302 PRINCE EDWARD ISLAND . ragements the emigrant is seldom fully aware. He has a new set of ideas to acquire: the knowledge which his previous experience has accumulated can seldom be applied; his ignorance as to the circum¬ stances of the country meet him on every occasion. * * * »phe combined effect of these accumulated difficulties is seen in the long infancy of most new- settled countries. * * * I will not assert that the people I took there [to Prince Edward Island ] have totally escaped all difficulties and discouragements, but the arrangements for their accommodation have had so much success, that few, perhaps, in their situa¬ tion, have suffered less, or have seen their difficulties so soon at an end. * * * These people, amounting to about eight hundred persons, of all ages^ reached the island in their ships, on the 7th, 9th, and 27th August, 1803. It had been my intention to come to the island some time before any of the settlers, in order that every requisite preparation might be made. In this, however, a number of untoward circumstan¬ ces occurred to disappoint me; and on arriving at the capital of the island, I learned that the ship of most importance had just arrived, and the passengers were landing at a place previously appointed for the purpose. * * * I lost no time in proceeding to the spot, where I found that the people had already lodged themselves in temporary wigwams (tents composed of poles and branches). " The settlers had spread themselves along the shore for the distance of about half a mile, upon the site of an old French village, which had been de-