134 OVER ON THE ISLAND

immigrants avoided these lands, preferring instead to settle on Crown lands where their titles would be secure. I wonder if Franquet ever met the meticulous de Roma. They would certainly have liked each other. Yet Franquet was more of a dreamer, and de Roma was exceedingly practical. However, they saw eye to eye in regard to Three Rivers—-the fertile soil, the natural harbour, the navigable river.

“ Erect a redoubt here of stone and brick, ” Franquet urged the ministry.

“Amen, ” echoed the spirit of de Roma.

”Open this land up for settlement. ”

“Amen again!” urged de Roma’s spirit.

Franquet had a discerning eye. He could see clearly that a fleet stationed at Three Rivers could guard the Canso passage, keep an eye on the Gulf, and protect communication between the Island and Cape Breton—— hence his enthusiastic report.

His redoubt remained only a dream.

“I might have known it,” murmured the dis- appointed spirit.

Still, in its last home in the Archives of Paris, the plan of a redoubt lies waiting . . . and hoping . . .

And then Franquet talks of roads

De Roma talks of roads .

If only their spirits could come back and see the roads!

De Roma’s pen was busy again. He was given a job in Quebec in the royal magazines. But his methods of bookkeeping were so original that the keeper of the stores had to get a new set of books. De Roma went from there to Martinique. From that island he wrote out an elaborate scheme for the further