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    Cronon Changes in the Land

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    124 views35 pages

    Cronon Changes in The Land

    Uploaded by

    Perla Valero

    Copyright:

    © All Rights Reserved
    Download as PDF or read online from Scribd
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    CHANGES in the LAND Indians, Colonists, and the Ecology of New England WILLIAM CRON it nd ong Aen Sree rots [New York land Wg A dition of ura, Stat nt Gite 4g Union Square Wet New York 3000p Cope © 1083, 2003 br in Croan Foren xpi © 2003 by Joba Denes ‘gs sere Disord in Cane by Dela & Metnge Lad ‘Peitl in the Ute Sues of Aerie inc in publ nu by Hand Wing Fists elton, 200) ety of Congres Cheong Peon De Cronen, Wii ‘Changs the lind Indo, olan, 2 he eng of New England by Wiliam Cromon with new freon by Join Denon secant eRe ed > om Ines graphical references ad nx ISBNs mo Sope 634-8 ISBN. goer (ak pape) 1: Natre—Eser of hana beings on New Egla—Asory 2, Landspe changsr—New Enghnd= Hier. New Eogland— ior Coloial pei 1600-1995, 7 Tide 04 N4sC79 205, youn oder Desig by Tre Lari soak ct THE VIEW FROM WALDEN On the moraing of January 24 1s, Henry David Thoress sat down with his ournal ra consider the waysin which his Concord home had been altred'by rare than two centuries of European settlement. He had recently read the book Neo Eagland’ Props, in which the English eaveler Willies Wood tecounted his 1635 ‘voyage to southern New Englind and described for English ead cere the landscape he hed found there. Now Thoreau sought 10 !natate the ways in which Wood's Massachusetts as diferent from bis ow. The changes seemed sweeping indeed Hee bagan withthe wild meadow grases, which appeared he wrote, "to have grown more rankly in those days." If Wood's escriptions were accurate, the strawberries too had been larger ‘and more abundant “before they were so cornered up by cutive on” Some of them had been as mich a two inebes sound, and ‘were so numerous that one could gather half a bushel i afore ‘hoon. Equally abundant were gooseberries, raspberries, and ex Peslally currants, which, Thocesu mused, "so many old writers speak of, but so few moderns Rd wid” [New England forests had beer much more extersive and thei ‘ Pane I: Looking Baskuord trees larger isis. On the cous, where Indian settlement hal been gretreny, the woods tas presenea' more opes 286 parkibe appearance tothe first English seers, without ee underbrush sed coppice growth so common in nineteent-centiry Concord ‘To see uch s forest nowadays, Thoreal wre, fe Was necessa5y to smake an expedition t "the sample stil lft in Maine.” Al early ashe ould tell otks, fs, plums, and tulip trees were ll Tess umeroys than they had been in Wood's day ‘But if the fores was much reduced from its forme sae, most ‘ofits wee species nevertbelese remained. This vae more tha ‘ould be wit ae many of sania inbabtante ‘Charen’ Tit Of those that were now absent was stark: "bear, moves, deer, porcupine, the grim fac'd Ounce, and raynous Rowling Wolly fad beaver Mertens” Not only the mammal of the land were {one the sea and ar also seemed more emp. Baas had once beet Exughe wo oF three thoussnd ata time. The progeny of éhe alewives had been "almost incredible” Nether was now present In such abundance. OF the bird, Thoreau wrote: "Eagles are probably less common; pigeons af couse. heath cock gone ‘and turkeys. Probably more owls then, aad cormorsats ‘te, ete, seafowl generally.-and swans” To Wood's statement ‘hat one could purchase fesh killed swan for dinner at the price Of six shillings, Thoresu could only write ig wonderment, Thine of tae” “There certain phiniveneas in this catalog of Thorens, romantics lament forthe pristine world ofan earlier and 10% fost tine. ‘The myth of a fallen humanity in a fallen world 15 never far benexth the surface in Thoreau's writing, and nowbere Istis more visible than in his descriptions of past landscapes A Year after Wis encounter with Wiliam Wood's New England of {Wy he returned tote lessons in more explicitly moral language, “"Wheo Teansider," he wrote, “that he nobler animals have been exterminated here,—the cougar, peather, lynn, wolverene, wol beer, monte deer, the bette the vray, et eu=—Leannat but feel a ved in tamed, an, apie were, emasculated country.” Seen in cis way, a changed landscape meant alos of wildaess fd viii that was ultimately pital in ies impor, a sign of 4eclension in both nature end humanity. “Is fe not” Thorens fafked, "a maimed and imperlect nature that 1 am conversant ae 5 {he Ves from Wald ee Thisimportane that we answer this question of Thorens Ak Aap tow did the “nate” of New England ani yf ‘coming of the Europeans, and can we reason) changes in terms of maiming and imperfection? new tothe observation that European. set the Americas lndncape. Long before Thoteas aco7¥S6 ST" tering acevo ine alan of ropes aera Rement, Whether they wrote of Fans, te fade 0 tthe farm, clonal authors were consantly aware ts Fate Mental alterstonr ef the celia! brie ere ai PS tround them. The wens incon 2 ne ek o8 late eighteenth century, many individuals—Peter Kae Whitney Jeremy Belknap, and Tinehy Dwg ele 28 them-—were commenting extensively on thet

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