Denys de Bonnaventure, Claude-Elisabeth (1753) (Commandant on lle Saint-Jean). Letter to his superiors 
     
     at Louisbourg, 29 October 1753. [PAC, AC, Series G1, Vol. 466, 48a] 
     
    
   
   
    
       
     
    
   
   
    
     Although the description below was written by Claude Denys de Bonnaventure lb. 7707, d. 7760), the commandant 
     
     of fie Saint-Jean from 1749 to 7 754, it is clearly based on the observations of his subordinates. When Bonnaven ture 
     
     had been appointed as commandant in August 1749 it was not the first time that he had been on the island. 
     
     Twenty-nine years earlier, in 7720, as a young newly commissioned ensign, he had been posted to the new garrison 
     
     at Port La-Joie, under the command of his uncle, Louis Denys de la Ronde, remaining there until 1 724. He thus must 
     
     have had considerable first-hand experience of the island in the years of its first colonization. As commandant from 
     
     I 749, one of his major tasks was to assist with the settlement of Acadians from peninsular Nova Scotia, who, now 
     
     that ile Saint-Jean had been returned to France after three years in British possession, were coming over in 
     
     increasing numbers. It is in this context — in his search for new areas on the island where Acadian farmers might 
     
     be settled — that this brief description of the coastal woodlands around Egmont Bay occurs. It is fortunate that the 
     
     description is accompanied by a map which enables us to locate the area referred to fairly precisely — though the 
     
     poor handwriting and spelling of the letter makes it difficult to decipher some key words in the extract below. In 
     
     the end, apparently no settlement resulted from this particular reconnaissance. A year later, in 7754, in poor health 
     
     and after many requests, Bonnaventure was posted back to Louisbourg as second in military command after the 
     
     governor. He was present at the fall of Louisbourg in 1758 and was sent back to France by the British where he 
     
     died at Rochefort two years later. 
     
    
   
   
    
     REFERENCES: 
     
     Lockerby, E. (2000) Colonization of He St-Jean: chartin’g today’s Evangeline region. The Island Magazine 47: 20-30. 
     
     Rodger, A. (1974) Denys de Bonnaventure, Claude-Elisabeth. Dictionary of Canadian Biography, Ill: l75~76. 
     
    
   
   
    
       
     
    
   
   
    
     Tou ce Continant que vous voyé [on the accompanying map] antre Ia pointe 
     
    

    
     ['pointe du ouest’ on his map — today's West Point] é la riviere ['du Secours’ — a 
     
    

    
     name apparently coined by Bonnaventure, now the Percival River], cela nat esté formé 
     
    

    
     que par le Sable puis que le terein au dela des prérie ne paroit qun Cloique mauvesce 
     
    

    
     Poor spruce prusiere [ou peti sapeins valu ?] mesme péy tramblan, vous pouvé compter sur mille 
     
    
   
   
    
       
     
    
   
   
    
     0’ fl" charitées de foin. 
     
     [PAC, AC, Series 6‘, Vol. 466, 48a] 
     
     All the land that you see [on his accompanying map] between the point [West 
     
     Poor spruce Point] and the river [Percival River] is formed only of sand, since the terrain beyond 
     
     or fir. the salt-marshes appears to be only a [quagmire .7] — poor spruce land [or little firs ?] 
     
    
   
   
    
     — same [worth ?] of shaky ground — you can count on a thousand cart—loads of hay. 
     
    
   
   
    
     [Translation based partly on Lockerby (2000), p. 26] 
     
    
   
   
    
       
     
    
   
   
    
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