Rowan, John J. (1876) The Emigrant and Sportsman in Canada. Edward Stanford, London. 440 pp. [Re- printed as a facsimile edition by Coles Publishing, Toronto, 1972).

/ know nothing more of John J. Rowan than is contained in his 440—page book. In the preface he describes himself as an ”emigrant and sportsman’ and his book aims to provide ”practical and useful hints for emigrants and sportsmen ” — it is evident that this includes especial/y Englishmen with similar sporting interests, or with an inclination to emigrate to Canada. It is clear that he was a patriotic Englishman with a distinct anti—American bias, who had lived in Canada for a number of years, travelling widely in the pursuit of his sporting interests. Rowan devotes a chapter to each of the five eastern provinces (excluding Newfoundland which had not joined the Dominion), and for each he highlights some particular aspect of their hunting and fishing activities. Thus, for Prince Edward Island he writes extensively on the snowshoe hare, which by the 78 705 was likely to have been the only common game animal on the island. He also describes the shooting of migratory birds on the island, such as geese, and waders like the cur/ew and the plover. It is evident that he had spent some time on the island, and he is well informed on aspects of the island’s history and geography.

Chapter VII: 'Prince Edward Island’

Trees in the The green pastures, the trees which, with a taste rarely met with in the New

landscape. World, have been left here and there standing amongst the fields, the hedgerows, the hops, and honeysuckle that embellish the walls of the cottages, all these remind the old—country man of home, and he can fancy himself here in a little England, . Unlike the other maritime provinces, farming is the chief industry of Prince Edward

Ship—bui/d/ng, Island. Ship building comes next. Wooden ships can probably be constructed as cheaply here as in any part of the world; they are built up the numerous creeks and rivers. Ships in different stages of progress may be seen in winter apparently in the fields or in the middle of villages. There are a few tanneries, [pp. 187—88]

The fauna of Prince Edward Island, with one or two exceptions, is the same as the adjacent mainland. The exceptions are the deer (moose, cariboo, and the Virginian deer) and the beaver. Of the former, cariboo once existed on the island as evidenced by horns which have been found in different places, but I am inclined to think that, as in Anticosti, beaver never lived on the island. They are animals whose traces endure long after they have become extinct, and I never saw or heard of any beaver works. There are a few bears in the wooded districts. The fur—bearing animals are scarce except for the musquash, which are very plentiful, their great enemies, the Foresm [smalll- Indians, having been civilized into basket—making. The forest are too small to hold in any number of moose, cariboo, or the fur-bearing animals, but they are well adapted to the Virginian deer. If these deer were protected I think they would thrive. The snow is rarely very deep, and if protected for a few years they would multiply and

The fauna.

Deer might be

introduced. afford great sport. [pp. 190-91] Snowshoe hare. Owing to the diminished number of the fur-bearing animals that prey upon them, rabbits, or rather hares (Lepus Americanus), are very plentiful. Their favourite resort is the thick second growth of young forest which abounds with tender twigs of The” diet. maple, moosewood, birch, willow, alder, &c., which supply them with browse. In

summer they eat grass . Were it not for the [change of colour], they would fall an easy victim in winter to the loup-cervier, the marten, the weasel, the fox, the cat-owl, the hawk, and many other animals and birds, to say nothing of man. Rabbits are sold in Charlotte Town market for about 8d. a pair, not an extravagant price, [pp. 192, 194]

Their enemies.

From Chapter XII, ’The Trapper': Cariboo, moose, sable, and particularly beaver, are the first to fly from the

Forest animals neighbourhood of man. The loupcervier, the fox, the bear, and the otter, all and the Presence particularly shy and wary animals, remain to the last, though the bear and the otter of man.

are both much hunted for their fur. In Prince Edward Island, the most thickly settled of all the maritime provinces, the moose, the cariboo and the beaver are long since extinct, but the other animals still abound. [pp. 350-51]

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