Some huts covered with boughs or bark were the first buildings they erected. The King's store, Superintendent's office, and a bridge across the Tay, soon followed. Some, however, selected bad lots, either from want of skill or an unwillingness to take the trouble to go and examine the land. Colonel Macdonnell was then the superintendent, and the settlers often speak to this day of his kindness and attention to their interest, and the loss the settlement sustained when he left it. Before I proceed farther, let me tell something about the division of the land.
Every seventh lot is set apart for the support of the church, and is called a clergy reserve.
Perth settlement being formed soon after the termination of the war with the United states, and at a time when a great reduction in the army took place, a great many discharged soldiers were induced to settle there. Indeed when I came to the place, not less than two-thirds of the population were of this description. The privates settled upon their land, but most of the officers built houses in the village, and tended not a little, by the politeness of their manners, to render a residence here desirable. No assistance, however, was afforded them on the passage, but they obtained land, implements, and rations for one year, the same as those who had arrived before them. Accordingly, in the course of the summer the settlement received a great accession to its population both of emigrants and discharged soldiers.