He explained to me his views in proposing the labour-subscription. “Though thee hast not,” said he, “no call for the ‘scription, there is Ivor Dingwall who has. Put on paper what Quistein he has ‘scribed, and swap it for what the gentleman wants, that Ivor Dingwall will sell, and done's the bargain.”

In short he suggested with, what I deemed, considerable ingenuity, that the subscribers should give me each what is called a bon for the respective number of days’ labour they were willing to contribute to the erection of the mill, and that purchasers would be found for these bons among those who had work to do.

This new species of paper currency pleased me excessively, and I consented at once to suspend my own work, and to commence a mill on a larger scale, so soon as two-thirds of the bons should be disposed of; with, however, some fear in my own mind that it probably would be a tedious work. To my surprise, however, it proved far otherwise: before the end of November, the stipulated number of the bons was sold, and, although the amount in money received for them was not important, a supply of necessary merchandise, and other articles always in demand, both in the settlement, and in the general township, was obtained, and we were thus, in the course of the winter, in good condition to construct the mill-dam.