In 1732, ten years before the legal expiration of their monopoly, the "Western Company" returned their charter to the King. The colony was then scarcely more than thirty years old, yet, notwithstanding their many and severe trials, by war and by disease, the population numbered five thousand whites, and two thousand blacks. Bienville was, the third time, appointed Governor, having the entire confidence both of the government and of the people. He continued to exercise this office till 1741, when he again resigned, carrying with him into private life the regrets and affectionate regards of the inhabitants. He was succeeded by the Marquis de Vaudreuil. In the winter of 1747-8, the orange plantations were visited by a severe frost, such as had never been known before, which not only cut off the crop for the season, but almost destroyed the prospects of that branch of business in the colony. The cultivation of the sugar cane, now so extensive and lucrative a branch of business, did not begin to attract the attention of agriculturalists till 1751. It was then introduced by the Jesuits of St. Domingo, who sent some of the plants, as a present to their brethren in Louisiana, accompanied by negroes, well acquainted with its cultivation, and with the process then in use for manufacturing it into sugar. The lower part of the Fauxbourg of St. Mary was devoted to this experiment. That it was a happy experiment for the colony, and the country, the waving fields and princely estates on every side, and the annually increasing supply of this great staple, bear ample witness. A large accession was made to the population of the colony in 1754, by the arrival of emigrants from Acadia, (Nova Scotia) which they were compelled to leave, owing to the oppressive measures of the British Government, by which that province had just been conquered. A few years afterwards, great numbers of Canadians, fleeing from the same oppressions, found refuge in the sunny valleys of the south, and brought a very considerable acquisition of strength and wealth to the colony.