named Summers/d9 Progress, in which the 
     
     anonymous author, noting that the "march of 
     
     improvement" had been ”rapid and continuous”, 
     
     described in some detail the changes to the 
     
     landscape and settlements of the island, as well as 
     
     in the way of life, that had taken place over the 
     
     past thirty and more years. 8‘0 
     
    
   
   
    
     The ”march of progress” also called for poetic 
     
     expression on the part of some, such as in the 
     
     long narrative poem of William Pope in which he 
     
     included an epitome of the conversion of forested 
     
     land into farmland: 
     
    
   
   
    
     . savage customs pass away. 
     
     The forest now becomes subdued; 
     
     And where the birch and maple stood, 
     
     And graceful beech and spruce combine 
     
     With stately oak, and lofty pine, — 
     
     On hill and far extended plain, 
     
     Are meadows fair, and golden grain. 
     
     While mansions in succession rise 
     
     Of lofty or of rneaner size, 
     
     Where fertile rivers gently flow, 
     
    
   
   
    
     And bays indent the coast below.811 
     
    
   
   
    
     THE THREATS AND NUISANCES 
     
     PERCEIVED AS COMING FROM THE FOREST 
     
    
   
   
    
     These various negative attitudes towards the 
     
     forests were on account of various threats that 
     
     were perceived as emanating from the forest, 
     
     some of which were indeed life-threatening, while 
     
     others were more imaginary than real, and it is 
     
     worthwhile to consider individually the factors that 
     
     led to this antagonism towards the forest. 
     
    
   
   
    
     The forest viewed as an obstacle to settlement 
     
     and a threat to survival — The most basic threat 
     
     was one that I have already mentioned, and which 
     
     was present especially in the year of the arrival of 
     
     the immigrants: until a few acres of forest were 
     
     cut down and cleared away there would be no 
     
     open ground for the planting of the potatoes that 
     
     would be needed to sustain the pioneer family in 
     
     the following year. But the removal of the ”heavy 
     
     trees” of the pre-settlement forest was time- 
     
     consuming and laborious requiring back-breaking 
     
     work and the rapid acquisition of new skills, 
     
     especially the use of the axe. Thereafter, 
     
     continuing forest clearance, as we have noted, 
     
    
   
   
    
       
     
    
   
   
    
     51° Anon. 1867, The landscape changes that he described have 
     
    
   
   
    
     already been quoted on page 50, 
     
    
   
   
    
     3“ Pope 1848. See also [Hughes] (0. 1880-1900) for another 
     
     poetic description of progress. 
     
    
   
   
    
     121 
     
    
   
   
    
     became part of the annual routine, with the 
     
     creation of a farm being a long and gradual 
     
     procedure taking many years for completion. 
     
    
   
   
    
     Many of the descriptions of the procedures 
     
     involved in forest clearance did not shy away from 
     
     indicating the laboriousness of the tasks involved — 
     
     these have been discussed earlier (pages 44-48), 
     
     and so will not be repeated here. However, in 
     
     terms of the attitudes towards the difficulty of the 
     
     tasks involved, we have the comments of a couple 
     
     of witnesses to the Land Commission of 1860 in 
     
     which the labour involved in the clearing of the 
     
     forest is stressed: Joseph Hensley, representing 
     
     the tenantry of the island, said that ”he hoped the 
     
     Commissioners would visit some of the wild and 
     
     distant settlements of the Island, look at the heavy 
     
     trees which the tenant had to clear away and root 
     
     out before the land was fit for tillage"; while a Mr. 
     
     Robertson from Lot 34 said ”we have labored hard 
     
     under inconvenience, cut down the forest, cleared 
     
     the land, and thus enhanced its value”. 
     
    
   
   
    
     The forest viewed as the home of dangerous 
     
     animals — There were two forest animals in 
     
     particular that stood out from all of the others in 
     
     the island psyche: the black bear and the lynx 
     
     (usually called the ’wild cat’ on the island, and 
     
     sometimes the ’loupcervier’). Both animals were 
     
     universally loathed, so much so that bounties were 
     
     instituted against them. And there was a sound 
     
     reason for this hatred: there are numerous 
     
     accounts of both animals preying upon the cattle, 
     
     sheep and pigs that the settlers ran loose in the 
     
     forests. 8‘2 
     
    
   
   
    
     As well, there was the widely disseminated view 
     
     that the bear was a danger to the human 
     
     population, readily attacking, and even killing 
     
     people.813 However, that the imagined risk often 
     
     turned out to be greater than the reality is 
     
     demonstrated by the experience of Walter 
     
     Johnstone. Within six weeks of his arrival at the 
     
     eastern end of the island from Scotland in 1820, 
     
     and the night before he was about to set out on 
     
     his first long walking journey through the woods 
     
     from Murray Harbour to Charlottetown (which 
     
     included ”seventeen miles of woods without a 
     
     single house"), a young man arriving from 
     
    
   
   
    
       
     
    
   
   
    
     812 See Appendix 2. 
     
    
   
   
    
     8‘3 Although there are about eight reports of people being killed 
     
     by bears on Prince Edward Island (see Hornby 1987, pp. 4-5). all 
     
     are unverified, and three at least are suppositious (see my 
     
     comments in Appendix 2).