Glimpses of the Past: History of the River St. John, A.D. 1604-1784Raymond, W. O. (William Odber)
History
Glimpses of the Past: History of the River St. John, A.D. 1604-1784
Raymond, W. O. (William Odber)
New Brunswick -- History; Saint John River Valley (Me. and N.B.)
"Saturday night in the year 1764--The summer sun sinks behind the
hills and the glow of evening lights the harbor. At the landing place
at Portland Point, one or two fishing boats are lying on the beach,
and out a little from the shore a small square sterned schooner lies
at her anchor. The natural lines of the harbor are clearly seen. In
many places the forest has crept down nearly to the water's edge.
Wharves and shipping there are none. Ledges of rock, long since
removed, crop up here and there along the harbor front. The silence
falls as the day's work is ended at the little settlement, and the
sound of the waters rushing through the falls seems, in the absence of
other sounds, unnaturally predominant. Eastward of Portland Pond we
see the crags and rocks of the future city of the Loyalists, the
natural ruggedness in some measure hidden by the growth of dark spruce
and graceful cedar, while in the foreground lies the graceful curve
of the "Upper Cove" where the forest fringes the waters edge. We may
easily cross in the canoe of some friendly Indian and land where, ten
years later, the Loyalists landed, but we shall find none to welcome
us. The spot is desolate, and the stillness only broken by the
occasional cry of some wild animal, the song of the bird in the forest
and the ripple of waves on the shore.
The shadows deepen as we return to the Point, and soon the little
windows of the settlers' houses begin to glow. There are no curtains
to draw or blinds to pull down or shutters to close in these humble
dwellings, but the light, though unobstructed shines but feebly, for
'tis only the glimmer of a tallow candle that we see or perhaps the
flickering of the firelight from the open chimney that dances on the
pane.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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