their fat. Three furnaces still stand to remind us of this activity. Slow colonization of the littoral Even if under French rule, more than twenty segnories were granted along the bank of the river, all the way to Métis, and even inland (the segnories of Madawaska, Lac-Mitis and Lac-Matapédia), the settlement of Bas-Saint-Laurent remains sparse until 1790. With the exception of Kamouraska, which had a quicker colonization, in the prolongation of Côte-du-Sud and the royal path, Bas-Saint-Laurent remains isolated. When conquered, around 1760, the population east of Kamouraska is composed of a couple dozen families of pioneers and is concentrated in four seignories : Rivière-du-Loup, Isle-Verte, Trois-Pistoles and Rimouski. In 1790, Bas-Saint-Laurent, with the exception of Kamouraska, is home to barely 1250 inhabitants spread across hundreds of kilometers of shore, between Notre-Dame-du-Portage and Matane. The construction of the Chemin du Portage around 1783 which allowed to link the valley of the Saint-Laurent with the British colonies of the Maritimes, which makes the area less isolated, but doesn't induce any permanent settlement alongside its path. Between 1790 and 1831, the population of Bas-Saint-Laurent in the old county of Rimouski (east of Kamouraska) goes from 1,000 to 10,000 inhabitants. The one of the county of Kamouraska nearly triples by changing from 5,500 to 15,000 inhabitants. This increase in population is due to both a strong natural growth and migration from more western regions. This settlement allows a nearly continuous exploitation of the Ribbon farms on the banks of the river in some places and the establishment of the first farms inland. Around Cacouna, in 1831, the settlement has already progressed enough to reach the fourth layer of farms. It is also around this time that the isolation is broken: in 1830, one can go to Rimouski by the royal path. The years which follow the conquest are full of hardship for the catholic clergy. Even if the population justify it, the bishop struggles to make the British authorities recognize the new parishes. The first parish of Bas-Saint-Laurent east of Kamouraska is Cacouna, created in 1825, a century and a half after the arrival of the first un siècle et demi après l'arrivée des premiers pioneers. Even if a number of families of Scottish origin settle in the area in the 1820s in the region of, following John MacNider, however the French-speaking population will remain the strong majority of the region. End of