136 ‘The French in Prince Edward Island

cause of his experience as Intendant, 1739-1745, re- ported having sent a boatload of flour to Isle Saint Jean and that he would send another which he daily expected. On the twentieth, he sent 300 quintals of salt beef for the Acadians who had arrived and were still arriving.“ In view of the fact that grasshoppers had ruined the crop in Isle Saint Jean he was at his wits’ ends to provide sustenance for the entire popu- lation during the winter and following summer. The problem was complicated not only by the difficulty of getting anything from Acadia since the founding of Halifax, though he had managed to get 150 cat- tle, but also by the fact that smugglers from New England were taking greater risks owing to the pres- ence of English cruisers about the coasts. However, he had ordered 6000 quintals of flour from New Eng- land and would have to trust to that for both the colonists and the Indians who had to be fed if they were going to harass the new settlements at Halifax.

On receipt of a call for aid in October, 1749, Bigot, who had returned to Quebec, sent by the vessel that brought the news, 300 quarts of flour, 700 to 800 minots of seed wheat for the highlands, which would be needed in early spring; and promised to send 800 or 900 minots for the lowlands, which would not be needed until June. Bigot, whose interest in the colony never wavers, on this occasion allows himself to say, “This island has cost the King much since last spring as we have sent quantities of goods and provisions.”

14 F, Vol. 160, p. 158; Can. Arch. Report, 1905, Vol. II, App. N, p. 287.