and at most
places hard and rocky, covered by spruce forest. Most of the Micmac
houses are on an area of about a quarter of a mile, where the ground
is least steep and most suitable for building and gardening. In
Appendix I. hereto is given a list of the 23 families, consisting of
131 persons, now living on or near the Reservation; and of the 7
persons that have left it for Glenwood in this Colony. Two years ago
three families left the Reservation to settle at Lewisport, and have
not returned.

3. The Reservation, it appears, was laid off for the Micmacs about
1872, by Mr. Murray, Geological Surveyor of the Colony. It contained
24 blocks of about 30 acres each, with a water frontage of 10 chains.
From the copy of the plan of the Reservation enclosed herewith it will
be noticed that each parcel was to form the subject of a personal
grant to the individual whose name is on the allotment. The right then
conferred was in each case a "licence to occupy," of which I enclose
a copy in blank form. The licence, it will be observed, would, on the
fulfilment of certain conditions, have been replaced by a grant in
fee, after five years. In few cases, if in any, have the terms of the
licence been complied with, and no grant in fee or other title has
been issued to any of the occupants on this Reservation.

[Illustration: PLAN OF INDIAN SETTLEMENT CONNE RIVER BAY D'ESPOIR]

4. These Micmacs are hunters and trappers, and are ignorant alike of
agriculture, of seamanship, and of fishing. There are not more than
three or four acres of cultivated land in the whole settlement. The
greatest cultivator would not grow in one year more than three or four
barrels of potatoes and a few heads of cabbage. There are two
miserable cows in the place, and some of the least poor Micmacs
possess three or four extremely wretched sheep. They have practically
no fowls, but I saw one fowl and a tame wild goose. Their houses are
small and inferior, of sawn timber, but have windows of glass. A few
hundred yards of road, constructed at the expense of the Government,
traverses the end of the settlement where most of the people reside.

5. The community is Roman Catholic, and they have a small church,
decently well built and kept, on the best site on the Reservation. It
is built of sawn timber and would contain nearly one hundred people,
which is too small for the festival of St. Anne, the patroness of the
congregation. Over the entrance to the church there