outh of the St. John river and
transferred the garrisons to Port Royal. The French families living on
the river soon followed, as they found themselves without protection
and did not care to remain in a situation so exposed. The houses
abandoned by these settlers had been built upon the interval lands on
the east side of the river between the Nashwaak and the Jemseg. The
soil was very fertile, entirely free from rock or stone and little
incumbered by forest. But the situation had its disadvantages--as it
has still. In the spring of the year 1701 the settlers had a most
unhappy experience in consequence of an extraordinarily high freshet.
This event increased Brouillan's aversion to the St. John, and he
writes:

"The river is altogether impracticable for habitations, the little
the people had there being destroyed this year by the freshets
(inondations) which have carried off houses, cattle and grain.
There is no probability that any families will desire to expose
themselves hereafter to a thing so vexatious and so common on that
river. Monsieur De Chauffours, who used to be the mainstay of the
inhabitants and the savages, has been forced to abandon it and to
withdraw to Port Royal, but he has no way to make a living there for
his family, and he will unhappily be forced to seek some other retreat
if the Court pays no consideration to the services which he
represents in his petition, and does not grant him some position in
order to retain him in this colony."

The next year France and England were again at war and in the course
of the conflict the fortunes of the d'Amours in Acadia were involved
in utter ruin. The gentle spirit of Marguerite Guyon d'Amours did not
survive the struggle, and with the close of the century she passed
from the scene of her trials. Louis d'Amours, while serving his
country in arms, was taken by the English, and for more than two years
remained a prisoner in Boston. His brother, the Sieur de Clignancourt,
served in various expeditions against the New Englanders and for
several years is heard of in connection with military affairs.
Eventually most of the surviving members of the d'Amours family
removed from Acadia leaving behind them no abiding record of their
sojourn on the St. John river.

Two of the daughters of Louis d'Amours were married at Port Royal
while very young. Perhaps they possessed their mother's winsome
manners, perhaps, also the scarcity of marriageable girls in Acadia
may h