A proposal to 
     
     exploit the 
     
     island ’s timber. 
     
    
   
   
    
     An inspection at 
     
     Savage Harbour. 
     
    
   
   
    
     A dozen pine 
     
     trees cut. 
     
    
   
   
    
     Some fine masts 
     
     at Murray 
     
     Harbour. 
     
    
   
   
    
       
     
    
   
   
    
     1725: 21 December 
     
    
   
   
    
     I have received [the order] from Monsieur de Saint-Ovide to be ready in the early 
     
     spring to go to take possession of He Saint-Jean in the King's name 
     
    
   
   
    
     l offer to give all my attention to the wood that the King will wish to obtain for 
     
     building or masting — this island is supplied with it. In truth this will require much 
     
     effort, due to the remoteness of the woods — which are not found in the harbour that 
     
     ships can enter. In which case | undertake to have it brought to Port La—Joie which 
     
     is the only harbour known where large ships can be brought in. This will lead to two 
     
     benefits at the same time, on the one hand it will supply the King with wood, on the 
     
     other, it will make the settlement of the island easier due to the number of Acadians 
     
     that i will attract there to cut wood. Moreover, since the soils are good there, the 
     
     activity with the wood will more easily encourage them to settle there. 
     
    
   
   
    
     [PAC, AC, CHB, Vol. 7, fols. 382-382v] 
     
    
   
   
    
     1727: 12 August [signed also by Sébastien Le Normant, King’s scrivener] 
     
    
   
   
    
     Today the twelfth of August one thousand seven hundred and twenty-seven, we 
     
     commandant on lie Saint-Jean, on the order of Monsieur de Saint-Ovide, governor of 
     
     lle FioyaIIe, and Le Normant, King's scrivener, on the order of Monsieur de Mézy, 
     
     commissaire ordonnateur of the latter island, we being transported to the top of the 
     
     river of Port La-Joie [i.e. the Hillsborough River], accompanied by Master Michel 
     
     Galand, charpentier [carpenter/shipwright] and resident of the said Port, in order to 
     
     examine masts and small masts that could be obtained from this place in the King’s 
     
     service, we arrived in the portage at the end of this river to the him; a I’Anguille [i.e. 
     
     Savage Harbour] on the north coast of this island where the Company of Monsieur 
     
     the Count of Saint-Pierre had cut a number already, and after having cut down a 
     
     dozen of different sizes living trees from eleven to seventeen and eighteen inches in 
     
     diameter without selecting, we found them, sound, well grown and gummy, with a 
     
     fine and tight grain, very strong and supple [liant], although we came across a few 
     
     among them full of knots at 30 or 35 pieds [feet] from the large end, generally 
     
     straight, and bearing their proportions, that is, in length at least three times in feet, 
     
     the diameter in inches, and the thickness at the small end two-thirds that at the 
     
     large, all this in the presence of men named Charles Pinet and Francois Paris, 
     
     Acadians & charpentiers [carpenters/Shipwrights], who were at the spot. 
     
    
   
   
    
     In witness of which we have signed de Pensens, LeNormant, Michel Haché called 
     
     Galan. 
     
    
   
   
    
     [PAC, AC, C“B, Vol. 9, fols. 48-48v] 
     
     1727: 20 November [initially dated 20 October 1727] 
     
     This occasion has given me an opportunity of being able to report to Your Excellency 
     
     about a harbour on He Saint-Jean that I had not seen last year, that they call le havre 
     
    
   
   
    
     a I’aurs [bear harbour], three leagues distant from Trois Rivieres on the south coast, 
     
     where I found a large harbour full of sand bars where however with good steering, 
     
    
   
   
    
     54