The conservation 
     
     of the forest. 
     
    
   
   
    
     The King ’3 
     
     expenses. 
     
    
   
   
    
     their soldiers work well and His Majesty need not regret the benefit that will return 
     
     from it, since on his part he will gain two-thirds of the expense that he makes at 
     
     present for the wood that he needs. 
     
    
   
   
    
     Besides the profit that the King will get from this wood, masting and merrains [stave 
     
     wood] if we add the pitch, the tar and the livestock with which one will be able to 
     
     populate this island, there will perhaps be no place that could become more useful to 
     
     France; but to make this settlement perfect, it will be necessary to have all the 
     
     soldiers that are sent marry in order to populate and cultivate it; and in order not to 
     
     let the source of these woods dry up, it will be necessary to give attention to allowing 
     
     all the land that will not be cultivated to grow into mature forest so that in future it 
     
     will always be a source of the wood that France might need. 
     
    
   
   
    
     The only advance that the King will be obliged to make for the success of this project 
     
     will comprise sending to the soldiers that are sent there, each five or six good well 
     
     sharpened axes, two grindstones per company to sharpen them as required, and three 
     
     cross-saws also per company to cut the wood in line with the measurements that will 
     
     be given to them by the King’s charpentier [carpenter/shipwright] who will be sent out 
     
     for the receipt and measurement of this wood. One will be able, if one judges it 
     
     appropriate, to deduct this advance from their work in future, but it is such a small 
     
     matter that one may not think that His Majesty need give it attention. 
     
    
   
   
    
     Perhaps Monsieur the Count of Saint-Pierre, to whom lle Saint—Jean was granted and 
     
     who claims to have had considerable expenses there, will be able to ask for some 
     
     compensation, supposing that one makes use initially of the settlements that he was 
     
     able to set up there, and that would seem fair, the King not being able to recompense 
     
     those of his subjects enough, who bankrupt themselves in forming new settlements, 
     
     from which His Majesty and the Kingdom gain all the advantage in the future. In any 
     
     event, the King will easily be able to compensate Monsieur the Count of Saint-Pierre 
     
     in future from the profit that he will make from this island, which contains two 
     
     thousand square leagues and eight million arpents and will one day be able to return 
     
     to the King (granting it at the rate of ten so/s per arpent in land rental), four million 
     
     [livres] in annual revenue. 
     
    
   
   
    
     Written at Paris, 11 February 1733, De la Boulaye. 
     
    
   
   
    
     [PAC, AC, CHB, Vol. 14, fols. 389-390v] 
     
    
   
   
    
       
     
    
   
   
    
     1 . See Appendix 4 for a detailed analysis of the practicalities of Boulaye’s proposal. 
     
    
   
   
    
     2. His estimate appears to be in error — the number in square brackets is my correction 
     
     and is based on the other figures that he gives. 
     
    
   
   
    
     3. According to Proulx (1984) (Between France and New France), a flare was a cargo 
     
    
   
   
    
     vessel of heavy build with a flat bottom, usually pierced by a large port-hole in the 
     
     stem to enable the loading of large pieces of timber or other materials. 
     
    
   
   
    
     85