AMERICAN PINES. 67 



But, notwithstanding all the toils of such a pursuit, 

 those who once adopt the life of a lumberer seem 

 fond of it. They are in a great measure as inde- 

 pendent, in their own way, as the Indians. In New 

 Bnuiswick, and particularly in Canada, the epithet 

 * lumberer' is considered synonimous with a charac- 

 ter of spendthrift, and villainous and vagabond prin- 

 ciples. After selling and delivering up their rafts, 

 they pass some weeks in idle indulgence ; drinking, 

 smoking, and dashing otf, in a long coat, flashy 

 waistcoat and trowsers, Wellington or Hessian boots, 

 a handkerchief of many colours round the neck, a 

 watch with a long tinsel chain and numberless brass 

 seals, and an vmbrella. Before winter they return 

 again to the woods, and resume the pursuits of the 

 preceding year. Some exceptions, however, I have 

 known to this generally true character of lumberers. 

 Many young men of steady habits, who went from 

 Prince Edward's Island, and other places, to Mira- 

 michi, for the express purpose of making money, 

 have joined the lumbering parties for two or three 

 years, and, after saving their earnings, returned and 

 purchased lands, &c., on which they now Uve very 

 comfortably." 



The ' lumberers' of New Brunswick, and those 

 who cut down the timber of the woods of the United 

 States, select the firs of jiroper girth and quality with 

 especial care. It is stated by Mr. M'Gregor, that 

 not one tree in ten thousand is fit for purposes of 

 commerce. These thinnings, therefore, of the woods 

 of North America do not produce the destruction 

 of timber which now forms a subject of complaint in 

 that country of forest-trees. The indiscriminate 

 clearings of the agricultural settlers, and the con- 

 flagrations which occasionally take place, are the 

 causes which, in a few centuries, may render North 

 America no longer an exporting country for timber. 



