bale ee ee 
 
 i 
 whe Fe ob chen wna ale pe py he dnp Dh 
 
 : pd eitetend aire eek mek id a eabcin “9 ri ee lee cree ees een 
 Pe en ase : ; ; aaa SA Ue Oa 
 
 prerrtrrerrr it 
 
 AE 
 
 i 
 
 t 
 : 
 
 ti] 
 
 a 
 Hy 
 
 Hes 
 
 fr nsrverresmmecns - 
 
 ii 
 Sh 
 
 ¢ 
 
 Lirsh 
 
 1h 
 ue 
 
 7 
 ' 
 
 — 
 
 ili 
 
 Hild 
 
 hous one cts ® 
 iii 
 papers 
 
 i mOPidndints 
 | 
 
 ih 
 
 itit 
 4 
 
 i 
 
 Mg 
 
 5 
 
 se 
 49 
 
 ii 
 
 — 4 
 
 ae 
 
 wens al 
 > 
 
 y 
 
 ihe Han! 
 
 BAS OLS o'a 
 
 bait PULHAMSVAAUDHLLAUTEHATS AL 
 
 cae ~Gag a 
 see ~ 
 
 Hecke 
 foresee) 
 
 ted bebe Lele Da ty 
 
 i 
 
 ii 
 
 ; 
 
 | 
 
 tif 
 
 soto SS mm | 
 
 . 
 
 - —— 
 ~ =. 
 Tne —_— 
 
 itil 
 hy 
 
 RES FF 
 : 
 3 
 
 HITT 
 
 Pe. 
 
 ryt 
 {1G kia 
 
 ft 
 
 : 
 
 its 
 
 rm 
 hy 
 ; 
 
 aak 
 
 WANES 
 
 if 
 
 ny 
 
 H 
 rhadd 
 
 Hi 
 
 Wan 
 
 ith 
 
 Heasiedaeladds 
 TEP T HHH 
 
 iil 
 
 i 
 
 ii 
 
 HAM 
 
 jij 
 
 ‘ 
 
 ae 
 
 
 
Oo OE re ey 
 Steet fo at tenet niions 
 
 
 

 
oe egeneneesene 
 i tea 
 
 sopaeper tt : / . PEebeerlide 
 
 
 

 
Pestastes 
 Testspe tt eee}. 
 
 
 
ECHOES 
 
 FROM 
 
 CH E BACKWOODS: 
 
 OR 
 
 SKETCHES 
 OF 
 
 IRANSATLANTIC LIFE 
 
 BY 
 
 CAPTAIN R. G. A. LEVINGE. 
 
 IN TWO VOLUMES, 
 
 VOL. I. 
 
 LONDON: 
 
 HENRY COLBURN, PUBLISHER, 
 GREAT MARLBOROUGH STREET. 
 
 
 
 1846. 
 
 
 
Frederick Shoberl, Junior, Printer to His Royal Highness Prince Albert, 
 51, Rupert Street, Haymarket, London. 
 
 
 
TO 
 SIR RICHARD SUTTON, BART., 
 OF 
 COTTESMORE, 
 ONE OF ENGLAND'S BEST SPORTSMEN, 
 Chese rough Sketches 
 
 OP 
 
 TRANSATLANTIC LIFE 
 ARE INSCRIBED BY 
 
 THE AUTHOR. 
 
 
 

 
PREFACE. 
 
 It is much to be regretted, by every one 
 who has at heart the promotion of British 
 prosperity, that the province of New Bruns- 
 wick should be so little known in England; 
 that a colony containing many millions of 
 acres of excellent land, magnificent rivers, 
 inexhaustible mineral wealth, and most ex- 
 tensive coal-fields, should be passed over 
 as unheeded as if it belonged not to the 
 British empire. Even in Parliament the 
 advantages of emigration to Canada or the 
 United States are frequently expatiated upon 
 in glowing and persuasive terms, but very 
 rarely is any notice taken of New Bruns- 
 
 wick. 
 
 
 
PREFACE. 
 
 Owing to the diffusion of information, by 
 
 means of numerous publications respecting 
 our other northern colonies, the stream of 
 emigration has been directed that way; so 
 that, though some thousands who have left 
 their homes in the Old World in search of 
 new abodes annually find their way to the 
 shores of this our nearest colony, yet few, 
 and those of the most indigent class only, 
 remain. In Canada, moreover, where public 
 works have been of late years carried on, the 
 government and private companies have held 
 out strong inducement to emigrants by as- 
 sisting them to procure lands; while the 
 great public enterprises continually going 
 on in the United States attract the great 
 majority of the labouring classes, especially 
 Irish, who eventually become settlers. 
 
 In none of our colonies does the agricul- 
 
 tural settler find so many advantages as in 
 
 MRK ae? np orca non —f 
 
 ‘ae A 
 
 
 

 
 PREFACE. Vii 
 
 New Brunswick. In the counties of Glou- 
 cester and Restigouche, the most northern 
 parts of the province, have been grown ex- 
 cellent crops of wheat; and scarcely an in- 
 stance can be adduced in which the crop of 
 grain of any kiad has failed ; whilst, in the pro- 
 duction of potatoes and other nutritious 
 roots, New Brunswick cannot be excelled. 
 Lord Sydenham, in a letter to Lord John 
 Russell, which accompanied his Report on 
 Emigration to Upper Canada, observes :— 
 “Give me yeomen, with a few hundred 
 pounds each, who will buy cleared farms, 
 not throw themselves into the Bush, and I 
 will ensure them comforts and independence 
 at the end of a couple of years—pigs, pork, 
 flour, potatoes, horses to ride, cows to milk, 
 but you must eat all you produce, for devil 
 a purchaser is to be found: however, the 
 
 man’s wants are supplied and those of his 
 
 
 
arr ~) 
 
 ‘ 
 : 
 — <A ee ee 
 ‘ ee ne a RE ERE aR SMR Dyer RRR ae yen tm TS Oe 
 
 ae - 
 
 Vill PREFACE. 
 
 family ; he has no rent or taxes to pay, and 
 he ought to be satisfied.” 
 
 So said Lord Sydenham of Canada; and 
 all this is true in regard to New Bruns- 
 wick, with this essential and _ striking 
 difference, that in New Brunswick there zs 
 a market, and a man may not only supply 
 his own wants and those of his family, but 
 actually accumulate money from the sale of 
 his surplus produce. And, above all, no- 
 where are the liberties so dear to English- 
 men to be enjoyed in a higher degree than 
 in this province. It is therefore to be hoped 
 that the time is not far distant when a spur 
 
 shall be given to enterprise; when the tide 
 
 of emigration, instead of flowing through 
 
 this magnificent colony, shall be arrested in 
 its course; when mining and manufactures 
 shall give employment to thousands of work- 
 
 men, who, from the lack of such sources in 
 
 
 

 
 PREFACE. ix 
 
 our own colonies, are forced to seek them in 
 the United States. 
 
 In placing before the public these volumes, 
 the author takes leave to premise that, favour- 
 able as may appear to be the picture which he 
 draws of New Brunswick, he has no schemes 
 of speculators or adventurers to second, 
 neither is he biassed by any motive of personal 
 interest ; in one or other of which too many 
 works of this nature have originated. His 
 main object has been to present facts and 
 Information derived chiefly from his own 
 observation, particularly of a kind likely to 
 prove useful to persons intending to settle 
 in the country of which he treats. 
 
 Subjects of less important interest have 
 not been omitted; and he flatters himself 
 that the sportsman in his own chimney- 
 corner in Old England will be gratified, at 
 
 least, if not warmed, by his account of the 
 
 
 
x PREFACE. 
 
 opportunities afforded in New Brunswick for 
 the display of skill and dexterity in exercises 
 in which it may never be his lot to partici- 
 pate. 
 
 Information concerning the haunts of game 
 in North America is often not to be obtained 
 at all, and, if so, often not to be relied on. 
 It frequently happens, therefore, that, after 
 hard fagging, and great perseverance, just 
 as the sportsman is obliged to leave the 
 country, he then, and not till then, disco- 
 vers their favourite resorts. Many hints 
 collected from the Indians, from personal 
 experience in the pursuit of deer and other 
 game, of fish and fishing, and of what is 
 
 termed wood-craft, are offered to such sports- 
 
 men whom accident, inclination, or duty may 
 lead to the New World. 
 
 aan . 
 t 
 
 A 
 
 If Brother Jonathan should feel rather 
 
 sore about the sketches of himself and his 
 
 ~~ ee 
 
 - —= —_ CO ET Te re ry -ow. Tr. : coe r4 ~ 
 ee ca ne ee ee Saker 
 
 
 

 
 PREFACE. Xl 
 
 hopeful progeny introduced into these yo- 
 lumes, I can assure him in all sincerity 
 that, if I have nothing extenuated, still less 
 have I been prompted by the national anti- 
 pathy too prevalent on his side of the At- 
 lantic to “ set down aught in malice.” 
 
 To the kindness of Mr. Perley I am in- 
 debted for some particulars concerning the 
 remnants of the two Indian tribes still resi- 
 dent in New Brunswick, and for much sta- 
 tistical information: This gentleman is a 
 descendant of that Isaac Perley who first 
 explored the St. John: he is the head of al] 
 enterprise in the colony, Government Emi- 
 gration Agent, and last, but not least, Wun- 
 
 jeet Sagamore, or head Chief of the Micmacs. 
 
 R. G, A. L. 
 London, June, 1846, 
 
 ——— le a ee ——o i 
 
 
 
ILLUSTRATIONS. 
 
 The Air Hole - Frontispiece. 
 Moose run down - - 
 
 Salmon -spearing by Torchlight 
 
 VOL. Il. 
 
 Caraboo showing Fight - - Frontispiece. 
 
 War-dance, Wisconsin . LF 490 
 
 “Treeing” a Bear « 206 
 
 hart, 
 im 
 IRS pe pi et ne 
 
 
 
CONTENTS 
 OF 
 
 THE FIRST VOLUME. 
 
 PREFACE . ; ; y 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 VOYAGE ouT.—The Transport Service Military Life 
 in Country Quarters— Voyage across the Atlantic— 
 Dense Fogs—Banks of Newfoundland—Forests of the New 
 World—* The Maid of the Mist’—River St. John . 1 
 
 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 New Brunswick—Hints ror EMIGRANTS.—First settle- 
 ment of the Province—General description—Government 
 —Boundary question—Rivers—“ The Stone Wigwam”’— 
 Wooden Bridge—Fish—Waterfowl—The Bore—Mineral 
 Productions — Whales — Cod— Mines — Divining Rod— 
 Measures 12 
 
 CHAPTER III, 
 NEw BRvuNSwickK—coNTINUED.—Towns — Labrador 
 dogs—— Horse-dealing — Cobbett—Agent for * Morrison’s 
 
 
 
X1V CONTENTS. 
 
 pills’ —A fire—A musing incident—Climate—Lumber, hard 
 and soft wood—Below Nero—Effects of frost—Skating— 
 Sleighing — Coasting — Sleigh Club —Corn-bin extraor- 
 
 dinary—Perilous situation , . Ot 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 Or THE MILICETE AND Micmac INnpIANS.—Origin of 
 the Indians, a Quere—Fossil remains—Mr, Gesner— 
 Micmacs, or “ Salt-water” Indians—Boundary between 
 them and the Milicete—Render homage to the Iroquois 
 —Council fire still burns—Their Totems—Language— 
 Papoose—W igwams — Snow-shoes—Patterns —Old John 
 and Cockney ; ° ‘ , - (94 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 New BRUNSWIcK.—OFr THE BIRDS AND BEASTS.— 
 Passenger Pigeons—Wild and Water fowl—Novel way of 
 gunning—Genus Tetrao—Birch and Spruce Partridge— 
 Humming-birds—W ax-bird—Soirée of Owls—Lucifees— 
 Skunk—Wild Cat—Novel mode of catching Wolves— 
 Musk-rat—Porcupine—Hares—Bears and Chimneys—A 
 sound sleeper—The Governor gammoned «12Z 
 
 CHAPTER VI, 
 
 New Brunswick.—Or THE DEER AND WoopcrRAFT.—= 
 
 Moose—Cervyus Hibernicus, not Antediluyian—Caraboo— 
 
 Accidents “ will happen” —Virginian Deer—T oggery for the 
 
 Woods—Snow-Shoes—* Mal a la raquette” prevented— 
 Hints—W oodcraft—Lose way—Escape being frozen 159 
 
 
 

 
 CONTENTS. XV 
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 
 New Brunswick.— Or Tue Fish anp FIsninc.— 
 Salmon-spearing—Sturgeon and Molly Greenbaize—Shad 
 —Gaspereaux—Bass—Flies—The Curry-Curry, gaudy and 
 large, the best for North American waters—Matty Blake 
 and the “ Yolly Buff”—Receipts for dying—Mosquito mix- 
 ture : : ° : » 184 
 
 CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 Nova Scottra.—A Fortnicut In Buso.—The Start— 
 Annapolis—Micmac Village—F lappers—Trout—Lakes— 
 Rivers—Still Waters — Tracks — Moose — The Death— 
 
 Potatoes — Indigestion— Turtle —Lampreys—Stone Pipes 
 
 Emperor of China, . 209 
 
 
 
 —Calling the Moose 
 
 CHAPTER IX. 
 
 A Race THROUGH THE UNITED STATES. — Star-be- 
 spangled banner—F lying Artillery—Crimping System— 
 Table d’Hétes—Whales and Peas—Mercantile F owls—Sea 
 Speculations—Sky-blue—Yankee’s Shaving—Frigid Bap- 
 
 tists—Canals—Ontario ; : . 231 
 
 APPENDIX. 
 
 Hints to Emigrants. From Mr. Gesner’s Reports on 
 New Brunswick : 2 . 263 
 Average Retail Prices of Provisions and Clothing in 
 New Brunswick . ; ' ; . 268 
 
 
 
XVl CONTENTS. 
 
 Average Wages of Mechanics and others in New 
 
 Brunswick ; . 269 
 Of Immigration to New Brunswick ‘ . 270 
 Prices of Agricultural Produce, Farming Stock, and 
 
 implements of Husbandry in New Brunswick . 271 
 On the present state of New Brunswick in reference to 
 
 a proposed Line of Railway ; . 272 
 On the Trees of New Brunswick . . 280 
 On the Forest Trees of New Brunswick. Substance of 
 
 a Lecture delivered by M. H. Perley, Esq. . . 289 
 
 ba 
 72 Da ite de a = . 
 
 
 
“Enormous forests stretch their shadows wide, 
 
 And rich savannas skirt the mountain’s side; 
 
 There bounds the moose, and shaggy bisons graze ; 
 Scar’d by the wolf, the hardy reindeer brays ; 
 
 The clambering squirrel trembles from on high, 
 Fixed by the rattlesnake’s rapacious eye ; 
 Unnumbered pigeons fill the darkened air, 
 
 Glut the tired hawk, the loaded branches tear; 
 
 Fair swans majestic on the waters glide, 
 
 Ihe mason-beaver checks the flowing tide ; 
 
 Gigantic rivers shake the thund’ring shore; 
 
 Dread Niagara’s foaming cataracts roar ; 
 
 In light canoe, the painted Indian rows, 
 
 Or hunts the floundering elk through melting snows, 
 Wields his huge tomahawk in deadly fray, 
 
 And rends with shouts the reeking scalp away, 
 
 Or smokes the fragrant calumet of peace, 
 
 And, bound in wampum leagues, bids sayage discord cease.” 
 
 A NON, 
 
 
 
* 
 
 r 
 
 MY 
 4 
 ‘ 
 
 ' 
 _ J 
 a 
 ie acelin 2 
 De ee i cite al le A A _ 
 
 4 
 *) 
 f 
 3 
 | 
 | 
 a 
 ark 
 
 - f + (4 
 
 
 
ECHOES 
 FROM 
 
 THE BACKWOODS. 
 
 te 
 
 CHAPTER TI. 
 VOYAGE OUT. 
 
 And now there came both mist and snow, 
 And it grew wondrous cold: 
 And ice, mast-high, came floating by, 
 As green as emerald. 
 COLERIDGE. 
 
 The Transport Service— Military Life in Country 
 Quarters — Voyage across the Atlantic— Dense Fogs — 
 Banks of Newfoundland— Forests of the New World — 
 “The Maid of the Mist”—River St. John. 
 
 In June, 1835, the transports destined to 
 convey the left wing of a light infantry regi- 
 ment to our colonies in North America had 
 
 “made its number” in the Cove of Cork. At 
 VOL. f. B 
 
 
 
ys ECHOES FROM 
 
 ~ 
 
 this time the transport service was a disgrace 
 
 to the country, and, although so many men-of- 
 
 war, which might have been employed as troop- 
 ships, were lying idle in our numerous dock- 
 yards, yet the comfort of the soldiers troubled 
 not the heads of those gentlemen “ who sit at 
 home at ease.” It was not sufficient that the 
 poor devils should be * food for powder,” but 
 that the fishes also should have their chance. 
 A tub of a vessel, without a sailing point in her 
 composition, was hired, and a mass of white 
 paint, in the form of a parallelogram, smeared 
 over her bows, the better to relieve the huge 
 number by which she was designated. Water- 
 tanks, heaps of biscuits, barrels of pork, and 
 but one of rum; a pennant, an ensign, a skipper, 
 a fat mate, and a superannuated heutenant of 
 the navy, by way of agent, and a most ina- 
 dequate crew, were put on board, and the 
 transport was reported fit for sea.’ 
 
 1 In the month of July, 1836, the service companies of 
 the Royal, or 1st Regiment, landed at Quebec “ after a long 
 
 
 
THE BACKWOODS. 3 
 
 The service companies selected for duty in 
 New Brunswick marched through Cork to the 
 tune of “ The girls we left behind us.” The 
 solemn vows of eternal constancy of the pre- 
 vious night were echoed and wafted from a 
 hundred balconies ; but— 
 
 “ QO, Nelly Gray! O, Nelly Gray! 
 Is this your love so warm ? 
 
 The love that loves a scarlet coat 
 Should be more uniform - 
 
 We knew that a few hours would bring 
 thither the new regiment, their band playing 
 “Rory O’More,” or “Sich a getting up- 
 stairs,” and that the pretty faces of the Cork 
 fair would light up, their best bonnets would 
 
 be put on, first appearances being every thing. 
 
 voyage,” says Lord Charles Beauclerk in his sketch of the 
 “Military Operations in Canada,” rendered tedious from the 
 crowded state of the ship. “Ina transport of eight hundred 
 tons, seven hundred souls were huddled together,—a num- 
 ber greater by far than is allowed ev en to vessels carrying 
 out emigrants: and, but for the judicious arrangements of 
 the commanding officer, malignant disease must have been 
 the result,” 
 
 
 
4 ECHOES FROM 
 
 Such is military life in country quarters, such 
 
 is life everywhere; SO— 
 
 How happy’s the soldier who lives on his pay, 
 
 And spends half-a-crown out of sixpence’ a day! 
 
 He cares not a mar’vedi? how the world goes, 
 
 The king finds him money, and quarters, and clothes. 
 With a row-de-dow, row-de-dow, &c. 
 
 The crowd and confusion of embarkation 
 are not to be described : the squeaking of pigs, 
 the quacking of ducks, the crowing of cocks, 
 the din of French horns and kettle-drums, 
 stray friends come to see the last of one, 
 the curses and maledictions of the skipper, 
 who was eventually obliged to be snubbed, 
 and the firing off of soda-water corks, lasted 
 until the old tub got under weigh in the most 
 lubberly manner. Soldiers, as well as every 
 thing else, shake into their places in a won- 
 derfully short time; one-third of the number 
 
 are always upon deck, and are called the 
 
 1 Sixpence was the daily pay of a British soldier pre- 
 viously to 1792. 
 
 2 Maravedi, a small Spanish coin of the value of about a 
 farthing. 
 
 
 
THE BACK WOODS. 5 
 
 watch—not that they are employed as such, 
 but there is room only for two-thirds below. 
 Sea-sickness was urged by many of the officers 
 as a reason why they were not “in foree:” 
 but sundry three-cornered billets, delivered to 
 the last weather-beaten and amphibious-look- 
 ing fisher for haddocks, who boarded us when 
 off Cape Clear, and the strict injunctions over- 
 heard as to committing them to the first post- 
 office, induced a suspicion that to the sea 
 could not be imputed a// the sickness on board, 
 A breeze sprung up, and, as the Emerald isle 
 receded from view, we turned our backs upon 
 our homes, our hunting, and our loves. 
 
 A voyage across the Atlantic, even in the 
 best of weathers, must necessarily be a bore: 
 calms for days; fogs, as thick as that in which 
 the Cockney found himself enveloped when 
 steering down Father Thames, and who re- 
 quested an old tar to let him know “ when 
 they were off the Nore, for that he was very 
 anxious to see where the mutiny had taken 
 
 place.” 
 
 
 

 
 
 
 ECHOES FROM 
 
 “ You are this moment abreast of it,” quoth 
 Jack; “but it is so thick I cannot point out 
 the Mutiny.” 
 
 These fogs wet us to the skin as effectually 
 as the heaviest rain, and, to use a sailor’s 
 phrase, “ you might almost cut them with 
 a knife.” Occasionally we signalized vessels, 
 which in return telegraphed that they should 
 be happy to take our letters; an insult which 
 had no sort of effect in hurrying our sulky 
 skipper. It was no object to him to make a 
 quick passage; mais, au contraire, the longer 
 he contrived to remain at sea (thanks to the 
 authorities) the more pay he received. What 
 little sail we carried was shortened at night ; 
 and, as the fat mate generally contrived to 
 sleep well through his watch, no advantage 
 was taken of a shift of wind. 
 
 After five weeks, we were on the banks of 
 Newfoundland ; got soundings, but no cod; 
 tried to surprise turtle dozing, which proved 
 to be wide awake; fired at whales, and got 
 
 disagreeably near to icebergs. However, at 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
THE BACKWOODS. 7 
 
 the end of six weeks, in spite of calms, fogs, 
 and the sleepy mate, seas of floating kelp- 
 weed and strong tides were met with—certain 
 symptoms of being in or near the Bay of 
 Fundy—and all hands looked anxiously for 
 land. There was a dense fog ; I was on deck 
 in charge of the watch; one of the men came 
 and reported that he saw a light, and pointed 
 out the direction. I could not see it, but 
 roused the fat mate, who sent men aloft, and 
 exerted himself so far as to climb to the 
 mizen cross-trees. I called the watch—no 
 one could see it. The man was laughed at, 
 but persisted in saying he distinctly saw it; 
 he could not be drunk, for there was not the 
 wherewithal to get so on board. Next morn- 
 ing’s light found us close off Bryar’s Island : 
 this man /ad seen the light upon it, although 
 invisible to sixty others. 
 
 Owing to strong tides and the prevalence 
 of fogs, the navigation of the Bay of Fundy 
 is ticklish in the extreme, and we felt our 
 
 way by the deep sea-lead. When in stays, a 
 
 
 
aoe 
 
 Sad 
 
 ge RE EE aT 
 
 ee LL GI LAELIA LLL | LINE LEI EOI TS ERECT ve P 
 
 SS ae 
 
 i) 
 _ 
 ? * 
 
 —— 
 
 ee ey re nee 
 
 ial mene PART 8 me $reg ~ sea 
 
 <r 
 
 a 
 
 a 
 
 he 
 
 i 
 
 8 ECHOES FROM 
 
 large ship, unperceived until then, passed so 
 close under our stern that a biscuit might 
 have been thrown on her deck. She was a 
 transport, having on board the regiment which 
 we were going to relieve: three cheers were 
 hardly given and returned before she was lost 
 to sight. The fog cleared up soon afterwards, 
 and the black masses of the pine forests of 
 the New World opened upon us, stretching 
 away in continued lines, until lost in distant 
 perspective. 
 
 The first view of land, after the monoto- 
 nous combination of two elements for six 
 weeks, is exhilarating: the first sight of the 
 primeval forests of the New World was sub- 
 lime; surely such a view as this would have 
 awakened to the power of nature even that 
 lady’s-maid who, when passing the magni- 
 ficent scenery of the Via Mala, asked—from 
 the “‘rumble tumble ”—* Lor, how do they 
 
 manage to plant trees in such frightful places 
 as them there ?” 
 
 On rounding a headland, the view of St. 
 
 
 
THE BACKWOODsS. 9 
 
 John’s broke suddenly upon us, and, from the 
 distance, it appeared placed, as it were, in a 
 large gap, hacked out of “the Bush.” When 
 abreast of Partridge Island, the anchor was 
 dropped, and the transport swung to her 
 moorings, until leave from the authorities was 
 granted for our disembarkation. Soon after. 
 ‘the Maid of the Mist ”—a most appropriate 
 name for a steamer navigating the Bay of 
 Fundy—came alongside, and carried off a 
 subaltern and twenty-five men to St. Andrew’s. 
 where they were to remain on detachment. 
 We were now within a couple of miles of 
 the town, the largest in the province of New 
 3runswick. The rocky promontory upon which 
 it stands rises from the water on all sides, 
 and the wooden houses piled up on a series of 
 landings give it the appearance of a fabrica- 
 tion made with cards to amuse children, the 
 summit being crowned with steeples and the 
 spires of many churches; while the base, 
 fringed with a forest of masts, and huge ves- 
 
 ~~ 
 
 BO 
 
 
 
— 
 
 oe Aen 
 
 mre 
 
 ETE . 
 " 
 
 —e 
 
 Y ee eee 
 
 ee ea ae A ee 
 
 ne A A GIO NITE LLL DLS OLE LEN RAL ITT SS IHS ~ is ar 
 
 _— i 
 ee eel TREE FOOT Ee EP + Tenge. 
 
 — 
 Pe - Ba ~ 
 
 ee j 
 
 + 
 hw 
 
 iP 
 
 10 ECHOES FROM 
 
 sels on the stocks, proclaimed the commercial 
 
 prosperity of the place, and presented a not 
 
 unpleasing picture to our land-expecting eyes. 
 All hands began peering through the tele- 
 scopes, in hopes of getting a sight of “ what 
 like” were the natives among whom we ex- 
 pected to pass the better part of three years ; 
 and the flutter of a petticoat, or the appear- 
 ance of a straw bonnet, was sufficient attrac- 
 tion to draw all the glasses to that spot. 
 The head-quarters of the regiment had arrived 
 a week earlier, and had been ordered up 
 the river St. John to Fredericton. It was 
 our fate to occupy the town before us. Per- 
 mission having at length arrived, we were 
 disembarked, and marched to a range of bar- 
 racks pleasantly situated on a rocky pro- 
 montory jutting into the harbour, and com- 
 manding the entrance of the river. No sooner 
 had we stowed away our men than a party of 
 us “Subs” rushed down into the town, hardly 
 checking our pace to stare at some squaws 
 
 
 
THE BACKWOODS. LI 
 
 and their papooses; nor did we stop until we 
 arrived at a confectioner’s, and obtained 
 enormous bowls of the most delicious wood- 
 strawberries and cream. We had just landed 
 from a long sea-voyage; the thermometer 
 stood at 85° in the shade; in addition to 
 which, the woods, being on fire, made the at- 
 mosphere close and sultry; while the excite- 
 ment of landing, and the bustle of puttmg up 
 the men, concurred to render this the most 
 grateful feast I ever remember to have enjoyed, 
 and such a contrast to our ship fare, that the 
 
 gluttony of the proceeding must be pardoned. 
 
 
 
ECHOES FROM 
 
 CHAPTER IL. 
 NEW BRUNSWICK—HINTS FOR EMIGRANTS. 
 
 Warm and buoyant, in his oily mail, 
 Gambols on seas of ice th’ unwieldy whale ; 
 Wide waving fins round floating islands urge 
 His bulk gigantic through the troubled surge; 
 With hideous yawn, the flying shoals he seeks, 
 Or clasps with fringe of horn his massy cheeks; 
 Lifts o’er the tossing wave his nostrils bare, 
 
 And spouts the wat’ry columns into air: 
 The silvery arches catch the setting beams, 
 And transient rainbows tremble o’er the streams. 
 
 DARWIN. 
 
 First settlement of the Province—General description— 
 Government—Boundary question—Rivers—“ The Stone 
 Wigwam”— Wooden Bridge — Fish — Waterfowl — The 
 Bore— Mineral Productions — Whales —Cod— Mines — 
 Divining Rod—Measures. 
 
 Those acquainted with the history of 
 
 America will no doubt remember the expedi- 
 
 tion for the discovery of heathen countries, 
 fitted out by Henry VII., the command of 
 
 ap “ 
 
 —. eo RP 
 a . . 
 J: Lomemeans nner ay CP 
 . ~ ee EE SO MOO 
 ———E 
 > > nl 
 . 
 
 =~" 
 
 i 4 
 
 
 
THE BACKWOODS. 13 
 
 which was intrusted to Sebastian Cabot, a 
 Venetian adventurer residing in Bristol. In 
 March, 1495, Cabot sailed from Bristol with 
 a small fleet, and, proceeding in a due westerly 
 course for some weeks, discovered a large 
 island, which his sailors named Newfoundland. 
 Thence, continuing his westerly course, he 
 soon fell in with another island, (now known 
 as Prince Edward’s Island) from which he 
 brought off three of the natives, who con- 
 ducted him across to the mainland of North 
 America, on which he first landed in July, 
 1495, somewhere between Richibucto and 
 Miramichi, on the northern shore of New 
 Brunswick. This was the first landing on 
 the continent of America, for it wil] be 
 remembered that Columbus did not reach the 
 mainland until 1498. 
 
 The English paid little attention to Cabot’s 
 discovery, but the French very soon frequented 
 the Gulf of St. Lawrence in great numbers, 
 attracted by the excellence and extent of the 
 
 fisheries. The first permanent fishing stations 
 
 
 
14 . ECHOES FROM 
 
 were established about 1530, within the Gulf. 
 In 1604, an expedition sailed from France 
 under the Sieur Des Monts, and that expedition 
 discovered the Bay of Fundy, and the principal 
 river of New Brunswick, the St. John, so 
 called from its having been first entered on 
 St. John’s Day (24th June) 1604. The party 
 of Des Monts founded Annapolis, and various 
 fishing and trading ports were established in 
 its vicinity. In 1625, a patent was granted 
 by Charles I. to Sir William Alexander, after- 
 wards Earl of Stirling, of nearly the whole of 
 British America, and a large portion of the 
 Northern States of the Union. Sir William 
 made some few settlements, which existed 
 for a short time, while various French adven- 
 turers were possessing themselves of the 
 country, under grants from the crown of 
 France. A constant warfare was kept up 
 between the several settlers and claimants, 
 until the whole country was ceded to France 
 by the treaty of Breda, in 1667. 
 
 Nearly the whole of the territory now 
 
 
 
THE BACKWOODS. 1 
 
 Or 
 
 known as New Brunswick was granted by 
 the crown of France in selgneuries, between 
 1670 and 1688, when hostilities recommenced 
 between England and France, and this part of 
 America was recovered by the English, By 
 the treaty of Ryswick, in 1696, it was again 
 ceded to France. This peace was speedily 
 followed by the war of the Spanish succession 
 in 1702, during which Nova Scotia was re- 
 conquered and permanently annexed to the 
 British crown, but the rest of the country was 
 ceded to France by the treaty of Utrecht in 
 1713. The provisions of this treaty were not 
 fairly carried out by the F rench, which led to 
 renewed hostilities; and it was not until after 
 the taking of Louisburg and (Quebec, that 
 France relinquished all her claims to the 
 territory by the treaty of 1763. 
 
 After the capture of Quebec, the provincial 
 government became anxious to secure the 
 possession of the river St. John, and to pre- 
 vent the French from resuming possession of 
 
 
 
* 
 
 ~~ 
 
 ——~ 
 
 . Set Pe 
 
 ¥ . 
 ee Re eR Eg Qk RR TID Cre tie) CR RT a PSP var . ~ 
 7 
 oo aa a - = n re) re . 
 = " a — = 4 _ + a ad “ 
 = = sar) - += - vrs 2 
 
 Ul - 
 
 a. 
 il 4 ee 
 
 eee ee te RO 
 
 ECHOES FROM 
 
 fertile banks. New England had also a 
 particular interest in the matter, as the 
 numerous attacks upon its borders by the 
 Indians were generally planned and fitted 
 out by the French on the St. John. 
 
 In 1761, the Governor of Massachusetts 
 despatched an exploring party, consisting of 
 twelve men, under the charge of Isaac Perley, 
 and in the pay of that State, for the purpose 
 of ascertaining the position of affairs and the 
 state of the country on the St. John. They 
 proceeded from Boston to Machias by water, 
 and then, shouldering their knapsacks, took a 
 course through the woods, and succeeded in 
 reaching the head waters of the Oromucto, 
 which they descended to the St. John. 
 
 They found the country a wide waste, and 
 
 no obstacles save what might be offered by 
 
 the Indians to its being occupied and settled; 
 and with this report they returned to Boston. 
 In 1763, a party of settlers arrived from 
 
 Massachusetts in four vessels in the harbour 
 
 
 
THE BACKWOODS. iy 
 
 of St. John. There were about two hundred 
 families, in all about eight hundred souls, 
 under the charge of the same Isaac Perley. 
 They forthwith proceeded up the St. John to 
 Maugerville, about ten miles below Frederic- 
 ton, where they established themselves, and 
 thus made the first British settlement on the 
 St. John. In 1765 all the country bordering 
 on the St. John was erected into a county 
 called Sunbury, with the province of Nova 
 Scotia. 
 
 In 1783, in consequence of the treaty re- 
 cognizing the independence of the United 
 States, many families, who had throughout 
 the struggle maintained their loyalty, deter- 
 mined to emigrate; and in May, 1783, a 
 large fleet, with a number of these brave spi- 
 rits who had abandoned all to maintain their 
 allegiance, arrived in the harbour of St. John. 
 It was then a wilderness, They landed, 
 cleared away the trees on the site of the pre- 
 
 sent city, and, being joined by many others 
 
 
 
18 ECHOES FROM 
 
 in the course of the same year, they founded 
 the city of St. John. 
 
 On the 16th of August, 1784, a commis- 
 sion was issued erecting New Brunswick into 
 a province, and appointing Thomas Carle- 
 ton, Esq., the first governor; and on the 9th 
 of January, 1785, the first legislative assembly 
 met in the city of St. John. 
 
 The area of New Brunswick is estimated 
 to contain seventeen millions of acres: of 
 these five millions of acres have been granted, 
 two millions are deducted for water and 
 waste, and the remaining ten millions (all fit 
 for settlement and cultivation) remain at the 
 disposal of the government. The population 
 in 1824 was 74,176; in 1834, 119,457; in 
 1840 it was 156,162, and may now be esti- 
 mated at very little short of 200,000. The 
 government price of wilderness land is now 
 two shillings sterling per acre, for ready 
 
 money, or two shillings and sixpence, if paid 
 
 - 
 a at stata > ee 
 = 
 
 “ 
 a ddl oe . 
 
 7 
 
 = 
 
 ee oe 5 
 " ee en BNR 
 ; + 
 
 by instalments in one, two, and three years, 
 without interest. 
 
 4 
 - =i 
 #. 
 
 ee TR Pe rece. 
 
 ee ewe enn nag RN ey SERED VER) CNT oa CN PN oe  29Pt Ke Ya ees 
 
 ae 
 “ 
 7 
 een 
 a. 
 
 —— 
 
 ‘ . ~~. 
 = ne ee OLR I ny nae » Sewage. 
 a al 
 P oved es Pe et ee ee 
 
 , A 
 
 g 
 
 
 
ul 
 
 THE BACKWOODs. 19 
 
 One side of New Brunswick fronts the Bay 
 of Fundy, the other the Gulf of St. Lawrence. 
 It is intersected in every direction by large 
 navigable rivers, offering great natural high- 
 ways into the interior. The banks and 
 valleys of these rivers, and their numerous 
 tributaries, are generally very fertile, with 
 many natural meadows, marshes, and in- 
 tervals, yielding grasses spontaneously and 
 abundantly. 
 
 The principal river is the St. John, which 
 empties itself into the Bay of Fundy, at the 
 city of St. John, where there is an open har- 
 bour at all seasons of the year; the St. John 
 is four hundred miles in length, taking its 
 rise partly in Lower Canada and partly in the 
 United States. F redericton, the seat of 
 government, is eighty-four miles from the 
 sea, on the west or right bank of the St. John. 
 The river at Fredericton is three quarters of 
 a mile wide, and to that place is navigated by 
 
 steamers of a large class, which run up and 
 
 
 
- 
 in a Dla a 
 
 a 
 
 ~~ 
 
 > 
 niet 
 = Cee eee aia -s 
 
 20 ECHOES FROM 
 
 down every day and every night—time eight 
 
 hours. 
 
 The Miramichi is a large river, flowing into 
 the Gulf of St. Lawrence; the two principal 
 towns on this river are Newcastle and Chatham, 
 a few miles from each other, on opposite sides, 
 about twenty miles from the sea. Vessels 
 of the largest class proceed to both these 
 places to load with timber for Great Britain. 
 Bathurst is at the mouth of the Nipisiguit, 
 a large river flowing into the Bay of Chaleur. 
 The country about Bathurst is yet very 
 thinly settled, chiefly by Acadian French and 
 Irish Catholics. 
 
 The government of the colony is modelled 
 after that of Kngland, having three branches. 
 The lieutenant-governor is appointed by her 
 Majesty; a legislative council of eighteen 
 members, named by the crown, answer to the 
 peers, and a legislative assembly of thirty-four 
 
 members, elected by freeholders only, is an 
 
 imitation of the Commons. A privy council 
 
 
 
THE BACKWOODS. 21 
 
 of nine assists the governor. The members of 
 it are appointed by the crown from the leading 
 members of the legislative council and assem- 
 bly, and hold offices during pleasure. 
 
 At the time of our arrival, and during our 
 sojourn in the country, the disputed terti- 
 tory, or Boundary Question, was the all- 
 absorbing topic. The real object of the 
 Americans was, if possible, to substantiate 
 such a boundary as would effectually cut off 
 our winter communication with Quebec; and, 
 although they have gained considerably by 
 the final settlement under Lord Ashburton, 
 still it is a consolation to think that they have 
 been defeated in their main object. 
 
 As all has now been settled, the less said 
 upon the subject the better; but it may be 
 remarked that a line of hills divides the head 
 waters of the rivers, which flow eastwardly 
 into the river St. John, from those which flow 
 towards the Penobscot river, in the State of 
 
 Maine, and, as the rivers are the channels by 
 
 
 
ar <> ~eogeye 
 
 a a greene ern 
 
 ¥ : 
 Ce ee RR GQ ETD Lyre ae NF oat VN a Fe 
 - . . - 
 
 me ee ee TPE 
 
 af. 
 
 se OT IIT POT 
 
 hips 
 
 apeeren nage ~ TE emge. 
 
 > 
 
 ££ 
 
 ots wae a Fa 
 
 & 
 
 ee et 
 
 A ee 
 
 ss 
 
 : nme: 
 nl 
 
 ee 
 
 22 ECHOES FROM 
 
 which all the timber, the only produce of the 
 forest, is conveyed, those hills would have 
 therefore been the natural and most useful 
 boundary to both parties—such a boundary 
 as exists between the Penobscot and Milicete 
 tribes of Indians.’ 
 
 With the exception of the settlements at 
 intervals upon the coasts and along the course 
 of the principal rivers, the great mass of 
 country may still be denominated “ Bush,” 
 this said Bush containing timber of enormous 
 
 growth. Birch, beech, and the rock maple, 
 
 grow upon the best land; and the cunning 
 
 settler marks well “the hard wood ridge,” 
 
 and bids for it accordingly ; whereas the un- 
 
 ‘ “ Every one who has studied American affairs, even in 
 ever so slight a degree, has in all probability been puzzled 
 by this very boundary question. Great disgrace does and 
 must always hang over the American Senate for the suppres- 
 sion of the boundary line, which was agreed to and marked 
 out by the American minister, Benjamin Franklin, acknow- 
 ledging the British claim; the discovery of this important 
 document was made by a Mr. Sparkes, an American histo- 
 rian, who found it in the geological department of the 
 Archives of France.” —Buckingham’s Colonies. 
 
 
 
THE BACKWOODS. 93 
 
 initiated emigrant is often deceived by the 
 healthy and flourishing appearance of the 
 pine tribe, and does not discover until too 
 late that soil which has reared such noble 
 timber will but ill repay him for his outlay and 
 trouble. . That land which produces a mixed 
 growth of hard and soft wood is generally 
 supposed to be the best, when cleared, for 
 agricultural purposes. 
 
 The St. John, the principal river of the 
 province, is named by the Indians “ Loosh- 
 took,” which is equivalent to Ohio, translated 
 by the French, La Belle Riviere. Tt runs a 
 very circuitous course, winding in an irregular 
 semicircle, and exceeding four hundred miles 
 in length. In its downward course it touches 
 close upon the Rustigouche, to which river 
 there is a portage. The Grand Falls of the 
 St. John are two hundred and ten miles from 
 its mouth, and they constitute the greatest 
 fall of water east of the Mississipi, with the 
 
 exception of the Falls of Niagara. After 
 
 
 
4 
 wet o-—~—ncee 
 
 Oe ere oe 
 
 Ce ee re EE Qe ERR ETERS. Byer SRR sas PP me 2p ~et 
 e ~ . — a - P ~~ vers . i. 
 4 —_- ee 2 ee -* 
 é - Bee agie oe ele, OTS nee 
 — nae» ——a 7 
 
 eee 
 
 24 ECHOES FROM 
 
 pursuing a southerly course, the river turns 
 
 suddenly to the eastward, and contracts to 
 half its uniform breadth. Quickening its 
 current, it turns again suddenly to the south, 
 and falls over a ledge of slate and limestone, 
 seventy-four feet in perpendicular height, into 
 a circular basin, where the water whirls round 
 in a great eddy with resistless force. 
 
 Below the Falls, the river contracts still 
 more, and the water is hurried over a succes- 
 sion of smaller falls, through a deep and 
 rugged channel, with overhanging precipices 
 from fifty to a hundred feet in height, for 
 three quarters of a mile, when it is discharged 
 into a wide basin below. The descent through 
 this rocky channel is forty-five feet, making 
 the total descent one hundred and nineteen 
 feet. The water rushing through the rocky 
 pass, as it is called, presents a scene of terrific 
 wildness, its snowy whiteness contrasting 
 strongly with the dark hue of the overhang- 
 
 ing rocks and the sombre foliage of the 
 
 
 
THE BACKWOODs. 25 
 
 spruce which obtains an uncertain hold in the 
 inequalities of the precipices. Fifty miles 
 below these falls the river becomes navigable 
 for steamers, Which, at particular Seasons, 
 reach Woodstock from St. John. Some sixty 
 miles below Woodstock igs Fredericton, the 
 capital of the province; and the distance 
 thence to St. John, or rather Indian Town, 
 at the outlet of the river, is eighty-four 
 miles. 
 
 It is curious that this magnificent river, 
 fed by enormous tributaries and the contribu- 
 tions of countless lakes, after a course of 
 upwards of four hundred miles, and an unin- 
 terrupted navigation by steamers for one 
 hundred and forty miles of that distance, can 
 be entered for about half an hour only in each 
 tide by vessels of any size. The impediment 
 arises from sunken rocks, and a steep shelf 
 between the iron-bound gates of granite on 
 either side, but two hundred yards apart, 
 As soon as the flood tide has risen suffi- 
 
 VOL, f. C 
 
 
 
26 ECHOES FROM 
 
 ciently to attain the level of the sunken 
 rocks, it has to contend with the downward 
 flood from the river. This conquered, the 
 water for the above-mentioned short half- 
 hour remains slack, and it is only at that 
 time that vessels can attempt the descent. 
 
 There are pilots expressly for this passage. 
 On one occasion, after an excursion up the 
 river in a small yacht, I shot the rapid under 
 the charge of one of that amphibious frater- 
 nity. The ebb had then run off but one hour, 
 and it was anything but agreeable to witness 
 the terrific pace at which the vessel was 
 hurled along through the hissing eddies, now 
 swerving and then shooting off, as if she 
 
 would be dashed into a thousand pieces 
 
 against the rocks; but the practised eye of 
 the pilot, and the quickness with which she 
 answered her helm, took us without accident 
 clear of all danger. The pilot afterwards 
 
 confessed that we had had a “ narrow squeak 
 
 for it,” and that in ten minutes it would have 
 
 
 
THE BACK WOODS. 27 
 
 been impracticable. To avoid this rapid, the 
 steamers to Fredericton are obliged to lie 
 Just above it at Indian Town, a short mile 
 from the town of St. John. 
 
 Great inconvenience existed from there 
 being no bridge or other means of crossing 
 the St. John in the immediate neighbourhood 
 of the city; the only communication was by 
 means of a “scow,” a sort of large flat- 
 bottomed boat, which crossed between Port- 
 land and Carleton, a small village on the 
 opposite side of the harbour, whence the 
 road to St. Andrews and Fredericton branches 
 off. The passage of this ferry in the winter 
 was anything but agreeable, from the evapo- 
 ration of the water when warmer than the 
 atmosphere, with the thermometer down to a 
 low degree. “The barber” So called is some- 
 times so thick, that once, having embarked 
 my sleigh to make the transit of this ferry, 
 after some twenty minutes occupied in the 
 operation, and after having performed four 
 
 cg 
 
 
 
&. 
 eumead — aye 
 
 . 
 a aie ee tie Ae Bild 
 wT re - 
 
 - 
 a , . . 
 ene 
 = ee eae eet oontee oed a —. eee 
 vOneye 9eTT 8 5 a» 
 7 - . * — - 
 . 
 . _ age Ayes? * 
 etd eee al . 
 
 ————— 
 
 oy 
 __ 
 
 we _ te ° — 
 A ISS 
 es -~ r ~ 
 
 a cain nn pees Mali 
 " -_ - 
 
 —-" 
 
 qaqa 
 7 y — - 
 ie ae ee te NE et il 
 A 4 eS Ss >in =. he ep oe eee Oe by 
  —— 
 (a 
 
 28 ECHOES FROM 
 
 times the distance, owing to the numerous 
 
 eddies in which we had been whirled about— 
 
 my horses, sleigh, and furs arrived on the 
 
 opposite side a complete mass of ice. 
 
 To obviate such occurrences, a Yankee 
 conceived the bold scheme of throwing a 
 wooden suspension-bridge across, between 
 this ferry and the rapid above-mentioned 
 at the outlet of the river St. John. From 
 two enormous abutments, most ingeniously 
 put together, he suspended his bridge, the 
 length of which was four hundred and thirty- 
 five feet clear of the buttresses. It had the 
 appearance at a distance of the most beautiful 
 lace-work—when nearly completed, and after 
 several persons had passed over it on foot, 
 one morning, when on parade, we heard a 
 tremendous crash; in half an hour news 
 arrived that the bridge had given way, and 
 that several men were killed and many dread- 
 fully wounded. With this smash was sunk 
 
 some £30,000, the greater part of the capital 
 
 
 
THE BACKWOODs. 29 
 
 ~ 
 
 subscribed by certain enterprising share- 
 holders. The ruins have since been cleared 
 away, no attempt having been made to re- 
 build it. 
 
 Two steam ferry-boats however have been 
 established to cross the harbour, with ex- 
 cellent and convenient landings ; four horses 
 may be driven on board without detaching 
 them from the carriage ; and the distance to 
 Carleton on the opposite side occupies but 
 four minutes. These boats are not only 
 reported to be convenient, but I am told 
 profitable: the little village of Carleton 
 has increased rapidly since their establish- 
 ment in 1839; and much of the business of 
 the port is now transacted on that side of 
 the harbour. 
 
 The Bay of Chaleur and the river Resti- 
 gouche, which falls into its western extre- 
 mity, separate New Brunswick from Canada. 
 The Bay of Chaleur jis eighty-five miles long, 
 
 varying from fifteen to thirty miles in width, 
 
 
 
4 
 owe — gee 
 
 a > 
 2 . 
 ie ae EE 
 
 , ™ ae aly: . a 
 + 
 * PEL LIGNE ELE LI DN OE er OR oy . sete : 
 ¢ we = - 
 . — —_ ~ - in , 
 
 <5 yee - Pert ye 
 t 
 
 Pe ae ad the 
 
 —. ew Fr 
 
 me Sy AO rag 
 
 30 ECHOES FROM 
 
 and in the whole of its length and breadth 
 there is neither rock, reef, nor shoal. The 
 entrance of the Restigouche is three miles 
 wide, with nine fathoms water—a noble 
 entrance toa noble river. The Restigouche 
 is two hundred and twenty miles long—its 
 name, which is Indian, signifies “ the river 
 which divides like the hand,” in allusion to its 
 separation above the tide-way into five prin- 
 cipal streams or branches. Dalhousie, at 
 its entrance, is a very neat town, containing 
 about one hundred and thirty houses, and one 
 thousand inhabitants. The streets are broad 
 and clean. In front of the town there are 
 some excellent wharfs, with large and, well 
 sheltered timber-ponds. <A crescent-shaped 
 basin and an island form an excellent har- 
 bour, where ships of any size can ride in 
 perfect safety. 
 
 The present extensive trade of Restigouche 
 
 sprung up about 1825, since which time 
 
 Dalhousie and Campbelltown (twenty miles 
 
 
 
THE BACKWOODS. $1 
 
 further up) have been built. The Resti- 
 gouche, from Dalhousie to Campbelltown, is in 
 fact a harbour. Opposite to Campbelltown, 
 on the Canadian or Gaspé side of the river, 
 is Mission Point, a Micmac settlement of 
 about 400 souls; it is on a beautiful meadow 
 backed by lofty mountains, and is commonly 
 called by the Canadians ‘‘ Le Pré du Prétre.” 
 The salmon-fishing on the Restigouche is very 
 extensive, and the fish of large size—one 
 establishment at Campbelltown formerly 
 shipped twelve hundred tierces of salmon 
 annually. 
 
 The length of the Miramichi, ‘the happy 
 retreat,” is estimated at two hundred and 
 twenty miles. At its entrance into the 
 Gulf of St. Lawrence, it is nine miles wide, 
 from the north shore at Neguac to Point 
 Escuminac on the south. ‘This point, as its 
 name, which is Indian, implies, is a long 
 sand-spit, with a lighthouse at its extremity, 
 
 beyond which a sandy shoal extends three 
 
 
 
ee TLS «eS 
 
 32 ECHOES FROM 
 
 miles to seaward. ‘The whole north-eastern 
 coast of New Brunswick is low and sandy, 
 
 and the country generally very flat, in conse- 
 
 quence of which the tide flows for a great 
 
 distance up most of the rivers. All the 
 rivers and harbours have at their entrances 
 sand-bars, formed by the action of the water 
 flowing from them, on the one hand, and the 
 heavy sea thrown in by easterly gales in the 
 culf on the other. There is a bar at the 
 
 entrance of the Miramichi, but that river is 
 of so large size and pours forth such a 
 
 volume of water that the bar offers no impe- 
 diment to navigation, there being sufficient 
 depth of water on it at all times for ships of 
 six and seven hundred tons. 
 
 Chatham, about twenty miles from the 
 mouth of the river, on the south or right 
 bank, is a busy, bustling, seaport town in 
 the summer season, rather crowded along the 
 water-side, which has excellent wharfs and 
 
 every convenience for loading ships, the water 
 
 
 
THE BACKWOODs. 33 
 
 being deep in front of the town. It contains 
 many excellent dwelling-houses, and several 
 large and convenient stone warehouses and 
 stores, with every requisite for carrying on 
 business upon a largescale. Here are extensive 
 steam saw-mills belonging to Messrs. Cunard 
 and Co., by whose enterprise Chatham was 
 formed, and to whom it principally belongs. 
 There are at this place breweries, tanneries, 
 and founderies, built in a substantial manner 
 on a large scale. Douglastown, on the oppo- 
 site side of the river, about two miles above 
 Chatham, is the place of business of Messrs 
 Gilmour, Rankin, and Co., whose plain but 
 substantial warehouses, extensive wharfs, and 
 well-piled deal-yards, are patterns of neat- 
 ness and regularity, being admirably arranged 
 for carrying on business extensiy ely with the 
 least possible amount of labour. 
 
 Neweastle, on the same side of the river as 
 Douglastown, and three miles above it, is the 
 shire town of Northumberland, and contains 
 
 C 5 
 
 
 
34: ECHOES FROM 
 
 the public buildings of the county. It stands 
 
 on a very level piece of ground, rising gently 
 and gradually from the water, the court- 
 house and churches being erected on the 
 highest part. The streets of Neweastle are 
 good and clean, the private dwellings plain 
 but neat. 
 
 At the “Indian Reserve,” near the big 
 Hole, on the north-west, 1s a very curious 
 cave, which has been known to the Indians 
 for ages; the Micmacs call the place 
 Condean weegan, “the stone wigwam.” Its 
 only entrance is from the water, under a lofty 
 overhanging cliff. The floor of the cave is 
 about ten feet above the level of the water; 
 the height of the uppermost overhanging 
 ledge is seventeen feet above the floor of the 
 cave; and the width of the entrance seventy 
 feet. At one side of the cave, a clear and 
 very cold spring bubbles up continually, and 
 a natural aperture in the roof permits the 
 
 smoke to escape freely; the rocks in this 
 
 
 
~~ 
 
 THE BACKWOODsS. 55 
 
 place are all sandstone of coarse grit, thickly 
 studded with angular pebbles of milky and 
 rose-coloured quartz, and the exceeding 
 abundance of these crystals gives the place 
 the appearance of an artificial grotto. The 
 river rushes swiftly past the entrance, and 
 is full of trout and salmon. The Indians 
 spear many of the latter at this place, and 
 they have hollowed out a basin at the spring, 
 in which they place the salmon; and the 
 coldness of the water keeps them fresh for 
 two or three days. 
 
 Near Tabusintac, at Portage Island, there is 
 a large fishing establishment of Mr. David- 
 son’s, who has during the last three years 
 been extensively engaged in putting up lob- 
 sters and salmon in tin eases, hermetically 
 sealed, for foreign markets; and last season 
 there were put up and shipped no fewer than 
 thirteen thousand cases, each containing two 
 pounds of salmon, or the best of three or 
 
 four lobsters. The proprietor deserves great 
 
 
 
36 ECHOES FROM 
 
 credit for his spirit and enterprise, and the 
 poor French settlers at the Neguac villages 
 feel the benefit of it. 
 
 At the end of September the large sea 
 trout rush up from the gulf to the Burnt 
 Church River preparatory to spawning, and 
 from fifty to sixty of these may be taken 
 with the fly on each flood tide, none of less 
 than a pound weight. 
 
 Above Neweastle the river divides into 
 two large branches, called the south-west 
 and north-west Miramichi: about seventy 
 miles up the south-west Miramichi stands 
 Borer’s Town, founded about twenty-five 
 years since by Thomas Borer, an enterprising 
 American, who carried on the lumber business 
 upon a large scale and built the town. It bears 
 
 a very striking resemblance to the villages in 
 
 Yankee land, which spring up in the vicinity 
 
 of saw-mills, being composed almost wholly of 
 showy wooden buildings, with green Venetian 
 
 and fanciful verandahs, and abundance of 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
THE BACKWOODS. 37 
 
 ornamental woodwork, not always in the 
 best taste. 
 
 About seven miles above Borer’s Town 
 there is most excellent fly-fishing for salmon, 
 commencing in July and ending in Septem- 
 ber. The river is frequently full of fish, and 
 the greatest impediment to the salmon-fishing 
 is the immense number of large trout which 
 continually seize the salmon-flies. The trout- 
 fishing is capital, and, in all probability, 
 not to be excelled in any part of the world: 
 it would astonish the fly-fishers of the mother 
 country. Late in the season the river swarms 
 with grilse, affording excellent sport. 
 
 At the mouth of the Miramichi, and on the 
 whole north-eastern coast of New Brunswick, 
 there is abundance of wild fowl of every kind. 
 The immense flights of geese, ducks, and 
 other migratory birds, which annually pass 
 over to the northernmost parts of America, to 
 breed during the summer season, remain on the 
 
 coast for some time, returning to the south in 
 
 
 
 
 
38 ECHOES FROM 
 
 theautumn. Those who have read Audubon’s 
 magnificent work may form some idea of the 
 countless thousands of birds which constitute 
 “Sa flock” on these shores; but any attempt 
 at description by a less gifted pen would be 
 quite useless. Those only who have seen 
 these wonderful collections of waterfowl, and 
 heard their surprising clamour, can form any 
 idea of their extent, and, one might almost 
 say, grandeur—they are indeed wonderful. 
 The first British vessel which ever entered 
 the Miramichi was the frigate which con- 
 veyed the remains of Wolfe from Quebec to 
 England in 1759; that vessel, having encoun- 
 tered a storm in the Gulf, put in to refit, and 
 to obtain a further supply of water. A barge 
 was sent ashore for water, the whole crew 
 of which were barbarously murdered by the 
 
 Indians, incited, it is said, by some French 
 
 -_— 
 
 a 
 B ie 
 
 soldiers stationed at a small fort on the river. 
 
 “~ = 
 - 
 ——_ ie 
 
 Satisfaction, however, was taken on the spot, 
 
 for the frigate was placed abreast of the 
 
 a NEE Pe eo me | 
 
 = eee 
 ; = 
 s . — hy ee _— > ‘ 
 Se ee ee eS EPA GOES ANS ON Oe UM a I TN Cre sachsen er _— -: 
 if : . — ee = " _— 
 Te panto ne = - ial 
 ws on = ° o * ie af - > _ Tia c — ; 
 =< a ee LCs ego IT - i re ‘4 re : 
 x = 3% - ~ Sees _ ~~ aboot taee ~~ . > ~ = “eas 
 ; = ie ooo 3 
 
 — 
 
 y 
 
 
 
THE BACKWOODSs. 39 
 
 French fort, which was soon battered to 
 atoms, In going out of the river, the frigate 
 was “brought up” at Burnt Church Point, 
 all the buildings on which were battered 
 down. <A chapel, which had cost the French 
 a sum equal to £5,000 sterling, was set on 
 fire and wholly destroyed, whence the point 
 has since borne the name of “ Burnt Church.” 
 This point is now the property of the Miemae 
 Indians, who have their principal settlement 
 upon it, where they meet annually on the 
 feast of St. Anne, (26th July) to arrange all 
 the business of the year. They remain toge- 
 ther about a fortnight, when chiefs are elected 
 or deposed, marriages contracted, children 
 baptized, and the priests who attend instruct 
 the young in the articles of the Roman 
 Catholic faith, to which all the Indians of 
 New Brunswick belong. 
 
 The Tobique is one of the largest tribu- 
 taries of the St. John, and flows into that 
 
 river about twenty miles below the grand 
 
 
 
 
 
40 ECHOES FROM 
 
 falls; here is a settlement of the Milicete 
 Indians, who possess several thousand acres 
 of excellent upland: it has been explored 
 
 by Dr. Gesner. From one of his geolo- 
 
 gical reports of the province, it appears that 
 the tract of country on the shores of the 
 Tobique, which comprehends several millions 
 of acres, possesses most excellent soil on the 
 uplands, and is better adapted, owing to the 
 advantages offered by the river, to the circum- 
 stances of a respectable class of emigrants 
 and settlers than any district in New Bruns- 
 wick or Nova Scotia. The climate here is 
 milder than it is near the coast, the mercury 
 not rising to more than 90° Fahrenheit in the 
 middle of the day in July. A large area in 
 the district of the little south-west Miramichi, 
 
 which flows into the Tobique, many miles 
 
 a 
 
 4 eee Ah ee eee Re RN RT oe 9 RR eS ny 
 * a - 
 
 above the mouth of the Wapshegan, (signi- 
 
 fying, in the Indian tongue, ‘‘a river with a 
 
 owen 
 ee oo eee 
 
 wall at its mouth,”) was overrun with fires a 
 
 ——e 
 
 few years ago; and the dreary appearance of 
 
 . —_s - « 
 Poy - vy e 
 zs a Pi IFS 
 
 ook oa os wee - 
 
 <r 
 
 cane LO OE LEA LOAD 
 ~ _ este . . 
 
 
 
THE BACKWOODSsS. 4] 
 
 this part of the country is to be attributed 
 to that conflagration which took place about 
 1825; and the bright green forest is now 
 reduced to a lifeless waste. 
 
 It is probable that this conflagration was 
 the same that destroyed the towns and vil- 
 lages of Miramichi in October, 1825, It 
 extended over an area of six thousand square 
 miles, and for at least one hundred miles 
 along the banks of the river: six hundred 
 wretched persons perished in the flames, and 
 a million’s worth of property was destroyed. 
 Great praise is due to the humanity shown by 
 the people of England, who subscribed the 
 sum of £100,000 for the relief of the suf- 
 ferers; nor was Jonathan, be it said to his 
 credit, backward in contributing to that 
 object. 
 
 On leaving St. John, the road to Halifax 
 follows the line of the Kennebeckasis as far as 
 the head-waters of the Petitcodiac, which it 
 
 crosses near its source ; whence it follows the 
 
 
 
42 ECHOES FROM 
 
 course of that river to “the Bend,” some 
 hundred miles from the city of St. John. 
 Thescenery of Sussex Vale, throu ch which this 
 road passes, is exceedingly fine and striking ; 
 in many of the bogs and swamps there are 
 extensive deposits of bog iron ore, which 
 might be worked with great advantage, being 
 of good quality, and in the immediate neigh- 
 bourhood of abundance of wood for fuel; 
 and its proximity to the Westmoreland coal 
 field ought to be a further inducement to 
 engage in its manufacture. The bogs also 
 abound in the brown, yellow, and red oxides 
 of iron, which will afford ochres for pigments. 
 
 The river Petitcodiac is navigable for ves- 
 sels of one hundred tons for thirty-three 
 miles from its mouth, and the tide flows 
 
 inland some six and thirty; but the most 
 
 oe 
 
 extraordinary feature of the river is “‘ the 
 
 om 
 
 es 
 S nas 
 
 Bore,” Dr. Gesner’s account of which is so 
 
 interesting, that it must be its own apology 
 
 Salat ol , 
 
 for its introduction. ‘“ At the Bend,” writes 
 
 . ee 
 ee eee — - 
 
 ee ee nebianbiienhinanh shiabiaaitmeiiane bimeiaeie bh ie alte nanan 
 a —Iry ' 
 2) 
 
 pee ne a ss 
 
 ce ea 
 
 <r 
 
 > 
 >" eet oagiiae 
 
 » 
 
 [cs 
 
 
 
THE BACKWOODS. 4.3 
 
 that gentleman, “ the stream, having entered 
 from the south, turns suddenly to the west- 
 ward, at the distance of twenty miles from 
 its mouth. At this place the tide flows in 
 and ebbs off in six hours, running at the rate 
 of seven miles per hour. The flood tide is 
 accompanied by a tidal wave called the ore, 
 which at high tides is five, and sometimes six 
 feet high. The rushing of this overwhelming 
 wave produces a noise like that of a number 
 of steamboats in operation, and is one of the 
 most interesting spectacles the country affords. 
 The salmon and shad, urged forward by the 
 sweeping current, to avoid the force of the 
 stream, seek the shallow water near the 
 shores, where they are discovered by their 
 wake, chased by wading sportsmen, and fairly 
 caught. 
 
 “At low water, extensive flats are laid 
 bare; these are composed of fine shingle and 
 quicksands, which, with the Jore and rapid 
 
 tide, have been the cause of several ship- 
 
 
 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 a 
 _ . <<" 
 
 — 
 
 ey et ete ALE 
 
 — 
 4 
 . 
 > 
 ee 4 NS AP Oh RT SRY VE ™ - : — 
 Lee et ee a en we 
 - a ai = : 
 - nein ge Oe ee : : J —< ee 
 ; — S55 A l. Fonte baal - « ~ ” 
 h : Par - = ——— = - ° . 
 
 — 
 
 wy 
 _—- 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 44 ECHOES FROM 
 
 wrecks. The danger to vessels arises from 
 venturing too early on the flood and too late 
 on the ebb tide. In the first instance, they 
 overrun the tide, and are stranded in the 
 quicksands; in the second, the tide leaves 
 them before they arrive in deep water. 
 When thus situated, if they resist the fury 
 of the bore, the water washes the sand away 
 from the leeward side: they roll over before 
 the current, breaking their masts, and, finally, 
 filling with shingle, they are buried in a 
 sandy grave. The dore is much higher and 
 more violent in some parts of the river than 
 in others, a circumstance probably arising 
 from the configuration of the shore and the 
 bottom of the river. 
 
 “ At the Bend there is a considerable vil- 
 lage. The soil is chiefly of two kinds, the 
 sandy and the clayey. Lime, if judiciously 
 applied, would greatly improve both varie- 
 ties, and the admixture of marsh and mud 
 would increase the fertility of fields where 
 
 
 
— >. 
 
 THE BACKWOODS. 45 
 
 the clay is absent. There are large tracts of 
 marsh on each side of the Petitcodiae, of 
 which a portion has been diked, and is under 
 cultivation. 
 
 ‘The northern side of the coal district in 
 this quarter was observed about ten miles 
 from the entrance of the Petitcodiac. 
 
 “Coal appears on both sides of the Meram- 
 cook river, the Petitcodiac river, and ten 
 miles north of Shepody. The whole length 
 of the coal field of Westmoreland is upwards 
 of seventy miles; its average breadth, esti- 
 mating the area on each side of the Petitco- 
 diac, is about seventy miles. 
 
 *“ At Slack’s Cove and Drake’s Cove excel- 
 lent grind-stones are obtained from the nume- 
 rous strata of sand-stone which there abound, 
 and are the best stones for cutting and 
 polishing metals hitherto found in America. 
 The reefs are broken at low water, and masses 
 of rocks are secured to large boats; at high 
 water they are brought to the shore, where 
 
 a ee en 
 
 | 
 : 
 | 
 
 St eae ae ati ~e. 
 ia a ee 
 
 
 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 Lt PO ons Pee a = Sy a eee 
 ey CP ‘ 
 
 ECHOES FROM 
 
 
 
 4.6 
 
 they are cut by the workmen with great 
 
 facility into grinding stones from four to 
 
 _- 
 
 eight feet in diameter, and from six inches to 
 
 a foot in thickness. ‘These are called * water 
 stones,’ and are extensively used in the 
 United States, for grinding down and polish- 
 ing all kinds of cutlery. Other grindstones 
 HA) of less dimensions are made from the rocks 
 situated above the tide; these are used for 
 common purposes—the price of each stone 
 delivered on the shore is from two to three 
 
 shillings: they are sold in the United States 
 
 | ZZ from six shillings and threepence to nine 
 Ries shillings per stone. The trade is therefore 
 profitable. 
 
 ee ‘¢The Shediac coast is famous for its oysters, 
 A" which are so abundant that the inhabitants 
 
 Bar make use of their shells for manure. The 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 harbour of Shediac is safe and convenient 
 
 -<—\Ke 
 
 2 SRE 
 
 on 5 
 od. eee ~ ~ 
 S sited “om —- 
 
 for vessels of large size; but it is a curious 
 
 Se ee 
 ae < 
 
 fact that the numerous beds of oysters along 
 
 these coasts are constantly lessening the 
 
 
 
 ee ER were ee 
 
 = 
 ee eh eae ertaty SORA Qe ee Sep eee -- 
 apes : - 
 _— oa “ aaa ate 
 
 ~~ 
 
THE BACKWOODs. 47 
 
 depth of the sea, and gradually filling up 
 the bays. Lime prepared from these oyster- 
 shells is reported to have great effect when 
 applied to the light and sandy soil along this 
 line of coast, and to render it very fertile.” 
 
 In the neighbourhood of Fort Cumberland 
 and the Tantamar Marshes there is excellent 
 snipe-shooting, but the improvements and 
 draining at present in progress will in a few 
 years convert all into the richest land. The 
 country about is very fine, and a brother 
 officer described it as well worth a visit. He 
 drove his horses from Halifax to Windsor, 
 Kentville, Amherst, and back by Truro, and 
 during his trip contrived to bag six hundred 
 and fifty head of snipe and woodcocks, 
 
 There are large tracts of peat in every 
 part of New Brunswick wherever there is 
 low ground : this is occasioned by the decay 
 of mosses that are always found to flourish 
 in low lands. This peat is valuable for fuel, 
 
 but at present it is not necessary to use it 
 
 ee ee 
 
 | 
 F 
 if 
 I 
 I 
 i 
 | 
 lf 
 
 
 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 ee 
 
 ~~ ae are 
 
 a, 
 
 Se eee ee ae 
 
 ee ER ET PE 
 
 i oo 
 
 i ‘ . : 
 ee ee eee eee hae ete ol 0 OE REET oy 
 - - 
 
 
 
 a 
 
 
 
 
 48 ECHOES FROM 
 
 for such a purpose, owing to the vast quantity 
 of timber: however, by skilful management 
 it may be converted into excellent manure. 
 
 In many places there are to be found beds of 
 excellent clay of different colour, which are 
 adapted for making bricks; and Nature has 
 been bountiful enough to place strata of sand 
 beneath these beds, thereby affording to man 
 an easy way of providing for his comfort in 
 many respects ; for, without the sand, the clay 
 would not answer for burning. In addition 
 to a great supply of mineral ores, and the 
 climate being such as to produce the most 
 luxuriant growth of grain, according to 
 official returns, 3,634,280 acres have been 
 already granted to applicants for land in New 
 Brunswick, and 13,792,272 remain still at 
 the disposal of the Crown. Out of this 
 quantity of land 440,000 acres are cleared, but 
 there are about 12,000,000 acres capable of 
 immediate cultivation. The land in the 
 
 southern part of the province is not near so 
 
 
 
THE BACKWOODs. 49 
 
 well adapted to agricultural purposes as in 
 the other parts. 
 
 The district of Gaspé is an extensive 
 peninsula, about ninety miles in width from 
 the Bay of Chaleur to the Gulf of St. Law- 
 rence, with a coast line of two hundred and 
 fifty miles from Cape Chat to the Restigouche. 
 Gaspé Basin, which lies between Cape Gaspé 
 and Whale Head, runs about sixteen miles 
 into the land, and is about five miles broad. 
 This place is considered one of the best and 
 safest harbours in America ; being capable of 
 containing three hundred sail of vessels in 
 perfect security. 
 
 The inhabitants of Gaspé Basin are nearly 
 all fishermen, most of whom are exclusively 
 employed about the whale fishery. They 
 fit out every season four or five schooners, of 
 seventy or eighty tons each, manned with ten 
 or twelve men, who are engaged in whaling 
 during all the summer months. The fishery 
 yields about twenty thousand gallons of oil 
 
 VOL. I. D 
 
 
 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 < E 
 ih he eo tg a 
 Tete ~~ Ae the ~ 
 
 = 
 in 
 . : 
 ~~ to 
 ate REP ene, 
 a 
 
 5 L f a o. ' 
 4 3 - 
 3 f 
 hl A ORI EAGAN GILLS SALLE AA LM LOLS es ONE Ay IE A IIL Oe 
 Po - _ 
 - . ewes n « - . Se 
 
 
 
 Sele 
 
 innate a 
 
 
 
 
 50 ECHOES FROM 
 
 annually, which is sent to Quebec for a mar- 
 ket, and gives employment to about two 
 hundred men. 
 
 The whales are of the species called 
 « Humpbacks,” and yield about three tons of 
 oil each, but some of them have been taken 
 of the length of sixty or seventy feet, yield- 
 ing eight tons of oil. Hach schooner has 
 two whale-boats, with the usual outfit of 
 harpoons, lines, and lances. The whales 
 swim fast and are very shy. They appear off 
 the entrance of Gaspé Basin in the spring, 
 and the whalers follow them during the sum- 
 mer to the Island of Anticosti and the north 
 shore of the St. Lawrence, a wild and deso- 
 late region, frequented by a singular race of 
 Indians, known to the Canadians as “ Les 
 Montagnards,” or the Mountaineers. They 
 are supposed to be the last of the Algon- 
 quins. 
 
 This settlement in Gaspé Basin was formed 
 in 1764 by Felix O’Hara, Esq., late judge of 
 
THE BACKWOODs. a | 
 
 the district of Gaspé, who emigrated from 
 Ireland, and was the first person that settled 
 in Gaspé for agricultural purposes. He was 
 most deservedly and highly esteemed. 
 
 The cod-fish caught and cured on the 
 shores of Gaspé are generally of small size, 
 but are much liked in foreign markets, from 
 their being well preserved. This arises from 
 the fish being caught near the shore, and 
 being split and salted while perfectly fresh 
 and firm. The process of cleaning the fish 
 is Carried on in a very neat and expedi- 
 tious manner. The boats, as soon as they 
 return from the fishing-bank, run alongside 
 a stage, which is built over the water, on 
 which they are thrown out. The first man 
 who handles the fish cuts the throat with a 
 single stroke of his knife; then he slides it 
 along a sort of table to another, who whips 
 off the head, and drops it, with the entrails, 
 through a hole in the table into the water 
 beneath, retaining only the liver, which is 
 
 D 2 
 
 oe eee REZ a 
 
 il 
 
 aoa as 
 
 I 
 iq 
 t 
 
 a A it gt tl 
 
 
 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 ella 
 3 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 ee : 
 ae : —_ 
 a > 
 - —* yey o> 
 <= i ibipg — oe 
 — 
 
 . at 
 ~ 5 ms 
 a: 7k. 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 >. ee 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 52 ECHOES FROM 
 
 thrown into a tierce to make oil. The next 
 man splits the fish, and takes out the bone; 
 and on the manner in which these operations 
 are performed, in a great degree depends the 
 quality of fish for market. 
 
 When split, the fish are carried to a large 
 covered building, where, after being well 
 washed, they are rubbed with salt, and placed 
 in little flat piles on the floor to drain ; after 
 being sufficiently struck with salt, they are 
 carried out to the Shingle Beach to dry, or, 
 where there is no beach, are spread on long 
 narrow wicker frames, or stages set up for the 
 purpose. The labour of spreading and turning 
 the fish is incessant and severe: they require 
 to be frequently turned to prevent their being 
 scorched by the sun or salt-burnt. The 
 person who turns does so in a systematic 
 manner, with his right and left hand alter- 
 nately ; so that not one fish in thousands may 
 be missed. 
 
 After the fish are sufficiently cured, they 
 
THE BACKWOODS. 53 
 
 are collected and laid in small circles with 
 the tails outwards; these circles are continu- 
 ally built upon, each row being larger than 
 the one below it, until the pile is about three 
 feet high, when the circles begin to diminish, 
 so as to form a conical roof; this is covered 
 with birch-bark, and stones are laid upon it. 
 The piles are thus rendered impervious to the 
 heaviest rains, and in this position the fish are 
 left to season before being packed for expor- 
 tation. The bait used for cod are herring 
 and the caplin, a peculiar little fish, which 
 when dried, is considered a great luxury for 
 the table. In the latter part of the season, 
 when other bait becomes scarce, clams are 
 used, and the fishermen complain that they 
 frequently have more labour and undergo 
 more fatigue in procuring bait, than in taking 
 the cod afterwards. 
 
 The state of the law and the administra- 
 tion of justice in Gaspé have caused much 
 
 discontent for some time past, and commis- 
 
 
 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 ee en eer ere, es oe; 
 
 « 
 ae ek nie FEE Ee 0 CUS oe \ PE eRe + re ae ie 
 2 os ~” , oa 
 
 — 
 
 AAR ARE ITH —_ 
 
 os’ 
 
 
 
 ais 
 
 nea 
 a 
 
 
 
 
 
 eS 
 47 i 
 hy % he 
 
 ety 
 
 : if 
 
 . tien 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 54 ECHOES FROM 
 
 sioners were sent from Quebec last year to 
 report the true state of matters. 
 
 In Gaspé there are not only lead mines, 
 but also extensive beds of coal, not existing 
 in geological reports, but actually to be 
 found and worked. A company has been 
 lately established in London by royal char- 
 ter, for the purpose of carrying on the 
 fisheries and working the mines of Gaspé. 
 
 The agricultural district of Gaspé may be 
 said to commence at New Carlisle. To the 
 westward the land is not only better, but the 
 inhabitants are less devoted to fishing and 
 more to farming.’ 
 
 In all countries, however civilized, amongst 
 some of its inhabitants there will be found a 
 strong superstitious belief in divination, prac- 
 tised more or less by some of its votaries. 
 This is the case in New Brunswick, and an 
 absurd belief in the powers of divination 
 prevails to a great extent. A system ori- 
 
 ' For further particulars see Appendix, 
 
THE BACKWOODS. 55 
 
 ginally to be traced to the Druids, to awe 
 their superstitious followers, called “ the 
 mineral or divining rod,” has been introduced 
 into the province from the eastern American 
 States, and has found votaries among persons 
 otherwise intelligent. The power of divina- 
 tion is supposed to be contained in two small 
 phials fixed on pieces of whalebone, and 
 borne by the seventh son of a seventh son. 
 This is the person who alone can be success- 
 ful, and is always supposed to be infallible. 
 This rod is used for the purpose of discover- 
 ing concealed money and all kinds of mi- 
 nerals; even in places where they have no 
 real existence, except in the mind of the 
 infatuated. Much the same sort of supersti- 
 tious belief exists in Ireland, where they 
 listen to the supposed dreams of some old 
 hag, who declares that in her sleep she has 
 been informed of the identical spot where in 
 some ‘ rath” is to be found the ‘“ crock of 
 
 gould” so much sought after by the pisantry. 
 
 
 
56 ECHOES FROM 
 
 The measures of length, surface, and 
 weight, are the same as in England; the 
 measures of capacity, the same as in England 
 before the introduction of the imperial 
 measure. 
 
 The rate of exchange with Britain is fixed 
 by estimating the Spanish dollar at 5s. ecur- 
 rency, and 4s. 6d. sterling; but the actual 
 rate of exchange is 24s. currency for the 
 
 sovereign. Io bring sterling to currency, add 
 
 one fifth; to bring currency to sterling, deduct 
 
 one sixth, 
 
 
 
THE BACKWOODS. 
 
 a es 
 co — separ ° 
 
 sees 
 oS 
 a. Le 
 
 a a el ~~ tment OL ESS S = = — ae. > 
 rae - A : : 
 os ae ~. erent _ 
 Set oe ~— — en " ~ : 
 
 pecan ee en ae 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 NEW BRUNSWICK.—CONTINUED. 
 
 = en 
 
 — 
 
 The ice was here, the ice was there, 
 The ice was all around; 
 
 ee rere coe. 
 
 — 
 
 “ais SD OE Se 
 
 — oa 
 a 
 
 ——, 
 
 It crack’d and growl’d, and roar’d and howIl'd, 
 Like noises in a swound ! 
 COLERIDGE’S Ancient Mariner. 
 
 ee 
 
 Cobbett — 
 Amusing incident— 
 
 Towns— Labrador dogs— Horse-dealing 
 
 
 
 
 
 Agent for “ Morrison’s pills’ —A fire 
 
 f 
 
 Climate—Lumber, hard and soft wood—Below Nero— 
 
 on 
 
 Effects of frost—Skating—Sleighing—Coasting—Sleigh 
 Club—Corn-bin extraordinary—Perilous situation. 
 
 ne 
 =o _ _ 
 
 Fredericton, the capital of the province, is 
 built. on an extensive plain encircled by a 
 range of high lands in the rear, which rises 
 from the river at the lower extremity of the 
 plain, and closes in to the river above, leaving 
 
 o° and a 
 
 a level space, nearly four miles long, 
 
 mile wide at the broadest part. The river 
 
 forms a beautiful curve around this plain; 
 DS 
 
 
 
e 
 
 ne Se 
 nl q 
 
 iis 
 
 on 
 
 te 
 
 pe _ _ — 
 . - ~ == be a 
 Mt ed et te nn eee ee od mg — 
 aa a A EN GOL EG LEAN a! OG lt EE GNSS BEE EE 
 enews Se FRET Sa P < . = oan . wore 
 — ~~ >t rs “ ge ile = x i r 
 2 ear, % rte el . : . , 2 ™ ok 
 + >it = = <7 * — am ~ : , ea : -- eS ” 
 
 58 ECHOES FROM 
 
 and near the centre of the town, at what was 
 formerly called St. Ann’s Point, there is a ° 
 fine view of the river Nashwaak, which falls 
 into the St. John directly opposite. The 
 high grounds which surround Fredericton form 
 a beautiful steeply inclined plane, on which 
 several public and private buildings have been 
 erected. King’s College, on the acclivity of 
 this hill, is 171 feet long, and 59 feet wide, 
 with projections; it has a massive cornice 
 with pediment; and the principal material 
 of the building is the dark gray stone found 
 near its site. It consists of a basement with 
 two lofty stories; contains twenty rooms for 
 students, with the necessary accommodations 
 
 for the principal professors, attendants, and 
 
 servants. The situation of the college is 
 
 healthy, and commands a fine view of the 
 town and adjacent country. To the east- 
 ward, there is a full view of the river and 
 the surrounding country, as far as the 
 
 Oromucto. 
 
 
 
THE BACKWOODS. 59 
 
 A bishop has lately been appointed to New 
 Brunswick, and Fredericton has been con- 
 stituted an episcopal city. The erection of a 
 cathedral, to cost £30,000, has just been 
 commenced. Fredericton is 84 miles from 
 St. John. Steamers perform the distance in 
 eight hours; and, when the river becomes 
 frozen, it forms, for the greatest part of the 
 way, the sleigh-track between the two cities. 
 
 When approached by water from St. John, 
 the quiet and rural situation of this compara- 
 tive village is most pleasing. The river, here 
 three quarters of a mile in width, glides 
 smoothly, silently, and unruffled, past the 
 neat wooden range of barracks, with their 
 grassplot and fine old weeping willows, under 
 the broad shade of which, in the cool evening 
 of the Indian summer, the ladies of Fredericton 
 may listen to soft music. On the slope of 
 the range of hills behind the town, King’s 
 College, with its roof of iron, shines resplen- 
 
 dent in the sunshine; and, on the opposite 
 
 
 
60 ECHOES FROM 
 
 side of the river, the blue smoke from the 
 wigwams of the Indians curls up in wreaths 
 against the dark line of the pine forest, and, 
 reflected in the glassy surface of the river, 
 presents a picture of perfect repose: On the 
 day on which I first approached it, the heat 
 and mirage gave it that appearance only to 
 be seen in the best works of the inimitable 
 Claude. 
 
 Government House is placed some three 
 quarters of a mile up the river, on the same 
 side as the town; it is a handsome stone 
 building of three stories, with wings and a 
 semicircular portico, in a pleasant park and 
 near the banks of the river. In few of the 
 colonies are the governors more commodiously 
 or comfortably housed than in New Brunswick; 
 and no expense has been spared of late years 
 in furnishing and perfecting the house and 
 
 grounds. At this time, the amateurs of the 
 
 Labrador dog might have been gratified to 
 
 see sixteen or eighteen of this noble breed 
 
 
 
 
 
THE BACKWOODS. 61 
 
 rush into the water, and contend for the 
 Governor’s prize—his walking-stick. They 
 were of the true sort, with fine intelligent 
 countenances; and when they emerged from 
 the river, the water ran from their silky 
 and jet-black coats as from a tarpauling 
 covering. 
 
 Some twelve miles below Fredericton is the 
 town of Oromucto, situated on the mouth of 
 the river of that name, where it joins the 
 St. John. In New Brunswick they have had 
 the good taste in general to preserve the 
 Indian names of the rivers, which invariably 
 express their character. Thus the “ Oro- 
 mucto” signifies “the deep rolling river ;” 
 the “ Washadamoak,” which is passed lower 
 down, is the “ River of Rapids,” and the 
 ‘* Beggaguimmick,” a stream above Frederic- 
 ton, is the “‘ Dancing Stream,” the “ Richi- 
 bucto,” the “ River of the Burnt Country,” 
 &c., &c. It is a thousand pities ever to 
 change such names for such as are compre- 
 
 - \ ss 
 
 
 

 
 a 
 
 ae hal 
 
 
 
 ~ 
 a 
 
 
 
 : ¥ 
 - Ope er ee | 
 
 eer 
 
 as < 
 Se ee 
 
 ~e CO 8 OR ROE ERT CNTR CR SEt ee ee eee ee ~*> 
 om yy _ . =" - . . St SY 
 
 a oes 
 
 62 ECHOES FROM 
 
 hended in the vile catalogue from which the 
 Yankees generally contrive to select the 
 most inappropriate. 
 
 Opposite to Gagetown, a small village 30 
 miles below Fredericton, is the Gemseg, or 
 outlet of the Grand Lake; and lower down is 
 “The Mistake,” a long creek, the entrance 
 to which is of equal width with the main 
 stream, and has so much the appearance of 
 being the channel of the river, that few are 
 they who have made the upward trip in either 
 sail or row boat but have, after a long sail or 
 a tough row, discovered the end of the deceit- 
 ful creek, and been obliged to return to the 
 main stream. 
 
 The scenery of St. John is decidedly fine: 
 on either side alluvial meadows of the richest 
 soil produce fine hay crops; and, like the 
 valley of the Nile, are regularly “ top-dressed” 
 by the periodical floods of the river. Further 
 down is found the entrance to Belleisle Bay, 
 
 where the winter road from St. John de- 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
+ 
 = ee 
 
 THE BACKWOODS. 63 
 
 bouches upon the river, whence it follows its 
 course on the ice to Fredericton. Occasionally 
 a large vessel is seen on the stocks in the 
 numerous lateral creeks or still waters off the 
 main river, From the junction of the Nerepis 
 with the St. John, the latter expands into a 
 fine sheet of water. The bay of Kenebekasis 
 opens on the left—that passed, the channel of 
 the river becomes again confined by bold rocks, 
 fringed with spruce firs: here and there an 
 Indian wigwam peeps from among them, 
 while an occasional birch canoe, silently and 
 cautiously paddled along shore, contrasts its 
 gay cargo of gaudy-coloured workmanship 
 with the dark shadows of the firs, and gives a 
 picturesque finish to the long course of the 
 river St. John, or *‘ Looshtook.” 
 
 On the 18th day of May, 1783, the first 
 of a sturdy band of loyalists landed upon the 
 rocky peninsula where now stands the city of 
 St. John. It was then covered with a dense 
 and tangled forest, and the first comers cleared 
 
 —————EEEEE— —_ ——EEE ee i ~—_<—_—_—— — = 
 : 
 “ £ 
 - 
 
 
 
 
 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 eae 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 —_ 
 a ; 
 
 _ aS Se om oe en "x 
 
 = a2 er % =e 
 
 
 
 
 
 64 ECHOES FROM 
 
 away the trees and underwood only sixty-two 
 years since, from a spot of ground now covered 
 with costly buildings, and daily thronged 
 with eager crowds, busily engaged in carry- 
 ing on a thriving, prosperous, and extensive 
 trade. From this small beginning a city has 
 sprung up, which, with its suburbs, now 
 numbers nearly 30,000 inhabitants, and carries 
 on a large business with all parts of the 
 world; and even before the roots of the trees 
 which were cut down by the loyalists have 
 rotted away, or their toils and privations have 
 ceased to be a subject of conversation, there 
 is to be found every means and appliance 
 of refinement and luxury, and all the sub- 
 stantial comforts of modern days. 
 
 The city stands on rugged, rocky, and uneven 
 plots of ground; but, within a few years, 
 large sums have been expended in levelling 
 and filling up, so that the streets now present 
 excellent thoroughfares, inclined on easy 
 
 slopes. St. John, being an incorporated city, 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
THE BACKWOODS. 65 
 
 is governed by a mayor, recorder, six alder- 
 men, and six assistants, under the style of 
 “The Mayor, Aldermen, and Commonalty of 
 the city of St. John.” The mayor, recorder, 
 common clerk, sheriff, and coroner, are ap- 
 pointed by the governor. The aldermen and 
 assistants are chosen annually by the free- 
 men of the city. 
 
 The port of St. John is convenient and 
 safe, and sufficiently spacious to accommo- 
 date a great number of vessels. The ebb 
 and flow of the tide is from twenty-four to 
 thirty feet perpendicular; and one of the most 
 important advantages of the harbour is, that 
 in the most severe winter it is free of ice. 
 
 Within the harbour is a valuable fishery : 
 several thousand barrels of gaspereaux are 
 taken annually, with many thousand salmon 
 and shad. The salmon are now sent by the 
 steamers, packed in ice, to Boston, where 
 they fetch high prices; and this fishery has 
 become exceedingly valuable, 
 
 = 
 a ee 
 
 ae ee 
 
 : = es = ’ 
 ee a 
 
 
 
66 ECHOES FROM 
 
 The imports into St. John consist chiefly of 
 British manufactures and colonial produce; 
 the exports are lumber, fish, furs, oils, and 
 lime, masts, spars, and other timber. 
 
 Ships of a fine class are built here of the 
 spruce and birch of the country: they sail 
 well, look smart and taunt on the water, and, 
 although not in general treated to copper, 
 answer the purpose for which they have been 
 built. From the Bays of Miramichi and 
 Chaleurs, Chinecto and St. Andrew’s, besides 
 bays and rivers too numerous to specify, are 
 launched others equally fine. Here, as in 
 Holland, the stranger is often surprised to 
 come suddenly upon a huge vessel, construct- 
 
 ing in the settler’s kitchen-garden, to launch 
 
 which he has to trust to his own ingenuity, 
 
 and to Providence for a deluge. 
 
 Besides the steamers which ply on the river, 
 between St. John and Fredericton, there is 
 steam communication to Annapolis and 
 
 Windsor in Nova Scotia, to St. Andrew’s and 
 
 
 
THE BACKWOODS. 67 
 
 Eastport in the State of Maine and the Bay 
 of Passamaquoddy; and, during the time we 
 were stationed at St. John, a fine boat, the 
 Royal Tar, was built to run to Portland, in 
 the United States. Unluckily, when on her 
 third or fourth trip, she took fire and burnt 
 to the water’s edge. On board was a large 
 menagerie of wild beasts, all of which were 
 either burnt or drowned, with the exception 
 of an elephant, which contrived to get clear of 
 the vessel and swim to land; much to the 
 astonishment of some of the Penobscot In- 
 dians, attracted to the shore by the sight of 
 the vessel in flames. The “Sea Serpent ” 
 case has puzzled Europeans; what could have 
 astonished the red men more than to see a 
 huge animal of whose existence they knew 
 nothing swimming lustily to shore? Sir 
 Humphrey Davy’s opinion of this supposed 
 monster is decidedly the best which has been 
 adduced: he says—“ The Sea Snakes seen by 
 
 American and Norwegian captains have, I 
 
 
 
68 ECHOES FROM 
 
 think, generally been a company of porpoises, 
 
 the rising and sinking of which in lines would 
 give somewhat the appearance of the coils of 
 a snake.” Such is Sir H. Davy’s opinion of 
 the Sea Serpent, and not a bad one either. 
 The merchants of St. John are most enter- 
 prising, and great fortunes are often made in a 
 very short time—sometimes lost in much less. 
 It is said that to a successful haul of herrings 
 may be traced the rise of the richest man in the 
 province. They will embark in any probable spe- 
 culation—witness the Suspension Bridge over 
 the river St. John; nosooner proposed by a 
 cunning Yankee, than £20,000 were instantly 
 forthcoming. A tinge of the Yankee occa- 
 sionally appears amongst innkeepers and that 
 class of men. I once wrote to ‘‘ mine host ” 
 of a tavern kept in St. John to inquire what 
 price he put upon a neat gray horse, which he 
 possessed, and which I was anxious to buy 
 for a leader in my sleigh. I received the fol- 
 
 lowing laconic answer :— 
 
 
 
THE BACKWOODS. 69 
 
 Mr. Scoales will not take less than £¥5 
 for his gray horse till he alters his mind.” 
 
 The streets of St. John are laid out regu- 
 larly, and at right angles. King’s Square, at 
 the top of the town, I have seen filled with 
 the militia of the district; as fine and as loyal 
 a body of men as any in her Majesty’s domi- 
 nions. In the late war, the 104th Regiment 
 or New Brunswick Fencibles, were raised 
 here, sent’ over the Portage to Quebec on 
 snow-shoes, and did good service for the 
 mother country. The original settlers of St. 
 John were, as before stated, loyalists, who left 
 the United States when they obtained their 
 Independence, and raised the few fishing-huts 
 which then stood in ‘ Bush ” into the city of 
 St. John. At the same time, many negro 
 families arrived, who are still located in the 
 “back slums.” 
 
 As to “lions,” they must of necessity be few. 
 The house inhabited by Lord Edward Fitz- 
 gerald is still standing—a mere log hut, by 
 
 
 
——————————— _ 
 
 ‘ 7 —- 
 
 ee om 
 ~ ~~ a 
 - oo 
 
 Ss 
 
 oe 
 
 ait, 
 
 Ce ee ee ee ee es 
 
 FT Cm pate ee ete GEN RS ENR RN eR 9 I RR 7 REET eS ne ER 
 
 — Sr 2 te 7 We raee va . . ~—N “ rw 
 
 : i ‘ ad NS Rare : oe e 
 
 GS -ssheue . : oe! ¢ “ An hd i Co xo Se —— 
 Pee rs ae a ne as es - 
 
 79 ECHOES FROM 
 
 comparison with the smart houses built by the 
 present generation. Cobbett was stationed 
 here, and married a wife who lived on Fort 
 Howe Hill. He says in some of his writings 
 that he fell in love with her (as he was going 
 to parade) at the door of a small log hut, 
 where she was busily employed in serubbing 
 the milk-pails. He was sergeant-major in the 
 same regiment with Lord Edward; and wrote, 
 when stationed here, a clever treatise on the 
 tides and navigation of the Bay of Fundy. 
 The greatest living curiosity, at the time I 
 was stationed there, was the agent for ‘* Mor- 
 rison’s Pills.” That compounder of bread 
 and gamboge, and prince of quacks, had most 
 judiciously selected the fattest and most 
 healthy-looking commercial ambassador to 
 
 puff off his concoctions; and a peep at the 
 
 bloated charlatan must have been the strongest 
 
 recommendation to the efficacy of his me- 
 dicine. 
 
 At the time of our arrival, the town of St. 
 
 
 
THE BACKWOODS. 71 
 
 John was built almost entirely of wood, and 
 had the bad luck to be burnt down, more or 
 less, every four or five years; and that part 
 which escaped one conflagration was generally 
 included in the next. At this time there 
 existed but one house—with the exception of 
 the banks—built of stone, the inhabitants of 
 
 which were known as the Stonehouse P 
 
 
 
 8, 
 the better to distinguish them from their 
 wooden connexions. 
 
 One night after mess, a messenger arrived 
 from the mayor, stating that a fire had broken 
 out in the town. A strong armed piquet was 
 instantly despatched: scarcely had they left 
 the barracks, before a second messenger made 
 his appearance, reporting that fears were en- 
 tertained lest the whole town would be con- 
 sumed. All hands then turned out, and went 
 down at the “ double march.” It blew a gale 
 of wind. The thermometer stood at 7° below 
 zero, the fire raged, every thing was frozen 
 
 up, and no water was to be obtained, except 
 
 
 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 (his ECHOES FROM 
 
 in the immediate neighbourhood of the wharfs. 
 The scene of confusion was beyond description. 
 Gentlemen, either from over-excitement or in- 
 ebriation, floundered into tar-barrels, took 
 fire, and rushed about requesting to be extin- 
 guished; one had, partly from the above 
 cause, partly from fatigue, sat down in a 
 wheelbarrow on one of the quays; it was 
 within the influence of a hose, the spray 
 from which, aided hy 39° of frost below 
 the freezing point, soon made him part and 
 parcel of the barrow. A friend found him, 
 and no one being at hand, he was wheeled off 
 to be cut out. 
 
 To the ladies it appeared the greatest pos- 
 sible fun, throwing beds, wardrobes, and all 
 their finery out of the windows, and trusting 
 to friends to carry them to the banks or other 
 places of safety. On the part of the autho- 
 rities of the town, there was neither order, 
 system, nor regularity observed; it was every 
 
 one for himself, and the soldiers for them all. 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
THE BACKWOODs. Vo 
 
 In the hope of cutting off the fire, grappling- 
 hooks with long ropes attached to them were 
 thrown over houses, and by the force of a 
 hundred men pulled bodily down. The officers 
 and men worked like horses. But all was to 
 no purpose : 
 
 The grappling-hook plucks rafters from the walls, 
 
 And heaps on heaps the smoky ruin falls. 
 
 Blown by strong winds, the fiery tempest roars, 
 
 Bears down new walls, and pours along the floors. 
 
 The fire raged unchecked, as ashes and burn- 
 ing shingles were carried by the wind, and 
 fresh houses and streets ignited. Notwith- 
 standing the flames and the exertion of the 
 men, sO intense was the cold, that many of 
 them were frost-bitten. 
 
 All hopes of extinguishing the fire being 
 abandoned, one of the authorities sent to the 
 commanding-officer, requesting that guards 
 might be despatched to the different roads lead- 
 ing out of the town; for that sleigh-loads of 
 plunder (the bells being taken off the horses to 
 
 VOL. I. E 
 
 
 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 74 ECHOES FROM 
 
 ni enable them to get away unheard) were carried 
 off, and boats were employed by sea for the 
 same purpose. I proceeded with the picquet 
 to one of the roads; the cold was so severe 
 that we were obliged to run up and down to 
 keep the blood in circulation, and had not 
 i enjoyed this jog-trot exercise long, when the ! 
 hag 1 sergeant reported that an unnaturally fat 
 
 woman was coming along, and at a very slow 
 
 nae pace, considering the state of the atmosphere ; , 
 ) hinting, at the same time, at some comparisons 
 vt with a lady of Carlton (on the other side of the 
 river), who a few days previously had blessed 
 4 ; Be ‘the province with four little Bluenoses* at 
 4 " one birth. She was examined, and safely 
 : wn delivered of quantities.of plunder, which she 
 | had swathed round her body. 
 
 j Alongside of the South Market Wharf lay 
 
 
 
 
 
 a tier of vessels, and, some powder having ex- 
 
 . ” = 
 wmevelttec 
 ee 
 
 | 
 Bees t . 
 4 ploded, the one nearest to the wharf was in 
 
 a 
 ee 
 
 
 
 New Brunswick are called Bluenoses. 
 
 Reg: 
 "sw 
 
 Fei it 1 All persons born in the provinces of Nova Scotia and 
 5 
 
 * “ . 
 ” re : 4 n 
 . Pye Oy ee re. ee 
 
 ae Tk . 
 A 
 
 
 
 arn Oe PR OE GOO eEePer ayer & Spe a RO Oe 
 ~ “ 
 
 4 
 ’ 
 ——— > 
 
THE BACKWOODS. 75 
 
 imminent danger. An inhabitant of the town, 
 Mr. W 
 
 who, with a party of the regiment, had saved 
 
 
 
 , went up to Corporal Harrison, 
 
 upwards of two hundred casks of spirits on 
 
 the said wharf—and slapped him on the back 
 
 
 
 —‘‘ Corporal,” said he, “we are not afraid of 
 a little powder.”—“ No,” replied Harrison— 
 “ nor a great deal of fire either.” 
 
 The heat had by this time become so intense 
 as to set fire to the fore-topsail of the brigan- 
 tine—and a second explosion almost imme- 
 diately took place. All hands then left the 
 vessels to their fate, and all of them must 
 have perished, had it not been for the gallant 
 conduct of the above mentioned Corporal 
 Harrison and private John Burgess, who 
 went aloft, and by means of the signal-hal- 
 liards, with a bucket attached to. each end, 
 managed to keep the sails sufficiently wet to 
 stay the progress of the flames and to pre- 
 vent further mischief. The tide then began 
 to make, and a boat with some sailors 
 
 E 2 
 
 — =S 
 
 a 
 
 a 
 
 ms 
 
 | 
 
 4 
 if 
 
 
 
~~ 
 
 
 
 
 
 & ah A 
 paar 
 > 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 a Oy = 
 
 " "hn 
 eos 
 
 
 
 
 aI 
 
 
 
 
 “ = oy . —. ah 
 One aE ye ep FT 2 ree ee on heared ae = ger 
 - . -~ , eee 
 
 _ , 
 Ay AO eT NT PE, 
 
 ~ 
 
 ee 
 
 2 ? 
 ‘ 
 a) 
 ~it ae 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 76 ECHOES FROM 
 
 ame to their assistance: a rope was made 
 fast to the wharf, and the vessels were hanled 
 clear of the fire and further damage. 
 
 Corporal William Harrison and Private 
 John Burgess, for their daring conduct on this 
 occasion, were presented with the freedom of 
 the city of St. John. Quere, would they not 
 have benefited much more by a ten pound 
 note ¢ 
 
 Towards daybreak the fire was at its 
 ereatest pitch. Numbers of casks, filled with 
 oil and blubber, took fire. The effect was 
 sublime, and the liquid sheet of flame was 
 seen for sixty miles in all directions.’ 
 
 | By this fire, which broke out on the 14th of January, 1837, 
 and consumed 115 houses and stores, many of them valuable 
 and full of merchandize, more than one-third of the “ busi- 
 ness” part of the city, containing buildings and property to 
 the amount of £250,000, was swept away. In August, 1839, 
 another destructive fire swept off about 200 buildings, 
 likewise in the business part of the city; and these two 
 ereat fires have been followed by others of less amount. 
 The erection of wooden buildings is now prohibited by law; 
 many massive ranges of stone and brick at present oc- 
 cupy the places of the old wooden shanties, and the town 
 wears an altogether different appearance. 
 
 
 
 
 
THE BACKWOODS. 77 
 
 Notwithstanding the changes from extreme 
 heat to intense cold, the climate of New 
 Brunswick is particularly healthy. The sum- 
 mers are fine; fogs occasionally prevail at 
 St. John, and in the immediate neighbour- 
 hood of the Bay of Fundy. The autumn (so 
 expressively termed ‘‘ the fall”) is delightful, 
 particularly the two latter months known as 
 “the Indian summer,” at which time the 
 early frosts tinge the leaves of the hard wood 
 with the brightest colours imaginable. The 
 effect of this varied foliage, of every shade of 
 yellow, scarlet, and purple, when contrasted 
 with the deep greens of the fir tribe, is striking 
 in the highest degree, and can only be com- 
 pared to a painter’s pallet, or a modern picture 
 of “ La Jeune France” school. This season 
 is most enjoyable, and the sunsets are glo- 
 rious. About Christmas the snow has fallen, 
 and the frost may be said to have fairly set 
 in. The sun shines bright and clear in the 
 
 deep blue heavens. Though the thermometer 
 
 
 
78 ECHOES FROM 
 
 may be down to five-and-twenty degrees below 
 zero, there is something particularly exhila- 
 rating in the dry, clear air. The nights are 
 proportionably fine, and the northern lights 
 may be seen in all their glory, often assuming 
 that beautiful rose colour nowhere to be wit- 
 nessed so grand as in the northern latitudes. 
 
 Then the lumberers repair to the backwoods 
 in search of the pine and spruce fir, which 
 grow to enormous heights, often two hundred 
 feet, perfectly straight and healthy, and so 
 close together as to be self-pruned; a knife 
 should never be applied to any of the fir tribe 
 (a pernicious practice too often perceptible in 
 English plantations), it only causes the tree 
 to bleed. The axes of the American lum- 
 berers are totally different from those used in 
 the old world. The haft, made of hickory, 
 is curved, and has a knob at the end; in de- 
 livering the stroke, the axe is swung as high 
 
 as the head, the hands slipping up to the knob. 
 
 Iwo backwoodsmen will fell one of these huge 
 
 
 
THE BACKWOODS. 79 
 
 pines in an incredibly short time. Of course 
 when a tree is thus cut breast high, in addition 
 to perhaps three feet of snow upon which the 
 man may have been standing, there is a 
 waste of timber which, although not thought 
 of in the forests of America, would be a seri- 
 ous consideration in England. When felled 
 and snagged, one end of the tree is placed 
 upon a small sleigh, and dragged out of the 
 bush by oxen. It is then piled along with 
 others upon the frozen rivers, and the mass is 
 carried down by the stream when the ice 
 breaks up; passing in its progress through 
 lakes, and from river to river, till it reaches 
 the St. John, where the logs are claimed by 
 their different owners, formed into rafts, and 
 finally descend to St. John, whence they are 
 shipped for England. 
 
 A propos to timber, it is a curious fact 
 that, in the forests of North America, should 
 the primeval growth be hard wood, oak, beech, 
 
 birch, hickory, maple, &c., and be cut down ez 
 
 
 

 
 
 
 80 ECHOES FROM 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 masse, pine or firs spring up in their stead, 
 
 i and vice versa: further, should the second 
 
 
 
 
 a fa growth be allowed sufficient time to attain 
 
 
 
 
 Sie vi: any size, the same effect will ensue on felling 
 
 
 
 
 that, and so ad infinitum. The same thing 
 
 
 
 
 may be observed in the forests of Carniola and 
 y 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 ee Bohemia ; it is the case in all natural forests 
 3 ? 
 an | 
 iy. ae ; \ . . 
 we ae and was also remarked by Franklin in the 
 sterile districts inhabited by the Esquimaux. 
 The cold during the winter nights is very 
 Me severe. he sentinels are frequently obliged 
 3 . 
 t to be relieved every half hour, and the officers, 
 so long as they are beardless, may . enjoy 
 3h horizontal refreshment in peace; but when 
 they obtain those manly appendages, yclept 
 eet whiskers, they find that turning in bed becomes | 
 Be tie P o . 
 ine hopeless, and, being “ brought up with a round | 
 | i turn,” discover that they are frozen to the 
 ie sheets; and we were told that families have 
 ae a be ral } hair ; 
 Wt | ! een awakened by their house becoming roof- 
 Pie ‘ eS = . . ‘ 
 i # less, owing to the intensity of the frost having 
 i‘ Hie 
 Bi) i. 4 extracted the nails by which the shingles | 
 . pat | 
 = ped 
 | 
 me if thai 
 tee 
 aie. 
 
 ee] 
 
 ee 
 * Te eee 
 
THE BACKWOODS. Si 
 
 were fastened to the rafters. Provisions are 
 brought into St. John frozen hard, and they will 
 keep perfectly well so long as the frost lasts ; 
 it is ludicrous enough to see pigs, hares, and 
 large cod-fish frozen stiff, and carried by a leg 
 or tail over a man’s shoulder like a musket. 
 
 One evening a discussion as to the degree 
 of cold led to a bet, and the commanding 
 officer’s orderly was sent to ascertain what 
 the thermometer stood at outside the window. 
 The major’s servant ingenuously brought the 
 thermometer into the room, and looked at it 
 by the light of the fire; the mercury, thus 
 suddenly astonished, naturally ran up at a 
 tremendous pace. In the conversation which 
 took place between him and the orderly he 
 was overheard exclaiming, ‘‘ Wait till it stops, 
 Bob! Now, tell the major it is at forty-five 
 notches above Nero.” 
 
 Skating, sleighing, and dancing are the 
 amusements of the opulent; so anxious were 
 some of the young ladies to make their debit, 
 
 E 9 
 
 es 
 
 4 
 
 | 
 : 
 ; 
 | 
 5 
 4 
 
 
 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 82 ECHOES FROM 
 
 | Bie bi that at one of the balls a fair creature, whom 
 Hs f the morning’s /econ had advanced only to the 
 third figure of the quadrilles, stood up to 
 | He dance with a brother officer; on arriving at 
 ?été, she deliberately walked off, and returned 
 to her place, exclaiming, ‘“‘ Now I guess I'll 
 sit down; I don’t know any more,” leaving her 
 partner to make his peace with her vis-a-vis. 
 he Yachting on the frozen Kenebekasis was 
 but a frigid amusement at the best. The 
 a manufacture of an ice-boat is simple enough: 
 Bar over two long skates are placed any construc- 
 tion sufficient to hold the party, and a long 
 ; r pole is lashed across at right angles, which 
 | prevents the boat from capsizing. When the | 
 p wind is high, she flies over the ice at a most | 
 | terrific rate; and goes so near the wind, that 
 
 the least touch of the helm sends her round, 
 
 3 ye 
 oo 
 
 on v4 . 
 - S = 
 Re Oe ERE RPP Ee ere = > os 
 _—e ° owe “ 
 o . Sect © 
 
 when she is instantly off again on the other 
 
 : tack. <A favourite amusement is coasting. 
 
 
 
 On moonlight nights, a party repair to the 
 
 i top of some steep frozen descent, and ladies 
 
 i ot ee 
 So a ge Sa 
 
 ee 
 _ 
 
 
 
 
 on ee RE, IS YR RNR AS eS ae PERI Cn YT Oe PRS: 
 * ~“ 
 Se Ans ae RNS a 7 a 
 —— "Ee eek ee ~ 
 a es acu . 
 ye 
 
 
 
 
 
 eras 
 
 Tut be t 
 at Re 
 
 - bes ts 
 ; teil ae 
 “Shaan 
 WY . 
 
 . “= S 
 
 
 
 
 iy 
 | 
 | 
 
 | 
 
 | 
 
THE BACKWOODS. 83 
 
 and gentlemen in pairs seat themselves upon 
 little sleighs or coasters, and push them off. 
 After a thaw the frost makes the surface of 
 the snow as slippery as glare ice; the pace is 
 then awful, and the roll in the snow propor- 
 tionate. They are steered in their headlong 
 descent by a slight pressure of the heel; but 
 the Bluenose ladies, being more au fazé at it 
 than we were, sat in front and guided them. 
 The meeting of the Tandem Club was a 
 very gay aflair; twice in each week, twenty 
 sleighs, painted of the most gaudy colours, 
 and decked out with furs of all kinds, trimmed 
 with fringe of different colours, drove off from 
 the barracks or other rendezvous. The last 
 married lady was selected as chaperon, and 
 there were plenty of fair candidates for the 
 drive. The brass band and merry bells added 
 not a little to the cheerfulness of the scene. 
 The sleighs used in New Brunswick are of 
 all forms and kinds—from that constructed 
 
 with a couple of ash-poles (a nick alone dis- 
 
 
 

 
 oe” 
 
 8 4 ECHOES FROM 
 
 tinguishing where the runners terminate and 
 the shafts commence) with a few boards placed 
 across to support a barrel, in which the victim 
 sits or stands, to the double or single sleighs 
 on high runners, not forgetting the Madawaska 
 Cariole, the height of luxury and the perfec- 
 tion of locomotion, and in which you recline, 
 covered up to the chin in furs. It is abso- 
 lutely necessary in the construction of a 
 sleigh that the “runners” should be a good 
 distance apart, and “ flare out” sufficiently ; 
 for, should the road be covered with ice and 
 “bogged up” in the centre, the sleigh will 
 slide to one side with great velocity, particu- 
 larly when turning a corner sharp. This 
 is called “ sewing,” and the slightest impedi- 
 ment on the ice will then be sufficient to upset 
 the sleigh. When a “slew” takes place, it is 
 necessary to pull the shaft-horse with it; a 
 beginner is sure to do exactly the reverse, and 
 is certain to be capsized. Even a high wind 
 
 is sufficient to blow a sleigh round in an ex- 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
THE BACKWOODS. 85 
 
 posed situation, and upon “ glare ice,” when 
 an upset is likely to happen, unless the runners 
 “flare out” well at bottom. 
 
 I originally purchased a sleigh with faulty 
 runners; and had several upsets and smashes, 
 on which occasions the wreck alone of the 
 “conveyance” reached barracks. One day, 
 out sleighing on the Kenebekasis, the ice 
 was glare, and in the most perfect order: 
 there was not the slightest draught, and my 
 horses were trotting along merrily at the rate 
 of twelve miles an hour, when, all at once, a 
 squall of wind caught the sleigh and spun it 
 round; and the runners at the same time 
 encountering some roughness on the surface, 
 the sleigh was upset, and the horses, as is 
 generally the case, instantly set off at full 
 gallop; for some time I was held in by the 
 apron, and slipped along on my side, keeping 
 a tight hold of the reins. The leader was 
 galloping like a Caraboo, and the shaft-horse 
 
 giving oceasional kicks at the mass of encum- 
 
 
 
~ 
 u 
 3 
 b: 
 rs 
 7 
 ? 
 Pa 
 
 " 
 tie 
 1 ie 
 7 it int 
 ear) 
 s 
 >" 
 ve 
 ike 
 ie 
 >a 
 mht i 
 uj 
 ; 
 \ 
 q 
 
 
 
 86 ECHOES FROM 
 
 brance about his heels. At length the apron 
 gave way, and, still holding on by “the 
 ribbons,” I was jerked off in the manner of 
 one of those swings used in gymnastic acade- 
 mies, to be as quickly banged against the 
 splash-board ; and, four or five of these coups 
 coming in quick succession, I was obliged to 
 shorten my hold of the reins, and, the dis- 
 tance between the shaft-horse’s heels and my 
 head being in consequence much diminished, 
 I thought with the knight “that discretion 
 was the better part of valour,” and—let go. 
 On getting up and shaking myself, I saw 
 my servant, who had been pitched out of the 
 hind seat, some three quarters of a mile 
 behind, and the distance between him and 
 myself preserved in perspective by sundry 
 cushions, skins, linings, and bits of fringe; 
 and, on turning to look after the sleigh, I had 
 the felicity to see the horses still going 
 ‘“* Derby pace,” and just debouching from the 
 
 ice, “steering wild” for a gap ina “ zigzag” 
 
THE BACKWOODS. 87 
 
 fence. Bang they went against the rails, 
 giving the coup de grace to the proceeding, 
 and going well away into the woods with the 
 shafts dangling about their heels. I then 
 built a new sleigh. 
 
 The painting and trimming up of the 
 sleigh depend much upon the taste of the pos- 
 sessor; the general colours are dark bodies, 
 with scarlet runners. I found that a white 
 ground, picked out with bright vermilion, 
 and bear and buffalo skins, with a liberal 
 quantity of deep scarlet curtain fringe, and 
 scarlet cloth, cut into scallops, arranged in 
 studied confusion, the whole furnished with 
 a huge pair of moose-horns in front, looked 
 extremely light and gay on the snow; and the 
 white, from being relieved by the vermilion, 
 had no dirty appearance when contrasted with 
 the snow. 
 
 The horses bred in the province are com- 
 pact little animals, and trot at a tremendous 
 
 pace, particularly upon glare ice; so docile 
 
 
 

 
 88 ECHOES FROM 
 
 are they, from being brought up in the honse 
 as part of the family, and so attached are the 
 Bluenoses to them, that a man, hearing I pos- 
 sessed a gray horse (a famous trotter) which 
 he had bred, came a long distance to see him. 
 Two years had elapsed since he had sold him; 
 he might have been “a whisperer ;” but no 
 sooner had he entered the stables, and spoken 
 to him, than the horse reared upon his hind- 
 legs, and showed every symptom of recognition 
 and delight. I drove that horse and another, 
 without the least preparation, from St. John 
 to Fredericton in ten hours; the ice was in 
 good order; the distance eighty-four miles, 
 An officer of the 52nd made a match against 
 a stage-driver, a noted character in the pro- 
 vince, to perform the same distance. One of 
 the driver’s horses dying from over-exertion, 
 the gallant captain was enabled to win his 
 match in six hours and a half! 
 
 A propos to the sagacity of the horse— 
 awkward disclosures will out. It happened 
 
THE BACKWOODS. 89 
 
 that a friend of mine had embarked largely 
 in farming, and, according to the usual free- 
 masonry of his fraternity, maintained that it 
 was a losing concern—and that all of his 
 trade profess all and every year of their lives, 
 although the crops were fine, that they never 
 paid him. A horse was the means of discover- 
 ing that which a Scotch steward either could 
 not find out, or found it more convenient to 
 wink at. One evening, just as the workmen 
 were going home from their daily labour, one 
 was suddenly called to hold the horse of a 
 gentleman, who had just arrived. Pat came 
 forward with a flourish, his hat well on one 
 side, with an illigant cock, poised upon one 
 hair, as poor Power loved to appear in the 
 “Trish Lion,” till unluckily the horse, whose 
 olfactory nerves were not to be deceived, gave 
 it a gentle push; off rolled the castor, and 
 out tumbled a shower of oats. ‘‘ Murder will 
 out,” they say, and now my friend discovered 
 
 why his land would not pay; his labourers 
 
 t 
 
 i 
 
 4 
 i 
 HY 
 ¥ 
 
 — ‘ 
 Pd 
 
 
 
—~ 
 
 a ae RENE EE, oe 
 
 He 
 
 f 
 
 F 
 
 t; 
 
 r 
 oi 
 ae 
 
 Hy 
 
 ee 
 er ee 
 
 = 
 4 * a - » ¢ 
 = 5 inlet TROT ; A 
 “Sioa a eS oe es 
 a a es en RMLs Es 
 d } r 
 me = § ee a ma an ob 
 
 reese o 
 no ee a ae 
 
 at = 
 
 —s 
 ee ene on tee eee eo ge 
 
 2 =? 
 
 
 
 90 ECHOES FROM 
 
 being in the daily habit of carrying off hat- 
 loads of corn. 
 
 The drivers of the stages and the inhabi- 
 tants, if halting either for refreshment or for 
 the night, never care to bring their horses cool 
 into the stable, or even to rub them down; 
 but, on the contrary, the perspiration is 
 allowed to freeze upon their coats, which are 
 a mass of hoar-frost by the next morning. 
 They never catch cold, nor are they the 
 worse for it. 
 
 It is the custom in this province, and indeed 
 in most of the States, to drive without bearing 
 reins and with snaffle-bits; and so quiet are 
 the horses in harness, that breeching is but 
 rarely used. The drivers in general put the 
 horses into a full gallop, and charge down 
 hill, either when in a waggon or a sleigh— 
 the impetus carrying them some distance up 
 the opposite slope. It would be ridiculous 
 to see horses borne up, champing their bits 
 
 and tossing the foam from their proud heads, 
 
THE BACKWOODS. 91 
 
 without the corresponding appendage of a 
 fat and jolly-looking coachman, to whose 
 hands the guidance of a perfect London “ turn- 
 out” is entrusted; and the amusing author of 
 ‘‘the Bubbles” has remarked that, as we bear 
 up our horses to the utmost extent, the Ger- 
 mans go into the opposite extreme, and take 
 great pains to tie the heads of theirs down; 
 but it appears to me, that for work, to say 
 nothing of the comfort of the animal, the 
 Bluenose arrangement is preferable. 
 
 Towards the spring, when the ice is expected 
 to break up, the horses are driven with long 
 cords (acting as safety reins), fastened round 
 their necks with a running knot. Should the 
 ice give way, the driver immediately hauls 
 upon the rope until he has, pro tem., strangled 
 the animal. The air, thus confined, inflates 
 him; he floats, and is easily dragged out upon 
 the sound ice, when, the cord being cut, he 
 jumps up, seldom or ever the worse for his 
 immersion. 
 
 
 

 
 92 ECHOES FROM 
 
 Every fresh fall of snow obliterates the 
 beaten sleigh-tracks; and, in order to avoid 
 doubtful ice, or air-holes, it is customary to 
 mark out the different crossings over the 
 frozen bays or rivers, by fixing young fir- 
 trees into the ice at intervals: no one can ima- 
 gine, until caught in a North American snow- 
 storm, what a guide and blessing they are. 
 
 Never shall I forget returning to St. John, 
 after a hunting expedition, accompanied 
 by an inhabitant of that place, and being 
 obliged to cross the Grand Bay and part of 
 the Kenebekasis; frozen sheets of water, just 
 above the tide-way; and over which we had 
 sleighed in perfect safety in the morning. 
 The moon shone clear and bright, and we had 
 crossed one half of the Grand Bay; when, all 
 at once, we heard strange sounds, like the 
 clang of hundreds of rifles discharged on all 
 sides in the surrounding forests: it was soon 
 evident whence the noise proceeded — from 
 
 the effect of the noonday’s sun, the ice was 
 
THE BACKWOODS. 93 
 
 breaking up. It was a route but seldom 
 ventured over, and was not, for that reason, 
 marked out with fir-branches. I was con- 
 fident that, so far, I had kept the right course, 
 and urged on the horses, who snorted and 
 showed evident symptoms of terror. Suddenly 
 the moon became overcast, black clouds began 
 to gather and darken the heavens; a tremen- 
 dous storm came on, and the snow beat thick 
 and fast in our faces. We came to a crack 
 in the ice at least a yard wide, which extended 
 across the whole bay; there was no time to 
 be lost in searching for a narrow place, as the 
 cracking of the ice became tremendous; so 
 there was no alternative left but to run the 
 horses at the chasm, which they cleared in 
 gallant style, and, by keeping them in full 
 gallop, in ten minutes we were safe on the 
 main land. Next day boats were to be seen 
 upon the water; the ice having totally dis- 
 appeared. 
 
 
 
—_- a 
 
 ee ee 
 
 i 
 : 
 
 42: 
 ..@ 
 7 
 : : 
 € 4 
 3 
 - 
 
 ' 
 
 : 
 
 fit 
 
 sf 
 
 . | 
 oh 
 
 
 
 94, ECHOES FROM 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 OF THE MILICETE AND MICMAC INDIANS. 
 
 Lo! the poor Indian, whose untutored mind 
 Sees God in clouds, or hears him in the wind; 
 His soul proud Science never taught to stray 
 Far as the solar walk or milky way ; 
 
 Yet simple Nature to his hope has given 
 
 Behind the cloud-topped hill an humbler heaven; 
 Some safer world in depth of woods embraced, 
 Some happier island in the watery waste, 
 
 Where slaves once more their native land behold, 
 No fiends torment, no Christians thirst for gold. 
 To be, contents his natural desire, 
 
 He asks no angel’s wing, no seraph’s fire ; 
 
 But thinks, admitted to that equal sky, 
 
 His faithful dog shall bear him company. 
 
 Mr. 
 Gesner—Micmacs, or “ Salt-water” Indians—Boundary be- 
 tween them and the Milicete 
 
 Origin of the Indians, a Quere—Fossil remains 
 
 
 
 
 
 tender homage to the Iroquois 
 —Council fire still burns—Their Totems—Language— 
 Snow-shoes—Patterns —Old John 
 
 
 
 Papoose—W igwams 
 and Cockney. 
 
 The colour, appearance, and general habits 
 of the Indians inhabiting North America, 
 
 have been often ably described; as often 
 
ce. 
 
 THE BACKWOODS. 95 
 
 quite the reverse. And, as the public have 
 lately had the works of Catlin before them, 
 and the Ojibeways as living models, little re- 
 mains to be said. It would be quite absurd 
 in this slight sketch of the Indians inhabiting 
 New Brunswick to recapitulate the many con- 
 flicting opinions, or to enter into the argu- 
 ments pro and con.—how or by what means 
 the continent of America’ was peopled origi- 
 
 nally; whether Behring’s Straits ever were or 
 
 ‘ “In America the same difficulties present themselves in 
 relation to the origin and propagation of races as in the old 
 world. The most recent inquiries authorized the distinction 
 of two families inhabiting America; first, a race called 
 Toltuan, belonging originally to Mexico and Peru, which 
 from the shapes of the skulls found in the graves and the 
 accompanying relics, give evidence of greater civilization 
 than belongs to the present natives; and, secondly, a people 
 which, extending over the greater portion of the vast con- 
 tinent, embraces all the barbarous nations of the new world, 
 excepting the Polar tribes, or Mongolian Americans, which 
 are presumed to be straggling parties from Asia, such as 
 the Esquimaux, Greenlanders, and Fins, 
 
 “In the native American, there is no trace of the frizzled 
 locks of the Polynesian, or the woolly texture on the head 
 of the Negro. The,hair is long, lank, and black ; the beard 
 is deficient ; the cheek-bones are large and prominent; the 
 
 
 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 96 ECHOES FROM 
 
 were not at any former period dry land, or 
 whether rocks or islands existed in these 
 sap ie straits; or by what means (if it even were so) 
 nae 4 men were ferried over from Asia to people 
 | the continent of America. All this I must 
 leave to the fertile imaginations of such men 
 as will try to convince the world that Green- 
 : fe Hig land once formed a part of North America ; 
 ’ 1 NE hie that the Esquimaux understand the language 
 | i of the natives of that country ; and that the 
 | birds and beasts (however much they may 
 4 have degenerated by the migration) originally 
 
 came from the old world. I have nothing 
 
 
 
 
 further to adduce, for my part, than that, 
 
 
 
 
 unless the ark was affected by the Gulf Stream 
 
 
 
 
 during the forty days that it continued on 
 
 
 
 
 
 lower jaw broad and ponderous, truncated in front; the 
 teeth vertical and very large; the nose is decidedly arched, 
 and the nasal cavities of great size. They ought not to be 
 called the copper-coloured race. The colour is brown, or 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 of a cinnamon tint. As in the old world, the colour varies, 
 
 
 
 
 and the darker shade does not always correspond with the 
 climate or vicinity to the equator.”—Sir Charles Bell on 
 ‘“* Anatomy of Expression.” 
 
 
 
 
THE BACKWOODS. 97 
 
 . 2 
 
 the face of the waters, and that, as it neared 
 the coast of America, a couple of alligators 
 took that opportunity of swimming ashore, that 
 species of reptile must have suffered dreadfully 
 from cold in their “ overland passage” either 
 by way of Greenland or Behring’s Straits.’ 
 Apropos of antediluvian theories, Mr. 
 Gesner has discovered the bones of a large 
 fossil elephant, which had been originally 
 mistaken for wood, and sold in the market 
 of St. John as such. These remains are 
 in his possession, and he has obtained such 
 information as may probably lead to the 
 discovery of the skeletons of other gigantic 
 
 animals which have long since ceased to exist 
 
 ‘ While permitting myself to speak lightly of the con- 
 flicting opinions of those gentlemen, who each arrange 
 creation to suit their particular theories, I am far from 
 meaning to jest on the sublime descriptions of Genesis. I 
 believe that it has been proved by ship-builders that the 
 dimensions of this wonderful ark are the. most perfect that 
 could haye been thought of. There cannot be a more 
 striking instance of that divine wisdom “which ordereth all 
 things well.” 
 
 VOL. I. F 
 
 
 

 
 98 ECHOES FROM 
 
 1 K on the earth. Mr. Gesner is descended from 
 ae the celebrated Conrad Gesner, who first dis- 
 : tinguished the genera of plants from a com- 
 ! fh parison with their flowers, seed, and fruit. 
 ue ie He was employed in making a geological 
 : survey of the province, during which time he 
 managed to collect a capital museum of its 
 natural productions, which he sold to the 
 | Mechanics’ Institute of the city of St. John 
 | for £600. 
 ‘4 “i There are in New Brunswick two tribes of 
 pet! Indians, differing most widely from each 
 other in their language, customs, implements, 
 a rai and habits of life ; and his striking difference 
 f in almost every particular, between two 
 at people inhabiting the same country, and evi- 
 
 dently sprung from the same common stock, 
 
 
 
 ip i | constitutes not the least remarkable point of 
 
 
 
 interest among the many which attach to this 
 
 
 
 singular race. 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 First in order, not only as the most nume- 
 
 rous, but as possessing both moral and phy- 
 
 
 
 
 eo YE ese, me oe 
 
 —— “—~ ~— eye ~ . —— — 
 ie lis Ki ee ea Ri Sat eh Co oe <~ h 
 
 . ‘ 
 
 eens 
 tg _-emert 
 “gS -- 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
THE BACKWOODS. 99 
 
 sical superiority over the others, are the 
 Micmacs, a tall and powerful race of men, 
 who frequent the north-eastern shores of the 
 province, bordering on the great Gulf of St. 
 Lawrence; and who form part of dn Indian 
 nation which extends over Nova Scotia; 
 Cape Breton, Newfoundland, Prince Ed- 
 ward’s Island, and Gaspé. The less nume- 
 rous and inferior body are the Milicete, who 
 frequent the St. John and its tributary waters. 
 
 The Micmacs are strongly attached to the 
 sea-side, near which. they are generally 
 found; and, from this circumstance, the 
 Milicete commonly call them “ the salt water 
 Indians.” Their hunting grounds, over which 
 they range uncontrolled, and of which they 
 are supposed to have the sole ‘possession, 
 embrace the whole north-eastern coast: of 
 New Brunswick from Baie Verte to the Baie 
 des Chaleurs, and thence extending back to 
 the head-waters of all the streams on that 
 coast, which flow into the Gulf. 
 
 F 2 
 
 Aine 
 
 ——— 2 a ee 
 <n 
 > 3 — . . 
 
 | 
 i 
 
 | 
 ! 
 
 > 9" 
 
 
 

 
 
 —\ ’ 
 ee 
 Se ls ee 
 
 
 
 
 
 ; 
 e. 
 es. 
 
 aig ean: 
 
 Bo. a 
 
 Bina. | 
 tt ce 
 
 Hi 
 1 | Sf 
 
 
 
 100 ECHOES FROM 
 
 The hunting country of the Milicete com- 
 prises all the extensive territory watered by 
 the St. John and its numerous tributaries, 
 whether flowing from the eastward or the 
 westward. The boundary between the Mic- 
 mac and Milicete hunting countries is such a 
 line as will separate the waters flowing east- 
 wardly into the Gulf of St. Lawrence, from 
 those which flow westwardly into the river 
 St. John. The westward boundary of the 
 Milicete hunting country is a line which 
 will separate the waters flowing eastwardly 
 into the St. John from those which flow 
 westwardly into the Penobscot river, in 
 the State of Maine; at the sources of the 
 eastern tributaries of the river, the hunting 
 country of the Penobscot tribe commences. 
 
 This last mentioned tribe reside within the 
 limits of the United States, yet they speak 
 the Milicete language, and render homage to 
 the chief of the Milicetes in New Brunswick, 
 
 whom they regard as their head and leader. 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
THE BACKWOODS. 101 
 
 The whole number of Milicetes at present 
 in New Bronswick is a little short of five 
 hundred ; the number of the Micmacs some- 
 what exceeds one thousand. The village of 
 the Milicetes is situated on the right bank of 
 the St. John, about ten miles above Frede- 
 ricton, and on the same side of the river. 
 In the village there is every kind of habita- 
 tion, from the slight birch-bark wigwam up 
 to the comfortable two-story dwelling-house, 
 owned by an Indian, who, by superior indus- 
 try and intelligence, has attained a situation 
 above his fellows. 
 
 The Milicete language is a dialect of the 
 Huron, the language of the Iroquois, of 
 which once powerful confederacy they formed 
 a branch tribe. The council fire of the Iro- 
 quois is yet kept burning at Caughnawaga, 
 an Indian village, on the south side of the 
 St. Lawrence, a few miles above Montreal, 
 where the great chief of the nation resides. 
 
 A deputation of the chiefs and principal men 
 
 
 
—s.a~ce ee : 
 oe et bee 
 a — = Fe - _ - 2 
 Vl tne te ee 
 
 ad 
 
 102 ECHOES FROM 
 
 of the Milicetes proceed every third year to 
 Caughnawaga to report the state of affairs, 
 and take part in the grand council of the 
 
 nation which is there held. 
 
 Those acquainted with Indian history will 
 remember that the Iroquois nation was 
 formed by the celebrated confederacy of the 
 Six Nations, who received the designation of 
 Iroquois from the French, but were called 
 Mingoes by the English. They present the 
 only example of intimate union recorded: in 
 the history of the Aborigines, and were by 
 far the most powerful body of Indians upon 
 the continent of America. They consisted 
 originally of five nations, namely, the Mo- 
 hawks, the Onondagoes, the Senecas, the 
 Oneidas, and the Cayugas. About 1717, the 
 
 Tuscaroras joined the confederacy, and formed 
 
 the sixth nation: since that period, they have 
 
 been sometimes known as the Five Nations, 
 but more frequently as the Six Nations. These 
 
 several nations were subdivided into various 
 
 
 
THE BACKWOODS. 103 
 
 tribes and families, and this subdivision was 
 an important part of Indian policy. 
 
 The number of these tribes among the 
 various nations was different and perhaps 
 indefinite; they usually extended, however, 
 from five to six, twelve, or fifteen. Each 
 has a distinct appellation derived from some 
 familiar animal, as the bear tribe, the eagle 
 tribe, or the wolf tribe, and the figure of the 
 animal giving name to the tribe became the 
 totem, or armorial bearing, of every individual 
 belonging to it. When it became neces- 
 sary to identify a person in any of their rude 
 drawings, or in later times, when one of them 
 was required to affix his mark to any instru- 
 ment prepared by the white man, his totem 
 was first made, and then any particular cha- 
 racteristic was added which might apply to 
 him individually. The totem of the Milicete 
 is the beaver, and a member of the tribe who 
 wished to designate himself would first sketch 
 
 the figure of the beaver, and then place be- 
 
 
 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 | : i 104 ECHOES FROM 
 
 ay neath it his own peculiar ¢o¢em or crest, such as 
 Ba the hawk, or pigeon, the minx, eel, or salmon. 
 
 Before the arrival of Europeans in America, 
 the office of giving names was deputed to the 
 wise and aged Indians, who had the best 
 knowledge of the ancient names of their 
 
 forefathers, and were most capable of invent- 
 
 mt a 4 
 
 4 te ing new ones. At that period, such names 
 a as “the sloping sky ”—“ the pleasant flowing 
 » i stream ”—“ the sparkling light ”—*“ the roar- 
 Be ing thunder ”—* the leaping panther ”—“ the 
 4 cloud that rolls beyond ”— “the noon-day sun” 
 
 —were in common use; but their present de- 
 A , signations have been acquired very differently. 
 gF ig The Indians of New Brunswick were first 
 Pi converted to Christianity, and taught the prin- 
 ey op ciples of the Catholic faith to which they 
 religiously adhere, by the Jesuit missionaries, 
 
 a class of men of whom it must be admitted 
 
 a 
 a 
 ae 
 ee 
 < =o 
 
 that, whatever may have been their sins in the 
 
 Se =< 
 
 —_ ka in 
 
 
 
 
 
 | old world, they have in the new been known 
 
 chiefly as the friends, protectors, and civilizers 
 
 
 
THE BACKWOODS. 105 
 
 of a race, forsaken or trampled upon by 
 nearly all besides. When they baptized their 
 converts, they conferred upon them names 
 selected from the calendar of saints; and these 
 names, with those borne by the descendants 
 of French officers, or the early French settlers 
 who intermarried with the Indians, now form 
 nearly the whole of the appellations borne by 
 the Milicetesand Micmacs. In making up the 
 enumeration of these people, Mr. Perley found 
 the names of St. Jerome, St. Chrysostom, St. 
 Soniface, St. Hilaire, St. Geoffroy, St. Augus- 
 tin, St. Antoine, St. Gregoire, St. Remigius, 
 St. Athanase, and St. Denys, occurring very 
 frequently, while among the women he found 
 quite as common Ste. Angelique, Ste. Pelagie, 
 Ste. Genevieve, Ste. Anastasie, Ste. Monica, 
 Ste. Veronica, and the like. 
 
 Many families bear the names of those from 
 whom they have descended among the French ; 
 and among the Micmacs, the St. Juliens, 
 the De Pommevilles, the De Bois, the Des 
 
 Fo 
 
 ee ee er 
 SS — ~ 
 
 <——y ae J 
 SS re eS a: - 
 - -— = ts - - —-s 
 
 
 

 
 
 + 
 
 
 
 ¥ ’ ‘ 
 ee EO RE. Eee 6 en 
 
 wT sz 
 : ~ 
 - 
 hat - ae 7 » 
 —— Be ras - NAGE aR Ne ae Ee or ao ne SR pe mare wo 
 soetitnies a & . oo 
 - — — _ = a rr - * << 
 “=< 3 Sake 
 roe = 5 eID =F 
 
 
 
 
 
 106 ECHOES FROM 
 
 Dames, the La Roques, and the La Bognes, 
 are all very numerous., One tall, ,handsome, 
 sub-chief, who resides at the.Milicete village, 
 is the descendant of a French officer of en- 
 gineers, and bears the name of his proge- 
 nitor, Vassal.la Conte; and at the same 
 village, a very pretty young squaw, an orphan, 
 bears the romantic name of Cecile le Belmont. 
 
 With their names the Indians of the pro- 
 vince acquired much of the dress of the early 
 settlers, who were principally Basques, Bre- 
 tons, and Normans; and the picturesque 
 Basque dress is much in vogue with, the 
 Micmac squaws to the present hour. 
 
 The language of the Micmacs is a dialect 
 of the Algonquin, of which powerful nation 
 they once formed a large and influential por- 
 tion. The Algonquin nation formerly num- 
 bered twenty-two different tribes—the Mic- 
 macs, Elchemins, Abenakis, Tokokis, Pas- 
 tuckets, Pokanokets, Narragansetts, Regnoils, 
 Mohegans, Lenni-Lenapes, Cormen, (as the 
 Delawares styled themselves), Nanticokes, 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
THE BACKWOODS. 107 
 
 Powhatans, Shawnees, Miamis, Illinois, Chip- 
 pewas, (latterly called Ojibbeway), Ottawas, 
 Menomonies, Lacs, Foxes, and Kickahoos, 
 which were again subdivided into more than 
 a hundred tribes. 
 
 The Lord’s Prayer, in the Milicete language, 
 
 is as follows :— 
 
 “ Me-tox-sen’ a spum-keek ay-e-en sa-ga-mow-ee tel- 
 mox-se’en tel-e-wee-so-teek. Cheep-tooke wee-chey-u-leek 
 spum-keektaun e-too-chee-sauk-too-leek spum-a-kay-e’en. 
 Too-eep-nauk-na-meen kes-e-kees-skah-keel wek-a-yeu- 
 leek el-me-kees-kaak keel-mets-min a-woo-lee. | Ma-hate- 
 moo-in ka-te a-le-wa-nay-ool-te’ek el-mas we-chee-a-keel 
 me-koke-may-keel ne-ma-hate-hum-too-moo-in. 
 
 In the Micmac language, the Lord’s Prayer, 
 as corrected by the Richibucto Indians from 
 the version printed at Quebec in 1817, reads 
 thus:— 
 
 “ Noorch enen waa-soke a-bin, chip-took, tal-wee-sin 
 me-ga-day-de-mak. Waa-soke tee-lee-daa-nen chip-took 
 igga-nam-win o0o-la nee-moo-lek naa-de-la-tay-se-nen. 
 Naa-tel waa-soke ai-keek chip-took ta-lee-ska-doo-lek ma- 
 ga-mi-guek ay-e-mek, Tel-la-moo koo-be-na-gal es-me- 
 a-gul opch nega-atch kees-kook ig-ga-nam-win nee-!oo-nen. 
 Ta-lee a-bik-chik-ta-kaa-chik wa-gai-nee-na-met-nik elk- 
 keel nees-kaam a-bik-chik-too-in el-wa-wool-ti-jeck. Mel- 
 kee-nin maach win-chee-gul mook-ta-gaa-lin kees-e-na- 
 waam-kil win-che-gul ko-qui-ak too-ack-too-in. 
 
 
 

 
 ee er = + <— 
 
 
 
 ” 
 
 f 
 - 
 ' 4 
 é 
 . a 
 vee 
 : , 
 Ata 
 4 
 Le 
 rs 
 | 
 4 ‘ 
 - | 
 ‘ 
 : 
 - 
 ¢ 
 
 tf 
 £t 
 >. 
 FY 
 { 
 i} 
 eh 
 eT 
 eat 
 
 a = 
 4 a, J es 
 
 | 
 
 <5 
 —_ 
 
 at 2 
 as 
 
 — 
 
 7, 
 
 ——_ * - —— “ Fi. gee 
 4 -. a Pips _— — a5 . 
 a ae = S eo 8s + wut: ‘ 4 
  — o oF as Pree ria EARS : Se omy oe ~ 
 TM at 4 - ep Lr ng a r: ¥ pe =e 
 ~ 4 — + ak VF == - aaa e = e-—, ee, « 
 i ~~ oe . ae, 4 = 4 -- — tel 
 
 108 ECHOES FROM 
 
 It is said that in all the vast extent of 
 Canada and the United States there are but 
 three radical or mother tongues—the Sioux, 
 the Algonquin, and the Huron. The Sioux 
 is rather a hissing than an articulation of 
 sounds. The Huron language has great dig- 
 nity, pathos, and elevation; and the ancient 
 missionaries did not scruple to compare it with 
 the finest languages known. The Algonquin, 
 however, they say, excels the Huron in smooth- 
 ness and elegance ; and, so far as Mr. Perley 
 was able to judge from the Micmac dialect, 
 it far excels the Huron in power, compre- 
 hensiveness, and lofty imagery. Both lan- 
 guages, it may be remarked, have a dual 
 number, and in other respects resemble the 
 Greek. All the changes of mood, person, 
 tense, and number are formed by change of 
 terminals. Upwards of two thousand terminals 
 are made on one radix in the Micmac language. 
 It is, therefore, difficult to speak it in all its 
 
 purity with correctness; yet enough of it 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
THE BACKWOODS. 109 
 
 may be learnt in a few weeks by a person 
 acquainted with the French, English, and 
 Latin, to converse in it sufficiently well for 
 all ordinary purposes. 
 
 The females, when young, are often ex- 
 ceedingly handsome; and that prominency so 
 observable in the cheek-bones of the men 
 is among the women but faintly marked. 
 Their noses are, in general, aquiline, and 
 finely shaped, and their eyes possess a pecu- 
 liar, soft, and languid expression; the teeth 
 are fine, white, and even; and their mag- 
 nificent long black hair is carefully parted 
 down the centre, and plaited behind in two 
 long tails, through which is generally threaded 
 some bright-coloured ribbon. I have often 
 seen their plaits reach nearly to the ground. 
 Their figures in early life are fine, with hands 
 and feet peculiarly small; but their gait is 
 ungraceful, as they turn in their feet, and 
 shuffle along with a lateral jerk of the whole 
 body at every step. 
 
 
 
: 
 
 i: 
 { 
 
 : 
 ey 
 A 
 4 
 
 ' 
 i. 
 ,. a 
 a 
 E Hl 
 . $i 
 . >) 
 i 
 
 = — ~ 
 Ps 
 ee 
 
 > 
 ae A ly Olt TEN ONO aT 
 
 = =eres yt ee 
 
 a 
 ra 
 
 eink ad 
 
 = en Me ae 
 
 
 
 110 ECHOES FROM 
 
 Although very handsome women are to be 
 met with among them, they are by no means 
 to be taken as a type of the tribe. They 
 are, in general, plain-looking, and many are 
 frightful. Indeed, all soon lose every trace of 
 good looks, owing to the hardships which they 
 endure, in'addition-to child-bearing and ex- 
 posure to all’sorts' of weather, and that too 
 in a climate so variable as theirs. 
 
 No where,’ with the exception of the 
 unfortunate female peasants of Bavaria, have 
 I seen the weaker sex so degraded. The 
 squaws carry the papoose, and often very 
 heavy burdens; make the greater part of the 
 eanoe, and, when completed, have to assist 
 in propelling it; im short, they do all the 
 drudgery: itis, therefore, not to be wondered 
 at that they should become bloated, unwieldy, 
 and prematurely old. I do not recollect to 
 have ever seen a good-looking middle-aged 
 woman among them. 
 
 The manners of both sexes are never vulgar, 
 
 RS) se ey Va ee . — 
 
 oe . 
 
THE BACKWOODS. 111 
 
 because they are always naturally courteous. 
 When they appear in full dress, the squaws 
 wear a conical-shaped cap or head-dress of 
 blue or scarlet. cloth, embroidered with white 
 beads, and edged with ribbons; a long frock, 
 reaching a little below the knees, with scarlet 
 or blue cloth leggings; in finishing them the 
 seams are not turned in, but, on the contrary, 
 the wider they can contrive to have the surplus 
 cloth on the outside, the more it can be 
 bedizened with ribbons, beads, and wampum. 
 Their mocassins, made from moose leather, 
 are beautifully embroidered with beads.. The 
 Milicete. tribes use beads instead. of the hair 
 of the moose, or poreupine quills are employed 
 for this purpose by most of the tribes in 
 Upper and Lower Canada, and in the far West. 
 The front of their dress is fastened with a 
 number of circular silver buckles, the largest 
 being placed at the top, and so diminishing 
 as they descend; but they are more orna- 
 
 mental than useful. These constitute their 
 
 SS 
 
 a 3 
 ._ > 
 sear 
 
 nlite Ao ge nine eose SE eee 
 se “Seamprgine Xo ud = ach eee sisi, dines mee > 4", = 
 A —— = ———= = - a s 
 
 | 
 ‘ 
 1 
 | 
 
 
 
— 
 
 s . ae fe * ; 
 ree ~~~? ee ee Pee, ee ee ee oe ~ . i = ud 
 Lg eT ERE I LE OIE LONE ION LLG LT LT ID Se le ele ee ks ee? LET a ou ~ 
 = See | >. . NTN , meaeers 
 - o ~ m . , : » a 
 aint ~S . - - ~~ ‘ ~ 
 < : = 1 - vi Ot s , a. ne 
 5 - 
 
 112 ECHOES FROM 
 
 trinkets, which they always carry about upon 
 their persons; and, as cloth is to them ex- 
 pensive, the men generally appropriate that 
 to their own use; and the poor squaws are 
 to be most commonly seen in old chintzes and 
 Manchester cottons: and, with a blanket, 
 which serves in the severity of the winter as 
 a cloak by day, and as a bed at night, this 
 completes the toilette and wardrobe of a 
 squaw of the Milicete tribe. 
 
 To the adorning of the lords of the crea- 
 tion everything is sacrificed among the Indian 
 tribes without exception. As we say of the 
 feathered tribe, at least, fine feathers are 
 supposed by them to make “ fine birds.” 
 The male, in the latter case, is always of 
 more gaudy plumage than his mate; so the 
 
 Indian shines resplendent in his decorations 
 
 and paint, and his unfortunate squaw hides 
 
 “her diminished head.” His head-dress, 
 when in gala costume, is fashioned somewhat 
 
 like that described above as worn by the 
 
 
 
THE BACKWOODS. 113 
 
 women, but descends much further down the 
 back, and having two pointed horns of the 
 same material, not unlike horses’ ears, on the 
 top of the head: these are embroidered with 
 beads; and the flap which hangs down behind 
 is striped with ribbons of different colours. 
 The coat or hunting-frock does not reach so 
 low as that of the squaw; it is, in general, 
 blue, with scarlet cuffs and collar, richly 
 worked with beads and scarlet cloth let into 
 all the seams as in a lancer’sjacket. A broad 
 crimson ribbon generally gives a very-pretty 
 finish to the bottom of the coat, and across the 
 back and shoulders is a mass of embroidery. 
 I have seen some chiefs of the Penobscot 
 tribe with scarlet coats, almost a mass of 
 beads. This is very magnificent; but the 
 white beads, in my opinion, show much better 
 on the blue. Froman embroidered shoulder- 
 belt or baldrick is hung the powder-horn; 
 and their knives, tomahawks, and tobacco- 
 
 : . *) . = . - 
 pouches or pitchnaugans’ skins (entire) upon 
 
 
 
_— >< — 
 
 — ee ee tee ee so ieee). 
 
 114 ECHOES: FROM 
 
 which embroidery is attached, are suspended 
 through their belts of wampum. When the 
 costume of this tribe is well “ got up,” it is 
 almost magnificent: 
 
 Papoose is the name applied either to the 
 infant of the Indian, or the wooden kind of 
 box or portable cradle in which the unfortu- 
 nate child is bound. Before the infant is 
 placed in it, the» arms are extended down 
 the sides and swathed round and round with 
 eloth or other bandages, until it becomes 
 
 like a mummy, in the manner practised by 
 the Roman mothers at the present day. This 
 confinement and distortion of the limbs during 
 infancy are alleged by many to be the cause 
 
 of the awkwardness of the Indian’s gait when 
 
 grown up. The swathing being completed, 
 the child is placed on its back in the case, 
 and fastened in it with hoops of hickory or 
 ash. On the move, the squaws carry the 
 papoose on their backs; and, when employed, 
 
 hang it up on the nearest branch. The 
 
 
 
THE BACKWOODS. 115 
 
 operation of swathing occupies much time, 
 and the child often remains ‘for long periods 
 thus encased. Nothing but the face appears ; 
 and ‘the situation of a papoose thus suspended 
 is anything but enviable, and may easily be 
 discovered by a swarm of mosquitoes and 
 black: flies, attracted to the exposed part of 
 the unfortunate brat. 
 
 When old enough to be released from this 
 cruel imprisonment, they are suffered to run 
 about naked, and to roll themselves in the mud; 
 until-they become sufficiently hardened. “ The 
 young idea” soon “ learns how to shoot,” and 
 to perform: astonishingly with the bow and 
 arrow—a practice entirely relinquished by 
 the adult portion of the community, since the 
 Birmingham catch-penny pieces, the vilest 
 of guns, have been introduced into America 
 —though with these they contrive to direct a 
 ball at one hundred yards with the precision 
 of one fired from the best rifle turned out of 
 
 Moore’s or Laneaster’s shops. 
 
 
 
.< - » 2 
 ea eeeen 3 i 
 — igre oe rarmaee = a ~ 
 te ee soa os > an . “ nena 
 
 ~ 
 
 —— 
 
 e pede ak arcadia . ae IGN. mn 
 - a wm aR Ye thncpnore Care eee 
 nee a ae ~ 
 ; » i ~ 2 ee Ot oe 7 4 
 
 a ns “ 
 
 ae =. —- ae! 
 pag ae = ees 
 ee ene tenons ne 
 
 oe 
 » ‘— 
 
 ee 
 
 Aeterna: 
 
 > _S 
 at Ny . . 
 
 oi 
 
 RR en bene 
 
 116 ECHOES FROM 
 
 Every Indian tribe has its peculiar form and 
 pattern for every thing they make and wear— 
 their canoes, wigwams, or snow-shoes ; their 
 embroidery on birch-bark, cloth, or leather; 
 in moose hair, wampum, or porcupine quills. 
 The Indian instantly knows, by its fashion, 
 to what tribe the slightest ornament or utensil 
 belongs. All the manufactures of the Milicete 
 are more graceful in their forms and propor- 
 tions than those of any other tribe I ever saw 
 in any part of North America; and many of 
 
 their patterns, now that fresco painting has 
 
 come into vogue, would be beautiful for 
 
 borders to arabesques, or might be copied 
 in worsted work for the modern species of 
 tapestry which occupies so much of the time 
 of ladies at the present day. 
 
 Their canoes are made of one entire piece 
 of bark stripped from the canoe birch, (betala 
 papyracea) which attains to the height of seventy 
 feet, and is often three feet in diameter. It 
 
 is best when obtained in the winter months— 
 
 
 
THE BACKWOODS. 117 
 
 fire is then applied to make the tree peel— 
 and a ‘‘ winter bark” canoe is the article of 
 most value among the Indian’s effects. It is 
 difficult to find a tree sufficiently clean and 
 free from knots; and the growth of every 
 canoe birch sapling of any promise is jealously 
 watched by the Indian. Who can say that 
 the hatchet has not been dug up, and that 
 the flame of war may not have been kindled 
 in the olden time for so trivial a cause as a roll 
 of birch-bark ? 
 
 The gunwales of the canoe are made of fir, 
 and the ribs and flooring of white cedar, (the 
 lightest of all the kinds of American timber), 
 over which the bark is stretched, and the 
 whole thing is sewed together with the fibrous 
 roots of the white spruce, about the size 
 of a quill, which are deprived of the bark, 
 split, and suppled in water. The seams 
 are coated and made water-tight with the 
 gum of the spruce or balsam firs. — Their 
 
 average weight may be one hundred and 
 
 
 

 
 
 
 118 ECHOES FROM 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 4 twenty pounds, their length varying from six- | 
 M teen to twenty-one feet. An Indian thinks 
 an little of carrying one of them on his head; 
 4 | in addition to, perhaps, a hind-quarter of a 
 | moose deer, or some such weight, on his 
 
 back ; and will trudge along at a pace that 
 
 + 1a ee would soon tire our best mountain sportsmen: 
 ‘im . 
 | Te | Into one of their canoes can be packed 
 ata 
 
 mee enormous loads. I have often seen a family, 
 
 fifteen or sixteen in number, besides all their 
 goods and chattels, stowed away in a birch 
 Peay ia canoe, about nineteen feet in length; and, when 
 loaded in this way to the very water's edge, 
 they will fearlessly hoist an old blanket by 
 
 way of a lug-sail, and “carry on,” when . 
 Pr a tremendous sea is running. In order to 
 
 preserve their canoes during the winter season, 
 
 they bury them in snow—a practice which 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 fully answers the purpose. Nothing can be 
 
 
 
 
 
 more graceful on the water than a Milicete 
 
 ee 
 a pee 
 ee re 
 
 i canoe; at the same time, so frail are they, 
 
 
 
 
 that it generally costs the uninitiated several 
 
 wate hobs opty 
 
 Ts 
 SS ae en 
 
 
 
 ~~ > 
 a 
 ‘ os 
 
THE BACKWOODS. 119 
 
 good duckings, by way of apprenticeship, 
 before he learns the use of the paddle, or 
 even to preserve his equilibrium in them. 
 
 The economy of the Indian’s hut or wigwam 
 is perfect. A number of poles are fastened 
 together near their apex, and the lower ex- 
 tremities extended until the required base is 
 obtained (and they can be likened to nothing 
 seen in England but the piles of hop-poles in 
 Kent after the hop harvest is finished); over 
 this skeleton work are extended sheets of birch 
 bark sewed together. A. sufficient aperture 
 is left at top to allow the smoke to escape, 
 and to do duty fora chimney. The entrance 
 is cut out of the roll of bark; and an old 
 blanket or piece of cloth is suspended by way 
 of door. This covering of bark andthe 
 whole building may be taken down and. rene 
 dered transportable in a few minutes. 
 
 When about to make a permanent camp, or 
 to remain for any length of time in one par- 
 
 ticular spot, great neatness may be observed 
 
 f 
 
 A 
 
 oe 
 
 ’ +7: 
 eed 
 = = 
 — 
 ——— 
 
 oe 
 
 . _t- 
 eet 
 
 °. ae 
 a 
 
 es 
 
 : 
 
 
 

 
 120 ECHOES FROM 
 
 
 
 
 in the interior economy of their wigwams. 
 
 
 
 The floor is covered, for a space extending 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 round the whole circumference, with the ends 
 of the branches of the silver fir, broken short 
 off and placed one over another, slanting 
 towards ths centre. In the midst is the fire, 
 ty and four laths of fir accurately determine the 
 a ty | finish of the divan and the commencement of 
 the kitchen department. In their cuisine 
 they have made but little progress; and a 
 stone trough, or an old frying-pan, is the 
 utmost limit to which their culinary imple- 
 | ments extend. 
 Bhat About their wigwams is to be seen the 
 
 Indian dog—a cross, in which that of the fox 
 
 
 
 oe evidently predominates—and the sharp-pointed 
 ‘4 ears, long, slender, black hairs, and bushy 
 fH | tail, denote their origin. The bodies of these 
 
 dogs are exceedingly long, their legs as re- 
 
 
 
 
 
 “ate : 
 OR hl 
 aes - ite 
 - 
 
 markably short. ‘They are very small, and 
 
 a 
 - — 
 
 
 
 
 so light as to be able to run over the snow 
 
 a +p _ 
 
 when covered with the slightest crust: they 
 
 Ree eg epee. 
 
 4 ieee 
 Co ne OR REE QE REET. Tet ee SOM cat VPN 
 “ ~ oat , 7 : inte 
 me _——~ we a r — i - 
 : > a P< ¢ -* 
 
 * 
 
 rene 
 ~ 
 
THE BACKWOODS. 121 
 
 have, therefore, a great advantage when in 
 pursuit of large game, which in that case 
 flounders through it. These dogs are very 
 stanch, and, when once put upon the track 
 of a moose or bear, will not leave it until they 
 bring the one to bay, or “tree” the other. 
 In the winter season, they do good service 
 for the Indian, and are harnessed in couples 
 of two, four, and six, to small sledges. 
 Neither the Micmacs nor the Milieetes dis- 
 figure themselves with paint, or by tattooing : 
 probably the custom has worn out, since their 
 adoption of the Christian religion, and from the 
 length of their intercourse with the European 
 settlers. ‘The Micmac nation, owing to the 
 exertions of Mr. Perley, their adopted chief, 
 have all taken the pledge; and, in all proba- 
 bility, by the endeavours of that gentleman, 
 the Milicetes will be induced to follow their 
 example: but at the time of our sojourn in 
 the province, many of the Milicetes were to 
 be seen drunk about the streets of St. John. 
 VOL. I. G 
 
 
 

 
 iy to 
 ie 
 4 
 i 
 bs 
 ae, 
 tf 
 + 
 “a 
 afr 
 A 
 7 
 3 i 
 | ee. 
 ie | Te 
 RAS 
 eiea 
 ai 
 ie 
 ae 
 aa 
 
 4 > n ? - 7 - ee . : - 
 ee " Se eee : ey J . 
 “ oc / = =e Sayers * ot ek pep Pr. 3 | pias * 
 = = > 7 < a ene = “y — - oe . 
 ~ ia - - < ng . ~ a ° pe 
 
 
 
 122 ECHOES FROM 
 
 It is, nevertheless, a remarkable trait in the 
 Indian character, that, however they may 
 indulge in the vice when in a town, it is a 
 point of honour with them, when engaged 
 to go on an expedition into the woods, not to 
 touch spirits, 
 
 I once took an Indian off from St. John im 
 a hurry, to hunt; and, although I knew that 
 he had been in a state of inebriation for three 
 days previous, and the effects of the debauch 
 had not ‘died in him,” yet when, after a 
 tough chase of four hours and a half, on snow- 
 shoes, I offered him my brandy-fiask, he 
 shook his head as he replied, ‘‘ Me no touch 
 
 ? 
 
 dat in woods, never ;” and he persisted in his 
 resolution in spite of my persuasions. 
 Notwithstanding the long intercourse they 
 have had with Europeans, and so much as 
 they have been thrown into contact with them, 
 they will not adopt European customs; and 
 they have an innate aversion to civilized life. 
 
 Great exertions have often been made on the 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
i 
 
 THE BACKWOODS. 123 
 
 part of different governors to inculcate do- 
 mestic habits, to induce them to cultivate 
 the soil, and to build houses. One of the 
 chiefs, old Louis Bear, if I recollect right, 
 at the particular request of one of their excel- 
 lencies, built a stone house of two stories. 
 When completed, he requested that the 
 governor would come and see what he had 
 done. He had built a house, and had laid 
 out a great deal of money in the construction 
 of it; but, on a close inspection, it was 
 discovered that he had built his wigwam 
 inside: 
 
 I have been informed that the Indians of 
 the Micmac tribe, generally taken into the 
 woods by the officers of the Halifax garrison, 
 are an extremely lazy set, very few of them 
 good hunters; and those that are so give 
 themselves great airs. The family of the 
 Glodes, near Annapolis, and the Indians in 
 that village, are excellent hunters, as are also 
 old Saccobé, Joe Lola, Louis Polcis, Louis 
 
 G 2 
 
 
 
rer. 
 
 7 i 
 .. eer“ ve . - 
 : — . : eens 
 ’ . : . - oes 
 . ~p= : hen a Na ~ - . . 
 > a 7 ‘ “ . ile a me - 7 
 ‘3 ‘ad << aie ‘ ; “A a r . : : 
 = had. Shee pn sn 
 * e re . 3 : ald 
 7 — ae. be - wat woos, -- — - wl 
 - ’ aa0 = ™ * — . 5 
 ™ + - - Sa Pe ee > — - “ rt xe 
 ~ ——_ ot ~ ~ oF. 3 “ ~ ai. - = 
 3 <i rs ~ > 
 . 
 —— i net te — ade Irw - 
 2 LOSER epee Se A : <a 
 FE Be. he i Sane at vena - = oan 4 \e 
 
 meng = a nen A 
 
 124 ECHOES FROM 
 
 Bear, and John Sabbattis, of the Milicete 
 nation (should they be still living). They 
 are the most trustworthy and faithful in the 
 woods; and this tribute, in the shape of a 
 recommendation to any one about to follow 
 the chase in the neighbourhood of Annapolis, 
 sn Nova Scotia, or from St. John or Frederic- 
 ton, in New Brunswick, is paid to their honesty 
 and good-will, by one who had every reason 
 to be satisfied with their exemplary conduct. 
 
 [ never could persuade my faithful pilot of 
 
 many trips in “ the woods,” John Sabbattis, 
 
 to sleep at an inn, when en route for distant 
 hunting grounds; nor would he eat under 
 the roof of one, but would steal off and re- 
 turn at the appointed hour. The Indian, 
 when hired for an expedition, must be treated 
 kindly; he is fed and paid commonly at the 
 rate of a dollar a day; and there is nothing 
 that they will not do for you, provided you 
 treat them with common attention. Much 
 
 insight into wild life is gained by so doing, 
 
 
 
THE BACKWOODS. 125 
 
 much woodcraft lost by a contrary proceed- 
 ing; and a good sportsman is in general 
 gifted with sufficient tact to discover this. 
 
 Should any one, however, be unsportsman- 
 like enough to bully the Indian in the woods, 
 his high sense of honour will cause him to 
 keep his engagement inviolate; he will do 
 his duty by his employer so long as their 
 agreement lasts. But such is his indepen- 
 dence of spirit, that he will never again go 
 out with that man; and no sum of money 
 will induce them so to do.—One anecdote of 
 John. 
 
 An admirer of nature, and a would-be 
 sportsman, but whose proficiency in the art 
 had not advanced him beyond or entitled him 
 to other appellation than that of Cockney, 
 heard of the magnificent scenery on the 
 Musquash lakes ; and, being anxious to com- 
 bine a little amusement with sight-seeing, 
 engaged John to take him in his canoe, 
 
 and fish, en passant the magnificent rapids, 
 
 
 
on er 
 
 126 ECHOES FROM 
 
 still waters, and creeks, which connect this 
 fine chain of lakes, All this his faithful 
 cicerone did in Indian fashion. The fellow 
 behaved, however, to John in the woods 
 pretty much as he would have treated a 
 waiter at a coffee-house, and finally d—d 
 John for not cleaning his boots; while John 
 preserved an inflexible silence. The sports- 
 man, however, was so pleased with the 
 scenery of the lakes, that he wanted to goa 
 second time, and applied to John to accom- 
 pany him; this the Indian flatly refused to 
 do. Our friend stared, and asked him the 
 reason. John very coolly replied, “‘ Me no 
 walk again with you—me always used to 
 
 walk woods with gentlemen.” 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
THE BACKWOODS. 127 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 NEW BRUNSWICK-——OF THE BIRDS AND BEASTS. 
 
 Where beasts with man divided empire claim, 
 
 And the brown Indian marks with murd’rous aim, 
 * * * * * * 
 
 Or seeks the den where snow-tracks mark the way, 
 And drags the struggling savage into day. 
 GOLDSMITH. 
 
 Passenger Pigeons—Wild and Water fowl—Novel way of 
 gunning—Genus Tetrao—Birch and Spruce Partridge— 
 Humming-birds—W ax-bird—Soirée of Owls—Lucifees— 
 Skunk—Wild Cat—Novel mode of catching Wolves— 
 Musk-rat—Porcupine—Hares—Bears and Chimneys—A 
 sound sleeper—The Governor gammoned. 
 
 
 
 In the months of June and July, the “ pas- 
 senger pigeons,” described by Wilson as 
 darkening the sun for days, when on their 
 migratory flights, arrive in New Brunswick. 
 Their favourite resorts are the neglected 
 clearances overgrown with wild raspberries 
 
 and strawberries, which are their favourite 
 
 
 
 a 
 
 ~~ 
 
 { 
 = A ee , 
 
 == oe 
 a sm 
 
 = 
 ooete 
 

 
 128 ECHOES FROM 
 
 food; also the great mosses and barrens, 
 covered with cranberries and whortleberries, 
 where they are to be found in great quantities, 
 and from amongst which they rise singly or 
 in pairs, are strong on the pinion, and afford 
 excellent sport. They have a long wedge- 
 shaped tail; and, if the ends of it are cut off 
 previously to putting them into a trap, they 
 are so astonished at the moment they attempt 
 to fly, that they go off quite as game as the 
 best blue rocks of ‘‘ Red House” celebrity. 
 The woodcock of the New World is much 
 smaller than that of Europe, and, in the 
 plumage, differs materially, inclining more to 
 a fawn colour, particularly on the breast, 
 where the shades of that colour are beautifully 
 delicate. They appear in the spring for a 
 short time, on their migration northward, and 
 on their return are to be found from the 
 middle of August until driven south by the 
 frosts, which set in generally by the end of 
 October. Their haunts are in the alder and 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
tt-= 
 
 THE BACKWOODS. 129 
 
 cedar swamps, along the outskirts of the 
 “Great Bush,” and the margins of the clear- 
 ances, particularly where they have been 
 suffered to copse. In Upper Canada and the 
 United States, they are very partial to 
 the Indian corn or maize, when planted in 
 low lands. They are very quick on the wing, 
 and when flushed get up with a shrill whistle. 
 The woodcock of the Western Isles is the 
 same as that of North America; and I have 
 heard that there they are to be met with in 
 great numbers. 
 
 What has been said of the habits of the 
 woodcock applies to those of the American 
 snipe; but the latter is rather larger, flies 
 much more heavily, and, in consequence, is 
 more easily killed than the European snipe. 
 It is to be found in abundance at Musquash, 
 on the St. Andrew’s road, on the Water- 
 borough, at Gagetown, Sheffield, in the 
 islands on the St. John river, on the Gemseg, 
 
 and in the Grand Lake meadows. 
 
 
 

 
 
 
 Oe ye en ee - te 
 eee Oe ee 
 -_ — ~ of baat y 
 = -—~— ss ra - gee y 
 2 - s ee — 
 Pp Finn ASE LETS OT ; 
 —EEEEee NT So | a ; 
 ew pane Seer ered apes * ay ; 
 — ~1 Se, a - ae Ae ee 
 
 ks as heen? a6 
 ae te ae te 
 rep 
 
 
 
 ws wt 
 —= 
 
 pene 
 
 = 
 
 a seeded Satine Gadene, sen ee 
 ares = wae eis 
 
 
 
 
 Se er oe 
 
 ~ . em 
 P Figo rory a, 
 eS ae 
 
 
 
 : 
 =e eae 
 Oe a ne Te EE Gee: STE NE mr 
 ate a : " =~ 
 
 . 
 
 130 ECHOES FROM 
 
 A high-couraged pointer, particularly of 
 the Russian breed, is best adapted to find 
 woodcocks in these woods, when, by fastening 
 a bell round their necks, you can never be at 
 a loss to know when they have come to a 
 point; a practice generally followed on the 
 Continent and in the Pontine Marshes. There 
 woodcock-shooting is managed precisely as in 
 New Brunswick, and the cover is generally 
 so thick, that the only chance is to shoot the 
 birds at first sight. Should any of my readers 
 have pursued this game in the neighbourhood 
 of Tre Ponti, they may have encountered that 
 prince of cacciatorz, Scapellata, who kills 
 more woodcocks than any man in Italy; but 
 he is a most provoking dog to follow, for, 
 amongst other poaching contrivances, he has 
 a habit of imitating the noise made by a cock 
 when flushed so completely as to deceive the 
 sportsman, to cause him perpetually to cock 
 his gun, and as often to curse the unfeathered 
 
 biped from whom it proceeded. 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
THE BACKWOODS. 131 
 
 The duck tribe are very numerous, includ- 
 ing the wood-duck, harlequin, and _ blue- 
 winged teal. An Indian will kill from forty 
 to fifty ducks and geese in the day, on the 
 Grand Lake meadows and Musquash marshes: 
 with his watchful habits, his guarded move- 
 ments, and the colour of his canoe, exactly 
 corresponding with that of the sedge and bul- 
 rushes, he is the man of all others to surprise 
 waterfowl. 
 
 On one of our visits to the Musquash 
 marshes we saw numbers of the black 
 duck, so called in New Brunswick, but which 
 is more properly “the dusky duck,” (Anas 
 obscurus.) These birds take the place of the 
 common wild duck and mallard of Europe, 
 and, although I never saw the latter in North 
 America, | believe that they are often to be 
 met with, precisely similar in every respect. 
 The black duck is rather larger, and is 
 of a dark, dusky colour, with wing feathers 
 
 of a beautiful copper green. The female is 
 
 j 
 
 ant 
 
 
 
 7 hn. tne ewe ae 
 Sg a IO a ee 
 ——_ 
 
 ame = 
 

 
 
 
 ey 
 
 
 
 ~~. te 
 oa 
 
 
 
 fae. 
 en tees 
 
 y 
 oe) — - — Ph 
 ne ae eee 
 ~ . ° 
 
 
 
 _o er 
 a ee 
 
 
 
 132 ECHOES FROM 
 
 like the common wild duck, but with a deeper 
 shade of plumage. 
 
 We tried every possible way to get shots at 
 them, by waiting for their “‘ pass” to and 
 from their feeding-grounds at early morn, 
 and at the last glimmering of twilight, by 
 creeping upon them through the rushes, by 
 having them driven, and by silently attempting 
 to drop down upon them in a canoe, all to no 
 purpose—not a duck was bagged! But that 
 they were to be shot was certain, and we 
 were told of a gentleman farmer, or sort 
 of squireen, who, it was said, contrived to 
 kill numbers. He lived in a log-house on the 
 opposite side of the marsh to our quarters. 
 We determined upon paying him a visit, in 
 order, if possible, to obtain the desired infor- 
 mation as to the manner of shooting black 
 ducks. 
 
 After some little difficulty, we succeeded 
 in finding his habitation, but the “ bird” him- 
 
 self had flown. We were not doomed, how- 
 
 a NN EE AE ae RS ae 
 
 
 
THE BACKWOODS. 133 
 
 ever, to wait long in suspense, for the report 
 of his gun at once pointed out his position, 
 on reaching which we found the black duck 
 hunter carefully ensconced in a thick tuft of 
 flaggers, at the edge of a great flooded marsh, 
 evidently the feeding-ground of the waterfowl 
 tribes. Our friend had well chosen his posi- 
 tion ; a couple of black ducks lay by his side; 
 in his hand he held a book, and across his 
 knees lay one of those antiquated long guns, 
 known as “ Queen Anne’s pieces.” On inter- 
 rogating him as to Ais method of surprising 
 the ducks, we received for answer, “ Why I 
 peruses a novel until the ducks come up near 
 enough, and then I guess I guns ’em.” This 
 was conclusive; and, without wishing to “take 
 a Jeaf out of his book,” we left the gentleman 
 farmer to the perusal of “ Peter Simple,” and 
 to the diversion of waiting for a shot. 
 
 The birch partridge, (tetrao umbellus) or 
 ruffed grouse, and the spruce partridge, 
 
 (tetrao Canadensis), or dusky grouse, are 
 
 
 
en ES SE 
 * 
 
 b 
 
 
 
 134 ECHOES FROM 
 
 beautiful specimens of the genus Tetrao, 
 and are constantly met with in all parts 
 of the forests. They perch upon trees; 
 and, when suddenly disturbed in the Great 
 Bush, will fly up into the nearest tree, when 
 the whole covey or pack become an easy prey 
 to the American sportsman, who begins by 
 shooting the lowest bird first, and so on; 
 otherwise, should he kill one upon the upper- 
 most branches, its fall would disturb all be- 
 neath, and they would instantly fly off: how- 
 ever, when come upon suddenly, amongst 
 brushwood or in clearances, they will get up 
 and fly, like red grouse. 
 
 The birch partridge is often called ‘“ the 
 pheasant” by the Americans, and Wilson 
 describes the stateliness with which they move 
 about, with their broad, fan-like tail spread 
 out; the drumming, as it is usually called, is 
 a singularity of the species. It is performed 
 by the male alone, and is a kind of thumping, 
 
 or noise, resembling that produced by striking 
 
 
 
NE — 
 
 THE BACKWOODS. 135 
 
 two full-blown ox-bladders together, but in- 
 finitely louder; the strokes at first are slow 
 and distinct, but gradually increase in rapidity, 
 till they run into each other, resembling the 
 rumbling sound of very distant thunder, dying 
 away gradually on the ear, After a few 
 minutes’ pause, this is repeated, and in a calm 
 day may be heard nearly half a mile off. 
 “This drumming is most common in spring, 
 and is the call of the cock to his favourite 
 female. It is produced in the following 
 manner :—the bird, standing on an old pro- 
 strate log, generally in a retired and sheltered 
 situation, lowers his wings, erects his expanded 
 tail, contracts his throat, elevates the two 
 tufts of feathers on the neck, and inflates his 
 whole body, something in the manner of the 
 turkey-cock, strutting and wheeling about with 
 great stateliness. After a few manoeuvres of 
 this kind, he begins to strike with his stiffened 
 wings in short and quick strokes, which be- 
 
 come more and more rapid until they run into 
 
 
 
SL a gen ae a 7 
 7 s P 
 
 om eee 
 
 ~ gee 
 ee ee — 
 m - 
 
 mR en eer ee 
 P oN? ~ 
 ~ we . “7 mags e 
 < mone - _ = 
 
 eo wy 
 WW tee bt 
 eres 
 elton ged a 
 
 oon 
 
 
 
 Pie 
 &) : f 
 { Pea 
 | - 
 Hi | 
 Pia 
 4 z 4 ; 
 ths > 
 ee 
 ie i 
 . aes 
 
 eae 
 He 
 aa i 
 : 
 
 i?) tz 
 tt a F 
 } 4) Y 7 
 
 
 
 136 ECHOES FROM 
 
 one another, as has been already described. 
 This is most common in the morning and 
 evening, though [ have heard them drumming 
 at all hours of the day. By means of this 
 signal, the gunner is led to the place of his 
 retreat; though, to those unacquainted with 
 the sound, there is a great. deception in the 
 supposed distance, it generally appearing to 
 be much nearer than it really is.” 
 
 There is another peculiarity appertaining 
 to this bird, which I have never seen men- 
 tioned by its many describers: it is that of 
 burying itself under the snow. This was first 
 pointed out to me, when on a hunting expedi- 
 tion, by Sabbattis’s desiring me to prepare for 
 a shot. After straining my eyes in all direc- 
 tions, [ was not a little surprised to see old 
 John stoop gently down at my feet, and press 
 the snow with his hand, when, with a whirr, 
 whirr, a fine birch partridge burst from the 
 snow, and flew off, shaking a shower from his 
 
 pinions. When about to ensconce themselves, 
 
 
 
THE BACKWOODS. 137 
 
 they charge into the snow with all their 
 might, directing their flight so as to be near 
 the surface, the impetus carrying them some 
 way into it, sufficiently far to prevent foxes 
 and lynxes being attracted to the spot; indeed, 
 so small is the orifice in the snow, the particles 
 of which naturally fall over it, that the un- 
 practised eye might pass numbers of these 
 birds thus concealed. The initiated will, how- 
 ever, soon detect a sea-green spot of reflected 
 light in the disturbed snow. Numbers of these 
 birds become an easy prey to the Indian, 
 who, in the early months of their winter 
 
 hunting. when the snow is so soft that the 
 
 oO? 
 birds ean easily hide in it, however other game 
 may fail, need never go supperless to bed. 
 Lloyd, in his “ Northern Field-Sports,” men- 
 tions this same peculiarity in the habits of th 
 black cock and capercailzie, during the Scan- 
 dinavian winter. 
 
 Among the most pleasing of our summer 
 
 visitors were the humming-birds (7Zrochis 
 
 
 
 - = a 
 
 RE So 
 
 p 
 
 q 
 
 ul 
 us 
 N 
 
 ; 
 Lf 
 | 
 7 
 a 
 i 
 1 
 | 
 : 
 
 a 
 
 — 
 
 a oe 
 
 ee 
 
gE ae 
 ¥, - 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 — = ” 
 
 er a re 
 
 —— 
 
 weet 
 
 “ore 
 
 Oe 
 nA wee = 
 
 — 7* 
 
 ——— 
 
 Te 
 
 7 eee 
 
 ae 
 
 - 
 
 oe 
 ~d 
 
 k= 
 
 “ef 5 ee eS 
 re er at tee - 
 
 a at 
 
 ee 
 
 
 
 Pe octane pease a thane 
 
 = 
 
 vee re 
 
 SS 
 
 
 
 
 
 138 ECHOES FROM 
 
 Colubris) of the red-throated species, the 
 only one known so far north. Their plumage 
 is principally green, with a gold and orange- 
 coloured necklace about the throat, which 
 showed resplendent in the sun as they would 
 sport into our rooms, following its beams, or 
 haunt the mignonette-boxes placed on the 
 window-seats. We were driven to shooting 
 them with sand, as the only means of obtaining 
 possession of them; but the proceeding was 
 devoid of cruelty, as it only stunned the 
 beauties for the moment, and enabled us to 
 secure them alive. They subsist entirely on 
 the juice of flowers, preferring those which 
 are cupped. 
 
 The wax, or cedar bird, (Ampalis Ame- 
 ricana) which is also called “ Recollect,” 
 is one among the many beautiful of the 
 feathered tribe which pass their summers in 
 New Brunswick. Most of the secondary 
 feathers of the wings are tipped with pieces 
 
 of a bright vermilion substance, resembling 
 
pa 
 
 — 
 
 — — 
 
 SE — 
 
 a 
 es 
 
 we 
 
 THE BACKWOODS. 139 
 
 -  —r a 
 ns = 
 
 chips of red sealing-wax; and as this bird 
 chiefly inhabits the cedar swamps, where he 
 makes a surprising chattering, Wilson con- 
 cludes that Nature has armed the feathers in 
 this astonishing manner, to protect the ends 
 of them from the wear which would be caused 
 by its constant fluttering amidst the cedars.’ 
 
 There are owls of every species, from the 
 
 40— 
 — 
 
 great horned, standing nearly three feet high, 
 
 | 
 | 
 : 
 
 to the diminutive little barred. Colden ex- 
 patiates in his “‘ History of the Six Nations” 
 
 on the great superstition of the Indians 
 
 ' IT quote from old Wilson, having had his admirable 
 
 i 
 a 
 { 
 ¥ 
 tt 
 j 
 ‘ 
 ; 
 j 
 } 
 } 
 
 work on American Ornithology by me in North America, 
 and I invariably found his remarks faithful and correct. 
 Not so the generality of the numerous writers on this sub- 
 ject, at the present day; many of them compiling from 
 books, and totally disregarding Nature. Witness the 
 dressing which one of the fraternity receives from the 
 intelligent author of “Essays on Natural History.” No 
 modern writer displays such sound good sense, no one can 
 give such a natural appearance to his preserved birds as 
 Mr. Waterton. How differentfrom the wretched, wooden- 
 looking, stuck-up abortions generally to be seen in most 
 museums! 
 
 
 
— 
 mess 
 
 ie ee 
 > ye = 
 
 
 
 1; 
 
 g 
 
 PS ep tes Le 
 
 . Pel - we 
 a ; 4 : 
 _ 7 a 
 <~ : ~ ty opm: : 
 = d, See ~ . ~ 
 : cps > PS PS / 
 OT ES TT ERE Se moe a ee a. 
 a “S q 
 see = : 
 
 | This 
 te 
 H 
 t 
 ‘ ts 
 He da f 
 ey ae 
 #% * 7 ie : ; 
 ae +f i 2 
 iE be 
 Waa if 3 
 { 4 . bi Py. 
 1 e Lie i 
 4 fy yy 
 “1h. 
 ff re bi 
 r re } 
 % ate i 
 it 
 : j bi * 
 ae Ly ‘t 
 me if rae et 
 S tice & 
 - , Ts, | 
 ‘= ef i im 1 
 tin 
 4 
 # 
 iy 
 
 
 
 140 ECHOES FROM 
 
 with regard to those birds, and the terror 
 they have of them, and mentions how much 
 it displeased them to hear any one mimicking 
 their hooting. No such superstition exists 
 among the Milicetes; for I well remember my 
 first essay at “camping out” in the woods, 
 The party consisted of two others, with Sab- 
 battis and old Saccobé. We had passed the 
 day in fly-fishing amidst the deep black pools 
 and cascades, into which the rivers connecting 
 the Musquash Lakes are broken. Grand sport 
 had we had that day, and it was with the 
 highest degree of satisfaction that we stretched 
 ourselves upon the aromatic bed of silver 
 firs, prepared by our faithful Indians. 
 
 The night set in gloriously, one of those in 
 the Indian summer to be appreciated only in 
 the woods. The clear moon shone through 
 the lofty pines, and was reflected from the 
 silvery lake, between their taper stems. The 
 crackling of the dry pine logs, and the stream 
 of smoke from the willow-bark and tobacco 
 
 
 
THE BACKWOODS. 14] 
 
 in our tomaugans had long sent all the mos- 
 quito tribe to the arms of their particular 
 Morpheus. Every fresh pile of the dry 
 timber caused a flame which illuminated the 
 spoils of the chase ; here falling upon a large 
 porcupine, suspended from the branch of a 
 tree, a black duck, a heap of gold-coloured 
 char, mottled with blood-red spots; there, 
 upon our rifles, rods, and implements of de- 
 struction; now, on a pair of ragged nether 
 garments hung up to dry; then on the copper- 
 coloured and weather-beaten features of the 
 Indians, as they lay stretched upon the bare 
 ground on the opposite side of the fire. 
 Searcely had the balmy effects of that 
 delicious, dreamy sort of sleep, known to 
 those who have lived in the woods, fallen upon 
 us, when I was awakened by a holloa from the 
 stentorian lungs of Sabbattis. On shaking 
 myself and looking about, I discovered an 
 immense assemblage of the acknowledged 
 
 emblems of wisdom gazing at the party with 
 
 
 

 
 ae 
 . Core 
 
 — 
 
 . : 
 ~~ 
 ae 
 
 Re eS ee eee re me -- 
 
 ., 
 : 
 : 
 i 
 : 
 ; 
 .' 
 } 
 4 
 | 
 i! 
 iy 
 eh 
 
 SOLER AIT OR 
 
 Sa 5 ee aa 3 
 a 5S 
 
 <n ighenag 
 
 
 
 142 ECHOES FROM 
 
 owls’ eyes. They had been collected by the 
 wonderful powers of mimickry inherent in 
 the Indians, who had assembled this sozrée of 
 owls as much for our amusement as for a sort 
 of introduction to camp-life. Saccobée and 
 John now both set to work in earnest, and great 
 fun it was. Their imitations of the different 
 hootings were so faithful, that it was scareely 
 possible to say which was the voice of the 
 bird, which that of the Indian. Every fresh 
 arrival joined in chorus until the birds had 
 the best of it, and fairly beat the Redskins. 
 Up we jumped, en chemise et sans culottes, 
 and, one seizing a rifle, another a brand of 
 the blazing pine, we put them all to flight. 
 Thus ended my first night ‘‘in bush.” 
 
 The following will be found a good and 
 simple receipt for preserving the skins of 
 birds and animals, and any so prepared will 
 be found to retain their elasticity for any 
 length of time :— white oxide of arsenic, 
 
 mixed with soft soap, to the consistency of 
 
 
 
THE BACKWOODS. 143 
 
 paste. Alum, burnt in a wood fire till all the 
 water has bubbled out, and then pulverized, 
 may be rubbed upon the skins of specimens 
 for the same purpose, and may do very well 
 as a makeshift where the former materials can- 
 not be obtained, until the skins can be given 
 to the preserver. But they do not come out 
 as pliable or as well as those prepared with 
 the arsenical soap. 
 
 Bears, and lynxes, called lucifees, are the 
 only animals of prey in New Brunswick; 
 vermin are very numerous; among these 
 is a species of polecat, called a skunk, of 
 which the Indians are in great dread, and 
 which they hold in utter abhorrence. This 
 animal is disgusting beyond description; in 
 appearance the skunk is very pretty—black, 
 with white, longitudinal stripes. | When 
 attacked, it rolls itself up in a ball like the 
 porcupine, bedewing its bushy tail with the 
 most horribly fetid liquor, which is secreted 
 in a small bag near the rectum, and with this 
 
 sia a me - 
 tindliie 
 
 _ i 
 
 . 
 
 | 
 | 
 
 ria 
 
 
 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 144 ECHOES FROM 
 
 
 
 
 
 it liberally besprinkles its assailants. No 
 living thing can stand the odour; and, should 
 #1) this irresistible weapon of defence touch any 
 } part of the dress, it must be immediately 
 
 burned. Men have been known in New 
 
 ee 
 
 eit |. Brunswick to have had an encounter with 
 
 Bmp ih | . ; 
 4 ie ie | one of these animals, and to have been obliged 
 ey : . nia 
 ie ai © to strip off every thing, and return to Civile 
 
 i lized life almost aw naturel. In_ passing 
 mie ak along a road on a hot day, it is easy to tell if 
 3 ¥ 7 | a skunk has crossed it within twenty-four 
 iY hours; and horses will make a great piece of 
 | work should they get a nzff of one. The 
 
 , if Indians, nevertheless, contrive to kill them, 
 be cut out the bag containing the fetid fluid, and 
 Some 
 
 eat them as a “‘ delicacy.” 
 
 | In New Brunswick there are two species of 
 the lynx, the first named by the French 
 Loup Cervier, whence the English corrup- 
 
 
 
 tion, Lucifee ; the other, the wild cat. The 
 
 
 
 
 ‘ Loup Cervier, when full grown, measures four 
 feet from head to tail, the tail four inches. 
 
 ee eee eee ee 
 
 
 
 
 omer 
 
 = 
 
 ty a 
 - - ~ 7 —— ts <—| ee — 
 oN EN LE GN GOL LRT ON es OE NE ners Sane : 
 i : ~ .” ; ~* es a ra ao 
 - - ~ 
 
 
 
 
 —_—— 
 “4 - 
 
THE BACKWOODS, 145 
 
 It is generally of a light gray, interspersed 
 with minute spots of black: the tips of the 
 ears and tail are jet black, the throat, breast, 
 and belly white. In shape, it is thick and 
 strong, in height about eighteen inches, the 
 fur long, but thick and fine, extending to the 
 feet. It is fierce and powerful, destroys 
 many hares and partridges, and frequently 
 commits depredations among sheep ; has very 
 sharp strong claws, and climbs trees with 
 great facility. It never attacks man, and is 
 generally taken in traps, baited with a piece 
 of mutton or venison. It is very destructive 
 to deer, passing from tree to tree, until it 
 gets directly over its prey, when it pounces 
 from a lofty branch, and rarely fails in fas- 
 tening upon the deer’s back, holding on by 
 teeth and talons, until the victim sinks from 
 pain and exhaustion. 
 
 The Wild Cat is about one quarter less 
 in size than the Loup Cervier, has shorter 
 hair on the legs, and a longer tail, without the 
 
 VOL. I. H 
 
 
 
ep oe 7 
 Se pe ate ee 
 
 a 
 
 
 
 146 ECHOES FROM 
 
 black tip. In other respects it resembles 
 the Loup Cervier in nature and habits. 
 
 Wolves are not indigenous to the province, 
 but have made their appearance in New 
 Brunswick, following the deer, likewise a 
 stranger, which they have driven before them 
 from the eastern States. 
 
 A Mr. Andrews, of St. Andrew's, who 
 carries on an extensive “logging” business, 
 contrived very ingeniously to make great 
 slaughter among a pack of wolves. His 
 saw-mills are on the Lepraux River, about 
 twenty miles from St. John. He was at his 
 camp, about ten miles from the mouth of 
 the river, and about one mile from its shore, 
 in the early part of December, with three 
 of his men. About ten o’clock in the even- 
 ing, the howling of wolves was heard. some 
 short distance off, and in a very few minutes, 
 some forty or fifty of them made their ap- 
 
 pearance, and in a short time the top of the 
 
 camp was covered with them ;—but, a torch 
 
 
 
 
 
THE BACKWOODs. 147 
 
 of birch-bark having been lighted up, the 
 whole drove scampered off. 
 
 Mr. Andrews at once thought of a plan to 
 capture some of his unwelcome visitors. 
 Himself and men went to work the next 
 morning, and made about fifty or sixty 
 Stakes, three and a half feet long, ex- 
 ceedingly sharp, and hardened them by 
 putting the ends in the fire: and, having 
 driven them in the ground about the camp, 
 with the sharp end upwards, about three 
 deep, they prepared torches made of white 
 
 birch-bark, and, early in the evening, secured 
 
 >) 
 themselves in their camp. About the same 
 time as on the former evening, a large 
 number of wolves again made their appear- 
 ance, and, as before, took possession of the 
 top of the camp,—about fifty in number— 
 looking down at the inmates through the 
 hole in the top of the camp, left for the 
 smoke to escape. Immediately the torches 
 were lighted up, and the drove of wolves 
 
 H 2 
 
 
 

 
 ; 
 54 
 fa) ; 2: 
 tes bit 
 {i o4 
 -, ot 
 ee 
 be Yin 
 : af 
 * i i - 
 Hes 
 Bi 
 © > ay 
 a 
 afd ty 
 if ee 
 Hie). 
 *e 3 
 } * 
 7 
 it 
 
 ow 
 
 : — ew Migs = 7 
 Petre he ee peice i 
 
 _ ee 
 
 tee 
 
 
 
 148 ECHOES FROM 
 
 scampered off in all directions, leaping from 
 the roof of the camp on the sharp stakes; 
 and in this way fifteen of these ferocious 
 animals were destroyed. The excessive light 
 of the torches through the chimney-hole 
 caused so great a darkness near the ground 
 that it prevented the wolves from seeing the 
 stakes, and they consequently leaped upon 
 them. 
 
 The musk-rat is an amphibious animal, 
 and resembles the beaver in its habits. It 
 ‘s about fifteen inches in length, its tail 
 about a foot, and similar to that of a rat.. 
 It is less afraid of man than the beaver, and 
 is very frequently found in ponds and creeks 
 in the cultivated parts of the country. Tn 
 ponds and low marshes it generally builds 
 houses, very similar to those of the beaver; 
 but on the banks of rivers it burrows in the 
 alluvial soil, and brings forth a large litter of 
 young. These the Indians take as soon as 
 
 they are of sufficient size, in August and 
 
 
 
THE BACKWOODS. 149 
 
 September, by digging. The skins are not 
 of much value then, but the flesh is excel- 
 lent, and the Milicetes, who are excessively 
 fond of them, devour immense numbers. 
 
 In the spring, the musk-rats, or, as they 
 are more generally called, musguash, are 
 driven from the usual haunts by the floods of 
 melted snow and ice, and are then obliged to 
 roam about for some weeks. They are shot 
 chiefly in the evenings, while swimming and 
 seeking food, and their skins form an article 
 of commerce. The fur is used by hatters, 
 and a large portion of the deaver hats—all 
 those of the second quality—are made of 
 the fur of the musquash, which is substituted 
 for that of the more expensive beaver. The 
 musquash feed chiefly on the roots of the 
 water-lily, anda large species of fresh-water 
 clam, a shell-fish which abounds in all rivers 
 and ponds in New Brunswick. 
 
 The mink is of the otter tribe, but smaller, 
 
 and proverbially black. Its tail is flat and 
 
 Yi 
 
 ae 
 ek Be ee eee 
 
 —S 
 
 - ——— nt , ~ 
 
 - 
 — 
 
 ee ee 
 
 i 
 
 Ens 
 
 
 
ae 
 
 Bs 
 1) 
 te 
 od Fy 
 1 gape 
 Ch 
 : 
 ‘ ik 
 ty 
 i 
 + 
 9 ; 8 
 ie 
 | t 
 {aaa 
 } 
 i : 
 f ' 
 iy 
 t aati 
 
 - - ae amen 
 3 AT 
 Tr ane Sy 
 
 =, _ 
 
 sevens rane 
 =—. pi 
 I wrens 
 
 
 
 150 ECHOES FROM 
 
 hairy. It subsists in the same manner as the 
 otter, but is more destructive of poultry, 
 which it kills by taking off the head and 
 sucking the blood. The fur is very handsome 
 when in full season; the pitch naugans, or fur 
 purses of the Indians, are made of the skin 
 of the mink. 
 
 The porcupine is covered with long brown 
 hair, mixed with stiff, hollow spines, about 
 the size of a small wheat straw. ‘These are 
 of a white colour tipped with black, sharp at 
 the end, and are commonly called quills. It 
 dwells in hollow trees, or in cavities under 
 their roots; and feeds on nuts, buds, and the 
 cones of the balsam fir (abies balsamifera). 
 Its flesh is palatable and nutritious. The 
 quills are much valued by the Indians, who 
 dye them of various brilliant colours, and use 
 them in ornamenting their mocassins, belts, 
 birch-bark baskets, and boxes. 
 
 The Micmac name of the porcupine 1s 
 
 “ Madawas,” and hence “ Madawaska,” or 
 
 
 
 
 
THE BACKWOODS. 151 
 
 “the country of the porcupines,” the name by 
 which the territory above the grand falls of 
 the St. John is known, and about which so 
 much has been said, in reference to the Ash- 
 burton treaty. 
 
 A few beavers are still to be found in the 
 northern or upper part of New Brunswick, 
 although fast yielding to the encroachment 
 of civilization. 
 
 There are many racoons in the province, 
 but it is a rather curious fact that none are 
 to be found in the Madawaska country above 
 the great falls. 
 
 Hares are very numerous in New Bruns- 
 wick. Rabbits do not exist; but the hare in 
 these countries is a different animal from the 
 European,’ inasmuch as it “ goes to ground ” 
 
 Lepus Americanus of Linneus. Tail short, hind-legs 
 half longer than the body, tips of the ears and tail gray. 
 Inhabits North America, shelters by day under and in the 
 hollows of trees; does not burrow, breeds twice a year, 
 brings five to seven young. Fur gets longer and more 
 
 silvery farther north; eight inches long: hind-legs longer 
 than common hare; flesh good. 
 
 ng gE TT eae - 
 
 i 
 ! 
 
 et 
 
 oh ey ee 
 
 
 

 
 
 
 ~ 
 
 ie - - = 
 . ° “ x i : 
 ~~ = : ; 
 on ESS . 
 “sya ee yy ° oo ~ -* 
 a we ; ~ yap ~ : . 
 > p en - —s 
 ~ - = _ a a 
 ibe he ¥ > . ~ 
 
 : 
 | 
 ' 
 Bs 4 
 : 
 . 
 i : 
 ; 
 7 
 ~ ie | 
 | 
 va 
 ; ; t 
 i ' 
 ; ‘ 
 eo Of 
 y | 
 4 
 La 
 ; 
 Cy u | 
 ee 
 
 152 ECHOES FROM 
 
 under the roots of trees and into decided 
 burrows, which is not the case with the latter. 
 The ears are long, and become perfectly 
 white during winter. The market at St. John 
 is plentifully supplied with them during the 
 winter months, when they are brought in 
 frozen. Numbers of the spruce partridge 
 likewise come in frozen at the same time. 
 Wherever the forest has suffered from fire, 
 raspberries spring up in quantities; these are 
 the favourite food of the bear. In winter 
 bears lie in a torpid state in some hollow tree; 
 a scathed pine is generally selected, sur- 
 rounded by a thick undergrowth of birch and 
 raspberries, which have succeeded the devas- 
 tation caused by the fire. The greatest care 
 is taken by Bruin to obliterate all traces of 
 his abode; but, owing to the searching eye 
 of the Indian, certain scratches of the ani- 
 mal’s claws on the charred surface of the 
 tree disclose his winter quarters, when an axe 
 
 soon prostrates the tree, which, bursting in its 
 
 
 
THE BACKWOODS. 153 
 
 fall, bundles Bruin out, to his great asto- 
 nishment. 
 
 The only opportunity I ever had of shoot- 
 ing a bear was when, lying down to rest upon 
 a cranberry barren, a huge she-bear came 
 trotting along with her cub, when, just as [ 
 was in the act of firing at her, the Indian 
 knocked up the rifle. They will parry any 
 blow made at them with an axe with the 
 greatest ease, and, when accompanied by their 
 young, the Indians generally give them a wide 
 berth, for, if then wounded, they will rush 
 upon their assailant. 
 
 In the chase of the bear, the Indians prefer 
 slugs to a single ball, as the latter, unless it 
 strikes point-blank, will not. penetrate the 
 skull, and, if not killed dead (by being shot 
 through the brain or heart), they will often 
 suddenly spring up and show fight. But a 
 very experienced hand will hug a bear, and 
 choke him, by dexterously seizing him by 
 the windpipe. 
 
 H 9 
 
 
 
| 
 | 
 
 
 
 154 ECHOES FROM 
 
 A brother officer and myself purchased a 
 couple of bear-cubs, so young that they were 
 obliged to be reared with the greatest care. 
 A Scheidam bottle was filled with milk and 
 the muzzle covered with vellum, from which 
 they contrived to suckle themselves perfectly; 
 this I mention, having read of the great diffi- 
 culty of rearing very young bears. For six 
 weeks they stuck to their bottle, and were the 
 most innocent and interesting little blue-eyed 
 rascals, very playful,and would lick any one’s 
 hands like a calf. But as they increased in 
 stature they took to climbing and malpractices, 
 until they became an absolute nuisance. They 
 would climb up any thing from the big drum 
 to a chimney. One fine day, a review was 
 ordered, and, as most of the officers’ servants 
 were in the ranks, they took the precaution to 
 lock their masters’ doors. On the parade 
 being dismissed, one of them, who had locked 
 
 his master’s door carefully, was not a little 
 
 surprised to find a shaving-brush stowed 
 
 
 
THE BACKWOODS. 163 
 
 away in a boot, a powder-horn in a jug, and 
 tooth-brushes in that piece of furniture which 
 ‘the most absent man in the world” put into 
 his bed, placing himself where it usually 
 stands. This was the servant’s account, 
 whether true or not; the chimney was the 
 only way by which they could have entered. 
 Many reports of this sort obliged us to tie 
 up the no longer little Bruins; and, their 
 mischievous practices increasing, they were 
 made over to another regiment when we 
 moved to Upper Canada. 
 
 Apropos to the convenience of chimneys to 
 gentlemen of the light-fingered fraternity. 
 A story is told of a regiment quartered in 
 Porto Bello Barracks, (Dublin) which was 
 ordered to muster as strong as possible on 
 the ‘Fifteen Acres,” and, as before stated, all 
 hands were to attend, a trick of the above 
 kind was played by a species of sable bipeds 
 called chimney-sweepers, who got over the 
 
 barrack wall at some convenient distance 
 
 
 

 
 ~ “ a i ad = 
 ee 
 — ~~ 
 
 = =e 
 
 
 
 156 ECHOES FROM 
 
 from the sentinels, and, by beginning at one 
 end, succeeded in sacking and carrying off a 
 quantity of epaulettes, sashes, and roba of 
 that sort generally to be found lying about in 
 officers’ quarters. 
 
 The thieves who haunt the Dublin barracks 
 are the most inveterate in the world. A 
 flagrant case occurred to an officer whom I 
 relieved on guard at the royal barracks, 
 He had lain down on his bed and_ fallen 
 asleep, and when he awoke to a sense of his 
 situation, it was not like the hard-goers of the 
 old Irish school, immortalized by Sir Jonah 
 Barrington, to find that his head, after a three 
 nights’ debauch, was so firmly fixed in a fresh 
 plaistered wall that it required to be dug out 
 with a pickaxe; but to discover the loss of 
 both of his epaulets, which had _ been 
 abstracted by one of a certain class of 
 females haunting the locale, who actually cut 
 
 them off his shoulders whilst enjoying his 
 
 “‘ beauty sleep.” 
 
 
 
THE BACKWOODS. 157 
 
 That my friend was a pretty good sleeper 
 may be inferred from an adventure he had 
 when dining out in the neighbourhood of 
 Durrow. He had gone in a_hack-chaise, 
 which, during the time that he was enjoying his 
 claret, was left standing before the hall-door. 
 My friend, who found sundry chasse eaffés, 
 or rather “ night-caps” of “ raspberry 
 poteen,” excellent, got quietly out of the 
 room, “‘ whilst the horses were putting-to,” 
 and tumbled into the “ yellow agony,” calling 
 lustily to the boy to driveon. He fell asleep 
 in a moment, and only awoke in the morning 
 to find himself still before the door of his 
 hospitable entertainer, the “ putting-to ” 
 having existed only in his own imagination. 
 Mais revenons a nos moutons. 
 
 The flesh of a young bear is excellent ; and 
 the paws, in particular, are reckoned a greater 
 bonne-bouche than the tongue of the reindeer, 
 the hump of the bison, the tail of the beaver, or 
 
 mouffle of the moose. So delicious is it, that, 
 
 
 

 
 Sener 
 
 
 
 158 ECHOES FROM 
 
 on one occasion, the governor of the province, 
 a gourmand and courtier, on his way to the 
 seat of government, dined at the mess at St. 
 John, and ate plentifully of a haunch of bear, 
 smothered in currant-jelly, made most com- 
 plimentary speeches as to the known reputa- 
 tion of the “ comme-il-faut mess,” begged to 
 know how they contrived to have such capital 
 mutton, and wound up by declaring he had 
 
 never eaten better in his life. 
 
 
 
THE BACKWOODS. 159 
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 NEW BRUNSWICK—OF THE DEER, AND WOOD- 
 CRAFT, 
 
 tum figere damas, 
 Cum nix alta jacet, glaciem cim flumina trudunt. 
 
 Thus nature, like an ancient free upholster, 
 
 Did furnish us with bedstead, bed, and bolster; 
 
 And the kind skies (for which high Heaven be thanked!) 
 Allowed us a large covering, and a blanket.” 
 
 Moose—Cervus Hibernicus, not Antediluyian—Caraboo 
 —Accidents “ will happen”—Virginian Deer—Toggery for 
 the Woods—Snow Shoes—* Mal a la raquette” prevented— 
 Hints— W ood-craft 
 
 
 
 Lose way 
 
 
 
 Escape being frozen. 
 
 New brunswick was the favourite resort of 
 the moose, but in the early settlement of 
 the province, they were destroyed in thou- 
 sands, for the sake of their hides and tallow. 
 At present they are rarely to be met with, 
 but are, according to the accounts of the 
 
 Indians, likely to. become numerous again, as 
 
 
 
ep aig 
 or, hee See. ee 
 
 ea: = 
 
 [Pt ... ..ea Hee 
 
 Pees 
 
 Ne ee a Se 
 
 Se a ee Se Oe 
 
 160 ECHOES FROM 
 
 they are gradually finding their way back 
 from Canada and Maine, in search of their 
 favourite “moose-wood,” so plentiful on the 
 upper St. John. 
 
 That the moose deer, or elk, cervus alces, at 
 present inhabiting the continents of Northern 
 Europe and America, is a totally different ani- 
 mal in its construction from the so-called 
 fossil moose, found in the bogs of Ireland, has 
 long since been ascertained. Of this the want 
 of the brow-antlers in the moose-deer or elk 
 is of itself sufficient proof. Pennant, in his 
 Arctic Zoology, writes—‘“‘ I lament that I am 
 not able to discover the animal which owned 
 the vast horns so often found in the bogs of 
 Treland, so long and so confidently attributed 
 to the moose.” He quotes the size of diffe- 
 rent horns which have been found sometimes 
 
 ‘eicht feet long, fourteen between tip and tip, 
 
 furnished with brow-antlers, and weighing 
 
 three hundred pounds; the whole skeleton is 
 
 frequently found with them.” 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
ee oa eA 
 
 
 
 ed 
 ao 
 > 
 
 “NMOC NOW 59 HSOOK 
 
 +s 
 
 ere 
 
 i aie 
 
 
 
 
 
jem: © 
 > > 
 
 — oh a . —- 
 PL eer A ek. i emitral ee : 
 carey ee EA : PO a eS SS Cis ti ‘ * — 
 co nae ‘anes ae" Sane ~ bau, a Ce le Oe RE eT . 
 nae jon Rs <a as permaneaes 
 
 re. ee 
 
 “we ningg. Ae ee 
 
 
 
THE BACKWOODS. 161 
 
 This deficiency of the brow-antlers alone 
 would at once prove that it is not the same 
 animal: however, I add some very important 
 and curious facts relative to the “ cervus Hiber- 
 nicus,” as furnished tome by Mr. Glennon, of 
 Suffolk Street, Dublin, whereby it will be clearly 
 seen that they were not antediluvian, and that 
 they bore in their configuration a great simi- 
 larity to the present fallow-deer—cervus dama. 
 
 The moose-deer inhabiting North America 
 is the same species as the elk of Europe—the 
 term moose being no other than the name 
 given to that animal by the Algonquin In- 
 dians, once the most powerful tribe in North 
 America; “ moosu” (the final u is hardly pro- 
 nounced) being their name for the elk. The 
 French Canadians call it the “ Original.” The 
 horns of the elk or moose-deer at present 
 inhabiting the continents of Northern Europe 
 and America have no brow-antlers, but a mere 
 continuation of the palm snags, and rarely are 
 
 found to measure above four feet from tip to 
 
 
 
—— 
 
 .. " 
 ont i 
 { 7 : ike 
 ee 7: a 
 a) j 
 Bin ; 
 eid 
 
 a if 
 re | 
 H a? 
 i 
 
 
 
 162 ECHOES FROM 
 
 tip, in a straight line, whereas those of the 
 fossil moose, so called, (cervus Hibernicus ), 
 have been found to measure nearly ten feet 
 across. Mr. Glennon has at present a set of 
 horns that measure in a straight line from tip 
 to tip nine feet six inches, and by the curve 
 sixteen feet six inches, and in a perpendicular 
 line, from the nose to the nearest spike, six 
 feet three inches. 
 
 The reindeer, male and female, have horns, 
 and the brow-antlers are fingered, palmated, 
 standing edgeways, and are a continuation of 
 the great palm. 
 
 The stag’s or red deer’s horns are round 
 and not palmated, and have a continued row 
 of brow-antlers on each horn, or to where 
 it is crowned at top, numbering from one to 
 four. 
 
 There is therefore no species of the deer 
 tribe at the present time existing, having brow- 
 
 antlers and palmated horns, but the fallow- 
 
 deer. Further, the skull or os frontis of the 
 
 
 
THE BACKWOODS. 163 
 
 cervus Hibernicus is short by comparison with 
 the great length of the horns, which would 
 give it the exact appearance of the fallow- 
 deer; whereas the present moose-deer or elk 
 has an unusually large, long, and ugly head. 
 
 Mr. Glennon has in his possession a ske- 
 leton of the cervus Hibernicus, which is nine 
 feet. six inches long, seven feet six inches from 
 the coffin bone of the hoof to the top of the 
 bony process of the dorsal vertebra, and seven 
 feet six inches from the hoof-bones of the hind 
 foot to the top of the pelvis bone. When stand- 
 ing with the head and neck reined up, it would 
 have required eighteen feet head-room. From 
 the contour of the skeleton, it has the appear- 
 ance of standing square hip to shoulder, like 
 our common fallow-deer, which he declares to 
 be decidedly the only living type of that stupen- 
 dous and noble animal: and, like the fallow- 
 deer, the female was without horns. 
 
 Mr. Glennon has further informed me that, 
 
 together with Mr. Lesly Oglevy, a gentleman 
 
 
 
ee 
 
 a - 
 ee eee 
 
 = a 
 ESS Ee 
 
 : a a ° a ; 
 ~ ee Seats Cae. ei 
 
 _— 
 e.o~ 
 
 Sh le 
 
 — = 
 
 164, ECHOES FROM 
 
 of great research, he has travelled through 
 the greater part of the counties of Cork, 
 Kerry, and Waterford, in which there are 
 scarcely any deposits of calcareous tuffa, which 
 consist of pulverized limestone, vegetable and 
 mineral acids, and decomposed vegetable 
 mould; in these are found the cervus Hi- 
 bernicus, and not in shell marl, as it is vul- 
 garly supposed—*“ as it would take,” I quote 
 his own words, “ more fresh and salt water 
 shells than ever existed from the time of 
 Noah to the present day, to form such beds 
 of calcareous tuffa as those contained in Ire- 
 Jand, and in which the remains of the fossil 
 deer are discovered.” And, after stating that 
 he has discovered that neither the male nor 
 female had a wagging tail, as he can prove by 
 several bones attached to different pelvises, 
 he comes to the most important point of all, 
 and he goes on to give his reasons for believing 
 
 that the cervus Hibernicus, or fossil moose- 
 
 deer, so called, is no¢ antediluvian, 
 
 
 
 
 
THE BACKWOODS. 165 
 
 ‘“‘] likewise believe that the animal has 
 been slaughtered by man for food long after 
 Noah’s time; and, as a proof of the above 
 assertion, | am enabled to discover their re- 
 mains by landmarks and different vegetables, 
 such as the hippuris, or mares-tail, or Ger- 
 man rush, the dwarf willow, and always in 
 the neighbourhood of Danish raths or forts, 
 as they are called. And, further, as another 
 proof of their having been killed by man, I 
 have found in one pit six perfect skeletons of 
 the male, and one head of which I could not 
 find one single bone belonging to the skeleton : 
 and many of the bones of those composing 
 the six had marks of hatchets or choppers 
 upon them; and buried with them in the 
 same hole [ found the bones of oxen, horses, 
 pigs, and birds.” 
 
 The caraboo (the reindeer of Europe) 
 differs in many respects from the rest of the 
 deer tribe. Both male and female have 
 
 horns, the antlers are of all shapes, those 
 
 
 
ee 
 ae 2 = 
 — aa oy 
 * pre SMe ae ee 
 
 — 
 
 pee Lae = 
 on epee ewe Tee 
 
 op ae re or Be eb 
 = e> 
 
 Spr! Be 
 ee 
 
 ee ee a 
 
 166 ECHOES FROM 
 
 of the buck being larger, and more straggling 
 than the female’s. ‘The hoof is large, round, 
 and shaped like an ox’s, and, from the peculiar 
 formation of the feet, which divide nearly up 
 to the first or fetlock joint, the animal is en- 
 abled to gallop over glare ice, clanging his 
 hoofs together with great noise. A New 
 Brunswick lumberer declared to me, that he 
 once drove a caraboo on the Grand Lake, 
 when frozen over (a sheet of water some fifty 
 miles in length), and after an exciting chase 
 on skates, he succeeded in tiring him fairly 
 out, and killing him with his axe. 
 
 All other of the deer tribe browse upon 
 leaves, the young shoots of trees, or under 
 cover. ‘The caraboo, on the contrary, love to 
 feed upon the mosses growing on the great 
 barrens or plains, in the spruce fir forests, 
 called caraboo barrens (upon which the large 
 American cranberry grows). In winter, so 
 long as the snow remains soft, they scrape it 
 
 up with their feet to get at their favourite 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
THE BACKWOODS. 167 
 
 mosses; but, when it is frozen too hard, they 
 are driven to feed upon the hanging lichens, 
 and on the stunted firs, struggling to vegetate 
 on the spongy soil. They find pickings, too, 
 under the banks and along the edges of the 
 frozen lakes. Further, Nature has endowed 
 these animals with such instinct, that, towards 
 the spring of the year, when the heat of the 
 noon-day’s sun has melted the surface of the 
 snow in the woods, no power can drive them 
 into it, where they would sink up to their 
 bodies and be easily overtaken; but they will 
 remain upon the frozen lakes, round and 
 round which they gallop until they drop dead. 
 The venison is not so good as that of the moose 
 or the common deer. 
 
 The deer (cervus Virginianus) were not 
 indigenous in the New Brunswick forests, but 
 have found their way up from the Eastern 
 States, driven it is said by the wolves. They 
 are about the size of the red deer of Europe, 
 are the most graceful of their species, with a 
 
 long tail, which when alarmed and in the act 
 
 
 

 
 = 
 
 
 
 > 
 = + <3 ih lens hatell er ee 
 I iS a nln = wre ‘ 
 
 : Pe rene hare ain epee 
 
 eee 
 
 = 
 soe rear re 
 Se oiisiiteien seit 
 
 ee ee 
 
 ates ieee ee ee 
 
 
 
 168 ECHOES FROM 
 
 of bounding through the forests, they have 
 the power of turning over their backs: it 
 is an object very perceptible in the woods, 
 from its whiteness, and, when seen in this 
 position by the hunter, he may receive it as a 
 warning that it is the last of the animal that 
 he will see that day. They have heen very 
 numerous in the province of late years; but 
 their old enemies the wolves have found them 
 out and are fast thinning them off: they are 
 seldom to be seen east of the St. John river, 
 never in Nova Scotia. 
 
 The months of March and April are the 
 best to hunt the caraboo. After a fresh fall 
 of snow, I used to sleigh as far as Mather’s (a 
 tavern so named after its landlord, an old 
 soldier, and a jolly dog), and there, leaving 
 my horses, set off on snow-shoes, accompanied 
 by an Indian, in a south-westerly direction, 
 some ten or twelve miles, to the Bald Moun- 
 tain,’ the neighbourhood of which is the 
 favourite haunt of caraboo. 
 
 ' The Bald Mountain, so called from a large cap of white 
 
 
 
THE BACKWOODS. 169 
 
 The Indians, so eager in the chase, are dis- 
 gusted beyond measure at any failure in 
 killing or at missing a shot on the part of the 
 white man. With eyer so ordinary a gun, 
 they contrive to shoot true with a single ball. 
 They have the greatest possible respect for a 
 good shot ; and I had established my reputa- 
 tion among them, as such, by the merest acci- 
 dent. I was in old Saccobée’s canoe — his 
 favourite canoe the “ Waptook ” (wild goose), 
 and was accompanying Mr. Gesner and a 
 large party, who were ascending the Salmon 
 river, at the head of the Grand Lake, upon 
 a geological survey. Six or seven canoes 
 were paddled in line up the beautiful river, 
 granite on its summit, is the great feature of that part of the 
 country, and well repays the trouble of climbing to the top, 
 by the magnificent view (unlike any thing in Europe) ob- 
 tained over the great forest, interspersed with countless 
 frozen lakes. To the north, the view extends over the line 
 of the Oromue as far as Fredericton and the St. John’s 
 river; to the eastward, over the Bay of Fundy, and the coast 
 of Nova Scotia; and to the south lies Passamaquoddy Bay, 
 studded with thousands of islands—most especially striking 
 is the stillness which reigns over the whole. 
 
 VOL, I. I 
 
 
 

 
 _ pia 
 ee on ee 
 
 ~~ ote < 
 ee RR EE RRR Ore mee CREEP ew . 
 ‘ ” r rin ow . eR 
 ee ae 
 ah ll > 
 
 
 
 < 
 
 — 
 
 EF Sen 
 =~ see * 
 
 7; a 
 
 —— iad 
 
 on ale ta nt GED 
 
 : 
 My 
 i 
 * 
 S) 
 Bi 
 * 
 t 
 ‘ 
 . 
 - 
 a 
 
 a; 
 r 
 ae 
 
 —— a nd 
 nome! Sone 
 
 é 
 
 bi a4 
 i 
 Wh 
 
 tf 
 1s. 2) 
 1 
 fr ay. 
 r ry 
 on 
 ine | 
 emt 
 a 4 
 t : " 
 iy e, 
 ier t.° 
 a 
 : 
 Wier 
 : ra 
 
 Sines 2S et 
 BE Se pee eR ae 
 ee am = - 
 
 170 ECHOES FROM 
 
 when Saccobé pointed out a small bird of 
 the dotterel tribe, perched upon the top of a 
 fantastically-shaped rock of granite, im the 
 midst of the stream, about eighty yards off. 
 I took up my rifle, and knocked the bird over. 
 A simultaneous shout from all the Indians 
 reverberated through the woods, echoing far 
 and near; and I lay down that night on my 
 “spruce bed,” an established “ erack shot” 
 amongst the Milicetes; but I repeat that it 
 was a lucky shot, and the probability is that J 
 should not have succeeded again in twenty 
 times. 
 
 However, my reputation suffered a severe 
 reverse the following winter when im company 
 with Sabbattis. I had followed the trail of 
 nine caraboo for two days. By the state of 
 the frozen tracks, the Indian can tell to a few 
 minutes how far the game is ahead: John at 
 last declared we were close to them. A frozen 
 We walked a great circle 
 
 lake lay below us. 
 to ascertain whether they had left it. After 
 
 
 
i 
 
 THE BACKWOODSs. 171 
 
 a long fag, and just as we had completed the 
 circle, we debouched upon a narrow point, 
 running into the lake, when we saw them all, 
 following in Indian file, and browsing along the 
 banks. Unperceived, we slipped off our snow- 
 shoes, and raced to the other side of the point ; 
 and, the wind being favourable, lay down 
 in the hopes of their feeding our way. I had 
 a German rifle, one barrel smooth, but both 
 loaded with ball: the deer came so close that 
 I fancied by rolling down a second ball I 
 should have a better chance of killing more 
 than one. Fired—missed—the balls flew too 
 high; one had slightly rased the skin, but did 
 no further damage; the rifled barrel missed 
 fire, snow having got into the nipple. John was 
 frantic, and, being a Catholic, invoked all the 
 saints in his calendar—a very limited one. 
 The deer, which immediately started off on 
 my firing, were now as suddenly stopped by 
 John’s shouting and roaring, and formed up 
 
 ina half cirele in front of us. John thun- 
 
 12 
 
 see > 
 ter 
 
 — ee 
 
 - an’ tied & . J Irina ae on - 
 3 rs oem a — 
 Oe Pints! ~ rs ie ° ~ 
 poe Cone 7 = ~ Onto a 
 
 = ae eg eee 
 
 
 
eae aed = — 
 
 edadtinyth inal Einhstiin died ee 
 
 ee 
 
 Ter 
 
 2x23 a 
 
 ee ae 
 
 ‘ . ji 
 Lo 4 a 
 "a ;5 
 | 7 : 
 4 ; 
 
 
 
 
 
 “Catt 
 
 172 ECHOES FROM 
 
 dered out “ Load!” I shook in the powder 
 —the ramrod stuck in the greased rag, and 
 no power could move it, at least, not his; he 
 tore at it with his teeth, and blasphemed to a 
 fearful average. I put on a cap and fired off 
 ramrod and all ; one went off limping and we in 
 chase; but the traces and blood in the track 
 became fainter; he was evidently gaining 
 strength, so we gave in, and abandoned the 
 chase. 
 
 This is mentioned also as an instance of 
 the great fag and disappointment which fre- 
 quently occurs to the caraboo hunter. It is 
 useless to pursue them, for, when once 
 alarmed, if not wounded, they will gallop 
 right ahead for four and twenty hours :— 
 fresh tracks must be searched for, or the 
 hunter may as well leave that district. 
 
 The operation of walking upon snow-shoes 
 is a knack in which those only succeed who 
 have a liking for it. The soldiers of the regi- 
 ment were drilled upon them previously to 
 
 
 
THE BACKWOODS. L73 
 
 their march over “the Portage” to Quebec, 
 in 1837; and while some picked up the 
 method at once, others floundered about, and 
 only accomplished it with the greatest fatigue. 
 These snow-shoes, upwards of four feet in 
 length, are of an oval shape; the light bow 
 or framework is made of tough ash, in the 
 manner of a racket; and a fine network of 
 the sinews of the caraboo is threaded across 
 it. They are attached to the feet by thick 
 thongs made from the skin of the same ani- 
 mal; these are crossed over the toes; by 
 which the snow-shoes are dragged or rather 
 jetked forward. There is so much spring in 
 them when well constructed, that, when the 
 snow is in good order, and the walker in good 
 practice, thirty miles a day may be accom- 
 plished with comparative ease. It is neces- 
 sary to wear three or four pair of thick 
 woollen socks under the mocassins to prevent 
 the toes from being lacerated ;—the Indians 
 substitute a piece of flannel doubled, and 
 
 
 
i) 
 fy 
 
 | . 
 ‘ 
 hi 
 
 a ae 
 
 otf —_ i 
 a . ee “ 
 TAS s BPs tee ee RS ied ES yay SOS - 
 yes gmemeeess 4 oe 
 See "= : 
 my. ots 
 rn 
 
 —_ ~ ‘eet a 
 ——— 
 = 
 
 <a. eee 
 
 rn 
 
 
 
 
 = 
 ye Ria 
 REE Seo ae 
 Qe =. 
 
 ae 
 ees 
 
 ees z — — an ne 
 na row = a 1 = rs <= - a ee 
 SST TT fi ee tel a tee ae 
 = a 
 
 
 
 174 ECHOES FROM 
 
 which, perhaps, is preferable. On coming to 
 a descent when on snow-shoes, by sitting 
 down upon them, and holding the heels fast 
 to guide them, one slides down in the manner 
 of a montagne Lusse. 
 
 The produce of the chase is dragged out 
 of the woods upon thin boards, eight or nine 
 feet in length, called tabaugans, turned up 
 at one end to prevent their hitching in the 
 snow. The venison is packed upon them, 
 and covered over with a blanket. With the 
 exception of going up hill, the labour of 
 hauling them is not great, as they slide over 
 the snow: when descending, they are slid in 
 front, and restrained by the tow-line. 
 
 A dress made of white blanket, which from 
 its texture throws off the snow, and from its 
 colour is not observable in the woods, is best 
 suited for winter hunting. The coat should 
 be made as a hunting shirt, or double-breasted. 
 The waist is confined by a broad leather belt, 
 
 from which hangs a scabbard to hold the 
 
THE BACKWOODS. 175 
 
 hunting-knife, and through it is thrust a small 
 axe or tomahawk. ‘To these should be added 
 a tinder-box, a pocket compass, and a pocket 
 pestol, containing a small quantity of brandy 
 for the use of self, to be used medicznally, as 
 the teetotallers have it; for, as I have said, an 
 Indian, however drunk he will get in the towns, 
 makes it a point of honour never to touch spirits 
 when in the woods: his duty is to carry bis- 
 cuits, salt pork, a kettle, and a frying-pan, 
 rolled up in a blanket, which serves as a cover 
 at night. 
 
 A certain degree of tact is required in 
 selecting the spot best adapted for camping 
 for the night, and it is necessary to begin the 
 operation two hours at least before sundown. 
 Firewood, water, and shelter, are indispen- 
 sably necessary. Numbers of white pine 
 are to be found of an enormous growth, 
 which, having died from old age, stand 
 bleached and scathed among the living mass. 
 
 One of these, when cut down, will, as it falls, 
 
 
 
oe. ees ae 
 ae 
 : 2 —A = . 
 ie een Nae 
 
 
 
 
 
 176 ECHOES FROM 
 
 splinter into a thousand pieces. The largest 
 slabs serve to cover in the back of the camp, 
 and the remainder are piled close to the fire— 
 this burns like tinder. A live tree must like- 
 wise be cut and hewn into lengths for back 
 logs, which, from being green, burn but 
 slowly. 
 
 The fire made, the snow is shovelled out 
 with the snow-shoes to the required size, 
 until the frozen earth is quite cleared, over 
 which is then laid a thick covering of the 
 ends of the branches of the silver fir, broken 
 off short by the hand, and layer placed over 
 layer in the manner of a tile roof, slanting 
 towards the fire. Two upright forked sticks 
 are driven into the ground, across which is 
 laid a long pole, and against it, at an angle, 
 the pine planks (when a pine is not to be 
 had, then birch-bark or fir branches are 
 used), and the snow which was shovelled out 
 is packed round the outside to make all air- 
 
 tight. The camp completed, the snow-shoes 
 
 —— 
 
THE BACKWOODS. L77 
 
 are stuck upright in the snow, at a sufficiently 
 moderate distance to dry them gradually ; the 
 socks, &c., are hung upon the cross beain 
 overhead, and the venison and tabaugans so 
 placed that wolves or lynxes may not take a 
 fancy to them. 
 
 Thus encompassed by a wall of snow some 
 three feet high, and with one’s feet towards a 
 roaring fire, it is sufficiently snug; but to- 
 wards morning, when the fire burns low, 
 
 although your feet may be enjoying the 
 
 Is 
 luxury of an even temperature, your head 
 and shoulders recline in that of some twenty or 
 thirty degrees below the freezing point. When 
 awakened, therefore, at intervals by the in- 
 tensity of the cold, an armful of the dry pine 
 wood comes into play. An Indian hates to 
 be roused to perform this office. He either 
 does not feel the cold, or is too idle to stir, 
 and I always found that they disliked it more 
 than being asked to carry great weights for a 
 whole day, or other severe fag; in fact, it is 
 
 ? 
 
 15 
 
 
 
* 
 — 
 shies 
 eee 
 
 PT 
 <—o 
 
 GOS WR et ee Eee 
 7 ay * ~ wr 
 
 we m " tugste igen * a 
 Te pte ete 
 
 Lemans 
 
 FS nw ae ne 
 = 2 “ Ne 
 — Sere 
 
 ~ 
 -- 
 ~—— 
 
 : 
 
 i 
 : 
 {t 
 
 ———- 
 — 
 
 SaaS 
 
 a3 
 
 wap wart eel pee <=. 
 
 mae eyes 
 
 
 
 178 ECHOES FROM 
 
 the only sort of trouble they object to. | 
 therefore always made up the fire myself, 
 particularly as the exertion of shaking them 
 was even greater than the trouble of heaping 
 on the wood. 
 
 Any one who has encamped in Indian 
 fashion knows the amusement of barking birch 
 by way of pastime. It peels beautifully, layer 
 after layer—a decided improvement upon the 
 Yankee fashion of ‘ whittling ”—and clean 
 plates are not required when it is to be had. 
 The Indians make the greatest use of it. It 
 covers-in their wigwams, is sewed together 
 for that purpose, and, when they move, is 
 Their canoes, boxes, and in short 
 Birch-bark 
 
 torches light instantly, burn brilliantly, and 
 
 rolled up. 
 
 all their utensils, are made of. it. 
 
 emit the most delicious aromatic fragrance. 
 After a good supper, we lit our pipes, and, 
 
 the fatigues of the chase being talked over 
 
 and forgotten, I used to listen to old John’s 
 
 interesting accounts of his hunting expedi- 
 
 
 
THE BACKWOODS. 179 
 
 tions, his manner of finding game, the power 
 of keeping his course through the woods, his 
 adventures, escapes, and endless tales of the 
 forest. 
 
 When in the woods, the Indians never call 
 to each other, as a whistle does not disturb 
 game so much. It is to be recollected, when- 
 ever an halloo is required, that the voice will 
 echo in the opposite direction to the mouth 
 from which the shout proceeds; so, should 
 the person turn round at the same time, the 
 sound will appear to come from all parts of 
 the wood. This, therefore, causes great per- 
 plexity. All kinds of deer will stop short 
 when hallooed at sharply, even when alarmed 
 and galloping ever so fast through the forest ; 
 they imagine themselves to be running into 
 danger, and therefore halt for an instant 
 only; long enough to glance round; that is 
 the moment when the Indian fires. 
 
 The bark of the white willow, when dried, 
 
 is a good substitute for tobacco, and when 
 
 
 

 
 
 —S— 
 
 
 
 
 ee 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 ~— 
 
 eo ene 
 ne ee ee 
 
 180 ECHOES FROM 
 
 mixed with it is very agreeable, and modifies 
 the strong oily taste. 
 
 With the Labrador tea (ledum latifolium ), 
 and a small evergreen leaf, called wintergreen 
 (gaultheria procumbeus) the Indians make 
 bitter but refreshing beverages. The way they 
 procure sugar is, by tapping the rock or sugar 
 maple when the sap is running up; the tree 
 bleeds profusely, and the stuff, when boiled, 
 makes excellent sugar. The wood is very 
 tough, and from it are made canoe paddles, 
 the jaws of the salmon spears, &e. When in 
 an unhealthy state, enormous excrescences 
 grow from this tree; from these the beautiful 
 bird’s-eye maple is cut for veneering; it is 
 not, as is generally supposed, a distinct 
 species. 
 
 South-westerly winds prevail towards the 
 autumn ; consequently, the young shoots, and, 
 in fact, the whole of the tops of the pines, 
 incline to the north-east. The trees, when 
 
 blown down at this season, also lie in the 
 
 
 
THE BACKWOODS. 181 
 
 same direction; and, in thick weather, the 
 Indian mainly depends upon these signs for 
 keeping his course; but for the same purpose 
 he examines the bark of the hard wood, and 
 discovers by its roughness on what side the 
 tree is exposed to the north-east gales and 
 snow-storms. 
 
 To strike a light, iron and stone are indis- 
 pensably necessary ; an excrescence growing 
 upon the black birch makes excellent tinder; 
 this, ignited, is put into a heap of dried 
 splinters, almost powder, obtained from the 
 interior of the pine; all is then placed in a 
 piece of birch-bark, and whirled round until 
 the action of the air causes it to blaze. 
 
 But how well versed soever in woodcraft, 
 let no one ever go into the woods without an 
 accurate knowledge of the locale of the 
 country, the general course of the rivers, the 
 situation of lakes, and the direction of any 
 roads which may be in the district, for he can 
 
 never know, in the eagerness of the chase, 
 
 ee ee 
 2 ar 
 
 2 
 ‘ 
 
 | 
 ; 
 | 
 ; 
 t 
 b 
 
 
 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 182 ECHOES FROM 
 
 what accident may separate him from his 
 guide or party; above all, let him never be 
 without an axe, a compass, and the means of 
 making a fire. 
 
 Never shall I forget having parted, on one 
 occasion, from my guide, near the Bald Moun- 
 tain, confident in the power of finding my 
 way out, some eight or ten miles to the 
 Nerepis road. We had had a hard day’s 
 work; the effect of the noonday sun upon 
 the snow had been great ; the crust had com- 
 pletely disappeared, and my snow-shoes sunk 
 deep at every step; I became fagged, could 
 not recollect, or was not satisfied with the 
 appearance of the timber and frozen streams 
 passed; became more and more confused, 
 dead beat, and fell often. The horror of 
 being frozen to death came upon me; I was 
 without the means of striking a light or 
 making a fire: I had heard that the only 
 thing to be done in such an emergency was 
 
 to beat the snow down into a circle, and run — 
 
 
 
THE BACKWOODS. 183 
 
 round it all night—a most consolatory pro- 
 spect for aman dead-beat. Night was coming 
 on fast; I floundered on and on, when, just 
 as | was about to give in, I stepped into the 
 sleigh-track, which told me I had struck the 
 Nerepis road. ‘The sort of ecstacy in which 
 I slipped off my snow-shoes is indescribable; 
 and so confused had I become, that I ran 
 along the road for nearly half a mile in the 
 opposite direction to Mather’s before | found 
 
 out my mistake, 
 
 
 
ee 
 ee 
 
 ee ee oy 
 
 a ae 
 
 — nt 
 a ea 
 
 
 
 wee tree 
 
 a ions 
 - ——s 
 RE ES Ee 
 
 
 
 
 fo Sere aa 
 
 
 
 184 ECHOES FROM 
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 NEW BRUNSWICK—OF THE FISH AND FISHING. 
 
 When artful flies the angler would prepare, 
 This task of all deserves his utmost care ; 
 Nor verse nor prose can ever teach him well 
 What masters only know, and practice tell. 
 
 Salmon spearing—Sturgeon and Molly Greenbaize —Shad 
 —Gaspereaux—Bass—Flies—The Curry-Curry, gaudy and 
 large, the best for North American waters—Matty Blake 
 and the “ Yolly Buff”—Receipts for dying—Mosquito mix- 
 ture. 
 
 The rivers of New Brunswick are fre- 
 quented by a great variety of fish, which 
 ascend them annually to spawn. The princi- 
 pal of these are the salmon, sturgeon, bass, 
 shad, gaspereau, smelts, and some others 
 of less importance. ‘The rivers also abound 
 with a great variety of fish, which are 
 
 constantly found in these waters, and never 
 
THE BACKWOODS. 185 
 
 descend to the sea. These are the trout, 
 perch, (red and white) eels, cusk, carp, wach, 
 dace, gudgeon, bleak, gizzard-fish, and an 
 infinite variety of others, some of which have 
 not even a name, and are yet undescribed by 
 any professor of natural history. 
 
 When the salmon make their appearance 
 in the Nashwak, fleets of canoes, each con- 
 taining a couple of Indians, leave Fredericton 
 to spear them by torch-light. The fish, 
 checked by the falls, are collected in great 
 numbers in the pools below. Nothing can be 
 more exciting than this scene—the canoes 
 hurled about in all directions by the foaming 
 tide, the skill displayed by the Indians in 
 forcing them up the rapids, and fending them 
 off the rocks, or allowing them to plunge 
 head-foremost down stream, when they sud- 
 denly bring them to, and transfix their fish. 
 The eagerness of the chase, the contrast of 
 the flaming torches with the black masses of 
 
 the woods, and the fine attitudes of the men, 
 
 
 
ie A 
 Gn al wg 
 Ht - : 
 19 i} / 
 | ee 
 9 x . 
 m5 | Lae 
 | ae i : ' 
 iP : | 
 y eid ‘a Ff 
 SB Ra 4 {i 
 4 te {F 
 , 
 Bay , 
 Sy By i 
 14 i 
 | | ‘ i 
 - 3 pt 1 
 7 : : 
 re 4 : 
 d i > 
 Li 
 re ibs i 
 ty t 
 ne ar . 8 
 efi a 
 ty 1 4 : 
 ol ; BB 
 si fs : ; 
 : : ; | 
 3 ‘) 9 ia 
 HI 
 3. un 
 7 a | 
 Bo! + 
 7 i : 
 va Fy 
 a | o | 
 ; "| 4 I + ‘ 
 * Mf She a i 
 » te | ' 
 4 : ’ 9 
 me. f 
 4} } 
 ; 7 
 
 
 
 
 
 ; . 
 ‘ 
 f 
 é “% 
 ace 
 ed 
 iW 
 a : : 
 < t 
 : i 
 i z} { 
 4 ° 
 < 
 ? 4 
 : ; P 
 . = 
 i 
 re 
 Ha: 
 ” ti 
 : ae 
 a 
 nek 
 tp 4 
 
 
 
 
 —_— 
 
 — » . ed ~ ram >» ee - i — 
 ne ee 8 A OREN GH EERE Pe ere — FN SE ar SE re ene ‘ 
 ~~ + a os ~ P e lad 4 . ~— bs - _ 
 anon ~ aa — -~ : _ he oad = et ae 
 a - - ‘= = fod yy" - = a . 
 i . it on Po} “>. 
 = ~ en > 2 
 
 ~~ 
 
 ~ = on ee 
 = P s > - eae a os ~~ 
 3 Se so -. = PO mete é ne 
 . a ane ~~ ., 
 —  eeeer: It 
 - nh NA aah nn ie alia! pared 
 
 at OR geen ~ e232 SO RR eat 
 
 
 
 186 ECHOES FROM 
 
 dashing at the salmon with their long 
 spears, form a wild and most animating pic- 
 ture. The spear, which is most destructive, 
 is very simple in its construction, and does 
 not lacerate or spoil the fish. A spike of 
 iron is fastened between two jaws made of 
 rock maple, into the end of a long light fir 
 pole. When the fish is stuck, the jaws open 
 far enough to allow the spike to pierce and 
 break the vertebree of the spine, and, closing 
 round the fish at the same time, hold it fast. 
 The sturgeon of the New Brunswick waters 
 are large, frequently eight feet in length, and 
 sometimes twelve. ‘They are a coarse fish, 
 not at all esteemed, are seldom caught or 
 molested, and therefore abound. When run- 
 ning up stream, they leap out of the water 
 toa great height. A good story is told of an 
 old squaw: whilst paddling down the river, 
 one of these fish jumped on board her canoe, 
 with such impetus, that it must have gone 
 
 clean through the bottom, had not Molly 
 
at 
 
 Ht 
 
 | 
 
 iW) 
 | 
 
 Mi] 
 | 
 will 
 
 ab +. 
 
 WNP 
 Nez 
 
 
 
 os 
 
 SALMON-SPEARING BY TORCHLIGHT. 
 
 . a ——. i 
 aes. Cats Saperee. sTehie o4 BEa 
 
 7 
 
 i 
 | 
 
 
 
~ * 
 , 
 
 da 9 Je. 
 
 SS ee 
 
 wtp “ESET SARI ST — Faire be ‘ re 2 
 
 Se 
 
 aX 
 
 
 
THE BACKWOODS. 187 
 
 Greenbaize, quick as lightning, seized it by 
 the tail before the head and shoulders of the 
 fish had got well through; and, its progress 
 thus arrested, it did the duty of a plug, until 
 she contrived to work her canoe ashore. 
 
 The trout-fishing is excellent, and nowhere 
 to be surpassed ; except, perhaps, in Labrador. 
 No sooner does the ice break up, than 
 myriads of flies appear upon the water, and 
 the trout come upon them at once. The 
 Indians, not being disciples of Izaak Walton, 
 know no other means of fishing for them 
 than by cutting a hole in the ice, when. the 
 fish instantly come to the aperture, and will 
 ake almost any kind of bait; they, however, 
 do not consider them worth the trouble of 
 fishing for, and only resort to the piscatorial 
 art when in actual want, on a hunting expe- 
 dition, or when other game fails. In the 
 Redhead River, some few miles from St. 
 John, are to be caught the most delicious 
 
 trout: it is a back-water frem the sea, and is 
 
 - 
 
 + £ 
 . > 
 di 
 
 het tr Sma a9 = 
 
 
 
= Atos ten ieee = . 
 7 _. a om 
 a ee 
 
 
 
 y 
 
 \ etialie 
 
 
 
 188 ECHOES FROM 
 
 occasionally affected by it at very high spring 
 tides, a circumstance which, no doubt, has its 
 influence on the flavour of the fish. In the 
 Lough Lomond lakes, also in the chain of 
 lakes beyond the Bald Mountain, having their 
 outlet in the Musquash marshes, and in the 
 rivers connecting these lakes, the fly-fishing 
 is excellent. 
 
 The shad, “ clupea alosa,’ is a valuable 
 fish, and bears so much resemblance in its 
 general conformation to the herring, as to 
 be called by the New England fishermen “the 
 mother of herring.” This fish is from three 
 to seven pounds weight; has a sloping head, 
 body tapering towards the tail, teeth small 
 and sharp, dorsal fin nearly in the centre, ab- 
 domen sharp and serrated, tail forked, back : 
 dusky blue. 
 
 The gaspereau, ‘ clupea vermalis,” holds 
 a middle place between the shad and her- 
 ring, having the general characteristies of 
 
 both and similar habits. Vast quantities 
 
 * 
 
 
 
THE BACKWOODS. 189 
 
 are pickled aud smoked both for home and 
 foreign consumption. They begin to ascend 
 the rivers in April, and continue ascending 
 until July. They are taken in quantities, 
 with large landing-nets, in the pools below 
 the rapids, in the eddies, and in the cavities 
 of the rocks. 
 
 Bass is a Dutch name for a species of perch 
 known as the rock bass, or striped bass, 
 (perca labraxv.) On the sides are parallel 
 lines, like narrow ribbons, eight in number, 
 whence the name of striped bass. Next to 
 mackerel, this is the handsomest of the native 
 fishes of New Brunswick. 
 
 Striped bass are sea fish, but principally 
 subsist near the mouths of rivers, which they 
 ascend as high as they can conveniently go. 
 On the approach of winter, instead of striking 
 out into the deep water of the open ocean, 
 the bass finds a residence in ponds, coves, 
 rivers, and quiet arms of the sea, where, un- 
 
 disturbed and comfortable, it remains till the 
 
 
 
~~ " 
 a. 
 
 
 
 
 
 nt 1 
 Be ae i | 
 AH | 
 aie 
 
 tes 
 ae enh 
 
 Fiatindee Ben 
 
 Seas! ac 
 
 _ ‘ : 
 ~~ ee 
 
 = : 
 
 a 
 
 e ai 
 ie ht 
 ie Ai 
 
 t 3 4 
 s 
 
 - i = 
 - ase ~ - 
 - m - 
 
 
 
 
 
 GPO ELEN FT a CONT ae 
 te wears -_ ees, 
 i) a dee eS eee eee 
 
 ee SS et eke 
 
 
 
 le, ht 
 perem rere x = 
 ao 8 _ 
 
 pas 
 a 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 190 ECHOES FROM 
 
 following spring. The bass weighs from three 
 to forty pounds. The largest are taken 
 during the winter, by night-lines, on the Gem- 
 sey, and the deep, still streams called the 
 “ thoroughfares,” which connect the grand 
 lake with its tributary lakes. Such great de- 
 struction of bass has taken place on the 
 northern rivers of New Brunswick, particu- 
 larly the Richibucto, by cutting holes in the 
 ice, and lifting the fish out with dip-nets in 
 very severe weather, when the bass were 
 lying in a torpid state, that special enact- 
 ments have been made to prevent this waste 
 of the finny tribe. 
 
 In sharp tide-ways, during the summer, they 
 are readily caught with trolling tackle and a 
 small fish as a bait: with a salmon rod they 
 afford fine sport. 
 
 I would fain say something of the flies best 
 suited to the New Brunswick waters ; but on 
 this subject no two fishermen ever agree: it 
 
 is proverbial that doctors differ, that ladies 
 
THE BACKWOODS. 19] 
 
 differ, that statesmen differ— but no people 
 so much as fishermen in the momentous affair 
 of the choice of flies. It is well known to 
 those whose experience is worth consulting, 
 that the fly which will kill well in one water 
 would not be looked at by the fish in another: 
 and, moreover, trout are so capricious, that 
 the fly at which they will rise freely for one 
 hour in the day, the next they will not even 
 look at; or, if they do, it is to rise false and 
 endeavour to drown it by slapping at it with 
 their tails; and thus it happens that many 
 fish are caught by being “ hooked foul,” as 
 the fishermen term it. 
 
 [t may be given as a general rule, however, 
 that as the insects of the new world are both 
 larger and brighter than in the old, so the 
 artificial flies should also be large and gaudy: 
 and, if the angler be not artist enough to tie 
 his own flies, and wishes to provide himself 
 with a batch previously to visiting North 
 
 America, let him select those only which 
 
 a 
 
 wee 
 ee Ss 
 
 ; 
 
 ae 
 | 
 a 
 | 
 > 
 .- 8 
 a 
 t 
 ‘6 | 
 a : 
 
 
 
i_—S a 
 = 
 
 = a > 
 > tae + - 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 3 
 
 nee 
 
 : oe ae 
 
 e e <—s~ - ~ a - “ a" 
 
 < on ot = _ = - _ E . _ 
 
 : os 2 -* - — ane Pree Te he ———— - = 
 
 ~ : : —) — 
 
 : - ie « ee — 4 ~- . ive 
 
 = a past Ti ae ee ee = 3 "T " ony rags ey ee 2 oe — > 
 ‘ : aad ano Sate op 7 es ? 7 ~ : 
 u ~ ~— ted Pe 6d 4. 
 = a ae . ae Od. . ee - A “ ae arr - . ~_ -- * 
 - ~~" P - es : ares 
 ” — 7 tae - oe 
 = or etd - C ert - - .—— . se RY : 
 ee eae ; : — Fy te « : ge = ~ _~ oe, a ~e 
 eS 8 ig et Kaeo Se Wa ep i en ~ a ana al , - 
 os a = - - = ; ~ 2 
 2 “~ > are 5 “<7 — - 7 a ri te ie oo : F 
 aifie hae - _ ° ~ - - 
 . ~ o : aa : " : were we cs 
 
 er | 4 ~~ 
 
 - 
 
 
 
 
 
 192 ECHOES FROM 
 
 would be preferred by the cockney sportsman. 
 All the lists of palmers, or, as old Izaac has 
 it, ‘‘ the dun-fly, the stone-fly, the red-fly, the 
 moor-fly, the tawny-fly, the shell-fly, the 
 cloudy or blackish-fly, the flag-fly, the vine- 
 fly: there be—of flies, caterpillars, and canker- 
 flies, and bear-flies—and, indeed, too many 
 either for me to name or for you to remem- 
 ber,” with their sober relations, the lake-flies, 
 may be left in the shop for the use of the 
 floggers of our hackneyed streams and lakes, 
 whose knowledge of the art has been derived 
 from a careful perusal of Izaac Walton or Sir 
 Humphrey Davy; or from dear-bought expe- 
 rience, which teaches discrimination between 
 
 > 
 
 the shades of the ‘‘ copper,” “ mulberry,” or 
 “purple claret ”*—the “ pale” or ‘ brown 
 cinnamon,” or “‘ sooty olive.” Let the Ame- 
 rica bound fisherman then select those most 
 bedizened with gold tinsel, and made of the 
 brightest colours. 
 
 There isa saying among fishermen, “abright 
 
THE BACKWOODS. 193 
 
 fly on a sunny day,” “a dark one for a cloudy 
 day”—but in America both salmon and trout 
 will at all times and in all waters prefer the 
 most brilliant.' 
 
 ‘ An angler, of great experience, pointed out the above 
 passage to me, and said that, “although he perfectly agreed 
 with me, and was convinced that all practical fishermen 
 would be of the same opinion, he had remarked a direct 
 contradiction in many of the works on angling,” I there- 
 fore took the trouble to look over several; from which I 
 give, on one side, opinions which bear out my statement, and 
 
 afterwards those which contradict it. 
 
 PRo. 
 
 l. It is a general rule by 
 all practical fishermen whom 
 I know, that, so far as it can 
 be followed, a dark fly must 
 be fished upon a cloudy day, 
 a bright one on a sunny day; 
 and for this simple reason, 
 that on dark and gloomy 
 days dark flies are to be 
 found on the water, and vice 
 versa. 
 
 2. If the water be full, and 
 somewhat coloured, your flies 
 may be of the larger and 
 darker kind ; if, on the con- 
 trary, the water should be 
 low and clear, and the day 
 
 VOL. I. 
 
 Con. 
 
 l. A darker fly, with the 
 wings formed of the feathers 
 of a starling, or a bald coote, 
 &e., will also be found of 
 service when the day is ra- 
 ther bright, and the water 
 clear. — Stephen Oliver’s 
 Recollections of Fly-fishing, 
 in Westmoreland, &c., p. 110. 
 
 2. Should the clouds dis- 
 appear and it become bright, 
 change your flies for darker 
 ones.— Sir H. Davy. Sal- 
 monia, p. 112. 
 
 I will: mention a circum- 
 
 K 
 
 
 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 Ew a 
 
 x 
 
 a * “~~ a % — 
 POSE ee 
 
 Seem 
 — 
 
 th 0 
 
 
 
 
 ‘ “ca 
 ~ ” a mae ’ . 4 
 - : wen Pee og se - a =" -—* _ 2 - m - 2 
 he “ : . . \ -. -) a “ an os © omg = d : ~ bat 
 - Se) a aes or ——— Ons = eR nix ae ea hee . . 
 aN . VS : ; : nto ptte Ni 523 Lai 2 : met . = - ™ 
 Ae ile ; a it ag : : . : whine ee A mS ™ 
 s . ie ces <x s o& : “a a mo ns - a = — . ~ 
 oe emer *, e /. » ~ s* > .~-- ~~ wm ns = —a _ — _ 7 ai 
 a ee r . ager eK" > ew Sr: =. ~ —- “ os = aaehiiedes - 
 ae 4 — = = ir —2 = ~—- * me 4 
 —_ i at ko -- ? = - E = -— = 
 ae og ES SA A a ee ee ee niles wired PN - _— =—- ne : ~ 
 5 ae NG Tap —s 2 ne el a > SIS em “ a eee => ‘ —— x : — —— 
 Fo datos ives e ore - ae | ~ ‘ = 
 a - ~~ — id -* «c= ¥ r- Sat = ss 
 ee a. . 
 
 ewer 
 beh hee 
 
 4 ie 
 oe ee ee ce Fates 
 g 7 . a . sh vo 
 
 t~ 
 fo NS. 4: 
 
 iret. 
 te ai 
 eS 
 
 ~ Saee 
 us —— — 
 See 
 
 Lo ~e 
 ni ve he 
 
 *, —— 
 as: > 
 
 eer 
 
 - esr 
 ee 
 » ~~ 
 
 ed 
 [Se oa 
 
 — r 
 Nr a ee ee no te-ap—inae - 
 
 FS ree mre Rm YON EE 
 = 5 a 
 a ee 3 oF 
 _ - Ss e ze. »— 
 _ =~ ~~ -- r 
 
 
 
 194 
 
 ECHOES FROM 
 
 
 
 For salmon the more gaudy the better— 
 
 bright orange bodies, and a brilliant blue are 
 
 always good. These colours imitate the 
 
 natural dragon-flies of the country. Golden 
 
 pheasant is sure everywhere. 
 
 bright, your fly should be stance which every accom- 
 
 dressed accordingly.— Hof- 
 land’s Anglers’ Manual, 
 p. 205, 
 
 3. The author of the “Hints 
 for Fly-fishers,” published in 
 “The Sporting Review” for 
 April, 1841, states, after 
 quoting the above, in direct 
 contradiction of Younger’s 
 and of Stodart’s views on the 
 same subject, “the two last 
 quotations seem to be con- 
 tradictory of the first, and go 
 to the very opposite ex- 
 
 . treme of Mr. Hofland, and 
 
 equally wide of the true 
 principle.” —-S.R., V., 270. 
 4. Small light - coloured 
 flies are for clear waters 
 and clear atmospheres; large, 
 dark - coloured flies when 
 
 plished fiy-fisher ought to 
 know—putting the dark flies 
 on for the bright gleams of 
 the sun, and the gaudy flies 
 when the dark clouds ap- 
 pear.—JLbid. p. 137, 
 
 3, And note also, that the 
 light fly does usually make 
 most sport in a dark day; 
 and the darkest and least fly 
 in a bright or clear day.— 
 Izaac Walton, p. 184. 
 
 4. Thesun proves cloudy: 
 then must you set forth 
 either your ground bait 
 tackles, or of the brightest of 
 
THE BACKWOODS. 195 
 
 For the large sea trout of the Gulf of St. 
 Lawrence, when fishing in tide-ways or at the 
 mouths of harbours, the flies must be very 
 large and gaudy, and should be tied with 
 natural scarlet feathers, (no scarlet dye is so 
 bright when wet,) obtained from the tail- 
 feathers of the gray parrot, or those of the 
 scarlet tanager (tanagra rubra). I do not, 
 however, mean to recommend that the fisher- 
 man should go about visiting with a pair of 
 pincers in his pocket, in order to harass 
 old ladies by his cruelty in extracting the 
 vice versa.—Best’s Art of your flies. If the sun proves 
 Angling, p. 140. bright and clear, then must 
 
 you put on the darkest of 
 your flies, thus must you 
 to work with your flies, light 
 for darkness, and dark for 
 
 lightness. —Thomas Baker’s 
 Art of Angling, p.140. 
 
 N.B. The best rule is to fish the flies upon the water, 
 and for which Nature will furnish the examples to be imi- 
 tated: by a close examination it will be found that, on dark 
 and cloudy days, dark flies are to be found on the water, and 
 
 vice versa. He who fishes by rule and not after Nature is 
 no fly-fisher. 
 
 K 2 
 
 
 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 196 ECHOES FROM 
 
 said feathers from their pet birds; but when 
 fairly obtained they are good. Should he 
 have the opportunity of getting those of the 
 “curry curry,” or South American Curlew, he 
 will obtain a still more brilliant colour than 
 that of either the scarlet tanager or those fea- 
 thers contained in Poll’s tail. No natural 
 scarlet can rival it, except perhaps the top- 
 knot of the ivory-billed woodpecker, the 
 feathers of which are admirably adapted to 
 match as hackles. The flies should be ribbed 
 with a liberal quantity of large round gold 
 thread, until they become entirely scarlet and 
 old, and so long as a particle of the feather 
 or tinsel remains on the hook they will con- 
 tinue to kill. 
 For trout fishing, for the above stated rea- 
 son, viz., the size of the insects, “river flies,” 
 so termed in England, are absolutely useless ; | 
 the fish in New Brunswick will not look at | 
 them. Good-sized “lake flies,” and those only | 
 
 of the brightest colours, will have any chance. 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 SS ee =, 1 4 2 
 ey gee a ee ee “ 
 Pi Se Sale Cee 3 ie 
 
 a <3 
 
 <2 
 > ~ woe: - hing - 
 a ee + . 
 o< - .- 7g B 
 a — 
 - a rs a 
 re = == Des fe eer ak ahve ane 
 _- ry —— - - — - 
 x he «i ad * 
 
 
 
 — 
 
THE BACKWOODS. 197 
 
 The difficulty of obtaining any information 
 about the mystery of dyeing is very great; it 
 is not to be expected that the shopkeeper, 
 Whose existence in many cases depends on his 
 skill in the art, will disclose the secret 
 whereby a particular process of making a 
 certain colour may be known, and by these 
 means get into the hands of his rival in trade. 
 And if perchance a person, by dint of bribery, 
 flatters himself that he has obtained the 
 secret, in all probability there is some item 
 in the receipt omitted, which gives it a pecu- 
 liar shade different from the original—the 
 least difference being fatal to the fly. One 
 story, apropos to this nicety of shade. 
 
 There lives in an humble cottage on the 
 shore of Clonave, a character well known to 
 most of the floggers of the Westmeath Jakes : 
 and few there are of them, when fishing Lough 
 Dereverragh, who have not paid a visit to Matty 
 Blake, to obtain, with the silver hook, that 
 addition to their basket, which may make up 
 
 e 
 
 
 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 198 ECHOES FROM 
 
 the deficiency of their own skill, or prevent 
 a laugh at going home empty—and on a day 
 when the inmates of the more aristocratic 
 boats take drift after drift, and change over 
 
 99 
 
 from shore to shore, Matty’s ‘‘ cot” may be 
 seen taking short ‘“ falls’ under Clonave 
 or Derragh; and the boatmen of the former, 
 who have not been able to shout ‘* cookoo,” 
 have repeatedly called attention, exclaiming, 
 * Matty’s in a fish.” The interior economy 
 of his cot is delightful. It is flat-bottomed, 
 as are all of this sort of craft; and that it 
 was watertight no one could gainsay, from 
 the fact of sundry pieces of turf floating 
 about in the bottom; at one end, under some 
 grass and flaggers are generally from eight to 
 ten fish, nearly as broad as they are long, 
 and in weight varying from three to eight 
 pounds; atthe other a thick piece of the root 
 of a flagger is lying on one of the natural 
 knees of oak (which serve to keep the fabric 
 
 together), into which piece of flagger are 
 
 
 
THE BACKWOODS. 199 
 
 stuck the different flies, and various shades of 
 the green drake, which Matty has from time 
 to time tried upon his casting-line.' 
 
 Matty Blake’s forte, however, lies in his 
 success in dyeing a particular shade of colour 
 called the “sooty olive,” and for his skill in 
 fixing the yellow dye, so necessary in match- 
 ing the natural colour of the “ green drake.” 
 Whether he has any midnight dealings with 
 the banshees, who are said to hold their 
 revels under the hawthorn bushes of Kiltoom, 
 is not known, or in the ruined vaults of Mor- 
 timer’s Castle, where 
 
 “ Fairies, by moonlight, oft are seen, 
 Tripping round the smooth sward green ; 
 
 Her beams reflected from the wave, 
 Afford the light their revels crave.” 
 
 ' The lake fishermen may take “a wrinkle” from this; 
 for, instead of being obliged to return your flies wet into 
 the box or book, or to stick them into your hatband— 
 from the latter of which you can only extract them by 
 means of a knife or pair of scissors, and having when re- 
 quired from either of the former, some half dozen scattered 
 about by the winds, you will find itmuch more convenient, 
 to say nothing of the tax on your patience, when the fish 
 
 
 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 - — 
 De ee _—s 7 : 
 i a * a : = — - 
 
 Sete eS 
 
 
 
 
 i as 
 So > Nawrels - be - 
 
 ae 
 
 “sy 
 ome 
 aS 34 
 
 oo 
 ae, at Se os 
 7 a 
 pits lS = 
 
 com nye pp em ee ere eee 
 
 
 
 ro) 
 
 ~ 
 
 00 ECHOES FROM 
 
 
 
 Some there are, however, who affirm that it 
 is from a particular kind of peat, other- 
 wise turf, that he extracts his celebrated 
 
 9? 
 
 “ sooty ;” and that in the well smoke-dried 
 thatch of Matty’s cabin on Clonave lies the 
 whole secret. Be that asit may, there is no 
 such colour to be found elsewhere—and Matty 
 keeps his secret inviolate. But to my story. 
 
 It so happened that a friend of mine, who 
 had often paid a visit to Matty’s “‘ cabin,” for 
 the purpose of buying flies, was fishing on 
 Lough Dereverragh, and, in spite of his smart 
 rod and well-appointed boat, could not raise 
 a fish or a ‘“ cookoo”;' and observing that 
 from the humble cot they were constantly 
 thrusting out a landing-net, and as constantly 
 
 securing a fine fish, our friend went alongside, 
 
 are “mad up” and dashing at “the drake,” to be able to 
 extract the fly you wish to put upon your casting-line in 
 an instant from the pulpy substance of the flaggers. 
 
 * “ Cookoo” is the shout of emulation given by the 
 boatmen on the Westmeath waters, to announce that “ the 
 fish” is in the “landing-net.” 
 
 
 
THE BACKWOODS. 20] 
 
 and asked ‘‘on what shade of the drake they 
 were killing?” “On the yolly buff, plaise 
 your honour,” was the reply. My friend 
 tried all the shades of yellow buff he possessed, 
 not forgetting “ the monkey ;” and, although 
 the fish were “mad up,” and dashing at the 
 drakes, as they freed themselves from their 
 cases, and struggled forth on their flight over 
 the water; and although the trout were 
 swallowing them in dozens, as their wing's 
 got entangled in the streaks of froth, still he 
 could not “stir” a fish; and finally went in 
 for luncheon at a rude pier made of huge 
 stones on the shore of Clonave. 
 
 After indulging in pigeon-pies, mayonaise 
 of chicken, cold punch and “a weed,” Matty’s 
 cot came alongside, in one end of which was 
 reared his rod, and upon the casting-line, as 
 an upper dropper, hung the identical “ yolly 
 buff,” which had done so much execution in 
 the morning. Matty extended himself on the 
 green turf, for which his locale is famed, and 
 
 K Oo 
 
 ee 
 
 ~— 
 —-, 
 
 
 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 ————— 
 
 
 
 eh 
 often 
 
 hs “ ma. - 
 - ——s PES. St <r i =. 
 os ‘. . 
 FS ae em 
 7. 
 
 OP ert. 
 
 ow 
 
 ee 
 > : 
 
 we tot ag et vee 
 
 ed 
 
 . ro 
 er - 
 ~ 
 = ee ey 
 =: = ee ae = 
 ~ = ——- a 
 ’ 7 & 
 a ae 
 3 eo * 
 rer 
 
 4 4 
 4 3 
 i rey 
 t By 
 Ss 
 ‘ 
 
 be ie 
 : ao 
 : 4 : 
 
 i€ p+ 
 : . se 
 z~ fF 
 
 202 ECHOES FROM 
 
 waited an expected change in the weather— 
 the fish having suddenly ‘‘ gone down.” My 
 friend entered into conversation, and began 
 an examination of Matty’s “ foot link,” and 
 contrived to detach from it the “ yolly 
 buff;” he then jumped into his boat, and 
 desired his men to “give way,’ at the same 
 time chucking half a crown to Matty, as he 
 called out that he was “ sold,’ and that now 
 it was his turn. Matty very quietly replied, 
 “ Yer honour’s welcome to it; they’re off 
 the ‘ yolly buff’ for this sason ; and after those 
 bloody white clouds pass over, about half past 
 three, they’ll ‘be mad up’ on the pale shade 
 of the ‘dirty buff.’ ” 
 
 The Indians have the means of staining 
 poreupine’s quills, moosehair, or wood for 
 baskets of very brilliant colours, but these 
 they keep strictly secret. Mr. Perley, of New 
 Brunswick, tried, but in vain, to learn their 
 processes; and, as he did not succeed, it is un- 
 likely they will ever be discovered. The 
 
 preparations are considered sacred, and the 
 
THE BACKWOODSsS. 203 
 
 slightest information has never been known to 
 be given on the subject. A few receipts are 
 given below, which, after much pains and 
 many experiments, have been found to turn 
 out in general clear, bright, and true; and 
 those most appropriate for the North Ameri- 
 can waters, such as the ambers, different 
 shades of blue, green, scarlet, blood-red, and 
 gold, are marked with an asterisk. The 
 more sober colours, such as the cinnamons, 
 browns, and olives, instead of being entirely 
 omitted, are left on the chance of their being 
 useful to the home-bound fisherman. And 
 by steeping the fur or feathers intended to be 
 dyed ina solution of alum, previously to putting 
 them into the colouring liquid, they will be 
 sufficiently fived, and will not fade. 
 
 One word as to the best material for making 
 body or dubbing. First of all, not only as the 
 most brilliant and clear when held up to light, 
 is the fur of the white seal; but in the water, 
 
 which is of much the most importance, it is 
 
 
 
 
 
= tee -_ * . 
 tt eee —— c ~ 
 * 
 Sn ee mr Sag kh a Se ete 
 4 en Re Te “ re 
 * “ - . 
 .* By ” ve 7 
 
 ~ = 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 204 ECHOES FROM 
 
 the most lively and transparent of any kind 
 of fur. Next comes pig’s down; and last 
 and worst, mohair, which becomes so sodden 
 and dead in the water as never to be used, 
 except in the case of not being able to 
 obtain either of the former. 
 
 N.B. Should you, after dyeing any colour, 
 find that it does not please you, or that it has 
 faded, do not cast away the stuff; for, by 
 simply boiling the dyed hair in alum water, 
 it is a singular fact, that the mordant which 
 holds the dye has the peculiar property of 
 obliterating it; and thus much useless waste, 
 
 often of a precious material, is avoided. 
 
 DYEING COLOURS FOR ARTIFICIAL FLIES. 
 
 All furs, hackles, feathers, &c., previously to being put 
 into any dyeing liquor, must be prepared in alum water 
 (except such dyeing liquor as may have vitriol in it). 
 
 Biack.—Two ounces of logwood; half an ounce of 
 shumach, boiled a sufficient time in half a pint of water; 
 wet the stuff, put it in and boil it well; take it up and 
 cool it; return it, and boil it again; take it up again and 
 cool it; then add one ounce of copperas; boil it again 
 sufficiently. 
 
THE BACKWOODS. 905 
 
 OLIVE.—Two ounces of fustic; half an ounce of 
 logwood ; boil well; put in the stuff after wetting; boil all 
 well; take it up tocool; add one ounce of copperas; 
 return it, and boil it sufficiently. 
 
 Brown.—1. Three ounces of redwood; two ounces 
 of fustic; boil it well: let it cool; put in the stuff after 
 wetting; boil it well; take it up, and cool it; put in 
 one ounce of copperas; return the stuff, and take your 
 colour. 
 
 2. ‘T'wo ounces and a half of logwood; five ounces and 
 two drams of fustic; half an ounce of shumach; three 
 ounces of copperas; half an ounce of alum; three ounces of 
 redwood. 
 
 *DEEP BLUE.—1. Indigo, dissolved in warm water, with 
 a mixture of vitriol. 
 
 2. Fourpennyworth of arsenic, dissolved by boiling a 
 quart of water for one hour; dip the feathers or furs, and 
 the oftener repeated the deeper the dye. 
 
 3. Add a little logwood and copperas for a brown. 
 
 N.B. Let this liquor cool before it is used. 
 
 *GREEN. 
 
 
 
 Threepennyworth of Spanish indigo (pul- 
 verized) ; two ounces of oil of vitriol; mix together; put 
 a small proportion of this mixture into warm water, 
 boiling hot for a light blue; a greater quantity for a 
 middle-coloured blue; and a still greater quantity for a 
 deep-coloured blue. Turmeric, added in small quantity, 
 will produce a shade of green. 
 
 *BLoop RED is made, first, by steeping in madder: 
 second by steeping in Brazilwood. Should the colour be 
 thought too high, dilute with urine. 
 
 *YELLOW may be dyed in the following manner: with 
 turmeric, or the bark of the crab-apple tree. 
 
 
 
 ee ee 
 
 
 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 =< 
 
 irate bowie oe 
 ¥ Se Sree Seep oo 
 
 or 
 
 206 ECHOES FROM 
 
 Sooty OLIvE.—1l. One pennyworth of fustic, two 
 ounces of turmeric; boil the fustic, and steep the hackles 
 therein when milk-warm. 
 
 2. Boil the turmeric and steep the hackles therein (pigs’ 
 fur may be boiled in this). This dye will produce the 
 following shades, viz :—brown olive, sooty olive, yellow 
 and gold. 
 
 N.B. The hackles to make sooty olive must be a natural 
 black, and the hackles to make a brown must be a 
 natural red. 
 
 *ORANGE.—Oranetto for an orange colour. Steep the 
 hackles when boiling hot. 
 
 *GoLp CoLour.—1. First dip in fustic, boiling hot, wash 
 in cold water, then dip in turmeric boiling hot. The na- 
 tural black hackles with this dye will make a sooty olive, 
 the red a brown one. 
 
 2. To dye red and black hackles a beautiful amber. 
 Steep them in one pennyworth of fustic and one penny- 
 worth of the best indigo. 
 
 38. Take a small teacupful of ground or powdered 
 fustic, let it boil gently in more than half a pint of pure 
 water, dissolving one pennyworth of Spanish indigo, and 
 pour it into the fustic; let all boil together slowly; put into 
 this red, black, or any hackles, and after ten minutes all 
 will be dyed. 
 
 The red hackles will become a beautiful amber, the 
 black a colour bordering on amber, the gray a trans- 
 parency very beautiful. Hares’ ear may be dyed in the 
 same manner. 
 
 *To dye crimson hackles —Having prepared the hackles 
 first in alum water, that they may hold the dye, boil them 
 in madder till they have absorbed a considerable quantity 
 of the dyeing matter; then wash them thoroughly, and 
 
THE BACKWOODS. 2907 
 
 boil them in a separate vessel with cochineal, (an earthen 
 vessel is better than a saucepan) and when you have 
 dyed the hackles well in this, add a very small quantity of 
 copperas to clear the shade. This shade can be darkened 
 ad libitum by the addition of more copperas till you have 
 as many as you fancy. 
 
 *YELLOW.—Dyers’ weed or rocket, so called, will afford a 
 beautiful yellow. This plant is very common, and is to be 
 found in meadows, pastures, walls, and barren uncultivated 
 places.’ 
 
 Magnificent as is the fly-fishing in New 
 Brunswick, it is not without its désagrémens. 
 Clouds of countless insects beset the face, 
 hands, or any exposed parts of the piscator. 
 Persons there are, it is true, who are not 
 annoyed by mosquitoes, which here abound. 
 But against the attacks of a small species of 
 black gnat or sand-fly, even the tough 
 skin of the Indian is not proof. These fasten 
 on the forehead and behind the ears, and cut 
 like a knife: to keep them off is impossible. 
 By anointing themselves with the fat of 
 pork or bear’s grease, the Indians contrive to 
 keep themselves free from their venom. But 
 the white man suffers dreadfully. 
 
 * Reseda Luteola. (irish buigh mor.) 
 
 
 
 
 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 a -— 
 
 ce Nee 
 
 ne ge a 
 . et ne Pee 
 
 208 ECHOES FROM 
 
 Camphorated olive oil, with a few drops of 
 oil of almonds, or any other bitter oil added, 
 is recommended. No one should go into the 
 woods in the fly season without a small pot 
 of this mixture; for, should his patience be 
 exhausted by the repeated applications neces- 
 sary during the time he may be intent on 
 beguiling the finny tribe, when he lays him- 
 self down to rest at night, it will tend much 
 to allay the pain and inflammation caused by 
 the sting of insects, and he will be sure to 
 thank his stars that he possesses such a 
 luxury. 
 
THE BACKWOODS. 209 
 
 CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 NOVA SCOTIA—A FORTNIGHT IN BUSH. 
 
 I really do think there is no luxury equal to that of 
 lying before a good fire on a good spruce bed, after a good 
 supper and a hard moose, chase in a fine clear frosty moon- 
 light starry night. 
 
 Lorp E. FITZGERALD. 
 
 While round, in brutal jest, were thrown 
 The half-gnawed rib and marrow-bone. 
 MARMION. 
 
 The Start —Annapolis— Micmac Village— Flappers — 
 Trout—Lakes—Rivers—Still Waters—Tracks—Moose— 
 The Death — Potatoes — Indigestion— Turtle —Lampreys 
 Emperor of China. 
 
 
 
 
 
 —Stone Pipes—Calling the Moose 
 
 Rifles, guns, fishing-rods, blankets, axes, 
 tomahawks, salt pork, biscuits, and a couple 
 of birch-canoes, the whole under the charge 
 of Francis Glode, a Micmac Indian, were put 
 
 on board the steamer for Annapolis; and, all 
 
 
 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 = . J 4 Li my 4 i, . 
 —— - ; ir = - - ie a eo Z = eT, a 
 > nges SI 5 i = Soe Son > Lae <A yp == an i aot 
 . » “Re — ys el ae d . ane : ; —— to 
 = = ——" - _— ~ ae ™ te a - - 
 =a. » : i Sir ~ 2 = hy ial os a —. 
 = sh era es a . a . . a — ae 
 ~ ar, aaa a eT aes = D atie.-—-S ae 
 ‘ ¥ To . “ = = 
 : aia — me 
 a i — rt 
 
 e™ 
 
 3 
 = + 
 s tenner 5, —s 
 ~ : A h 
 ~ ax. 
 
 
 
 
 
 ee ee 
 
 tum. we ~~ 
 
 Late ~ we ety 
 ES ae’ = oe n 
 AS - me “ye = 1 rt"; aS 
 v NT he ag ee Agee ee gt ON, LOE ag 
 - e _—— ‘ ‘ Te 7 re 
 . vA “ - 
 © ene 
 ¥ ~- <= O6 
 > , ~ ae 
 - na i or wes 
 we. Bit 
 - a c - de 8 ho 
 : re oe a . ei ASSO ws 
 —- = “ a a a = - 
 - Sa 
 sextet. ° , yg 5 Le. Mi 3 - Th. onl 
 = PSC. at ee re 
 
 210 ECHOES FROM 
 the preparations for a fortnight’s sojourn “in 
 
 bush” being completed, Captain E— and 
 myself started from St. John’s, in the month 
 of August, to hunt the moose in Nova Scotia, 
 On nearing the coast, the land loomed in the 
 most extraordinary manner, and masses of trees 
 of a gigantic growth hung suspended, asit were, 
 in the heavens. The Wicklow mountains may 
 at times be seen to loom in the same way long 
 after losing sight of the Irish coast; or, as 
 poor Power would have said, “ after you had 
 seen it clane out of sight.” 
 
 The bay of Annapolis is landlocked on 
 either side by the iron-bound coast of Nova 
 Scotia, and the entrance to it through straits 
 wooded to the water’s edge is most striking; 
 the canoes of the Micmac Indians, hunting 
 the porpoise, which covered. the water at the 
 time, added not a little to the picturesque 
 effect. Suddenly the bay opened, and, after 
 an hour’s steaming, the ‘‘ Maid of the Mist ” 
 
 landed us at Annapolis, where we were joined 
 
 
 
THE BACKWOODS. 211 
 
 by the chief of the tribe, Charles Glode, (our 
 guide’s brother,) and another Indian, supposed 
 to be the most accomplished mouse-hunter in 
 the province ; he spoke no language but that 
 of his nation, was a fine athletic fellow, 
 and lived entirely by the produce of the 
 chase. 
 
 The result of a consultation was, that we 
 were to strike the head-waters of a river about 
 ten miles south of Annapolis, and follow it 
 through a chain of lakes until it finally 
 emptied itself into the Atlantic below Hali 
 fax. The hunting ground once settled, the 
 Indians shouldered the provisions, and, placing 
 the canoes on their heads, went off at a long 
 trot, and we, who had only our rifles to carry, 
 found quite enough to do to keep pace with 
 them. 
 
 An Indian path led to a Micmac village 
 of some twelve or fourteen lodges, where 
 they halted for their hunting-knives, toma- 
 
 hawks, and other necessary apparatus for the 
 
 
 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 wr 
 
 212 ECHOES FROM 
 
 chase; and we smoked the pipe with their 
 squaws. 
 
 Happy mortal! he who knows 
 Pleasure which a pipe bestows. 
 Curling eddies climb the room, 
 
 Wafting round a mild perfume. 
 
 On leaving the village, we struck directly 
 into the woods, following in Indian file. On 
 reaching the first lake, it was found necessary 
 to stanch the canoes before launching, an 
 operation easily performed by applying lighted 
 torches of bark to the gum and resin with 
 which the seams are covered; when melted 
 sufficiently, the Indian wetted his thumb, (in 
 the manner most convenient to himself,) and 
 plastered the resin anew over the seams, 
 That finished, we paddled across a lake, 
 crossed a portage, and halted for the night on 
 the shores of the second lake; and, whilst 
 the Indians were making the camp, a stream 
 close by, full of trout, came most apropos for 
 supper. Trout thus fresh caught and fried 
 
THE BACKWOODS. 913 
 
 with salt pork are excellent, and any one who 
 has hunted in the woods of North America 
 can also appreciate a kettle of boiling hot 
 tea; so refreshing after fatigue, and doubly 
 so on the first day, when fresh from a town 
 life, and before condition has given full play 
 to the muscles. 
 
 In the middle of the night we were 
 awakened by the most mournful and painful 
 shrieks, as though a woman was suffering 
 torture, and screaming for assistance. It 
 was the cry of “the Loon,” or “ Great Nor- 
 thern Diver.” They make these noises when 
 alarmed by the sight of bears. One of the 
 Indians snatched up a rifle and disappeared ; 
 he returned towards morning, but without 
 having gota shot. The Indians can imitate the 
 ery of the loon, and, by concealing themselves 
 in the brushwood on the edges of the lakes, 
 and waving their hats, will call them within 
 shot, but they dive so instantaneously, that 
 the click of a copper cap, or a flash in the 
 
 
 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 Ss : 
 
 — 
 a. ae 
 
 a Ee 
 
 ewe e" 
 
 bos age ts inSain) FTES nt. 
 
 nents 
 seats 
 
 rn en 
 
 _— 
 
 . 
 ei 
 ae: x3 
 
 214 ECHOES FROM 
 
 pan, is sufficient to give them warning, and 
 they are under water before the shot can 
 reach them. But by suddenly jumping up 
 with a great noise, you may alarm the bird, 
 when his first impulse will be to open his 
 wings for flight—his second to dive; then is 
 the moment to catch him. But, unless you 
 are very close to him, he will carry offa large 
 charge of shot. 
 
 The following morning, several lakes and 
 portages were crossed in a thick fog. On its 
 suddenly clearing off, we found ourselves in 
 a beautiful lake covered with islands or rather 
 huge rocks of granite and porphyry, of all 
 manner of fantastic shapes and forms; and 
 in the midst of several broods of flappers 
 (young wood ducks'). The Indians were 
 instantly all excitement; off they set in 
 chase, straining every nerve, the canoes flying 
 through the water at a most astonishing rate. 
 The flappers dived whenever closed upon, 
 
 * Dendronessa sponsa. 
 
 
 
THE BACKWOODS. 915 
 
 until, after two hours of paddling and ma- 
 neuyring, some six or eight were caught. No 
 bad things for supper, when hunger does duty 
 for Cayenne pepper and Harvey sauce. 
 
 The broad outlet from this lake being 
 broken up into a succession of rapids, the 
 skill of the Indians was put to the test, and 
 the canoes often made tremendous lurches, 
 plunging head-foremost into whirlpools; but 
 the Indians, ever on the alert, fended off and 
 preserved their equilibrium apparently with- 
 out effort. 
 
 An Indian never does an awkward thing— 
 when hunting, he never steps upon dry twigs, 
 or any thing likely to alarm the ears of the 
 most watchful animal—he moves without 
 noise—he looks before him, behind him, and 
 from right to left, at every step—he observes 
 the patches of moss, any peculiarity or 
 marked feature, the trees and their branches, 
 which he invariably recognises, should he 
 
 cross them again. In his canoe he is equally 
 
 
 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 EE IN OT UT Bs IT 
 
 216 ECHOES FROM 
 
 on the look-out; along the shore, or in, or 
 under the water, nothing escapes his notice ; 
 his paddle propels his canoe without noise or 
 splash; his carriage, his manners, and _ his 
 movements, are all grace, all ease, because 
 they are natural. 
 
 This river was full of large trout, and the 
 merry salmo huko of Sir Humphrey Davy, 
 which, when hooked, jump to the height of 
 four or five feet out of the water. There 
 was also a large species of char, averaging 
 from one to three pounds, as broad and thick 
 as they were long, their bellies of a deep gold 
 colour, covered with: blood-red spots—excel- 
 lent to eat, playing very strong, and affording 
 undeniable sport to the angler. So eager 
 would they rise, that five or six would race 
 at the flies at the same time, and would con- 
 tinue to do so, when wings, body, hackles 
 and all were completely stripped off the 
 hooks; I caught a fine fish of three pounds 
 weight, attracted by the “ ghost of a fly,” a 
 
 
 
THE BACKWOODS. 217 
 
 mere bit of tinsel, the only remnant of what 
 had been a mulberry claret, and had done 
 execution in Ireland, when the drake ‘* was 
 upon” Lough Dereverragh; in fact, they would 
 rise at any thing moving through the water. 
 The rivers teemed with fish; and, as we could 
 catch any number, we made a few casts into 
 each eddy where the largest fish lay, and 
 which invariably rose first. It was impossi- 
 ble to fish from the banks, they were so 
 overshadowed by the forest ; we were, there- 
 fore, obliged to cast the flies from our canoes, 
 and it required no little skill to kil] three 
 large trout which were constantly upon one’s 
 casting-line at the same time, and that when 
 sitting in a birch-canoe in a rapid river. 
 Occasionally we could land upon a rock, or 
 large stone, and fish the pools from thence, 
 but it was a slippery operation at best, and 
 could not always be effected. But the fish- 
 ing was excellent, and flies had never 
 been cast in these streams before. As every 
 VOL. I. L 
 
 
 
— = 
 
 es 
 
 = 
 
 ee 
 
 - Lae a 
 
 _ : 
 
 ~ eek i = 
 eae 
 
 | 
 
 — <a 
 ORF TRE LOLS. 
 
 See 
 et Soe 
 
 Si eee 
 
 f 
 " f 
 1 
 1s 
 7 
 } tr 
 1 Bis 
 ie lune 
 fe 
 if ; 
 Ln i 
 ») | 
 ; 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 218 ECHOES FROM 
 
 thing in the New World is on the mammoth 
 scale, so are the insects—the large flies used 
 upon the Westmeath lakes are the correct 
 size and exactly the thing, both in New 
 Brunswick and Nova Scotia. But the 
 wear and tear of tackle is great. I had, 
 luckily, materials for making them. The 
 tying amused the Indians not a little, and to 
 them the whole operation of fly-fishing was 
 a source of great curiosity and delight. 
 
 The ends of the moose-wood bitten off, the 
 brushwood broken and trampled down, the 
 water-lilies pulled up and in part eaten, and 
 the numbers of fresh tracks, were certain 
 signs of moose being in the immediate neigh- 
 bourhood ; it was, therefore, deemed imprudent 
 to light fires or make a camp. ‘The canoes, 
 turned over, afforded sufficient covering for 
 our heads, but the night was cold and we 
 were obliged to forego our kettle of tea, most 
 sensibly felt as the greatest privation after a 
 hard day’s fag. We started at daylight next 
 
THE BACKWOODS. 219 
 
 morning, but in a fog, paddling carefully 
 along the “ still waters,” 
 
 These “still waters,” so called by the In- 
 dians, are bogey creeks of the great lakes and 
 rivers, and where the water is stagnant: be- 
 tween them and the forests on either side is a 
 luxuriant growth of bog myrtle, dog-wood, 
 moose-wood, Labrador-tea, and wild roses, 
 the resort of bitten! and the water-fowl 
 tribe. Through these it is the moose’s great 
 delight to wade and suck the water- lilies; it 
 was in the hopes of thus surprising them 
 When entangled in the brushwood and up to 
 their bellies in the water, that we had made 
 so early a start, and had preserved such pro- 
 found silence. But the wind was unfavour- 
 
 able, and we had the mortification to find that 
 
 ' The American bittern is much smaller than the Eu- 
 Fopean species, and its note is totally unlike the loud boom- 
 ing cry of the latter, It isa night bird, and its sight is most 
 acute during the evening twilight. When disturbed, it 
 rises with a heavy and awkward flight, uttering the cry, 
 “kwa! kwa!’ 
 
 Lg 
 
 LA 
 —_ 
 
 vd et os 
 — Se Seay 
 
 
 

 
 - 
 a 
 
 pie ann le ae 
 
 Spee ee ~e—n © 
 
 A _ ** 
 
 an sain” ieneieiines. soaked - are 
 
 v ~ ae +—— 
 yi . -_™ ae + - 
 
 A ans 
 
 (ee me, 
 eae 
 
 a ee ey 
 oe et ee OR 
 
  acee 
 
 ~_ = [= ree a a ar omens ~ 
 
 
 
 ire - 
 
 nr as se 5 TS SUES ES PO Le a ee re rene fee ; = - 
 cea eu... eee 
 a Po = ~ a - “ ores — . os 
 - —— mee os : - N - rei a ~ — = 
 paectntutt naa RE a Gor : : ; 
 . + 
 = = ~ ° ° 
 
 
 
 
 
 27. 
 
 
 
 ~—— 
 
 220 ECHOES FROM 
 
 we had only disturbed them—but even this 
 was attended with no small excitement. Soon 
 after hunting the “still waters,” we entered 
 a great lake, the largest of the chain, called 
 by the Indians the Lake of the Nightingales ; 
 and made straight for a sand-bank in the midst 
 of it, with the intention of lighting a fire, 
 having a kettle of hot tea and a good break- 
 fast after the fasting and cold of the previous 
 night. This shoal had been selected as the 
 least likely place to alarm the moose—but 
 upon landing, there was not wherewithal to 
 make a fire, and two of the Indians were de- 
 spatched in search of wood and birch bark. 
 After they had been gone for some time, 
 and the sun had nearly dispelled the fog, we 
 were suddenly put on the gui vive by shouts 
 reverberating through the woods, when pre- 
 sently we saw a great splashing in the lake, 
 and above it, looming in the haze, a dark 
 mass towering into the clouds—it might be 
 a water-spout; our Indian thought the shouts 
 
 
 
THE BACKWOODS. 221 
 
 proceeded from a gang of lumberers; when, 
 in a moment, I found myself seized by the 
 herculean chief of the Micmacs, and literally 
 chucked into the canoe. My companion and 
 the rifles were treated in the same manner; 
 and, before we had breathing time to recover 
 the surprise, we were going “ Derby pace” 
 down the lake, and the Indian, straining every 
 nerve, paddled with such force that the canoe 
 was nearly buried in her own way. 
 
 For some time the hallooing and yelling con- 
 tinued, until at last the mystery was cleared up, 
 and we discovered a huge moose in the water; 
 driven into it by the other Indians, who had 
 shouted to attract our attention. Both canoes 
 now bore down upon him at right angles. 
 Two men in a canoe can always propel it 
 faster than a moose can swim, but both canoes 
 were a long way ofi—we had but one man in 
 ours, and a stern chase is always a long one, so 
 say the nautical world; however, we arrived 
 at a point of the main land just as the animal 
 
 
 
if 
 
 ALO ey ee me ee 
 
 SSS OS 
 
 F tnt 
 
 apg 
 
 ree oe ae eerenee 
 
 . a 
 . F 9 = —_ © 
 ‘ > ri eM = = - 
 aa ee Ae PLS. Oe ee ee een > = 2 Fc keuell iy 
 i RES PONCE TIRE nore OO era z 
 
 ell men 
 
 | 
 ORE b 
 i a! 
 ft i 
 it : ‘ ii 
 See Ye Ve 
 Wi Laas { 
 aNeES ¥ 
 ae 
 Ae A at 
 Hy ut 
 : 3 us 
 
 es 
 ; 
 
 a 2 
 : : ij t 
 eo 
 icin a 
 ; a ; 
 wae 
 re y 
 rit yce 
 
 
 
 222 ECHOES FROM 
 
 had landed. A few seconds and we should have 
 lost him: we arrived in the nick of time, 
 however, and he dashed off at full speed. I 
 fired. The ball passed through his heart; 
 he made a tremendous bound straight up into 
 the air, and fell upon his back, dead. It was 
 a noble animal, seventeen hands high. A 
 second moose had been seen on the island 
 whence they had driven the one already 
 bagged, and, my companion being anxious to 
 shoot it, we went off in pursuit, and after a 
 similar chase he succeeded. 
 
 The Lake of the Nightingales being evi- 
 dently the resort of moose; the inlets and 
 outlets full of fish; the beauty of the spot to 
 which the chase had accidentally led us, and 
 the Indians being ravenous to devour the 
 meat, all led us to determine to make it head- 
 quarters. A camp was accordingly con- 
 structed in orthodox Indian fashion, and long 
 poles were placed across to dry the venison 
 
 upon. Sabbattis proceeded with great glee 
 
 
 
THE BACKWOODS. S23 
 
 ~ 
 
 to skin and cut up the moose, and, before a 
 fire could be lit, commenced devouring the 
 raw flesh, without bread or salt, and, when 
 cooked, they all ate of it until they literally 
 could not stir. Like pike, they will gorge 
 themselves, and then sleep or rest until 
 hunger again drives them forth in search of 
 food. 
 
 The moofle, a lump of fat about the nose 
 of the moose, is esteemed a great delicacy by 
 epicures. his we reserved for ourselves, 
 together with the bones, from which, by 
 roasting in the fire, we obtained the most 
 delicious marrow, excellent when eaten with 
 dried biscuits. The meat is the best of all 
 wild venison, and the tongues are as good as 
 those of the reindeer. These were hung up 
 to dry, and reserved for our friends in the 
 old world. 
 
 As the Indians had over-eaten themselves 
 to such a degree that their locomotive powers 
 
 were any thing but dubious, we gave their 
 
 
 
a ee fy Oe 
 _~eer 
 
 = Se 
 ae ing 
 : =e 
 SE RN Oe EO ES TSS: Sows 
 - -~ ————- : ~ a z se - - dy = aha og 
 
 “ mea. 
 > a et gy yt eee 
 
 : 
 
 ? di b 
 Ae Daa 
 
 is eT bi : 7 
 | | Ht a: ; 
 if oan | ‘ 
 
 Be | a: 
 i cw t f ‘ ; 
 i 1p th! eae 
 jen Bisa) . 
 | a o | : 
 ae r 
 + ti ‘he : 
 i. { 
 
 rae 
 
 — 
 
 = 
 
 “i d - 
 Pmt © ents ° ve a 
 —_— a eee eee id 
 = oe aa a oo ee Oa 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 294, ECHOES FROM 
 
 digestion four-and-twenty hours to recover, 
 and occupied ourselves in fishing and recon- 
 noitring the forest, where, for the first time, 
 we saw the potato in its natural state, grow- 
 ing in stringy bunches about the roots of the 
 spruce firs; but they were bitter and unpa- 
 latable, generally about the size of a filbert, 
 and not exceeding that of a walnut. Some 
 of the pines were enormous; at least two 
 hundred feet high; perfectly straight, aud 
 would square three. The total absence of 
 the white cedar (so common in every swamp 
 in New Brunswick) surprised me: and it is 
 worthy of remark that, although the boundary 
 between the two provinces is not a natural 
 but merely an imaginary one, yet, that line 
 once crossed into Nova Scotia, the cedar 
 ceases to be found.’ Neither are the deer, 
 so common in New Brunswick, to be met with 
 in the other province, to the Indians of which 
 
 ‘ The Bluenoses declare that branches of this cedar 
 placed amongst clothes or furs will keep off moths. 
 
 
 
 
 
THE BACKWOODS. C20 
 
 they are wholly unknown; and, on one occa- 
 sion, when [ had taken Francis out hunting 
 with me in New Brunswick, he ran after one 
 for the best part of the day on snow-shoes, 
 and came back remarkably sulky at not having 
 got a seght of it. 
 
 The Milicete Indians declare that these 
 deer will not cross the St. John’s river. 
 
 The stomachs of the Indians having had a 
 liberal four-and-twenty hours’ rest, my com- 
 
 3 
 
 panion repaired to the “ still waters,” where 
 he got nine shots at moose in the one day; 
 and I, accompanied by John, carrying a 
 quarter of a moose on his back, went half a 
 day’s journey to a settlement, where, as he 
 expected, we exchanged the meat for salt 
 sufficient to preserve the skin for stuffing. 
 We got, likewise, a mess of potatoes, much 
 prized by them medicinally after a moose de- 
 bauch, as on this occasion. 
 
 The Indians did not wish us to kill more 
 moose, nor would it have been sportsmanlike 
 
 L 5 
 
 —S 
 
 | 
 f 
 
 a Ee 
 
 “aw Ps — Me 
 Oe On, Ds on 2 le ware ceinauntemlany s atv 
 
 — 
 
 Am 7 ete 
 
 
 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 a a 
 
 - 
 ee 
 ~_ 
 
 — ~~ , 
 ~ + P on 
 — 
 
 ~ 
 
 — = 
 
 — emt 
 
 he 
 
 = ~ : _ — badongo 
 - ae OA LEO OL ALLA Ce at OLA AG NE I Et 
 ——— ie. - > ‘ 
 —— 
 ai. 
 
 wee ES 
 _—=—<- 
 7 o 
 
 aa tae =s ar 
 ROE TT, Faas Se ar a 
 
 ~ 
 
 TERS ar eee enn 
 e 
 
 Ra LSE RI 
 nT ee = 
 
 20 eae. 
 
 Ee Ee Sete ee = 
 heaameen ee 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 996 ECHOES FROM 
 
 so to do, as we could make no use of the 
 meat; but it was often tantalizing when, 
 suddenly descending a rapid, they would swing 
 the canoes round, hold them fast with their 
 poles, and point to a huge moose, who would 
 take himself off at a long trot. On one ocea- 
 sion, however, the temptation was too great, 
 and a ball from my rifle passed through the 
 ear of one. So quick-sighted are the Indians, 
 that all three at the same moment exclaimed, 
 “‘ It has gone through his ear.” 
 
 These Indians carve pipes out of a porous 
 kind of stone (soap-stone) found in the beds 
 of torrents, and called by them pipe-stones ; 
 it is soft, works well, and resembles the green 
 lava of Vesuvius. During the intervals be- 
 tween repletion and the chase, Sabbattis 
 made one, which I still possess; it is exqui- 
 sitely finished. On the front of the bowl, in 
 alto-relievo, is a deer’s head and horns; on 
 the reverse and either side, Indians’ head, the 
 
 character of which, and the accompanying 
 
ea 
 
 THE BACKWOODS. 297 
 
 ornaments, are decidedly Egyptian. I was 
 much struck on finding the same ornaments, 
 frieze, and even the same character of heads, 
 in one of the tombs lately discovered in the 
 Necropolis of the Tarquinii, near Cornetto. 
 
 The outlet of the lake was full of lampreys 
 in their migration from the sea, lying in coils 
 upon beds of sand which they throw up them- 
 selves; and they were so thick that, upon 
 lowering a stick with some hooks attached to 
 it, and jerking it up suddenly, three or four 
 were pulled out at a time. In the shoal parts 
 of the lake, we speared terrepins, a large kind 
 of fresh-water turtle, of a beautiful sea-green 
 colour, weighing from six to eight pounds, 
 and full of eggs, much esteemed by the In- 
 dians, which were not bad roasted. 
 
 The Indians having despatched three or 
 four dozen of lampreys, though without the 
 bad effect which is said to have followed a 
 like excess on the part of one of our early 
 
 kings, and imitating ourselves the resignation 
 
 
 
 
 

 
 rome 
 
 ~ emer enw ee 
 
 : 
 ee 
 ' 
 
 , 5 
 } 
 oor 
 : 
 7 
 Vv 4 
 ‘ 
 S| 
 ; 
 | 
 i ; 
 if 
 ee 8 
 . 
 if 
 F 
 i 
 ad ¢ 
 ’ a 
 OF. 
 rt ae 
 he 
 } | 
 9 . 
 : 
 q $3 
 
 maw t eee ee 
 
 (ee eee 
 
 Ne ee he Ot 
 
 ——————— 
 / oe = =) a 
 bd = we aa 
 — ae -_ er ee quote 
 a ” 
 - ' ~o ~ . 
 = EE" ° 
 
 ) 
 ee 
 Se 
 23 = —— 
 ee +n ae > _ ~ 
 - 7. I - a 
 ¥ 
 
 ee ee ee 
 
 a 
 Sa 
 
 See 
 
 eT ae 
 a == 
 re RAS meee 
 3s 4 - el 
 
 Oe i 
 
 eee 
 
 ee _™ . 
 
 i — 
 
 - 
 
 . oe 
 
 Ope a ke 
 
 hese 
 
 “ ats eae S 
 a bee. 
 Sana 
 
 ae Sr 
 3 ey 
 
 Virgie 
 mee a 
 
 Tt Ae 
 Le ee 
 
 ee eg fhe eR a 
 o = oe > 
 7, 3 ees a 
 an . am r. = 
 Ee Tg 
 
 Se ee 
 
 es 
 
 2 
 . a . 
 
 4 
 , 
 > ’ 
 : 
 4 Bot 
 ’ ; 
 ‘S : 
 5 ;-} 
 . = 
 U 
 . 7 
 .< 
 * 
 a.) ; ; 
 . / 
 an f d Oy 
 4 ; { f 
 ¥ } . 
 . "y .. 4 
 iu p 
 « 
 - | 
 : ‘ J¢ 
 : i “ 
 | 
 bn 
 fe 
 . \ 
 +] 
 ‘ 
 J ¥ 5: 
 4 i - 
 Pt 
 d " 
 2 J 
 - ! , 
 “ot t 
 4 , 
 = “Dp , 
 ft 
 
 
 
 ~ 
 
 228 ECHOES FROM 
 
 of the guardsman, who made up his mind, 
 before he embarked for Egypt, that he could 
 rough it upon a beefsteak and a bottle of 
 claret, we contrived to do the like on an ex- 
 cellent supper of venison, grouse, turtles’ eggs, 
 and a dish of fish; and, having lit our pipes, 
 and stretched our feet towards a roaring fire, 
 we might truly say with Goldsmith, 
 
 Oh, luxury! thou curse by Heaven’s decree, 
 How ill-exchanged are things like these for thee! 
 
 John gave the following description of the 
 
 ? 
 
 manner of ‘calling the moose,” which takes 
 place about the end of September or beginning 
 of October, when the frosts have set in. As 
 fires cannot be lit, nor tobacco smoked, this 
 species of hunting is attended with great 
 privation and hardship. Then is the rutting 
 season; the antlers of the male have attained 
 their full growth; and he is in truth a noble 
 animal. When the moon is at its full, the 
 Indians proceed with the greatest caution to 
 
 the still waters, and take up a position in their 
 
 
 
a; 
 
 THE BACKWOODS. 999 
 
 canoes amongst the adjacent brushwood. They 
 are provided with a piece of birch-bark, rolled 
 up into the shape of a speaking-trumpet, by 
 blowing through which they imitate exactly 
 the lowing made by the female when in ex- 
 pectation of a partner. 
 
 John described it as glorious, when perfect 
 stillness reigned over the forest, to hear the 
 bulls, sometimes three or four together, first 
 at a long distance, and by degrees nearer and 
 nearer, rushing on, bellowing and roaring, 
 knocking each other over, trampling down 
 the brushwood, and dashing through the 
 streams, until they come so close to the 
 hunter, that they have no time to discover the 
 deception, before a ball from the unerring 
 aim of an Indian’s rifle stretches them life- 
 less.’ 
 
 ‘ From Father Repas’ account of his residence at the 
 court of Pekin, we find that the Emperor of China amused 
 himself by “calling” deer much in the manner practised 
 by the Indians in Nova Scotia; he says, p. 79, 
 
 “The Emperor took part in another species of sport un- 
 
 
 

 
 a 
 
 SS re oe 
 
 —=—¢e°<<— 
 —- - 
 —_. 
 
 te 
 
 ewtcey +> 
 er al 
 i ae 
 
 7 v ~~. 
 
 Ae ae ye 
 
 SS pene ala 
 
 SE tpegagin 
 
 _—— 2 4 <u ae 
 J eee SIR helen ae Wy SR 4 Tor “ = 
 
 De en - m 
 
 = aw ee nn da a 
 
 =e 
 
 et lien eee 
 
 ~ ape 
 
 pbcronn, 
 
 ————————— yee sae 
 
 sm 
 
 
 
 * 
 
 230 ECHOES FROM 
 
 known in Europe. He set out by night with all the great 
 company above mentioned, and, when within two miles of 
 the spot selected for the sport, he left the army and ascended 
 the top of the hill with six or seven hunters clothed in stag- 
 skins from head to foot. Here one of the hunters put on a 
 kind of mask, resembling a stag’s head with horns, and con- 
 eealed himself among the bushes, in such a manner that at 
 first sight he might be taken for a stag, while the emperor 
 and the others crouched down close by, all being armed 
 with good guns, to the end of which were fixed small pieces 
 of stag’s horn. The stags are followed by several does, 
 which they will not allow any other stag to approach. 
 Karly in the morning, they instinctively raise a ery of chal- 
 lenge; the other stags arrive, and a fight ensues, which con- 
 tinues until one is slain, when the victor takes possession of 
 his rival’s herd of does. One of the hunters now blows an 
 instrument which both in shape and sound very much re- 
 sembles those with which our herdsmen call the swine, and 
 which closely imitates the belling of the stag. At this sound 
 the stags hasten to the hill, and seeking their supposed rival, 
 they come within gun-shot and meet with their death.” 
 
 
 

 
 THE BACKWOODS. 931 
 
 CHAPTER IX. 
 A RACE THROUGH THE UNITED STATES. 
 
 “ Sir, our pills!!!”—A Yankee naval officer introduces 
 the assistant surgeon. 
 
 Star-bespangled banner—Flying Artillery—Crimping 
 System—Table d’Hétes—Whales and Peas—Mercantile 
 Fowls — Sea Speculations — Sky-blue —Yankee’s Shay- 
 
 
 
 ing—F rigid Baptists —Canals—Ontario. 
 
 The novelty of a New Brunswick life 
 having a little worn off, three of us started, 
 about the end of August, for a race through 
 the northern States, as far as the Falls of 
 Niagara. The steamer to which we consigned 
 ourselves passed through the Bay of Passama- 
 quoddy, the waters of which, studded with a 
 thousand islands of all shapes and sizes, are 
 beyond description beautiful. Eastport, a 
 frontier town of the State of Maine, was our 
 
 
 

 
 — = 
 
 >a ke —— 
 
 ee a dea cl 
 
 EINE te A OTE EIT 
 
 7 Oe 
 at te Ta 
 
 ES OS 
 
 S - a ~ - wate +: = 
 Tle i nn ts seen — ~ —=: 
 
 —— 
 
 oo 
 - 
 
 ee oe 
 
 — ao ontannes > 
 ame gt creme» tapes : an a<ter . . . 7 hae 
 
 —.. . 
 al . ni 
 Sa are 
 .- = ——- . 
 a ad 
 —— seatin we Ot 
 ~ — 
 
 oo 
 , 
 PaO OA legge E = ‘ ve 
 SR Per reng Er ee Eh, TE TRE ev 
 
 ” 
 
 GEE ET ee A es, I Cy aeee sew ae 
 Lat 2 ere 
 Gi 
 _+ 
 
 
 
 
 
 232 ECHOES FROM 
 
 first landing-place. Over the fort floated the 
 star-bespangled banner, at least half an acre 
 of bunting—“ The stars to illumine our friends, 
 the stripes to punish our enemies.” 
 
 This fort was garrisoned by a company of 
 horse artillery. It was composed entirely of 
 deserters from our regiments quartered from 
 time to time in New Brunswick. These regi- 
 ments being infantry, the men had, of course, 
 never learned to ride, and rarely to exercise 
 great guns. Nevertheless, they did duty as 
 flying artillery in the United States. They 
 wore fancy-coloured waistcoats under sky- 
 blue jackets, trowsers of the same colour, with 
 broad yellow stripes down them; their boots 
 turned up at the toes, like skates, the trowsers 
 only reaching half way down their legs. The 
 whole was crowned by a frightful leather cap, 
 with a huge brass letter to denote their com- 
 pany; but it is only fair to remark that their 
 barracks were as clean as an unlimited allow- 
 
 ance of whitewash could make them. 
 
 
 
THE BACKWOODS. 2356 
 
 We recognised a rascal who had deserted 
 from St. John’s not long before. He was 
 walking about, dragging a nine-pound shot 
 fastened to his leg (by which we concluded 
 that he had already got into a scrape), smoking 
 a cigar, and looking as if he did not care a 
 d—n for General Jackson or any one else. 
 We heard, soon after we left Eastport, that, 
 this company having been ordered to Florida, 
 to quell an insurrection of the Seminole 
 Indians, the majority of them deserted on 
 their march to Boston. They were, however, 
 retaken, and sent on. Upon my return to 
 New Brunswick, I saw a letter from the last 
 of the survivors to his brother, recommending 
 him and his comrades on no account to desert 
 their colours for the American service, he 
 being the only one who had escaped the toma- 
 hawk of the Indians, or the deadly pestilence 
 of the swamps. 
 
 The difficulty, however, of preventing de- 
 
 sertion was, in spite of all warnings, very 
 
 
 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 Sagpi 
 oe - 
 ——~ 
 
 
 
 a i 
 
 = - 
 
 
 
 234 ECHOES FROM 
 
 great in New Brunswick. Yankee agents 
 followed the men, enticed them into crimping 
 houses, and plied them with drink, and, when 
 sufficiently imtoxicated, they were put on 
 board fast-sailing schooners, which got under 
 weigh whilst they lay in a state of uncon- 
 sciousness. On coming to themselves, many 
 might have returned, had they not been plied 
 with more rum, and dreaded the consequences 
 of their first transgression. There was but 
 one instance of a man’s returning in the two 
 years we remained in New Brunswick. 
 
 The officers of the United States’ army, 
 whom we met at Eastport, from having seen 
 much of Indian life, were very agreeable; and 
 the commandant, in particular, who had served 
 in the Far West, was a most gentlemanlike 
 man. His daughter, a young lady of fourteen, 
 understood Latin and Greek, and was looking 
 forward to her return to school at Boston to 
 learn Hebrew, and finish her education. 
 
 The steamers to Portland had blown up, or 
 
THE BACKWOODS. 935 
 
 been burnt, so we were obliged to go round 
 in a schooner, on board of which there were 
 the most dreadful set I ever recollect to have 
 encountered. One man got up at table to let 
 another pass down, who immediately dropped 
 into the vacant place. The civil man remon- 
 strated—in vain; the answer he received was, 
 “Well, I guess you shouldn’t have got up 
 then—Hell—I shall keep it now.” After 
 dinner, the majority sang psalms, until dis- 
 persed by a drunken slumberer singing 
 “ Yankee Doodle,” and “ Hail, Columbia.” 
 It was midnight when we landed at Port- 
 land. After going the round of the hotels, 
 which were full, we discovered a large recep- 
 tion room, filled with ‘‘ shake-downs,” in one 
 of which we found a fellow-passenger already 
 ensconced. He had turned in with all his 
 clothes on, as he had done during the three 
 nights on board the schooner, what the 
 
 ? 
 
 Yankees term “all standing,” viz., in boots, 
 
 great coat, &c. He had besides heaped the 
 
 
 

 
 s | - ya am er yn a ee 
 EE A A ER EE FOS ROR OF rn ns ORR ND nae 6 Ae ow 
 . . eRe Hs 
 a) 
 —— * —— 
 
 <—s—— 
 
 corre = re 
 — 
 
 mp ~*~ 
 
 ee ee i 
 
 x 
 Ror -ae ieee 
 
 = jp ae — pa 
 
 tm -. « ems & < 
 as “ rm > ~- — 
 46 ms Sag v 
 a ee 
 ' 
 
 gaa Sa. ow 
 
 .o 
 =“ 
 
 
 
 
 
 me — oe 2 ou, 2 
 ~~ a, 
 
 ~ 
 
 
 
 936 ECHOES FROM 
 
 clothes from all the other beds on his own, 
 though the room was hot to suffocation; of 
 these, however, we soon dispossessed him, and 
 betook ourselves to horizontal refreshment in 
 the best manner we could. 
 
 We were much struck with Portland, which 
 is a very neat town: double rows of trees on 
 each side of the streets; the houses clinker- 
 built, and painted in bright colours, divided 
 from the street and each other by gardens 
 and parterres. From the top of the Obser- 
 vatory, there is a grand view, commanding 
 the town, harbour, and its islands, and Mount 
 Washington, a bold hill, in shape resembling 
 Soracte, bounding the horizon to the north- 
 east. 
 
 The ladies were well dressed, well chausséd, 
 and well coifféd a la chinoise, with a well- 
 gummed créve-ceur in front of the ear, do- 
 mestically termed by them a “ spit curl.” 
 
 For the first time we here dined at a regular 
 
 American table @’héte. The consumption of 
 
 
 
THE BACKWOODS. 937 
 
 food was fearful; some left the table in seven 
 minutes and a half; from that to fourteen the 
 room was cleared, and we were left alone. 
 Boiled green Indian corn, plaistered over with 
 butter, seemed the favourite dish, and most 
 excellent it was. They held it at both ends, 
 gnawing it round, ridge after ridge, like a 
 man playing pandean pipes. Some, in their 
 hurry, transfixed whole fowls and drageed 
 them bodily on to their plates. One man, 
 addressing me in mercantile phraseology, said, 
 “Stranger, I guess I'll trouble you for the 
 balance of that fowl,” meaning what remained 
 of it on the dish. 
 
 On another occasion, a brother officer, 
 travelling with his wife, was dining at Boston, 
 on the first day green peas made their ap- 
 pearance. He saw the dish making its rounds, 
 and one man between himself, his wife, and the 
 peas; he therefore made sure of getting some 
 for her; but no—the brute having swept the 
 whole contents of the dish into his plate, gave 
 
 
 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 et ea a a ee 
 = no — en 
 
 a” ee 
 
 ee 
 
 — 
 ee. ae 
 
 an om 
 
 al gh el re ? 
 
 et ean. 
 
 ee ge 
 
 er eee 
 
 238 ECHOES FROM 
 
 the dish an exulting shove, and, turning round, 
 exclaimed, “I guess I’m a whale at peas, by 
 G—.”' It is painful to witness the unlady- 
 like practice of arranging peas along the blade 
 of a knife and eating them off by rows, at 
 once dispelling the charm of a young and 
 pretty face; nor was the substitution of forks 
 
 for toothpicks a redeeming trait. 
 
 * However, it is but justice to the Americans to state 
 that no later than at the close of the seventeenth century, 
 we find a reyal “ whale at peas.” A King of England (a 
 Dutchman, it is true,) of whom the Duchess of Marl- 
 borough, in her apology for her conduct, observes :—“ I give 
 an instance of his vulgar behaviour at his own table, when 
 the Princess of Wales* dined with him. It was in the 
 beginning of his reign, when she was with child of the Duke 
 of Gloucester. There happened to be a plate of peas, the first 
 that had been seen that year. The King, without offering 
 the Princess the least share of them, ate them every one 
 himself. Whether he offered any to the Queen I cannot 
 say; but he might do so safely enough, for he knew she 
 durst not touch them. The Princess confessed, when she 
 came home, she had so much mind to the peas, that she was 
 afraid to look at them, and yet could hardly keep her eyes 
 off them.” 
 
 * His sister-in-law, the Princess of Denmark, afterwards 
 Queen Anne. 
 
 
 
 
 
ow Seen 
 
 THE BACKWOODS. 239 
 
 From Portland we embarked on board a 
 magnificent steamer for Boston. There were 
 upwards of four hundred persons on board, 
 half of them ladies. The gentlemen’s cabin 
 was one hundred and eighty feet long. The 
 doors of the ladies’ cabin were left open, in 
 consequence of the excessive heat. There 
 were many unprovided with berths, and they 
 lay about in beautiful confusion, most of them 
 in great dishabille. 
 
 These steamers have much the appearance 
 of floating bazaars, every sort of amusement 
 going on, from eating, drinking, and gambling, 
 to swapping and speculating, even to the 
 taking advantage of the miseries of their 
 fellow-passengers: it being a common prac- 
 tice, when the steamers are crowded and a 
 rough passage expected, for individuals to 
 take a number of berths on the chance of 
 sea-sick bidders ;—three, four, or even five 
 
 times the original price being then, given. 
 
 
 
 a. 
 
 | 
 
 
 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 re 
 a ee = bt a 
 aaa Any 
 
 2 7 7 
 
 
 
 se “ 
 <—<{€ = + 
 
 i] 
 in at 
 th in 
 ey 3 5 
 i: if 
 
 age te ee 
 _ 
 
 240 ECHOES FROM 
 
 “* The Tremont House,” the crack hotel of 
 Boston and of the United States, was full, but 
 we were well put up in the ‘‘ American,” a 
 new house. We had now got fairly into 
 American hours—breakfast from seyen to 
 eight, dinner from one to two, and tea six to 
 seven. ea and coffee made the only dis- 
 tinction of the first and last, for meat was 
 equally served at all. 
 
 The bedsteads in the hotel fell to pieces on 
 touching a spring, an ingenious invention in a 
 town where fires so constantly occur. There 
 were no fewer than four on the night of our 
 arrival; but they are wonderfully soon got 
 under, the fire-engine department being well 
 organized. 
 
 “ But fires are getting fainter, 
 
 Incendiarism’s fiat, 
 
 For there’s a clever painter 
 Will put a stop to that. 
 
 Though form’d of wood, he’s shown 
 Each house will ’scape all right ;— 
 
 He'll paint them so like stone, 
 They will not catch alight!” 
 
 
 
THE BACKWOODs. 24] 
 
 ~ 
 
 We lionized in due order the park, called the 
 Common, full of magnificent old elms, of 
 which the Bostonians take great care. We 
 hired excellent hacks, and visited Mount 
 Auburn, the cemetery of the aristocracy of 
 Boston — Spurzheim is buried here —and 
 returned through Cambridge, the largest 
 college in the States, and by Bunker’s Hill, 
 where they have erected a monument to com- 
 memorate the battle which we won. Lafayette 
 laid the foundation-stone. The ladies here 
 are not so pretty as those of Portland, and 
 the men are generally tall, but wretchedly ill- 
 made, and, from the habit of stooping over 
 their desks, become round-shouldered, have a 
 slovenly gait, and the unmanly habit of shaving 
 off their whiskers gives them a sky-blue or 
 leaden appearance. 
 
 No independent Yankee ever thinks of 
 shaving himself. They study the comfort of 
 that operation much, and the chair in which 
 they sit has a board or platform for the head 
 
 VOL. I. M 
 
 
 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 ——— 
 ———— 
 
 ae em ce pages AEST 
 
 eee eens 
 
 
 
 
 
 242 ECHOES FROM 
 
 to rest upon, which is raised or depressed by 
 a screw to the desired height; when adjusted, 
 the artist, generally a Negro, seizes the pa- 
 tient’s nose between his forefinger and thumb, 
 and shaves him slick. He then powders the 
 face as a finale. We tried the process, and 
 found it rather comfortable. At Eastport a 
 woman operated. A New Englander travels 
 so much, that a wardrobe would be in the 
 way: he therefore gets everything “‘all stand- 
 ing,” a complete suit, and when worn out he 
 buys another; rarely has he a change of any- 
 thing 
 
 oO? 
 which, tied on after shaving, does duty for, 
 
 with the exception of fronts, one of 
 
 and has all the appearance of, a clean shirt ; 
 but like Topffer’s Monsieur Vieuxbois, “il 
 change de linge bien rarement.” His kit, 
 therefore, not being extensive, packs easily 
 into a small valise, and is conveniently car- 
 ried in one hand; brushes, combs, tooth- 
 brushes, and round-towels being generally to 
 be found suspended from the walls in most of 
 
 the hotels and steamboats. 
 
 
 
THE BACKWOODS. 243 
 
 However, on this point nations differ mate- 
 rially ; a Russian does not consider it dirty 
 to eat tallow candles or swallow train-oil. A 
 Jew condemns pork as unclean. A French 
 woman will not wash her face for fear of 
 spoiling her complexion. An Irish landlady 
 has been known to describe her lodger as 
 “The claanest jewel of a man in the world, 
 for, sure he wouldn’t dirty a towel in a week ;” 
 and the Spanish lady, the chere amie of an 
 officer at Gibraltar, whose teeth were suffering 
 in appearance from the use of cigarettes, was 
 presented by him with a tooth-brush. When 
 he called the next day, he found her busily 
 employed cleaning her trinkets with it. The 
 horror of one of Napoleon’s generals was so 
 great on discovering that the Object of his 
 affections, an Italian of high birth, never used 
 a certain description of bath, that on his 
 return to Paris, he caused a beautiful diminu- 
 tive one of Sevres China, mounted with silver. 
 legs, to be manufactured for her, and sent the 
 
 M 2 
 
 
 
 
 
Ce a 
 we on. ite 
 
 
 
 eet SP. SNE ROO Theis wen 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 244 ECHOES FROM 
 
 bijou with a well cacheted billet to /a bella 
 principessa, who, delighted with so novel a 
 cadeau, but mistaking its use, asked a large 
 circle of friends to dinner, and had a salad 
 served up in it. 
 
 In the New England States, the ladies are 
 for the most part extremely serious, and camp- 
 meetings are more fashionable than theatres. 
 
 The Ist of June, 1813, was a day of no 
 ordinary excitement at Boston. The rival 
 frigates, the Shannon and the Chesapeake, 
 were expected to come to an engagement on 
 that very day. Everything was done that 
 ingenuity could devise on the part of the 
 American, Captain Lawrence, to bring his ship 
 to the scratch in “tip-top” fighting trim. 
 The crew were picked, four hundred and forty 
 in number (exceeding that of his opponent 
 by one hundred); further, he had the advan- 
 tage in the weight of metal and the number 
 of guns. 
 
 But so certain did the good folks of Boston 
 

 
 THE BACKWOODS. 245 
 
 make of victory, that we were told they 
 actually prepared a magnificent féte for their 
 expected victorious countrymen, and the stairs 
 were left uncovered which led to the banquet- 
 ting-room, in order that the guests should 
 trample upon the prostrate British colours, 
 taken from the gallant Broke. For once, 
 however, Jonathan ‘reckoned without his 
 host.” It must have been a brilliant sight— 
 happening, as it did, in sight of all Boston— 
 the known reputation of the commanders, 
 and their anxiety to meet in fair fight. In 
 fifteen minutes the affair was decided; but I 
 quote a part of the despatch of the gallant 
 victor ; it is as concise and graphic as the feat 
 
 was gallantly performed. 
 
 ‘ Shannon, Halifax, June 6, 1813. 
 oT Rar, 
 ‘¢ | have the honour to inform you 
 that, being close in with Boston lighthouse, 
 
 in his Majesty’s ship, under my command, on 
 
 
 
 el 
 u 
 
 i: 
 Bt 
 
 ; 
 
 i 
 
 At 
 
 oe aie er < 
 - Pr os os se NES Fe Be 
 ores PR ET St ey 
 
 Se ee 
 
 oe 2 
 
 > A 2 Si, 4 5. ae 
 a < 
 
 
 
Se FE aeieies 
 <= * z - _ 
 
 
 
 wend I 
 bs 
 
 Tole a pee eS 
 : ay ay 
 e 1 
 6 UR A petty ft ee, 
 — ee cine 
 nm a 
 
 — Ss 
 Me — 
 > 
 reg ~ pa 
 
 ae. 
 
 ie i Lite r 
 
 l ‘ie el 
 
 ie i ik } 
 
 ae f Hie -. 
 
 HH | q be 3 
 
 ae |) ee Se 
 
 an) a 
 Hie OTe TE 
 
 ie by a, © 
 
 eth ae En 
 
 ige > a ; , F 
 
 Ae an { 
 
 M4 i 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 246 ECHOES FROM 
 
 the 1st inst., I had the pleasure of seeing that 
 the United States’ frigate, Chesapeake, (whom 
 we had long been watching) was coming out 
 of the harbour to engage the Shannon; I took 
 a position between Cape Clear and Cape Cod, 
 and then hove-to for him to join us. The 
 enemy came down in a very handsome manner, 
 having three American ensigns flying; when, 
 closing with us, he sent down his royal yards. 
 I kept the Shannon’s up, expecting the breeze 
 would die away. At half-past five, p.m., the 
 enemy hauled up within hail of us on the 
 starboard side, and the battle began, both 
 ships steering full under the topsails; after 
 exchanging between two and three broadsides, 
 the enemy’s ship fell on board of us, her mizen 
 channels locking in with our fore-rigging. I 
 went forward to ascertain her position, and, 
 observing that the enemy were flinching from 
 their guns, | gave orders to prepare for 
 boarding. Our gallant band appointed to 
 that service immediately rushed in, under 
 
 
 
 
 
— rw 
 
 = 
 
 THE BACKWOODS. 947 
 
 their respective officers, upon the enemy’s 
 decks, driving everything before them with 
 irresistible fury. The enemy made a despe- 
 rate but disorderly resistance. 
 
 “< The firing continued at all the gangways 
 and between the tops, but, in two minutes’ 
 time, the enemy were driven, sword in hand, 
 from every post. The American flag was 
 hauled down, and the proud old British Union 
 floated triumphant over it. In another minute 
 they ceased firing from below, and called for 
 quarter. The whole of this service was 
 achieved in fifteen minutes from the com- 
 mencement of the action. I have to lament 
 the loss of many of my gallant shipmates, but 
 they fell exulting in their conquest.” 
 
 After giving a detailed but concise account 
 of the gallant conduct of his respective officers 
 and men, and but slightly hinting at a very 
 severe wound received from a cutlass at the on- 
 set, when leading a party to attack some of the 
 enemy, who had rallied on the forecastle, 
 
 Captain Broke goes on to say :-— 
 
 
 

 
 AL } 
 red a ; 
 an 8 
 iM ef Tt 
 oi ‘a 
 rf ey i 
 = © @ 
 | a . 
 mi Ba Ry 
 ig 3 4, 1} 
 » Sav 
 (aaa 
 - = 
 - Gh 
 
 ~E ae Se ee = 
 ae STE 0 Ss +e 
 ‘, pe OS es Te DS ee 4 
 ae. inl o ag era 7 . 
 <3 eo SE Mae ene ME 
 se ee : Siw 
 ———— — sinpenate 
 one FS we 
 St enna 
 2 ere er 
 > ms 
 
 a ai 
 Fe caret 
 ae _. . 
 
 248 ECHOES FROM 
 
 ‘* The loss of the enemy was about seventy 
 killed, and one hundred wounded. Among 
 the former were four lieutenants, a lieutenant 
 of marines, the master, and many other 
 officers. Captain Lawrence is since dead of 
 his wounds. 
 
 ‘“‘ The enemy came into action with a com- 
 plement of 440 men. The Shannon, having 
 picked up some recaptured seamen, had 330, 
 
 ‘The Chesapeake is a fine frigate, and 
 mounts forty-nine guns, eighteens, on her 
 main deck; thirty-twos on her quarter-deck 
 and forecastle. Both ships came out of action 
 in the most beautiful order, their rigging 
 appearing as perfect as if they had only been 
 exchanging a salute. 
 
 ‘¢ | have the honour to be, &e. 
 (Signed) “ P. B. V. Broke.’ 
 “To Captain the Hon. J. Bladen Capel, &e. 
 Halifax.” 
 
 * Rear-Admiral Sir P. B. V. Broke, Bart., died January 3, 
 1841. 
 
 
 
 i i te 
 
 
 
Pc |” be aml 
 
 THE BACKWOODS. 249 
 
 We quitted Boston, without recret, by the 
 railroad for Worcester, which mode of tra- 
 velling is designated by the Yankees “Hell 
 in Harness.” Owing to its serpentine con- 
 struction, we progressed but slowly. ‘The 
 railway not being finished, we took the 
 “stage” at Worcester. The stages in all 
 parts of the United States are conducted on 
 the same principle—abominable, cooped-up 
 contrivances, holding nine inside, three on 
 each seat, the centre one having a wide lea- 
 ther strap to support the backs of those who 
 have the bad luck to be the last on the list. 
 There are no outside places, and therefore 
 there is no hope of any relief from the 
 horrors of a hot day and a full coach. 
 
 The “drivers,” whom it would be treason 
 to call coachmen, change, with their teams, 
 every fourteen or sixteen miles, are kind to 
 their horses, and drive with “the reins in both 
 hands,” as they say in “Ould Ireland,” “and 
 the whip in the other.” They are little, 
 
 M 5 
 
 
 

 
 250 ECHOES FROM 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 round-shouldered rascals, sitting on the box 
 with their chins almost resting on their knees, 
 and arms extended to full length, clean their 
 own horses, and drive them entirely in snaffle- 
 bits, giving them great quantities of water, 
 
 three or four times during the stage: upon 
 
 ia”) ach Damme ff mt et ws hed 
 
 occasion, the coach is driven bodily into ponds, 
 
 rivers, or lakes. In America, as on the 
 
 é ee rade 
 PS ey 
 nc ee Lae a 
 * opesre a 
 
 Continent, carriages are always passed on 
 
 the right hand. England is the only country 
 
 a 
 aes 
 Se a 
 
 — 
 a 
 oF 
 te 
 OO ee actaee 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 where the reverse is practised, and her chil- 
 dren in the New World have adopted the 
 Continental practice in contradistinction, I 
 suppose, to the habits of the mother-coun- 
 try; but, 
 The laws of the road are a paradox quite, 
 For when you are travelling along, 
 
 If you keep to the left you'll be sure to be right, 
 If you keep to the right you'll be wrong. 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 Nations differ as to the treatment of horses 
 iF on a journey; a Yankee will give them as 
 
 much water as they can drink to induce them 
 
THE BACKWOODS. 251 
 
 to “go ahead;” in England it is considered 
 to have a contrary effect; the Italian vettu- 
 rino employs a head-dress of bells; and Pat 
 is not without his own contrivance, a bundle 
 of hay, tied to the end of the pole, causing 
 a constant exertion to reach what is attained 
 only at the end of the journey. But. the 
 ingenious inhabitant of the ‘‘ Emerald Isle” 
 has many other such inventions. He will 
 open and slam-to the doors of a post-chay, to 
 flatter the animals into a belief that the 
 carriage has been lightened of its load. 
 Apropos to such Hibernian devices, I recol- 
 lect being obliged to plead as an excuse to 
 a fair lady in Carlow for being late at her 
 dinner, the fact that the driver of our ear, 
 having left us in the middle of the road, 
 in a downpour of rain, to light his * dudeen,” 
 a loose, half-starved horse, grazing in an 
 adjoining ditch, had taken a fancy to the 
 hay of which our traces and collars were 
 
 made, and eaten so much of it, that we 
 
 
 
 
 
—_— x - o : 
 > One a —- > thes a ae _ he 
 o> on ¥ tS - OE Pom ee . 
 — os ee r > wien = -; - 7675 ~ 
 ad ae —— = 2. » ™ = a . ‘ Le * —~ am 
 peeyinwet - : to ~~ a - \ 
 os “err — ee ~ i —s 
 = a - rs —— Set _ a ~ re at ~ “ey kee —— 
 - * — — ae - # 
 —_~ 7 —— ae iat . 
 ee serous nore ~_ Rarer — oa -_ 
 “ave baa Be ob .— €or oe > gee s — « . *. 
 : meeaiaaie * - ns Eanes . 
 ; ak > on 3 BS ee ee = S ee 
 Fn oe ee : 0 PEs ae a “ —- 
 . = ~ = —— + rer . 
 S —— --— ——- \ 
 < seas awe Rap Ad aaligc ~ : 
 
 Ree 
 
 Sahai ts Re - = 
 - — 
 
 SO ale Behe. 
 _~ - —~_~ _-- - 
 
 
 
 Cad She’ 
 RP HG ey 
 
 —, ~~ -- 
 
 TO LE Cer ett ay 
 
 er en ee ee ee 
 > * , ) 
 
 252 ECHOES FROM 
 
 were detained till the harness was renewed. 
 But the good old days when the _post- 
 chaises were thatched, one door nailed up, 
 no steps to the other, and the ostler made 
 his appearance with “ a fork to raise the 
 windies with, plase your honour,” have 
 vanished before the enlightened “ tay-drink- 
 ing” disciples of Father Matthew. 
 
 The country we passed through to North- 
 uumpton was but partially cleared, the tide of 
 emigration having set to the west, the lands 
 being there more fertile, requiring less labour 
 and clearing, and to be had for less money. 
 
 We passed the Connecticut river by a 
 covered wooden bridge, eleven hundred feet 
 long, and arrived at Northampton, the beau 
 ideal of a country village, with its white 
 cottages and green jalousies ; magnificent and 
 gigantic elms, single or in groups, part of the 
 primeval forest, judiciously spared, added to 
 its beauties. This is the fatherland of the 
 
 Temperance system, which is carried to so 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 an, 4 Ol EAe \,. 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
C—O aE ——— 
 
 THE BACKWOODS. 953 
 
 disagreeable an extent that we were able to get 
 only sour cider at the inns, and often not 
 even that. A meeting in support of these 
 doctrines was going on in the evening; an 
 immense assemblage, chiefly of women, were 
 edified by a man holding forth, till he worked 
 himself into a perfect frenzy; we left him 
 arguing strenuously that any person who 
 sold spirituous liquors was a murderer in the 
 sight of the Lord. 
 
 At our next halt, Pittsfield, we hired 
 hacks, and visited a village of Shaking 
 (juakers: they wear much the same kind of 
 garb as their brethren in the Old World; but 
 we could not see them shake, as they do that 
 only when the spirit moves them. A com- 
 municative old gentleman of the persuasion 
 told us the world had formed erroneous opi- 
 nions of their women living in common— 
 for, on the contrary, they separated man and 
 
 wife.’ 
 ' This sect originated with a woman of the name of 
 Anne Lee, of Manchester, who, having with her associates, 
 
 a 
 
 oo ee beer at poet mee 
 ee SO es me ee 
 
 ew 
 
 _ 
 i ee 
 
 a 
 
 
 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 254 
 
 
 
 ECHOES FROM 
 
 In this country of sectarians, the ceremony 
 of making a Baptist, and the ordeal they go 
 through, must be one of the least agreeable, 
 
 committed various offences against decorum, was glad to 
 take refuge in America. This woman, with her vulgar 
 and fanatical horde, under the name of shakers or believers, 
 established themselves at a town named Union, not far 
 from Cincinnati. Mr. Tell Harris, in a series of letters 
 published in London, thus describes these bedlamites: ** The 
 bell for worship put anend to the discussion ; the men, dis- 
 encumbering themselves of their coats and neckcloths, 
 formed into squares six deep; and, a pair of folding doors 
 being thrown back, discovered the women drawn up in the 
 like manner, each party having four on their right, who in 
 the sequel appeared to be the regulators of their motions: 
 two men then addressed the assembly on the manner in 
 which the Divine Being had been pleased to communicate 
 with some of his creatures, and that he still manifests him- 
 self to them by inspiration; quoting the example of David 
 and others, as proofs that dancing, singing, and clapping of 
 hands, are acceptable offerings of praise to him. <A few 
 verses, the burden of which was ‘dancing or agitation of the 
 frame, a sign of devotion,’ were next sung, accompanied 
 with slight motions of the feet, increasing and exalting the 
 voice as they proceeded. The hymn being ended, a short 
 prayer was offered, that their hearts and lips might be 
 moved in praise; a general movement now of the feet took 
 place, accompanied with clapping of hands, twirling on 
 their heels, leaping, shouting, screaming, while the regula- 
 tors on the flanks sung with some little variation, ‘lo diddle! 
 ho diddle! lo diddle ho!’ ceasing at intervals, to recover 
 
 
 
 
 5 ee ll te De ne 1 = 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 a 
 7 fai 
 
 ee ee Pe ee es ee 
 eT a ae ~ aa ie 4 
 ot 5s eerie pee 3g oe oe 
 
 + tine 
 
 
 
 
 SE FL Se hh) ll ee ee 
 7 4 
 
 » D “ a 
 
THE BACKWOODS. 255 
 
 particularly during the winter months : a hole 
 is cut through the ice; the candidate for 
 baptism is lowered through, and up comes at 
 once a Baptist and anicicle. Yet, notwith- 
 standing what is before them, there are many 
 who present themselves for immersion, or, as 
 the knight’s bard has it, 
 
 To dive like wild-fowl for salvation, 
 And fish to catch regeneration. 
 
 From Albany a railway took us to Saratoga, 
 the Baden-Baden of the New World. The 
 season was Over, sO we saw nothing of the 
 
 amusements of the place. We met with a 
 
 from the violent exertions; some, however, unable to resist 
 the violence of their feelings, continued to start sud- 
 denly, screaming and leaping in such a manner, that a 
 stranger could not suppose them any other than unfortu- 
 nates who had eluded the vigilance of their keepers. At the 
 expiration of an hour, their worship ceased, perhaps from 
 mere exhaustion; the men put on their coats, the women 
 such of their caps and handkerchiefs as had been displaced 
 in a twinkling, the folding doors separated them again,. and 
 each, by opposite doors, retired to their own apartments. I 
 then left them, convinced and thankful that, to be a believer 
 indeed, it is not necessary to be a Shaker.” 
 
 
 
ere re er re 2. 
 , 4 es 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 256 ECHOES FROM 
 
 i) 
 
 gambler, who, finding that we were not be 
 pigeoned, altered his tack, and turned out a 
 most amusing dog. He was full of anecdotes 
 of the South, and it actually ended in our 
 determining to give up, for the present, 
 our journey through Canada down the St. 
 Lawrence, that we might proceed thither im- 
 mediately after visiting Niagara. 
 
 We took the boat on the Erie canal from 
 Schenectady to Utica, up the beautiful valley 
 of the Mohawk—the canal running all the 
 way parallel to the course of the river. This 
 conveyance, always a bore, was made doubly so 
 by the number of bridges we were obliged to 
 pass under—so low that the man at the helm 
 
 was obliged to sing out “‘ Low Bridge,” as we 
 
 
 
 
 approached them, to the great terror of sundry 
 
 
 
 
 fat gentlemen, who, not always looking ahead 
 
 
 
 
 in time to get off the deck, were obliged to 
 
 
 
 
 prostrate themselves on their backs; and the 
 
 
 
 
 dismay in their faces evidently showed them 
 
 
 
 
 to be calculating whether their large corpora- 
 
 
 
THE BACKWOODS. 257 
 
 tions would pass under unscathed. Narrow 
 as this kind of boat must of necessity be, it 
 was surprising how many beds they contrived 
 to make up: a long range of trays, three 
 deep, were let down from the cabin ceiling, 
 on which the beds were placed, connected 
 with cords somewhat in the manner of cottage 
 book-shelves; it was, therefore, desirable to 
 choose the highest berth, as the cords were 
 not over-strong; and, should the upper berth 
 be occupied by any one at all approaching to 
 Daniel Lambert’s calibre, the chances were 
 that he would carry it away, and swamp the 
 unfortunate occupant of the primo piano. 
 The manner of steering these boats by 
 night is ingenious; two white goose-quills 
 are fastened upright on either extremity of 
 the deck, next the bow; alight from below is 
 reflected upon the feathers, which appear to 
 the man at the helm like two flames of fire. 
 We were not sorry to find ourselves at Utica, 
 
 and set off next day to see Trenton Falls, 
 
 
 

 
 
 
 hae 
 
 rig gt bilan. 
 
 ~ e 
 
 EE 1 ie ee 
 
 = 
 
 * 
 A ae CL LOLI ONO TNS LOIN OTT 
 
 es 
 ~ su 
 
 = ee 
 
 enya 
 _——— 
 = aks 
 Se eee coms 
 
 ~ 2" Nk ee 
 - 
 i 2 rrcmeetaes 
 5 
 4 
 
 —e- lo 
 9 r R ? 
 
 ; mapeapente a tony ST —_ 
 — - “ age eee 
 rt . = a oy - 
 
 Ne hee 
 
 . e- 
 
 ote 
 
 noe ee ee ee ree 
 
 
 
 ee 
 at, reenaenines - 
 
 Sg i i a i Ee re ce eg - oie es, 
 e <= : . wot 3. ee —-" as 
 - ate a —— > , — - : 
 - = Se ‘ 
 - : =% 
 
 258 ECHOES FROM 
 
 which are fine in their way—a succession of 
 dark amber-coloured Falls, like the dark 
 waters of the Caernarvonshire rivers. From 
 Utica we had again to follow the Erie canal 
 as far as Syracuse; whence, skirting a long 
 lake, we descended the Oswego river, as far 
 as the town of that name, situated at its 
 outlet in Lake Ontario. Here we embarked 
 in a steamer on its dark blue waters, and by 
 sun-down had run the land out of sight. The 
 following morning we landed at Toronto, the 
 capital of Upper Canada, which looked dirty 
 and uninteresting. 
 
 From Toronto the Transit steamer crossed 
 daily to Fort George, at the mouth of the 
 Niagara; in her we took our passage, and 
 were duly unshipped at the fort, where a 
 “stage” waited to convey passengers to the 
 Falls. The drive along the banks of the 
 Niagara river to Queenston is most lovely. 
 On the left flows the sea-green Niagara, its 
 
 banks covered with black walnut, hiccory, 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
"eile : 
 
 
 
 THE BACKWOODS. 959 
 
 acacia, and butternut trees, and on our right 
 stretched away fertile fields of Indian corn, 
 and orchards crowded with apple and peach 
 trees, the latter in such quantities, that the 
 pigs are fed on the fruit. This beautiful 
 scenery continues to Queenston, half-way 
 from the town of Niagara to the Falls, where 
 we had to climb a hill, on the summit of which 
 is erected a well-executed column to Sir Isaac 
 Brock, who drove the Americans over the 
 river in 1812. ‘The view from this monu- 
 ment is one of the finest | ever looked upon. 
 Beneath, the river, green as a vein of mala- 
 chite, flows through the above described rich 
 country, until it meets Ontario, which is 
 bounded in the far horizon by blue outlines 
 of hills some sixty miles distant. 
 
 Evidently the Falls commenced at_ this 
 point, breaking their way up to their present 
 site, seven miles further, where they have had 
 a check, and where, in all probability, they 
 
 will ever remain; for, so long as the river 
 
 Si: ae ean 
 
 
 
pie Seber 
 
 gi i 
 ENE ees a 
 ESSE HE te 
 
 
 
 
 
 c 
 ee 
 
 4 
 if 
 ag 
 
 
 
 . 
 my 
 
 — - 2m 
 
 ~~ =r 
 pe cna 
 
 to pe ee = 
 
 ~ — on — ent ee 
 
 
 
 9 
 
 ~ 
 
 
 
 60 ECHOES FROM 
 
 was confined to a narrow space, they conti- 
 nually receded. At present, the mass of 
 water is broken into two Falls, checked for 
 ever by the extended width of the current. 
 Small fragments may wear away and break 
 off, as did a small piece of the Table Rock a 
 few years ago, and some such event was the 
 probable origin of the famous hoax in the 
 Buffalo paper, stating the cataract to have 
 entirely disappeared ; but, for ages to come, 
 the Falls of Niagara must bear the same 
 character, and be confined to their present 
 locale. A few inches they may recede, which 
 can only add to their sublimity. 
 
 One of the party, who was all anxiety and 
 excitement, had extended himself at full 
 length upon the top or rather roof of ‘ the 
 stage’’—outside places, as before stated, exist 
 not in the contrivances of the New World 
 which do duty for coaches—and had taken 
 up this position, fancying that he should get 
 first view of the Falls. Indeed, all one’s 
 
 
 
 
 
 ee ee ee ee 
 
 , eae 
 

 
 THE BACKWOODS. 264 
 
 “auricular” nerves were on the stretch to 
 catch the slightest murmurs of the mighty 
 cataracts, and the veriest zephyr was enough 
 to draw forth an ejaculation. We were now 
 close to them, and, passing through an oak 
 forest, the branches from which frequently 
 swept the roof of the stage, suddenly our 
 friend exclaimed — ‘‘ Listen!—there they 
 are!— don’t you hear them?’ As _ he 
 uttered the last word, we heard a distinct 
 murmur, a decided rippling noise, followed 
 by an execration; and it was instantly 
 apparent whence the noise had proceeded— 
 a bough of a huge oak had hitched in the 
 nether end of our friend’s best Stulz “ cut- 
 away” coat, and had divided it completely 
 up the back to the very shoulders—this of 
 course caused a hearty laugh, in which he most 
 good-humouredly joined. The torn habili- 
 ment was skewered together in the best 
 manner that we could contrive; and soon 
 
 afterwards we began to hear distinctly the 
 
 on — a 
 eee _ aren 
 
 
 
: 
 : 
 . 
 
 -——_ on - ~~ 
 
 Es el 
 
 — eer onl 
 — 
 
 | 
 
 = yee -- - 
 o —~eer ceeneegees— 
 
 
 
 962 THE BACKWOODS. 
 
 roar of waters, and another half hour brought 
 us to the Falls of Niagara. 
 
 No one can, either by description of pen 
 or pencil, give the smallest idea of these Falls. 
 It is as impossible as the endeavour of the 
 artist to portray the Alps of Switzerland, 
 the Jungfrau, or Mont Blane. The best de- 
 scription [ ever met with of Niagara, was a 
 Yankee remark scribbled in Mr. Starkey’s 
 book of visitors who pass to Termination 
 Rock, 
 
 ‘* AN ALMIGHTY FALL OF WATER.” 
 
 
 
ie, 
 
 
 
 APPENDIX. 
 
 BGs dy 
 HINTS TO EMIGRANTS. 
 From Mr. Gesner’s Reports on New Brunswick. 
 
 The province contains about 16,5000,000 acres ; 
 of this 12,000,000 acres are capable of immediate 
 cultivation, and 1,000,000 may be reclaimed in a 
 more advanced state of agriculture. I have esti- 
 mated that, mcluding the great marshes of West- 
 moreland, only 440,000 acres are cleared.! By 
 obtaining a credit of the government for fifty acres 
 of land, any person, with a family, having a capital 
 of £12 currency (£9 12s. sterling), can maintain 
 such family until the first crop is produced ; and, 
 with sobriety and industry, in six years he can 
 pay for the land with the interest on the first pur- 
 
 ' From official returns, 3,634,280 acres have been granted, 
 and 13,792,272 remain at the disposal of the Crown. 
 
 = ee ee * . 
 =~ s a 
 
 ee. og SY = 
 ¥ o 
 
 ~~ 
 
 a —— 
 
 = 
 
 
 

 
 
 
 - 
 
 lh Gp ee Se 
 
 
 
 he ~ ~— - " 7 - 
 5 a. VF eer - e —_ y bs 
 = i. . iw 0 24 - M “ " aimonas ~~ aes Z von ma 
 - . =er7 = — ino . . Soe ™ * _ 
 - c= 3 wwr = ~ RS a + — 
 -=y' ee ee = — " et ws Oe leak a - gueea 3 7 ~. set — —s : : eo 7” a 7 Wena 
 a = . ve “— «oo 7 Set I ce SP ne $a ‘. gicsii —s*. = 2 ce 
 ~ - Se —S aa a ee - ed wes, ~ , 
 . 5 ~ te . wi. = P On ae a SS — < wo ood - “ ques - * 
 x , . Pen-hew P Ni OE ts  <~. -—~ re sae 4 ei SPE hae oP. —— 
 ~ - - > * me a i = ~ oN ~ 
 ES — aire 4 . . one tae »<- 
 Ue hme eon m4 >. * oun - - ——o pe Fy wo 
 ar Se ee ee ae . - ~_ ~? me eee : 
 : ; . ~ ° . « a —_ — = 
 - ’ oe 2 wh - = - - 
 ‘ - —— ee - — . - - +e —_— — 
 =o a — - ~ " So oe ==. = ees s “ s- - 
 —— ae ae Ag m > an - 7 LF 
 ONE, = > > -" Z - = mane — - . = : . . 
 = x = ENE wn, a “ = ee Se oy - : oe, . ” 
 - : => a * 5 : = Be . 
 - ana , at : - we - ie a 5 ae 
 Zo ¢ 
 ~ = = 
 
 Sear 
 - — pony 
 ee ee 2 - 
 a e 
 
 1c ee en er 
 
 
 
 SS ee ee eee 
 
 nip antag it 
 pe ee, 
 
 C a - 
 ke Gee ee I EE ag 
 
 - 
 
 
 
 
 2 a ere “ws 
 R Set 6 ee ee 
 
 Sa I sie smetenen ™ 
 aoe Ses SS See 
 = ; ee ~~. = ~- 7 
 «=f =a 
 
 ny 
 
 = 
 
 _ 
 
 264 NEW BRUNSWICK. 
 
 chase, and purchase fifty acres more on credit. 
 The above may be performed in less time than six 
 years; but I have taken this period as a medium 
 estimate. 
 
 The lands along the southern coast of the pro- 
 vince are in general much less fit for cultivation 
 than those of the interior and northern shores. 
 The settlers are also exposed to the dense fogs of 
 the coast, but which seldom reach more than 
 twenty miles from the seaboard. ‘The soil, from 
 being derived from granite and other hard rock, 
 is more scanty along the southern coast; and it is 
 frequently too strong to be extensively cultivated. 
 There are, nevertheless, many small tracts of good 
 upland, and some fine intervals along the rivers and 
 smaller streams. 
 
 Twenty miles from the southern seaboard, the 
 lands improve, and the whole northern side of the 
 province may be said to be capable of being tilled 
 to advantage. The quality of the soil, however, 
 differs in different districts; and there are many 
 extensive tracts of waste land of a superior quality. 
 The several counties have been classed in regard to 
 the lands they contain fit for immediate settlement, 
 in the following order :— 
 
 St. John. There is but a very limited quantity of 
 good ungranted land in this county. The lands 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 ee a ee ee eee er en 
 
HINTS TO EMIGRANTS. 265 
 
 eastward of Quaco, and those recently laid out 
 between Quaco and Hammond river, are in general 
 broken and stony, and the gravelly nature of the 
 soil is seldom discovered until the land is cleared of 
 its timber; there are but few intervales! in this 
 county. 
 
 King’s County. There is a large area of superior 
 land for settlement southward of Sussex vale, and 
 at the head of the mill stream. 
 
 Westmorland. In the county of Westmorland 
 there still remain some fine ungranted tracts ; 
 they are chiefly situated at the heads of Pollet and 
 Coverdale rivers, and Turtle Creek, and also at the 
 sources of the Washademoak. The soil in general 
 is a sandy loam, and it is easily worked. There are 
 some intervales still ungranted. 
 
 Queen's. In Queen’s county there are a number 
 of tracts of excellent ungranted land. There is a 
 large tract between the N erepis Road and Gagetown, 
 including the Victoria settlement ; also, south- 
 ward of the N erepis Road, upon both sides of the 
 Washademoak river, above Long’s Creek, and 
 between Salmon river and N ew Canaan settlement. 
 Some of these soils are a deep red loam. Lime- 
 Stone was found to be abundant on both sides of the 
 
 ' Alluvial flats adjacent to the rivers, which are annually 
 overflowed, and yield abundant hay-crops. 
 
 VOL, I. N 
 
 
 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 Meee 
 Sy > 
 Ladies 
 
 .~ ae 
 
 a 
 1 eee 
 
 Saad a Sh 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 266 
 
 
 
 NEW BRUNSWICK. 
 
 St. John: it will be seen at the farm of Mr. 
 Merritt, and at the south entrance of the 
 Washademoak. 
 
 Charlotte. The best ungranted lands in this 
 county were seen in the direction of the Maga- 
 ouadavie river: and there are intervales along the 
 principal streams. The northern part of this 
 county abounds in granite rocks. The lands in the 
 Tryon settlement are in general rocky, and a part 
 of the soil is meagre. 
 
 Sunbury. Almost all the ungranted land in this 
 county is ofa good quality, and probably not more 
 than one half of its surface is disposed of. There 
 are some good intervales. 
 
 York. The best ungranted lands in this county 
 are situated on the south-east side of the Nashwaak, 
 and near the main south-west Miramichi and 
 Taxas river. 
 
 Carleton. Almost all the lands in this county 
 are of a superior quality. Between the St. John 
 and the main south-west Miramichi, there is an 
 ‘mmense tract of fertile soil, with belts of intervale 
 along the streams. Very extensive settlements 
 might be opened in this quarter. Farther west- 
 ward there is a mountainous ridge ; even here there 
 are some superior lands, and the scenery is truly 
 Alpine. The Tobique river passes through a fine 
 
HINTS TO EMIGRANTS, 267 
 
 country for agriculture, where gypsum and lime- 
 stone are abundant. 
 
 The river is skirted with 
 
 excellent intervales. These lands are not granted, 
 
 settlement. Near 
 the banks of the St. John, the Grand Falls, and at 
 Grand River, the land is good, and limestone is 
 plentifully scattered over the county. 
 
 Kent. 
 
 and ofter every advantage for 
 
 There are some good soils in this county ; 
 
 many of them are, however. light and sandy. 
 
 Northumberland. The good land in this county 
 
 is too extensive to require any particular descrip- 
 tion, and there is much intervale along the streams. 
 
 Gloucester. The above remark will apply to the 
 north-eastern part of Gloucester, There 
 nevertheless, 
 
 are, 
 some low and Swampy grounds in 
 this quarter. 
 
 fiestigouche. The lands near the mouth of the 
 Restigouche are mountainous and broken. South- 
 ward of Dalhousie and Campbelltown there is a 
 large tract of superior land; upon a part of: this 
 tract the Colebrooke settlement is situated. There 
 are good lands upon the upper part of the river. 
 The interior of Gloucester and Restigouc 
 have not been explored. 
 
 he counties 
 
 i aad 
 
 - a 
 ny Sonoran Sotins nt - ~ 
 ’ Ps 
 r , ~~ _ ee — 
 
 
 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 a . 
 er ~ “Fa = 
 hu ene LRN = or r-~ > 
 . 
 ~ 0 ATE 
 
 Swe 
 - a pike gs 
 
 268 
 
 RETURN showing the Ave 
 
 PRICE OF PROVISIONS AND CLOTHING. 
 
 No. II. 
 
 in the Colony of New Brunswic 
 
 ARTICLES. 
 
 
 
 Salt beef 
 
 Fresh ditto 
 
 Mutton 
 
 Lamb 
 
 Veal ; 
 
 Fresh pork 
 
 Salt. ditto 
 
 Fowls 
 
 Bacon 
 
 Salt butter 
 
 Fresh ditto 
 
 Fresh milk 
 
 Cheese . 
 
 Eggs 
 
 Potatoes ; 
 Bread, best wheaten 
 Ditto, seconds 
 Best wheat flour . 
 Second quality ditto, 
 Oatmeal a 
 Coals 
 
 Candles. 
 Firewood, cord of 128 cubic ft. 
 Common soap ‘ 
 Tea . .- >» 
 
 Coffee (green) ei BE 
 Rice eich SUS tata ig 
 Sugar, brown or 
 Ditto, loaf 
 
 Salt . 
 
 Pepper . 
 
 Salt fish, dry, the cheapest 
 Ditto, green. 
 
 Beer P 
 
 Porter, London 
 
 Men’s stout shoes 
 
 Women’s ditto 
 
 Snow over-shoes 
 
 Men’s shirts, cotton 
 
 Flannel 
 
 Cloth for coats 
 
 Cotton for gowns . « 
 Fustian Boils 
 Velveteen. . -» 
 
 marine 
 : 
 | 
 
 rage Retail Price of Provisions and Clothing 
 
 k, in the quarter ended 31st Dec., 1845, 
 
 Quantity. 
 
 
 
 a a ean 
 
 Average lt’rices 
 
 
 
 | in Sterling. 
 | se ocean 
 per lb. | 0 0 34 
 ¥ | 0 0 3 
 >> 0 0 3 
 99 | 0 0 3 
 V6 | OC one 
 ‘ 0 “oom 
 Se 0/2 sae 
 per pair | 2am 1 3 
 perlb 4 | 0 0 4 
 * | O 0 9 
 i 1 o 0 10 
 per quart 0 0 3 
 per lb. 0 0 5 
 per dozen 0 0 9 
 per bushel 0 3 0 
 4lb. loaf 0 0 9 
 6lb. loaf 0 0 10 
 barrel 196 lbs. LO ee 
 {- 32 
 per cwt. 0 oe 
 per chaldron 1 2 6 
 per Ib. 0 Se 
 te a l 0. 28 
 per lb. O° 0 ae 
 re 0 oe 
 a 0 0 38 
 és 0  alai 
 ”? 0 0 5. 
 0 0° Be } 
 per bushel 0 I 4 24 
 per lb. 0 0 10 
 per quintal 0. 10°48 
 the barrel 0 <0 =e 3 
 per gallon 0-2 
 per bottle 0... 0 taae : 
 per pair 0 6a ; 
 ‘ 0 Soe 4 
 is 0. ie 
 each 0 ee 
 per yard 0 4 
 9? 0 7 6 5 
 2? 0 0 7 ‘ 
 F 0 1 3 ie 
 0 2 3 
 
 M. H. PERLEY, Government Emigration Agent. 
 
 
 
ae 
 
 ~=e8 
 
 4s 
 
 Trade or Calling. 
 
 | 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 WAGES OF MECHANICS. 
 
 No. IIT. 
 
 RETURN showing the Average Wages of Mechanics and others in the 
 Colony of New ‘Brunswick, for the 3 Months ended 31st Dec. 
 
 269 
 
 , 1845. 
 
 , 
 
 | Highest & Lowest 
 
 | 
 
 per Diem 
 without Board 
 and | 
 Lodging, 
 in Sterling. 
 
 
 
 | Average Wages Average W ages'Average W ages| 
 
 with Board 
 
 in Sterling. 
 
 per Diem per Annum 
 with Board 
 and and 
 
 Lodging, 
 
 
 
 | 
 Lodging, 
 in Sterling. 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 | Highest. | 
 
 Bread and biscuit | ised. s.djs.d. s.dJ € s. d. 
 
 bakers a) : a0..:0. 0 
 Butchers | 4 6 2 6 32 0 0) 
 Brickmakers | 3 0to5 0 | 2 0to3 6 | 
 Bricklayers 5 0 to ‘ 6/3 0to5 0 | 
 Blacksmiths 15 0 3 0 30 0. 0 
 Curriers 15 0 3 0 Ja Oo 
 Carpenters and 
 
 joiners 5 6 13 6 35 0 O | 
 Cabinetmakers .|5 6 3 9 35 0 0} 
 Coopers 149 3 0 30 0 0 
 Carters . 14 6 3 0 24 0 0 
 Cooks(women) .| .. . 10 0 0 
 Combmakers . {| oy 
 Dairywomen ; 710 0 
 Dressmakers and_| 
 
 milliners . (23 1 3 10 0 0 
 Farm labourers .|3 9 1 3 } 18 0 0 | 
 Gardeners . . .|4 6 30 125 0 0] 
 Grooms. . ls 0 0 
 Millwrights . 6 0 40 40 0 0 
 uallers. . «. .| 0 6 4 0 | 32.0 O | 
 Painters . ., 5 6 3 6 | | 
 Plasterers .}0 6 40 | 
 Plumbers and Very little : 
 
 glaziers { employment, 
 Quarrymen 3 0 1 3 ws 0nd 
 Ropemakers 35 0 0 
 Sailmakers 2 he. ee 299 10 O 
 Sawyers . . ./4 0to6 0/2 6to4 6| 32 10 0| 
 Shepherds ey No employ- 
 
 i ment. 
 
 Shipwrights and | 
 boatbuilders 39tco5 0/2 0to4 0) 30 0 O 
 Shoemakers 3 6to4 0)2 6to3 0| 26 0 0} 
 Slaters & shinglers 5 0 3 6 | | 
 Stonemasons 40to5 6}3 0to4 0} 3210 0} 
 Tailors R 30.0 0] 
 Tanners ; 35 0 0 
 Wheelwrights 5. Soe ‘ ‘ 35 0 0 
 Whitesmiths 146 3 0 28 0 0} 
 
 
 
 
 
 M. H. PERLEY—G. E. A. 
 
 Rates per Diem 
 without Board or 
 Lodging, 
 
 (in Sterling.) 
 
 Lowest. 
 
 
 
 
 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 In all, 6,133 souls, 
 
 a 
 
 2995 | 3208 | 133 
 
 
 
 
 
 ha * | es Ice. | | 
 = = ee | Chit PSD | on tee : | 
 O | @ iz eee = Adults. Bt ete “a i ne pli | Totals. 
 pal ag oes 3.8 ‘ year. ! year, | : ry 
 = i re lane: SW Ee| | si aS Recapitulation 
 Ne ~< | 25]. | | ZR 
 es nS Fe 20 E =| Male. | Female. | Male, | Female.| Male. | Female.| Male. | Female. 
 ae "o oe | | | | 
 — aS 
 e | | | i | j | 
 be Quarter ending) | | i | Male. | Female. 
 r} 31st March .| nil} —/|/—/| — — —_—_ | — — — — | — | | 
 “ | Quarter ending | 4 dul 
 
 ™ + f mm 4 Oe - OD sal sal f 3 r] “o ” @ ee ee Heo 
 © | SistJune .| 43} 9 | 3 | 2048} 2171 | 327) 401) 84 | 83 | 2459 | 2655 aoe | 2384 | 2595 
 e& Quarter ending} 2 | | | . | “* iFrom 14 to] yr | 436 511 
 Zz 30th Sept ..) 25 | — | — | 322] 391) 103] 102| 20 18 445 | 511) 956 IU ae eee 
 — Quarter ending| | | Oaer yeal 105 | 102 : 
 ~ 31st Dec....| 2}—|—| 14] a3] 6 8/1 l 21 | 42] 63 fasta? =. “| 
 Pe | | | otals . | 2925 | 3208 | 
 CS J | 
 — | | 
 = Totals .. | 70] 9 | 3 | 2384 | 2595 | 436 | 511} 105 | 102 
 Psat | 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 Government Emigration Office, St. John, New Brunswick. 
 
 M. H. PERLEY, 
 
 
 
 3ist December, 1845, 
 
 = esi ee hind -- - Ye eee ae = — ee a awe 4 = Sandip - 
 : Tiss Z ma AS Se See ss SO ES SEES 
 4 a3 a 7 il hn “De. : 
 
 
 
 oe 
 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 PRICES OF FARM STOCK. 271 
 
 T 7 
 No. V. 
 RETURN, showing the prices of Agricultural Produce, Farming 
 Stock, and implements of Husbandry in the colony of New 
 Brunswick, on the 3lst December, 1845. 
 
 
 
 Sterling Dollars at 
 4s, 2d. each. 
 
 8. d. 
 
 5 9 
 
 alae Sapa 
 3 
 
 2 
 
 Articles. Quantity. Remarks. 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 Wheat . . . | perbushel 5 
 a ee do. | 0 
 8 ee a ae do. | 0 9 | Large quantities of 
 Oats Neb do. | 0 P reach pet from 
 __. Sa do. Ge eT 
 [Buckwheat ink’ do. OF UG 
 ee do. 0 0 0 |Not cultivated for sale.| 
 | eee do. 6 | 
 IPotatoes hy do. 3 | 
 | 
 : ce RS per ton tae | Sant + Potatoes are exces- 
 Foon cats tor “aboot | 5 0 oie bd and er 
 Useful riding ditto 9 20 OO O (ithe crop. 
 Yoke of Oxen . - is oO 9 | | 
 Sheep, per score w a 0-9 | 
 Good Milch Cow 3 ee | 
 Breeding Sow sy eS | ia 
 Pigs,each . . re G..+S-—-6 
 A cart of the de- 
 scription vei f about 7 sat © 
 by farmers 
 A Waggon ditto 9 ye -90 
 A Plough ¥5 2 10 6 
 Harrow 2 4 Ba) Se 
 Country Plough " a. OG: ,-8 
 Sledge for winter * 3 10 O 
 
 
 
 Government Emigration Office, St. John, New Brunswick, 
 M. H. PERLEY. 
 
 3lst December, 1845. 
 
 
 
 i 
 
 yoerntign rt 
 
 ates aioe ae rernic 
 os - 
 
x = 
 Ses 
 
 s “we 
 
 ae 
 
 : ~ ore ~ =. 
 ~ ~ pw ’ — 
 agi = | we ey = 
 = BPS snr te as 
 bf eee 
 a eee 
 Oe oe ey EEE = coi 
 
 a 
 
 3% 
 et te 
 
 eS i 
 
 _ Ld oo 
 ee Se CRBC > 
 
 - 
 
 MEE <a 
 
 et mr rr > te oe ee. 
 
 - 
 3 
 
 ed 
 
 4 
 
 >» o 
 
 H 
 
 . f 
 : o 
 
 — 
 ~~ 
 
 . mane 
 Cae 
 
 > 
 7 ST 
 
 — 
 a ee oe 
 
 2 ee 
 
 rae 
 ele ote o~ 
 
 + RE RE Cer —e CNMI mre 
 
 Ee gee eer — 
 
 
 
 bo 
 ~J 
 bo 
 
 NEW BRUNSWICK. 
 
 No. VI. 
 REFLEXIONS ON THE PRESENT STATE OF NEW 
 BRUNSWICK IN REFERENCE TO A PROPOSED LINE 
 OF RAILWAY. 
 
 Government Emigration Office, 
 St. John, N. B., Nov. 10, 1845. 
 Sir, 
 
 Since forwarding my last quarterly return, I 
 have received various documents addressed to me 
 officially, by persons in England, relative to the 
 formation of a railway from Halifax to Quebec, 
 through this province, and proposing the colo- 
 nization and settlement of the line of country 
 traversed, in connection therewith. As the pro- 
 posal expressly refers to immigration on a large 
 scale, I have felt it my duty to bring the subject 
 under His Excellency’s consideration, and at the 
 same time respectfully to offer some remarks upon 
 the matter as connected with the business of this 
 office. 
 
 It may be considered as a settled principle in 
 England, that, whether for facilitating commerce, 
 or improving land, railways are the best instru- 
 
 ments that can be used. If such be the ease in 
 
 
 
* 
 
 "how ss 
 
 b hee 
 
 - \tepne 
 
 PROPOSED LINE OF RAILWAY. 273 
 
 England, abounding as it does in wealth, in a high 
 state of cultivation, with the best and most nu- 
 merous means of inter-communication, and teeming 
 with population, what would be the effect of rail- 
 ways in a young country like New Brunswick, yet 
 poor and struggling into existence, with but few 
 and imperfect roads, and a population which barely 
 reaches one soul to every hundred acres of its 
 extent / 
 
 If the difficulties attendant upon the settlement 
 of a new country be taken into consideration, there 
 ean be no doubt that much has been effected in 
 New Brunswick within the brief period which has 
 elapsed since its first settlement by British sub- 
 jects. Yet all that has been done is comparatively 
 trifling, when considered with reference to the 
 extent of country yet ungranted and uncultivated, 
 and the abundant resources it possesses. As a 
 field for the pursuits of agriculture, the prosecution 
 of commercial enterprise, and the formation of 
 flourishing settlements, this colony offers powerful 
 inducements. It is blessed with a rich and pro- 
 ductive soil; it abounds with trees of the greatest 
 utility and value, and is watered by innumerable 
 rivers and streams. It rejoices in skies that are 
 bright and cheerful, and a climate salubrious in the 
 extreme, congenial to the growth, not only of the 
 
 : N 5 
 
 oe 
 
 on at oe 
 
 
 

 
 eS Sar = 
 
 = — - 8a" ae ee a 
 _ ~ > x 
 eA ee 
 - - - 
 
 Seer ns 
 
 ES enka a 
 
 ite Py 
 <—- 7 
 
 epee 
 
 Sacer ww GCE a Sas 4 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 = eT 
 
 a. a -% Or 
 - a 
 
 =a 
 ees 
 
 ~ - wee] - ~ 
 * ** ee ie \ 
 See ne es 7 P= Sage ae Se 4 —w 
 ss . ae —ee * ol = - me 
 > eis . 7. = os . 7 ~ ~ 
 ce ah f a A Tre. & om we - “ hte eb oe caw 
 : — TRS ~ a ere Pe ys > 
 * 
 
 i 
 bal 
 &- 
 i 
 ‘ 
 
 ee 
 ene ae 
 
 o' 
 see oan 
 
 es 
 
 te 
 a 
 i 
 
 pie 
 t 
 
 Sa rm, © 
 
 ee el Aaa 
 >) OA ae 
 
 
 
 ~ a 
 ar Lope a ee 7 
 
 7 
 ed ts 
 flan sae 
 
 274 NEW BRUNSWICK. 
 
 necessaries, but many of the luxuries of life. Above 
 all, it has the happiness to enjoy institutions and 
 forms of government, modelled upon their proto- 
 types in the mother-country, which secure British 
 laws, and British freedom to all its inhabitants. 
 
 With these numerous advantages, it may be 
 asked, why New Brunswick has not made greater 
 strides in the progress of improvement, and why 
 its population is yet so scanty. The reply is, that 
 the want of roads and efficient means of communi- 
 cation keep the great body of the country yet in a 
 state of unbroken wilderness, isolates it from the 
 neighbouring colony of Canada, deprives it of com- 
 mercial avenues, and renders the progress of settle- 
 meut and improvement so very slow, in comparison 
 with what might reasonably be expected from the 
 bounties which nature has lavished upon it. 
 
 In considering this subject, it is important to 
 state the extent of wilderness in New Brunswick 
 and the progress of its population, as to which, | 
 beg to submit the following statistics. 
 
 The area of this province is estimated in round 
 numbers at seventeen millions of. acres—of these 
 five millions are said to be granted—two millions 
 are deducted for water and waste, and the remaining 
 ten millions, all fit for settlement and cultivation, 
 are yet in a state of wilderness, ungranted, and at 
 
 
 
 hg ee ge Ne, a a ea kre Tee en re 
 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 PROPOSED LINE OF RAILWAY. 2795 
 
 the disposal of the government. The ungranted 
 lands are thus distributed :— 
 In Restigouche and Gloucester counties. 1,828,000 acres. 
 
 , Northumberland : ; , 2,216,000 
 
 , Kent . : : ; ‘ 552,400 ,, 
 ;, Westmorland . : ; 532,000 
 
 , Saint John . ‘ 126,000 ,, 
 ,» Charlotte . 480,000, 
 », King’s , : : ‘ 244,000 ,, 
 » Queen’s . : : F 470,000 ,, 
 » Sunbury : 413,000 ,, 
 York ; 1,280,000 ,, 
 ,, Carleton ; : ; . 2,080,000 _,, 
 
 Total . . . 10,221,000 acres. 
 
 With regard to population, the increase stands 
 
 thus :-— 
 In 1783 (province established,) 12,000 souls. 
 1803 . . . 27,000, 
 » 1824 . s Vat Cg 
 » 1834 119,457 ,, 
 , 1840 . ’ . 156,162 ,, 
 
 Prior to the year 1818, partial emigration from 
 the United Kingdom had occasionally taken place 
 to this colony ; but after that period it began to 
 flow in a regular and steady stream. From 1824 
 to 1834, the emigrants to New Brunswick amounted 
 to 48,000; yet the increase of population between 
 those periods was only 45,000. From 1834 to 
 
 
 
_ 
 Meng ine 
 
 aie 
 ons 
 
 —> = « 
 
 vere . +. Ae 
 9 Rr er TF ere 
 “7 2 - 
 
 \ 
 | 
 qa 
 . 
 a 
 | 
 
 ” mr Ite ort a a a - 
 pe em mee eee; 
 
 
 
 =— 
 ee 
 oe 
 
 Sn ee 
 “a Car Nan 
 = tues ee ns - 5 
 
 — 
 
 a 
 
 oa 
 
 — 
 
 ae 
 
 
 
 276 NEW BRUNSWICK. 
 
 1840, the increase of population was 36,000—a 
 number far short of the immigrants who arrived in 
 the province during the same period. It is clear, 
 therefore, that New Brunswick is not greatly in- 
 debted to immigration for the increase of its popu- 
 lation during the last twenty years, which may be 
 principally attributed to the natural multiplication 
 of its inhabitants. 
 
 The immigration of the present season has some- 
 
 what exceeded six thousand souls—about one half 
 
 of whom have departed for the United States, 
 attracted by the greater demand for labour there, 
 and by the cheapness and rapidity of travelling, by 
 steamers and railways, which enable immigrants to 
 reach the western country, where fertile lands can 
 be procured on easy terms, and where every facility 
 exists for transmitting farming produce to the 
 Atlantic sea-ports and a ready market. It cannot 
 but be matter of regret, that so many of Her 
 Majesty’s subjects, who cross the Atlantic and 
 arrive annually in this colony, cannot be settled 
 on vacant crown lands, but should pass through 
 this fine province, and become, more through 
 necessity than choice, the subjects of a foreign 
 government, 
 
 I have repeatedly had the honour to state, In my 
 reports on immigration, that the remedy for this 
 
 eae 
 
 
 
SE RE = ey ee 
 
 Re re pe oe 
 
 
 
 PROPOSED LINE OF RAILWAY. 
 
 untoward state of things would be the commence- 
 ment of some great public or private work in New 
 
 Brunswick, tending to open up the interior of the 
 
 
 
 country—and none would seem to be better adapted 
 for the desired end than the establishment of the 
 proposed line of railway through the heart of the 
 province. 
 
 lt will not escape His Excellency’s observation, 
 that, of the ungranted lands in the colony, there is 
 not more than one-tenth west of the river St. John, 
 and that the remaining nine-tenths are to the east- 
 ward of that river. The formation of a line of 
 railway through this vast tract of wilderness would 
 afford abundant employment for a long period to an 
 immense number of emigrant labourers, who would 
 thus become acquainted with the work of the 
 country, and be trained up to the necessary dex- 
 terity and skill essential to the success of settlers 
 in the forest. By means of cross roads and 
 branches, assisted by the infinity of lakes, rivers, 
 and streams, every part of the province would be 
 rendered readily accessible, and the farmer in the 
 remotest district would possess the means of reach- 
 ing market with ease and certainty. No objection 
 would exist, as at present, against taking up land 
 in the interior of the country, where the soil is 
 excellent, on account of its solitude, the difficulty 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
—- eee ~ . 
 See wet Taare a ' 
 
 mw 
 
 — 
 A eel patie ana bole, 
 
 _ - 
 oe 
 
 a = sr 7S SETS ST SE —— ee, ean ee 
 wn A q tte 3 =— 
 SS Oe Leos ae oe eer ner rr: . ~: _ 
 . — ‘ e ~s 
 
 > Pe 
 
 _—- ~ 
 -> > 
 os 
 arene 
 res 
 
 
 
 ae pe" 
 
 batt ee it 
 
 et ie . 
 Dab be 38 yaa is 
 1 tf ‘f Wy j 
 
 we: \ it : 
 
 278 NEW BRUNSWICK. 
 
 of reaching it, or the almost impossibility of bring- 
 ing its products to a market. 
 
 The numberless advantages which would be 
 afforded by a railway through New Brunswick, 
 connecting it with the neighbouring colonies of 
 Canada and Nova Scotia, would for many years 
 render it capable of absorbing annually thousands 
 and tens of thousands of immigrants from the 
 United Kingdom, who would find a happy home 
 in a British colony, where they could maintaim 
 their allegiance to their sovereign, and by prudence 
 and industry attain to comfort and imdependence 
 as freeholders and lords of the soil. Every acces- 
 sion of population, whether composed of indigent 
 or wealthy individuals, provided it consists of 
 able-bodied men, would be highly desirable in a 
 country where land is abundant and inhabitants 
 comparatively few. 
 
 It does not fall within the line of my duty to 
 animadvert upon the effects which the proposed line 
 of railway would have upon the mercantile interests 
 of New Brunswick, by facilitating commercial inter- 
 course, and opening up new sources of trade, by 
 developing the mineral wealth and great natural 
 resources of the country. But I may, however, be 
 permitted, in conclusion, to observe, that a railway 
 to unite the colonies of Canada, New Brunswick, 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 ‘to? a, ss * 
 
—o eo 
 
 Oe ee 
 
 a eT ee re 
 * —_ 
 
 PO a as 
 
 ——— 
 
 
 
 Re yp eet 
 
 
 
 TREES OF NEW BRUNSWICK. 279 
 
 and Nova Scotia, into one common bond of union, 
 by drawing together their remotest extremities, 
 uniting their energies, and consolidating their 
 strength, cannot be viewed otherwise than as a 
 great national object. The slow progress of settle- 
 ment and tardy increase of population would thereby 
 be accelerated ‘‘with railroad speed,” and greater 
 progress in those respects would be made in ten 
 years under the influence of railways, than under 
 the present order of things will probably take place 
 during the next century. The advantages offered 
 to these colonies by railway communication are so 
 varied, so numerous, and so overwhelming, as 
 scarcely tobe within the grasp of the most compre- 
 hensive mind, but would inevitably lead to results 
 alike glorious to British North America, and the 
 great empire of which it forms a favoured portion. 
 I have the honour to be, 
 M. H. PERLEY, 
 Government Emigration Agent. 
 Alfred Reade, Esq., 
 
 Private Secretary, &c., Fredericton. 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

 
 
 
 
 
 SS TaN 
 
 f , i) 
 ) q 
 i a 
 fi : ' 
 i ; iii 
 | Ht 
 | ii i 
 
 Qc - 
 
 280 TREES OF NEW BRUNSWICK, 
 
 2 ye ey 
 
 aa 
 a : = 
 ate nome aranE Sentences Si heal 
 
 No. VII. 
 
 a pre k, Ae = 
 
 ‘\ NOTES ON THE TREES OF NEW BRUNSWICK. 
 wt 
 
 f Gray Oak—Quercus Borealis, or Quercus Am- 
 
 ~ = al — 
 3S DIRS Se... eer oe a 
 
 big Ud. 
 
 Red Oak—Quercus Rubra.— Neither of much 
 
 0 ee ee 
 
 — — ae 
 OPIN Se nica ns 
 
 | a value from their small size. 
 
 Butternut—Juglans Cathartica, attains a large 
 
 She ee 
 
 4a size and bears abundance of large nuts of good 
 | flavour ; wood much used at present by cabinet- 
 makers. 
 
 White Maple 
 
 white wood, not unlike sycamore. When spotted, 
 
 
 
 Acer Eriocarpum.—V ery pretty 
 
 — « 
 
 it is called Bird’s-eye Maple. 
 
 Red-flowering Maple—Acer Rubrum. 
 
 - - —— en 4 
 = —n * 
 ”" ss > — ca 
 eS a ee on ee SE. EET, 
 2 re teres -Stticeiidiiaieataiaaa 
 ; A 5 el 
 
 Sugar Maple—A cer Saccharinum.—Maple sugar 
 ee ae is made from this tree. 
 
 Moose Wood—Acer Striatum.—The name of 
 
 moose-wood was given to this species of maple by 
 
 nae-hen ---— an 
 ——<= 
 ee Pm te eee 
 
 a 
 omsnte 
 
 ae ae 
 pm eae 
 J - gi 
 y 
 , 
 ‘on, 
 
 i ; the first settlers, from observing that the moose, an 
 f tf s = - ° 
 
 | eee. aa animal now becoming scarce in this region, sub- 
 
 pee 3 Oe ee fe : A = ; sf 
 
 ik it ae ee sisted during the latter part of the winter and 
 
 hb? If mR 4 ; i * os e ° ° 
 
 hot) Wa i{ beginning of spring on its young twigs. The 
 
 it { ie i uy i bed -- e ve a 
 
 | 4 ie on moose-wood bears a very large flower, which when 
 
 ; iy iF . . 7) . 
 
 1 i aay beginning to unfold is rose-coloured, but afterwards 
 
 © aii\ai% 
 
 wala) @ 
 
 7) ti) @ 
 
 ae af 
 
 Lime REE 
 
 ree) :, i ; j 
 
 eh 
 
 1 3 4 
 
 “s 
 gE 
 
 
 
 ~~ 
 
 
 
y= 
 
 
 
 | 
 | 
 
 | deal in al et * 
 
 i A let I ee Fc eae | ea 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 TREES OF NEW BRUNSWICK. 28] 
 
 pure white. This tree is found most vigorous in 
 mixed forests, when the woods are composed of the 
 sugar maple, the beech, white birch, yellow birch, 
 and hemlock spruce. In these forests it constitutes 
 a great part of the under growth. 
 
 Mountain Maple—Acer Montanum, called low 
 maple in New Brunswick. 
 
 Dog Wood—Cornus Florida. 
 
 species of dog-wood which have been observed in 
 
 
 
 Among the eight 
 
 North America, this species alone is entitled by its 
 size to be classed with the forest trees. It is most 
 interesting from the beauty of its flowers. 
 
 Canoe Birch—Betula Papyracea.—The canoe 
 birch attains its largest size, which is about seventy 
 feet in height and three feet in diameter, on the 
 declivity of hills and in the bottom of fertile valleys ; 
 its branches are slender, flexible, and covered with 
 a shining brown bark, dotted with white. . The 
 heart or perfect wood of this tree, when first laid 
 open, is of a reddish hue, and the sap is perfeetly 
 white. The wood has a fine glossy grain, and con- 
 siderable strength. Tables and other furniture are 
 frequently made of it, and stained in imitation of 
 mahogany. On trees not exceeding eight inches 
 in diameter, the bark is of a brilliant white, and is 
 almost indestructible by time. 
 
 The bark of the birch is applied to a great variety 
 
 
 
— = nee 
 es . 
 ~~ See a 
 —e A 
 
 ~—e 
 
 — 
 
 TN. a an 
 
 eee - 
 
 LO ee NRE 
 
 a 
 ——— 
 _——s 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 282 TREES OF NEW BRUNSWICK. 
 
 of uses. It forms the wigwam of the Indian, and 
 many, if not all, his utensils in the forest. The 
 settlers place large sheets of it immediately be- 
 neath the shingles of the roof, to form a more 
 impenetrable cover for their houses. Baskets, 
 boxes, and portfolios are made of it: the latter 
 are frequently embroidered with silk or moose 
 hair, dyed in a great variety of most brilliant 
 colours. 
 
 But of the many uses to which it is applied, 
 none is more important than the construction of 
 canoes, and for this purpose it cannot be replaced 
 by the bark of any other tree. To procure a proper 
 piece for a canoe, the largest and smoothest trunk 
 is selected. When the tree is felled, a longitudinal 
 incision is made along the tree for twenty or twenty- 
 five feet ; two circular incisions are made at each 
 end; the bark is loosened a little with the knife or 
 a wedge, and almost immediately springs from the 
 tree. 
 
 To form the canoe, the seams are stitched with 
 the fibrous roots of the white spruce about the size 
 of a quill, which are deprived of the bark, split, and 
 suppled in water. The seams are coated with the 
 gum of the spruce or balsam fir. 
 
 White Birch—Betula Populifolia.—The trunk 
 of this species is clothed in a bark of as pure a white 
 
SSS eae” be ee ae , J ia 
 
 _—— 
 
 - 
 
 OO” 
 
 iar CIT oS ae eal Te a i” ee 
 
 a a a Te ee 
 
 
 
 
 
 TREES OF NEW BRUNSWICK. 283 
 
 as that of the canoe birch, but its epidermis, when 
 separated from the cellular integument, is incapable 
 of being divided into thin sheets, which constitutes 
 an essential difference. 
 
 Yellow Birch—Betula Lutea.—Chiefly used for fuel. 
 
 Black Birch — Betula Lenta, or Betula Nigra.— 
 This tree forms the birch timber, of which large 
 quantities are annually exported: it is also much 
 used in ship-building. 
 
 Common Alder—Alnus Serrulata. 
 
 Wild Cherry-tree—Cerasus Virginiana. 
 
 Red Cherry-tree—Cerasus Borealis.—Both these 
 bear abundance of fruit, of a pleasant flavour but 
 slightly acrid. The fruit makes capital cherry 
 bounce. 
 
 Balm of Gilead, or Balsam Poplar—Populus 
 Balsamifera. 
 
 American Aspen, or Common Poplar— Populus 
 Tremuloides. 
 
 White Beech—Fagus Sylvestris.—Red Beech— 
 Fagus Ferruginea.—V ery common ; the white beech 
 is valuable for ship-building, particularly for floor 
 timber and bottom planks. 
 
 Hornbeam—Carpinus Virginiana.— Not very 
 common ; wood very hard and heavy. Hornbeam 
 is valuable for every purpose to which its small size 
 
 permits it to be applied. 
 
 
 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 284 TREES OF NEW BRUNSWICK. 
 
 Jron Wood—Carpinus Ostrya. 
 
 White Ash—Fraxinus Americana. 
 
 Black Ash—Frazinus Sambucifolia.— The black 
 ash is comparatively of little value to the white 
 ash, of which great use is made in North America 
 for almost every purpose. Coachmakers use it for 
 shafts, frames of carriages, bodies, sleighs, and sleds. 
 It is useful for chairs, water-pails, butter-boxes, 
 sieves, spinning-wheels, hay-rakes, and numberless 
 other purposes. 
 
 White Elm—UImus Americana. 
 
 Red Elm—UImus Rubra. 
 
 Bass Wood, or American Lime—Tilia Ame- 
 ricana. 
 
 Red Pine—Pinus Rubra; in Canada Pin Rouge, 
 and by the settlers Norway Pine.— Large quantities 
 exported. 
 
 Gray Pine—Pinus Rupestris.—Not common ; of 
 little value. 
 
 White Pine—Pinus Strobus.—This is the creat 
 timber pine of commerce, generally called by tim- 
 bermen, ‘‘the pumpkin pine,” from its softness and 
 whiteness. The largest trees grow in the bottoms 
 of soft, friable, and fertile valleys, on the banks of rivers 
 composed of deep cool, black sand, and in swamps 
 filled with the white cedar, and covered with a thick 
 and constantly humid carpet of spagnum. This 
 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 TREES OF NEW BRUNSWICK. 285 
 
 ancient and majestic inhabitant of the North Ame- 
 rican forests is still the loftiest and most valuable 
 of their productions, and its summit is seen at an 
 immense distance aspiring towards heaven, far 
 above the heads of the surrounding trees. 
 
 American Silver Fir, or Balm of Gilead Fir— 
 Abies Balsamifera.—F rom this tree the well-known 
 Canadian Balsam is obtained. This substance is 
 naturally deposited in vesicles on the trunk and 
 limbs, and is collected by bursting these tumours 
 and receiving their contents in a botile. 
 
 White Cedar—Cupressis Thyoides.—The foliage 
 is evergreen: the wood is light, soft, fine-grained, 
 and easily wrought. When perfectly seasoned, 
 and exposed for some time to the light, it is of a 
 rosy hue; it has a strong aromatic odour, which it 
 preserves as long as it is guarded from humidity. 
 The perfect wood resists the succession of dryness and 
 moisture longer than that of any other species, 
 and for this quality it is much valued. It is now 
 much used for fishing-boats, and all the boats used 
 by the whalers are built of it. 
 
 American Larch—Larya Americana.—The In- 
 dian name is Hackmatack. The early Dutch 
 settlers named it Tamarack—the French Canadians 
 call it Epinette Rouge. In the northern parts of 
 New Brunswick, where it is extensively used in 
 
 ee 
 
" 
 
 : al oe on 
 eS re Qe a ee wer en © ns ee 
 ~ a——. . ae - 
 ty ao Saba KA ee 
 
 ; er oan Ge ~- 
 
 a al 
 
 
 
 =e 
 Sea ee ee 
 
 a 
 
 » ——— 
 a4 ~ 
 
 a - ain 
 
 Oe eS 
 — 
 
 _— 
 
 Et eee mes 8 
 
 “f 
 
 we 9 oa aaa 
 a OD 
 
 
 
 286 TREES OF NEW BRUNSWICK. 
 
 ship-building, it is called Juniper. The wood of 
 the American Larch is superior to any species of 
 pine or spruce, and unites all the properties which 
 distinguish the European species, being exceedingly 
 strong and singularly durable. Turpentine is never 
 extracted from it in America, as is done from the 
 native species in Kurope. The American Larch is 
 a magnificent tree, with a straight, slender trunk, 
 eighty or one hundred feet in length and two or 
 three feet in diameter. Its numerous branches, 
 except near the summit, are horizontal or declining. 
 The bark is smooth and polished on the trunk and 
 longer limbs, and rugged on the smaller branches. 
 
 Black (double) Spruce—Abies Nigra.—In Ca- 
 nada, this spruce is called Epinette Noire, and 
 Epinette a la biére. The knees of vessels are gene- 
 rally formed. of black spruce, and immense quan- 
 tities are annually sawn in New Brunswick into 
 deals (or planks three inches thick) for exportation. 
 From the young branches is made the salutary 
 drink known as ‘* spruce beer.” The twigs are 
 boiled in water, a certain quantity of molasses or 
 maple sugar is added, with a little yest, and the 
 mixture is left to ferment. The “ essence of spruce” 
 is obtained by evaporating to the consistence of an 
 extract. Spruce beer is an effectual preventive of 
 
 scurvy. ‘The fishermen of Newfoundland and the 
 
 
 

 
 TREES OF NEW BRUNSWICK. 287 
 
 Gulf of St. Lawrence drink large quantities of the 
 
 spruce beer, mixed with rum, which drink they 
 
 eall ‘* callibogus.” 
 
 It is considered an admirable 
 
 corrective of their diet of very fat pork, (clear sheer) 
 
 and keeps the men in good health. 
 
 If the beer is 
 
 made with white sugar and the rum be old, the 
 
 drink is excellent. 
 
 White (single) Spruce—Adiées Alba.—In Ca- 
 nada Hpinette blanche-—Much inferior to the fore- 
 
 going. 
 
 Hemlock Spruce—A bies Canadensis.—The hem- 
 lock spruce is always larger and taller than the 
 
 black spruce. 
 
 It attains the height of seventy or 
 
 eighty feet, with a circumference of six to nine 
 feet, and uniform for two-thirds of its length. Moist 
 
 grounds appear not to be in general the most fa- 
 
 vourable to its growth. 
 
 In size it falls far short of 
 
 the white pine, or pinus strobus, which is the 
 
 giant of American forests, 
 
 Hemlock bark is ex- 
 
 tensively used for tanning in New Brunswick; no 
 
 other bark is used for that purpose. 
 
 American Arbor Vit, or White Cedar—Thuya 
 
 Occidentalis. 
 
 
 
 This is the most multiplied of the 
 
 resinous trees, after the black and hemlock spruces, 
 A cool soil is indispensable to its growth. It is 
 
 seldom seen on the uplands among the beeches and 
 
 birches, but is found on the rocky edges of the in- 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 re a hae he ake pees 
 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 epee Per - 
 
 a " 
 = ad . m~ + 
 ee Fea = = - 
 * \ em ae ee , ~ > are os € - 
 - “¥ 
 : 
 
 i iorsdneraed 
 
 ee 
 ee Se 
 
 P albsrenes 
 
 — 
 
 SSSaaae 
 = 
 
 CS tee, ee enner 
 
 4 oan ~ —— . a ah a 2 : 
 - hae <> —-_ a ee = : -— on 
 ~ Pe eS A —— . OS cD ix 
 2 7 . PEM ee 9 0s eae te. =... x ? . 
 lies = ae ge GEO oot > = pee oT _» i aes 
 : - ‘: ta sade ate. mal - 
 RRO ee SES — STRAT» 5 aQuenet: ‘ “ 
 Lem. — « = “eee 2 ‘. 2 -os +“ ine wEw + Ss = pe i — 
 = * - = j 4 . - 
 
 
 
 wren a ee re - 
 Bs 
 
 ee 
 = 
 —_— 
 
 eS a 
 
 288 TREES OF NEW BRUNSWICK. 
 
 numerable rivulets and small lakes scattered over 
 this country. It frequently occupies in great part, 
 or exclusively, swamps from fifty to one hundred 
 acres in extent, some of which are accessible only 
 in the winter when frozen. 
 
 The branches of the white cedar will keep off 
 moths when placed amongst clothes or furs. 
 Boxes of red cedar (cedar of Lebanon) will do the 
 same, as also sandalwood. It is the powerful 
 odour which has the effect upon the moths, and 
 which they cannot bear. A more curious fact is 
 that rats will not gnaw the wood of the hemlock- 
 spruce, and therefore in New Brunswick it is used 
 for corn-bins, ceiling cook-cellars, &e. The wood 
 is said to be very bitter and poisonous : at all events, 
 rats will not touch it—a hemlock plank often stops 
 their depredations. 
 
 There is no native Willow in New Brunswick 
 which can rank as a tree; and I have some doubts 
 whether the Alder should be classed as such. 
 
 The foregoing list comprises all the forest trees 
 yet known or noticed in New Brunswick. Future 
 research may discover others, but they cannot exist 
 in any quantity or to any extent. 
 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 > rs 
 
 TREES OF NEW BRUNSWICK. 
 
 No. VIII. 
 
 ON THE FOREST TREES OF NEW BRUNSWICK. 
 
 SUBSTANCE OF A LECTURE DELIVERED BY M. H. PERLEY, 
 ESQ., AT THE MECHANICS’ INSTITUTE. 
 
 In introducing the subject, the lecturer said that, 
 in order to elucidate it clearly, it would be neces- 
 sary to take a brief glance at the geographical posi- 
 tion of New Brunswick, and notice some of its 
 principal features. A large map of the province 
 was exhibited, and the lecturer said, that the area 
 of the province, in round numbers, was seventeen 
 millions of acres: that of these seventeen millions, 
 five millions were granted, and two millions were 
 deducted for water and waste, leaving ten millions 
 ungranted and all fit for settlement at the disposal 
 of the Crown. Of the five millions granted, only 
 500,000 acres were officially reported as being 
 cleared and cultivated ; and, deducting this quantity, 
 with a liberal allowance for water and waste, it 
 would be seen that New Brunswick contained no 
 less than fourteen millions of acres, covered with a 
 dense forest. 
 
 The southern part of the province (St. Andrew's) 
 was stated as being in lat. 45° north, and Dalhousie, 
 the northern extreme, in lat. 48°. The trees which 
 covered the country were described as those which 
 VOL, I. 0 
 
 
 

 
 SS 
 
 os 
 AGED 
 
 oe ae 
 
 _—) 
 
 ~- —— 
 ee 
 ~~ om 
 
 jae 
 
 
 
 = eee - 
 
 = 
 wee = : 
 aye AT" 
 
 ~—— 
 
 = « tat Se 
 Se 
 =, 
 
 = 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 290 TREES OF NEW BRUNSWICK. 
 
 flourish in greatest perfection between the pa- 
 rallels of 43° and 46° north, and might be divided 
 into two great classes. The first class comprises 
 the resinous trees, such as the pines and spruces, 
 which cover the low grounds and bottoms of the 
 valleys ; these are called ‘ Soft wood lands.” The 
 second class consists of the deciduous or leafy trees, 
 such as the maple, birch, and beech; these grow 
 on level ground or gentle declivities, and form what 
 are called ‘* Hard wood lands.” 
 
 Between the 43rd and 46th parallels, these two 
 great classes are found in nearly equal proportions ; 
 but, proceeding from the 46th degree northward, 
 the leafy, trees become more rare, and the resinous 
 trees more abundant. Below the 43rd degree, on 
 the other hand, proceeding to the south, the resi- 
 nous trees are found less common, and the others 
 soon lose their predominance in the forest, by be- 
 coming mingled with the numerous species of oaks 
 and walnuts. 
 
 The lecturer stated, that in North America, be- 
 yond the parallel of 48°, all trees become dwarfish 
 and but few varieties are found ; that beyond 49°, 
 
 , only dwarfish shrubs exist up to 50° north, beyond 
 
 which there are only mosses and barrens, across 
 that extensive tract of country stretching from 
 Canada to the Arctic Ocean. 
 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 TREES OF NEW BRUNSWICK. 291 
 
 It was clear from the lecturer’s statements, that 
 this province, situated between the parallels of 45° 
 and 48°, occupies a favourable position on the con- 
 tinent of North America for furnishing a variety of 
 large and valuable forest trees. Of these, the lec- 
 turer said he had prepared a list, which he now for 
 the first time submitted to the public—he was not 
 aware that any similar list had been heretofore 
 prepared, and he offered this as the result of the 
 information he had derived from the works of the 
 best naturalists, and of his own observations during 
 some years among the forests, in different parts of 
 the province. It was not. offered as a perfect and 
 complete list ; but he trusted that, so far as it went, 
 it would be found correct. 
 
 The lecturer then entered into a detailed deserip- 
 tion of several species mentioned in the list, and 
 exhibited some very fine specimens of native wood, 
 particularly butternut, of good size and excellent 
 quality, from the valley of the St. John, and larch 
 and poplar of fine quality and large size, from Mi- 
 ramichi. 
 
 Subjoined is a correct copy of the list of forest 
 trees exhibited at the lecture :-— 
 
 Oak—Two species. 
 Gray Oak ; . Quercus Borealis. 
 Red Oak ; . Quercus Rubra. 
 0 2. 
 
 - the eee a ee te we 4 et ore apes © 
 

 
 
 
 ee nt, 
 
 i —ee <2 
 FPO a oy eee 
 
 ~ CO ——  —— a  \ aaa 
 a a ace = 
 —-— “ -| 
 
 
 
 ee . 
 
 & 
 -_- 
 » - — - * . = ~~ “2 es OF tien ; - A 4 + ~ p< S - 
 
 —s=pn mapa ae 
 
 
 
 a =~ a 
 She ig et ome 
 
 292 TREES OF NEW BRUNSWICK. 
 
 Walnut—One species. 
 Butternut . ‘ . Juglans Cathartica. 
 Maple—Five species. 
 White Maple . Acer Eriocarpum. 
 Red-flowering Maple - Acer Rubrum. 
 Sugar (Rock) Maple 
 Moose Wood 
 Mountain (Low) Maple 
 Cornus—One species. 
 Cornus Florida. 
 
 Acer Saccharinum. 
 Acer Striatum. 
 Acer Montanum. 
 
 Dog Wood 
 
 Birch—Four species. 
 Canoe Birch 
 White Birch 
 Yellow Birch 
 Black Birch 
 
 Betula Papyracea. 
 Betula Populifolia, 
 Betula lutea. 
 
 Betula lenta. 
 Alder—One species. 
 Common Alder Alnus Serrulata. 
 
 Cherry—Two species. 
 Wild Cherry Tree 
 Red Cherry Tree 
 
 Cerasus Virginiana. 
 Cerasus Borealis. 
 Poplar—Two species. 
 
 Balsam Poplar (Balm of Gilead) Populus Balsamifera. 
 American Aspen Populus Tremuloides. 
 
 Beech—Two species. 
 
 White Beech Fagus Sylvestris. 
 Red Beech Fagus Ferruginea. 
 
 Carpinus—Two species. 
 
 American Hornbeam 
 Iron Wood : ; 
 
 Carpinus Americana. 
 Carpinus Ostrya. 
 
 i Ri 
 
 oe * 
 
 . Lat 
 
 
 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 TREES OF NEW BRUNSWICK, 
 
 Ash—Two species. 
 
 White Ash ; ; . Fraxinus Americana. 
 Black Ash ; - Fraxinus Sambucifolia. 
 
 Willow—Three species. 
 Black Willow , . Salix nigra. 
 Champlain Willow. . Salix lagustrina. 
 Shining Willow ; . Salix lucida, 
 
 Elm—Two species. 
 
 White Elm ; : . Ulmus Americana. 
 
 Red Elm ‘ : . Ulmus Rubra. 
 American Lime—One species. 
 
 Bass Wood ; ; . Tilia Americana. 
 
 Pine—Three species. 
 
 Red (Norway) Pine . . Pinus Rubra. 
 Gray Pine . Pinus Rupestris. 
 
 White Pine 5 j . Pinus Strobus. 
 
 Spruce—Four species. 
 
 Black, or Double Spruce Abies Nigra. 
 White, or Single Spruce . Abies Alba. 
 Hemlock Spruce ‘ . Abies Canadensis. 
 American Silver Fir . Abies Balsamifera. 
 
 Cypress—One species. 
 
 White Cedar. ‘ . Cupressis Thyoides. 
 
 Larch— One species. 
 American Larch (Hackmatack) Larix Americana. 
 
 Juniper—One species. 
 
 Arbor Vite (Red Cedar) . Thuya Occidentalis. 
 
 END OF VOL. I. 
 
 r ‘ = . Ter H tip) - a ae wae TA 7 ‘ . 
 ” ae : , a 
 TD aS a eR ie A i Ai a a Ci 
 . + a 5 : Ie o J AB ‘ ie? ' . 
 
 ant 
 
 po ems 
 
 = egress 
 . 
 
 A 
 
- 
 ed 
 os 
 v 
 — 
 aol 
 < 
 v 
 Y 
 = 
 — 
 os 
 Q 
 ome 
 vn 
 6] 
 ® 
 = 
 =~ 
 co 
 — 
 _— 
 — 
 = 
 ) 
 > 
 ) 
 ‘oat 
 — 
 mn 
 om 
 ao) 
 — 
 oO 
 ~ 
 be 
 © 
 co 
 -_ 
 ~ 
 -_ 
 me 
 _ 
 _ 
 ° 
 set 
 — 
 — 
 ot 
 ~ 
 - 
 — 
 rary 
 > 
 2 
 oO 
 oo 
 re 
 8) 
 aL 
 > 
 lew 
 Be 
 o 
 a) 
 A 
 toe 
 (2 
 
 51, Rupert Street, Haymarket, London, 
 
 
 
, - ead = . ° Y 
 a a. od eres * - 
 , rs wor 
 7 soe Pe. - 
 - 
 
 — 
 
 Tigger or 
 
 MHhassall 
 
 
 

 
SPEP PRO HELD Peer eer wag peeetetee 
 
 
 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 Aosd) 
 > 
 epbea, panddabssecis 
 “ms 
 + on 
 ™~ : “Saj 
 ‘ 
 . ~. Ww He ~ 
 7 4 * . 
 : 4 ha. “ 
 , ~ 
 “pai Se 
 be . ‘ ~ ™ ~ 
 Me, , “ 
 bp 
 \ Nee bees 
 Thales ee Mags i? 
 ' pi, : 
 ° ~ 
 is 
 vi 
 ~—— oer & es . 
 Roan ed * 
 a? 68 “eas! 
 tae 
 i pe 
 5° enact 
 bs ¢: ee a ee 
 i SE 
 beer 
 . © 2 ibe 1 os 
 el 
 : 
 : - 
 : 
 Bibb] Ps . 
 ii +] ° Mebebebbeseeiesicdys $ 
 ae : opceee 
 aN) ep ahgens : 
 iY = 5 ett : 
 
 + weeehh bab bee 
 
 
 
 ; Beery 
 
 
 
 eetreriistir it! 
 
 
 
 » 
 
 ‘aa! 
 
 PPARDR Pherae eee 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 he 
 
 he 
 
 
 
 
 
 hee baee 
 mhabaeee 
 
 ei rr ee 
 
 bo hbabaes 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 UTNE ister nosinbcoadart tel ee ikiitsicababss bee ieecteseebisiiiiiiiiiaaaiiin 
 
 
 
 
 
 reeset ateny: 
 
 : ; : ; 
 APAAPRDAP RD Er RPP RERERRLALALERRELARLLGGEE 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 Mii iieeeet ey 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 weedeedad al? — 
 at 
 Gib, 
 ' . : - - 
 Hes ada baa tabs e: 
 : : : ’ 
 ; 
 ; 
 NG = 
 a4 
 . 
 ‘ ‘\ 
 ; " 
 ~e - 
 X\ \. 
 . 
 - x 
 4 ; 
 
 MERPDDRRAADAEDADRREDARI badboe 
 
 shheeeebeaeus 
 thi 
 
 $ihil 3 
 
 
 
 BLEED AEALD 
 
 i MH ae 
 
 ivetieeitittetiaeen 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 rete 
 
 ms 
 To hee 
 ,oor Ny 
 ' 
 ‘ 
 \ a 
 ~ “~ 
 4 ’ 
 . ‘ 
 ae ~ 
 oo 
 * > 2 
 . 
 ‘ 
 a. 
 ™~ 
 “ 
 ‘ 
 “— 
 “ 
 N\ 
 ~ 
 * 
 vn janes 
 ral 
 : oes 
 i 
 ? , te - 
 siliae | ; 
 peeLbbhal bal LEELA 
 ehoeeee Seed ve babt 
 
 PEDAL EER ERGEE 
 
 beabhas 
 
 
 
 bis 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 pebbibereteile 
 
 
 
 a 
 ‘ 
 \ 
 * 
 \ 
 ; . 
 . 
 5 
 . ‘ 
 , 
 . P' 
 _ 
 A 
 : a \“ 
 : . 
 beeas . 
 > \ 
 “ 
 \ 
 \ ai} 
 4 ; 
 a hades 
 ~ “ 
 w 
 SN 4b) 
 . 4% \ 
 4 - ' 
 : he 
 OeTN \ 
 ‘ + iW 
 Mase 
 
 ; ; 
 Phe bmeebbbbbbebbed 
 
 
 
 Sebreee 
 
 
 
 HELPERS 
 
 Peeedabe ben tne ec ddedbPet thse peestbiiekdy 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 tbl 
 
 aitistie 
 
 
 
 
 
 bhbedaae 
 
 
 
 +t bit 
 : ’ 
 : 
 X YY 
 aa 3a © 
 1 ‘ 
 sh henebbiodal 
 hilar 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 Ie x 
 ‘ 
 ‘ 
 , ; 
 ~ 
 4 ' 
 Gee 
 \ ' “A os 
 7 ‘ XN - 
 y \ 
 \ 
 ‘ 
 : \, \ 
 . 
 ‘ 
 ® : ‘ 
 4 ual 
 Ny 
 ; A 
 ‘ Li 
 : _ 
 4 - 
 he | : 
 : ’ 
 : XN 7 : 
 : Ai 
 : 
 ; i 
 \ 
 \ 
 oy tel Ui 
 ‘hi | iy 
 La 7 ’ \ Nu ; 
 \ 
 ai \ 
 4 % : | : 
 : 
 : | 
 XG ‘ om 
 ‘ \ 
 ‘\ Sy Wey NG \ 4 
 ‘. - 
 > * _ 
 U \ hei 7. 
 elie} Fi MW bd 
 ? ij 
 - bie: 4 t 
 ‘ Ps 
 bil . ie \ 
 « 
 \ : \ x 
 NUSLELSEASETEUE EEG LAEAI LE! Mi 
 ; PELTED ERI : +t 
 Phibbiatbidal bie 
 LbEAREADADEEREEA EEE GA POLED obbtdecetiiaehh