ELIZABETH CRAN, "BOOKS TELLS LOYALIST HISTORY," CHARLOTTETOWN GUARDIAN  (MARCH 30, 2001).

Copyright Charlottetown Guardian 2001

Even though not many Loyalists landed on Prince Edward Island, we do hear things about them from time to time.

You could say they're a Maritime myth, in the sense of a story that we all more or less know.

"Less," I now believe is the operative word.

I've just read a book called Land of the Loyalists, which I put off reading for some time because it sounded like it would be dull.

I was wrong.

This book gives a more accurate view of the Loyalists than any book I've seen and is a fascinating one to read.

Written by Ronald Rees, a retired professor of geography who lives in St. Andrews, New Brunswick, this 134-page book tells what kind of country the Loyalists wanted to live in, how they tried to organize it and how they often failed.

Unlike their relations in the new United States, says Rees, the Loyalists were still looking back to the Old World for their ideals and directives.

The Americans were looking west to the frontier. And this affected the type of government each wanted, how they organized their country, and even what kind of houses and public buildings they constructed.

The Loyalists wanted the kind of government they'd been used to, a hierarchical one, with King George at the top, and local magistrates at the bottom.

They were against elections, which they felt were democratic, and thus revolutionary, eventually bound for ruin.

At the same time, they did not want to be governed from Halifax.

One of the first events after their arrival in what is now Nova Scotia and New Brunswick was the division which resulted in these two provinces.

The British government had made promises to the Loyalists, but some of these could not be kept.

For instance, much of the land in the two provinces was unfit for farming, and most of the Loyalists had never farmed anyway.

A few rich ones bought up thousands of acres, but could find no one to work it, since almost everyone was eligible for free land of his own.

Black Loyalists, of whom there were quite a few, usually got the leftover bits which no one else wanted.

The veterans of the Revolutionary War were considered by the British government to be ideal colonists, but the truth was many of them did not care to settle down and try to farm.

After a few years, many Loyalists went "home" to the States.

Many Black Loyalists decided to go to Sierra Leone in Africa where land was available.

And the rest of us -- I'm of Loyalist descent, too -- are still here trying to make the most of this country.

Elizabeth Cran, a freelance writer living in Tignish, writes Atlantic Pages every week.