Scotland farewell: The people of the Hector

This is the story of the Highland Scots who sailed to Pictou, Nova Scotia, in 1773. These intrepid emigrants went for many reasons: the famine of the previous spring, pressures of population growth, intolerable rent increases, trouble with the law, and the raw hunger of landless men to own land of their own. Upon arrival at Pictou they found they had been deceived. The promise of prime farming land turned out to be virgin forest. Only the kindness of the Mi'kmaq and the few New Englanders already settled there enabled them to survive until they learned how to exploit the forests and clear land for themselves. But survive they did, and their prosperity encouraged shiploads of emigrants, many fellow clansmen, to join them, making north eastern Nova Scotia a true New Scotland.