repelling with
dykes 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 cider, 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. The neutral French had nothing else to give their
neighbors, and made still fewer exchanges among themselves; because each
separate family was able, and had been accustomed to provide for its own
wants. They therefore knew nothing of paper currency, which was so common
throughout the rest of North America. Even the small quantity of gold and
silver which had been introduced into the colony, did not inspire that
activity in which consists its real value. Their manners were of course
extremely simple. There was seldom a cause, either civil or criminal, of
importance enough to be carried before the Court of Judication,
established at Annapolis. Whatever little differences arose from time to
time among them, were amicably adjusted by their elders. All their public
acts were drawn by their pastors, who had likewise the keeping of their
wills; for which, and their religious services, the inhabitants paid a
twenty-seventh part of their harvest, which was always sufficient to
afford more means than there were objects of generosity.

"Real misery was wholly unknown, and benevolence anticipated the demands
of poverty.[I] Every misfortune was relieved, as it were, before it could
be felt, without ostentation on the one hand, and without meanness on the
other.