Except occasionally in the months of February and March, when in severe seasons the ice is on the coast of Newfoundland, the harbor of St. John is always easy of access. In order to show the number of vessels which have entered and cleared at St. John in every month. of the year during the years 1848, 1849, and 1850, the following statements have been published in the colony:

It is believed that the returns of the trade and commerce of this important colony are more full and correct than ever before presented to Congress. They were compiled from trade returns of the customs, which are annually made up, in a very correct and comprehensive manner as much so as those of any commercial port ou this continent. My thanks are presented to honorable Mr. Little, member of the Provincial Assembly, for much valuable information relating to the trade, resources, and great importance of the fishing interest of this colony; to the honorable Mr. Kent, the collector of the port; and to several other gentlemen.

PART IX.

THE COLONY OF PRINCE EDWARD ISLAND.

Charlotte Town, the capital, is in lat. 46° 14' north, lon. 63° 8' west. The island of Prince Edward, formerly called St. John's island, is situated in a deep recess on the western side of the Gulf of St. Lawrence. It is separated from New Brunswick and Nova Scotia by the straits of Northumberland, which, at their narrowest part, are only nine miles wide.

This island is somewhat crescent-shaped; its length, measured on a line through its centre, is about one hundred and thirty miles; its greatest breadth, thirty-four miles; in its narrowest part, near the centre, it is only four miles wide.

The east point of Prince Edward Island is distant twenty-seven miles from Cape Breton, and one hundred and twenty-five miles from Cape Ray, the nearest point of Newfoundland. Owing to the manner in which this island is intersected by the sea, there is no part of it distant more than eight miles from tide-water.

The whole surface of the island consists of gentle undulations, never rising to hills, nor sinking to absolutely flat country. The soil is a bright reddish loam, quite free from stone. The entire island is a bed of rich alluvium, elevated from the sea by some.convulsion of nature, or else left dry by the gradual recession of the waters of the gulf. There are many beautiful bays and safe harbors; and wherever a brook is not found, good water can always be had within eighteen feet of the surface, by sinking a well.

The soil is admirably adapted for agricultural purposes; it is easily worked, and there is abundance of sea-manure everywhere at hand. There are no stones to impede the plough; in fact, stone is so scarce that such as is required for building purposes is imported from Nova Scotia. Wheat, oats, barley, and potatoes are staple products, and are produced abundantly.

The area of Prince Edward Island is estimated at 2,134 square miles, equal to 1,365,000 acres. According to a census taken in 1848, the population amounted to 62,678 souls, being in the proportion of one soul to every twenty-two acres of land, or nearly thirty souls to the square mile.

The climate is neither so cold in winter nor so hot in summer as that of Lower Canada, while it is free from the fogs which at certain seasons envelope portions of the shores of Nova Scotia and Cape Breton. Its climate is very nearly the same as that of Cape Breton, but more equable; the seasons are very nearly the same. It is exceedingly healthy in every part.

This island was discovered by Sebastian Cabot, on St. John's day, (24th June,) 1497, and thence received the name of St. John. The

English took very little notice of this discovery, although made under their own flag; but the Gulf of St. Lawrence was very soon visited by the Basques, Bretons, and Normans, on account of its fisheries.

So early as 1506, Jean Denys, a pilot of Honfleur, published a chart of the gulf, and of this island.

It continued to be the resort of French fishermen until 1663, when it was leased by authority of the King of France to the Sieur Doublette, and his associates, as a fishing-station. As the French did not encourage settlements near their fishing-stations, any more than the English, very little progress was made in its colonization, until after the treaty of Utrecht, in 1713. Its settlement and agricultural improvement were then encouraged, in order that the island might form a granary for the supply of the fortress of Louisbourg, upon which so much money was expended.

At the taking of Louisbourg, in 1758, it was stipulated in the articles of capitulation, that the French of St. John's island should lay down their arms. The island was shortly after taken possession of by a body of British troops. It then contained ten thousand French inhabitants.

After the treaty of Paris, in 1763, by which France ceded this island, with her other North American colonies, to England, the French inhabitants were driven off, as on all occasions they evinced great hostility to the English.

A survey of this island was completed in 1766, when it was divided into sixty-seven townships, of about twenty thousand acres each. The whole of these townships (with the exception of two, then occupied by a fishing company) were disposed of in London, in one day, by way of lottery, the tickets being distributed among officers of the army and navy who had served in the preceding war, and other persons who had claims upon the government.

In 1770 Prince Edward Island was separated from Nova Scotia, and erected into a separate colony, with a lieutenant governor, an executive and legislative council of nine members, and a house of assembly of fifteen members. It has since continued to enjoy representative institutions; the executive and legislative council has been divided into two distinct councils, and very recently the principles of responsible government have been established in this colony.

The crown has very little land for sale in this colony-merely the residue of the two townships that were not disposed of by the lottery. The price at which small lots are sold is about three dollars per acre. The proprietors rarely sell any of their lands; but when they do, the price is about five dollars per acre. Farm lots are usually leased at twenty cents per acre per annum, for terms of sixty-one and ninetynine years the tenant paying all charges and taxes. Some proprietors concede to their tenants the privilege of converting the leasehold into freehold, at twenty years' purchase; but a majority of the landholders do not grant this privilege.

By the census return of 1848, it appears that the number of acres held in fee-simple by occupants, was 280,649; under lease, 330,293 acres; by written demise, 31,312 acres; by verbal agreement, XS,786