Various - "The Bay State Monthly, Volume II. No. 2, November, 1884"

George Sand - "Cora"

F. Marion Crawford - "In The Palace Of The King"

Alphonse de Lamartine - "Raphael"

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The Backwoods of Canada written by Catharine Parr Traill

C >> Catharine Parr Traill >> The Backwoods of Canada




"My biggest boy John was but nine years old, Willie seven, and the
others still more helpless; the two little ones you see there," pointing
to two young children, "have been born since we came hither. That
yellow-haired lassie knitting beside you was a babe at the breast;--a
helpless, wailing infant, so weak and sickly before we came here that
she was scarcely ever out of her mother's arms; but she grew and throve
rapidly under the rough treatment of a bush-settler's family.

"We had no house built, or dwelling of any kind to receive us when we
arrived at our destination; and the first two nights were passed on the
banks of the creek that flows at the foot of the hill, in a hut of cedar
and hemlock boughs that I cut with my axe, and, with the help of some of
my companions, raised to shelter my wife and the little ones.

"Though it was the middle of May the nights were chilly, and we were
glad to burn a pile of wood in front of our hut to secure us from the
effects of the cold and the stings of the mosquitoes, that came up in
myriads from the stream, and which finally drove us higher up the bank.

"As soon as possible we raised a shanty, which now serves as a shed for
my young cattle; I would not pull it down, though often urged to do so,
as it stands in the way of a pleasant prospect from the window; but I
like to look on it, and recall to mind the first years I passed beneath
its lowly roof. We need such mementos to remind us of our former state;
but we grow proud, and cease to appreciate our present comforts.

"Our first Sabbath was celebrated in the open air: my pulpit was a pile
of rude logs; my church the deep shade of the forest, beneath which we
assembled ourselves; but sincerer or more fervent devotion I never
witnessed than that day. I well remember the text I chose, for my
address to them was from the viiith chapter of Deuteronomy, the 6th,
7th, and 9th verses, which appeared to me applicable to our
circumstances.

"The following year we raised a small blockhouse, which served as a
school-house and church. At first our progress in clearing the land was
slow, for we had to buy experience, and many and great were the
disappointments and privations that befel us during the first few years.
One time we were all ill with ague, and not one able to help the other;
this was a sad time; but better things were in store for us. The tide of
emigration increased, and the little settlement we had formed began to
be well spoken of. One man came and built a saw mill; a grist-mill
followed soon after; and then one store and then another, till we beheld
a flourishing village spring up around us. Then the land began to
increase in value, and many of the first settlers sold their lots to
advantage, and retreated further up the woods. As the village increased,
so, of course, did my professional duties, which had for the first few
years been paid for in acts of kindness and voluntary labour by my
little flock; now I have the satisfaction of reaping a reward without
proving burdensome to my parishioners. My farm is increasing, and
besides the salary arising from my curacy I have something additional
for the school, which is paid by Government. We may now say it is good
for us to be here, seeing that God has been pleased to send down a
blessing upon us."

I have forgotten many very interesting particulars relating to the
trials and shifts this family were put to in the first few years; but
the pastor told us enough to make me quite contented with my lot, and I
returned home, after some days' pleasant sojourn with this delightful
family, with an additional stock of contentment, and some useful and
practical knowledge, that I trust I shall be the better for all my life.

I am rather interested in a young lad that has come out from England to
learn Canadian farming.

The poor boy had conceived the most romantic notions of a settler's
life, partly from the favourable accounts he had read, and partly
through the medium of a lively imagination, which had aided in the
deception, and led him to suppose that his time would be chiefly spent
in the fascinating amusements and adventures arising from hunting the
forest in search of deer and other game, pigeon and duck-shooting,
spearing fish by torchlight, and voyaging on the lakes in a birch-bark
canoe in summer, skating in winter, or gliding over the frozen snow like
a Laplander in his sledge, wrapped up to the eyes in furs, and
travelling at the rate of twelve miles an hour to the sound of an
harmonious peal of bells. What a felicitous life to captivate the mind
of a boy of fourteen, just let loose from the irksome restraint of
boarding-school!

How little did he dream of the drudgery inseparable from the duties of a
lad of his age, in a country where the old and young, the master and the
servant, are alike obliged to labour for a livelihood, without respect
to former situation or rank!

Here the son of the gentleman becomes a hewer of wood and drawer of
water; he learns to chop down trees, to pile brush-heaps, split rails
for fences, attend the fires during the burning season, dressed in a
coarse over-garment of hempen cloth, called a logging-shirt, with
trousers to correspond, and a Yankee straw hat flapped over his eyes,
and a handspike to assist him in rolling over the burning brands. To
tend and drive oxen, plough, sow, plant Indian corn and pumpkins, and
raise potatoe-hills, are among some of the young emigrant's
accomplishments. His relaxations are but comparatively few, but they are
seized with a relish and avidity that give them the greater charm.

You may imagine the disappointment felt by the poor lad on seeing his
fair visions of amusement fade before the dull realities and distasteful
details of a young settler's occupation in the backwoods.

Youth, however, is the best season for coming to this country; the mind
soon bends itself to its situation, and becomes not only reconciled, but
in time pleased with the change of life. There is a consolation, too, in
seeing that he does no more than others of equal pretensions as to rank
and education are obliged to submit to, if they would prosper; and
perhaps he lives to bless the country which has robbed him of a portion
of that absurd pride that made him look with contempt on those whose
occupations were of a humble nature. It were a thousand pities wilfully
to deceive persons desirous of emigrating with false and flattering
pictures of the advantages to be met with in this country. Let the _pro_
and _con_ be fairly stated, and let the reader use his best judgment,
unbiassed by prejudice or interest in a matter of such vital importance
not only as regards himself, but the happiness and welfare of those over
whose destinies Nature has made him the guardian. It is, however, far
more difficult to write on the subject of emigration than most persons
think: it embraces so wide a field that what would be perfectly correct
as regards one part of the province would by no means prove so as
regarded another. One district differs from another, and one township
from another, according to its natural advantages; whether it be long
settled or unsettled, possessing water privileges or not; the soil and
even the climate will be different, according to situation and
circumstances.

Much depends on the tempers, habits, and dispositions of the emigrants
themselves. What suits one will not another; one family will flourish,
and accumulate every comfort about their homesteads, while others
languish in poverty and discontent. It would take volumes to discuss
every argument for and against, and to point out exactly who are and who
are not fit subjects for emigration.

Have you read Dr. Dunlop's spirited and witty "Backwoodsman?" If you
have not, get it as soon as you can; it will amuse you. I think a
Backwoods-woman might be written in the same spirit, setting forth a few
pages, in the history of bush-ladies, as examples for our sex. Indeed,
we need some wholesome admonitions on our duties and the folly of
repining at following and sharing the fortunes of our spouses, whom we
have vowed in happier hours to love "in riches and in poverty, in
sickness and in health." Too many pronounce these words without heeding
their importance, and without calculating the chances that may put their
faithfulness to the severe test of quitting home, kindred, and country,
to share the hard lot of a settler's life; for even this sacrifice
renders it hard to be borne; but the truly attached wife will do this,
and more also, if required by the husband of her choice.

But now it is time I say farewell: my dull letter, grown to a formidable
packet, will tire you, and make you wish it at the bottom of the
Atlantic.




LETTER XVI.

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

HAVING in a former letter given you some account of a winter visit to
the Indians, I shall now give a short sketch of their summer encampment,
which I went to see one beautiful afternoon in June, accompanied by my
husband and some friends that had come in to spend the day with us.

The Indians were encamped on a little peninsula jutting out between two
small lakes; our nearest path would have been through the bush, but the
ground was so encumbered by fallen trees that we agreed to go in a
canoe. The day was warm, without being oppressively hot, as it too often
is during the summer months: and for a wonder the mosquitoes and black-
flies were so civil as not to molest us. Our light bark skimmed gaily
over the calm waters, beneath the overhanging shade of cedars, hemlock,
and balsams, that emitted a delicious fragrance as the passing breeze
swept through the boughs. I was in raptures with a bed of blue irises
mixed with snow-white water-lilies that our canoe passed over. Turning
the stony bank that formed the point, we saw the thin blue smoke of the
camp curling above the trees, and soon our canoe was safely moored
alongside of those belonging to the Indians, and by help of the
straggling branches and underwood I contrived to scramble up a steep
path, and soon found myself in front of the tent. It was a Sunday
afternoon; all the men were at home; some of the younger branches of the
families (for there were three that inhabited the wigwam) were amusing
themselves with throwing the tomahawk at a notch cut in the bark of a
distant tree, or shooting at a mark with their bows and arrows, while
the elders reposed on their blankets within the shade, some reading,
others smoking, and gravely eyeing the young rival marksmen at their
feats of skill.

Only one of the squaws was at home; this was my old acquaintance the
hunter's wife, who was sitting on a blanket; her youngest, little David,
a papouse of three years, who was not yet weaned, was reposing between
her feet; she often eyed him with looks of great affection, and patted
his shaggy head from time to time. Peter, who is a sort of great man,
though not a chief, sat beside his spouse, dressed in a handsome blue
surtout-coat, with a red worsted sash about his waist. He was smoking a
short pipe, and viewing the assembled party at the door of the tent with
an expression of quiet interest; sometimes he lifted his pipe for an
instant to give a sort of inward exclamation at the success or failure
of his sons' attempts to hit the mark on the tree. The old squaw, as
soon as she saw me, motioned me forward, and pointing to a vacant
portion of her blanket, with a good-natured smile, signed for me to sit
beside her, which I did, and amused myself with taking note of the
interior of the wigwam and its inhabitants. The building was of an
oblong form, open at both ends, but at night I was told the openings
were closed by blankets; the upper part of the roof was also open; the
sides were rudely fenced with large sheets of birch bark, drawn in and
out between the sticks that made the frame-work of the tent; a long
slender pole of iron-wood formed a low beam, from which depended sundry
iron and brass pots and kettles, also some joints of fresh-killed
venison and dried fish; the fires occupied the centre of the hut, around
the embers of which reposed several meek deer-hounds; they evinced
something of the quiet apathy of their masters, merely opening their
eyes to look upon the intruders, and seeing all was well returned to
their former slumbers, perfectly unconcerned by our entrance.

The hunter's family occupied one entire side of the building, while
Joseph Muskrat with his family, and Joseph Bolans and his squaw shared
the opposite one, their several apartments being distinguished by their
blankets, fishing-spears, rifles, tomahawks, and other property; as to
the cooking utensils they seemed from their scarcity to be held in
common among them; perfect amity appeared among the three families; and,
if one might judge from outward appearance, they seemed happy and
contented. On examining the books that were in the hands of the young
men, they proved to be hymns and tracts, one side printed in English,
the other the Indian translation. In compliance with our wishes the men
sang one of the hymns, which sounded very well, but we missed the sweet
voices of the Indian girls, whom I had left in front of the house,
sitting on a pine-log and amusing themselves with my baby, and seeming
highly delighted with him and his nurse.

Outside the tent the squaw showed me a birch-bark canoe that was
building; the shape of the canoe is marked out by sticks stuck in the
ground at regular distances; the sheets of bark being wetted, and
secured in their proper places by cedar laths, which are bent so as to
serve the purpose of ribs or timbers; the sheets of bark are stitched
together with the tough roots of the tamarack, and the edges of the
canoe also sewed or laced over with the same material; the whole is then
varnished over with a thick gum.

I had the honour of being paddled home by Mrs. Peter in a new canoe,
just launched, and really the motion was delightful; seated at the
bottom of the little bark, on a few light hemlock boughs, I enjoyed my
voyage home exceedingly. The canoe, propelled by the Amazonian arm of
the swarthy matron, flew swiftly over the waters, and I was soon landed
in a little cove within a short distance from my own door. In return for
the squaw's civility I delighted her by a present of a few beads for
working mocassins and knife-sheaths, with which she seemed very well
pleased, carefully securing her treasure by tying them in a corner of
her blanket with a bit of thread.

With a peculiar reserve and gravity of temper, there is at the same time
a degree of childishness about the Indians in some things. I gave the
hunter and his son one day some coloured prints, which they seemed
mightily taken with, laughing immoderately at some of the fashionably
dressed figures. When they left the house they seated themselves on a
fallen tree, and called their hounds round them, displaying to each
severally the pictures.

The poor animals, instead of taking a survey of the gaily dressed ladies
and gentlemen, held up their meek heads and licked their masters' hands
and faces; but old Peter was resolved the dogs should share the
amusement of looking at the pictures and turned their faces to them,
holding them fast by their long ears when they endeavoured to escape. I
could hardly have supposed the grave Indian capable of such childish
behaviour.

These Indians appear less addicted to gay and tinselly adornments than
formerly, and rather affect a European style in their dress; it is no
unusual sight to see an Indian habited in a fine cloth coat and
trousers, though I must say the blanket-coats provided for them by
Government, and which form part of their annual presents, are far more
suitable and becoming. The squaws, too, prefer cotton or stuff gowns,
aprons and handkerchiefs, and such useful articles, to any sort of
finery, though they like well enough to look at and admire them; they
delight nevertheless in decking out the little ones, embroidering their
cradle wrappings with silks and beads, and tacking the wings of birds to
their shoulders. I was a little amused by the appearance of one of these
Indian Cupids, adorned with the wings of the American war-bird; a very
beautiful creature, something like our British bullfinch, only far more
lively in plumage: the breast and under-feathers of the wings being a
tint of the most brilliant carmine, shaded with black and white. This
bird has been called the "war-bird," from its having first made its
appearance in this province during the late American war; a fact that I
believe is well authenticated, or at any rate has obtained general
credence.

I could hardly help smiling at your notion that we in the backwoods can
have easy access to a circulation library. In one sense, indeed, you are
not so far from truth, for every settler's library may be called a
circulating one, as their books are sure to pass from friend to friend
in due rotation; and, fortunately for us, we happen to have several
excellently furnished ones in our neighbourhood, which are always open
to us. There is a public library at York, and a small circulating
library at Cobourg, but they might just as well be on the other side of
the Atlantic for any access we can have to them.

I know how it is; at home you have the same idea of the facility of
travelling in this country as I once had: now I know what bush-roads
are, a few miles' journey seems an awful undertaking. Do you remember my
account of a day's travelling through the woods? I am sorry to say they
are but little amended since that letter was written. I have only once
ventured to perform a similar journey, which took several hours _hard_
travelling, and, more by good luck than any other thing, arrived with
whole bones at my destination. I could not help laughing at the frequent
exclamations of the teamster, a shrewd Yorkshire lad, "Oh, if I had but
the driving of his excellency the governor along this road, how I would
make the old horses trot over the stumps and stones, till he should cry
out again; I warrant he'd do _summut_ to mend them before he came along
them again."

Unfortunately it is not a statute-road on this side the river, and has
been cut by the settlers for their own convenience, so that I fear
nothing will be done to improve it, unless it is by the inhabitants
themselves.

We hope soon to have a market for our grain nearer at hand than
Peterborough; a grist-mill has just been raised at the new village that
is springing up. This will prove a great comfort to us; we have at
present to fetch flour up at a great expense, through bad roads, and the
loss of time to those that are obliged to send wheat to the town to be
ground, is a serious evil; this will soon be remedied, to the joy of the
whole neighbourhood.

You do not know how important these improvements are, and what effect
they have in raising the spirits of the emigrant, besides enhancing the
value of his property in no trifling degree. We have already experienced
the benefit of being near the saw-mill, as it not only enables us to
build at a smaller expense, but enables us to exchange logs for sawn
lumber. The great pine-trees which, under other circumstances, would be
an encumbrance and drawback to clearing the land, prove a most
profitable crop when cleared off in the form of saw-logs, which is
easily done where they are near the water; the logs are sawn to a
certain length, and dragged by oxen, during the winter, when the ground
is hard, to the lake's edge; when the ice breaks up, the logs float down
with the current and enter the mill-race; I have seen the lake opposite
to our windows covered with these floating timbers, voyaging down to the
saw-mill.

How valuable would the great oaks and gigantic pines be on an estate in
England; while here they are as little thought of as saplings would be
at home. Some years hence the timbers that are now burned up will be
regretted. Yet it is impossible to preserve them; they would prove a
great encumbrance to the farmer. The oaks are desirable for splitting,
as they make the most durable fences; pine, cedar, and white ash are
also used for rail-cuts; maple and dry beech are the best sorts of wood
for fires: white ash burns well. In making ley for soap, care is taken
to use none but the ashes of hard wood, as oak, ash, maple, beech; any
of the resinous trees are bad for the purpose, and the ley will not
mingle with the fat. In boiling, to the great mortification of the
uninitiated soap-boiler, who, by being made acquainted with this simple
fact, might have been spared much useless trouble and waste of material,
after months of careful saving.

An American settler's wife told me this, and bade me be careful not to
make use of any of the pine-wood ashes in running the ley. And here I
must observe, that of all people the Yankees, as they are termed, are
the most industrious and ingenious; they are never at a loss for an
expedient: if one thing fails them they adopt another, with a quickness
of thought that surprises me, while to them it seems only a matter of
course. They seem to possess a sort of innate presence of mind, and
instead of wasting their energies in words, they _act_. The old settlers
that have been long among them seem to acquire the same sort of habits,
insomuch that it is difficult to distinguish them. I have heard the
Americans called a loquacious boasting people; now, as far as my limited
acquaintance with them goes, I consider they are almost laconic, and if
I dislike them it is for a certain cold brevity of manner that seems to
place a barrier between you and them.

I was somewhat struck with a remark made by a travelling clock-maker, a
native of the state of Ohio. After speaking of the superior climate of
Ohio, in answer to some questions of my husband, he said, he was
surprised that gentlemen should prefer the Canadas, especially the bush,
where for many years they must want all the comforts and luxuries of
life, to the rich, highly cultivated, and fruitful state of Ohio, where
land was much cheaper, both cleared and wild.

To this we replied that, in the first place, British subjects preferred
the British government; and, besides, they were averse to the manners of
his countrymen. He candidly admitted the first objection; and in reply
to the last observed, that the Americans at large ought not to be judged
by the specimens to be found in the British colonies, as they were, for
the most part, persons of no reputation, many of whom had fled to the
Canadas to escape from debt, or other disgraceful conduct; and added,
"It would be hard if the English were to be judged as a nation by the
convicts of Botany Bay."

Now there was nothing unfair or rude in the manners of this stranger,
and his defence of his nation was mild and reasonable, and such as any
unprejudiced person must have respected him for.

I have just been interrupted by a friend, who has called to tell me he
has an opportunity of sending safe and free of expense to London or
Liverpool, and that he will enclose a packet for me in the box he is
packing for England.

I am delighted by the intelligence, but regret that I have nothing but a
few flower-seeds, a specimen of Indian workmanship, and a few
butterflies to send you--the latter are for Jane. I hope all will not
share the fate of the last I sent. Sarah wrote me word, when they came
to look for the green moth I had enclosed in a little box, nothing of
his earthly remains was visible beyond a little dust and some pink feet.
I have, with some difficulty, been able to procure another and finer
specimen; and, for fear it should meet with a similar annihilation, I
will at least preserve the memory of its beauties, and give you a
description of it.

It is just five inches from wing to wing; the body the thickness of my
little finger, snow-white, covered with long silken hair; the legs
bright red, so are the antennae, which are toothed like a comb on either
side, shorter than those of butterflies and elegantly curled; the wings,
both upper and under, are of the most exquisite pale tint of green,
fringed at the edges with golden colour; each wing has a small shaded
crescent of pale blue, deep red, and orange; the blue forming the
centre, like a half-closed eye; the lower wings elongated in deep
scollop, so as to form two long tails, like those of the swallow-tail
butterfly, only a full inch in length and deeply fringed; on the whole
this moth is the most exquisite creature I have ever seen.

We have a variety of the peacock butterfly, that is very rich, with
innumerable eyes on the wings. The yellow swallow-tail is also very
common, and the black and blue admiral, and the red, white, and black
admiral, with many other beautiful varieties that I cannot describe. The
largest butterfly I have yet seen is a gay vermilion, marked with jet
black lines that form an elegant black lace pattern over its wide wings.

Then for dragon-flies, we have them of every size, shape, and colour. I
was particularly charmed by a pair of superb blue ones that I used to
see this summer in my walk to visit my sister. They were as large as
butterflies, with black gauze wings; on each pair was marked a crescent
of the brightest azure blue, shaded with scarlet; the bodies of these
beautiful creatures were also blue. I have seen them scarlet and black,
yellow and black, copper-coloured, green, and brown; the latter are
great enemies to the mosquitoes and other small insects, and may be seen
in vast numbers flitting around in all directions of an evening in
search of prey.