and governor's quarters, which were under the same roof. Of the
private houses, only seven or eight were of stone, the rest being humble
wooden structures, suited to a population of fishermen. The garrison
consisted of the battalions of Artois, Bourgogne, Cambis, and
Volontaires Etrangers, with two companies of artillery and twenty-four
of colony troops from Canada,--in all three thousand and eighty regular
troops, besides officers;[577] and to these were added a body of armed
inhabitants and a band of Indians. In the harbor were five ships of the
line and seven frigates, carrying in all five hundred and forty-four
guns and about three thousand men.[578] Two hundred and nineteen cannon
and seventeen mortars were mounted on the walls and outworks.[579] Of
these last the most important were the Grand Battery on the shore of the
harbor opposite its mouth, and the Island Battery on the rocky islet at
its entrance.

[Footnote 577: _Journal du Siege de Louisbourg_. Twenty-nine hundred
regulars were able to bear arms when the siege began. _Houlliere,
Commandant des Troupes, au Ministre, 6 Aout_, 1758.]

[Footnote 578: Le Prudent, 74 guns; Entreprenant, 74; Capricieux, 64;
Celebre, 64; Bienfaisant, 64; Apollon, 50; Chevre, 22; Biche, 18;
Fidele, 22; Echo, 26; Arethuse, 36; Comete, 30. The Bizarre, 64, sailed
for France on the eighth of June, and was followed by the Comete.]

[Footnote 579: _Etat d'Artillerie_, appended to the Journal of Drucour.
There were also forty-four cannon in reserve.]

The strongest front of the works was on the land side, along the base of
the peninsular triangle on which the town stood. This front, about
twelve hundred yards in extent, reached from the sea on the left to the
harbor on the right, and consisted of four bastions with then-connecting
curtains, the Princess's, the Queen's, the King's, and the Dauphin's.
The King's Bastion formed part of the citadel. The glacis before it
sloped down to an extensive marsh, which, with an adjacent pond,
completely protected this part of the line. On the right, however,
towards the harbor, the ground was high enough to offer advantages to an
enemy, as was also the case, to a less degree, on the left, towards the
sea. The best defence of Louisbourg was the craggy shore, that, for
leagues on either hand, was accessible only at a few points, and even
there with difficulty. All these points were vigilantly watched.

There had been signs of the enemy from the f