ught they would have
been well satisfied to have remained there, but no, so great was their
attachment to their beloved Acadia that they would not rest content
until they had arrived at the River St. John.

The idea that dominated the Marquis de Vaudreuil in providing these
unfortunates with the necessaries of life seems to have been to
utilize their services for the defence of Canada. "It would not be
proper," he says, "that they should be at the charges of the King
without giving tangible proof of their zeal for the service of his
majesty." The governor not being able to provide for all the refugees
at the River St. John, on account of the difficulty of transporting
supplies by way of Temiscouata, gave directions to the Sieur de
Boishebert to send to Miramichi the families he could not subsist on
the St. John. The number of Acadians at Miramichi soon amounted to
3,500 persons.

The ensuing winter proved most trying to the destitute Acadians. The
harvest had been extremely poor. In some cases the old inhabitants had
nothing to live upon but the grain needed for seeding in the spring
time. The conditions at Miramichi were probably not more wretched than
on the River St. John. Of the former the Marquis de Vaudreuil writes
in the following plaintive terms:----

"This part of Acadia holds out for the King although reduced to the
most wretched state. Although ourselves in want, M. Bigot has sent a
vessel with provisions to Miramichi, but she has unfortunately been
delayed on the way by head winds. The misery of the Acadians there is
so great that Boishebert has been compelled to reduce their allowance
to ten pounds of peas and twelve pounds of meat per month, and it
would have been further reduced had not forty bullocks been brought
from Petitcodiac. This was the allowance for the month of January and,
the fishery being exhausted, he could not hope to have the same
resource the months following. In a word the Acadian mothers see their
babes die at the breast not having wherewith to nourish them. The
majority of the people cannot appear abroad for want of clothes to
cover their nakedness. Many have died. The number of the sick is
considerable, and those convalescent cannot regain their strength on
account of the wretched quality of their food, being often under the
necessity of eating horse meat extremely lean, sea-cow, and skins of
oxen. Such is the state of the Acadians.

"The intendant, M. Bigot, is going to send a s