90 The Beginning of British Honduras
ened a scarcity of provisions and in a council held at Govern-
ment House it was decided that such as had suitable profes-
sions could remain at Belize and the others taken to healthy
sites up the Old River and along the Cockscomb Coast where
they would be cared for until plantations were established.
Already in 1824 discontent brought their settlements at Scots-
mentown and Alpine to an end. Some scattered on the coast,
and in London the Lord Mayor and Scottish Corporation
attended to the repatriation of a great many.
 Gregor Mac Gregor's main idea did not agree with the
money-making scheme of his backers, for he had ordered
40,000 uniforms for the cavalry of H. H. the Cacique of
Poyais, "a country where silver is more common than clay."
With Bolivar and Miranda he had helped to bring five states
into being. Around their camp fires he had taken part in dis-
cussions on what political form Central America should take
after separation from Spain. And Mac Gregor knew to han-
dle rough cavalry in difficult terrain.