This book examines the conditions influencing the departure of the settlers from West Wales in 1819 and their subsequent struggle with the new land during the first generation. Though the central concern of Strangers from a Secret Land is with a single wave of Welsh emigration to Canada, the subject is also war and its aftermath, the life of merchant mariners and the seafaring tradition they shared, and the chance meeting of memorable individuals who came together during a brief but dramatic phase of our double history. - Preface.