land, but now belong to the County of Gaspé, Province of Quebec. The population of 6000, consists almost entirely of Acadian French, who both fish and farm.
In the reign of Louis XV a fishing depot had already been established here. When George III became Canada's Sovereign the group was given to Admiral Sir Isaac Coffin, a native of Boston, and became a feudal state.
Dangerous reefs surround all the islands, which themselves appear like the peaks of rocky shoals. Amherst Island, 11 miles long and 4 wide, has the only harbour of any consequence. It is connected with other islands by sandy links over which it is possible to drive by the edge of the sea. Grindstone Island, a few miles to the north, is a red rock from whose sea-face the surface has been gnawed by the elements. A poem by Stedman rhymes the narrative of a murderous wreck which occurred on this wild shore. There are further settlements on islands that lie toward the east. Alright Island must have been so named in derision. Coffin Island, one of the largest of the group, commemorates the feudal owner, against whose dictates the French inhabitants were wont frequently to rebel. Deadman Island is celebrated in a poem written by Tom Moore in 1804. Brion Island, further out in the Gulf, bears the name of the Seigneur de Brion, patron of the first voyage of Jacques Cartier, who discovered the archipelago in 1534. The Bird Rocks, Little and Big, are the most isolated and for that reason have been chosen by the gannets for a dwelling-place.
At a few of the tiny ports board may be secured in private houses or very plain little hotels at $5 to $7 a week. The views, the trout fishing and scenes characteristic of the sea invite a few visitors. Passengers returning from the Magdalens may stop off at Souris and begin their tour of Prince Edward Island from this easterly port, returning to the mainland via Charlottetown and Pictou, or via Summerside and Point du Chene, N. B.
Pictou—Mulgrave, and thence to towns on the Inverness shore. Cape Breton, by S.S. Kinburn. See paragraphs preceding "Inverness County," this chapter.
