Sometimes he was in considerable danger of a rough reception from people who could not at first understand what they had to gain by getting legal titles, and buying the lands the fruit of which they had enjoyed either for nothing, or for payment of a small annual assessment for the cultivated portion.

In another quarter--Toco--a notoriously lawless squatter had expressed his intention of shooting the Government official.

The white gentleman walked straight up to the little forest fortress hidden in bush, and confronted the Negro, who had gun in hand.
'I could have shot you if I had liked, buccra.' 'No, you could not.

I should have cut you down first: so don't play the fool,' answered the official quietly, hand on cutlass.
The wild man gave in; paid his rates; received the Crown title for his land; and became (as have all these sons of the forest) fast friends with one whom they have learnt at once to love and fear.
But among the Montserrat hills, the Governor had struck on a spot so fit for a new settlement, that he determined to found one forthwith.

The quick-eyed Jesuits had founded a mission on the same spot many years before.