The practice of exchanging work is universal in new settlements; and, indeed, without it nothing of importance can be effected. Each man gives a day's work to his neighbour, for a logging or raising-bee; and looks for the same help when he is ready for it. Thus as many as twenty or forty able axemen can be relied upon at an emergency.
At a later time, some of us became expert in the use of snow-shoes, and took long journeys through the woods, not merely with ease but with a great deal of pleasure. As a rule, snow is far from being considered an evil in the backwoods, on account of the very great facility it affords for travelling and teaming, both for business and pleasure, as well as for the aid it gives to the hunter or trapper.
My own feelings on the subject, I found leisure to embody in the following verses:
THE TRAPPER.
Away, away! my dog and I; The woodland boughs are bare, The radiant sun shines warm and high, The frost-flake[4] gems the air. Away, away! thro' forests wide Our course is swift and free; Warm 'neath the snow the saplings hide— Its ice-crust firm pace we. The partridge[5] with expanded crest Struts proudly by his mate; The squirrel trims its glossy vest, Or eats its nut in state. Quick echoes answer, shrill and short, The woodcock's frequent cry; We heed them not—a keener sport We seek—my dog and I. Far in the woods our traps are set In loneliest, thickest glade, Where summer's soil is soft and wet, And dark firs lend their shade. Hurrah! a gallant spoil is here To glad a trapper's sight— The warm-clad marten, sleek and fair, The ermine soft and white; Or mink, or fox—a welcome prize— Or useful squirrel grey, Or wild-cat fierce with flaming eyes, Or fisher,[6] meaner prey. On, on! the cautious toils once more Are set—the task is done; Our pleasant morning's labour o'er, Our pastime but begun. Away, away! till fall of eve, The deer-track be our guide, The antler'd stag our quarry brave, Our park the forest wide. At night, the bright fire at our feet, Our couch the wigwam dry— No laggard tastes a rest so sweet As thou, good dog, and I.
CHAPTER XVIII.
THE FOREST WEALTH OF CANADA.
Having been accustomed to gardening all my life, I have taken great pleasure in roaming the bush in search of botanical treasures of all kinds, and have often thought that it would be easy to fill a large and showy garden with the native plants of Canada alone.
But of course, her main vegetable wealth consists in the forests with which the Provinces of Quebec and Ontario were formerly clothed. In the country around the Georgian Bay, especially, abound the very finest specimens of hardwood timber. Standing on a hill overlooking the River Saugeen at the village of Durham, one sees for twenty miles round scarcely a single pine tree in the whole prospect. The townships of Arran and Derby, when first surveyed, were wonderfully studded with noble trees. Oak, elm, beech, butternut, ash and maple, seemed to vie with each other in the size of their stems and the spread of their branches. In our own clearing in St. Vincent, the axemen considered that five of these great forest kings would occupy an acre of ground, leaving little space for younger trees or underbrush.
I once saw a white or wainscot oak that measured fully twelve feet in circumference at the butt, and eighty feet clear of branches. This noble tree must have contained somewhere about seven thousand square feet of inch boarding, and would represent a value approaching one hundred and thirty pounds sterling in the English market. White and black ash, black birch, red beech, maple and even basswood or lime, are of little, if any, less intrinsic worth. Rock elm is very valuable, competing as it does with hickory for many purposes.