distinguished even at this day for its fishing interest.

274. The Indians were in the habit of selecting from day to day the best of
Savalette's fish when they came in, and appropriating them to their
own use, _nolens volens_.

275. _Canseau_. Currency has been given to an idle fancy that this name was
derived from that of a French navigator, but it has been abundantly
disproved by the Abbe Laverdiere. It is undoubtedly a word of Indian
origin.

276. The variation of the magnetic needle in 1871, fifteen miles South of
the Harbor of Canseau, was, according to the Admiralty charts, 23
degrees west. The magnetic needle was employed in navigation as early
as the year 1200, and its variation had been discovered before the
time of Columbus. But for a long period its variation was supposed to
be fixed; that is to say, was supposed to be always the same in the
same locality. A few years before Champlain made his voyages to
America, it was discovered that its variation in Paris was not fixed,
but that it changed from year to year. If Champlain was aware of this,
his design in noting its exact variation, as he did at numerous points
on our coast, may have been to furnish data for determining at some
future day whether the variation were changeable here as well as in
France. But, whether he was aware of the discovery then recently made
in Paris or not, he probably intended, by noting the declination of
the needle, to indicate his longitude, at least approximately.

277. Chedabucto Bay.

278. The Strait of Canseau. Champlain gives it on his map, 1612. _Pasage du