“The Indian Statistics collected in 1838, exhibit the number of the Micmacs then in the province as follows: County of Halifax…265 souls; Island of Cape Breton…520 souls; Western District, including Annapolis, Digby, Yarmouth, Shelburne, Queen’s, and Lunenburg…415; Pictou…100; King’s…35; County of Sydney…90; Total…1425 Assuming this table to have been tolerably accurate in 1838, the rapidity with which these people had decreased, up to that time, may be judged from the fact that in 1798, forty years before, there were 800 in the County of Pictou alone….It is impossible, however, to estimate the ratio of decrease by the numbers in any particular county or locality, because almost every family which has not a framed house moves two or three times a year, and such Counties as King’s or Pictou, where the population is rapidly increasing, the forest disappearing before the axe, and mills either damming, or in course of erection upon, every stream, are very likely to be deserted for others, where, from the indifference of the soil, the march of improvement is not so rapid. …In Yarmouth, Hants, Colchester, Pictou, and Guysborough, there are no reserves, and in some other places, such as Pomket, and in other parts of Cape Breton, it is to be feared that the quantity has been somewhat diminished by encroachment of the whites. …Supplies [Seed, Implements, Cattle] to Pictou Indians…4 [pounds] 14 [Shillings] 4 [pence]”
