20 ' OUR ISLAND STORY

all the disadvantages incident to their primitive environment and the terrors of the war, renewed between France and England. A census taken in the year 1755 showed that there were then three hundred and fourteen persons residents in the vicinity of Port La Ioie, two hundred and ninety-four at St. Peters, thirty-five at Savage Harbor, thirty-nine at Tracadie, thirty-one at Mal- peque, eighteen at East Point, ten at Three Rivers—and all were

reported prosperous. , In the year 1751 a company of merchants living in Bordeaux

and St. Malo obtained the right to fish in the waters roundabout this Island, to clear the land in the vicinity of their fishing establish- ments, to till the soil, and to carry on business with the people . of the West Indies and the neighboring Island. De Roma- the leader and chief executive of this company, with a number of followers, entered the harbor of Georgetown early in the spring of 1752. The headquarters of, the Company were at once establish- ed at Brudenell Point; and there suitable dwellings, warehouses, and other buildings were forthwith erected. Under the auspices of this company three shiploads of French emigrants came Over, and elaborate preparations for the promotion of the enterprise were made. Branch fishing stations were founded on the shores of the bays extending from Georgetown harbor to East Point and, further, on the North side of the Island. By the terms of the Company’s charter, three thousand five hundred acres of shore frontage were given, with a depth of forty acres, the only condition being that the Company should pay homage to the palace at Louis- burg, in Isle Royale, and should save the oak timber found on the land so that it might be'available for the construction of ships of war. De Roma was a man of great energy. Under his direction fishing boats and trading vessels were constructed and roads connecting the fishing stations at Sturgeon, Montague and Cardigan with St. Peters and other centres of French enterprise were made through the forest. Large and substantial buildings were erected at Brudenell Point.

The cash profits of the company had not, however, been commensurate with Dr. Roma’s expenditures. There was, consequently, dissatisfaction on the part of the shareholders in

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