When a year later Selkirk returned to the Belfast settlement in order to see how the settlers had progressed, he observed that these first buildings had been replaced by a more permanent log structure:

These second houses are constructed on the same general plan as their first huts, but in a more careful

manner. The logs are partly squaredao", and well fitted

together405; they are supported on a foundation of stone; for the roof, boards or shingles take the place of bark or thatch; a wooden floor is introduced; the doors and windows406, the chimney and partitions, are all

executed with more care; and more attention is bestowed on neatness and ornament.407

Selkirk records the dimensions of the first log ’huts’ at Belfast as ’fifteen or eighteen feet, by ten or fourteen’, which is similar to that recorded by others.408 However, he recorded in his diary that ”Mr. McEachern, the Catholic priest” recommended that ”their house the first year should be 12 feet square or as small as they can do with, as the first houses to be built are seldom found to be well situated or to serve much purpose

afterwards”.409 As for the height of the walls,

John MacGregor gives its value when he tells us that when "the wall is raised six or seven feet three or four rafters are then raised for the roof”.‘“0 Inside the house, MacGregor said that

Selkirk's description by saying that the poles were laid over [my italics] the thatch, “together with birch wythes to keep the whole structure secure“. ‘0‘ [Hill] 1819 (p. 23, not extracted), Johnstone 1822 and Lawson 1851 also mention the use of ‘squared' or ‘hewn' logs in some log houses.

“’5 [Hill] (1819) and Johnstone (1822) said that the corners were ‘dove-tailed‘ — presumably this was only when the logs were hewn. ‘06 Both Anon. (1808) (p. 11, not extracted) and MacGregor (1828) (p. 60, not extracted) describe how a space for a door and another for a window was cut through the wall, after the four walls had been laid.

‘07 Selkirk 1805 (p. 180, not extracted).

“’8 Selkirk 1803 (p. 23, not extracted). These values are similar to those given by [Hill] (1819): ‘commonly‘ 18 to 20 feet long by 14 wide; and they are also comparable to MacGregor (1828) (p. 60, not extracted) who said logs of 15 to 20 feet long were used for log houses. I note however that the Doucet House at Cymbria, a log house of hewn squared logs built by Acadian craftsmen c. 1768, is considerably larger than these sizes, being 28'-6“ in length by 21‘- 9" in depth [www.virtualmuseumca]. Presumably, it was intended as a permanent house from the start.

‘09 Selkirk 1803 (p. 23, not extracted).

41° MacGregor 1828 (p. 60, not extracted), Also, Curtis (1775) (pp. 47-48, not extracted) stated that for the particular log building that he was working on, the sloping roof was added at ‘about six feet high‘.

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the floor was of boards (as Selkirk had noted for the second houses at Belfast) or of ”logs hewn flat on the upper side, and another laid overhead to

form a sort of garret”.411 Wood was also used in

the construction of the chimney which comprised ”a wooden framework placed on a slight foundation of stone”. This frame-work went out through the roof, and was then packed with clay that had been kneaded together with a little straw.412 Though the logs appear to have been laid horizontally in most log houses, there are two references to a form of log construction where the logs were placed vertically within a timber frame.“13

Several writers comment on the cost of building a log house and on the length of time it took. In fact for many it would seem that there was often no monetary cost at all, since, as John Hill tells us, the settlers already established in an area generally gathered together to help new arrivals to build their first house.” Even so, it was possible to pay others to build a log house, and thus monetary costs are put on the work by some recorders, and these range from £5 to £10415. However, Selkirk,

m MacGregor 1828 (p. 61, not extracted). Johnstone (1822) (p. 98, not extracted) had recorded that the floors were ‘all of boards‘.

“2 MacGregor 1828 (p. 60, not extracted). Anon. (1808) (p. 11, not extracted) and Johnstone (1822) (p. 98, not extracted) give similar descriptions of the chimney.

“3 At least this is what I take to be Johnstone’s (1822) meaning when, after describing the archetypal log cabin of horizontal logs, he added: “others have the wood set perpendicularly, and fixed to beams above and below, previously framed together, the whole size of the building". That is clear enough, but he then immediately states “this is called a frame-house", and nowhere else does he describe any other type of frame house. The other recorder who describes a dwelling made of vertical logs is Anon. (1836), who mentions (as if it were typical) a house "framed of timber with logs set upright side by side". Reg Porter (pers. comm.) has informed me that the Wellington Hotel on the corner of Great George Street and Sydney Street is exactly of the construction described by Johnstone, with the whole two—storey frame filled with two levels of hewn squared logs set vertically, and he has shown me photographs of its structure.

‘1‘ [Hill] 1819 (p. 23, not extracted); Anon. (1808) also noted that the ‘nearest neighbours' helped out.

"5 Lord Selkirk paid £5 to have a log store-house built at Belfast: it was to be “25 x 16 [and] roofed so as to stand this winter” (Selkirk 1803, p. 16, not extracted). Perhaps it was cheaper than the norm because it was not to be finished out as a dwelling, for [Hill] (1819) (p. 23, not extracted) gives the cost as twice that amount: “from eight to ten pounds", while, similarly, [Cambridge] (1796) (p. 10, not extracted) quoted the cost as ‘ten guineas worth of labour' [i.e. £10 / 1 shilling]. For comparison, Cambridge’s estimate of the cost of a ‘framed house‘ was “sixty pounds to many hundreds according to the size and manner in which it is finished”.