The descendant of a Wellington or a Washington, while contemplating the

glorious deeds of an illustrious ancestor, and recalling the adoration

of a grateful country, may justly feel his breast swelling with pride

and emulation; but while I was enjoying this scene, there stood one at

my side within whom also such emotions might be as fully and justly

stirred--for there are great men to be found in less conspicuous, though

not less useful spheres of life. A son who knew its history enjoyed with

me this goodly scene. His father was the first bold pioneer. The rut

made by the wheel of his rude cart, drawn by two oxen, was the first

impress made by civilization in the whole of this rich and far-famed

valley. A brother shared with him his early toils and privations; their

own hands raised the log-hut--their new home in the wilderness. Ere they

broke ground, the boundless forest howled around a stray party of

Indians, come to hunt, or to pasture their flocks on the few open plots

skirting the river: all else was waste and solitude. One brother died

comparatively early; but the father of mine host lived long to enjoy the

fruit of his labours. He lived to see industry and self-denial

metamorphose that forest and its straggling Indian band into a land

bursting with the rich fruits of the soil, and buzzing with a busy hive

of human energy and intelligence. Yes; and he lived to see temple after

temple, raised for the pure worship of the True God, supplant the

ignorance and idolatry which reigned undisturbed at his first coming.

Say, then, reader, has not the son of such a father just cause for

pride--a solemn call to emulation? The patriarchal founder of his family

and their fortunes has left an imperishable monument of his greatness in

the prosperity of this rich vale; and Providence has blessed his

individual energies and forethought with an unusual amount of this

world's good things. "Honour and fame--industry and wealth," are

inscribed on the banner of his life, and the son is worthily fighting

under the paternal standard. The park grounds below the house bear

evidence of his appreciation of the beauties of scenery, in the taste

with which he has performed that difficult task of selecting the groups

of trees requisite for landscape, while cutting down a forest; and the

most cursory view of his library can leave no doubt that his was a

highly-cultivated mind. I will add no more, lest I be led insensibly to

trench upon the privacy of domestic life.

I now propose to give a slight sketch of his farm, so as to convey, to

those interested, an idea of the general system of agriculture adopted

in the Northern States; and if the reader think the subject dull, a turn

of the leaf will prove a simple remedy.

The extent farmed is 2000 acres, of which 400 are in wood, 400 in

meadow, 400 under plough, and 800 in pasture. On the wheat lands, summer

fallow, wheat, and clover pasture, form the three years' rotation. In

summer fallow, the clover is sometimes ploughed in, and sometimes fed

off, according to the wants of the soil and the farm. Alluvial lands are

cultivated in Indian corn from five to ten years successively, and then

laid down in grass indeterminately from three to forty years.

Wheat--sometimes broadcast, sometimes drilled--is put in as near as

possible the 1st of September, and cut from the 10th to the 20th of

July. Clover-seed is sown during March in wheat, and left till the

following year. Wheat stubble is pastured slightly; the clover, if

mowed, is cut in the middle of June; if pastured, the cattle are turned

in about the 1st of May.

Pumpkins are raised with the Indian corn, and hogs fattened on them;

during the summer they are turned into clover pasture. Indian corn and

pumpkins are planted in May, and harvested in October; the leaf and

stalk of the Indian corn are cut up for fodder, and very much liked.

Oats and barley are not extensively cultivated.

The average crop of Indian corn is from fifty to sixty bushels, and of

wheat, from twenty-five to thirty per acre. The pasture land supports

one head to one and one-third acre. Grass-fattened cattle go to market

from September to November, fetching 2-1/4d. per lb. live weight, or

4-1/2d. per lb. for beef alone. Cattle are kept upon hay and straw

from the middle of November to 1st of May, if intended for fattening

upon grass; but, if intended for spring market, they are fed on Indian

corn-meal in addition. Sheep are kept on hay exclusively, from the

middle of November to the 1st of April. A good specimen of Durham ox,

three and a half years old, weighs 1500 lbs. live weight. The farm is

provided with large scales for weighing hay, cattle, &c., and so

arranged, that one hundred head can easily be weighed in two hours.

No manure is used, except farm-pen and gypsum; the former is generally

applied to Indian corn and meadow land. The gypsum is thrown, a bushel

to the acre, on each crop of wheat and clover--cost of gypsum, ten

shillings for twenty bushels. A mowing machine, with two or three horses

and one man, can cut, in one day, twelve acres of heavy meadow land, if

it stand up; but if laid at all, from six to ten. The number of men

employed on the farm is, six for six months, twelve for three months,

and twenty-five for three months. Ten horses and five yoke of oxen are

kept for farm purposes. The common waggon used weighs eight

hundredweight, and holds fifty bushels. Sometimes they are ten

hundredweight, and hold one hundred and five bushels.

The wages of the farm servants are:--For those engaged by the year,

2l. 10s. a month; for six months, 2l. 18s. 6d. a month; for

three months, 3l. 11s. a month--besides board and lodging, on the

former of which they are not likely to find their bones peeping through

their skin. They have meat three times a day--pork five days, and mutton

two days in the week--a capital pie at dinner; tea and sugar twice a

day; milk _ad libitum_; vegetables twice a day; butter usually three

times a day; no spirits nor beer are allowed. The meals are all cooked

at the farm, and the overseer eats with the men, and receives from

75l. to 125l. a year, besides board and lodging for his family, who

keep the farm-house. When every expense is paid, mine host netts a

clear six per cent. on his farm, and I think you will allow that he may

go to bed at night with little fear of the nightmare of a starving

labourer disturbing his slumbers. Not that he troubles sleep much, for

he is the nearest thing to perpetual motion I ever saw, not excepting

even the armadillo at the Zoological Gardens, and he has more "irons in

the fire" than there were bayonet-points before Sevastopol.

The village contains a population of two thousand inhabitants, and

consists of a few streets, the principal of which runs along a terrace,

which, being a continuation of the one on which we were lately standing,

commands the same lovely view. But, small as is the village, it has four

churches, an academy, two banks, two newspaper offices, and a telegraph

office. What a slow coach you are, John Bull!

One day I was taking a drive with an amiable couple, who, having been

married sixteen or seventeen years, had got well over the mysterious

influences of honeymoonism. The husband was acting Jarvey, and I was

inside with madame. The roads being in some places very bad, and neither

the lady nor myself being feather-weight, the springs were frequently

brought down upon one another with a very disagreeable jerk. The lady

remonstrated:

"John, I declare these springs are worn out, and the carriage itself is

little better."

"Now, Susan, what's the good of your talking that way; you know they are

perfectly good, my dear."

"Oh, John! you know what I say is true, and that the carriage has never

been touched since we married."

"My dear, if I prove to you one of your assertions is wrong, I suppose

you will be ready to grant the others may be equally incorrect."

"Well, what then?" said the unsuspecting wife.

"Why, my dear, I'll prove to you the springs are in perfectly good

order," said the malicious husband, who descried a most abominable bit

of road ready for his purpose; and, suiting the action to the word, he

put his spicy nags into a hand-canter. Bang went the springs together;

and, despite of all the laws of gravitation, madame and I kept bobbing

up and down, and into one another's laps.

"Oh, John, stop! stop!"

"No, no, my dear, I shall go on till you're perfectly satisfied with

the goodness of the springs and the soundness of the carriage."

Resistance was useless; John was determined, and the horses would not

have tired in a week; so the victim had nothing for it but to cry

_peccavi_, upon which John moderated his pace gradually, and our elastic

bounds ceased correspondingly, until we settled once more firmly on our

respective cushions; then John turned round, and, with a mixed

expression of malice and generosity, said, "Well, my dear, I do think

the carriage wants a new lining, but you must admit they are really good

springs." And the curtain fell on this little scene in the drama of

"Sixteen Years after Marriage." May the happy couple live to re-enact

the same sixty years after marriage!

Our drive brought us to the shore of Lake Canesus, and a lovely scene it

was; the banks were in many places timbered to the water's edge by the

virgin forest, now radiant with the rich autumnal tints; the afternoon

sun shone forth in all its glory from a cloudless sky, on a ripp'less

lake, which, like a burnished mirror, reflected with all the

truthfulness of nature the gorgeous scene above; and as you gazed on the

azure abyss below, it kept receding and receding till the wearied sight

of the creature was lost in the fathomless depths of the work of his

Almighty Creator. Who has not for the moment imagined that he could

realise the infinity of space, as, when gazing at some bright star, he

strives to measure the distance of the blue curtain spread behind,

which, ever receding, so mocks the efforts of the ambitious eye, that

its powers become bewildered in the unfathomable depths of immensity;

but I am not sure whether such feelings do not come home to one more

powerfully when the eye gazes on the same object through the medium of

reflection;--for, as with the bounties of the Creator, so with the

wonders of His creation--man is too prone to undervalue them in

proportion to the frequency with which they are spread before him; and

thus the deep azure vault, so often seen in the firmament above, is less

likely to attract his attention and engage his meditations, than when

the same glorious scene lies mirrored beneath his feet.

This charming lake has comparatively little cultivation on its borders;

two or three cottages, and a few cattle grazing, are the only signs that

man is asserting his dominion over the wilderness. One of these

cottages belongs to a member of the Wadsworth family, who owns some

extent of land in the neighbourhood, and who has built a nice little

boat for sailing about in the summer season. I may as well mention in

this place, that the roofing generally used for cottages is a wooden

tile called "shingle," which is very cheap--twelve-and-sixpence

purchasing enough to cover a thousand feet.

While driving about in this neighbourhood, I saw, for the first time,

what is termed a "plank-road,"--a system which has been introduced into

the United States from Canada. The method of construction is very

simple, consisting of two stringers of oak two inches square, across

which are laid three-inch planks eight feet long, and generally of

hemlock or pine. No spiking of the planks into the stringers is

required, and a thin layer of sand or soil being placed over all, the

road is made; and, as the material for construction is carried along as

the work progresses, the rapidity of execution is astonishing. When

completed, it is as smooth as a bowling-green. The only objection I ever

heard to these roads is, that the jarring sensation produced by them is

very injurious to the horses' legs; but it can hardly be thought that,

if the cart were up to the axle and the horse up to the belly-band in a

good clay soil, any advantage would be derived from such a primitive

state of things. Taking an average, the roads may be said to last from

eight to ten years, and cost about £330 a mile. Those in Canada are

often made much broader, so as to enable two vehicles to pass abreast,

and their cost is a little above £400 a mile. The toll here is about

three-farthings a mile per horse. They have had the good sense to avoid

the ridiculous wheel-tollage to which we adhere at home with a tenacity

only equalled by its folly, as if a two-wheeled cart, with a ton weight

of cargo, drawn by a Barclay and Perkinser, did not cut up a road much

more than the little four-wheel carriage of the clergyman's wife, drawn

by a cob pony, and laden with a tin of soup or a piece of flannel for

some suffering parishioner. But as our ancestors adopted this system "in

the year dot, before one was invented," I suppose we shall bequeath the

precious legacy to our latest posterity, unless some "Rebecca League,"

similar to Taffy's a few years since, be got up on a grand national

scale, in which case tolls may, perhaps, be included in the tariff of

free-trade. Until that auspicious event take place,--for I confess to an

ever-increasing antipathy to paying any gate,--we might profit in some

of our bleak and dreary districts by copying the simple arrangement

adopted at many American tolls, which consists of throwing a covered

archway over the road; so that if you have to unbutton half-a-dozen

coats in a snow-storm to find a sixpence, you are not necessitated to

button-in a bucketful of snow, which, though it may cool the body, has a

very opposite effect on the temper.

It is bad enough in England; but any one who wishes to enjoy it to

perfection had better take a drive from Stirling, crossing the Forth,

when, if he select his road happily, he may have the satisfaction of

paying half-a-dozen tolls in nearly as many minutes, on the plea that

this piece of ground, the size of a cocked-hat-box,--and that piece, the

size of a cabbage-garden,--and so on, belong to different counties; and

his amusement may derive additional zest if he be fortunate enough to

find the same tollman there whom I met some years ago. When passing his

toll in a driving snow-storm that penetrated even to the very marrow, I

pulled up a few yards beyond the gate, upon which he came out very

sulkily, took the half-crown I tendered him, and, walking deliberately

back, placed the change on the post of the gate, and said,--"If ye want

'ut, ye may take 'ut; it's no my place to walk half a mile o' the road

to gie folk their change;" after which courteous address he disappeared,

banging his door to with a sound that fell on the ear very like "Put

that in your pipe and smoke it." Precious work I had, with a heavy

dog-cart, no servant, and a hack whose mouth was case-hardened. I would

willingly have given it up; but I knew the brute (the man, not the

horse) would very soon have got drunk upon it; so I persevered until I

succeeded, and then went on my road full of thoughts which are, I fear,

totally unfit to be committed to paper.

Reader, I must ask you to forgive my wanderings on the banks of the

Forth. I hasten back to Geneseo, and pack up ready for to-morrow's

start, for the days I had spent with my kind host and his merry family

had slipped by so pleasantly I had quite lost count of them. There was

but one cloud to our enjoyment--one sad blank in the family group: my

sister-in-law, in whose charming society I had fondly hoped to make my

first visit to the scenes of her early youth, had been recently summoned

to a better world; and the void her absence made in that family circle,

of which she was both the radiating and the centring point of affection,

was too deeply felt for aught but time ever to eradicate.

CHAPTER VI.

_Stirring Scenes and Strange Sights_.

My host having kindly lent me his carriage and a pair of wiry nags, I

started for Batavia to meet the railway. The distance was about thirty

miles, and the road in many places execrable--in one part so bad that we

had to go through a quarter of a mile of wood, as it was absolutely

impassable;--yet, despite all these hindrances, and without pressing the

horses in the least, we completed the distance in the three hours,

including from five to ten minutes at a half-way house, where we gave

them the usual American bait of a bucket of cold water; and when we

arrived they were as fresh as four-year-olds, and quite ready to return

if need had been. I saw nothing worth remarking during the drive. There

was plenty of cultivated land; and plenty of waste, waiting to reward

the labourer. All the little villages had their daguerreotype shops

except one, and there the deficiency was supplied by a perambulating

artist in a tented cart.

When a railway crosses the road, you are expected to see it,--the only

warning being a large painted board, inscribed "Look out for the Train."

If it be dark, I suppose you are expected to guess it; but it must be

remembered that this is the country of all countries where every person

is required to look after himself. The train coming up soon after my

arrival, I went on to Buffalo, amid a railway mixture of

tag-rag-and-bobtail, squalling infancy and expectorating manhood. On

arriving at the terminus, I engaged a cab, and, after waiting half an

hour, I found that Jarvey was trying to pick up some other "fare," not

thinking myself and my servant a sufficient cargo to pay well. I tried

to find a railway official; but I might almost as well have looked for a

flea in a flower-garden--no badges, no distinctive marks, the station

full of all the riff-raff of the town;--it was hopeless. At last, by a

lucky accident, I saw a man step into a small office, so I bolted after

him, like a terrier after a badger, but I could not draw him; he knew

nothing about the cabs--he was busy--nay, in short, he would not be

bothered. Having experienced this beautiful specimen of Buffalo railway

management, I returned to the open air and lit my cigar. After some

time, Cabby, having found that no other "fare" was to be had,

condescended to tell me he was ready; so in I got, and drove to the

hotel, on entering which I nearly broke my neck over a pyramid of boxes,

all looking of one family. They turned out to be the property of Mr.

G.V. Brooke, the actor, who had just arrived "to star it" at Buffalo.

Supper being ready, as it always is on the arrival of the evening train,

I repaired thither, and found the usual wondrous medley which the

American tables d'hôte exhibit, the usual deafening clatter, the usual

profusion of eatables, the usual rapidity of action, and the usual

disagreeable odour which is consequent upon such a mass of humanity and

food combined. Being tolerably tired, I very soon retired to roost.

What a wondrous place is this Buffalo!--what a type of American activity

and enterprise! I had visited it in the year 1826, and then it had only

three thousand inhabitants. The theatre, I remember, amused me

immensely, the stage and accommodation for spectators barely occupying

an area of twenty-five feet square. Mr. G.V. Brooke's boxes, at that

time, would have filled the whole house; and here they are in 1852,

drawing our metropolitan stars to their boards. Their population has

increased twenty-fold, and now exceeds sixty thousand; a splendid

harbour, a lighthouse, piers, breakwater, &c., have been constructed,

and the place is daily increasing. Churches rear their spiry steeples in

every direction. Banks and insurance offices are scattered broadcast.

Educational, literary, and benevolent establishments abound, and upwards

of a dozen newspapers are published. Land which, during my visit in

1826, you might almost have had for the asking, is now selling at two

hundred guineas the foot of frontage for building. Even during the last

ten years, the duties collected at the port have increased from £1000 to

nearly £14,000. In the year 1852 upwards of four thousand vessels,

representing a million and a half of tonnage, cleared at the harbour,

and goods to the value of nearly seven millions sterling arrived from

the lakes, the greater portion of the cargoes being grain. The value of

goods annually delivered by Erie Canal is eight millions. Never was a

more energetic hive of humanity than these "Buffalo lads;" and they are

going ahead every day, racing pace.

Now, John Bull, come with me to the cliff outside the town, and

overhanging the Niagara river. Look across the stream, to the Canada

shore, and you will see a few houses and a few people. There they have

been, for aught I know, since the creation. The town(!) is called

Waterloo, and the couple of dozen inhabitants, despite the rich fruits

of industry on which they may gaze daily, seem to regard industry as a

frightful scourge to be studiously avoided. Their soil is as rich as, if

not richer than, that on the opposite shore: the same lake is spread

before them, and the same river runs by their doors. It does, indeed,

look hopeless, where such an example, constantly under their eyes, fails

to stir them up to action. But, perhaps, you will say, you think you see

a movement among the "dry bones." True, my dear Bull, there is now a

movement; but, if you inquire, you will find it is a Buffalo movement.

It is their energy, activity, and enterprise which, is making a railway

to run across Canada to Goderich, by which means they will save, for

traffic, the whole length of Lake Erie, and half that of Lake Huron, for

all produce coming from the North of Michigan, Wisconsin, &c. So

thoroughly is it American enterprise, that, although the terminus of the

railway is at Waterloo, the name is ignored; and Buffalo enterprise

having carried forward the work, it is styled the "Buffalo, Brentford,

and Goderich Line." Truly, John Bull, your colony shows very badly by

the side of this same Buffalo. Let us hope increasing intercourse may

infuse a little vitality into them.

The train is starting for Niagara, and I am in it, endeavouring to recal

the impressions of 1826, which, being but very dim, my anticipations

partake of the charm of novelty. While in the middle of a seventh heaven

of picturative fancy, the screeching of the break announces the

journey's end. As I emerge from the motley group of fellow-passengers, a

sound, as of very distant thunder heard through ears stuffed with

cotton, is all that announces the neighbourhood of the giant cataract. A

fly is speedily obtained, and off I start for the hotel on the Canadian

side. Our drive took us along the eastern bank till we reached the

suspension-bridge which spans the cliffs of the river. Across this

gossamer causeway, vehicles are required to walk, under a heavy penalty

for any breach of this rule. The vibration when walking is not very

great; but, going at a quick pace, it would undoubtedly be considerable,

and might eventually loosen those fastenings on which the aerial pathway

depends. Arrived at the other side, I was quite taken aback on being

stopped by an official. I found he was merely a _pro formâ_ custom-house

officer. Not having been schooled in the Old World, he showed none of

the ferret, and in a few seconds I was again trotting southwards along

the western bank to the Clifton House Hotel. The dull work of life is

done, the cab is paid, my room is engaged, and there I am, on the

balcony, alone, with the roaring of the cataract in my ears and the

mighty cataract itself before my eyes.

What were my first impressions?--That is a difficult question.

Certainly, I did not share that feeling of disappointment which some

people take pains to express. Such people, if they had dreamt that an

unknown friend had left them 100,000l., would feel disappointed if he

awoke and found a legacy of 90,000l. lying on their table; or,

perhaps, they give expression to their feelings, by way of inducing the

public to suppose that their fertile imaginations conceived something

far grander than this most glorious work of Nature. If a man propose to

go to Niagara for mere beauty, he had better stay at home and look at a

lily through a microscope; if to hear a mighty noise, he had better go

where the anchors are forged in Portsmouth dockyard; if to see a mighty

struggle of waters, he had better take a cruise, on board a pilot-boat,

in the Bay of Biscay, during an equinoctial gale; but, if he be content

to see the most glorious cataract his Maker has placed upon our globe;

if, in a stupendous work of Nature, he have a soul to recognise the

Almighty Workman; and if, while gazing thereon, he can travel from

Nature up to Nature's God; then, let him go to Niagara, in full

assurance of enjoying one of the grandest and most solemnizing scenes

that this earth affords. It wants but one qualification to be perfect

and complete; that, it had originally when fresh from the hands of its

Divine Maker; and of that man has rifled it--I mean solitude.--Palace

hotels are very convenient things; energy and enterprise are very

valuable qualities, and natural features of American character which I

admire; but, seeing how universally everything is sacrificed to the

useful and dollar-making, I dread to contemplate the future: for visions

rise before me of the woodman's axe levelling the forest timber on Goat

Island, which at present shrouds the town; and fancy pictures a line of

villas, shops, and mills, ending in a huge hotel, at the edge of the

cataract. I trust my vision may never be realized. But my hopes are

small; for I invariably observed that, in clearing ground, scarce any

attention had been paid to aught else but the best method of getting the

best return for the labour bestowed.

Now, reader, I have not told you as yet what my impressions were, as I

stood on the balcony gazing at Niagara; and, I pray you take not

offence, when I add that I have not the slightest intention of trying to

record them. Writing frankly, as I feel, I have said enough for you to

glean something of the turn they took, and to see that they were

impressions which a pen is too feeble an agent adequately to express. I

shall not tax your patience with Table Rock and Goat Island points of

view, American and Canadian falls, the respective beauties of the

Straight Line and the Horse-shoe; I do not purpose clothing you in

Mackintosh, and dragging you with trembling steps along the slimy

pathway between the Falls and the rock, to gaze on the sun through the

roaring and rolling flood; nor will I draw upon your nerves by a detail

of the hair-breadth escapes of Mr. Bumptious and Mrs. Positive, who,

when they got half-way along the said path, were seized with panic, and

only escaped a header into the boiling caldron by lying flat on their

stomachs until the rest of the party had lionized the whole distance,

when the guide returned and hauled them out by the heels, like drowned

rats out of a sink-hole; nor will I ask you to walk five miles with me,

to see the wooden hut, built over a sulphur spring within ten feet of

the river, and which is lit by the sulphuretted hydrogen gas thereof,

led through a simple tube.

All these, and the rapids above, and the whirlpool below, and the

four-and-a-half million horse-power of the Falls, have been so often

described by abler pens and more fertile imaginations, that the effort

would be a failure and the result a bore.

I have in my possession a collection from the various albums at

Niagara; it opens with the following lines by Lord Morpeth, now Earl of

Carlisle--

"There's nothing great or bright, thou glorious Fall!

Thou may'st not to the fancy's sense recal;

The thunder-riven cloud, the lightning's leap,

The stirring of the chambers of the deep,

Earth's emerald green, and many-tinted dyes,

The fleecy whiteness of the upper skies,

The tread of armies thickening as they come,

The boom of cannon and the beat of drum,

The brow of beauty and the form of grace,

The passion and the prowess of our race,

The song of Homer in its loftiest hour,

The unresisted sweep of human power,

Britannia's trident on the azure sea,

America's young shout of liberty!

Oh! may the waves that madden in thy deep,

There spend their rage, nor climb the encircling steep,--

And till the conflict of thy surges cease,

The nations on thy banks repose in peace!"

There are other effusions equally creditable to their authors; but there

is also a mass of rubbish, from which I will only inflict two specimens.

One, evidently from the pen of a Cockney; and the other, the poetical

inspiration of a free and enlightened.

Cockney poet--

"Next to the bliss of seeing Sarah,

Is that of seeing Niagara."

Free and enlightened--

"Of all the roaring, pouring,

Spraying streams that dash,

Niagara is Number One,

All to immortal smash!"

Not desiring to appear to as great disadvantage as either of the two

last-quoted writers, I decline the attempt; and, while saving myself,

spare the public.

I think, reader, that I have a claim upon your gratitude for not

expatiating at greater length upon a theme from which it were easy to

fill chapter upon chapter; for, if you are generous, you will throw a

veil over the selfish reasons that have produced so happy a result. I

will only add one piece of advice, which is, if the pleasure of

visiting Niagara would be enhanced by a full larder and a ruck of

people, go there "during the season;" but if your pleasure would be

greater in visiting it when the hotel is empty, even though the larder

be nearly in the same state, follow my example, and go later in the

year, by which means you will partially obtain that quiet, without

which, I freely confess, I never care to look upon "The Falls" again.

A formidable rival to this magnificent fall of water has-been discovered

by that indefatigable traveller, Dr. Livingston. It is called the

Mosiotunya Falls, which are thus described:--"They occur," we read

("Outlines of Dr. Livingston's Missionary Journeys," p. 19), "in the

most southerly part of the Zambese. Although previously unvisited by any

European, Dr. Livingston had often heard of these smoke-resounding

falls, which, with points of striking difference from Niagara, are, if

possible, more remarkable and not less sublime than that noble cataract.

He was therefore anxious to inspect them, and on the 20th of November,

1855, he reached Kalai, a place eight miles west of the Falls. On

arriving at the latter, he found that this natural phenomenon was caused

by the sudden contraction, or rather compression, of the river, here

about 1000 yards broad, which urges its ponderous mass through a narrow

rent in the basaltic rock of not more than twenty-five yards, and down a

deep cleft, but a little wider, into a basin or trough about thirty

yards in diameter, lying at a depth of thirty-five yards. Into this

narrow receptacle the vast river precipitated itself. When Dr.

Livingston visited the spot, the Zambese flowed through its narrowest

channel, and its waters were at their lowest. The effect, however, of

its sudden contraction and fall was in the highest degree sublime, and,

from the point at which he surveyed it, appalling. For, not satisfied

with a distant view of the opening through its rocky barrier, and of the

columns of vapour rushing up for 300 to 400 feet, forming a spreading

cloud, and then falling in perpetual rain, he engaged a native, with

nerves as strong as his own and expert in the management of the canoe,

to paddle him down the river, here heaving, eddying, and fretting, as if

reluctant to approach the gorge and hurl itself down the precipice to an

islet immediately above the fall, and from one point of which he could

look over its edge into the foaming caldron below, mark the mad whirl

of its waters, and stand in the very focus of its vapoury columns and

its deafening roar. But unique and magnificent as was the cataract when

Dr. Livingston beheld it, the reports of others, and the inference drawn

by himself, satisfied him that the spectacle was tame compared with what

occurs during the rainy season, when the river flows between banks many

miles apart, and still forces its augmented waters through the same

fissure into the same trough. At these times the columns of spray may be

seen, and the sound heard ten or twelve miles distant."

My traps are all in the ferry-boat: I have crossed the river, been wound

up the opposite bank, paid my fare, and am hissing away for Rochester.

What thoughts does Rochester give rise to? If you are a commercial man,

you will conjure up visions of activity and enterprise; if you are an

inquirer into mysteries and manners, your dreams will be of

"spirit-rapping and Bloomers." Coming fresh from Buffalo, I confess I

was rather interested in the latter. But here I am at the place itself,

and lodged in an hotel wonderfully handy to the station; and before the

front door thereof railways are interlaced like the meshes of a

fisherman's net. Having no conversable companion, I take to my ever

faithful and silent friend, the fragrant cigar, and start for a stroll.

There is a bookseller's shop at the corner; I almost invariably feel

tempted to stop when passing a depôt for literature, especially in a

strange place; but on the present occasion a Brobdignagian notice caught

my eye, and gave me a queer sensation inside my waistcoat--"Awful smash

among the Banks!" Below, in more Lilliputian characters, followed a list

of names. I had just obtained notes of different banks for my travelling

expenses, and I knew not how many thereof might belong to the bankrupt

list before me; a short examination sufficed, and with a quieted mind, I

continued my stroll and my cigar.

The progress of Rochester has not been so rapid as that of Buffalo; in

1826 they made a pretty fair start, and at present Rochester has only a

little above forty thousand, while, as we said a few pages back, Buffalo

has sixty thousand. Rochester has the disadvantage of not being built

quite on the lake, as Buffalo may be said to be; moreover, the carrying

on Lake Ontario is not so great as on Lake Erie. Both towns enjoy the

rich advantages of the Erie canal, and Rochester is benefited by

water-power in a way Buffalo is not. Genesee river, in a distance of

three miles, falls nearly two hundred and thirty feet, and has three

cascades, the greatest of which is upwards of one hundred feet; this

power has not been overlooked by the Rochesterians, who have established

enormous flour-mills in consequence, using up annually three million

bushels of wheat. As one of the Genesee falls was close to the town, I

bent my steps thither; the roads were more than ankle deep in mud, and I

had some difficulty in getting to the spot; when there, the dreary

nakedness of the banks and the matter-of-factism of a huge mill, chased

even the very thought of beauty from my mind: whether man stripped the

banks, or Nature, I cannot say, but I should rather "guess" it was man.

I was puddling back full of disappointment, and had just got upon the

wooden pavement, which is a trottoir upon the plank-road system, when I

saw a strange sail ahead, with rather a novel rig; could it be?--no!

yes!--no! yes!--yes, by George! a real, living Rochester Bloomer was

steering straight for me. She was walking arm-in-arm with a man who

looked at a distance awfully dirty; upon closer examination, I found the

effect was produced by his wearing all his face-hair close clipped, like

a hunter's coat in the season: but I had but little time to spare upon

_him_--the Bloomer was the star of attraction: on she came with a pretty

face, dark hair, eyes to match, and a good figure; she wore a black

beaver hat, low crown, and broad brim; round the hat was tied, in a

large bow, a bright red ribbon: under a black silk polka, which fitted

to perfection, she had a pair of chocolate-coloured pantaloons, hanging

loosely and gathered in above the ankles, and a neat pair of little feet

were cased in a sensible pair of boots, light, but at the same time

substantial. A gap occurring in the trottoir, and the roads being

shockingly muddy, I was curious to see how Bloomer faced the difficulty;

it never seemed to give her a moment's thought: she went straight at it,

and reached the opposite side with just as much ease as her companion.

Now, reader, let us change the scene and bring before you one with which

you are probably not unfamiliar. Place--A muddy crossing near a parish

school. Time--Play hours. _Dramatis personae_--An old lady and twenty

school-boys. Scene--The old lady comes sailing along the footways,

doing for nothing that for which sweepers are paid; arrived at the

crossing, a cold shudder comes over her as she gazes in despair at the

sea of mud she must traverse; behold now the frantic efforts she is

making to gather up the endless mass of gown, petticoats, and

auxiliaries with which custom and fashion have smothered her; her hands

can scarcely grasp the puckers and the folds; at last she makes a start,

exhibiting a beautifully filled pair of snow-white stockings; on she

goes, the journey is half over; suddenly a score of urchin voices are

heard in chorus, "Twig her legs, twig her legs." The irate dame turns

round to reprove them by words, or wither them with a glance; but alas!

in her indignation she raises a threatening hand, forgetful of the

important duties it was fulfilling, and down go gown, petticoats, and

auxiliaries in the filthy mire; the boys of course roar with

delight--it's the jolliest fun they have had for many a day; the old

lady gathers up her bundle in haste, and reaches the opposite side with

a filthy dress and a furious temper. Let any mind, unwarped by prejudice

and untrammelled by custom, decide whether the costume of the Rochester

Bloomer or of the old lady be the more sensible.

I grant that I have placed before you the two extremes, and I should be

as sorry to see my fair friends in "cut o' knee" kilts, as I now am to

see them in "sweep-the-ground gowns," &c. "But," cries one, "you will

aim a blow at female delicacy!" A blow, indeed! when all that female

delicacy has to depend upon is the issue of a struggle between pants and

petticoats, it will need no further blow: it is pure matter of fashion

and custom. Do not girls wear a Bloomer constantly till they are

fourteen or fifteen, then generally commence the longer dress? And what

reason can be given but custom, which, in so many articles of dress, is

ever changing? How long is it since the dressing of ladies' hair for

Court was a work of such absurd labour and nicety, that but few artists

were equal to the task, and, consequently, having to attend so many

customers, ladies were often obliged to have their hair dressed the day

before, and sit up all night that the coiffure might remain perfect? Or

how long is it since ladies at Court used to move about like human

balloons, with gowns hooped out to such an extent that it was a work of

labour and dexterity to get in and out of a carriage; trains, &c., to

match? Hundreds of people, now living, can not only remember these

things, but can remember also the outcry with which the proposal of

change was received. Delicacy, indeed! I should be glad to know what our

worthy grandmammas would think of the delicacy of the present generation

of ladies, could they but see them going about with nothing but an

oyster-shell bonnet stuck at the back of their heads! Take another

remnant of barbarism, handed down to us in the shape of powder. Masters

have taken care of themselves, and got rid of the abomination; so have

upper servants; but so wedded are some people to the habit, that they

still continue to pay a poll-tax of 1l. 3s. 6d. for the pleasure

of powdering and plastering their footmen's heads, as if they had just

escaped from a flour-mill and passed a greasy hand over their hair: will

any one deny, that the money spent in the tax would promote "John's"

comfort and cleanliness much more, if expended in good baths, brown

Windsor, and small-tooth combs.

Pardon me, reader, I feel that there is no analogy between a Bloomer and

a small-tooth comb; it is from following out the principle of recording

the reflections which what I saw gave rise to, that I have thus wandered

back to the old country; with your permission, we are again at

Rochester, and the Bloomer has gone out of sight round the corner.

The shades of evening having closed in upon me, I retired to roost. My

head was snugly bedded in my pillow; I was in that charmingly doubtful

state in which thoughts and dreams have become imperceptibly blended.

Suddenly there was a trumpet-blast, loud as a thunder-clap, followed by

bells ringing as rapidly as those of the churches in Malta; as these

died away, the hum of human voices and the tread of human feet along the

passages followed, and then all was once more hushed in silence. I

turned over, gave the clothes an extra jerk, and again sought the land

of dreams. Vain and delusive hope!--trains seemed starting or arriving

every half-hour, and the whole night was spent 'mid the soothing

varieties of mineral trumpets and bells, and animal hoofs and tongues,

till from sheer exhaustion, about five A.M., I dropped off into a

snooze, which an early start rendered it necessary to cut short soon

after seven.

Mem.--What a nice thing it is to put up at an hotel quite handy to a

railway station.

Reader, you are doubtless aware that Rochester is on Lake Ontario, and a

considerable distance from New York; but I must nevertheless beg you to

transport yourself to the latter place, without going through the

humdrum travelling routine of--stopped here, stopped there, ate here,

ate there, which constituted the main features of my hasty journey

thither, undertaken for the purpose of seeing my brother off, on his

return to Europe, which duty bringing me within the yachting waters of

New York, I think this a legitimate place for a chapter on the "Black

Maria."

CHAPTER VII.

_Construction and Destruction_.

The "Black Maria" is a vessel so unique in every respect, that the most

detailed description of her cannot but be most interesting to all

yachting men; and, so far from apologizing for the length of my

observations, I would rather crave indulgence for the scanty information

which this chapter will afford; but as it must prove pre-eminently dull

to those who are ignorant of such matters, I would entreat them to pass

it over, lest, getting through the first page, their ideas become

bewildered, and, voting me a bore, they throw down the book, subjoining

a malediction upon my poor innocent head.

The following notes were furnished me by Commodore Stevens and his

brother, who were the designers and builders of this extraordinary

yacht, and I therefore can vouch for their accuracy.

In case the term "centre-board" should be unknown to my reader, it may

be as well to explain that it means a board passing longitudinally

through the keel, above which a strong water-tight case is fixed for its

reception; it is raised and lowered by hand or by machinery, according

to its weight. The advantages proposed by the centre-board are--the

stability it gives to the vessel on a wind when let down; the resistance

it removes if, when running before the wind, it be raised; the small

draught of water which the vessel requires, thereby enabling her to keep

close in-shore out of the influence of strong tides, &c.; and, lastly,

the facility for getting afloat again, by merely raising the

centre-board, should she take the ground. To proceed with the notes:--

THE CUTTER YACHT "BLACK MARIA."

Displacement, 145 tons.

Draught of water on straight keel, 5 feet 2 inches.

Length of straight keel, 60 feet, then running away in a curving line

upwards, till at the bow it draws 10 inches.

Length of centre-board, 24 feet.

Total depth of ditto, 15 feet; weight, 7 tons.

Foremost end of ditto, about 8 feet abaft the foremost end of straight

keel.

When let down, it descends 10 feet at the further end, and 8 feet at the

foremost. It is made of oak, with sufficient lead let in to make it

sink. By an ingenious mechanical contrivance one man is enabled to raise

and lower it with perfect facility.

There is another centre-board abaft, about 10 feet from the stern, which

is 8 feet long, with a total depth of 9 feet, and, when down, extending

5 feet below the keel.

Length over all, 113 feet.

The extreme beam is 26-1/2 feet at 40 feet from the rudder-post running

aft to about 19 feet at taffrail; forward, it decreases about 20 inches

when abreast of mast, thence runs away sharp to about four feet at the

bow.

The mainmast is placed about 5 feet abaft the end of straight keel; it

is 92 feet long, housing 8 feet: the diameter in the partners is 32

inches, tapering off to 23 inches at the hounds. The mast is made of

white pine, the centre of it is bored out, for the lowest twenty feet

about 12 inches diameter--the next 20 feet, 10 inches diameter--the next

20 feet, 8 inches, and the remainder 7 inches. This was done to make the

mast lighter, and, by the circulation of air, enable it to season

itself.

The main boom is 95 feet long[F] and made like a cask. The staves are 31

in number, of white pine, 2-1/4 inches thick; the staves are of

different lengths, so as to vary the points at which they respectively

abut. The extreme length of boom is obtained by two lengths of the

staves; small cogs of wood are let in at intervals, half in one stave

and half in its neighbour, so as to keep them from drawing, the whole

bound together with strong hoops fitted with screws. The extreme

diameter of the boom is 26 inches where the sheets are fixed, tapering

off at the jaws, and 13 inches at the boom end. To give additional

support to the boom, an iron outrigger, extending about 3 feet on each

side thereof, is fixed where the boom-sheets are placed, and a strong

iron brace extends from the jaws through the outrigger to the boom

end. The gaff is of spruce, 61 feet long and 9 inches diameter.

The bowsprit is of white pine, 38 feet long, 18 of which is outboard;

the remainder comes under the deck, is let in to each beam, and abuts

against the bitts: it is 24 inches diameter, and bored out like the

mast, from 10 inches diameter at the heel to 7 at the end. The jibboom

is made of two pieces of yellow pine, grooved out and hooped together;

it is about 70 feet long and about 8 inches in diameter; the foot of the

jib is laced to this spar on hooks (when required).

The mainsail is made with the seams horizontal, to avoid the resistance

perpendicular seams in so large a sail would offer to the wind. It has

been calculated that the resistance of perpendicular seams, in a sail of

this size, is equal to that of a plank 10 inches broad and 60 feet long,

placed on end broadside to the wind; the luff of the sail is 66 feet;

the foot, 93; the head, 50; the head and foot of the sail are laced to

battens under gaff and on boom; the luff is brought to the mast by a

contrivance as original as it is perfect; two battens are fixed on

afterpart of the mast, about an inch and a half apart, the inner parts

shod with iron, and rather broader than the exterior opening. To each

eyelet-hole of the sail a strong brass-plate is fixed, having 4 rollers

traversing fore and aft, and 2 transversely; these plates, as the sail

goes up, are slipped into the grooves of the battens, the rollers

preventing friction, and the battens keeping the luff fixed to the after

centre line of the mast--without this ingenious arrangement the huge

mast would, if on a wind, becalm at least three feet of the sail--three

lazy-jacks are fitted to support the huge mass of canvas when lowering

the sail.

The jib is 69 feet in the hoist, and 70 in the foot.

The bobstays are of solid iron, running 8 feet on each side of the keel,

and going through a strong iron cap over the bowsprit end, where, a

strong iron washer being put on, they are securely fixed with a nut.

It will be seen that there is a slight discrepancy between some of the

measurements which I have given, and those which are marked on the

print; I place confidence in those I have received direct from the

fountain-head; the difference is, however, so trifling, as scarce to

need any notice. I regret omitting to obtain the length of the

after-leech of the mainsail, and of the head of the jib; but I think the

print, which I believe to be very accurate, would justify me in

concluding that the former is about 110 feet and the latter about 120

feet.

[Illustration: THE BLACK MARIA.]

Assuming those calculations to be correct--and they cannot be very far

wrong--the mainsail would contain about 5790 square feet, and the jib

about 2100 square feet. When it is remembered that the largest sail in

the British Navy only contains 5480 square feet, some conception may be

formed of their gigantic proportions.

The gallant commodore was kind enough to trip his anchor and give me a

short cruise. Unfortunately, there was scarcely a breath of wind; but

even under the influence of such scanty propelling power, the way she

shot through the water, like a dolphin in full cry, was perfectly

marvellous; and the ease with which she came round, and the incredible

distance she shot ahead in stays, was, if possible, more astonishing

still; she steered as easy as a jolly-boat; or if, when running, a puff

made her refractory, by dropping the after centre-board she became as

docile as a lamb. My only regret was that I could not see her under the

high pressure of a good snorter. Of course, any salt-water fish will

have long since discovered that this wonderful yacht is a leviathan

plaything, and totally unfit to withstand the most moderate gale,

especially if any sea were running. What she might do if she were

sparred, as other vessels of her tonnage usually are, I cannot pretend

to say; but my yachting friends need never expect to see her, with her

present rig, re-enacting the "America," hurling friendly defiance at the

R.Y.C., and carrying off the crown of victory in their own waters.

But if any of my Cowes friends are anxious to test the powers of the

"Maria," the gallant commodore will be happy to accommodate them,

and--as he expressed it to me--will further rejoice at having an

opportunity of returning some of the many hospitalities which made his

short stay in England so agreeable to him. The only complaint I heard

him make of the rules of the yachting at Cowes, was the want of some

restriction as to vessels entering shallow water, by which omission a

yacht with a light draught of water is enabled sometimes to draw ahead

of her competitors by simply hugging the land out of the full swing of

the tide, while others are forced, from their deeper draught of water,

to struggle against its full force. As, in my humble opinion, the

observation is a perfectly just one, I insert it here for the

consideration of those whom it may concern.

The accommodation on board is not nearly so good as in an English yacht,

partly owing to the little height between decks, consequent upon her

very small draught of water, and partly owing to the great space taken

up by the case for the centre-board; besides which, it should be

remembered that a yacht is not used as a home in America in the same way

as in England. The great, and, I might almost say, the only quality,

transatlantic yachtsmen care about is speed; and I think my yachting

friends at Cowes must admit that they have proved that they know how to

attain their end, and that Mr. Steers, the builder of the "America," is

second to none in his craft; unless the "Black Maria" some future day

assume a practicable rig, and, crossing the Atlantic, earn the victor's

laurels, in which case Steers will have to yield the palm to the worthy

fraternity, who are at one and the same time the owners, builders, and

sailers of the subject of this chapter.

I believe it is very generally considered that the wind-up of a day's

sport is by no means the least enjoyable portion of the twenty-four

hours, when it comes in the shape of good fellowship and good cheer; and

upon the present occasion we had both alike undeniable of their kind.

The commodore's cellar is as rich a rarity in its way as the Bernal

collection, and, from the movement of the corks, I should imagine it was

upon an equally large scale. I do not purpose inflicting a bill of fare

upon you; but, having, in the foregoing pages, made a promise to furnish

the proper recipe for Toddy and Chowder, I consider this the proper

place to redeem that promise, under the guidance of my hospitable host,

who initiated me fully into the mysteries of mixture, proportion, &c.,

by making both before me.

Whether it is of great importance to adhere exactly to the recipes, I

cannot pretend to say; the soup was pronounced on all hands to be most

excellent, and some of the knowing ones declared it was unusually good.

We afterwards found out a good reason for its superior excellence. It

appears that the commodore had given some instructions to the steward,

which he evidently had not understood, for, upon asking that functionary

towards the end of dinner for a bottle of fine old Madeira which had

been kept back as a bonnebouche, he gave a wild stare-of astonishment,

and said he had put it all into the chowder. This little addition, I can

testify, most certainly did not spoil it. The toddy was not subject to

any such unwarrantable addition; and, if I may judge from the quantity

taken by my neighbours, they all found it as delicious a drink as I did

myself.

_Recipes_.

TODDY.--4 tumblers of water: 1 ditto, sugar: peel of 5 lemons, and

dessert spoon of the juice: add a few pieces of peach and pine-apple,

and some strawberries. Quarter of an hour before use, throw in 2

tumblers of old rum and a lump or two of block ice.

CHOWDER.--Saucepan ready, frizzle pork and onions till quite brown; put

a layer at bottom of the saucepan--saucerful;--on that, a layer of

mashed potatoes--soup-plateful;--on that, raw sea-bass,[G] cut in lumps

4 lbs.;--on that, pork and onions as before;--add half a nutmeg,

spoonful of mace, spoonful of cloves, and double that quantity of thyme

and summer savory; another layer of mashed potatoes, 3 or 4 Crackers,[H]

half a bottle of ketchup, half a bottle of claret, a liberal pinch of

black, and a small pinch of red pepper. Just cover this with boiling

water, and put it on the fire till the fish is cooked.

The gallant commodore and his brother are now employed in building an

iron bomb-proof floating battery, four hundred feet long, intended as a

harbour defence. What guns she is destined to mount is a question which

has not been definitively settled.

In so large a community as that of New York, the supply of water forms a

subject of the highest importance, especially when the rapid increase of

the population is taken into account. Some conception of this

extraordinary increase may be formed from the statistical fact that the

city, which in the year of Independence contained only 35,000

inhabitants, has now 850,000, if the suburbs are included; nearly

4000 vessels enter the port annually, bearing merchandise valued at

25,500,000l., and bringing 300,000 emigrants, of whom one-third are

Irish and one-third German. The tonnage of New York is upwards of a

million, or equal to one-fourth of that of the whole Union: the business

of the city gives employment to upwards of fifty banks. Religion is

represented by 250 churches, of which 46 are Presbyterian, and 45 are

Episcopalian. The Press sends forth 155 papers, of which 14 are

published daily and 58 weekly.

This short sketch will suffice to show that the city required a supply

of water upon a gigantic scale. The difficulties were increased by the

situation of the town, which is built upon the eastern extremity of an

island--Manhattan--fourteen miles long and two broad, the highest point

of which is but two hundred and thirty-eight feet above the level of the

sea. Various plans for supplying water had been attempted without

success, and the health of the population was suffering so much in

consequence, that at last American energy, which here had been long

dormant, rose like a giant refreshed and commenced that imperishable

monument, the Croton aqueduct.[I]

It is impossible to convey any idea of this stupendous work without

figures; but I will endeavour to draw upon your patience as little as

possible. My authority is a work published by Mr. Schramke in English,

French, and German, and full of explanatory details and plans, &c. Mr.

Schramke being one of the corps of engineers employed upon the work, I

conclude his statements are peculiarly accurate. Long discussions,

patient investigations, and careful surveys, combined to fix the

position for commencing operations upon the Croton river, forty and a

half miles from New York, and five miles below a small lake of the same

name. All the preliminaries had been hitherto carried on under the

superintendence of Major Douglas, professor of engineering at the

Military Academy at West Point; but, owing to some disagreements, Mr.

J.B. Jervis was the engineer eventually selected to carry out the

undertaking. It is but just to mention his name, as the skill exhibited

entitles him to lasting fame. By the construction of a substantial

dam, the water was raised 40 feet, and a collecting reservoir formed, of

500,000,000 gallons, above the level that would allow the aqueduct to

discharge 35,000,000 gallons a day. This stupendous work consists of a

covered way seven feet broad and eight feet and a half high; in its

course it has to pass through sixteen tunnellings, forming an aggregate

of nearly 7000 feet; to cross the river Harlem by a bridge 1450 feet

long and 114 feet above tide water, and to span various valleys. The

receiving reservoir outside the town gives a water surface of 31 acres,

and contains 150,000,000 gallons; it is divided into two separate

compartments, so that either may be emptied for cleansing or repair.

From this point the water is carried on, by three 36-inch pipes, to the

distributing reservoir, which is 386 feet square and 42 feet deep, but

filled generally to the depth of 38 feet, and then holding 21,000,000

gallons. From this point it radiates throughout the city by means of 134

miles of pipes, varying in size from 4 to 36 inches. There is an average

fall of 14 inches in the mile; and the supply, if required, can be

increased to 60,000,000 gallons daily. The total cost was 2,500,000l.;

the revenue derived from it is 100,000l. a year, moderate-sized houses

paying 2l., and others in proportion.

[Illustration: PLAN OF THE CROTON AQUEDUCT.

(_From Schramke's Description of the New York Croton Aqueduct_.)]

In conclusion, I would observe that this grand work is entitled to

notice from the skill displayed by the engineers, the quantity of the

supply, and the quality of the article, which latter is nearly as good

as sherry cobbler--not quite. If my reader has been inveigled into

reading the foregoing details, and has got bored thereby, a gallon of

Croton water is an admirable antidote; but, as that may not be

available, I would suggest a cobbler, and another page or two; the

latter upon the principle adopted by indiscreet drinkers, of "taking a

hair of the dog that bit them."

The concluding passage of the last paragraph reminds me of a practice

which, I have no doubt, the intense heat of a New York summer renders

very advisable, if not absolutely necessary--viz., the canine

_auto-da-fé_, which takes place in July. The heart sickens at the

thought of the wholesale murder of "man's most faithful companion," and

the feeling increases when you read that sometimes more than a thousand

dogs fall victims to the law in one season; but that very fact is the

strongest point which can be urged in its justifications for the dry hot

atmosphere of the summer affords a ready stepping-stone to hydrophobia,

and the larger the canine family, the greater the danger of that fearful

and incurable disease.

Upon a certain day, the mayor of New York offers the usual reward of

2s. for every dog, which, having been found unmuzzled in the streets,

is brought to the canine pound. However judicious this municipal

regulation may be, it cannot fail to strike the reader as offering one

most objectionable feature, in the golden harvest which it enables those

astute rogues, the dog-stealers, to reap. Any one conversant with the

irresistible nostrums possessed by those rascals, can readily understand

what an extensive field is hereby opened up to them; and, if one can

form a just opinion by comparing the number of dogs one habitually meets

in the streets with the multitude that are reputed to fall victims under

the official mandate, they certainly make the most of their opportunity.

To any admirer of the race, the inside of the pound must be a most

painful and revolting spectacle: there may be seen, lying side by side,

"dignity and impudence," the fearless bull and the timid spaniel, the

bloated pug and the friendly Newfoundland, the woolly lap-dog and the

whining cur; some growling in defiance, some whimpering in misery, some

looking imploringly--their intelligent eyes challenging present sympathy

on the ground of past fidelity--all, all in vain: the hour that summons

the Mussulman to prayer, equally silently tolls their death-knell; yon

glorious sun, setting in a flood of fire, lights them to their untimely

grave; one ruthless hand holds the unconscious head, another with deadly

aim smashes the skull and scatters the brain--man's faithful friend is a

corpse.

Owners are allowed to reclaim their property before sunset, on payment

of the 2s. reward; the best-looking dogs are sometimes kept for two or

three days, as purchasers are frequently found. The price, after the

first day, is, the killer's fee and the food given, in addition to the

original reward; altogether, it rarely exceeds 8s. The owner has to

purchase like any other person. The bodies are all taken away to be

boiled down for their fat, and the skins go to the tanners. Let us now

turn from this disgusting subject to something more agreeable.

I have already alluded to the great fancy Americans have for trotters.

The best place to see "turns out" is the Bloomingdale road, which runs

out of New York, nearly parallel with the Hudson, and separated from it

only by the country villas, &c., built on the banks of that noble

stream. This drive may be called a purely democratic "Rotten-row," as

regards its being the favourite resort; but there the similarity ceases.

To the one, people go to lounge, meet friends, and breathe fresh air on

horseback; to the other, people go with a fixed determination to pass

everybody, and on wheels. To the one, people go before dinner; to the

other, after.

A friend of mine having offered me a feed, and a seat behind a pair of

three-minuters, the offer was too good to be refused. The operation of

getting into one of these four-wheel waggons, looks perplexing enough,

as the only rest for the feet, which appears, is the cap of the axle;

but, upon pulling the horses' heads into the middle of the street, and

thus locking the fore-wheels, a stop is discovered, which renders the

process easy. It is difficult to say which is the more remarkable, the

lightness of the waggon, or the lightness of the harness; either is

sufficient to give a nervous feeling of insufficiency to a stranger who

trusts himself to them for the first time; but experience proves both

their sufficiency and their advantage. In due time, we reached the outer

limits of the town; struggling competitors soon appeared, and, in spite

of dust as plentiful as a plague of locusts, every challenge was

accepted; a fair pass once made, the victor was satisfied, and resumed a

more moderate pace. We had already given one or two the go-by, when we

heard a clattering of hoofs close behind us, and the well-known cry,

"G'lang." My friend let out his three-minuters, but ere they reached

their speed, the foe was well on our bow, and there he kept, bidding us

defiance. It is, doubtless, very exciting to drive at the rate of twenty

miles an hour, and though the horses' hoofs throw more gravel down your

throat in five minutes than would suffice a poultry-yard for a week, one

does not think of it at the time.

On we flew; our foe on two wheels and single harness every now and then

letting us get abreast of him, and then shooting ahead like an arrow

from a bow. A few trials showed us the struggle was useless: we had to

deal with a regular "pacer," and--as I have elsewhere remarked--their

speed is greater than that of any fair trotter, although so fatiguing

that they are unable to keep it up for any great distance; but as we had

already turned the bottom of the car into a gravel-pit, we did not think

it worth while to continue the amusement. The reason may be asked why

these waggons have such low splashboards as to admit all the gravel? The

reason is simple. Go-ahead is the great desideratum, and they are kept

low to enable you to watch the horses' hind legs; by doing which, a

knowing Jehu can discover when they are about to break into a gallop,

and can handle "the ribands" accordingly.

A tremendous storm brewing to windward, cut short our intended drive;

and, putting the nags to their best pace, we barely succeeded in

obtaining shelter ere it burst upon us; and such a pelter as it came

down, who ever saw? It seemed as though the countless hosts of heaven

had been mustered with barrels, not buckets, of water, and as they upset

them on the poor devoted earth, a regular hurricane came to the rescue,

and swept them eastward to the ocean. The sky, from time to time, was

one blaze of sheet lightning, and during the intervals, forked flashes

shot through the darkness like fiery serpents striking their prey. This

storm, if short, was at all events magnificently grand, and we

subsequently found it had been terribly destructive also; boats on the

Hudson had been capsized and driven ashore, houses had been unroofed,

and forest trees split like penny canes.

The inn where we had taken shelter was fortunately not touched, nor were

any of the trees which surrounded it. Beautifully situated on a high

bank, sloping down to the Hudson, full of fine old timber; it had

belonged to some English noble--I forget his name--in the old colonial

times; now, it was a favourite baiting-place for the frequenters of the

Bloomingdale road, and dispensed the most undeniably good republican

drinks, cobblers, cock-tails, slings, and hail-storms, with other more

substantial and excellent things to match. The storm being over, we

unhitched the horses, and returned to town at a more sober pace; nor

were we much troubled with dust during the drive home.

Lest the reader should get wearied with so long a stay at New York, I

now propose to shift the scene for his amusement, and hope he will

accompany me in my wanderings. If, during the operation, he occasionally

finds me tedious in any details uninteresting to him, I trust that a

judicious skipping of a few leaves will bring us again into agreeable

companionship.

FOOTNOTES:

[Footnote F: The largest boom in the Navy is 72 feet long, and 16-1/2

inches in diameter; the largest mast is 127 feet 3 inches long, and 42

inches diameter; the largest yard is 111 feet long, and 26-1/2 inches

diameter.]

[Footnote G: Turbot is a good substitute for sea-bass.]

[Footnote H: A small American biscuit made of best flour.]

[Footnote I: _Vide_ sketch of Aqueduct.]

CHAPTER VIII.

_South and West_.

Being anxious to visit the southern parts of this Empire State, and

having found an agreeable companion, we fixed upon an early day in

November for our start; and although I anticipated much pleasure from

the scenery and places of interest which my proposed trip would carry me

through, I could not blind myself to the sad fact, that the gorgeous

mantle of autumn had fallen from the forest, and left in its stead the

dreary nakedness of winter. The time I could allot to the journey was

unfortunately so short, that, except of one or two of the leading

places, I could not hope to have more than literally a flying sight, and

should therefore be insensibly compelled to receive many impressions

from the travelling society among which the Fates threw me.

Eight o'clock in the morning found us both at the Jersey ferry, where

our tickets for Baltimore--both for man and luggage--were to be

obtained. It was a pelting snow-storm, and the luggage-ticketing had to

be performed _al fresco_, which, combined with the total want of order

so prevalent in the railway establishments in this country, made it

anything but an agreeable operation. Our individual tickets were

obtained under shelter, but in an office of such Lilliputian dimensions,

that the ordinary press of passengers made it like a theatrical squeeze

on a Jenny Lind night; only with this lamentable difference--that the

theatrical squeeze was a prelude to all that could charm the senses,

whereas the ticket squeeze was, I knew but too well, the precursor of a

day of most uncomfortable travelling.

Having our tickets, we crossed the ever-glorious Hudson, and, landing at

Jersey City, had the pleasure of "puddling it up" through the snow to

the railway carriages. There they were, with the red-hot stove and

poisonous atmosphere, as usual; so my friend and I, selecting a

cushionless "smoking-car," where the windows would at all events be

open, seated ourselves on the hard boards of resignation, lit the tapery

weed of consolation, and shrouded ourselves in its fragrant clouds. On

we went, hissing through the snow-storm, till the waters of the Delaware

brought us to a stand-still; then, changing to a steamer, we crossed the

broad stream, on which to save time, they served dinner, and almost

before it was ended we had reached Philadelphia, where 'busses were in

waiting to take us to the railway. I may as well mention here, that one

of the various ways in which the glorious liberty of the country shows

itself, is the deliberate manner in which 'busses and stages stop in the

middle of the muddiest roads, in the worst weather, so that you may get

thoroughly well muddied and soaked in effecting your entry. Equality, I

suppose, requires that if the coachman is to be wet and uncomfortable,

the passengers should be brought as near as possible to the same state.

The 'busses being all ready, off we started, and just reached the train

in time; for, being a mail-train, it could not wait, though we had paid

our fares all through to Baltimore. Soon after our departure, I heard

two neighbours conversing between the intervals of the clouds of

Virginia which they puffed assiduously. Says one, "I guess all the

baggage is left behind." The friend, after a long draw at his weed,

threw out a cloud sufficient to cover the rock of Gibraltar, and

replied, with the most philosophical composure, "I guess it aint

nurthin' else." My friend and I puffed vigorously, and looked

inquiringly at each other, as much as to say, "Can our luggage be left

behind?" Soon the conductor appeared to _viser_ the tickets: he would

solve our doubts.--"I say, conductor, is our luggage which came from New

York, left behind?" "Ay, I guess it is, every stick of it; and if you

had been ten minutes later, I guess you might have stayed with it; it'll

come on to-night, and be at Baltimore to-morrow morning about half-past

four; if you'll give me your tickets, and tell me what hotel you are

going to, I'll have it sent up." Upon inquiry, we found this was a very

common event, nor did anybody seem to think it a subject worth taking

pains to have rectified, though the smallest amount of common sense and

common arrangement might easily obviate it. And why this indifference?

Because, first it would cost a few cents; secondly, it doesn't affect

the majority, who travel with a small hand-bag only; thirdly, the

railway across New Jersey is a monopoly, and therefore people must take

that road or none; and lastly, from the observations I elicited in the

course of examining my witnesses, it appeared to me that the jealousy

and rivalry existing between New Jersey, New York, and Philadelphia,

have some little effect; at all events, it is an ignoble affair that it

is suffered to remain. I have, however, no doubt that time will remedy

this, as I trust it will many of the other inconveniences and wants of

arrangement which the whole railway system in this country is at present

subject to.--To return from my digression.

On we went, and soon crossed the Campbell-immortalized Susquehana.

Whatever beauties there were, the elements effectually concealed; and

after a day's journey, which, for aught we saw, might as well have been

over the Shrap Falls, half-past six P.M. landed us in Baltimore, where

we safely received our luggage the following morning.

A letter of introduction to a friend soon surrounded us with kindness in

this hospitable city. My object in stopping here was merely to enjoy a

little of the far-famed canvas-back duck shooting and eating, as I

purposed revisiting these parts early in spring, when I should have more

leisure. No sooner were our wishes known than one of our kind friends

immediately offered to drive us down to Maxwell Point, which is part of

a large property belonging to General Cadwallader, and is situated in

one of the endless inlets with which Chesapeake Bay abounds. All being

arranged, our friend appeared in a light waggon, with a pair of spicy

trotters before it. The road out was dreary and uninteresting enough;

but when we left it, and turned into a waggon way through an extensive

forest, I could not but feel what a lovely ride or drive it must be in

the more genial seasons of the year, when the freshness of spring and

summer, or the richness of autumn, clothes the dense wood with its

beauties. A short and pleasant drive brought us to a ferry, by which we

crossed over to the famous Point, thereby avoiding the long round which

we otherwise must have made. The waters were alive with duck in every

direction; it reminded me forcibly of the Lake Menzaleh, near Damietta,

the only place where I had ever before seen such a duckery.

The sporting ground is part of a property belonging to General

Cadwallader, and is leased to a club of gentlemen; they have built a

very snug little shooting-box, where they leave their guns and

_matériel_ for sport, running down occasionally from Baltimore for a day

or two, when opportunity offers, and enjoying themselves in true pic-nic

style.[J] The real time for good sport is from the middle of October to

the middle of November, and what produces the sport is, the ducks

shifting their feeding-ground, in performing which operation they cross

over this long point. As the season gets later, the birds do not shift

their ground so frequently; and, moreover, getting scared by the eternal

cannonade which is kept up, they fly very high when they do cross. The

best times are daybreak and just before dark; but even then, if the

weather is not favourable, they pass but scantily. My friend warned me

of this, as the season for good sport was already passed, though only

the nineteenth of November, and he did not wish me to be disappointed.

We landed on the Point about half-past four P.M., and immediately

prepared for mischief, though those who had been there during the day

gave us little encouragement.

The _modus operandi_ is very simply told. You dress yourself in the most

invisible colours, and, armed with a huge duck-gun--double or single, as

you like--you proceed to your post, which is termed here a "blind." It

is a kind of box, about four feet high, with three sides and no top; a

bench is fixed inside, on which to sit and place your loading gear.

These blinds are fixed in the centre line of the long point, and about

fifty yards apart. One side of the point they call "Bay," and the other

"River." The sportsmen look out carefully from side to side, and the

moment any ducks are seen in motion, the cry is given "bay" or "river,"

according to the side from which they are approaching. Each sportsman,

the moment he "views the ducks," crouches down in his blind as much out

of sight as possible, waiting till they are nearly overhead, then,

rising with his murderous weapon, lets drive at them the moment they

have passed. As they usually fly very high, their thick downy coating

would turn any shots directed against them, on their approach. In this

way, during a favourable day in the early part of the season, a mixed

"file and platoon" firing of glorious _coups de roi_ is kept up

incessantly. We were very unfortunate that evening, as but few ducks

were in motion, and those few passed at so great a height, that,

although the large A.A. rattled against them from a ponderous Purdey

which a friend had lent me, they declined coming down. I had only

succeeded in getting one during my two hours' watching, when darkness

forced me to beat a retreat.

But who shall presume to attempt a description of the luscious birds as

they come in by pairs, "hot and hot?" A dozen of the members of the club

are assembled; a hearty and hospitable welcome greets the stranger--a

welcome so warm that he cannot feel he is a stranger; every face is

radiant with health, every lip moist with appetite; an unmistakeable

fragrance reaches the nostrils--no further summons to the festive scene

is needed. The first and minor act of soup being over, the "smoking

pair" come in, and are placed before the president. In goes the

fork;--gracious! how the juice spouts out. The dry dish swims; one

skilful dash with the knife on each side, the victim is severed in three

parts, streaming with richness, and whetting the appetite to absolute

greediness. But there is an old adage which says, "All is not gold that

glitters." Can this be a deception? The first piece you put in your

mouth, as it melts away on the palate, dissipates the thought, and you

unhesitatingly pronounce it the most delicious morsel you ever tasted.

In they come, hot and hot; and, like Oliver, you ask for more, but with

better success. Your host, when he sees you flagging, urges, "one" more

cut. You hesitate, thinking a couple of ducks a very fair allowance. He

replies,--"'Pon my word, it's such light food; you can eat a dozen!" A

jovial son of Aesculapius, on whom Father Time had set his mark, though

he has left his conviviality in all the freshness of youth, is appealed

to. He declares, positively, that he knows nothing so easy of digestion

as a canvas-back duck; and he eats away jollily up to his assertion. How

very catching it is!--each fresh arrival from the kitchen brings a fresh

appetite to the party. "One down, t'other come on," is the order of the

day. Those who read, may say "Gormandizer!" But many such, believe me,

if placed behind three, or even four, of these luscious birds, cooked

with the artistic accuracy of the Maxwell Point _cuisine_, would leave

a cat but sorry pickings, especially when the bottle passes freely, and

jovial friends cheer you on. Of course, I do not allude to such people

as enjoy that "soaked oakum," called "bouilli." To offer a well-cooked

canvas-back duck to them, would, indeed, be casting pearls

before--something. Neither would it suit the fastidious taste of those

who, not being able to discern the difference between juice and blood,

cook all flavour and nourishment out of their meats, and luxuriate on

the chippy substance which is left.--But time rolls on; cigars and toddy

have followed; and, as we must be at our posts ere dawn, to Bedfordshire

we go.

Ere the day had dawned, a hasty cup of coffee prepared us for the

morning's sport; and, lighting the friendly weed, we groped our way to

our respective blinds, full of hope and thirsting for blood. Alas! the

Fates were not propitious; but few birds crossed, and those mostly out

of range. However, I managed to bag half a dozen before I was summoned

to nine o'clock breakfast, a meal at which, it is needless to say, the

"glorious bird" was plentifully distributed. After breakfast, I amused

myself with a telescope, watching the ducks diving and fighting for the

wild celery which covers the bottom of these creeks and bays, and which

is generally supposed to give the birds their rich and peculiar flavour.

They know the powers of a duck-gun to a T; and, keeping beyond its

range, they come as close as possible to feed, the water being, of

course, shallower, and the celery more easily obtained. Our time being

limited, we were reluctantly constrained to bid adieu to our kind and

hospitable entertainers, of whose friendly welcome and good cheer I

retain the most lively recollections.

Crossing the bay in a small boat, we re-entered the light carriage, and

were soon "tooling away" merrily to Baltimore. On the road, our friend

amused us with accounts of two different methods adopted in these waters

for getting ducks for the pot. One method is, to find a bay where the

ducks are plentiful, and tolerably near the shore; and then, concealing

yourself as near the water's edge as possible, you take a stick, on the

end of which you tie a handkerchief, and keep waving it steadily

backwards and forwards. The other method is to employ a dog in lieu of

the stick and handkerchief. They have a regular breed for the purpose,

about the size of a large Skye terrier, and of a sandy colour. You keep

throwing pebbles to the water's edge, which the dog follows; and thus he

is ever running to and fro. In either case, the ducks, having something

of the woman in their composition, gradually swim in, to ascertain the

meaning or cause of these mysterious movements; and, once arrived within

range, the sportsman rises suddenly, and, as the scared birds get on the

wing, they receive the penalty of their curiosity in a murderous

discharge. These two methods they call "tolling;" and most effectual

they prove for supplying the market.

Different nations exhibit different methods of ingenuity for the capture

of game, &c. I remember being struck, when in Egypt, with the artful

plan employed for catching ducks and flamingos, on Lake Menzaleh; which

is, for the huntsman to put a gourd on his head, pierced sufficiently to

see through, and by means of which,--the rest of his body being

thoroughly immersed in water,--he approaches his game so easily, that

the first notice they have thereof is the unpleasant sensation they

experience as his hand closes upon their legs in the depths of the

water.

Of the town, &c., of Baltimore, I hope to tell you something more on my

return. We will therefore proceed at once to the railway station, and

take our places for Pittsburg. It is a drizzly, snowy morning, a kind of

moisture that laughs at so-called waterproofs, and would penetrate an

air-pump. As there was no smoking-car, we were constrained to enter

another; and off we started. At first, the atmosphere was bearable; but

soon, alas! too soon, every window was closed; the stove glowed red-hot;

the tough-hided natives gathered round it, and, deluging it with

expectorated showers of real Virginian juice, the hissing and stench

became insufferable. I had no resource but to open my window, and let

the driving sleet drench one side of me, while the other was baking;

thus, one cheek was in an ice-house, and the other in an oven. At noon

we came to "a fix;" the railway bridge across to Harrisburg had broken

down. There was nothing for it but patience; and, in due time, it was

rewarded by the arrival of three omnibuses and a luggage-van. As there

were about eighty people in the train, it became a difficult task to

know how to pack, for the same wretched weather continued, and nobody

courted an outside place, with drenched clothes wherein to continue the

journey. At last, however, it was managed, something on the

herrings-in-a-barrel principle. I had one lady in my lap, and a darling

unwashed pledge of her affection on each foot. We counted twenty-six

heads, in all; and we jolted away, as fast as the snow would let us, to

catch the Philadelphia train, which was to pick us up here.

We managed to arrive about an hour and a half after it had passed; and,

therefore, no alternative remained but to adjourn to the little inn, and

fortify ourselves for the trial with such good things as mine host of

the "Culverley" could produce. It had now settled down to a regular fall

of snow, and we began to feel anxious about the chances of proceeding.

Harrisburg may be very pretty and interesting in fine weather, but it

was a desolately dreary place to anticipate being snowed-up at in

winter, although situated on the banks of the lovely Susquehana:

accordingly, I asked mine host when the next train would pass. He

replied, with grammatical accuracy, "It should pass about four to-morrow

morning; but when it will I am puzzled to say.--What's your opinion,

Colonel?" he added; and, turning round, I observed the distinguished

military authority seated on one chair, and his legs gracefully pendent

over the back of another. In his sword-hand, he wielded a small

clasp-knife, which did the alternate duty of a toothpick and a

whittler,[K] for which latter amusement he kept a small stick in his

left hand to operate upon; and the floor bore testimony to his untiring

zeal. When the important question was propounded to him, he ceased from

his whittling labours, and, burying the blade deep between his ivories,

looked out of the window with an authoritative air, apparently

endeavouring, first, to ascertain what depth of snow was on the ground,

and then, by an upward glance, to calculate how much more was likely to

follow. Having duly weighed these points, and having perfected the

channel between his ivories, he sucked the friendly blade, and replied,

with a stoical indifference--which, considering my anxiety, might almost

be styled heartless--"I guess, if it goes on snowing like this, you'll

have no cars here to-morrow at all." Then, craning up to the heavens, as

if seeking for the confirmation of a more terrible prophecy, he added,

"By the looks of it, I think the gem'men may be fixed here for a week."

Having delivered himself of the foregoing consolatory observation, and

duly discharged a shower of Virginia juice on the floor, the military

authority resumed his whittling labours with increased vigour. His

occupation involuntarily carried my mind across the water to a

country-house, where I had so often seen an old blind friend amusing

himself, by tearing up paper into small pieces, to make pillows for the

poor. If the gallant Colonel would only substitute this occupation for

whittling, what good might he not do in Harrisburg!

I am happy to say that my Job's comforter turned out a false prophet;

snow soon gave place to sleet, and sleet to rain, and before midnight

the muck was complete. Next morning, at three, we got into the 'bus, and

soon after four the cars came in, and we found ourselves once more _en

route_ for Pittsburg. I think this was about the most disagreeable day's

journey I ever had. The mixture of human and metallic heat, the chorus

of infantine squallers--who kept responding to one another from all

parts of the car, like so many dogs in an eastern city--and the

intervals filled up by the hissing on the stove of the Virginia juice,

were unpleasant enough; but even the elements combined against us. The

rain and the snow were fighting together, and producing that slushiness

of atmosphere which obscures all scenery; added to which, the

unfortunate foreknowledge that we were doomed to fifteen or sixteen

hours of these combinations of misery, made it indeed a wretched day. My

only resource was to open a window, which the moment I attempted, a

hulking fellow, swaddled up in coats and comforters, and bursting with

health, begged it might be closed as "It was so cold:" the thermometer,

I am sure, was ranging, within the car, from ninety to a hundred

degrees. He then tried to hector and bully, and finding that of no use,

he appealed to the guard. I claimed my right, and further pleaded the

necessity of fresh air, not merely for comfort, but for very life. As my

friend expressed the same sentiments, the cantankerous Hector was left

to sulk; and I must own to a malicious satisfaction, when, soon after,

two ladies came in, and seating themselves on the bench abreast of mine,

opened their window, and placed Hector in a thorough draught, which,

while gall and wormwood to him, was balm of Gilead to me. As I freely

criticise American habits, &c., during my travels, it is but just I

should state, that Hector was the only one of his countrymen I ever met

who was wilfully offensive and seemed to wish to insult.

The engineering on this road was so contrived, that we had to go through

an operation, which to me was quite novel--viz., being dragged by wire

ropes up one of the Alleghany hills, and eased down the other side. The

extreme height is sixteen hundred feet; and it is accomplished by five

different stationary engines, each placed on a separate inclined plane,

the highest of which is two thousand six hundred feet above the level of

the sea. The want of proper arrangement and sufficient hands made this a

most dilatory and tedious operation. Upon asking why so 'cute and

go-ahead a people had tolerated such bad engineering originally, and

such dilatory arrangements up to the present hour, I was answered, "Oh,

sir, that's easily explained; it is a government road and a monopoly,

but another road is nearly completed, by which all this will be avoided;

and, as it is in the hands of a company, there will be no delay

then."--How curious it is, the way governments mess such things when

they undertake them! I could not help thinking of the difference between

our own government mails from Marseilles to Malta, &c., and the glorious

steamers of the Peninsular and Oriental Company, that carry on the same

mails from Malta.--But to return from my digression.

I was astonished to see a thing like a piece of a canal-boat descending

one of these inclined planes on a truck; nor was my astonishment

diminished when I found that it really was part of a canal-boat, and

that the remaining portions were following in the rear. The boats are

made, some in three, some in five compartments; and, being merely

forelocked together, are easily carried across the hill, from the canal

on one side to the continuation thereof on the other.[L]

A few hours after quitting these planes, we came to the end of the

railway, and had to coach it over a ten-mile break in the line. It was

one of those wretched wet days which is said to make even an old

inhabitant of Argyleshire look despondingly,--in which county, it will

be remembered that, after six weeks' incessant wet, an English

traveller, on asking a shepherd boy whether it always rained there,

received the consoling reply of, "No, sir--it sometimes snaws." The

ground was from eight to eighteen inches deep in filthy mud; the old

nine-inside stages--of which more anon--were waiting ready; and as there

were several ladies in the cars, I thought the stages might be induced

to draw up close to the scantily-covered platform to take up the

passengers; but no such idea entered their heads. I imagine such an

indication of civilization would have been at variance with their

republican notions of liberty; and the fair ones had no alternative but

to pull their garments up to the altitude of those of a ballet-dancer,

and to bury their neat feet and well-turned ankles deep, deep, deep in

the filthy mire. But what made this conduct irresistibly

ludicrous--though painful to any gentleman to witness--was the mockery

of make-believe gallantry exhibited, in seating all the ladies before

any gentleman was allowed to enter; the upshot of which was, that they

gradually created a comparatively beaten path for the gentlemen to get

in by. One pull of the rein and one grain of manners would have enabled

everybody to enter clean and dry; yet so habituated do the better

classes appear to have become to this phase of democracy, that no one

remonstrated on behalf of the ladies or himself.

The packing completed, a jolting ride brought us again to the railway

cars; and in a few hours more--amid the cries of famishing babes and

sleepy children, the "hush-hushes" of affectionate mammas, the bustle of

gathering packages, and the expiring heat of the poisonous stove--we

reached the young Birmingham of America about 10 P.M., and soon found

rest in a comfortable bed, at a comfortable hotel.

If you wish a good idea of Pittsburg, you should go to Birmingham, and

reduce its size, in your imagination, to one-fourth the reality; after

which, let the streets of this creation of your fancy be "top-dressed"

about a foot deep with equal proportions of clay and coal-dust; then try

to realize in your mind the effect which a week's violent struggle

between Messrs. Snow and Sleet would produce, and you will thus be

enabled to enjoy some idea of the charming scene which Pittsburg

presented on the day of my visit. But if this young Birmingham has so

much in common with the elder, there is one grand feature it possesses

which the other wants. The Ohio and Monongahela rivers form the delta on

which it is built, and on the bosom of the former the fruits of its

labour are borne down to New Orleans, _viâ_ the Mississippi--a distance

of two thousand and twenty-five miles exactly. Coal and iron abound in

the neighbourhood; they are as handy, in reality, as the Egyptian geese

are in the legend, where they are stated to fly about ready roasted,

crying, "Come and eat me!" Perhaps, then, you will ask, why is the town

not larger, and the business not more active? The answer is simple. The

price of labour is so high, that they cannot compote with the parent

rival; and the _ad valorem_ duty on iron, though it may bring in a

revenue to the government, is no protection to the home trade. What

changes emigration from the Old World may eventually produce, time alone

can decide; but it requires no prophetic vision to foresee that the

undeveloped mineral riches of this continent must some day be worked

with telling effect upon England's trade. I must not deceive you into a

belief that the Ohio is always navigable. So far from that being the

case, I understand that, for weeks and months even, it is constantly

fordable. As late as the 23rd of November, the large passage-boats were

unable to make regular passages, owing to their so frequently getting

aground; and the consequence was, that we were doomed to prosecute our

journey to Cincinnati by railroad, to my infinite--but, as my friend

said, not inexpressible--regret.

Noon found us at the station, taking the last bite of fresh air before

we entered the travelling oven. Fortunately, the weather was rather

finer than it had been, and more windows were open. There is something

solemn and grand in traversing, with the speed of the wind, miles and

miles of the desolate forest. Sometimes you pass a whole hour without

any--the slightest--sign of animal life: not a bird, nor a beast, nor a

being. The hissing train rattles along; the trumpet-tongued whistle--or

rather horn--booms far away in the breeze, and finds no echo; the giant

monarchs of the forest line the road on either side, like a guard of

Titans, their nodding heads inquiring, as it were curiously, why their

ranks were thinned, and what strange meteor is that which, with clatter

and roar, rushes past, disturbing their peaceful solitude. Patience my

noble friends; patience, I say. A few short years more, and many of you,

like your deceased brethren, will bend your proud heads level with the

dust, and those giant limbs, which now kiss the summer sun and dare the

winter's blast, will feed that insatiate meteor's stomach, or crackle

beneath some adventurous pioneer's soup-kettle. But, never mind; like

good soldiers in a good cause, you will sacrifice yourselves for the

public good; and possibly some of you may be carved into figures of

honour, and dance triumphantly on the surge's crest in the advance post

of glory on a dashing clipper's bows, girt with a band on which is

inscribed, in letters of gold, the imperishable name of Washington or

Franklin.

Being of a generous disposition, I have thrown out these hints in the

hopes some needy American author may make his fortune, and immortalize

his country, by writing "The Life and Adventures of the Forest Monarch;"

or, as the public like mystery, he might make a good hit by entitling it

"The Child of the Woods that danced on the Wave." Swift has immortalized

a tub; other authors have endeavoured to immortalize a shilling, and a

halfpenny. Let that great country which professes to be able to "whip

creation" take a noble subject worthy of such high pretensions.

Here we are at Cleveland; and, "by the powers of Mercury"--this

expletive originated, I believe, with a proud barometer,--it is raining

cats and dogs and a host of inferior animals. Everybody seems very

impatient, for all are getting out, and yet we have not reached the

station,--no; and they don't mean to get there at present. Possession is

nine points of the law, and another train is ensconced there. Wood, of

course, is so dear in this country, and railroads give such low

interest--varying from six to forty per cent.--that they can't afford to

have sufficient shedding. Well, out we get. Touters from the hotels cry

out lustily. We hear the name of the house to which we are bound, and

prepare to follow. The touter carries a lantern of that ingenious size

which helps to make the darkness more visible; two steps, and you are

over the ankles in mud. "Show a light, boy." He turns round, and,

placing his lantern close to the ground, you see at a glance the horrid

truth revealed--you are in a perfect mud swamp; so, tuck up your

trowsers, and wade away to the omnibuses, about a quarter of a mile off.

Gracious me! there are two ladies, with their dresses hitched up like

kilts, sliding and floundering through the slushy road. How miserable

they must be, poor things! Not the least; they are both tittering and

giggling merrily; they are accustomed to it, and habit is second nature.

A man from the Old World of advanced civilization--in these matters of

minor comforts, at least--will soon learn to conduct himself upon the

principle, that where ignorance is bliss, wisdom becomes folly.

Laughing, like love, is catching; so these two jolly ladies put me in a

good humour, and I laughed my way to the 'bus half up to my knees in

mud. After all, it made it lighter work than growling, and go I must; so

thank you, ladies, for the cheering example.

Hot tea soon washes away from a thirsty and wearied soul the remembrance

of muddy boots, and a good Havana soothes the wounded spirit. After

enjoying both, I retired to rest, as I hoped, for we had to make an

early start in the morning. Scarce was I in bed, ere the house rang

again with laughing and romping just outside my door; black and white,

old and young, male and female, all seemed chorusing together--feet

clattered, passages echoed--it was a very Babel of noise and confusion.

What strange beings we are! Not two hours before, I had said and felt

that laughing was catching; now, although the merry chirp of youth

mingled with it, I wished the whole party at the residence of an old

gentleman whose name I care not to mention. May we not truly say of

ourselves what the housemaid says of the missing article--"Really, sir,

I don't know nothing at all about it?" A few hours before, I was

joining in the laugh as I waded nearly knee-deep in mud, and now I was

lying in a comfortable bed grinding my teeth at the same joyous sounds.

It took three messages to the proprietor, before order was restored and

I was asleep. In the morning, I found that the cause of all the rumpus

was a marriage that had taken place in the hotel; and the master and

mistress being happy, the servants caught the joyous infection, and got

the children to share it with them. I must not be understood to cast any

reflections upon the happy pair, when I say that the marriage took place

in the morning, and that the children were laughing at night, for

remember, I never inquired into the parentage of the little ducks. On

learning the truth, I was rejoiced to feel that they had not gone to the

residence of the old gentleman before alluded to, and I made resolutions

to restrain my temper in future. After a night's rest, with a cup of hot

_café au lait_ before you, how easy and pleasant good resolutions are.

Having finished a hasty breakfast, we tumbled into an omnibus, packed

like herrings in a barrel, for our number was "Legion," and the omnibus

was "Zoar." Off we went to the railway; such a mass of mud I never saw.

Is it from this peculiarity that the city takes its name? This, however,

does not prevent it from being a very thriving place, and destined, I

believe, to be a town of considerable importance, as soon as the grain

and mineral wealth of Michigan, Wisconsin, &c., get more fully

developed, and when the new canal pours the commerce of Lake Superior

into Lake Erie. Cleveland is situated on the slope of a hill commanding

a beautiful and extensive view; the latter I was told, for as it rained

incessantly, I had no opportunity of judging. Here we are at the

station, i.e., two hundred yards off it, which we are allowed to walk,

so as to damp ourselves pleasantly before we start. Places taken, in we

get; we move a few hundred yards, and come to a stand-still, waiting for

another train, which allows us the excitement of suspense for nearly an

hour and a half, and then we really start for Cincinnati. The cars have

the usual attractions formerly enumerated: grin and bear it is the order

of the day; scenery is shrouded in mist, night closes in with her sable

mantle, and about eleven we reach the hotel, where, by the blessing of

a happy contrast, we soon forget the wretched day's work we have gone

through.

Here we are in the "Queen City of the West," the rapid rise whereof is

astounding. By a statistical work, I find that in 1800 it numbered only

750 inhabitants; in 1840, 46,338--1850, 115,438: these calculations

merely include its corporate limits. If the suburbs be added, the

population will reach 150,000: of which number only about 3000 are

coloured. The Americans constitute 54 per cent.; Germans, 28; English,

16; other foreigners, 2 per cent. of the population. They have 102

schools, and 357 teachers, and 20,737 pupils are yearly instructed by

these means. Of these schools 19 are free, instructing 12,240 pupils,

not in mere writing and reading, but rising in the scale to "algebra,

grammar, history, composition, declamation, music, drawing," &c. The

annual cost of these schools is between 13,000l. and 14,000l. There

is also a "Central School," where the higher branches of literature and

science are taught to those who have time and talent; in short, a "Free

College."

According to the ordinance for the North-Western territory of 1787,

"religion, morality, and knowledge being necessary to good government

and the happiness of mankind, schools and the means of education shall

for ever be encouraged." Congress, in pursuance of this laudable object,

"has reserved one thirty-sixth part of all public lands for the support

of education in the States in which the lands lie; besides which, it has

added endowments for numerous universities, &c." We have seen that the

public schools in this city cost 13,500l., of which sum they receive

from the State fund above alluded to 1500l., the remainder being

raised by a direct tax upon the property of the city, and increased from

time to time in proportion to the wants of the schools. One of the

schools is for coloured children, and contains 360 pupils. There are 91

churches and 4 synagogues, and the population is thus classed--Jews, 3

per cent.; Roman Catholics, 35; Protestant, 62. The Press is represented

by 12 daily and 20 weekly papers. From these statistics, dry though they

may appear, one must confess that the means of education and religious

instruction are provided for in a manner that reflects the highest

credit on this "Queen City of the West."

It is chiefly owing to the untiring perseverance of Mr. Longworth, that

they have partially succeeded in producing wine. As far as I could

ascertain, they made about fifty thousand gallons a year. The wine is

called "Catawba," from the grape, and is made both still and sparkling.

Thanks to the kind hospitality of a friend, I was enabled to taste the

best of each. I found the still wine rather thin and tart, but, as the

weather was very cold, that need not affect the truth of my friend's

assertion, that in summer it was a very pleasant beverage. The sparkling

wine was much more palatable, and reminded me of a very superior kind of

perry. They cannot afford to sell it on the spot under four shillings a

bottle, and of course the hotels double that price immediately. I think

there can be no doubt that a decided improvement must be made in it

before it can become valuable enough to find its way into the European

market; although I must confess that, as it is, I should be most happy

to see it supplant the poisonous liquids called champagne which appear

at our "suppers," and at many of our hotels.

The "Burnet House" is the principal hotel here, and afforded me every

comfort I could have expected, not the least being the satisfaction I

derived from the sight of the proprietor, who, in the spotless

cleanliness of his person and his "dimity," and surrounded by hosts of

his travelling inmates--myself among the number--stood forth in bold

relief, like a snowball in a coal-hole.

But we must now visit the great lion of the place, whence the city

obtains the _sobriquet_ of "Porkopolis," i.e., the _auto da fé_ of the

unclean animal. We will stroll down and begin at the beginning; but

first let me warn you, if your nerves are at all delicate, to pass this

description over, for, though perfectly true, it is very horrid. "Poor

piggy must die" is a very old saying; whence it came I cannot tell; but

were it not for its great antiquity, Cincinnati might claim the honour.

Let us however to the deadly work!

The post of slaughter is at the outskirts of the town, and as you

approach it, the squeaking of endless droves proceeding to their doom

fills the air, and in wet weather the muck they make is beyond

description, as the roads and streets are carelessly made, and as

carelessly left to fate. When we were within a couple of hundred yards

of the slaughter-house, they were absolutely knee-deep, and, there being

no trottoir, we were compelled to wait till an empty cart came by, when,

for a small consideration, Jonathan ferried us through the mud-pond.

Behind the house is the large pen in which the pigs are first gathered,

and hence they are driven up an inclined plane into a small partition

about twelve feet square, capable of containing from ten to fifteen pigs

at once. In this inclosure stands the executioner, armed with a

hammer,--something in shape like that used to break stones for the roads

in England--his shirt-sleeves turned up, so that nothing may impede the

free use of his brawny arms. The time arrived, down comes the hammer

with deadly accuracy on the forehead of poor piggy, generally killing

but sometimes only stunning him, in which case, as he awakes to

consciousness in the scalding caldron, his struggles are frightful to

look at, but happily very short. A trap-hatch opens at the side of this

enclosure, through which the corpses are thrust into the sticking-room,

whence the blood flows into tanks beneath, to be sold, together with the

hoofs and hair, to the manufacturers of prussiate of potash and Prussian

blue. Thence they are pushed down an inclined plane into a trough

containing a thousand gallons of boiling water, and broad enough to take

in piggy lengthways. By the time they have passed down this caldron,

they are ready for scraping, for which purpose a large table is joined

on to the lower end of the caldron, and on which they are artistically

thrown. Five men stand in a row on each side of the table, armed with

scrapers, and, as piggy passes down, he gets scraped cleaner and

cleaner, till the last polishes him as smooth as a yearling baby. Having

thus reached the lower end of the table, there are a quantity of hooks

fitted to strong wooden arms, which revolve round a stout pillar, and

which, in describing the circle, plumb the lower end of the table. On

these piggy is hooked, and the operation of cutting open and cleansing

is performed--at the rate of three a minute--by operators steeped in

blood, and standing in an ocean of the same, despite the eternal buckets

of water with which a host of boys keep deluging the floor. These

operations finished, piggy is hung up on hooks to cool, and, when

sufficiently so, he is removed thence to the other end of the building,

ready for sending to the preparing-houses, whither he and his defunct

brethren are convoyed in carts, open at the side, and containing about

thirty pigs each.

The whole of this part of the town during porking season is alive with

these carts, and we will now follow one, so that we may see how piggy is

finally disposed of. The cart ascends the hill till it comes to a line

of buildings with the canal running at the back thereof; a huge and

solid block lies ready for the corpse, and at each side appear a pair of

brawny arms grasping a long cleaver made scimitar-shape; smaller tables

are around, and artists with sharp knives attend thereat. Piggy is

brought in from the cart, and laid on the solid block; one blow of the

scimitar-shaped cleaver severs his head, which is thrown aside and sold

in the town, chiefly, I believe, to Germans, though of course a Hebrew

might purchase if he had a fancy therefor. The head off, two blows sever

him lengthways; the hams, the shoulders, and the rib-pieces fly off at a

blow each, and it has been stated that "two hands, in less than thirteen

hours, cut up eight hundred and fifty hogs, averaging over two hundred

pounds each, two others placing them on the blocks for the purpose. All

these hogs were weighed singly on the scales, in the course of eleven

hours. Another hand trimmed the hams--seventeen hundred pieces--as fast

as they were separated from the carcasses. The hogs were thus cut up and

disposed of at the rate of more than one to the minute." Knifemen then

come into play, cutting out the inner fat, and trimming the hams neatly,

to send across the way for careful curing; the other parts are put in

the pickle-barrels, except the fat, which, after carefully removing all

the small pieces of meat that the first hasty cutting may have left, is

thrown into a boiling caldron to be melted down into lard. Barring the

time taken up in the transit from the slaughter-house to these

cutting-up stores, and the time he hangs to cool, it may be safely

asserted, that from the moment piggy gets his first blow till his

carcass is curing and his fat boiling into lard, not more than five

minutes elapse.

A table of piggy statistics for one year may not be uninteresting to my

reader, or, at all events, to an Irish pig-driver:--

180,000 Barrels of Pork, 196 lbs. each 35,280,000 lbs.

Bacon 25,000,000

No. 1 Lard 16,500,000

Star Candles, made by Hydraulic pressure. 2,500,000

Bar Soap 6,200,000

Fancy Soap, &c. 8,800,000

----------

94,280,000

Besides Lard Oil, 1,200,000 gallons.

Some idea of the activity exhibited may be formed, when I tell you that

the season for these labours averages only ten weeks, beginning with the

second week in November and closing in January; and that the annual

number cured at Cincinnati is about 500,000 head, and the value of these

animals when cured, &c., was estimated in 1851 at about 1,155,000l.

What touching statistics the foregoing would be for a Hebrew or a

Mussulman! The wonder to me is, that the former can locate in such an

unclean atmosphere; at all events, I hold it as a sure sign that there

is money to be made.