NATURAL HISTORY, TORONTO REGION 
minds of our town-planners as the meandering ways 
of Rosedale. 
We cannot blame the first builders of the city for 
neglecting the aesthetic. Ample provision was made 
for the parks and squares of the future city. The 
original Parliament Buildings were constructed on 
the shore to the south-east of the little capital, and 
the road along the shore to the Old Fort at the western 
entrance to the harbour, while as straight as Appius 
or Agrippa could have desired, was bordered by 
groves of oak, and in the early prints suggests a scene 
of sylvan beauty. By some the name Toronto is 
said to mean “ oaks by the water.” If so it ceased 
to be appropriate with the coming of the railways in 
the “ fifties.” 
Long before that date York had received its bap- 
tism of fire and blood. The war of 1812 was due in 
great part to the bad feeling that had remained in the 
South and West, particularly Kentucky, since the 
Indian wars. This feeling was intensified by the 
massacre of Frenchtown, or Raisin River, in Jan- 
uary, 1813, when several hundred Kentuckian pris- 
oners were killed by the Indian allies of General 
Proctor. In the following April a large force, under 
General Pike, of New Jersey, attacked York, which 
then contained about five hundred inhabitants and 
a somewhat larger garrison. In the defence of the 
fort a terrible accident occurred which has been 
described as follows by an eyewitness: “ A gun was 
aimed at one of the vessels, and the officers, desirous 
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