MILITARY AND CIVIL. . II 
     
    
   
   
    
     It therefore apparently seemed to Mr. Pope that the said land 
     
     described as laying south—west, was the little Island of which 
     
     we are writing, and that Cartier effected a landing at Kildare 
     
     River, where he remained until the 2nd July, when he then 
     
     crossed over to the opposite shore. Endorsing the above view, 
     
     Cartier seems the first European explorer on whom we can set 
     
     any just conception as having visited the Island. Cabot for 
     
     instance, on passing through the Strait of Belle Isle—had he 
     
     done so—would scan the northern shore of the Gulf to the 
     
     Mouth of St. Lawrence River in search of a passage through 
     
     to India; but in the name of all that is reasonable what induce- 
     
     ment could he have had in visiting this little Isle, situated so 
     
     far distant from the true line of his search? None whatever, 
     
     and, as a recent writer observed, “ If Cabot actually landed on 
     
     the Island, the English government of the day failed to lay 
     
     claims to it.” True, for a period of two and a half centuries, 
     
     or until the first conquest of Louisburg, was there any atten- 
     
     tion paid to the state of the little Isle in question. 
     
    
   
   
    
     Inthe year 1663, Captain Doublet, a French naval officer, 
     
     obtaineda grant of the Island for the purpose of establishing 
     
     fisheries around its coast, holding possession until 1700; during 
     
     which period the fishermen repaired thither in the spring to 
     
     follow their primitive calling, and when fall returned the Island 
     
     was left to its originals inhabitants,——the Indians. 
     
    
   
   
    
     Here it may be observed, the exploration of America estab- 
     
     lished the fact that it was everywhere inhabited; even islands 
     
     round its coast had their quota: and when the Isle of St. Jean 
     
     first became subject to the destiny of the banner of France, its 
     
     dense forest abounded with various species of the feathered 
     
     Creation, wild quadruped animals, and a tribe of aborigines 
     
     wholly uncivilized. Dressed in skins of bears and foxes, these 
     
     People lived in tents made of poles, covered with bark of trees. 
     
     Their complexion was of a dusky copper color, piercing dark 
     
     EYES, black hair flowing over their shoulders, or in a single tuft 
     
     0n the crown of their heads. In statute they were of medium 
     
     height, well shaped, swift of foot and active. They were fierce, 
     
     sly and cunning ; bloodthirsty and brutal when their vengeance 
     
     was provoked, or malice excited; yet, when friendship was 
     
     bestowed in sincerity they were constant and true. 
     
    

    
     They had boats called canoes, which were beautifully made, 
     
     being sheathed with sheets of bark stretched over a frame of