so 



ROYAL SOCIETY OF CANADA 



At Guysboro', the first village which was hurriedly built by the 

 settlers was destroyed by u bush lii-e, and many ])ersonB only saved their 

 lives by rushin<^ into the sea. The Loyalists had also to suffer much in 

 the valle}' of the St. John. Many of the ])eoplc spent their first winter 

 in log huts, bark camps, and tents covered with spruce, or rendered 

 habitable on!}' by the heavy banks of snow which were piled against 

 them. A number of persons died through exposure, and "strong, proud 

 men," to quote the words of one who lived in those sorrowful days, 

 " wept like children," and lay down in their snow-bound tents to die. 



The difficulties of the settlers appear to have been aggravated by 

 doubts as to the location of their promised grants of land, and the cold- 



GIDEON WHITE.l 



ness and jealousy with which they were received by the old settlers on 

 the St. John River, who, in the majority of cases, had little sympathy 

 with the resolute loj'alty that had driven thein from their old homes in 

 the United States. However, the provincial authorities, in accordance 

 with their instructions, did their best to ameliorate the condition of 

 the refugees. Supplies of the necessaries of life were granted to the 

 people for three years. At Port Ro.seway, now Shelburne, and at the mouth 

 of the River St. John — to quote the words of Colonel Morse, in ITSl — 

 "astonishing towns have been raised in less time, perhaps, than was ever 

 known in any country before." Shelburne was for some years a place of 

 great expectations, and had a population larger than that of Quebec and 



1 From a niiniiiture in possession of N. W. White, Q.C., Shelburne. 



