Smethurst, Gamaliel (1774) A Narrative of an Extraordinary Escape out of the Hands of the Indians in the Gu/ph of St. Lawrence; Also A Providentia/ Escape after a Ship wreck in coming from the Island St. John, in said Gulph,’ with an Account of the Fisheries round that Island. J. Bews, A. Grant, London. 48 pp. [Parts relevant to New Brunswick (i.e. pp. 1—26) were reprinted (1905) in Collections of the New Brunswick Historical Society, Volume 2: 358-90, edited by W. F. Ganong — omitting pp. 27—48.]

Gamaliel Smethurst was an Englishman, possibly from Manchester, who spent some years between c. 176 7 and post-7 768 in the Mar/times based at various places but especially at Baie Verte in Nova Scotia — Brebner notes him as an active member of the House of Assembly for Cumberland County in 1 766. He also based himself for a short time at St. Peters on the Island of St. John, where he attempted unsuccessfully to establish a fishery. He kept a journal which, when he returned permanently to England at some time between 7769 and 7 774, he used as a basis for his published Narrative. The major part of the Narrative describes two journeys: the first a six-week land journey (in October—December 1767/ along what is now the length of the eastern coast of New Brunswick; the second a journey from Fort Amherst on the island to the mainland (in December 1763 - January 1764/ in a schooner that was run ashore near Pictou, followed by a trek along the shore to ”my settlement at Bay Verte”. He thus must have spent some time on the island in 7763 (if not also at other times), and he later made a special visit in I 768 to prevent the destruction of white pine at Three Rivers, most likely in his capacity as ’Deputy-Surveyor of Woods’ for the ’Province of Nova Scotia’, which at that time also administered the Island of St. John. His comments are of special interest because they were recorded in the years after the expulsion of the French and before the arrival of any British settlers, when the island was a home for only a small number of Acadians and Mi ’kmaq, as well as a seasonal base for transient fishing and sealing operations. His few forest-related comments are of value because of the considerable site-specific I Three Rivers — probably Lot 59) and species-specific (white pine) detail that he records, with quantitative information on tree numbers, location (within 7 50 yards of high tide), and size.

REFERENCES: Brebner, J. B. (1937) The Neutral Yankees of Nova Scotia. Columbia University Press. p. 231.

Ganong, W. F. (1905) Introduction to extracts from Gamaliel Smethurst’s Narrative. Collections of the New Brunswick Historical Society, Vol. 2: 358-61. Warburton, A. B. (1923) A History of Prince Edward Island. Barnes & Co., Saint John, N. B. pp. 122-23.

O/d wood in The great objection to the salmon fishery [on the island] is the vast quantity of old the ”Ve’S- wood at the bottoms of the rivers, which choak them up that you cannot draw your nets. lp. 29]

The land on this island is in general warm light land; will sooner make a show of vegetation, but is not so strong and deep as the land upon the continent, which will last longer— There has been a fire about seventy years ago which passed almost through the whole Island and burnt up a great deal of the soil, so that you soon come to the gravel; and their salt marshes are good for little, being spungy

mossy ground. Up some of the rivers and in some of the bays, the land is better and the soil deeper.

A great fire.

l was called to this island upon a very disagreeable subject, and in a very

unseasonable time of the year, to the great hazard of my life—it was to examine White Dine at and put a stop to depredations made in the white pine timber, at a place called Three R’IVE’S' Three Rivers. When I arrived there, I found them destroying the finest groves of

white pine that America could boast of as the following declaration will testify:

Nova Scotia, to wit,

Jean Lebland, an Acadian, who hath taken the oaths of allegiance and fidelity to his majesty King George the third, and being of lawful age, testifieth and saith, That he, this deponent, together with Jean Magdeline, Simeon Lebland, Piere Cormé, Jean Cormé, Piere Arseno, Piere Purrie, Cyprian Gallan, and Joseph Rishar, Acadians, were employed, about nine months ago, to cut down white pine timber at Three Rivers on the island of St. John, by Mr. William Livingston‘ there; and

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