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The young folks of the present generation have little idea of the way in which our forefathers lived. The luxuries and conveniences to which we are accustomed were then unknown. The inhabitants of these islands subsisted almost entirely on their native productions. The harvest of the land, eked out by the harvest of the sea, furnished their sole means of subsistence; and it is no matter for surprise to hear old people speaking of the “scarce years.”

Stories have been handed down of the seasons of want and the extreme shifts to which the people were sometimes reduced. Near the sites of old townships enormous quantities of shells, particularly whelks, may be dug up, showing that these have been extensively used as food.

Their supplies were drawn from the crops of oats, bere, potatoes, and cabbage; from the sheep that lived in the scattalds;