The King had 
     
     reserved the right 
     
     to cut the timber. 
     
    
   
   
    
     The island is an 
     
     abundant source 
     
     of timber. 
     
    
   
   
    
     An immediate 
     
     plan: have 
     
     soldiers cut 
     
     the timber. 
     
    
   
   
    
     Felling 
     
     es tima tes. 
     
    
   
   
    
     Getting the wood 
     
     back to France. 
     
    
   
   
    
       
     
    
   
   
    
     A memorandum with respect to lie Royale and lie Saint-Jean. 
     
    
   
   
    
     The latter was previously granted to the Comte de Saint-Pierre, but the King reserved 
     
     the right to fell all the wood there that his Majesty might have need of 
     
    
   
   
    
     To fortify lle Royale we have been obliged to send up to . . . . [blank space] 
     
     companies, which costs the King a great deal, without gaining any other advantage 
     
     than the protection of the ports where his subjects carry out a dried cod fishery. 
     
    
   
   
    
     At present since the fortifications of this island have been finished, and since half of 
     
     these companies are more than sufficient to keep guard, the King could send the 
     
     other half to lie Saint-Jean, which neighbours lle Royalle, to use them in the cutting 
     
     and squaring of the building timber which is in such great abundance there that all 
     
     those who have examined it give assurance that this island alone, which is fifty 
     
     leagues in length by forty in width, can provide for more than fifty years all the wood 
     
     needed for both the navy and the merchant fleet: fir and spruce boards, building 
     
     wood/staves [merain], pitch and tar, and enough even to supply Spain, which obtains 
     
     almost all of these materials either straight from the north of Europe, or by way of 
     
     Holland which transports it to them. 
     
    
   
   
    
     Besides the advantage that the King will have, in getting this wood at a much better 
     
     price than it would cost in France, we are assured that the soil of this island (which 
     
     is watered by three large rivers that run across it from one end to the other ~ and 
     
     where there are very good harbours) is so fertile for wheat and hemp, that the crops 
     
     that have been harvested are beyond all belief, and that it is particularly suitable for 
     
     feeding an infinite number of livestock of all kinds (cattle, sheep and pigs) that will 
     
     subsequently produce salted meat, leather, tallow, and wool, commodities that are 
     
     equally needed and useful in France, which imports a great part of them from abroad. 
     
    
   
   
    
     If all these reports are true, as we believe on the basis of the unanimous reports of 
     
     all those who have visited this island, it is certain that the King is able to obtain 
     
    
   
   
    
     innumerable advantages in the course of this very year, the evidence for which 
     
     follows: 
     
    
   
   
    
     Four companies, each of fifty men, who will be occupied from the start entirely in 
     
     cutting and squaring the timber according to the samples and size which will be given 
     
     to them, will square in the course of a year more than six hundred thousand cubic 
     
     feet of wood of all species - the evidence for this will be given later. 
     
    
   
   
    
     The King is able to send in less than a week four companies of men selected from all 
     
     the companies which are on He Royale, to lie Saint-Jean from the month of April next 
     
    
   
   
    
     giving his orders by the first vessels which leave for the fishery and arrive in the 
     
     month of March. 
     
    
   
   
    
     These four companies will accommodate themselves during the month of May and 
     
     will be ready to work in the month of June, and before the end of October they will 
     
     have squared and carried to the bank of the river where they will be based, at least 
     
     three hundred thousand cubic feet of wood. 
     
    
   
   
    
     To bring this wood back to France, it is necessary to hire during this year the 
     
     merchants who send ships to Canada on their own business to go and load them at 
     
     lle Saint-Jean on their way back; they can do it without diverting from their route and 
     
    
   
   
    
     83