TABLE 2. French units of linear and area measure, and monetary values in the eighteenth century.

FRENCH UNITS OF MEASURE

The following are definitions and metric conversion values for the linear and area measures occurring in the documents:

Pied: the French foot l= 0.324 metres).1 The French pied was longer by 6.3% than the English foot — which equals 0.305 metres. 2

Pouce: the French inch. Since there were twelve pouces in a pied, the French pouce was also 6.3% longer than the English inch.

Brasse: equal to five French feet (pieds) (i.e. 1.62 metres), based originally on the distance between the two arms (bras) outstretched.‘

Toise: equal to six French feet (pieds) (i.e. 1.95 metres)1 — the equivalent of the English fathom.

Lieue: the French marine league, equivalent to three minutes of latitude. One league was equal to 2,853 toises (i.e. 5.56 kilometres or 3.45 English miles).3

Arpent: as a linear measure, the standard arpent was equal to 58.47 metres or 191.8 English feet.4

Arpent: as an area measure, it is the French acre. In France there was regional variation in its size. The arpent de Paris, the most widely used, was the equivalent of 0.342 hectares or 0.846 English acres.1 it is this arpent that is still in use in French-Canada", and that I assume to have been used in the eighteenth century on lie Saint-Jean.

FRENCH MONETARY UNITS

In the monetary system of the ancien régime there were 12 deniers (i.e. pennies) to the sol (or sou) (i.e. shilling) and 20 sols to the Iivre (or pound). in the early eighteenth century 23 French livres was roughly equivalent to one English pound sterling.6

1 Littré, P.—E. (1969) Dictionnaire de la Langue Francaise. Edition du Cap, Monte—Carlo.

2 See also Bamford, P. W. (1956) Forests and French Sea Power 1660-1789. University of Toronto Press. (p. 11, footnote 7).

3 Pritchard, J. (1995) Anatomy ofa Naval Disaster. McGiIl—Queen’s University Press, Montreal and Kingston. (p. xvi)

‘ Le Grand Robert (2001) Le Grand Robert de la Langue Frangaise (Second edition.) A. Rey (ed). Le Robert, Paris.

5 Bélisle, L.-A. (1979) Dictionnaire Nord-Amén'cain de la Langue Francaise. Beauchemin, Montreal.

6 Pritchard 1995, p. xvi. I note that Moore (1979) (p. 84) uses a conversion value of 20 livres to the pound sterling. (Moore, C.

(1979) The other Louisbourg: trade and merchant enterprise in He Royale 1713-58. Histoire Soc/ale — Social History, Vol. 12, Part 23: 79-86.)