first dyked, judging from the census reports of those days and the
traditions handed down.

The old French maps of 1750 and earlier show settlements at Beaubassin
(Fort Lawrence), Pont a Buot (Point de Bute), Le Lac (Jolicure), We-He-
Kauk (Westcock), We-He-Kauk-Chis (Little Westcock), Tantramar (Upper
Sackville), Pre Du Bourge (Middle Sackville), We-He-Kage (Amherst
Point) and Amherst or Upper Amherst, Vill-La-Butte, and La Planche.
There were settlements also at Maccan, Nappan and Minudie. The
statement that the village of Beaubassin, in 1750, contained a hundred
and forty houses, and a population numbering a thousand, seems
improbable under the circumstances.

Fort Lawrence, the site of old Beaubassin, contains to-day less than
forty houses, and not more than three hundred inhabitants, yet more
land is under cultivation now than in any previous time in its history.
It is highly probable that the whole population on the south side of
the Isthmus was reckoned as belonging to Beaubassin.

There is good reason for saying that the population of the district
embraced in the parish of Westmoreland, excepting Port Elgin, was much
larger from 1750 to 1755 than it has ever been since.

The Seigneur La Valliere was, no doubt, the most prominent man,
politically, on the Isthmus during the French period. He was appointed
commandant of Acadia in 1678, by Count Frontenac, and just missed being
made governor. He was a man of broader views than most of his
contemporaries. He encouraged trade, and was willing that others beside
his own countrymen should reap the benefits if they were ready to pay
the price. He anticipated the MODUS VIVENDI system now in force between