THE FALL OF LOUISBUEG AND . 3 of the island, says that the population was stated to be at this time ten thousand, but an old Acadian living when he wrote informed him that it could not have exceeded six thousand. A little over four thousand seems to have been the number of inhabitants at this period.* The expulsion of the Acadians from Nova Scotia took place in 1755, and many of them having escaped to the island in that year, its population must have been nearly doubled by the influx of fugitives. The fall of Quebec followed that of Louisburg, and by the treaty of Fontainebleau, in 17G3, , the Island of Saint John, and Canada were formally ceded to Great Britain, and the Island of Saint John being placed under the Government of Nova Scotia . In the year 1764 the British Government resolved to have a survey of executed, and with that view the continent was divided into two districts,—a northern and southern,— and a Surveyor General appointed for each, to act under instructions from the Lords' Commissioners for Trade and Plantations. Captain Samuel Holland was ap¬ pointed to superintend the survey of the northern district, which comprehended all the territory in " lying to the north of the , and of a line drawn due west from the head of the main branch of that river as far as His Majesty's dominions extend." Captain Holland received his commission in March, and was in¬ structed to proceed immediately to Quebec , in order to make arrangements for tlie survey. He was instructed to begin with the Island of Saint John. The government vessel in which Captain Holland had left sighted the Island of Cape * The Rev. Mr. Sutherland , in his Geography, estimates the population at about four thousand, which corresponds with the estimate of the writer. See History of Nova Scotia , page 143.