FOl^EST TREES. 



179 



large trees must be centuries old, judging by their size and ancient 



appearance ; surely they would have suffered from fire as well as the 



other trees. For when once the bark of a tree is scorched by fire it 



ceases to live, and the fire running over the brush and long grasses would 



have destroyed the vitality of most of the larger Oaks. The last burning of 



this tract of land must have taken place some hundreds of years ago to 



have given time for the growth of the timber trees still existing. The 



Mohawks and Ojibeways had many batdes on these plains, the former 



claiming the hunting grounds on the Southern shore of the lake. Rice 



Lake is still called in their language "The Lake of the Burning Plains." 



The ground is now all under cultivation. The Oaks, like the Indian 



race that hunted over these beautiful hills and vales, are disappearing. 



The Lidians of the village of Hiawatha, on the North shore of the 



lake, near the mouth of the Otonabee, can give no distinct account of 



the time when the hunters burnt the Plains over — it was not in their 



time — " Mohawks burnt not us, Mohawks bad Lidians." This was all 



the answer I could obtain. One thing is remarkable, that you rarely 



find any fruit on the Black and Grey Scrub Oaks, and yet the ground is 



so thicky set with these bushes that it is with difficulty a path can be 



forced between the stems. 



Though I have only enumerated five species of Oak besides the 

 Scrub Oaks, there are several other varieties known to the lumberers in 

 the backwoods. Pursh names no less than thirty-four species of 

 American Oaks, probably many of these are natives on this side of the 

 Great Lakes. The Oak is one of the most valuable of our native forest 

 trees ; it will grow on lighter land than the Beech, or Maple ; it is 

 widely scattered through the country. Even as far North as Hudson's 

 Bay the "Grey Oak" is found, according to Michaux, if Pursh quotes 

 him correctly. Cowper, the English poet, in alluding to the longevity 

 of the Oak, says — 



" Lord of ihe woods, the long enduring Oak." 



The Oak was considered to be an emblem of strength and vigour. 

 Mention is made of the Oaks of Bashan in the Old Testament in many 

 places. 



We read in chapter xxxv of Genesis, that Jacob, when he came 

 again to Bethel, commanded his household and people that were with 

 him to put away their strange gods, or idols, and he (Jacob) " hid them 

 under the Oak that was by Shechem." A little further on follows the 

 death of Rachel's nurse Deborah ; " and she was buried beneath Bethe 

 under an Oak, and the name of it was called Allon-Bachuth, or the 

 Oak of Weeping." 



