226 



LOYALISTS. 



Returning to Eastport, I took my passage in 

 the steam-boat across the Bay of Fundy, and 

 landed, through a protecting Providence, on 

 the 8th of August, at Saint John, New Bruns- 

 wick. This city is situated on a rocky penin- 

 sula, in latitude 45° 20', and took its rise in the 

 the year 1783, when the peace with America 

 left the loyalists, who had followed the British 

 standard, to seek an asylum in some part of 

 the British dominions. It is stated that more 

 than four thousand persons, men, women, and 

 children, sailed from New York for the river 

 Saint John, at that period. The coast was rugged, 

 and the whole aspect of the country dreary and 

 uninviting, as they landed on the point where 

 the city now stands. Nothing was to be seen, 

 but a few huts erected on the margin of a dark 

 immense wilderness, and occasionally some of 

 the natives, clothed principally with the skins 

 of animals, particularly the moose-deer, which 

 were then numerous in the forests. The situ- 

 ation of these emigrants was of a very trying 

 nature, as they had to undergo every privation 

 and suffering during the rigours of the ensuing 

 winter. The difficulties which they encoun- 

 tered, in first clearing the lands, seemed for 

 some time to be almost insurmountable ; and 

 this is generally the case with all first settlers, 



