The names applied to the pre-settlement forest — The name most frequently used for the pre— settlement forest was ’wilderness’ 783, and it, as well as more so, its cognate ’wild’ (as used in phrases such as ’wild lands’ or 'wild tracts’78“), are words that elsewhere in North America frequently carried a negative connotation towards the forest785. And on the island we can discern such a negativity in the use of these words, especially in phrases such as "the howling wilderness", ”the gloomy wilderness”, or "the great dark wild forest”786, though by the later nineteenth century, ’wilderness’ seems to have become simply a descriptive term for what remained of the original forestm. Other descriptives that were commonly used in the late nineteenth century, all seemingly neutral in tone, and alluding to the age of the forests, are ’primeval forest’ (or ’forest primeval’l (both only appearing well after Henry Wadsworth Longfellow first popularised the phrase in 1847788),

7“ Among those using ‘wilderness’ as a descriptive term for the

pre-settlement forest are: Cambridge 1793; Gray 1793; [Cambridge] 1796?; Walsh 1803; Selkirk 1805; MacGregor 1828; Mann 1829; Lewellin 1832; Gesner 1846; Lawson 1851; [Lawson] 1877-1878; [Bain] 1883; and Pollard 1898. Also using the word are several witnesses to the Land Commission of 1860 (Joseph Hensley (counsel for the tenantry, in a question concerning Lot 3); Mr, Perry, concerning Lot 14; and Heath Haviland, concerning Lot 51); and several witnesses to the Land Commission of 1875 (John Cocheran of Lot 7; Emanuel McEachern of Lot 47; J. F. Stewart, landlord of Lot 7; James Smith of Lot 20; Henry C. Douse, Henry C. Cundall and Robert Harris concerning two small parcels of remnant forest on Lot 31; R. P. Haythorne, agent forthe MacDonald estate on Lots 35 and 36; and David Sullivan and Samuel Ramsay of Lot 13).

m The word ‘wild‘, which is the etymological root of the word ‘wilderness', is used with reference to the pre-settlement forest in various phrasings: Gray (1793) refers to the forests of Lot 13 as an example of the “wild and unfrequented forests of America"; [Cambridge] (1796?) refers to the forest of the island in its “original wild and uncultivated state", and Walsh (1803) to its “primitive wild and desert state"; Johnstone (1822) describes the island as “wild and uncultivated"; Hill (1839) makes reference to "wild and uncultivated tracts" in the district of Cascumpec; and Gesner (1846) refers to "ridges of wild land covered with majestic forests of hard woods" near New Glasgow“. “Wild lands" is also used in a question of Mr. Haliburton to the Land Commission (1860) (also in the phrase “wild and distant settlements of the Island"), and in the evidence of Donald McPhee of Lot 9 to the Land Commission (1875). Also, [Lawson] (1877-1878) uses it in various phrases such as: “the wild woods", “the wild unbroken forest”, “the wild night-shaded forest“ and “the great dark wild forest“.

785

See Nash (1967) (Chapter 2).

786 “Howling wilderness": Selkirk (1805); “gloomy wilderness"

[Bain] (1883); the “great dark wild forest" [Lawson] (1877-1878). 787 This is especially so in its usage by most witnesses to the Land Commission of 1875.

788

As used by [Bain] (1883) and Crosskill (1904) the phrase

“forest primeval" is a direct quotation from Longfellow‘s long narrative poem Evangeline first published in 1847, the use of

116

'primitive forest’789 and ’ancient forest’790. Also

occasionally used in the same period is the adjective ’heavy’, as in ”heavy trees”, "heavy hard wood land” or ”heavy growth of hard wood"79‘, 'heavy’ of course being a literal description of the biomass of the trees that had either to be removed or destroyed in the process of clearance.

Negative impressions of the forest — Because the forest presented a direct threat to survivalm, as well as an obstacle to settlement, it is not surprising that on the island the prevailing attitude towards it throughout the historical period was negative. These negative attitudes can sometimes be expressed in a subtle manner, as in the words that John Cambridge chose, in referring to the forest in the letter that he sent in 1793 to two women in England (both like himself, Quakers), who were preparing to join him at Murray Harbour. Feeling the need to forewarn them to ”prepare your minds not to see numberless green fields [as in England] but groves upon groves of wilderness woods", he added, tellingly, ”but thy experience has long told thee we are not to seek a paradise on earth” — his use in apposition of the words ’wilderness’ and 'paradise’ had a long tradition behind it, which derives ultimately from the Christian Bible. Clearly to John Cambridge the forested Island of St. John was no Garden of Eden.”3

quotation marks by both recorders acknowledging the fact. “Primeval forest", as used by Anon. (1867) and [Lawson] (1877- 1878) to refer to the pre-settlement forest of the island, is likely to be also inspired by Longfellow‘s poem, as is also its use (three times) by Anon. (1877) - though here, rather than being used as an accurate forest description, it appears to reflect a purely literary fashion, for by the 18705 there was very little undisturbed ‘primeval‘ forest remaining on the island.

"‘9 Bain 1868-1884 (in 1879); [Bain] 1882. Also, [Lawson] (1877-1878) uses the phrase “primitive wilderness" for the pre- settlement forests at Brackley Point.

79° Bain 1868-1884 (in 1880); [Bain]1882. 79‘ MacGregor (1828): “heavy forest trees" covering “wilderness land"; Land Commission (1860): “heavy trees” in connection with the “wild and distant settlements of the Island" (evidence of Joseph Hensley); Land Commission (1875): ”heavy hard wood land" and “heavy hard wood timber” (evidence of J. F. Stewart, landlord of Lot 7); “heavy growth of hardwood" (John Doughart, Lot 20); “heavy growth of birch and beech" (Donald Ferguson, Lot 35).

792 This was especially so in the first year of any settlement, during which a considerable effort had to be expended to clear enough forest to enable the following year's crops to be planted.

’93 Nash (1987) (p. 15) notes that “the story of the Garden [of Eden] and its loss embedded into Western thought the idea that wilderness and paradise were both physical and spiritual opposites". Cambridge’s (1793) is the only reference in island literature to this attitude, which was common among the religious,