dness.

The first care of the emigrants was to provide for the sick. The wife of
Hugh Macleod had just died of smallpox, and the body was sent ashore and
buried. Several were sick, and others dying. The resident settlers did
all within their power to alleviate the sufferers; and with the supply
of fresh provisions most of the sick rapidly recovered, but some died on
board the vessel.

However great may have been the expectation of these poor creatures on
the eve of their leaving Scotland, their hopes almost deserted them by
the sight that met their view as they crowded on the deck of the vessel
to see their future homes. The primeval forest before them was unbroken,
save a few patches on the shore between Brown's Point and the head of
the harbor, which had been cleared by the few people who had preceded
them. They were landed without the provisions promised them, and without
shelter of any kind, and were only able, with the help of the earlier
settlers, to erect camps of the rudest and most primitive description,
to shelter their sick, their wives and children from the elements. Their
feelings of disappointment were most bitter, when they compared the
actual facts with the free farms and the comfort promised them by the
emigration agent. Although glad to be freed from the pest-house of the
ship, yet they were so overcome by their disappointment that many of
them sat down and wept bitterly. The previous settlers could not promise
food for one-third of those who had arrived on board the Hector, and
what provisions were there soon became exhausted, and the season was too
late to raise another crop. To make matters still worse, they were sent
three miles into the forest, so that they could not even take advantage,
with the same ease, of any fish that might be caught in the harbor.
These men were unskilled, and the work of cutting down the gigantic
trees, and clearing up the land appeared to them to be a hopeless task.
They were naturally afraid of the Indians and the wild beasts; and
without roads or paths through the forest, they were frightened to move,
doubtful about being lost in the wilderness.

Under circumstances, such as above narrated, it is not surprising that
the people refused to settle on the company's land. In consequence of
this, when the supplies did arrive, the agents refused to give them any.
To add still further to the difficulties, there arose a jealously
between them and the older settlers; Ross quarr