The Backwoods of Canada - Letter IX by Catharine Parr Traill | Summary

Catharine Parr Traill was a 19th-century English-Canadian author who wrote mainly about life in Upper Canada. She started writing at the age of 16, and her first work was "The Tell Tale: An Original Collection of Moral and Amusing Stories (1818)".

She started writing about Canadian life when she moved to Upper Canada after her marriage. She also wrote a guidebook for the new settlers of Canada, to provide the necessary information needed to start a comfortable life in the bushland, namely "The Female Emigrant's Guide(1854)".

She was also a naturalist and wrote several works such as Canadian Wild Flowers(1868), and Studies of Plant Life in Canada(1885).

The Backwoods of Canada - Letter IX | Summary

Catharine Parr Traill
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The Backwoods of Canada, is an anthology of letters and journals written by Traill to her mother and family, describing her voyage and life in Canada, the people of Canada, her neighbors, the relationship between Canadians, Americans, and the Indigenous peoples, the climate, the landscapes, her house, hardships suffered by first settlers, the establishment of the new occupation, inconveniences of the new settlement, the difficulty of obtaining provisions and other necessaries, and the local flora and fauna.

The anthology was published in the year 1836 and contains a total number of 18 letters providing a real-life account of living in a foreign country. The book provides insight into the 19th-century Canada.

The Backwoods of Canada - Letter IX by Catharine Parr Traill | Summary

Letter IX of an anthology was written in Lake House on April 18, 1833. In the letter, Traill discusses various events such as:

a) The loss of a yoke of Oxen

b) Construction of a log house

c) Glaziers' and Carpenters' work

d) Description of a new Log-House

e) Wild Fruits of the country

f) Walks on the ice

g) Situation of the house

h) Lake and surrounding scenery

Summary of the Letter IX :

a) The loss of a yoke of Oxen

The Backwoods of Canada - Letter IX by Catharine Parr Traill | Summary

At the start of the letter, Traill informs us that she and her husband have recently moved into a newly built log house, just a few days before Christmas. And also about the difficulties they faced before moving into the house, particularly when their house was under construction.

The very first misfortune the couple faced was the loss of a yoke of oxen, which they purchased to draw in the logs of the house, for raising walls of the house. Traill guesses that the reason why oxen ran off might be the wilderness of the bush, which was not as pleasant as their former masters' clear gazing land; or the oxen foresaw the amount of hard work needed to be done by them at their new masters' house.

Traill shows her amazement that the oxen have left no trace of their route. After a month, when she and her husband have lost hope of finding the oxen again, they find out that the oxen ran back to their former owner, who was about 20 miles far away from Traill's log house.

They were astonished by this act, as the oxen went through the mazes of endless forests, where a man, with all his reason and knowledge would have been bewildered and lost.

b) Construction of a log house

The Backwoods of Canada - Letter IX by Catharine Parr Traill | Summary

During the latter end of October, Traill and her husband took the help of 16 of their neighbors to complete the construction of the house. And to regale their neighbors, they provided them with the feast, which they called a 'picnic in the backwoods'. Although, they were all of different ranks and nations, respect and harmony prevailed among them all.

Traill expresses her experience of the day when she went to survey the newly raised edifice. She was puzzled to see the oblong square of logs with open spaces between every row of logs. She was disappointed to see the edifice.

But later, on her second visit, it seemed to take a shape and look of the house, the supporting beams were laid to support the floors, and the places for the doors and windows cut out of the solid timbers.

The progress was again at stand when no boards could be obtained nearer than a long day's journey through horrible roads. And the flooring boards were all to be sawn by hand as at that time no saw-mill was in progress. The couple was compelled to hire workers at high wages and to put up with their rough unsightly appearance.

The next misfortune that happened was, that the mixture of clay and lime that was to plaster the house was one night frozen to stone. The workman who was hewing the inside walls to make them smooth wounded himself with the broad axe and was unable to resume his work for some time.

Traill describes that the purpose of writing about all these difficulties is to prepare the minds of new settlers coming to this country.

c) Glaziers' and Carpenters' work

The Backwoods of Canada - Letter IX by Catharine Parr Traill | Summary

Traill tells us that every man in Canada is a glazier himself. It is so because workmen are not easily available in the backwoods. She states that it would be ridiculous to hire a man at high wages to make a two-day journey to and from the nearest town to mend your windows.

Later, she advises that all the young men coming to Canada must acquire a little acquaintance with the carpenters' tools and work as they would have to face the inconveniences while living in the backwoods.

Traill shares the conversation between the lady and a naval officer who were both settlers. The lady considered doing all these laborers' work by themselves as a degrading task. On the other hand, the captain was of the view that if the men did not work, they wouldn't be able to survive in the country. He acclaims that "Canada is not the place for idle folks to retrench a lost fortune in".

He, further says that Canada is a good country for the honest, industrious artisan, and the poor laborer who in their retirement can look abroad on his land and see his children well settled in life as independent landowners.

On the contrary, it is a hard country for poor gentlemen, whose habits have made them unfit for manual labor. This kind of person will have to struggle to live in the backwoods as the certain expenses of wages and living are high, and he will soon be ruined.

d) Description of a new Log-House

The Backwoods of Canada - Letter IX by Catharine Parr Traill | Summary

Traill has moved to her newly built log house with the help of an Irish maid, who helped her to set the house in order. She gives a detailed description of the log house, though the built portion is just part of the original plan and the rest of the portion will be built next spring or fall.

She describes her nice small sitting room with a store closet, a kitchen, a pantry, and a bed-chamber from the ground floor. There is a good upper floor that will make three sleeping- rooms. She also shares her plan of adding a frame so that they can have another parlor, a long hall, and a good spare bedroom.

The windows and glass door of their sitting room provide pleasant lake views to the west and south. When the house is completed, they will have a verandah in front, and on the south side, the portion can be used as an outer room, in which they can dine and have the advantage of cool air, protected from the glare of the sunbeams.

Later, she describes the pillars of the log house that look extremely pretty, and are covered with luxuriant hop vine, mixed with the red creeper, and 'morning glory'. These are really beautiful ornaments as they conceal in a great measure the rough logs, and break the barnlike form of the building.

Traill also describes her furniture which consists of a brass railed sofa that serves upon occasion for a bed, Canadian-painted chairs, a stained pine table, green and white curtains, and a handsome Indian mat that covers the floor.

One side of the room is filled with books, large maps, and a few good prints which form the decoration of the log house. The bed chamber is furnished with equal simplicity. Traill informs that she is comfortably living there, though the log house is not exactly what she wished for but she is happy there.

e) Wild Fruits of the Country

The Backwoods of Canada - Letter IX by Catharine Parr Traill | Summary

She plans to have a garden in front of the house in the upcoming spring season, as she wants to cultivate some of the native fruits and flowers of the country. Traill informs us about the varieties of strawberries that grow wild in her pastures, woods, and clearings abundantly. And a pretty little wooded islet on her lake, which is called "strawberry island" and there is also another raspberry island.

On these grow a variety of fruits- wild grapes, raspberries, strawberries, black and red currants, and a wild gooseberry. There is also a beautiful little trailing plant that bears white flowers like the raspberry, and a darkish purple fruit consisting of a few grains of a pleasant brisk acid of flavor like dewberry.

The leaves of this plant are of a bright light green, in shape like the raspberry, that Traill calls 'trailing raspberry'. Among other wild fruits, there are plums, in abundance. These plums are preserved by American housewives by boiling them in maple molasses.

Wild cherries, also a sort called 'choke cherries', high and low-bush cranberries, and blackberries which are brought by a North American Indian wife in birch baskets- all these are found on the plains and the beaver meadows.

The low-bush cranberries are brought in great quantities by the Indians to the towns and villages. These form a standing preserve on the tea tables in most of the settlers' houses.

She tells us that she admires the high-bush cranberries but they are very less admired by others because of their large flat seeds, which prevent them from being used as a jam, but Traill finds them delightful, both in color and flavor.

The bush on which the cranberry grows resembles the guelder rose. The blossoms are pure white, and grow in loose umbels. She also gives the description of berries, which are long oval in shape, of a brilliant scarlet and when touched by frost appear semi-transparent.

f) Walks on the ice

The Backwoods of Canada - Letter IX by Catharine Parr Traill | Summary

One fine frosty afternoon, Traill goes on to take a walk with her husband on the ice. She felt very timid for the first half mile as the ice was transparent and she may see every little pebble or weed at the bottom of the water.

Over the margin of the lake, they saw some splendid red berries on the leafless bushes. Her husband soon stripped the boughs and hastened home to boil the fruit with some sugar, to eat at tea with cake.

Soon they went again for a walk on for about three-quarters of a mile. And on their return, they were overtaken by a handsleigh- a sort of wheelbarrow, who offered her a ride. Traill felt the glow from head to toe after this fast ride on the snow.

g) Situation of the House

The Backwoods of Canada - Letter IX by Catharine Parr Traill | Summary

Traill writes that one would be pleased to know about the situation of the house. The house is at the summit of a fine-sloping bank above the lake, distant some hundred or two yards from the water's edge: the lake is not quite a mile from shore to shore.

At the south is a fine smooth basin of water, diversified with beautiful islands. Below these, there is a fall of some feet, where the waters of the lakes are confined with a narrow channel between beds of limestone.

During the summer, the water level is low, so one can walk some way along the flat shores, which are composed of different strata of limestone. Those shells and river insects are scattered loosely over the surface of the limestone. There is another lake whose bed is of limestone, it abounds with a variety of beautiful river shells, which are deposited in vast quantities in the different strata, and also in the blocks of limestone scattered along the shores. These shells are also found in great quantity in the soil of the Beaver meadows.

h) Lake and the surrounding scenery

The Backwoods of Canada - Letter IX by Catharine Parr Traill | Summary

There is also an arch, below the waterfall, in the limestone rock, which is like ten or fifteen feet tall like a wall. This arc is composed of large plates of grey limestone, lying one upon the other, worn away and hollowed by the water of the waterfall, which runs through it.

On the stone, there are trees like Hemlock firs and cedars along with wild vine, red creeper, and poison-elder(shrub), which form a shady place above the moss-covered masses of the stone. As we further move forward on the bank, we find rosebushes and a variety of flowers that spring up in summer and spring, when the water dries.

At the end of the letter, Traill asks for the flower seeds, stones of plums, a few nuts, damsons, bullace, and pips of apples to be sent by parcel. And also, the lucerne-seed that her husband demands, as he thinks that they may be cultivated to advantage.