ade by the Hon. Charles Morris,
surveyor general of Nova Scotia, as early as the year 1761. A little
later he wrote an interesting description of the river. He describes
"Aughpack" as about seven miles from St. Anne's, and says the Acadians
had settlements upon the uplands between the two places but drew their
subsistence from the cultivation of the intervals and islands. At
Aukpaque was the Indian church and the residence of the French
missionary. Their church and buildings adjoining had been demolished
by the Indians themselves. The island opposite Aukpaque, called Indian
Island, was the place where the Indians of the river made their annual
rendezvous.

"On this island," adds Mr. Morris, "is their town, consisting of forty
mean houses, or wigwams, built with slender poles and covered with
bark. In the centre of the town is the grand council chamber
constructed after the same manner as the other houses."

The reason for the destruction by the Indians of their church we need
not go far to seek. In the summer of the year 1763 three chiefs came
to Halifax to inquire why Father Germain had been removed from his
post. They were told that he had gone of his own accord to Quebec and
had been detained there by General Murray, and that the government of
Nova Scotia were not responsible for it. They then desired Lieutenant
Governor Belcher to provide them with another priest, which he
promised to do. The Indians were satisfied and departed with their
usual presents. The intention of the lieutenant governor was
frustrated by an order from the Lords of Trade forbidding the
employment of a French missionary. Governor Wilmot regretted this
action as likely to confirm the Indians in their notion of the English
as "a people of dissimulation and artifice who will deceive and
deprive them of their salvation." He thought it better to use the
Indians generously and mentions the fact of their having lately burned
their church, by direction of the priest detained at Quebec, as a
proof of their devotion to their religious guides.

The site of the old church at Aukpaque was in all probability the old
"chapel field" mentioned by Sir John C. Allen. Hard by, on the other
side of a little ravine, is the old burial ground of the Acadians and
Indians. One of the descendants of the Acadians, who visited the spot
a few years ago, writes mournfully of this little cemetery:

"Not a stone, not a cross, not even an enclosure to divide it from
other