Stewart, David (1831) Travel Journal for 76 June — 7 August 7837. [Unpublished journal, handwritten transcript in P.E.I. PARO, Acc 3209/28.]

At the time of his one and only visit to Prince Edward Island, David Stewart (b. 7768 or 776.9, d. 7852) was on the way to becoming one of the principal landowners on the island: he would eventually own Lots 7, 70, 72, and 30, as well as parts of Lots 27, 46 and 47, which he would pass on to his son Robert Bruce Stewart who would set up residence at Charlottetown in 7846 and later at Strathgartney. David Stewart arrived at Charlottetown on 7 7 June 7837 and after visits to two of his properties (Lot 47 (at East Point) and Lot 27 (near Bedequell, he departed for Pictou on 5 July, returning briefly to the island for a few days at the end of July. The route of his travels on the island can be plotted fair/y exact/y from his journal. His comments on (and use of Latin binomials for} Kalmia Augustifolia [sic] (presumably Kalmia angustifolia (sheep laurel), and Empetrum megara, (quite clearly Empetrum nigrum (cro wberry) from the habitat description he gives) indicate his botanical knowledge and interest, which makes it all the more disappointing that he does not include greater detail in his description of the forests of Lot 4 7 and elsewhere. Some of his description obvious/y applies to specific sites but these (including that of Lot 477 are not precisely plottab/e on a map.

REFERENCES:

Stewart, D. (1987) Robert Bruce Stewart and the Land Question. The Island Magazine, 21: 3-1 1 .

Robertson, |. R. (1988) The Prince Edward Island Land Commission of 7860. Acadiensis Press, Fredericton, NB. p. 213.

The W00d3 16 June. We set sail [from Pictou] in the Packet for Prince Edward Island ...We

from the sea. came to the Wood Islands. Prince Edward Island lay before us in the distance. It is a gentle, undulating, waving surface at a distance, and appears nearly entirely clothed with wood.

0n the morning of 78 June he set off with others from Charlottetown for his property at Lot 47 (East Point), stopping at Mount Stewart for ’refreshment’ and then on to St Peters where ’night overtook ’ them. The following appears to summarize his impression of what they saw on the day’s journey:

The woods on the 18 June. The country we have passed is finely wooded and resembles the country road 10 Sf Perers. about Reading in Berkshire. It is very beautiful and about the bay at St. Peters it is unusually beautiful.

There is much of the country cleared on both sides of the road and the land is fine, light loam The woods in the highest degree beautiful and many of the views excellent; there are not any hills more than a few hundred feet in height.

At a farther stage of the journey, he wrote:

£0146 19 June. we entered Lot 46 and came to land of a thin moorish nature, part cleared and much reduced by bad management, the woods mostly fir*, and the underwood Kalmia Augustifolia.

Lot 47. We now after 6 or 8 miles ride, entered Lot 47. The land here changes and is much stronger. There are few firs*; the wood is mostly hard wood such as beech and maple with black birch, some hemlock spruce, common spruce etc. The trees are large — indeed larger than most I had seen on the Island and the land evidently amongst the best I had seen on the Island.

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