CHAPTER IV.
PROGRESS OF THE SETTLEMENT—PERSECUTION.
And now the settlers proceeded to make small clearances round their rough and primitive homesteads. In the midst of the dense and primeval forest—unaccustomed to such work—unused to the woods, their hardships and difficulties can scarce be described; but manfully and courageously they set to work, undeterred by no obstacle and undaunted by no danger, however great. They looked forward to the future with glowing anticipations, but that future was darkened by clouds of adverse fortune and annoyances they had then no expectations to encounter or to dread. The three months provisions with which they had been furnished at Greenock, by Dr. Hamilton of Leney, were nearly exhausted, and something must be done for their families, and to procure seed for the fall and coming spring. They had been informed that Chief McNab would furnish them with a year's provisions, which they would be called upon to pay for on realizing the proceeds of their crops. They put full reliance upon this, and found soon after their arrival that the Laird could not supply them with even the bare necessaries of life. They discovered, when too late, that they had leant upon a reed and put faith in fallacy. They now saw that they would be compelled to leave off the clearing of their lands and go out to work for provisions; consequently some went to a Mr. Thos. Burns, of Fitzroy, and worked with him at haying and harvest and potato digging, and earned provisions—others went to Beckwith and hired out—others purchased provisions on credit in Beckwith. Now it became necessary to transfer to their families a sufficient supply to last till winter, when the carriage would be easier as soon as sleighing set in. There were no roads, but merely a pathway from Mr. Snedden's in Ramsay to Beckwith; the remainder of the route to the Township of McNab was down the Mississippi to the mouth, then up the Chats Lake to the mouth of the Madawaska, thence up the Madawaska River to the Flat Rapid Settlement; and to other places by land on blazed paths through the bush. Boats knocked together in a rough fashion, and canoes rudely manufactured, were improvised for the occasion, and small loads were brought from "Murphy's Falls" in this manner to McNab. From Beckwith to the present "Carleton Place," and even to Snedden's, loads were transferred on the settlers' backs. These were hardships indeed, and during the years 1825, 1826 and part of 1827, this was the continual occupation of the settlers. They had not yet realized enough from their crops to support their families, because much of the time necessary to the clearing and cultivation of their respective lots was occupied by hiring out to obtain the necessaries of life for their starving families. They were often reduced to the greatest straits: for days the wives and children of the settlers were kept alive by potatoes alone, with a little salt as a relish, and when a bag of flour was got by one neighbour, it was immediately divided among the whole. During the winter, however, after the experience of the first fall and winter, they laid in a sufficient stock to last them for a year, which was partly paid for by the former summer's work and partly to be liquidated by the ensuing summer's labor.
It was the custom of the settlers before going out to hire, to ask the Chief's permission, as their liege-lord; and strict injunctions were given to all not to leave the township on any account without asking McNab's leave. This was carrying the Lairdship with a high hand indeed, and reducing the free-born Highlanders to the abject condition of Russian serfs; but they all complied without a murmur, judging from the bond they had signed at Lenney House that they were bound to obey their leader in all things. It was also another despotic rule laid down by the Chief that the timber on their lands belonged to him, and consequently they could not dispose of it. In this they all complied without remonstrance, except Mr. Alexander Miller, one of the settlers, who was well educated, and who before emigrating had taught the village school of Nineveh, a small hamlet half way between Loch Earn head and Callander. He remonstrated, and said that the locatees had a right to the timber, and he sold all on his land to Mr. John Brill, formerly a lumberman in McNab.
When the Chief heard of this disposition of the timber he at once made for the spot and ordered Mr. Brill to desist or he would hold him accountable.
"And who are you?" exclaimed Brill, an old man-o'-war's man and an athlete of gigantic proportions.
"I, sir, am McNab of McNab, and this township and all that is in it belongs to me," exclaimed the Chief pompously. "But who are you, fellow?"
"I'm Jack Brill of the Brilliants, sir, and if you don't clear out in five minutes I'll rope's-end you to your heart's content," said Brill in a voice of thunder, and lifting up a huge ox gad in a menacing attitude.