con

HE St. Pierre-Miquelon group of islands is all that remains of the once great North American colonies of France. In the group there are three large islands, St. Pierre, with an area of 6,420 acres, and Miquelon and Langlade nected by a sand-barwith 45.542 acres. At the southern extremity of the island of St. Pierre is the old city of St. Pierre, with a population of about 7,000. In the spring and early winter, at the beginning and ending of the codfishing season, the population is nearly twenty thousand, for the fishermen from France make it the base of their operations, and when they are ashore it is as lively a place VOL. LVII. No. 5.

39 DE #36 A

as you will find between Boston and St. John's, Newfoundland.

Perhaps it is its isolation that makes St. Pierre so attractive to the occasional visitor. It differs from the usual tourist-ridden city. You can take in the town in a very short time, for it skirts along the water's edge for a little over a mile and runs up the hill for perhaps a quarter of a mile or less. You are at first impressed by the quaint architecture. It is a study in white and grays. The big warehouses and public buildings are a dull white, and the private houses, little two-story affairs with slanting roofs, a grayish tone. At the corners of the streets are the quaint wrought-iron lamp-brackets-now merely ornamental, for electric lights have taken their place. There are no trees-scarcely any