Excerpt from Censuses of Canada, 1665 to 1871; Recensements Du Canada, Vol. 4: Statistics of Canada; Statistiques Du Canada At the present day it appears strange that the first two attempts at colonization made in the northern part of the American continent should have fixed upon Sable Island, now used as a beacon station on which the Canadian Government maintain two lighthouses, and stores of provision in case of shipwrecks. It was in 1518 that the Baron de Lery made the first of these attempts at settlement, whose only result was leaving on this desert island a few horses, cattle and rabbits, which multiplied in a wild state. These animals, with the produce of fishing, were the only means of subsistence for the settlers of' the second colonizing expedition, Whom M. De la Roche placed on this island in 1578, and they have since been a valuable assistance to distressed seamen and fishermen. Of the animals thus transplanted at the beginning of the sixteenth century, there remain only the rabbits, which have so multiplied that the island has become a warren, and the horses, which appear to maintain themselves in a troop of about 150 in number. The cattle disappeared several years ago, the herd having become extinct by the repeated attacks of the crews of fishing vessels. It will be seen that this inhospitable island, this bank of sand lost in the ocean, has its historical as well as its legendary recollections. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.