THE BELLE RIVER COMMUNITY 133

shores are towns and his colony the site of a Boy Scout camp! Here, as a land merchant, he dreamed dreams of a happy peasantry, of a great metropolis, of brisk trading . .

All his dreams might have been fulfilled except for several unforeseen casualties. First, some settlers were enticed away. Then, in 1738, a plague of field- mice consumed the crops and even the grass. With his usual energy de Roma set to work and wrote a methodical treatise on mice, explaining carefully that the pest would disappear in time. Finally, in 1741, he lost a vessel with all its cargo. These setbacks were all disastrous enough, but in 1745 came the worst blow. A detachment of New Englanders sailed into the harbour, plundered his property and burned all the buildings to the ground. His fortification, which consisted of one small cannon, decidedly ornamental, but scarcely useful, could not help them. It had usually been fired on ceremonial occasions. From his hiding—place in the woods, de Roma watched with a heavy heart the destruction of all his hopes. Faced with starvation, he escaped with his family to St. Peter’s, and thence to Canada. It was all over as far as Three Rivers was concerned.

Six years later, when F ranquet made his memorable journey around the Island, Three Rivers was a wilder- ness. In the clearing, not a single building stood. Only the lands were left. No settlers had drifted back to rebuild the settlement. No squatters had moved in. The Point was fast reverting to its original natural state. There was a reason. The charter of de Roma's company was still in force. The Crown had granted to him three thousand five hundred acres of water front, as well as inland areas. Hence,