eased to
grant, will make the proposers extremely happy, and they shall forever
retain the most grateful remembrance of his bounty; and [they] hope his
Excellency will be pleased in the grant to allow them to give the lands
to be granted such a name as may perpetuate their sense of his great
kindness to them." They got what they asked for. It may indeed be
doubted whether Murray had any right to allot huge areas of land in a
country which had not yet been ceded finally to Great Britain, but any
defects of title in this respect were corrected long after by new grants
under the great seal. As it was, Murray wrote on a sheet of ordinary
foolscap, still preserved at Murray Bay, a brief deed of the land[6]
and, behold, the two young officers have become landed proprietors! To
their request for permission to use Murray's name, in grateful
remembrance of his kindness, he also assented. Nairne's seigniory was to
be called Murray's Bay and Fraser's Mount Murray. The grants were made
because "it is a national advantage and tends to promote the cultivation
of lands within the province to encourage His Majesty's natural-born
subjects settling within the same"; and the consideration was "the
faithful services" rendered by the two officers.

A good deal of stock and farm implements remained at Malbaie and this
the new proprietors arranged to buy, giving in payment their promissory
notes, Nairne's for L85, 6s. 8d., currency and Fraser, who got only
one-third, his for L42, 13s. 4d. They seem to have had a good deal for
their money. There were a score and a half or so of cattle, four or five
horses, (one of them twenty-two years old), twenty sheep, fourteen pigs,
besides chickens and other living creatures. In addition there were
waggons and other farm appliances, most of them probably old and of
little use, though they must have helped to tide over the first
difficult days when everything would have to be provided.

On getting his grant Nairne retired from the army on half pay, but
Fraser remained on active service for many years still. Thus Nairne was
the more continuously resident at Murray Bay and in its development he
played the greater part. Fraser's interests were divided, not only
between Murray Bay and the army, but also between Murray Bay and another
seigniory which he secured on the south side of the river at Riviere du
Loup and known as Fraserville. For us therefore the interest at Murray
Bay now centres chiefly in Nairne a