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xviii
INTRODUCTION
the Harvard Library. In this work two and one-half pages
are given to the description of the life of the Acadians.
The following quotation is taken from the very copy of
Haliburton that Longfellow in ail probability used:
"Hunting and" fishing, which had formerly been the
delight of the Colony, and might have still supplied it with
subsistence, had no farther attraction for a simple and quiet
people, and gave way to agriculture, which had been
established in the marshes and low lands, by repelling with
dikes the sea and rivers which covered these plains. These
grounds yielded fifty for one at first, and afterwards fifteen
or twenty for one at least; wheat and oats succeeded best
in them, but they likewise produced rye, barley and maize.
There were also potatoes in great plenty, the use of which
was become common. At the same time these immense
meadows were covered with numerous flocks. They
computed as many as sixty thousand head of horned cattle;
and most families had several horses, though the tillage
was carried on by oxen. Their habitations, which were
constructed of wood, were extremely convenient, and furnished
as neatly as substantial farmer’s houses in Europe. They
reared a great deal of poultry of all kinds, which made
a variety in their food, at once wholesome and plentiful.
Their ordinary drink was beer and cyder, to which they
sometimes added rum. Their usual clothing was in general
the produce of their own flax, or the fleeces of their own
sheep; with these they made common linens and coarse
cloths. If any of them had a desire for articles of greater
luxury, they procured them from Annapolis or Louisburg,
and gave in exchange corn, cattle or furs. [Here follows
a short passage, unimportant for us, stating that they used
no paper currency and little silver or gold.] Their man-
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