The Backwoods of Canada written by Catharine Parr Traill

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B A C K W O O D S O F C A N A D A
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UNDER THE SUPERINTENDENCE OF THE SOCIETY FOR
THE DIFFUSION OF USEFUL INFORMATION

THE LIBRARY
OF
ENTERTAINING KNOWLEDGE

BACKWOODS OF CANADA.

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THE LIBRARY OF ENTERTAINING KNOWLEDGE

THE

BACKWOODS OF CANADA

BEING

LETTERS FROM THE WIFE OF AN

EMIGRANT OFFICER,

ILLUSTRATIVE OF THE DOMESTIC ECONOMY OF BRITISH AMERICA.

[Catharine Parr Traill]

LONDON:
CHARLES KNIGHT, 22, LUDGATE STREET.

MDCCCXXXVI.

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LONDON:
PRINTED BY W. CLOWES AND SONS,
14, CHARING CROSS.

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CONTENTS.

INTRODUCTION

LETTER I.--Departure from Greenock in the Brig _Laurel_.--Fitting up of
the Vessel.--Boy Passenger.--Sea Prospect.--Want of Occupation and
Amusement.--Captain's Goldfinch

LETTER II.--Arrival off Newfoundland.--Singing of the Captain's
Goldfinch previous to discovery of Land.--Gulf of St. Laurence.--Scenery
of the River St. Laurence.--Difficult navigation of the River.--French
Fisherman engaged as Pilot.--Isle of Bic.--Green Island.--Regular Pilot
engaged.--Scenery of Green Island.--Gros Isle.--Quarantine Regulations.
--Emigrants on Gros Isle.--Arrival off Quebec.--Prospect of the City and
Environs

LETTER III.--Departure from Quebec.--Towed by a Steam-vessel.--Fertility
of the Country.--Different Objects seen in sailing up the River.--Arrival
off Montreal.--The Rapids

LETTER IV.--Landing at Montreal.--Appearance of the Town.--Ravages of
the Cholera.--Charitable Institutions in Montreal.--Conversation at the
Hotel.--Writer attacked with the Cholera.--Departure from Montreal in a
Stage-coach.--Embark at Lachine on board a Steam-vessel. Mode of
travelling alternately in Steam-vessels and Stages.--Appearance of the
Country.--Manufactures.--Ovens at a distance from the Cottages.--Draw-
wells.--Arrival at Cornwall.--Accommodation at the Inn.--Departure from
Cornwall, and Arrival at Prescott.--Arrival at Brockville.--Ship-launch
there.--Voyage through Lake Ontario.--Arrival at Cobourg

LETTER V.--Journey from Cobourg to Amherst.--Difficulties to be
encountered on first settling in the Backwoods.--Appearance of the
Country.--Rice Lake.--Indian Habits.--Voyage up the Otanabee.--Log-
house, and its Inmates.--Passage boat.--Journey on foot to Peterborough

LETTER VI.--Peterborough.--Manners and Language of the Americans.--
Scotch Engineman.--Description of Peterborough and its Environs.--
Canadian Flowers.--Shanties.--Hardships suffered by first Settlers.--
Process of establishing a Farm

LETTER VII.--Journey from Peterborough.--Canadian Woods.--Waggon and
Team.--Arrival at a Log-house on the Banks of a Lake.--Settlement, and
first Occupations

LETTER VIII.--Inconveniences of first Settlement.--Difficulty of
obtaining Provisions and other necessaries.--Snow-storm and Hurricane.--
Indian Summer, and setting-in of Winter.--Process of clearing the Land

LETTER IX.--Loss of a yoke of Oxen.--Construction of a Log-house.--
Glaziers' and Carpenters' work.--Description of a new Log-house.--Wild
Fruits of the Country.--Walks on the Ice.--Situation of the House.--Lake
and surrounding Scenery

LETTER X.--Variations in the Temperature of the Weather.--Electrical
Phenomenon.--Canadian Winter.--Country deficient in Poetical
Associations.--Sugar-making.--Fishing season.--Mode of Fishing.--Duck-
shooting.--Family of Indians.--_Papouses_ and their Cradle-cases.--
Indian Manufactures.--Frogs

LETTER XI.--Emigrants suitable for Canada.--Qualities requisite to
ensure Success.--Investment of Capital.--Useful Articles to be brought
out.--Qualifications and Occupations of a Settler's Family.--Deficiency
of Patience and Energy in some Females.--Management of the Dairy.--
Cheese.--Indian Corn, and its Cultivation.--Potatoes.--Rates of Wages

LETTER XII.--"A Logging Bee."--Burning of the Log-heaps.--Crops for the
Season.--Farming Stock.--Comparative Value of Wheat and Labour.--Choice
of Land, and relative Advantages.--Clearing Land.--Hurricane in the
Woods.--Variable Weather.--Insects

LETTER XIII.--Health enjoyed in the rigour of Winter.--Inconvenience
suffered from the brightness of the Snow.--Sleighing.--Indian
Orthography.--Visit to an Indian Encampment.--Story of an Indian.--An
Indian Hunchback.--Canadian Ornithology

LETTER XIV.--Utility of Botanical Knowledge.--The Fire-Weed.--
Sarsaparilla Plants.--Magnificent Water Lily.--Rice Beds.--Indian
Strawberry.--Scarlet Columbine.--Ferns.--Grasses

LETTER XV.--Recapitulation of various Topics.--Progress of Settlement.--
Canada, the Land of Hope.--Visit to the Family of a Naval Officer.--
Squirrels.--Visit to, and Story of, an Emigrant Clergyman.--His early
Difficulties.--The Temper, Disposition, and Habits of Emigrants
essential Ingredients in Failure or Success

LETTER XVI.--Indian Hunters.--Sail in a Canoe.--Want of Libraries in the
Backwoods.--New Village.--Progress of Improvement.--Fire flies

LETTER XVII.--Ague.--Illness of the Family.--Probable Cause.--Root-
house.--Setting-in of Winter.--Insect termed a "Sawyer."--Temporary
Church

LETTER XVIII.--Busy Spring.--Increase of Society and Comfort.--
Recollections of Home.--Aurora Borealis

APPENDIX

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ILLUSTRATIONS.
1. Falls of Montmorenci
2. Rice Grounds
3. Sleigh-driving
4. Silver Pine
5. Spruce
6. Log-house
7. Log-village.--Arrival of Stage-coach
8. Road through a Pine Forest
9. Newly-cleared Land
10. Chart showing the Interior Navigation of the Districts of Newcastle
and Upper Canada
11. Papouses
12. Green Frogs
13. Bull-frog
14. The Prairie
15. Red-bird
16. Blue-bird
17. Snow-Bunting
18. Baltimore Oriole defending her Nest against the Black Snake
19. Red Squirrels
20. Flying Squirrel

INTRODUCTION

AMONG the numerous works on Canada that have been published within the
last ten years, with emigration for their leading theme, there are few,
if any, that give information regarding the domestic economy of a
settler's life, sufficiently minute to prove a faithful guide to the
person on whose responsibility the whole comfort of a family depends--
the mistress, whose department it is "to haud the house in order."

Dr. Dunlop, it is true, has published a witty and spirited pamphlet,
"The Backwoodsman," but it does not enter into the routine of feminine
duties and employment, in a state of emigration. Indeed, a woman's pen
alone can describe half that is requisite to be told of the internal
management of a domicile in the backwoods, in order to enable the
outcoming female emigrant to form a proper judgment of the trials and
arduous duties she has to encounter.

"Forewarned, forearmed," is a maxim of our forefathers, containing much
matter in its pithy brevity; and, following its spirit, the writer of
the following pages has endeavoured to afford every possible information
to the wives and daughters of emigrants of the higher class who
contemplate seeking a home amid our Canadian wilds. [Illustration:
Peter, the Chief] Truth has been conscientiously her object in the work,
for it were cruel to write in flattering terms calculated to deceive
emigrants into the belief that the land to which they are transferring
their families, their capital, and their hopes, a land flowing with milk
and honey, where comforts and affluence may be obtained with little
exertion. She prefers honestly representing facts in their real and true
light, that the female part of the emigrant's family may be enabled to
look them firmly in the face; to find a remedy in female ingenuity and
expediency for some difficulties; and, by being properly prepared,
encounter the rest with that high-spirited cheerfulness of which well-
educated females often give extraordinary proofs. She likewise wishes to
teach them to discard every thing exclusively pertaining to the
artificial refinement of fashionable life in England; and to point out
that, by devoting the money consumed in these incumbrances to articles
of real use, which cannot be readily obtained in Canada, they may enjoy
the pleasure of superintending a pleasant, well-ordered home. She is
desirous of giving them the advantage of her three years' experience,
that they may properly apply every part of their time, and learn to
consider that every pound or pound's worth belonging to any member of an
out-coming emigrant's family, ought to be sacredly considered as
_capital_, which must make proper returns either as the means of
bringing increase in the shape of income, or, what is still better, in
healthful domestic comfort.

These exhalations in behalf of utility in preference to artificial
personal refinement, are not so needless as the English public may
consider. The emigrants to British America are no longer of the rank of
life that formerly left the shores of the British Isles. It is not only
the poor husbandmen and artisans, that move in vast bodies to the west,
but it is the enterprising English capitalist, and the once affluent
landholder, alarmed at the difficulties of establishing numerous
families in independence, in a country where every profession is
overstocked, that join the bands that Great Britain is pouring forth
into these colonies! Of what vital importance is it that the female
members of these most valuable colonists should obtain proper
information regarding the important duties they are undertaking; that
they should learn beforehand to brace their minds to the task, and thus
avoid the repinings and discontent that is apt to follow unfounded
expectations and fallacious hopes!

It is a fact not universally known to the public, that British officers
and their families are usually denizens of the backwoods; and as great
numbers of unattached officers of every rank have accepted grants of
land in Canada, they are the pioneers of civilization in the wilderness,
and their families, often of delicate nurture and honourable descent,
are at once plunged into all the hardships attendant on the rough life
of a bush-settler. The laws that regulate the grants of lands, which
enforce a certain time of residence, and certain settlement duties to be
performed, allow no claims to absentees when once the land is drawn.
These laws wisely force a superiorly-educated man with resources of both
property and intellect, to devote all his energies to a certain spot of
uncleared land. It may easily be supposed that no persons would
encounter these hardships who have not a young family to establish in
the healthful ways of independence. This family renders the residence of
such a head still more valuable to the colony; and the half-pay officer,
by thus leading the advanced guard of civilization, and bringing into
these rough districts gentle and well-educated females, who soften and
improve all around them by _mental_ refinements, is serving his country
as much by founding peaceful villages and pleasant homesteads in the
trackless wilds, as ever he did by personal courage, or military
stratagem, in times of war.

It will be seen, in the course of this work, that the writer is as
earnest in recommending ladies who belong to the higher class of
settlers to cultivate all the mental resources of a superior education,
as she is to induce them to discard all irrational and artificial wants
and mere useless pursuits. She would willingly direct their attention to
the natural history and botany of this new country, in which they will
find a never-failing source of amusement and instruction, at once
enlightening and elevating the mind, and serving to fill up the void
left by the absence of those lighter feminine accomplishments, the
practice of which are necessarily superseded by imperative domestic
duties. To the person who is capable of looking abroad into the beauties
of nature, and adoring the Creator through his glorious works, are
opened stores of unmixed pleasure, which will not permit her to be dull
or unhappy in the loneliest part of our Western Wilderness. The writer
of these pages speaks from experience, and would be pleased to find that
the simple sources from which she has herself drawn pleasure, have
cheered the solitude of future female sojourners in the backwoods of
Canada.

As a general remark to all sorts and conditions of settlers, she would
observe, that the struggle up the hill of Independence is often a severe
one, and it ought not to be made alone. It must be aided and encouraged
by the example and assistance of an active and cheerful partner.
Children should be taught to appreciate the devoted love that has
induced their parents to overcome the natural reluctance felt by all
persons to quit for ever the land of their forefathers, the scenes of
their earliest and happiest days, and to become aliens and wanderers in
a distant country,--to form new ties and new friends, and begin, as it
were, life's toilsome march anew, that their children may be placed in a
situation in which, by industry and activity, the substantial comforts
of life may be permanently obtained, and a landed property handed down
to them, and their children after them.

Young men soon become reconciled to this country, which offers to them
that chief attraction to youth,--great personal liberty. Their
employments are of a cheerful and healthy nature; and their amusements,
such as hunting, shooting, fishing, and boating, are peculiarly
fascinating. But in none of these can their sisters share. The hardships
and difficulties of the settler's life, therefore, are felt peculiarly
by the female part of the family. It is with a view of ameliorating
these privations that the following pages have been written, to show how
some difficulties may be best borne and others avoided. The simple
truth, founded entirely on personal knowledge of the facts related, is
the basis of the work; to have had recourse to fiction might have
rendered it more acceptable to many readers, but would have made it less
useful to that class for whom it is especially intended. For those who,
without intending to share in the privations and dangers of an
emigrant's life, have a rational curiosity to become acquainted with
scenes and manners so different from those of a long-civilized county,
it is hoped that this little work will afford some amusement, and
inculcate some lessons not devoid of moral instruction.

LETTER I.

Departure from Greenock in the Brig. _Laurel_.--Fitting-up of the
Vessel.--Boy Passenger.--Sea Prospect.--Want of Occupation and
Amusement.--Captain's Goldfinch.

Brig. _Laurel_, July 18, 1832

I RECEIVED your last kind letter, my dearest mother, only a few hours
before we set sail from Greenock. As you express a wish that I should
give you a minute detail of our voyage, I shall take up my subject from
the time of our embarkation, and write as inclination prompts me.
Instead of having reason to complain of short letters, you will, I fear,
find mine only too prolix.

After many delays and disappointments, we succeeded at last in obtaining
a passage in a fast-sailing brig, the _Laurel_, of Greenock; and
favourable winds are now rapidly carrying us across the Atlantic.

The _Laurel_ is not a regular passenger-ship, which I consider an
advantage, for what we lose in amusement and variety we assuredly gain
in comfort. The cabin is neatly fitted up, and I enjoy the luxury (for
such it is, compared with the narrow berths of the state cabin) of a
handsome sofa, with crimson draperies, in the great cabin. The state
cabin is also ours. We paid fifteen pounds each for our passage to
Montreal. This was high, but it includes every expense; and, in fact, we
had no choice. The only vessel in the river bound for Canada, was a
passenger-ship, literally swarming with emigrants, chiefly of the lower
class of Highlanders.

The only passengers besides ourselves in the _Laurel_ are the captain's
nephew, a pretty yellow-haired lad, about fifteen years of age, who
works his passage out, and a young gentleman who is going out as clerk
in a merchant's house in Quebec. He seems too much wrapped up in his own
affairs to be very communicative to others; he walks much, talks little,
and reads less, but often amuses himself by singing as he paces the
deck, "Home, sweet home," and that delightful song by Camoens, "Isle of
beauty." It is a sweet song, and I can easily imagine the charm it has
for a home-sick heart.

I was much pleased with the scenery of the Clyde; the day we set sail
was a lovely one, and I remained on deck till nightfall. The morning
light found our vessel dashing gallantly along, with a favourable
breeze, through the north channel; that day we saw the last of the
Hebrides, and before night lost sight of the north coast of Ireland. A
wide expanse of water and sky is now our only prospect, unvaried by any
object save the distant and scarcely to be traced outline of some vessel
just seen at the verge of the horizon, a speck in the immensity of
space, or sometimes a few sea-fowl. I love to watch these wanderers of
the ocean, as they rise and fal with the rocking billows, or flit about
our vessel; and often I wonder whence they came, to what distant shore
they are bound, and if they make the rude wave their home and resting-
place during the long day and dark night; and then I recall to mind the
words of the American poet, Bryant,--

"He who from zone to zone
Guides through the boundless air their certain flight,
In the long way that I must tread alone
Wilt guide my steps aright."

Though we have been little more than a week on board, I am getting weary
of the voyage. I can only compare the monotony of it to being weather-
bound in some country inn. I have already made myself acquainted with
all the books worth reading in the ship's library; unfortunately, it is
chiefly made up with old novels and musty romances.

When the weather is fine I sit on a bench on the deck, wrapped in my
cloak, and sew, or pace the deck with my husband, and talk over plans
for the future, which in all probability will never be realized. I
really do pity men who are not actively employed: women have always
their needle as a resource against the overwhelming weariness of an idle
life; but where a man is confined to a small space, such as the deck and
cabin of a trading vessel, with nothing to see, nothing to hear, nothing
to do, and nothing to read, he is really a very pitiable creature.

There is one passenger on board that seems perfectly happy, if one may
judge from the liveliness of the songs with which he greets us whenever
we approach his cage. It is "Harry," the captain's goldfinch--"the
_captain's mate_," as the sailors term him. This pretty creature has
made no fewer than twelve voyages in the _Laurel_. "It is all one to him
whether his cage is at sea or on land, he is still at home," said the
captain, regarding his little favourite with an air of great affection,
and evidently gratified by the attention I bestowed on his bird.

I have already formed a friendship with the little captive. He never
fails to greet my approach with one of his sweetest songs, and will take
from my fingers a bit of biscuit, which he holds in his claws till he
has thanked me with a few of his clearest notes. This mark of
acknowledgment is termed by the steward, "saying-grace."

If the wind still continues to favour us, the captain tells us we shall
be on the banks of Newfoundland in another week. Farewell for the
present.

LETTER II

Arrival off Newfoundland.--Singing of the Captain's Goldfinch previous
to the discovery of Land.--Gulf of St. Laurence.--Scenery of the River
St. Laurence.--Difficult navigation of the River.--French Fisherman
engaged as a Pilot.--Isle of Bic.--Green Island.--Gros Isle.--Quarantine
Regulations.--Emigrants on Gros Isle.--Arrival off Quebec.--Prospect of
the City and Environs.

Brig _Laurel_, River St. Laurence.
August 6, 1832.

I LEFT off writing, my dear mother, from this simple cause;--I had
nothing to say. One day was but the echo, as it were, of the one that
preceded it; so that a page copied from the mate's log would have proved
as amusing, and to the full as instructive, as my journal provided I had
kept one during the last fortnight.

So barren of events has that time been that the sight of a party of
bottle-nosed whales, two or three seals, and a porpoise, possibly on
their way to a dinner or tea party at the North Pole, was considered an
occurrence of great importance. Every glass was in requisition as soon
as they made their appearance, and the marine monsters were well nigh
stared out of countenance.

We came within sight of the shores of Newfoundland on the 5th of August,
just one month from the day we took our last look of the British isles.
Yet though the coast was brown, and rugged, and desolate, I hailed its
appearance with rapture. Never did any thing seem so refreshing and
delicious to me as the land breeze that came to us, as I thought,
bearing health and gladness on its wings.

I had noticed with some curiosity the restless activity of the captain's
bird some hours previous to "land" being proclaimed from the look-out
station. He sang continually, and his note was longer, clearer, and more
thrilling than heretofore; the little creature, the captain assured me,
was conscious of the difference in the air as we approached the land. "I
trust almost as much to my bird as to my glass," he said, "and have
never yet been deceived."

Our progress was somewhat tedious after we entered the gulf. Ninety
miles across is the entrance of this majestic river; it seems an ocean
in itself. Half our time is spent poring over the great chart in the
cabin, which is constantly being rolled and unrolled by my husband to
gratify my desire of learning the names of the distant shores and
islands which we pass.

We are without a pilot as yet, and the captain being a cautious seaman
is unwilling to risk the vessel on this dangerous navigation; so that we
proceed but slowly on our voyage.

August 7.--We were visited this morning by a beautiful little bird, not
much larger than our gold-crested wren. I hailed it as a bird of good
omen--a little messenger sent to bid us welcome to the New World, and I
felt almost a childish joy at the sight of our little visitor. There are
happy moments in our lives when we draw the greatest pleasure from the
most trifling sources, as children are pleased with the most simple toy.

From the hour we entered the gulf a perceptible change had taken place
in all on board. The captain, a man of grave, quiet manners, grew quite
talkative. My husband was more than usually animated, and even the
thoughtful young Scotchman became positively an entertaining person. The
crew displayed the most lively zeal in the performance of their duty,
and the goldfinch sung cheerily from dawn till sunset. As for me Hope
was busy in my heart, chasing from it all feelings of doubt or regret
that might sadden the present or cloud the future.

I am now able to trace distinctly the outline of the coast on the
southern side of the river. Sometimes the high lands are suddenly
enveloped in dense clouds of mist, which are in constant motion, rolling
along in shadowy billows, now tinted with rosy light, now white and
fleecy, or bright as silver, as they catch the sunbeams. So rapid are
the changes that take place in the fog-bank, that perhaps the next time
I raise my eyes I behold the scene changed as if by magic. The misty
curtain is slowly drawn up, as if by invisible hands, and the wild,
wooded mountains partially revealed, with their bold rocky shores and
sweeping bays. At other times the vapoury volume dividing, moves along
the valleys and deep ravines, like lofty pillars of smoke, or hangs in
snowy draperies among the dark forest pines.

I am never weary of watching these fantastic clouds; they recall to me
the pleasant time I spent in the Highlands, among the cloud-capped hills
of the north.

As yet, the air is cold, and we experience frequent squalls of wind and
hail, with occasional peals of thunder; then again all is serene and
bright, and the air is filled with fragrance, and flies, and bees, and
birds come flitting past us from the shore.

August 8.--Though I cannot but dwell with feelings of wonder and
admiration on the majesty and power of this mighty river, I begin to
grow weary of its immensity, and long for a nearer view of the shore;
but at present we see nothing more than long lines of pine-clad hills,
with here and there a white speck, which they tell me are settlements
and villages to the south; while huge mountains divested of verdure
bound our view on the north side the river. My admiration of mountainous
scenery makes me dwell with more interest on this side the river, and I
watch the progress of cultivation along these rugged and inhospitable
regions with positive pleasure.

During the last two days we have been anxiously looking out for a pilot
to take us up to Quebec. Various signals have been fired, but hitherto
without success; no pilot has condescended to visit us, so we are
somewhat in the condition of a stage without a coachman, with only some
inexperienced hand to hold the reins. I already perceive some
manifestations of impatience appearing among us, but no one blames the
captain, who is very anxious about the matter; as the river is full of
rocks and shoals, and presents many difficulties to a person not
intimately acquainted with the navigation. Besides, he is answerable for
the safety of the ship to the underwriters, in case he neglects to take
a pilot on board.

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