one of 
     
     the younger members of the Bernard family. A fight 
     
     ensued, a shovel was broken, the Irishman’s ambitions 
     
     deflated - and, subsequently, he received the nickname 
     
     of ”shovel-splitter”. On the whole, the two groups seem 
     
     to have kept apart, though the first road in the area ran 
     
     between the site of the original church and the south side