HISTORY OF PRINCE EDWARD ISLAND. CHAPTER I. Geographical position of the Island—Early possession—Population in 1758 —Cession by Treaty of Fontainebleau—Survey of Captain ." Holland — Holland 's description of the Island—Position of Town sitesp-Qlimate— The Earl of Egmont 's scheme of settlement—Proposed div^iOn of the Island—Memorials of Egmont—Decision of the Biitisff^ Government respecting Egmont 's Scheme. ffljRINCE EDWARD ISLAND is situated in .the Gulf of Saint Lawrence. It lies between 46° and 47° 7' north latitude, and 62° and 64° 27' longitude west, from Greenwich . As viewed from the north-east, it presents the form of a crescent. Its length, in a course through the centre of the Island, is about one hundred and forty miles, and its breadth, in the widest part, which is from Beacon Point to East Point , towards its eastern extremity, thirty- four miles. It is separated from Nova Scotia by the Strait of Northumberland, which is only nine miles broad between Cape Traverse and . From the Island of it is distant twenty-seven miles, and from the nearest point of Newfoundland one hundred and twenty- live miles. The Island was amongst the first discoveries of the cele¬ brated navigator, Cabot, who named it Saint John, as in¬ dicative of the day of its discovery. Britain failing to lay B