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“The snow, I am told, continues later this year than usual; in some places it was three feet deep, and is still deep, though it has gone off rapidly within the last fortnight, as it thaws a little every day, while the sun is hot.
“The buds are all swelling, and I have heard one or two new birds of late—but they stay up in the high trees, and I have not been able to see them. We have numbers of dear little tomtits, and some sparrows and crows. I used to despise all these at home, but here I delight in them, they are like old acquaintances. When we first came here, I heard an eagle very often, but he has deserted us.
“I am surprised at the nice green herbage that is under the snow; by which, and the decayed leaves, it has been preserved from the frost. The children bring in plants every day; the mosses and lichens are all quite new to me.
“The deep snow has much delayed the clearing of our land; next week we are to have five men here to cut down trees, choppers as they are called; we have one at present, and it is astonishing with what dexterity and speed he fells these huge hemlock pines, nearly one hundred feet high. It is almost sublime to see them stoop their dark heads slowly, and then fall; very gradually at first, but soon increasing in rapidity—tearing off the neighbouring branches, shaking all the other trees, and coming down with a crash that makes the whole forest echo the sound. The Americans from the United States are employed to chop, as they are more expert than people from the old country, and can make the trees take the precise direction they choose in falling.
“We are much better off than most people are on first settling in the woods. There are some families here, who for the first six months had no food of any kind, except salt pork, for breakfast, dinner and supper, and without even bread; but we have good bread and peas, and sometimes turnips, with excellent milk. We brought barley and rice with us; and the arrow-root that you gave me is a great comfort to the children;—I never saw three more healthy creatures.
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“May 2nd.—Last week we were busily engaged in burning the fallen trees, which covered the surface of the ground that we had cleared.
“The branches were first piled up and burned; then the great stems, which had been cut into pieces about twelve feet long, were drawn together by the oxen, and with much labour raised into piles, and set on fire. This was a very dangerous operation, for some of them were very near our wooden house; and the whole surface of the ground is combustible, as for several inches deep it is composed of leaves and bark, and looks like a bed of peat earth. When this takes fire the flames rapidly spread, and are very difficult to extinguish; but we are now safe.
“The Indians sometimes walk into our house; but they are harmless and inoffensive, and ask only for whiskey, which they like better than any thing else. They bring baskets, and little bowls, and dishes made of the bark of the birch-tree, and are glad to sell them for spirits, flour, or pork. They come down the river in their canoes, and can paddle them across the rapids just opposite this house, where no European could venture in a boat.