THE SELKI RK SETTLERS 103

they had the prospect of superior rank, and of holding their land on a permanent tenure. It was in looking over his native land that the youthful Selkirk was impressed and saddened by the hardships of these proud Highlanders. He resolved to help them.

Selkirk came from a distinguished old family. He was the seventh son of the fourth Earl of Selkirk, but even with that long line ahead of him, he became Earl at the age of twenty-eight. At the university he was a close friend of Sir Walter Scott, and he knew Burns. He spent ten years abroad in travel and in study. He was impulsive, idealistic, and deeply concerned with the problems of the day.

The agent whom he employed had all the ear—marks of a modern high-pressure salesman. The picture he painted of the lovely isle must have made all Scotsmen long to embark. It certainly must have seemed the Promised Land to them. It is a wonder that the Highlands did not lose all its citizens.

Sandy assured the people that they would find all the wood they needed. All the wood they needed! The irony of that promise they fully realized when they landed on the Island and began to clear the land. Furthermore, he said, tea, equal to any in China, grew in swamps. Then, according to the rest of his story, the Indians were all Christianized, and a bear hunt was the best sport in the world. Well, that certainly was a matter of opinion. Be that as it may, the hardy Highlanders swallowed the bait eagerly— even to the tea and bear hunts—and prepared to set out.

Three boats, the Polly, the Dykes, and the Oughton, set sail from the misty harbours of the north. The Polly carried the greatest number of passengers,