Roma at Three Rivers 85

land, the gallons of water drawn from his wells, and the number of stakes used in a fence, the meticulous care with which he kept his records enables the his- torian to reconstruct the settlement in imagination two centuries after the New Englanders had burned it to the ground, and also to understand why the colony could not succeed. In this spirit the following facts are set down:

Roma arrived at Three Rivers in June, 1732, and chose Brudenell Point as the site of his establish- ment. Here nature had reared a cape 36 feet high at the peak and extending in an easy slope 60 feet long and 80 feet wide. This he levelled by reducing the peak and building up the base with rocks and wood in order to increase its power of resisting the waves. He lengthened the slope by a pier 451% feet long and 10 feet wide so as to get 11 feet of water at high tide. This necessitated the transport of some 300 tons of stones, each weighing from four to eight hundred pounds. He erected a wooden bridge at the side of the pier, 40 feet long and 12 feet wide, to facilitate the loading and unloading of vessels, the embarking of shallops, goelettes, and canoes. He cleared the cape to an extent of 1700 feet by 1200, dug up over 6000 stumps, one-half foot in diameter, and many smaller ones, after which he had the hills cut down, the hollows filled up, and the whole made as level as a floor for his houses, gardens, and walks. Then followed the construction of buildings, nine in all, for the accommodation of his settlers, workmen, and fishermen: One 80 feet long for the house of the