The settlement of Lot 34 obviously made their quit-rent payment to David Higgins of Three Rivers in 1772 and thus kept up their part

in maintaining a colonial government.

The following is an excerpt from an old scrapbook at the

Confederation Centre Library.

Charlotte Town 13th July 1772

Islande of Saint John

Received from James Montgomery Esquire, by the hands of David Higgins Esquire, the sum of One Hundred and Eighty Pounds Sterling being in full for Three Years Quit Rents for Lots Nos. 7, 30, 34, and 51 commencing the 1st May 1769 and ending the lst May 1772

L180 Wm. Patterson Rec. Genr'l

It Was recorded by Curtis in Voyage to the Island of St. John's, 1775

The population of the Island at this time was widely dispersed and did not exceed 1,3000, including the Acadians who had es- caped‘ deportation in 1758. Of these about 900 had arrived between 1770 and 1775, and for the most part had been sent to lots purchased from the original proprietors, who feeling that a bird in the hand was worth two in the bush, had disposed of their holdings at a nominal price. It was in this way that Sir James Montgomery obtained possession of Lot 34, Captain John MacDonald of Lot 36 and Robert Clark of Lot 21. These lots were Covehead, Tracadie and New London. The only other settlements worthy of notice wereaat Charlottetown, which was “ a mere village and owed its prestige to the fact that it was the capital. So, apart from Malpeque, New London, Tryon and Cape Traverse, Covehead, Tracadie, Three Rivers, Rustico and Bay Fortune and Charlottetown, the Island at this time was a wilderness. All of the settlements except, Charlottetown, Three Rivers, Bay Fortune, Tryon and Cape Traverse were on

the north shore of the Island and so communication between them was only by water or blazed trail.

23