M'Robert, Patrick (1776) A Tour through Part of the North Provinces of North America, being a Series of Letters wrote on the Spot in the Years 7774 & 1775. Edinburgh. [Reprinted (April, 1935) in The Pennsylvanian Magazine of History and Biography, The Historical Society of Pennsylvania, edited and introduced by C. Bridenbaugh]

Little is known of Patrick M’Bobert other than what is contained in his publicized Tour. He was a ”wel’-educated Scot of some means” who made an extensive tour of the northern British American colonies from Pennsylvania in the south to the Island of St. John in the north. He arrived on the island from Pictou sometime in the autumn of 7774 (certainly after 26 August, the date of his Nova Scotia letter) and he appears to have left for Pictou in early December (he was back in Halifax on 73 December). During the more than six weeks that he was on the island he visited almost every part that had any settlement, and he devoted one whole letter of the seven that he published to it. Though his letter gives a good description of the human settlement, there are unfortunately only a few references to the state of the forest, and none of these contain anything of detail. I include them here not because of their great value but because of the ear/iness of the account. (In another of his Letters (p. 40), he apologizes for ”passing over in silence the many species of trees, shrubs, flowers for fear of exposing my own ignorance and inability”.} This lack of reference to the forest is all the more to be regretted as M’Robert’s Tour is considered to be ”one of the very best in the travel literature of eighteenth century America”. According to Bridenbaugh ”what M'Robert saw, he faithful/y recounted; when he relied upon hearsay, he carefully noted that fact”.

REFERENCE: Bridenbaugh, C. (1935) Preface to the reprint of M’Robert's Tour. The Pennsylvanian Magazine of History and Biography, April 1935, pp. vii-viii.

Chapter VII: Letter V. Island of St. John's.

From Charlotte-town, I went thro’ woods, and a very level country (as most part

The road to of the island is) for eighteen miles to the north coast of the island. The road has been RUSUCO' but lately opened. Here, at Little Rustico [.7Covehead + Brack/ey Bays], is a settlement, and a good deal of clear land, with good grazing for cattle [p. 23]

. we passed over in the boat to New London, a little town a-building on the west side of the harbour: it is only of a year’s standing, has about a dozen houses in the form of a street, and a good many more scattered up and down near the harbour They export fish, oil, and timber, from this port to England, the West Indies, and up

A saw-mill at the Mediterranean. They have lately erected a saw-mill here for making boards, as New London well as in several other parts of the island. [p. 24]

Bedeque is a very good harbour on the south side of the island, having four fathoms At Bedeque: water, and guarded from the sea by Indian Island, an island of about one hundred cleared land acres, a good part of which is meadow ground: most of the land that has been clear'd reverted to wood by the French is overgrown again with wood, except some spots which have very fine grass, and large quantities of fine marsh, that are covered with very high tides, where is excellent grass. Here are vast flocks of wild geese, brant, ducks, &c. with numbers of seals and sea cows; also foxes and otters. [p. 24]

French clearings, Near the head of the river Ii. e. the Hil/sborough River] the French had cleared a great deal of ground, which is now covered very thick with long grass. [pp. 2526]

At this season [i.e. winter] they draw home their wood and hay upon sledges, by horses or oxen

Forest pests. They have no troublesome creatures upon this island, except bears, which some times fall upon their sheep or pigs in the woods. They are a good deal troubled with musketoes, and small flies, in the summer and autumn; but as the island clears these decrease. [p. 27]

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