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A 
 
 WltH THE 
 
 British Association 
 
 IN CANADA, 
 
 AND 
 
 THE UNITED STATES. 
 
 A PAPER 
 
 READ BEFORE THE HASTINGS & ST. LEONARDS 
 
 f bilosopbital ^omtg. 
 
 BY 
 
 JOHN E. H. PEYTON, F.R.A.S., F.G.S 
 
 (PBESIDENTJ 
 
 MARCH 10th, 1885. 
 
 • J 
 
 HASTINGS 
 Printbu by F. J. Parsons, "Observer" Office. 
 
WITH THE 
 
 British Association 
 
 IN CANADA, 
 
 AND 
 
 THE UNITED STATES. 
 
 
 A PAPER 
 
 READ BEFORE THE HASTINGS & ST. LEONARDS 
 
 f btloaoplittal ^ottttj. 
 
 BY 
 
 JOHN E. H. PEYTON, F.R.A.S., F.G.S., 
 
 (PRESIDENT,) 
 MARCH 10th, 1885. 
 
 HASTINGS 
 Printed liv F. J. Parsons, "Ouserveu" Offick. 
 
American Notes. 
 
 Bij " B. A. a 923." 
 
 The meeting of the British Association in Canatla (August, 
 1884), offered such inducements to its members to undeitake the 
 voyage to the New World, that I determined, if possible, to take 
 advantage of such a splendid opportunity, which was not likely 
 to occur again in one's lifetime. It was not, however, till the 
 beginning of July that I was able to apply for my travelling 
 ticket, which was numbered 923 ; showing that a good niany 
 members had responded to the cordial invitation of the Canadians. 
 
 There had been some misgivings as to the result, when it 
 was finally determined to make a fresh departure in the lii.story 
 of the British Association, and cross the Atlantic to one of our 
 Colonies ; but in the end it turned out a magnificent success, and 
 the meeting at Montreal will, no doubt, be an event long remem- 
 bered in the history of the Dominion, and also in the annals of 
 science. There is already a talk of paying a visit to Australia 
 next. 
 
 Special advantages were offered to us by the different steam- 
 ship and railway companies, in the way of reduced fare, return 
 tickets, special trains, &c. I arranged to go out by Canada, and 
 return home by New York, and sailed from Liverpool on the 31st 
 of July, on board the Allan line s. " Sardinian," 4,600 tons, com- 
 manded by Captain W. Smith, who belongs to the Royal Naval 
 Reserve, and, therefore, we were entitled to fly the Blue Ensign. 
 
 Our first adventure was a thick fog in the Irish Channel, 
 which kept us more than an hour finding the light on the Isle 
 of Man, though it is such a well-known place. We arrived at 
 Moville (port of Londonderry) early next morning, and stayed ail 
 day in the splendid harbour of Lough Foyle, waiting for the 
 mails. Starting late in the afternoon we had a glorious but very 
 wild sunset off Inishtrahull Island, — the last point of land on the 
 extreme north coast of Ireland — exposed to the full fury of the 
 Atlantic Ocean. 
 
 During the night we ran into a cyclonic storm — a regular 
 " sou'-wester " — near the tail of the Rockall Bank : there was a 
 heavy sea* and general discomfort, but the next evening the 
 weather cleared up, and the .:est of the voyage was pleasant. 
 
jg about 
 
 I'iicie were 120 saloon passengers on boanl (iucludiu}^ 
 10 of tliu British Association), and we enjoyed ourselves in the 
 usual manner of hoard -ship life. There were (jver 300 emigrants 
 in the steerage, amongst whom were 40 of Dr. Barnardos Imys 
 (from 18, Stepney Causeway, London), the little fellows seemed 
 very happy and well cared for, and wonderfully well trained. 
 Some of our fellow-passengers got up a concert for them, which 
 was very successful, and realised £14, part of which was given to 
 them in prizes for races, games, &c., which afforded great amuse- 
 ment to all hands for a couple of days. It may be interesting to 
 state that, according to a circular lately issued by Dr. Barnardo, 
 out of the 7nany hundreds of boys and girls placed out in life m 
 Canada, during the last 15 years, only 4 boys have failed, and not 
 
 one girl .' . 
 
 I was much struck by the great kindness and patience shown 
 by the steerage passengers, especially the men, to their children, 
 even when very sick themselves — and find that the same thing 
 was noticed by Charles Dickens in his " American Notes," pub- 
 lished more than 40 years ago. 
 
 We got a great deal ol valuable information from the 
 Canadian pas^j'ingers on board ; and what with guide-bo()ks;;'aiid 
 hints, our party was fairly well " posted-up " on arrival at Quebec. 
 
 The great circle course, which all steamers take in crossing 
 the Atlantic, brought us within 180 miles of Cape Farewell, the 
 southern point of Greenland, on the fifth day of our voyage, 
 and soon after, when about 130 miles from the coast of North 
 America, we ran into fogs, and the temperature sank to :iS% 
 showing that ice was near. We saw our first iceberg (always an 
 exciting event) on the 7th August, and a vsry beautiful sight it 
 was :— much finer than I expp'^.ted. In the Marquis of Lorne's 
 very interesting book, " Canadic*.! Pictures," there is an engraving 
 showing " the ' Sardinian ' m tixC ice, off' Newfoundland," very 
 like what we saw, only our berg was net quite such a large one. 
 
 We entered the Straits of Belle Isle on the morning of the 
 8th : they were studded with small icebergs, and looked very 
 beautiful. We soon ran into a thick fog, and there we remained 
 for 16 hours, with the fog-horn going all the time ; the captain 
 was 32 hours on the bridge, and told me it was the most trying 
 time he had had for years, as there was more ice than usual ; one 
 or two ships and a steamer passed us while we were at anchor, 
 but it is very risky work, and our captain was much praised for 
 his caution. He told me that when the fog lifted, there were two 
 icebergs right ahead of us, within 20U yards of our bows. 
 
 It was very interesting to watch the soundings taken by Sir 
 Wm. Thomjison's apparatus : once whilst going 13 knots an hour, 
 they' found bottom at 80 fathoms (formerly it was necessary to 
 
5 
 
 almost .stoj) tho ship); it is done by tlio pic-nre of tlu" water 
 forcing up some colomol tluid in a glass tulu-, wiiitli is niai ked 
 oil on a scale, showing t'lo Uopth in fathoms, and attached to the 
 
 lead sinker. 
 
 Professor Moseloy, of Oxford, found a very pretty spocnnen 
 of a brya/.oa, and an arctic bivalve shell, in the stutV iMought up 
 by the sounding-lead in the Straits of Hclle Isle. Tiiere v/ero 
 also .some interesting specimens in the mud oa the anchor. 
 
 There was a very successful concert got up by the passengers 
 for the Liverpool Seamen's ()ri)hanage, and the fog-horn accom- 
 paniment to some of the songs was very curious ! 
 
 In the (lulf of St. Lawi-ence we saw a wonderful mirage, 
 and tho absorption bands in the red of tho si)ectrum were very 
 extraordinary, as seen in my pocket spectroscope. 
 
 The coasts c.i Labrador and Xewfoundland looked \ery l)leak 
 and (1-"= >' 'e, '"'th patches of snow still lying on some of the hills. 
 >itants about these parts seemed to be a few tisher- 
 ' shown what is 8Uj)posed to be the finest salmon 
 • M. When we entered the ncble St. Lawrence 
 ■ning of 10th) all was changed, and the scenery 
 the temperature rose to 74 , and every one 
 ..ixv/iwccj^xxxj .- ed the trip up that splendid ri/er— it was the 
 perfection of yachtmg. We lan<led the mails and some passengers 
 at Rimouski that evening, and got our first v'ow of a steamer 
 with beam engines working overhead, on deck— very common m 
 
 America. n i 
 
 The approach to Quebec is very fine, ami we were :\11 early 
 on deck next morning (11th). The Laurentian mountains are 
 grand, and very interesting to me as a geologist, as they are the 
 oldest rocks in the world, and contain the celebrated fossil, 
 " Lozoon Canadense " (the Dawn of Life), supposed to be the 
 oldest known animal. , 
 
 The view of the famous Montmorenci Falls fronx the river is 
 very line, and the first sight of Quebec was most Ijoautiful ; 
 we passed close under the Citadel and got alongside our wharf, on 
 the opposite side of the river, about 8 a.m., after a very pleasant 
 voyage of 10 days. 
 
 I hapi ened to land with one of our passengers (also a mem; 
 ber of the B.A.), who stands 6 feet lOi inches in his stockings, 
 and the astonishment of the natives was amusing ! We told them 
 we had plenty more of them at home ! Through the kindness of 
 
 The 
 
 men 
 
 rivp.j 
 
 Rivei 
 
 became 
 
 thoroughly 
 
 (0- 
 
 the custom-house authorities all our baggage .vas passed ti- 
 boon for which we were very grateful. The steerage passengers 
 went at once to the Emigration Office, adjoining the wharf, near 
 the raihyay "depot" (as all stations are called m America), and 
 we were told that almost all of them had found employment 
 
6 
 
 before tho day was over. Our little friends, the Bamardo boys, 
 marched oft' to their cars in tine style, and we exchanged hearty 
 cheers «nd good wishes for them in their now home, at i eter- 
 
 borough, Ontario. , . „ i. i «j« 
 
 Uuehec is an interesting old town, chiefty Lrench, ver> pic- 
 turesque, but dirty ; some of the ne-.v buildings are hue, especially 
 the House of Parliament, which has since been damaged by 
 dynamic-. The vi'jw from the Citadel hill is ji'stly ft'aious; it 
 includes a splendid sweep of the beautiful St. Lawre- ce ana 
 8e>eral ranges of the Laurentian hills; the sunset I saw trom 
 there was something magnificent. 
 
 After a couple of days at Quebec, I went by steamer i:p the 
 river to Montreal -a very pleasant trip of 150 miles. Ihe boats 
 are fine, and tha cabins (or " state-rooms " as they are called) 
 clean and comfortai)lc. We had a glorious sunset on tue river, 
 and the colours in the sky and on the water were something 
 marvellous. ,, 
 
 Montreal is a beautiful city, and the newer streets are well 
 shaded by trees, which give them a pleasant appearance, especially 
 in summer as we saw them. Tho Windsor Hotel is justlj^ said 
 to be one of the best in the world ; it certainly is the finest 1 was 
 over in, and most comfortable. There is a capital system at 
 hotels in America, you pay so much a day (4 dollars at Montreal, 
 and 5 at New York), which includes everything but drink and 
 washing ; so there is no trouble with the bill when leaving ; it is 
 simply " so many days, so many dollars," and away yuu go ! 
 
 One of the "lions" at Montreal is the view from Mom t 
 Royal— from which the city takes its name— and ve.y beautiful 
 it i's, indeed, on a fine summer's afternoon. The city lies at ones 
 feet, and the view includes a large stretch of the river, with the 
 celebrated Victoria Bridge (built by Sir Thomas Brassey s father 
 for Robe Stephenson, the great engineer), the rapids, and the 
 country for miles round, as far as the Adirondacks and Grreen 
 Mountains, in the United States. ^ ,«■ ^ d i 
 
 The geology of the district is very interesting. Mount Royal 
 itself is an ancient volcano, supposed to be of paleozoic age. 
 composed of diabase,* and, in some parts on the western side, ot 
 svenite;t this has pushed up and penetrated the limestones 
 (Chazy and Trenton, of lower Silurian age), converting them m 
 some places into a crystalline marble ; there are beautiful sections 
 on the road up, showing a most interesting series of dykes and 
 
 * Diabase is a crystalline granular trap rock of labradcrite and augite, with 
 
 ""^'^fSvenUeil Tgnuiitic rock, composed of felspar, hornblende, micaland quartz j 
 in this case mixed with nepheline (an alkaline aluminous silicate). Jukes arui 
 (,'eikie, Manual of O'culotiy. 
 
i^aammm 
 
 veinB of syenite, basalt, and other recks, traversing not only the 
 stratified linir'stones, but also the diabase an<l syenite nms^is 
 themselves. Ice-marks, grooved, polished, and striated rocks, are 
 very distinct, right up to the top of the nunntain (700 feet), 
 whore there are some erratic boulders of Latirentian rocks. 
 There are also three or four Avell-markod terraces, or ancient sra 
 
 V)Gftcn^3. 
 
 Through the kindness and lil)erality of the Canadian Govern- 
 ment, I got Sijrer puns on riio Canadian Pacific Railway to Wmni- 
 peg, in Manitoba, and back ; and might have gone to the Rocky 
 Mountains, or British Columbia, over '.?,000 miles— as some of our 
 members did— but I b id not sufficient time. A new route had 
 been opened to Tor ...lo, by Ottawa, and I went by one of the 
 first trains (Aug Uuh). N'^e had a splendid sleepmg-car brand 
 new— cost 12,000 dollars, we were told !— and the one belonging 
 to the Directors, c-illed the *' Saskatchewan," was really magnifi- 
 cent. There was quite a crowd at the Depot to see the tram. 
 ' here are no " buffers " to the cars (they said ther*^ were lots of 
 " old buffers " inside on our trip !) so occasionally one gets 
 rather a shaking, but it was very comfortable travelling. 
 
 1 stayed a day at Toronto, a fine city on Lake Ontario, and 
 had my first trip on one of those large inland fresh-water seas, 
 which are such a marvellous feature of the North American 
 continent. I crossed the lake on board the famous steamer 
 " Chichora " ; "be was an old blockade-runner, called the " Let 
 her B," and has the name on the old bell, which still hangs 
 outside the pilot-house. We went up the Niagara River to 
 Lawiston, where I first set foot on American soil. There is a 
 fine view of the gorge made by the Falls in pre-historic times. 
 On the voyage back we had a lovely sunset on the lake, and a lot 
 of passengers sang Scotch and English songs on deck, "Auld lung 
 syne," " Home, sweet home," and " God save the Queen," dc, 
 till I could scarcely realise the fact that we v/ere thousands of 
 miles away from Old England ! 
 
 Next day we went by train, through a very wild country, to 
 Owen Sound (a town on the shc.^s oi Gcoifeiku Bay —part of 
 Lake Huron), and were disappointed to find that one of the 
 large steamers of the C.P.R., by which we should have travelled, 
 had come to grief, and we were obliged to go in a small oile 
 belonging to anothe- Company. We had to lay-to hdf the night 
 in a fog, and next morning nearly ran on to the shoals off Duck 
 Island— on Lake Huron, to the south of Manitoulin Island. It 
 was a curious sight to see the rocks so clearly under our steamer ; 
 luckily, the weather was fine and quite calm. In the evening wo 
 entered the St. Marie Rive- which joins Lake Huron to Lake 
 SuperioV, and found the scenery very beautiful. There wero 
 
some splendid specimens of ice-worn rocks— i-oches inoutonnt^PH^ 
 one side steep and broken, the other smooth and gently sloping ; 
 showing very olearly which way the ice had passed over them,— 
 V.Z., fi-oiii the smooth toimnU the steep side. 
 
 On arriving at Sault St. Marie (pronounced " 800 ), a town 
 oar the rapids at the head of the river, which we soon christened 
 
 11 
 
 Susan and Mary," I left the steamer with two gentlemen and 
 two ladies of our party,— as we thought there was not sufficient 
 time to go on to Port Arthur or Winnipeg— and we put up at a 
 nice little hotel in the Canadian town, where they don't often see 
 many English, as it is rather an out-of-the-way place. Curiously 
 onou^^h I had met one of the ladies the year before at Baveno, 
 on Lag'o Maggiore, in Italy, and little thought that we should 
 meet again on a Candian river, in longitude S5° west, 4,000 miles 
 
 from home ! 1 , ^ u • 1 
 
 We engaged two Indians and a canoe, and shot the rapirls, 
 which was most exciting— and, 1 hope, not dangerous. The view 
 down the immense slope of raging waters, as we entered the 
 rapids Avas very grand and extraordinary, quite unlike anything 
 we had ever seen before. We, of course, got wet; Init the way 
 the men managed their paddles, and guided the canoe away from 
 various dangers, was very clever. The canoe jumped about like 
 a cork, and sometimes seemed to be smothered in the waves, 
 which broke all round us in every direction ; l)ut we emerged safe 
 and sound at the end of the rapids, which are about a mile long, 
 havin<^ thoroughly enjoyed our novel and exciting adventure. 
 We divided into two parties; one stood on the rocks whilst 
 the other shot by, and it was a curious sight to watch the canoe 
 rushing by, doim-hHI, at a tremendous pace, half smothered now- 
 and-then in the waves. The weather was gloriously bright, and, 
 alto'-ether, it was a delightful Canadian experience that wc shall 
 never forget. We had to pole vp some of the rapids first, which 
 I thought was quite as wonderful a performance as shooting down 
 them One of my friends look a photograph of the canoe and its 
 crew,' and has kindly sent me a copy, which is a very interesting 
 souvenir of our ex,jedition. In the afternoon we had a delightful 
 sail amongst the islands two or three miles down the river, and 
 afterwards paid a visit to the American town on the opposite 
 shore, where there is a very fine lock on the canal, through 
 which all the traffic between trie large lakes passes. It is lit by 
 the electric light, and ships pass through all day and all night. 
 We determined to take the first steamer going eastward, no 
 matter where it went to ; it might be to Owen Sound, Chicago, 
 or Sarnia. I was in favour of a place I had found on the map 
 (we were none of us very well up in the geography of the district) 
 called Penetanguisheno, which seemed so well placed for getting 
 
9 
 
 on to Muskoka and Simcoe lakes. We noticed that very few 
 steamers seemed to call there, but I couldn't understand the joke 
 there was for a long time, till it came out that it is only a prison 
 estoUishmcnf .' i^^ventually we started at 5 a.m. (August 19th), 
 on a north-shore boat, and had a very pleasant tour round the 
 north shore of Georgian I'ly, calling at several stations on 
 Manitoulin Island, and Killarney on the main land, where the 
 scenery is lovely — more ice-marks very distinct. Here we saw 
 an Indian encampment, wigwams, S:c., all complete. There were 
 lots of Indians about ; they looked something like Japanese I 
 thought, — olive colour, — not a bit like what I had imagined an 
 Indian ought to be ! Thei'e are some splendid boats here, used 
 for fishing, something like whalers, with two masts and lug sails ; 
 they are very fast, and stand any amount of " sea " on the lake. 
 Most of the passengers Avent ashore and bought Indian curiosities 
 — the toy canoes wei-e the prettiest. 
 
 The last place Ave stopped at Avas Club Island, a fishing 
 station, very desolate, and out of the Avorld. They told us of a 
 dreadful Avreck of a steamer near here, a feAv years ago— 200 lives 
 lost ; only one man and a Avoman Avashed ashore, and kept by the 
 Indians till rescued the next spring. We stopped the night at 
 Owen Sound, and suffered much from the heat ; the forest Avas on 
 fire somcAvhere near, which made it Avorse. Next morning, at G, 
 my friend, the mathematical professor, persuaded me to go doAvn 
 to the lake Avith him to bathe. It Avas more than a mile, but Ave 
 had a refreshing sAvim. They said Ave must be English to <lo 
 such a thing ! 
 
 Toronto AA-as reached in time to take the boat to Queenstowu, 
 and at seven o'clock that CA^ening (August 21st) I got my first 
 vieAv of the Falls of Niagara. It is quite impossible, of course, 
 for me to describe them ; but they Avere very much finer than I 
 expected. I kneAv they Avere only 160 feet high, so Avas not 
 disappointed, as r.o many jjeople are at first. They Avere so much 
 broader and farther apart, and altogether grander than 
 I had imagined them to be, and the surrounding scenery is so 
 lovely, that I Avas delighted. The three days I spent there were 
 indeed a treat never to be forgotten. Most [)eople make a • 
 mistake in " rushing " the Falls — " doing " them in one day, or 
 even sometimes in a couple of hours " cheap tripping 1' They 
 must carry aAvay quite a Avrong impression ; it Avas onl}- on the 
 third day of my visit that I saAv the Horseshoe (Canadian) Fall 
 properly. It depends so much on the Avind, Avhicli onl}- clears off 
 the spray occasionally. The American Fall, Avhich Avas just in 
 front of our AvindoAvs at the Clifton House Hotel, is Avhite and 
 feathery, and looked very like a steep glacier or snoAv-slope. The 
 Horseshoe Fall, Avhich I like most, is a glorious emerald green, a 
 
10 
 
 ^nlid wall of water, and is supposed to be twenty feet deep at the 
 Tdgtri ere Tgoe; thundering down into the raging turmoil of 
 wafers in a fearful looking abyss of foam and spray One of the 
 iest views of the Falls is from the ferry just above the new 
 Suspension Bridge, and near the American Falls 
 
 ^The whirlpool rapids are very grand and feaiful-lookmg 
 much wilder than the first cataract on the Nile^ down which I 
 Ce Men the Arabs swim on logs of wood. No wonder poor 
 Sain Webb was killed, he must have been crushed by the mere 
 St t^ie water where it is suddenly jerked up a dozen fee 
 in the air iust opposite the platform made for visitors Some of 
 the natTv^s say Zt he might have got through all right if he had 
 not dived but I very much doubt it, though I noticed on the 
 NHe that 'the Arabs aLays kept right on the top of the waves. 
 
 I was delighted to find some beautiful ice-marks on the cliff 
 above the gorgt near the rapids, and there are glacial, river and 
 lake deposi^ts In Goat Island, and on the top of the cliff opposite the 
 Horseshoe FaU, on the Canadian shore. The gorge itself is cut in 
 Se NWa Hmestone and its associated shales, which correspond 
 th Weniock beds of our upper Silurian and it has been 
 commited by Sir Charles Lyell that it must have taken 35,000 
 veTi s to wear its way from Lewiston to its present position, about 
 Lven mi7er In the somewhat hasty view I had of the country 
 it seemed to me that there was evidence of the Lake (Ontario) 
 havfn^ formerly extended to the foot of the cliffy f lewiston 
 Seir the entrance to the gorge. If this were so, and the k^d ha 
 a'nce risen, the rate of erosion in former times may have been 
 much more rapid than it is at present. 
 
 The Whirlpool is very interesting, but smoother and larger 
 than I had expected. I was much amused on my way there at 
 W suddenly accosted with "Say, Boss ! where's this 
 wWrLon" Whilst going down in the "elevator" (a car on an 
 Sd plane, workel by' a wire rope), it Buddenl^^^^^^^^^^ fast 
 about two-thirds of the way down, and we l^ad to ge^ out and 
 wdk The man asked me afterwards if I had felt the jerLf 
 T^nt T thought it was all part of the performance ! 
 ^ The nlw Cantilever Bridge, near the old Su»pen«on Badge 
 is a most wonderful engineering work, and was finished u. seven 
 monrs One day I saw a goods train on it, ivhich reached from 
 Canada to the United States; it had 62 car., which .s equal 
 
 *" ^^rwaTv^raS'to see the way in which most of the 
 niembers of the'^.A., whS hadarrived in the oo"f y b-^^S^ '^« 
 meeting, had planned their tours so as to finish at Mag?'-*- 
 ¥^1 ler. mo^ than 150 of „, started on Monday Angu^^ 
 
 llieitJ WOIO ixiv'iu ui»«" ^^^ ~- -_ 
 
 by train to Qucenstown ana ooat to xoronto. 
 
11 
 
 took the steamer from there to go direct to Montreal, and never 
 shall we forget that voyage in the " Algerian " — it became 
 proverbial. She was overcrowded (though that was our own 
 fault), there was a strong gale on the Lake, with a nasty " sea," 
 so when we arrived at Port Hope, about 30 of us landed and took 
 the train to Kingston, where we arrived about 2 a.m., and 
 spent a couple of hours in a siding in a tremendous thunderstorm. 
 One crash was so terrific that we all thought the train had been 
 struck by lightning. AVe got to the hotel about o a.m., and 
 had a little sleep. Our steamer turned up about noon ; the 
 weather had by that time quite cleared up, and we had a 
 delightful trip through the Thousand Islands, where the scenery 
 is most beautiful. There are several good hotels, and heaps of 
 villas like Swiss chalets, and I think that ona of the great 
 advantages the Canadians eoem to have, is the number of very 
 pleasant places for their summer outing. I should give the palm 
 to " camping out " on the river or lakes. Nearly every island 
 had its camp, and we passed several very jolly-looking parties. 
 The custom is for the steamer to whistle, and the people on shore 
 cheer and wave flags, etc. They all have canoes and hammocks ; 
 and, of course, any amount of boats of all sorts and sizes, and 
 seem to enjoy themselves vastly. I noticed that they write up 
 " Boat Livery," instead of " Boats to Let," as we do. There was 
 a sad accident two days before we passed, near the Thousand 
 Islands Hotel, a lady and gentleman had been run down by a 
 steamer and both drowned. It is supposed they were trying to 
 pass too near. 
 
 As we were very late, they took us through the Long Sault 
 Rapids (nine miles long, with a fall of 48 feet) in the dark, which 
 is seldom done, and rather risky I should think, and we pushed on 
 to Coteau Landing for the night. About 100 of us had to sleep 
 on chairs, sofas, or on the floor of the saloon. By way of improving 
 our night's rest, they were engaged overhead on deck for a couple 
 of hours in " coaling " another steamer with "wood," across ours ! 
 
 We were off" at daybreak next morning, and enjoyed a 
 
 glorious sunrise. 
 
 Shooting the Cedar rapids was very interesting 
 
 and enjoyable, and soon after we reached Caughnawaga, where 
 the celebrated Indian pilot, Baptiste, came on board and took the 
 helm, whilst we shot the famous Lachine rapids. They didn't 
 look so bad to me from our steamer, as the Sault St. Marie rapids 
 uitl from our canoe, but I believe they are more dangerous. There 
 is a big rock on the left of the narrow passage, which the steamer 
 steers straight for till within a few yards, when she suddenly 
 shoots her bow round to the right, and you distinctly feel the boat 
 drop thrv <i or four feet, while she rushes in a few moments into 
 the smooth water beyond. There was a wrecked steamer on the 
 
12 
 
 rocks quite close to ^vhere we passed, which didn't look cheerful ; 
 but I 1 elieve there is scarcely any danger, as the rapids are shot 
 seveia times every day, and it is a favourite mornuig'e excursion 
 om Montreal The man who first took a steamer down mu3 
 have been very plucky. I believe a couple of our members shot 
 this raoid in a canoe during the meeting. , tt- ^ • 
 
 The approach to Montreal from this side, under the Victoria 
 EridL'e is very fine. I was soon back at my old quarters at the 
 Windsor Hotel, having had a delightful tour of a fortnight as a 
 «« dLd head,''-as anyone with a free pass is called.-durmg 
 which I had travelled about 1,400 miles and it only cost mo 
 i?10 T had bv this time gained a good idea of the size ot tne 
 Dominion as ?had gone across Canada hy water fori ^600 .nles^ 
 and even then had not reached the centre ! •,^^,„, ^f 
 
 We found Montreal in the full swing of the excitement of 
 the opening day of the British Association meeting (Wednesday, 
 Au^i'st 27rh, 1884), a day long to be remembered uj the anna^ 
 of science ; and, as Sir Lyon Playfair M.P., said .- a da) 
 marking a distinct point in the advance of civilization. . . ■ 
 W 1 at Canada wanted was not pure science only, but appl cd 
 science and knowing that the latter only came through th(. 
 mer,'she h'ad the wisdom and forethought to welcome that pure 
 sc eTce to the dominion." The success of the meeting was 
 assured from the first, as it was found that over .^^^y members had 
 c sed the Atlantic-of whom about 150 came in the special 
 steamer " Parisian "-and the total attendance by the end of the 
 week had reached 1,770. . , , 
 
 Our welcome !>; our Canadian fellow-countrymen was indeed 
 most hearty; all classes seemed to vie with each other in their 
 many acts of kindness and hospitality, and I am sure we cannot 
 pos n>lv thank them sufficiently. I may mention that, besides 
 en ertabments, excursions, cheap return tickets, free passes on 
 Government E'ailways, reduced f.ros by rail -^/teamer cricKet 
 lawn-tennis, and lacrosse matches arranged for us we each 
 reJeWed a gift of 840 (£8) from the Covernment grant, which m 
 m > t cases paid for all our living expenses during the week to he 
 meetin- lasted. Each member was also allowed, through the 
 kindness of the Atlantic Telegraph Company, to send and receive 
 two cable messages to and from England, free ; and we ound his 
 a crreat boon ()ur agents, Messrs. Cook and Son (of "Tourist 
 JepuTatir had arr.S.ged a code for us, and -y^rst message 
 home looked very funny. It was as follows :-'' r^JJ (that s me . 
 to Conpon, (thatUook !) London. ly-age-Payanwn-^^^^^ 
 -Fojarid Icebergs r v hich meant ''Arrived safe-all well-had 
 a bad voyage-have been delayed by fogs and icebergs I thmk 
 most of us sent a " Padag^ " across the Atlantic by cable. 
 
 y/Ci''^-*'/ 
 
 II 
 
yjC^'- 
 
 s 
 
 13 
 
 One of the great points .Iwelt on at all the meetings, from 
 first to la t was, that we were all of us Bnt.sh : and the same 
 th ig wa .Le afterwards at Plnladelphia, by constantly referring 
 to the fact that we and our American hosts were all Anglo- 
 
 ^""^'xiiere was nothing particularly startling in the way of 
 ficientittc discovery during the meeting. There were, of course, a 
 ZTmJiy^MXe colonial details given in the ditlerent sections, 
 Sd one Lat event in Section E. (Geography) was the hearty 
 welcome liven to Lieutenant Greely, the Arctic tntve er who 
 had recently arrived home after his escape and rescue. He looked 
 very n, but luanaged to read a most mteresting paper on h.s 
 3c e and discoveries, in which he paid a graceful tribute of 
 ^ SS of the work done by the Enghsh ^^f^^l^^!^^^^^ 
 *^f^ Cfaawk Nares, and thanked us for sending the Aleit to neip 
 
 '" ^"Xh? most important scientihc news at the meeting was, no 
 
 doubt the following brief but suggestive message telegraphed 
 
 from Australia to Professor Moseley, President, of Section D. 
 
 Sdo-vT- " Caldwell finds Monotremes oviparous; ovum 
 
 Kffic !" Monotremes are two -"TX^^PkfvpXti 
 exclusively Australian ; Onw^/w/r//.i/;/c«.s Duck-billed Platjjius) ana 
 l^S: (Lt-eater). The following is Mr V^. Baldwin Spenc^^^ 
 exnl'ination of " ovum meroblastic " in Nature (No. / 8 J) .— itie 
 ^vum of amonotreme contains, relatively to the pure protoplasm 
 out of which the tissues of the animal will be "j^^ ^i^^^^^^ 
 food-velk that, when segmentation takes place, it i. impossible 
 fo? the egc. to segment as a whole ; and therefore the two kmds 
 of protoplasm separate, and we find that the Monotreme embryo 
 posCsei a yelkiac, by the gradual abso^Ttion of the contanied 
 material of which, it is nourished durmg the eailj stages oi 
 r4Tomnent . '. . We can trace the line of descen through 
 ?he t^sida, directly to the Monotremes, from these to Marsupials, 
 and from these to the higher Mammals. 
 
 Professor Moseley told us a capita joke at one of the 
 meethi'^ He liad received a telegram from home about some 
 domestic affairs and when this telegram arrived, he sent it to his 
 "hiSg'that it also probably contained home news, which 
 would no doubt please her; imagine her feehngs on openmg the 
 envelope to find " ovum meroblastic, \'c ! 
 
 IiFmy section, C (Geology), there were several valuable 
 papers on Canadian and American geology. Just imagine a 
 count y where the outcrop of a particular bed can be traced for 
 300 or' 400 ..7.. / A nice place tor a ^'^^ «g-,^ ^f ^j^, J 
 was muali pleased at being a^)le to give the ^I^^^^lJ^^^^^f 
 Museum-through Sir Wm. Dawson, the Principal, who was 
 
u 
 
 Knighted during the meeting — a small collection of fossils and 
 rocks from our local Wealden strata, of which they have no 
 representatives in Canada or the United States, and they proved 
 to be very welcome. 
 
 The College authorities gave us an evening reception, at 
 which we were all presented to the Governor-General, Lord 
 Lansdowne, and his Wife. I thought how tired they must have 
 been of shaking hands with over 1,000 people ! 
 
 The citizens of Montreal gave us a soiree in the Skating 
 Kink, and there were several garden parties, and excursions to 
 various points of interest in the city and neighbourhood. I went 
 to see the national game of Lacrosse, which has become familiar 
 in England lately ; one of the Montreal clubs had arranged a 
 match with some of the Caughnawaga Indians, and there were 
 three very fine closely contested games, during which I was much 
 amused at seeing a couple of fights, when half the spectators 
 jumped over the fence in their eagerness to join in ! On Saturday 
 there were large excursions to Ottawa, Toronto and Niagara, and 
 Quebec. 
 
 The final meeting took place on Septemljer 3rd, when the 
 honorary degree of D.C.L. was conferred on several of our 
 leading men, and graceful speeches and tender farewells were 
 spoken on both sides, and we parted from our kind hosts with 
 universal regret. 
 
 The kind and brotherly feeling shown by the Canadians to 
 us, as representatives of an English Scientific Society, has lately 
 been extended to the whole British Nation, by the magnificent 
 and patriotic offers of help, in the shape of men, money and 
 arras, which have come pouring in by telegraph from all parts 
 of the Dominion, and have found an echo in the most distant of 
 our Colonies — Australia and New Zealand — on the opposite side 
 of the globe. 
 
 Surely a Nation has just cause to be proud of such Children 
 as ours ! 
 
 On Thursday morning, Sept. 4th, a number of members 
 started for the Rocky Mountains, and about 150 of us left Mon- 
 treal in a special train for the meeting of the American Association 
 at Philadelphia. Two of the Directors of the Grand Trunk 
 Railway travelled with us, and told us how disappointed they 
 were at not being able to " fix us up " properly with a train of 
 Pulman cars right through to Philadelphia, but some agreement 
 with other lines prevented it. Our route was across the Victoria 
 Bridge, in the centre of which you can see the gold rivet driven by 
 the Prince of Wales when he opened the bridge in 1860. Near 
 Rouse's Point, at the head of Lake Champlain, is the frontier line 
 between Canada and the United States. Through the kindness 
 
15 
 
 of the American authorities, all our baggage was passed free 
 through the Custom-hou8e-a great boon, as a 1 travellers well 
 know We^an all along the west shore of Lake Champlain, where 
 the Bcenery is beautiful, past Fort Ticonderoga, where we got 
 beaten bv the French in 1757. We passed through Saratoga, the 
 ^oBt kshionable inland watering-place in America and towards 
 reninE we reached the west shore of the famous Hudson River 
 The scenrry was very lovely, and especially at one noble curve o 
 le Ever near West Point, where we g«t/,^^^^"""f,":72 
 view of St. Anthony's Nose, which reminded me of the Lurlme 
 
 ^''wLn'ab^ul'a dozen miles from New York we were ddayed 
 b.lf an hour by the breaking of the engine coupling (a hne chance 
 fof section GO t was eventually mended with a bit of telegraph 
 ;[re whTch they took from the line alongside. On arrival at 
 tSL CitV (New York), we had to change trains, and did not 
 arrive^tP^^^^^^^^ till 1.15 a.m. I had been provided wi h 
 
 quarters at the St' George's Hotol,. and found them v^^ comfort- 
 able and the officials were most kind and attentive, ^^e Citizens 
 Committee had sent two or three of ^herr members to meet our 
 ivTn at Jersey City, and they went round to every one of us on 
 bo^d the'S^ a/d arranged tha. each person had a room to go 
 
 ^^ ^S;ttS:R' American kindness and hospitality, 
 and they certainly did their best to vie with the Canadians in their 
 
 'Xe re?ict\ro 'i2f h\^d%"^% meeting till Friday 
 .ilL Sent 5th when they gave us a right royal reception and 
 Tea? v^;K in^^^^^^^ of the Academy of Music, where 
 
 we occupi^^^^^^^^^ post of honour near the President on the stage 
 There were altogether nearly 300 of the British Association at 
 Philadelphia most of whom were present that evening. I don t 
 fupp^ae thS'such a lot of Britishers had ever been seen there 
 
 ^'^' The next day three or four excursions had been arranged and 
 T made one of 500 who went by special tram of the ienn 
 Llvanfa and Reading Railway, to the Anthracite coal regions, 
 xtea'trainof llcars, aii were each lowered one by one, 
 down the Mahoney Plane, by a huge .vire rope I* ^^ ^^^^^^ 
 interesting experience, as it is generally used for coal waggons 
 ly We we?e much amused whilst a lot of us yere wat mg 
 n iof the cars being lowered, to find we were all standing under 
 a no?^rboard on which was written " loafers not allowed here / 
 On arriving at ^ Indian Ridge coal mine, we were all takea 
 d^wn W about 300 feet deep, in parties oj "m« ^ J -as a 
 t^^^derfiil sight as the whole mine was lit by the electric light, 
 
16 
 
 and there was a chamber at the end ;30ft. wide, 210ft. long, and 
 25ft, high, without any props, and we were told that it was just, 
 as it is usually worked. The scam of coal called the " Mammol h 
 Bed," is over 50 feet thick. 
 
 The next excitement was going up Summit Hill in gondola 
 cars (it was no use my talking of gondolas, they wouldn't have 
 it at any price), they are o^ien trucks fitted with benches, and 
 are pushed up by an engine behind. The view from the to|> 
 was very fine on that glorious summer evening. The coal seams 
 used to crop out on the surface, but have all been worked out. 
 We then got on board the cars of the Switchback Gravity Road, 
 and had a Aery exciting and delii^htful ride, most of the way 
 through lovely Avoods, down that celebrated railv/ay on which no 
 engine is ever seen. Each car went alone entirely by gravity, 
 and at one place we Avent three miles in three minutes ! The 
 next place we arrived at was Mauch Chunk (pronounced Muk), 
 which means "Bear Mountain," in Indian " Machk Tschunk." 
 This is called the SAvitzerland of America, and certainly the 
 scenery is very beautiful, but it is more like Wales to my mind, 
 as there are no snoAv mountains. We got back at 1 1 p.m., having 
 had a most enjoyable day, notAvithstanding the heat — over 90° 
 in the shade— and thoroughly appreciated the extreme kindness 
 and attention of our hosts, Avho had given us this treat : a special 
 train for 15 hours, dinner, supper, and beer and cigars all day, 
 for 500 people. Truly they do things on a grand scale in the 
 New World ! 
 
 The American Association allows more latitude to its members 
 in the papers read at their meetings, than the B, A. does, and 
 they seem to have more " cranks '" and " fads " than Ave have. 
 I saw one gentleman lecturing on the Pyramids, that they were 
 built from the top, but I couldn't make out how ! This beats 
 the " British inch " and " Millenium " theories. 
 
 Philadelphia possesses a splendid park, called Fairmount, 
 said to be the largest in the world — 3000 acres— it is on the 
 banks of the Schuylkill River, and the scenery is beautiful ; it 
 Avas a very pleasant drive of an evening in that hot weather. 
 The great heat — over 95° in the shade — made many of us ill ; 
 even the darkies felt it very much. I think it must have been 
 the damp, or some electric condition in the air, a never fylt 
 more done up even in India with the thermometer over 100 ; it 
 Avas like the " Sirocco " at Algiers, the " Khamseen " in Egypt, or 
 the " hot Avind " in India. I Avent off to Atlantic City, on the 
 <3oasfc, on the 10th, and found it only 74° there. The cool sea- 
 breeze Avas delightful ; next day I had a splendid bathe for an 
 hour in the surf— the sea Avas 70° and the air 72°. 
 
 They haA'e capital arrangement ' for bathing in America, like 
 
17 
 
 those on the Continent, nice-looking houses along the shore, with 
 comfortable dressing rooms, and tubs of fresh water — a great 
 luxury. All wear costumes and bathe togeiher, and 1 often wish 
 that we could have something of that sort here, but the habits of 
 the people being diflerent, I suppose it would never do. There 
 were no organs or nigger minstrels — another great advantage. 
 
 I arrived at Washington on the IGth, and stayed at the 
 Arlington Hotel — most comfortable, but tlie mosquitos were a 
 great nuisance. The streets are the widest in the world and 
 miles long ! The Capitol is a very fine building and splendidly 
 situated. The view from the top of the Dome is beautiful. The 
 Washington Monument is an immense obelisk, 5.55 feet high, the 
 tallest building in the world. It was finished last December, and 
 I was much interested in watching them put up the scaffolding 
 for the apex-stone; it must have been dizzy work up there. 
 There was an amusing notice written up in the works near, " We 
 pay a man to ring this bell." In one of the streets, on a corner 
 house, we saw the following curious notice : — " Wanted, another 
 loafer to sit on this rail." 
 
 I paid a visit to the Naval Observatory, and was delighted 
 at seeing the big telescope — a 26-inch refractor — vdiichdisc >vered 
 the two satellites of Mars. It is, indeed, a Avonderful instrumenL,, 
 and, though over 30 feet long, can be moved about with one finger, 
 so beautifully is it mounted. They have one bigger than mine, 
 (4 inch) on it as a " finder ! " I went up on the roof and saw the 
 time-ball dropped at noon, which sends the time by telegrajjh all 
 over America. It was rather singular that of the tlircc oniijloyt'S 
 I spoke to, one was English, one Scotch, and the other Irish. 
 
 One of the chief excursions is to Mount Vernon, General 
 W^ashington's Home and Tomb. The scenery on the way down 
 the River Potomac is very beautiful (most English visitors think 
 it is Potomac from the Greek for river, but I was told that this 
 is Iiidian not G7'eek !) The house and grounds are just like an 
 old-fashioned English country home, the bricks came from Eng- 
 land, and the verandah is paved with stones from the Isle of 
 Wight — they looked like Bembridge limestone, and probably 
 came from the old quarries at Binstead, near Kyde. The whole 
 trip was most enjoyable and very interesting ; it was curior.s to 
 notice, in Lady Washington's bedroom, the hole in the door 
 which had been made to let her favourite cat go in and out, 
 without disturbing her ! There is a very touching custom for 
 every ship passing up or down the river to toll their bells whilst 
 approaching Mount Vernon, as a tribute to Washington's memory. 
 The first to set this good example was an English man-of-war, at 
 the beginning of this century. 
 
 I left Washington by the express on the Pennsylvania Rail- 
 
18 
 
 way, and believe it is considered the best train in America ; they 
 are all Pulnian cars, and the speed is about 40 miles an hour, 
 lunch is serve<l on board, and it is very pleasant travelling. The 
 cars are all on "bogies," and have 12 wheels each, so they run 
 very smoothly, but seem to lurch more than our carriageb do. 
 There is no doubt that the long open cars, with communication 
 from one end of the train to the other, are a great advantage on 
 a long journey ; but the continual banging of doors, the passing 
 of people to and fro, who are constantly treading on one s toes, 
 or pushing against one's shoulders, and the worry of boys who 
 are always wanting you to buy something, is a great nuisance. 
 They seldom use whistles on an American locomotive (as the 
 engines are called), and theirs are of a much deeper tone than 
 our screamers, and more pleasant to the ears. They always ring 
 a bell when passing through a station, but this does not convey 
 any idea of warning to a stranger's mind. The first time I heard 
 one was at Toronto, on the wharf, and I thought it was the work- 
 men's bell ! The way the trains run through the towns is rather 
 alarming — there is no fence, and we went through the main street 
 of a small town between Washington and Philadelphia at oyer 30 
 miles an hour ! People were walking and driving about, children 
 playing at the side of the line, and one youth was riding a bicycle 
 within a couple of yards of us ! At the railway crossings there is a 
 notice put up, " Look out for the cars," or " locomotive." The 
 lails are laid without chairs, on sleepers — which are placed closer 
 together than ours — and fastened down with spikes. They have 
 supports on the outside of some curves, but I did not notice any 
 guard-rails like we use. 
 
 The station for New York is at Jersey City, and you have 
 to cross the ferry over the Hudson River. An old-fashioned 
 chariot on " C " springs took me to my hotel, and I got a real 
 good bumping, as the streets are very badly paved. 
 
 The Fifth Avenue Hotel is a magnificent house, and most 
 comfortable, with everything first-class and without stint. A 
 good room with gas and water laid on (a most convenient 
 arrangement), and three "square" meals a day, for $5 (£1), is 
 not dear. There was great excitement in the hotel at the time 
 of my visi' as Mr. Blaine, the Republican Candidate for the 
 Presidency , -. staying in the house, and there was a continual 
 mob intervi g him, or demonstrating in the street in front. 
 
 There is ae noticeable feature in American and Canadian 
 life at hotels, and that is, the temperance shown at meals — nearly 
 everyone drinks iced water or milk. Each hotel has a bar, where 
 every imaginable mixture of alcohol can be obtained. " Straight " 
 or *' perpendicular " drinks (as they are called) must, I think, be 
 
 vnrv nr!"''^'~>1'^ef>Tn'» TVio-ir oiirallriiv Q olflsa of snirit.s. and fiomfi- 
 
19 
 
 timfls wash it down with a little water; they never seem to sit 
 down with a glass of beer or grog, and have a (juiet smoke, like 
 we do — they haven't time, 1 sujum'^e, and can't sit si ill ! Of 
 course, we tried all the different Yankee drinks — '-cocktails," 
 " smashes," *' slings," t^'c. The (mes voted best, as the sv eather 
 was so hot, wore •'John Collins," " whiskey sour," and "lemon 
 8(|uashes." 
 
 The elevated railway is one of the sights of New York, and 
 1 found it a great convenience in getting about the city ; but it 
 nnist be a great nuisance to those who live in the streets through 
 which it passes — the trains run all through the night. There 
 are three lines running through the town, and plenty of tram- 
 ways crossing them at right angles, so it is very easy to get about. 
 
 Brooklyn Bridge is one of the most wonderful engineering 
 works I ever saw. It is 6,00(.) feet long and 85 feet wide, the 
 two towers are 268 feet high, and the central span is 1,600 feet ; 
 height above high-water mark 135 feet. The view from it over 
 the city, both rivers, harbour, bay, and surrounding country, is 
 beautiful. 
 
 Central Park is another great attraclit.n, 840 acrcd in extent. 
 It is well laid out, and nature has not been " improved " too 
 much. Thore are several very fine examples of ice-worn rocks 
 polished and grooved, with large erratic boulders in sHu. There, 
 too, is the American Cleopatra's Needle — the companion to ours 
 — given by the Khedive of Egypt in 1881, and brought over by 
 Mr. Vanderbilt. The last time I had seen it was at Alexandria, 
 a few months after our Obelisk had been taken away to its new 
 home on the Thames Embankment. 
 
 The Museum of Natural History is on the borders of the 
 Park, and contains a fine Indian collection, including an enf)rmou8 
 Avar canoe ; also a good national geological collp",tion. There are 
 some erratic blocks, o'oches moutomides, and glacitii drift deposits in 
 the grounds attached to the Museum. "Hands ofi" !" is the 
 notice put up in America for the " Visitors are requested not to 
 touch," or "iVe toiichez pas. S. V.P." of England and France. 
 
 I went to see a match at Base-ball — the i '•tional game — 
 between two good clubs. It is something like our lounders, but 
 one difference is that the ball is thrown to the fielder and not at 
 the runner. It seems a fine game, but is spoilt l)y betting ; the 
 crowd are always yelling at the umpire, and frequently "go for" 
 him ! 
 
 I went to Coney Island, of course. It is the great seaside 
 summer resort of New Yorker's, but the season was over, and it 
 looked rather deserted. However, I had a bathe, and saw 
 the " Elephant," an immense wooden image used for a 
 restaurant, and a prominent object to all visitors arriving a.t New 
 
•20 
 
 York by aoa. Thorc is jinotluM* ncai- Atlantic City used for 
 an hotel. 
 
 The trip np the HndHon River was a most doligiitful 
 excursion, and I was fortunate in having a very fine day, JSept. 
 27th. \Vc went up in the " Albany " as far as Ne\v])urgh, 
 General Wasliington's hcad-ipiartors, and came back in the 
 " Vibbard." rhey are both magnificent paddle-wheel steamers, 
 beautifully fiunished, and very fast ; they have beam engines, 
 working oveihead on dock, with a stroke of twelve feet. Tiie 
 "Vibbard" is said to hav(! done the fastest voyage 
 on record, fnmi New York to Tarry town, J7 miles in 
 one how/ Also from West Point to Newburgh, 10 
 miles in 20^, minutes, which is at the rate of over 'Mi mill's an 
 hour \ Each boat has three funnels ("smoke stacks" they call 
 them) abreast, which look peculiar. There were notices printed 
 up in the saloons *' Gentleman Aviil not smoke, others musn't ! " 
 
 The scenery on the Hudson liiver is very lovely, especially 
 at the Palisades, a vast trap-dike, forming a range of cliffs 20 
 miles long, and .'JOG or 100 feet high ; they are beautifully wooded, 
 and the autumn tints were just beginning to look glorious. 
 Nearly opposite the highest point we passed a town called 
 Hastings, where the treaty for the evacuation of New York by the 
 British, was signed by Washington, 1783. Near West Point, 
 celebrated for its MIMtary Academy - - " the Sandhurst of 
 A.ierica" — the river winds amidst beautiful mountains, from 
 1,200 to 1,500 feet high, covered with lovely woods to their very 
 summits, and nothing can exceed the glorious views on either bank. 
 
 I le^t Now York on October 1st, in the Cunard s. " Servia," 
 a magnificent vessel of 7500 tons, commanded by Captain Cook, 
 Commodore of the Cunard Fleet, and had a most delightful 
 voyage. We had 250 saloon ul over 300 steerage passengers ; 
 most of the latter were retuiaing emigrants, which showed, I 
 fear, that trade is as bad in Ameri'^a as it is at home. It was 
 a glorious day, and we had a fine view of New York City, the 
 harbour, Staten Island and the bay, not forgetting the Elephant 
 on Coney Island ! Our pilot left us about 4 p.m. off Sandy Hook 
 Lightship, and we starteu across the Atlantic, on our way home, 
 in a dead calm. 
 
 We had a few days roughish weather, and heavy seas, but 
 
 The "Servia" is 
 
 altogether the passage was a very fair one. 
 the finest ship 1 was ever on ; she is over 550 feet long, and we 
 had a clear run of 1 20 yards on deck for our walks. Her speed 
 was 17 knots ( = 20 miles) an hour, and best run 385 knots (but 
 she has done 410). We had not been on board more than a few 
 hours before some one confided to me that " he guessed she was a 
 beastly old tub ! ' 
 
21 
 
 We luckily only had a few hours' fog— that greatest enemy 
 to navigation when the fog horn had to bo kopt going ovory 
 minute of two. ft is ulx-ut the size of a small beor-hanol. and 
 has a fearfully loud loep note, which makes a dreadful "buzzing," 
 and shakes tho ship. It was just over my berth, which made it 
 lively for mo whiUt below ! On the 4th we had a fine view of the 
 total oclipss of the moon- -hit. 44, N., long. 50, w. j\ist oil" thi> 
 banks of Nowfoumlland ; the stars came out very bright, and the 
 moon nearly «lisaj)poared, not turning a copper colour as usual. 
 Several pa- ^ iig,M\s were astonished at the darkness, atid 1 was 
 much amused by the Captain telling me that ho too had forgotten 
 all about the eclipse, and wondered what had become of the 
 moon : Next evening, off the Flenii.sJi Cap— a bank about 200 
 miles outside the great Newfoundland IJunks— the weather looked 
 very threatening: S.K. scud flying over the moon, which looked 
 " greasy," and as wo were in the •' roaring forties " 1 thought we 
 were in for a sou'wester. owever, the Captain told us the 
 barometer was rising a little, and it would be fine. He said that 
 the fact of our travelling so fast was constantly oveilooked. 
 
 In Sir Thoma-i Brassey's lecture on the " Sunbeam's " voyage 
 to the West Indies, which he gave to this Society last year, K, 
 (iescribed the law of sto-ms, and gave an illustration of the 
 cyclone they were caught in off the Bermudas. It has lieeu 
 found that the average rate of travel of a storm-centre i.s 18 miles 
 an hour, so when a steamer is goinjr 17 or 18 knots, she runs 
 ahead out of the storm, as we did (which no sailing ship could 
 do, of course), and the barometer rises. If we had been hove-to, 
 the barometer would i)robably have fallen, and the gale passed 
 over us. Sometimes, of course, a steamer runs into a storm. 
 
 It has been observed that when a storm-centre traveL very 
 fast, it produces a terrible hurricane always at its worst about 
 an hour before, and an hour or two after, the passage of either 
 the centre or " trough " of tho storm (a line at right angles to the 
 path of the centre). The centre of the great storir of December 
 28th, 1879, travelled over 60 miles an hour, and tne Tay Bridge 
 was destroyed during a squall of immense wind-velocity (probably 
 over 100 miles an hour), about half-an-hour before the trough of 
 the stoiin passed. 
 
 It appears that when two depressions travel nearly at the 
 same time in a parallel direction, 300 or 400 miles apart, they 
 produce most destructive gales. A curve in the direction of the 
 centre's path, and a loop in the barometrical depression, also 
 produce extra-violent wind squalls in their neighbourhood. 
 
 When near the coast of Ireland we had a heavy north-west 
 gale with big following seas, and didn't we just roll — over 30 
 degrees, I should think ! Hail the things roiled off the tables at 
 
22 
 
 dinner. My experiences at sea in steamers and sailing shijis lead 
 me to agree entirely with Lady Brassey's opinion, expressed in 
 her last book* ("In the Tropics, the Trades, and the Koaring 
 Forties ") that " a good sailing ship of 500 tons is more comfort- 
 able (I should suggest ' less un-conifortahle '/) than a 5,000 ton 
 steamer driven full-speed ahead, irrespective of wind or sea." Of 
 course, if we had been "hove-to" in the " Servia," she would 
 have been as steady as a rock. 
 
 It shows what confidence there is in ship, officers, and crew, 
 chat we were able to go 17 knotf an hour in a gale, heavy sea, and 
 thick drizzle, straight towards the Irich coast, and that the 
 Fastnet Light was seen on the port bow exactly at the calculated 
 time ! We arrived at Queenstown at 5 a.m. (9th), seven days 
 eight hours from New York. The weather became much finer 
 towards mid-day, as the gale which had passed down the Irish 
 Channel during the night, had taken a curve (of more than 
 a right angle) to the north-eastward, and gone away across 
 England — a most unusual path for storms to take. We got to 
 the bar off Liverpool about ten that night, just eight days from 
 New York, which is a very good passage, considering that we had 
 so many head seas. We had to wait for the tide to cross the 
 bar, and I stayed on deck till half-past 2 a.m. watching the 
 ship being docked, by the electric light — a very interetiting 
 operation with such a long ship as ours. We landed about 8 
 a.m. (October 10th), and as passengers seldom land at the docks, 
 there were very fcAv cabs, and much confusion, most of the 
 baggage having been taken to Prince's landing stage. However, 
 I got to London in time to catch the afternoon express at 
 Charing Cross, and arrived home about 6 o'clock, having had a 
 most delightful tour of 10 weeks, during which I had travelled 
 over 9,000 miles. 
 
 ■ 
 
 B. R. D." 
 
 * With regard to the St. John Ambulance Association (mentioned in this 
 book), whose work Lady Brassey has done so much to further in different parts 
 of the world, I should like to notn here how vcuy important it is that all 
 travellers, especially emigrants, should be taught the elements of sursery and 
 medicine, particularly the first help to the wounded, according to the Society's 
 lectures and instructions. 
 
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