[Pichon, Thomas] (1 760) (Secretary to the governor at Louisbourg). Genuine Letters and Memoirs, Relating 
     
     to the Natural, Civil, and Commercial History of the Islands of Cape Breton, and Saint John by an 
     
     impartial Frenchman. J. Nourse, London. (xvi + 400 pp.) [UPEI: F5000.C 35m n275] 
     
    
   
   
    
       
     
    
   
   
    
     The following is the English translation of Pichon’s French text — as contained in the 1760 English edition of his 
     
     Memoirs published in London in the same year as the original French version. Since Pichon did not speak English, 
     
     the translation must have been made by someone else. Although in overall terms competent enough, it has a degree 
     
     of awkwardness due to the fact that the translator tends to translate literal/y. There are also some omissions in the 
     
     translation and some outright ho wlers — the most serious in terms of the forest description being the translation of 
     
     haricots as ’French beans’ rather than ’hem/ock’ (an understandable error for a European unfamiliar with the French 
     
     names of North American trees). This particular translation error has since been widely disseminated by subsequent 
     
     historians, such as Warburton (1923), who have used the 1760 English translation. Where there are serious 
     
     mistrans/ations of the French text or omissions of parts of it, / give my own translation in curved brackets { }. 
     
    
   
   
    
     REFERENCE: Warburton, A. B. (1923) A History of Prince Edward Island. Barnes & Co., St. John, N. B. pp. 55-60. 
     
    
   
   
    
       
     
    
   
   
    
     See Figure 7 (p. 1 74) for a map showing the location of the forest descriptions. 
     
    
   
   
    
     St John’s is the largest of all the islands in the gulph of St. Lawrence, and has even 
     
     the advantage of Cape Breton in point of fertility. It has plenty of wood {ratherz 
     
     ’lt has plenty of woods of every species’} . [p. 65] 
     
    
   
   
    
     Fortune Hive" The harbour of Fortune [Fortune River] The neighbouring lands are exceeding good, 
     
     and proper for culture. We found several sorts of trees {rathen 'several types of 
     
     woods’}, with a prodigious number of foxes, martens, hares, partridges, which 
     
     conceal themselves underground. {delete 'underground’— it is not in the French 
     
     version.} [pp. 67-68] 
     
    
   
   
    
     Souris Harbour. we proceeded somewhat to the offward of the harbour Dela Sour/s [Co/ville Bay]. 
     
     The entrance is practicable only for small boats, of the burden of three or four 
     
    

    
     cords of wood. There is very little grass {ratherz ’hay'} upon this spot; but the 
     
    

    
     rising grounds {on ’but the land, although a little elevated’} seem to be very proper 
     
    

    
     for cultivation. They are covered with all sorts of trees proper for building. {ratherz 
     
    
   
   
    
     ’woods of every species suitable for the construction of small boats’} [pp. 68459] 
     
     A {he at we doubled the east point, which we found deserted, because a fire had obliged 
     
     East Point. the inhabitants to abandon it, in order to go and settle two leagues further upon the 
     
     north side. [pp. 69-70] 
     
    
   
   
    
     We continued our course {add: ’along the coast’} for six leagues, till we arrived at the 
     
     Pool de Naufrage* (His footnote: *The Pool of Shipwreck). The coast, though very 
     
    
   
   
    
     The fire In the level {or: ’quite uniform’} presents the eye with nothing but a country laid waste by 
     
    
   
   
    
     th- t. . . . . 
     
     no, eas fire; and further on It IS covered wrth beech {not 'beech’ but ’hardwoods’}. [p. 70] 
     
     Game animals The coast all along from the harbour of Fortune to that of St. Peter swarms with 
     
     at Naufrage. all sorts of game {add: ’of the sea and the land’} . This abundance was a great 
     
     relief to the poor wretches who were shipwrecked on that coast {i.e. at Naufrage} 
     
     the savages at that time gave them their share of the chace, which at that time 
     
     consisted chiefly in otters and musk rats. [pp. 71»72] 
     
     Game at St you meet here {i.e. at the harbour of St. Peter], as well as in {add: ’many’} other 
     
     Peters Bay: parts of the island, with great plenty of game, particularly ortolans, and white rabbets 
     
     [sic] of a most delicate taste. [p. 74] 
     
     Tracadie Bay. The western coast {i.e. ’of the harbour of Tracadie'] is the only part inhabited, and 
     
    
   
   
    
     has very handsome causeys [embankments]. The neighbouring country is covered 
     
     with trees {’woods’ is more precise} of all sorts; and the borders are also embellished 
     
    
   
   
    
     115