SHORT AMERICAN TRAMP 
 IN THE FALL OF 1864 
 
Printed by R. & R. Clark 
 
 FOR 
 
 EDMONSTON AND DOUGLAS, EDINBURGH. 
 
 LONDON . . . HAMILTON, ADAMS, AND CO. 
 
 CAMBRIDGE . . MACMILLAN AND CO. 
 
 DUBLIN . . . M'GLASHAN AND GILL. 
 
 GLASGOW . . JAMES MACLEHOSE. 
 
On the 2d of June 1863 a photograph was taken of the Harbour 
 of St. John's. The apparent sea -horizon, distant ten miles or 
 so from the spot, was hidden by a solid raft of pack-ice in which 
 large bergs were fixed ; the narrows and the harbour were full 
 of broken bits. On the beach great rounded blocks were stranded. 
 By drawing perspective lines to the horizon from these, past Fort 
 Waldegrave, dimensions can be measured in the picture, for all 
 photographs are drawn to scale. Many of the stranded blocks 
 equalled the size of the gunners' cottages. The frontispiece is 
 faithfully reduced from the photograph by an able artist, but no 
 copy can express the detail of the sun -picture. On the left is a 
 flake at the foot of Signal-hill. On the top of that hill, which 
 nearly equals the height of the opposite hill on the right of the 
 picture, fresh glacial striae, at a height of 540 feet, point out to 
 sea. On the sky-line of the hill to the right, perched blocks can 
 be made out in the photograph, with a good lens. They are 
 blocks of native rock poised upon glaciated weathered surfaces. 
 They are too minute to be shown in a woodcut, but the camera 
 found them out and copied them, as it did a small berg ten miles 
 off on the horizon. 
 
 GLACIAL STRIDE COPIED BY RUBBINGS. 
 
 Skyline of Signal-hill left. 
 
 Height Bearing (true). 
 
 540 feet. 
 360 
 
 270 
 
 West to East. 
 West „ 
 
 N. 85° West 
 
 Hollow near Quidi Vidi. 
 180 feet. | West 
 
 Hill-face beyond Quidi Vidi, behind the coast-range, and in 
 the rock-groove. 
 
 360 feet. | K 42° W., and N. 80° W. 
 
 These last seem to run up-hill w «— n out of the groove. 
 

 (|1 
 
 i fife! 
 1 Illlii 
 
 
A SHORT 
 
 AMERICAN TRAMP 
 
 IN THE FALL OF 1864 
 
 THE EDITOR OF 'LIFE IN NORMANDY' 
 
 EDINBURGH: EDMONSTON AND DOUGLAS 
 
 MDCCCLXV 
 
THESE PAGES ARE DEDICATED TO 
 
 THE WANDERER 
 
 BY ONE OF HIS CLASS. 
 
CONTENTS 
 
 (LIS 
 
 CHAPTER I 
 
 Page 
 
 Introductory .... 1 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 Liverpool to Halifax . . 30 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 Nova Scotia to Newfoundland . . . 42 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 St. John's to Straits of Belleisle . . . 52 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 The Labrador . . . . .67 
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 The Labrador . . . ,110 
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 
 Avalon . . . . . .125 
 
 CHAPTER VIII. 
 Newfoundland, etc. . . . .145 
 
VI CONTENTS. 
 
 CHAPTER IX. 
 
 Pack 
 
 New Brunswick ..... 159 
 
 CHAPTER X. 
 The States ...... 176 
 
 CHAFrER XL 
 The White Mountains . . . .205 
 
 CHAPTER XII. 
 
 Montreal to Niagara and Buffalo . . 228 
 
 CHAPTER XIII. 
 Buffalo to the Watershed . . . 265 
 
 CHAPTER XIV. 
 Chicago ...... 276 
 
 CHAPTER XV. 
 
 Chicago to St. Louis . . . .287 
 
 CHAPTER XVI. 
 St. Louis to Louisville .... 302 
 
 CHAPTER XVII. 
 Louisville to Cave City . . . .341 
 
 CHAPTER XVIII. 
 
 Louisville to Cincinnati .... 363 
 
 CHAPTER XIX. 
 
 Partus <: . . . . . .38 7 
 
CONTENTS. Vll 
 
 APPENDIX. 
 
 Page 
 
 No. I. Climate ..... 399 
 
 No. IT. Table of Distances .... 408 
 No. III. Temperature of Water . . . 410 
 
 Index . . . . . .413 
 
AN AMEKICAN TEAMP. 
 
 CHAPTEE I. 
 
 INTRODUCTORY. 
 
 On the fourteenth of June, boys, we got under weigh 
 In the bold Princess Koyal bound for Americay, 
 And fifteen bold sailors made our companee, 
 To the east and the west, and across the salt sea. 
 Oh, we'll go a cruising ; oh, we'll go a cruising ; 
 Oh, we'll go a cruising across the salt sea. 
 
 Sea Song. 
 
 Anxious to see a new country, and to test a glacial 
 theory formed and matured in Switzerland, Scandinavia, 
 the British Isles, and Iceland, the writer of the following- 
 pages started for a cruise in July 1864. 
 
 An ice-laden ocean-current now describes a south- 
 west curve from Spitzbergen, lat, 80°, to Cape Farewell 
 in Greenland, lat. 60°. There, in the latitude of the 
 Shetlands, it eddies northwards, and turning south- 
 wards again it coasts Labrador to 52°. Part of it flows 
 south-west through the Straits of Belleisle, near the lati- 
 
 B 
 
2 AN AMERICAN TRAMP. 
 
 tude of the Straits of Dover ; the main stream flows 
 southwards outside of Newfoundland, over the banks, 
 and there it crosses the Gulf Stream about 46°. The 
 tail of this arctic current carries icebergs, 100 feet high 
 and a quarter of a mile long, to lat. 36° 10' at least, as 
 the following quotations show : — 
 
 < On the 27th of April 1829, Captain Couthony 
 passed, in lat. 36° 10' N, long. 39° W. (probably south 
 of the Gulf Stream), an iceberg estimated to be a quar- 
 ter of a mile long and from 80 to 100 feet high. It was 
 much wasted in its upper portion, which was worn and 
 broken into the most fanciful shapes/ 
 
 ' In 1831, at daylight on the 17th of August, lat. 36° 
 20' K, long. 67° 45' W., upon the southern edge of the 
 Gulf Stream, he fell in with several small icebergs in 
 such proximity to each other as to leave little doubt of 
 their being fragments of a large one, which, weakened 
 by the high temperature of the surrounding water, had 
 fallen asunder during a strong gale which had prevailed 
 from the south-east.'* 
 
 The icebergs which float in this great Atlantic stream 
 are portions of glaciers which grow in Greenland at the 
 
 * Silliman's Journal, vol. xliii. 1842, quoted in a memoir 
 on dangers in the Atlantic ; eleventh edition, p. 1 5. New 
 York, E. and G. W. Blunt, 1849. 
 
CAPTAIN COUTHONY S OBSERVATIONS. 3 
 
 nearest, and they are often loaded with moraines, that is 
 to say, with large stones and clay. 
 
 * In September 1822, Captain Couthony saw an ice- 
 berg agronnd on the eastern edge of the grand bank, in lat. 
 43° 18' N, long. 48° 30' W. Sounding three miles inside 
 of it the depth was found to be 105 fathoms (630 feet.)' 
 
 'In the month of August 1827, the same observer, 
 while crossing the banks in lat. 46° 30', long. 48° W., 
 passed within less than a mile of a large iceberg which 
 was stranded in between 80 and 90 fathoms (540 feet) 
 water. He was so near as to perceive distinctly large 
 fragments of rock and quantities of earthy matter im- 
 bedded in the side of the iceberg, and to see from the 
 fore-yards that the water for at least a quarter of a mile 
 round it was full of mud stirred up from the bottom by 
 the violent rolling and crushing of the mass.' * 
 
 To the memoir above quoted a small chart of the 
 Atlantic is added, on which spots are noted where ice 
 has been seen, and the fact recorded in the ' Nautical 
 Magazine,' Purdy's 'Memoir of the Atlantic,' news- 
 papers, or other publications, chiefly since 1832. It is 
 there shewn that floes, fields, and bergs occur most 
 frequently between long. 44° and 52° W., occasionally 
 eastward of 40°, and westward of 60°. This region is 
 * The mud was probably moraine mud. 
 
4 AN AMERICAN TRAMP. 
 
 never wholly free of heavy ice, and it is sometimes 
 thickly crowded for great distances between lat. 40° and 
 50°, and further north. Such facts, picked up in a course 
 of reading, a series of observations made in Europe dur- 
 ing twenty years, a set of experiments, and a train of 
 thought, had led to the belief that an arctic current 
 once flowed S.W. down the Baltic and over the British 
 Isles, and that such currents were amply sufficient to 
 account for many glacial phenomena in Europe and 
 elsewhere. 
 
 Sea-shells of arctic types occur at great elevations in 
 Western Europe. One bed occurs above 3000 feet on 
 Snowdon* Horizontal glacial striae also occur on the 
 tops and shoulders of isolated hills in the British Isles 
 at all elevations, up to 3000 feet, and their direction is 
 generally N.E. and S.W., or thereby. Shells and high 
 striae tell of sea-water and heavy moving ice, and on 
 them a theory was built. As large islands of ice 
 are now carried by currents to latitudes which cor- 
 respond to Gibraltar in Europe, and to Eichmond 
 and Cairo in North America, similar currents 
 may have carried drift to any spot north of these 
 latitudes, and lower than old sea-margins. If ever 
 America was submerged, and the existing arctic cur- 
 
 * Times, Sept. 20, 1864. Letter from Mr. Baumgarten. « A 
 conglomerate of shells, and casts of them, with sand and pebbles.' 
 
SPOORING. 5 
 
 rent then continued its present south-west course, the 
 spoor of it ought to be found along a south-west 
 curve produced from the Straits of Belleisle. So it ap- 
 peared ; but this theory had to be tested. 
 
 The plan formed to test this ' glacial theory' was first 
 to study the ways of icebergs and the climate, on the 
 coast of Labrador, in British latitudes ; then to follow the 
 spoor overland in North America as high up on hills, 
 and as far south as possible, and to learn facts from 
 the works of others, and from all available sources. 
 
 Icebergs were seen, and a spoor was followed to St. 
 Louis, on the Mississippi ; there it ended, about lat. 39°. 
 The broad trail was crossed westwards at lat. 44° and 
 45° ; eastwards about lat. 39° and 41°, and it was fol- 
 lowed northwards to Boston, westwards to Albany, and 
 southwards to New York. It confirmed the opinion 
 formed in Europe. 
 
 While thus spooring for some thousands of miles, other 
 things were noticed. A badly-kept journal may perhaps 
 interest glacialists and amuse readers who, like the 
 writer, delight in wandering to and fro under some pre- 
 tence or other. 
 
 The first step in such a trip ought to be an attempt 
 to gain some notion of the general shape of the country, 
 its physical geography and geology, so far as they seem 
 to bear on the subject to be studied. 
 
AN AMERICAN TRAMP. 
 
 American Physical Geography. 
 
 The following are a few facts noticed, picked up by 
 the way, and gathered from varions sources : — 
 
 The Atlantic coast of North America is the low 
 shelving edge of a broad slope. It is from 50 to 200 
 miles wide, and from 300 to 500 feet high at the base 
 of the Alleghanies. These mountains form a chain 
 1300 miles long. The highest point is Black Dome, 
 North Carolina, 6707 feet. The ridges are generally 
 continuous for long distances, and run from KE. to 
 S.W. They are more broken and worn to the north. 
 Gaps in the White Mountains are about 2000 feet high, 
 and the highest point is Mount Washington, 6288, ac- 
 cording to Guyot* From the low sea-coast, westwards 
 to the mountains, from the head of the Bay of Fundy to 
 the Potomac the slope is generally a rolling plateau 
 covered with drift. It is furrowed in every direction 
 by branching watercourses of small depth, and varied 
 by steps, terraces, and hollows, which, like the coast and 
 mountains, trend KE. and S.W., or thereby, or follow 
 zig-zag contour-lines on hill- sides. 
 
 Similar steps, ridges, and furrows are repeated under 
 
 * American Journal of Science, vols. xxxi. and xxxii. 
 
PHYSICAL GEOGRAPHY. / 
 
 water, and two great ocean-currents and strong tides 
 pass up and down along the coast. The waters 
 move N.E. and S.W. The banks off shore are in con- 
 tinual movement. An article on the defences of Cape 
 Fear, about latitude 35°, copied from a southern paper 
 by the New York Herald of November 4, 1864, says : — 
 1 Along the whole extent of the North Carolina coast the 
 bays, inlets, and harbours are constantly changing : the 
 sands shifting from place to place, filling up an entrance 
 here, and opening another there. Above Hatteras Swash 
 there is not one inlet at the present time at all navigable, 
 while no longer than twenty years ago there were three 
 or four. At this place there is the same change con- 
 stantly going on — the channel moving about from place 
 to place, and the Eip filling in with astonishing rapidity.' 
 According to the memoir above quoted,* two miles of 
 the western end of Sable Island, about latitude 44°, have 
 been washed away since 1828. Large ice-islands have 
 been seen near this spot, and an opinion prevails that the 
 whole island is becoming narrower ; that these changes 
 have been going on since 1811, and that they are certain 
 to continue. About latitude 48° and 54°, the sea, accord- 
 ing to fishermen, is growing shallower on the banks of 
 
 * Published by E. and G. W. Blunt, 179 Water Street, New 
 York, 1863,'p. 4. 
 
8 AN AMERICAN TRAMP. 
 
 Newfoundland. In these shallow regions, the bottom 
 consists of mud, sand, coarse sand, gravel, broken shells, 
 and large stones. Ice in all shapes abounds, and the 
 movements of ocean-streams are constant and regular in 
 this region. The sea-coast, from Cape Eace to Cape 
 Harrison in Labrador, is rocky, and it is slowly rising. 
 Numerous rocks and other dangers, which were marked 
 elsewhere on old charts of the Atlantic, have been vainly 
 sought by modern surveyors. These, if they ever ex- 
 isted, may have sunk, or they have been washed away. 
 The coast-line and the sea-bottom are therefore in a state 
 of transition : the bed of the sea is drift arranged by water 
 and by ice, and it is rising so as to become dry land in 
 time. If the Atlantic shore of North America were 
 submerged, currents and tides would flow in hollows, 
 which now contain bays and rivers, and they would cer- 
 tainly work in them as they do now in hollows off shore. 
 
 The land on the eastern slope consists of mud, sand, 
 gravel, pebbles, and large glaciated boulders packed in 
 layers upon a foundation of solid rock, which is striated 
 in many places ; the land looks like an old sea-bottom. 
 
 According to theory, every depression and elevation 
 of land would change the course of currents, the run of 
 tides, and the climate on shore. 
 
 A depression of 100 feet would make Newfoundland 
 
PHYSICAL GEOGRAPHY. 9 
 
 an archipelago, and join the Gulf of St. Lawrence to the 
 Bay of Fundy. A tide of 75 feet, on one side of a 
 low narrow isthmus, would be changed into a tide of 
 6 feet if the barrier were removed. The cold stream 
 which now pours south-west through the Straits of Belle- 
 isle would then pass through straits in Newfoundland 
 and enter the Bay of Fundy. Nova Scotia would then 
 become a range of low rocky islands, and the cold 
 country of Blue Noses, about lat. 44° and 48°, would 
 be chilled by streams of iced water on both sides, in- 
 stead of one. It seems plain that a change would 
 result from a slight rise of land at this spot; and the 
 principle, if established, may be applied elsewhere. 
 
 The same depression would sink great part of New 
 Brunswick and a wide zone in the Eastern States ; and 
 the change would chill the climate of the coasts which 
 are now protected from arctic waters by Nova Scotia, 
 at least as far south as Boston. A depression of 100 
 feet would chill the climate of the Eastern slope of the 
 Alleghanies. 
 
 A depression of 600 feet would sink most of the 
 land in the British provinces and in the Eastern States. 
 It would fill the valleys of the St. Lawrence, St. John, 
 Hudson, Susquehanna, and Shenandoah, and leave pa- 
 rallel ranges of low islands where parallel ridges now 
 
10 AN AMERICAN TRAMP. 
 
 cross from New Brunswick into the Northern States, 
 and from Pennsylvania into Virginia, about lat. 39°. 
 
 One cross sound would be at the foot of Peter's 
 Mountain, near Harrisburg, about lat. 40°, another at 
 the valley of the Hudson, another at the St. John 
 Eiver in New Brunswick. St. John New Brunswick, 
 Eastport, Portland in Maine, Boston, New York, Phila- 
 delphia, Baltimore, Washington, Eichmond, and the 
 highest points on the railways which join these towns, 
 would then be more than fifty fathoms under water. 
 The land looks as if it had been submerged, and the 
 shape of it may indicate the former courses of existing 
 currents, and climates which once prevailed, in conse- 
 quence of the distribution of hot and cold streams. 
 
 If the depression of 600 feet were general in America, 
 the sea would reach to Chicago, and cover the shores of 
 the great lakes. 
 
 The central region of North America consists of 
 two great basins — one drained by the St. Law- 
 rence, the other by the Mississippi. A general de- 
 pression of 700 feet would sink the common edge of 
 these two shallow basins in the wide flat prairie near 
 Chicago. The Belleisle stream might then flow into 
 the Gulf of Mexico behind the Alleghanies, and so chill 
 the climate of all that region. 800 feet would sink the 
 common watershed at Fort Wayne, where rivers now 
 
PHYSICAL GEOGRAPHY. 11 
 
 flow opposite ways within four miles of each other. 
 1200 feet would sink it at Crestline, and Upper San- 
 dusky, near lat. 41°, in the centre of Ohio ; and at these 
 places stratified water-drift abounds. If the sea were 
 at Crestline, long ranges of islands crossed by sounds 
 would remain, where chains of mountains now extend 
 from New Brunswick into Georgia and Alabama. Great 
 part of Labrador and Canada would also remain a cluster 
 of rocky hills to the north of a wide sea. But the cold 
 arctic south-west current which is now turned eastward 
 by Labrador, Newfoundland, Canada, New Brunswick, 
 and Nova Scotia, and which now carries icebergs 100 
 feet high to lat. 36° 10' in the Atlantic, would surround 
 Labrador, chill the cold climate of the land which it 
 now chills on one side only, and flow south-west to St. 
 Louis on the Mississippi about lat. 39°. The case sup- 
 posed for Nova Scotia, would be repeated on a larger 
 scale. So far, there is nothing in the shape of the land 
 to stop the flow of an arctic current 700 feet deeper 
 than the Atlantic. The warm equatorial current which 
 now flows westward into the Gulf of Mexico, and turns 
 eastward towards Europe, might, if the sea were at 
 Crestline, flow on towards the north-west beneath the 
 Eocky Mountains, and reach as far as it now does on the 
 coast of Europe and about Iceland and Spitzbergen. 
 
12 AN AMERICAN TRAMP. 
 
 According to theory, all this would result from a 
 general depression of 700 to 1200 feet in North Ame- 
 rica. Ocean-currents would change their courses, and 
 they would carry their climates to other longitudes, but 
 to the same latitudes * 
 
 A depression of 2000 or 3000 feet would only 
 narrow the land still more, and widen, deepen, and 
 multiply gaps in chains of American islands ; for many 
 points and wide tracts in the Kocky Mountains and in 
 the Alleghanies rise far above a level of 3000 feet. 
 
 If this theory be well founded ; if currents like 
 those which now flow in the Atlantic have in fact 
 flowed over North America in late geological times, 
 ancient sea-margins ought to be found at old sea- 
 levels on hill-sides ; and drift arranged by water 
 in various forms ought to cover the plains and low- 
 lands. The bed of the arctic current in the basins of 
 the St. Lawrence and Mississippi should be scored by 
 icebergs, or strewed with glacial drift at least as far as 
 the present known limit of Atlantic icebergs, namely, 
 lat. 36° 10'. The western coast of the American sea, 
 and the ancient bed of the equatorial current, the plains 
 
 * Many of the heights given are from observations taken 
 with a pocket aneroid barometer, and are merely approximations 
 to the truth. 
 
PHYSICAL GEOGRAPHY. 13 
 
 about the foot of the Rocky Mountains, ought to be as 
 clear of glacial drift as the bed of the Gulf Stream in 
 the Atlantic now is ; but if the equatorial current passed 
 westwards at Panama, the old arctic current and its 
 drift may have reached lat. 36° 10' in these western 
 regions also. The memoir above quoted says (p. 19) — 
 
 ' Perhaps too little consideration has hitherto been 
 given to the character and effects of the polar currents. 
 These appear to be well worthy of the attention of both 
 the navigator and the philosopher. We have seen that 
 the moderate but unceasing flow of these currents often 
 interposes an icy barrier in one of the most common 
 routes of navigation. The observing geologist will also 
 discern in the course of the great ice-currents of the 
 Atlantic, both before and after their contact with the 
 tropical stream, a striking coincidence with the direc- 
 tions of the two systems of striae which mark the 
 abraded surface of the continental rocks, the origin of 
 which must be referred to the early and prolonged 
 period when these rocks were situated beneath the 
 ceaseless flow of the ocean-currents.'* 
 
 Assuming that all North America was submerged 
 to a considerable depth, it seems to follow that climates 
 
 * Silliman's Journal, vol. xliii. p. 152 ; vol. xlv. p. 326. 
 Quoted in the memoir. 
 
14 AN AMERICAN TRAMP. 
 
 changed place when the sea was over the central dis- 
 trict. 
 
 Some fresh evidence of a general submergence was 
 found in North America, and more was gathered from 
 recent books. In the first place, American rocks and 
 fossils prove that every part of the continent now 
 above water has been repeatedly submerged and up- 
 heaved. Sea-shells are preserved in sedimentary strata 
 of all ages. Eegions on which land-plants grew in the 
 carboniferous age were then above water, and yet sea- 
 fish are buried in rocks which overlie coal-seams and 
 upright tree-stumps. Strata of vast thickness, which 
 are now crumpled and folded into ridges in the Alle- 
 ghany Mountains, cover regions of ancient disturbance, 
 and may therefore have been lately disturbed. They 
 may have sunk and risen again ; for land is sinking 
 or rising now in Scandinavia, Spitzbergen, Greenland, 
 Labrador, and Newfoundland. Volcanic phenomena, 
 earthquakes, etc., abound in the Eocky Mountains. 
 Areas which were sea-bottoms in Laurentian, Silurian, 
 Devonian, Carboniferous, Cretaceous, or later ages, and 
 which are now moving, may have formed the bed of 
 an American sea during some recent post-tertiary age. 
 Recent sea-shells, water-worn gravel, sand, and such-like 
 materials, packed in certain forms ; ' terraces of deposi- 
 
PHYSICAL GEOGRAPHY. 15 
 
 tion ' — matter arranged in the form of sea-margins, and 
 ' terraces of erosion ' — horizontal shelves and cliffs — are 
 water-marks ; and their position may be such as to prove 
 them to be sea-marks. These marks prove a possible case. 
 They abound along the coast in Labrador and New- 
 foundland, and mark a sea-level there. Eecent sea- 
 shells of arctic type occur at an elevation of 500 feet 
 above the sea, near Ottawa, in the centre of Canada, and 
 the hills in that region are conspicuously terraced, and 
 covered with drift. Similar shells occur above terraces 
 near Quebec. Allowing these shells 70 feet of water to 
 live in, this level carries the sea to Chicago. A bed of 
 cockles was lately found by an Irishman in digging a 
 well at Brockville, at the foot of Lake Ontario ; and the 
 bones of a seal, and of a whale, were found, together 
 with sea-shells, near Montreal. The bones of a whale 
 were found in Vermont. These marks carry the sea to 
 Hamilton, close to the Falls of Niagara, and through 
 the valley of the Hudson to New York, and prove that 
 it was a cold sea. Foreign boulders are perched on the 
 top of Montreal Mountain, a rock which stands alone 
 in the wide river-plain ; and Montreal Mountain is 
 scored with glacial stria3. These are authentic records ; 
 some of them are preserved in the museum at Montreal, 
 and recorded in books of authority ; others rest on per- 
 
16 AN AMERICAN TRAMP. 
 
 sonal observation : they seem to prove that a great part 
 of America was submerged during a glacial period. 
 Other records less well authenticated have value 
 when thus supported. An English hunter who now 
 lives at Wilmington, near Chicago, asserts that com- 
 mon oyster-shells are scattered on hills between 
 Madison and the Yellowstone Eiver, somewhere be- 
 tween lat. 44° and 46° N, and long. 110° and 114° W. 
 They were 'as natural as on a beach.' Baltimore 
 oysters are commonly eaten in all western towns to 
 which railways extend, and everyone knows an oyster ; 
 but no luxurious emigrant would be apt to carry bar- 
 relled oysters to the far west. The hunter supposed 
 that Indians had carried the oysters to their hills, for 
 though moss-grown they seemed quite fresh. They were 
 found in great numbers, and at many places in the 
 region. If these be recent shells in situ, or washed out 
 of drift by the rains, they carry the sea to the foot of 
 the Eocky Mountains, and drown the whole central dis- 
 trict of North America. The salt lakes of the Eocky 
 Mountains seem to carry it still further : they are 
 supposed to be remnants of a partially-dried-up inland 
 sea, for they have no outlets. 
 
 Eeturning to the Atlantic coast, a sick soldier who 
 had been a schoolmaster, and who had lately returned 
 
PHYSICAL GEOGKAPHY. 17 
 
 from ' the front,' asserted at Washington that, in October 
 1864, he had seen a bed of common sea-shells of many 
 sorts at a considerable height above the James Kiver, 
 near Eichmond. 
 
 According to Dana, Sir W. Logan, and others, who 
 are able geologists and skilled witnesses, recent sea- 
 shells of arctic type occur at many spots in drift, in 
 Canada, in central and eastern North America, and else- 
 where, e.g., at Boston and near New York. 
 
 The formations which are associated with these sea- 
 shells — namely, stratified gravel-beds, rolled stones, etc., 
 arranged in plains and terraces — abound on both sides of 
 the White Mountains along the Grand Trunk Eailway. 
 At Mount Washington a patch of drift occurs above 
 3000 feet, near the newly-made coach-road. Glacial 
 striae at 2600 feet point horizontally south-westwards, 
 through a gap, and the watershed of the gap is 600 feet 
 lower than these striae. There is a drift-terrace in the 
 pass. Terraces and plains of water-worn drift abound 
 throughout this mountain region. On the Canadian 
 side they occur at 1500 feet, at the highest point on this 
 line. These were observed by Hitchcock. On the 
 Atlantic slope they occur at equal and greater 
 heights. They are conspicuous objects all along 
 this railway line, and similar shapes and materials 
 
18 AN AMERICAN TRAMP. 
 
 recur about the same levels on the road between 
 Boston and Albany, and on the Catskill Moun- 
 tains. The nearest lands of equal height are eastwards 
 in Europe ; northwards beyond the St. Lawrence, in the 
 Laurentian chain ; and westwards beyond the Mississippi 
 and the great lakes, in the Eocky Mountains. At the 
 head of Lake Superior is a terrace 930 feet above the 
 sea, and all the great lakes are surrounded by systems 
 of terraces at lower levels. If any of these high terraces 
 are in fact ancient sea-margins, the whole land has 
 risen pretty equally, for the variation in the level of 
 each terrace is small. But if the land has risen equally, 
 the level of the terrace at the head of Lake Superior 
 sinks the watershed at the foot of Lake Michigan, and 
 leaves no opposite shore to hold a lake. The northern 
 terrace is 930 feet above the sea, the watershed below 
 Chicago is 650. It is only 800 feet at Fort Wayne, and 
 1000 at Sandusky, a place more than 250 miles east of 
 Chicago. At all these places glaciated boulders, water- 
 worn drift, and stratified sand abound* When sea- 
 shells are carefully sought, they will be found in the 
 * According to the survey of the Mississippi basin, the junction 
 of the Mississippi and Missouri is 381 feet above high water ; the 
 utmost source of the Mississippi, 1680 ; mouth of the Ohio, 275 ; 
 Louisville, 361; Pittsburg, 975; northern watershed towards 
 Lake Erie, 1563 to 1065. 
 
GEOLOGY. 19 
 
 prairie, if this theory be well founded. Thus ancient 
 water-levels are marked on opposite heights. In Europe 
 by shells on Snowdon at 3000 feet ; on Mount Washing- 
 ton by drift about the same level ; at Ottawa by arctic shells 
 in drift at 500 feet ; at the head of Lake Superior by a 
 terrace at 930 feet ; at the foot of Lake Michigan by 
 water-rolled gravel and stratified sand, beneath boulder- 
 clay, which contains scratched stones of northern origin. 
 A few links only are wanting to carry the sea-level to the 
 oyster-shells of the buffalo-hunter, to the salt dominions 
 of Brigham Young, and to the Pacific. 
 
 In this argument boulders have weight. They speak 
 from high platforms in the White Mountains, from a Chi- 
 cago platform of their own, and down south. But in order 
 to understand their drift, some explanation is necessary. 
 The chief features of American geology, as explained 
 by American geologists, are marked and simple. The 
 Laurentian chain to the north of the St. Lawrence is 
 from two to three thousand feet high ; it consists of so- 
 called azoic rocks. The formation extends from Hamil- 
 ton Inlet in Labrador, westward beyond Lake Superior.; 
 its northern limit is unknown, but, according to Dana,* 
 no rocks of the age occur at the surface between lat. 45° 
 and 36° 10', except near Lake Superior and at the foot 
 * Manual of Geology, 1863. 
 
20 AN AMERICAN TRAMP. 
 
 of Lake Erie. The Laurentian formation consists chiefly 
 of hard metamorphic crystalline rocks, granites, gneiss, 
 syenites, schists, serpentines, marbles, quartz, coarse 
 conglomerates, etc. The parent rock, the oldest sedi- 
 mentary formation known, has been upheaved, shat- 
 tered, crumpled, contorted, and is so altered, as almost 
 to obliterate all traces of life. Fossils lately discovered 
 in rocks of this age, by Sir William Logan in Canada, 
 and by Sir Eoderick Murchison in Scotland, were hard 
 even to find and recognise. These 'azoic' rocks are 
 hard, glittering, and susceptible of high polish ; they 
 are striped, barred, and spotted with conspicuous bright 
 colours, strongly contrasted and arranged in patterns 
 which catch the eye. They resist weather, and retain 
 their shape and polish. 
 
 Eocks to the south of this Laurentian region, in the 
 central districts of North America, between lat. 45° and 
 36° 10', belong to newer formations — Silurian, Devonian, 
 Carboniferous, Cretaceous, etc. These have been less 
 disturbed, and are less altered, than the ' fundamental 
 gneiss ' on which they are supposed to rest, and from 
 whose debris they grew. They are not generally crys- 
 talline, and do not usually shine ; their colours are 
 sombre and uniform, they have numerous traces of life, 
 and they are easily scratched with iron or hard stone : 
 
YANKEE BOULDERS. 21 
 
 some even with the nail. They are not susceptible of 
 a high polish, and, when smoothed, easily yield to 
 weather. A bit of old Canadian azoic rock — a striped, 
 polished, sculptured boulder, transported to Niagara, or 
 to the coal regions of the Ohio — is therefore conspicu- 
 ous from contrast in hardness, lustre, colour, shape, and 
 polish. It is as remarkable as a red coat is in an army 
 of graybacks, or a tartan plaid in Philadelphia, or 
 threadbare broadcloth amongst shoddy ; to see it is to 
 know it as a foreign production carried from north to 
 south. These large conspicuous stones have been carried 
 to great heights, and southwards in great numbers, from 
 lat 45° at the nearest, at least to lat. 39°, near St. Louis 
 on the Mississippi ; and the phenomenon demands 
 some explanation. 
 
 It is admitted by all geologists who know the facts, 
 that ice in some shape carried boulders from north to 
 south ; but there are two rival schools of ' Glacialists. 
 Like American politicians, they are republicans and de- 
 mocrats, both far advanced, and both determined to go 
 ahead and fight. The old tory party call both ice- 
 mad ; but there is method in such madness, and such 
 crazy folk are apt to lead wise men. 
 
 The views of the most advanced school are now held 
 by Agassiz, and are clearly stated by him in the Atlantic 
 
22 AN AMERICAN TRAMP. 
 
 Magazine for 1864. The author, who did so much for 
 science in his own country, describes Alpine glaciers, 
 their nature, movements, action, and marks new and 
 old. Having clearly explained that which he thoroughly 
 knows, he refers to marks in the British Isles, which he 
 studied in 1840. These * dressed rocks' were early 
 noticed by Scotch geologists, who could not explain them 
 without the ice-key. They are well described in a late 
 pamphlet by Mr. A. Geikie.* These and similar marks, 
 found and described by others in Scandinavia and else- 
 where, led the Swiss philosopher, familiar with ice in the 
 form of glaciers, to believe that during a late period, to 
 be called ' the glacial period,' all northern Europe was 
 covered by one great compound glacier. It was a sheet 
 of ice which flowed down from all mountains and moun- 
 tain-ranges, filled and bridged over hollows which now 
 contain lakes and inland seas, covered and moved over 
 plains and low hills. It crushed and ground rocks, 
 pushed and carried stones from centres of dispersion, as 
 glaciers still do in Switzerland and Greenland. Vast 
 moraines in Lombardy and in Germany now mark spots 
 to which the Alpine system once extended ; the Scan- 
 dinavian system reached Toland and England, and it 
 * On the Phenomena of the Glacial Drift of Scotland, by 
 Archibald Geikie. Glasgow, John Gray, 99 Hutchison Street. 
 1863. 
 
RIVAL GLACIALISTS. 23 
 
 joined the Scotch, Welsh, and Swiss systems. Many of 
 the Italian lakes are but pools of rain-water behind giant 
 moraines of this European ' glacial period.' Northern 
 boulders, the Goths and Vandals of geology, invaded 
 the south, overran and remodelled it ; their hardy re- 
 mains have caused a modern geological revolution, and 
 a sturdy fight, which still endures. 
 
 The July number of the Atlantic Monthly contains 
 the growth of this Alpine glacial theory on American soil. 
 It is broadly stated by Agassiz, that drift and other marks 
 of glacial action reach the banks of the Ohio, and extend 
 to Georgia and Alabama in the Alleghany Mountains. If 
 so, they only reach latitudes which are now reached by 
 floating glacier-ice in the Atlantic ; but these facts have 
 led the advanced party to believe that a continuous 
 glacier covered the whole American Continent, from the 
 Polar Eegions to the limit of northern drift. European 
 glaciers, and European and American facts, together 
 form the base of the glacial theory now explained and 
 adopted by Agassiz. He holds that two ancient glaciers 
 covered great part of both hemispheres ; their neve was 
 15,000 feet thick at the poles, and grew chiefly there 
 from falling snow ; the ice, formed by pressure, was 6000 
 feet thick about latitude 44° in the White Mountains, 
 and 10,000 feet thick in the Alps. The two polar glaciers 
 
24 AN AMERICAN TRAMP. 
 
 moved towards each other, and towards the equator, 
 radiating every way from the poles on meridians ; they 
 spread like lumps of putty or dough, which are crushed 
 and pushed outwards by their own weight. This general 
 direct movement was slightly modified by the shape of 
 the ground ; and ice also spread from local centres, as it 
 now does in Greenland. The northern glacier, it is said, 
 passed over the low mountains of the Laurentian chain 
 in Labrador and Canada, as small glaciers now pass over 
 smaller elevations ; it ground these mountains into 
 ' roches moutonnees' 2000 or 3000 feet high ; and at the 
 same time a southern glacier of equal dimensions did as 
 much at the antipodes, and left its tracks in South 
 America. ' The glacier was God's great plough, which 
 left the land prepared for the husbandman.' The causes 
 which changed the climate of the whole world have yet 
 to be explained by Agassiz in a promised paper. 
 
 A similar theory was less boldly advocated by Dana, 
 in his Manual of Geology, 1863. The prevalence of 
 long deep fjords, and the abundance of lakes and rock- 
 basins in high latitudes, are noticed as facts which sup- 
 port the big glacier. Both these writers quote Professor 
 Ramsay, Sir W. Logan, and other eminent geologists, 
 who either hold similar views or incline towards them. 
 Mr. John de Laski also supports the glacier, and 
 
RIVAL THEORIES. 25 
 
 gives an account of glaciated rocks about Penobscot Bay. 
 According to his description, the amount of glaciation 
 equals, but does not exceed, that of Newfoundland, Nova 
 Scotia, New Brunswick, Canada, Maine, New York, Scot- 
 land, Ireland, Wales, Iceland, and Scandinavia. One 
 explanation must fit all these countries or none. 
 
 On the other hand, democratic American glacialists, 
 ready for battle but hankering after peace, have sup- 
 ported more conservative views. Jackson, in his Geo- 
 logy of New Hampshire, 1844, attributes glacial strise 
 and the transport of boulders to ice-rafts and tides. He 
 points out the usefulness of the water-flood, which, as he 
 maintains, mingled the soils and augmented their use 
 for agricultural purposes. He mentions the glacial 
 theories of Agassiz, published about that time, but only 
 to object to them. The American explained the puzzle 
 by ice-rafts in a shallow sea, with which he was familiar 
 at home ; the Swiss, by his native glaciers. At page 
 113, Jackson describes a notable set of water-marks 
 near Mount Washington, which is 6228 feet high. At a 
 height of 1229 feet above the sea, at a summit-level 
 which divides the tributary streamlets of the Connecticut 
 and Merrimac rivers, and from 900 to 1000 feet above 
 these streams, he found large pot-holes in hard granite. 
 One is 11 feet deep, and 4 feet in diameter. When 
 
26 AN AMERICAN TRAMP. 
 
 first discovered, it was full of smooth round stones ; it 
 was smooth inside, and in all respects similar to pot- 
 holes in neighbouring river-beds ; but no large stream 
 could possibly reach the spot without some extraordinary 
 change in the physical geography of the district. ' Drift- 
 scratches,' running from N. 10° E. to S. 10° W. (by 
 compass), were numerous on all rocks newly uncovered 
 in this neighbourhood ; and rows of smaller pot-holes 
 corresponded to this direction, which is about N. and S. 
 true. In such a position, large pot-holes and striae 
 seem to mean heavy streams of water bearing heavy ice 
 nearly due south (true), at a level which would sink 
 most of the land in America, and, in particular, many 
 terraces in this region. 
 
 Those who uphold the glacier call such marks giant's 
 tubs, and attribute to them streams falling through glaciers 
 into ' moulins.' In this case no mere local glacier could 
 reach the spot. Striae noticed by this writer on the eastern 
 slopes come generally from N. 15° W. ; and go to S. 15° E. 
 They do not radiate from local centres as glaciers do. 
 Silurian boulders have followed a similar course from 
 heights near the Canada road and Aroostook river to 
 islands in Penobscot Bay. Conglomerate of Sugar-Loaf 
 Mountain is found 100 miles S.E. in Eddington. Iron- 
 ore from Iron Mountain in Cumberland, E. I., has been 
 
RIVAL THEORIES. 27 
 
 carried 40 miles southward. How much further stones 
 may have travelled from these points, or where stones 
 really came from, it is hard to say ; for the whole eastern 
 coast is strewed with stones which may have come from 
 Labrador, because they resemble rocks in that country. 
 There are conglomerates in Newfoundland, and iron-ore 
 is found in Nova Scotia. 
 
 The whole subject of surface-geology is treated by 
 Hitchcock, in papers in the Smithsonian Contributions 
 to Knowledge, 1857. After quoting Chambers on 
 ancient sea-margins, Ly ell, and other writers, he declares 
 his own impression to be that old sea-bottoms may still 
 be traced in many parts of America to the height of 
 1000 to 2000 feet above the present sea-level. It has 
 been shown above that drift rises to 3000 feet at least 
 on the flank of Mount Washington. Maps, sections, and 
 a table of elevations at which ' terraces ' and ' beaches ' 
 were found by this author, are added to his work. Two 
 beaches are marked near Mount Washington — in White 
 Mountain notch, and Franconia notch — both of which 
 are high passes. They occur at 2665, 2449, 2073, 1963 
 feet above the sea in this region, according to this 
 author. No sea-shells had been found in the Alleghanies 
 in November 1864, so far as known to the learned at 
 Boston, though drift-shells had been discovered in low 
 
28 AN AMERICAN TRAMP. 
 
 hills near Boston itself. Similar beaches were observed 
 by Hitchcock at 2547 feet on Snowdon, where marine 
 shells have since been found at 3000 ; and more 
 ' beaches ' were found at 2640 feet in Switzerland, where 
 shells have not yet been found. After 30 years of 
 experience in the study of surface-geology, this writer 
 says : * It is hardly venturing beyond a legitimate con- 
 clusion, in view of the preceding facts, to say that all 
 the northern part of this (American) continent, at least 
 all east of the Mississippi, has been covered by the 
 ocean since the drift period. The same reasoning, of 
 course, applies to Europe also. 
 
 The travelled American, familiar with Swiss glaciers, 
 and with American ice-rafts, and with the works of 
 other writers, appears to have hit the mark. He 
 supposes that the whole continent sank during the 
 period of boulder-clay, and rose during the period of 
 ' modified drift.' While sunk it was covered by an ice- 
 laden sea, which grew warmer as the land rose again. 
 The sea was then inhabited by shells. No reason for 
 the change in climate is given by Hitchcock. 
 
 The reason suggested above is the change in the direc- 
 tion of the Arctic Current, which would result from the 
 sinking and rising of the Laurentian chain. That block 
 of land now bars the way, and sends ice and its climate 
 
DIVIDED AFFECTIONS. 29 
 
 to the middle of the Atlantic, instead of the Western 
 States. Were it to sink 1000 feet, the stream would 
 flow south-west to the Western States, instead of the 
 land under the sea about lat. 36°. 
 
 There are then two schools of glacialists, — a small 
 party, who attribute the phenomena of the drift almost 
 entirely to the action of enormous land-glaciers ; and a 
 larger party, who attribute them chiefly to icebergs. 
 According to some writers, a great elevation of land pro- 
 duced large local glaciers in low latitudes. According 
 to others, a general rise of land about the poles, which 
 confined the ocean to warm regions, intensified polar 
 cold so as to change the climate of the whole earth. 
 According to some, the cold geological period passed 
 away when land and sea were more evenly distributed, 
 as they now are. Others, again, explain the facts which 
 all must admit by assuming a change in the tempera- 
 ture of the solar system, or in the position of the earth's 
 axis. On the facts they found a glacial period, on which 
 they found their astronomical theory. 
 
 Admiring all theories, wedded to none ; attracted by 
 icebergs, attached to glaciers, and anxious to choose 
 between them, the writer set off for Yankeedoodledom 
 in search of cold hard facts. 
 
CHAPTER II. 
 
 LIVERPOOL TO HALIFAX. 
 
 With divided affections, dragged forward by sympathy 
 with vagrant icebergs held by the big glacier and by 
 the strong men who stand by it, and anxious to steer 
 his own course, the writer started for Labrador in search 
 of facts to be added to a store gathered elsewhere during 
 twenty years. The following pages may help to swell 
 the pile on which truth must finally rest. So now for 
 the journal. 
 
 Steamer Europa, 
 July 10, 1864. Off Ireland. 
 
 I found at the station in a state of mind about 
 
 catching me in America. He might as well hope to 
 find a needle in a hay-loft. I shall leave him letters at 
 Halifax, and elsewhere, and if he chooses to follow me, 
 I shall be very glad to see him. I got to Liverpool at 
 3.15, and slept till eight. At ten, I got on board the 
 Satellite, and boarded the Europa with the rest of the 
 passengers, and all their luggage ; and thereupon we 
 sailed. The Great Eastern was getting up steam to go 
 
stewards' pakade. 31 
 
 to London for the Atlantic cable. We expected a race, 
 but she did not start so soon as we did. The Liverpool 
 lads were firing great guns at a target, and we gradually 
 slanted across their line of fire as we passed out. The 
 shot came skipping across our bows, and then right 
 after us, within a couple of hundred yards. It was 
 curious to watch first the smoke, then the heavy 
 plunge, and long afterwards the distant boom of the big- 
 gun a couple of miles away. The Liverpool banks, and 
 the Welsh coast, were covered with haze, and we saw 
 nothing till we got near Holyhead. There is a haze over 
 the land now, and we can see nothing to-day, but the 
 weather is delightful. The sun is shining, and a soft 
 breeze blowing right after us ; the sea blue and crisp, 
 and the lazy old ship rolling quietly along from side to 
 side with a quiver at every stroke of the paddles. Wind 
 and tide and all in her favour, she cannot make more 
 of it than nine knots. A stupid little brat of a steamer, 
 running to the Isle of Man, went past us yesterday as 
 if we were at anchor We are a numerous crew, with 
 nothing to do, and ten days to do it in. At eight a bell 
 rings, and till 9.30 we may breakfast. At one we have 
 a solid lunch ; at four we dine. Everything at dinner 
 goes on as if by machinery. A row of stewards stand 
 in the doorway, and the dishes pass in to the steward 
 
32 AN AMERICAN TRAMP. 
 
 who is at the head of the column, who drops each 
 dish into its place. As the operation advances, so does 
 the column of stewards, and the leader is at the end of 
 the cabin by the time the tables are covered. Then 
 comes a solemn pause, and then a wink, and all the 
 covers rise simultaneously, clatter like a flock of gulls, 
 pile themselves in heaps, pass down the line, and dis- 
 appear. Then in such weather as this, it is worry worry, 
 and the food disappears down the red lane. Dinner 
 over we smoke, and at seven we tea ; after that we 
 smoke, and at ten we drink night-caps. 
 
 I hear that it is very easy to get a small vessel at 
 St. John's, and that there are lots of steamers running 
 about in the Gulf of St. Lawrence ; so I can get away 
 when I get tired of my ship. There are lots of Jersey 
 men established along the gulf, and generally it looks 
 very pleasant in the distance. And now for the cigar 
 of resignation on the quarter-deck of this great Noah's 
 ark. 
 
 One p.m. Here we are at Cork. 
 
 July 12, 1864. At sea. 
 On Sunday we landed at Queenstown, hired a jaunt- 
 ing-car, and drove for an hour and a half up towards Cork, 
 and round by the back of the town. I wanted to find 
 
'A LIFE ON THE OCEAN WAVE.' 33 
 
 ice-marks ; and, to my surprise, I saw neither boulders 
 nor scratches. The driver modestly asked half-a-crown 
 a head, and got it ; for we were in a good humour. At 
 3.30 we started from the pier, with the mails, in a small 
 steamer, and the big one cast loose as we came along- 
 side. The two vessels, tied together, steamed out past 
 Spike Island ; and when we got clear of the harbour, 
 the little one cast loose and went home to Ireland. We 
 saw the old Head of Kinsale in the evening, and at 
 night we passed Cape Clear, and made our course for 
 
 Cape Race. As Admiral used to say, " In good 
 
 time be it spoken," we have had glorious weather so 
 far. The wind has been steady, northerly and easterly, 
 and we have carried sail all the way. The air is about 
 62°, and the water 60°, the sun shining at intervals, 
 and no swell to signify. Of all our numerous company, 
 only half-a-dozen are absent at meal-times, and these 
 eat and drink merrily in bed. The most of us play 
 games of various sorts — draughts, chess, backgammon, 
 whist, ecarte, yucca, etc. — in the saloon ; and on the 
 deck outside there are two games at shuffle-board con- 
 tinually going. Another entertainment is to throw 
 small bags of beans through hoops hung about seven 
 feet from the deck. These are pastimes ; the occupa- 
 tion of the day is eating. If any one wants perfect 
 
 D 
 
34 AN AMERICAN TRAMP. 
 
 repose of mind and body, this seems to be the right 
 shop. 
 
 I have fallen in with an old friend whom I met 
 once, fifteen years ago, at Trondhjem. He was up at 
 Alten with Eobert Chambers, and helped him to measure 
 terraces. Since then he has been a great deal in South 
 America, and he is now going to Bolivia. He says that 
 terraces abound in Chili along the coast, and up the 
 valleys there are generally three distinct steps at cor- 
 responding levels. There are no glaciers, and no ice- 
 marks in any part of South America ; where he has 
 been, at least, he has seen none. He is great upon 
 earthquakes. He says that he has often heard the 
 sound rising up under his bed, getting nearer and nearer, 
 and then he has felt his bed rise under him, as if some 
 one had lifted it. So have I felt a coming outburst of 
 the great Geyser in Iceland. He gave me a curious bit 
 of information about an observatory in Chili. It was 
 built on a conical hill of basalt, and the transit instru- 
 ment gave all sorts of unexpected results. At last some 
 one discovered that the intense heat of the sun made 
 the whole hill expand unequally, so as to move the 
 observatory, instruments and all ; so the light of the 
 sun is a mechanical power. Except this friend, I never 
 saw one of our lot before. 
 
'A HOME ON THE ROLLING DEEP.' 35 
 
 July 1864 
 Wednesday 13. — The weather, the same; temperature, 
 ditto ; employment, ditto. It has been discovered that 
 the first lieutenant and several of the crew of the ' Ala- 
 bama ' are on board ; also a man whom they caught and 
 kept prisoner, on board, for six weeks, after burning his 
 ship ; also a man belonging to the ' Kearsarge.' They 
 keep themselves to themselves, and, generally, we are 
 a very unsociable lot of mortals. 
 
 Thursday 14. — Yesterday we had three adventures. 
 We saw a rat, some porpoises, and the 'Africa' on her 
 homeward voyage, about lat. 51° 22' N; long. 2G° 05' 
 W. We ran 232 miles between noon and noon, and on 
 the 12th, 239. In the evening it fell dead calm, and 
 then the wind shifted right round from N.E. to S.W., 
 and it began to blow up a bit of a breeze. It is now 
 blowing smartly, and we are spinning along, making 
 more than ten knots, with lots of sail set. The captain 
 who was taken by the ' Alabama' has been confiding his 
 sorrows to one of the officers, who has retailed them to 
 me. He says that it was unpleasant to lose his chrono- 
 meter, his own private property, and to see his wife's 
 dresses put under a table to set the ship on fire. 
 
 Friday 15. — Yesterday we saw a bird, a ship, and a 
 rat. In the evening, the wind headed us, and then it 
 
36 AN AMERICAN TRAMP. 
 
 fell calm : now the wind is back to S.W., the sea is 
 smooth as a mill-pond, and there is a thick fog. We are 
 making 10j, all sail set. 
 
 If it were not for the trembling of the ship, this life 
 wonld be ' truly rural.' I am awakened by the crowing 
 of a cock and the lowing of a cow ; or rather I was, for 
 the cock has ceased to crow, and it is my firm conviction 
 that he was roasted. The Secesh lieutenant is very like 
 a big Garibaldi. I have been striving to make a por- 
 trait of him, under the table, but I have not managed it 
 yet. This crossing of the Atlantic is a very slow pro- 
 ceeding, and ' that's a fact.' 
 
 Saturday 16. — In the evening it fell quite calm, and 
 the moon came out brightly. The air was soft and warm, 
 and I stayed on deck till near midnight, smoking and 
 enjoying the weather. I was roused in the morning by 
 the fog whistle, and found a wonderful change. The 
 water was a great deal colder yesterday ; to-day it was 
 only 47i°, and after breakfast we came in sight of ice- 
 bergs. There was a big one on the horizon, and we 
 passed close beside two small ones. They were beautiful. 
 The fog had vanished, but it could be seen resting on the 
 sea behind us. The sun shone on a bright, sparkling, 
 blue sea, and the icebergs glittered and shone like 
 polished marble streaked with Prussian blue. The 
 
ICEBERGS. 37 
 
 highest of the near ones was about 30 feet above water, 
 at one-seventh, 210 feet thick. About noon, we passed 
 a big one, distant about six miles. He looked about the 
 size of the Bass Eock, and, through the glass, the ice 
 looked like a splintered cliff. I could make out veins 
 and strata of dark-coloured dirt, probably beds of gravel. 
 One bed in particular was very plain. I took the 
 opinion of several knowing hands on board, and we all 
 agreed in estimating the height at more than 200 feet. 
 The visible length was about 200 to 300 yards. At one- 
 seventh, this lump was 1400 feet thick. As we are far 
 south of England, in lat. 48° 44', long. 44° 35' W., 336 
 miles from the nearest land, and a long way from the 
 nearest Greenland glacier, this is a good case of transport 
 of drift by sea-ice. There has been a deal of excitement 
 about the bergs. Yesterday, we nearly had a different 
 excitement. A young Yankee, who seems to be a snob, 
 thought proper to talk loud about the late fight. He 
 said that Semmes had surrendered his ship, and ought 
 to have surrendered himself, but that he had sneaked off 
 like a villain. The big lieutenant could have eaten him, 
 and some of the people advised him to punch his head, 
 but he wisely spoke to the captain, who took the young 
 offender into his cabin and gave him a bit of his mind. 
 I found him on deck pulling at his gloves and fuming 
 
38 AN AMERICAN TRAMP. 
 
 tremendously. A friend was advising him to lay the 
 matter before the authorities at Washington. He has 
 now grown calm, and there will be no bloodshed this 
 bout. Now for another iceberg. 
 
 Sunday 17. — We saw large icebergs till sunset, and 
 the water continued cold. The berg near which we 
 passed looked like a small white speck on the horizon, 
 and it was thirty feet high at least. Those which we 
 saw at a distance looked like large islands. One at 
 about fifteen miles looked very like Mont St. Michel 
 as it appears from Avranches ; another was very like 
 Ailsa Craig ; a third was like the end of the Isle of 
 Wight as seen from Blackgang Chine. I firmly believe 
 that they were as large as hills on the English coast. 
 At sunset their colours were very beautiful, rosepink with 
 Prussian blue shadows ; but they were so far away that 
 without a good glass no details were seen. 
 
 These are some of the shapes of the big ones. At 
 one time we got amongst a cluster of small bits, and had 
 to turn out of our way to avoid them. They were as 
 big as haystacks, and melted into strange shapes. They 
 were plunging and rocking, and the sea breaking over 
 them. If we had run foul of them they would have 
 sunk us, or the paddles would have been smashed. I 
 am in luck thus to sec bergs at once. As for weather, I 
 
SEA-FOGS. 39 
 
 am tired of praising it. The fog-whistle was going 
 in the morning, and fog banks are resting on the 
 horizon here and there, but the sun is shining brightly, 
 and the sea is smooth. The wind is cold and sharp, 
 and we are in arctic water, but it is very pleasant 
 sailing. 
 
 Monday 18. — It was curious last night to watch the 
 fogs. It seemed as if the region of clouds had been 
 lowered to the sea level. The horizon was hard as a 
 board, and the air quite clear, but every here and there 
 a gray wall of cloud rested on the sea. It came sweep- 
 ing down wind, and when it reached us the bow was 
 hidden from the stern in a moment. The melancholy 
 groans of the fog-whistle began, and the old ship, shriek- 
 ing and groaning every two minutes, plunged on her 
 way through the dense cloud. In ten minutes it passed 
 away to leeward as suddenly as it came ; the moon 
 shone out, and the groaning ceased. About grog-time a 
 big steamer was seen, and we exchanged rockets and 
 blue-lights and such like marine civilities. We heard 
 no sound, so the fog- whistle is of small use. The cap- 
 tain made for the place where Cape Eace ought to be, 
 but he could not see the light, which is placed high, and 
 he held on his course. This morning we have got into 
 the lee of Newfoundland, and there is a marvellous 
 
40 AN AMERICAN TRAMP. 
 
 change. The water is seven degrees warmer, and the 
 clouds are up in the air where they ought to be. The 
 sun is bright and the air balmy, and the passengers 
 are hard at their usual games. 
 
 Tuesday 19. — All yesterday very fine and warm. 
 The water getting warmer as we get under the lee of 
 the land. We saw some whales spouting, and a Mother 
 Carey's chicken, and that was the only excitement. 
 
 A gentleman told me part of his adventures in the 
 evening. He went up to the diggings in Australia and 
 worked with two others till they dug a hole sixty feet 
 deep. They had then reached a layer of big stones, 
 ' common blue stones,' with the corners rounded off, 
 and neatly packed as if laid by a mason. In the chinks 
 they could see the gold glittering, and they washed 
 some dirt and found it rich. Well pleased, they left 
 their tools in the hole to keep possession, and went to 
 sleep. In the night a pool of water broke in, and when 
 they went to the mine the sides had fallen, and all 
 their tools were buried. All the money they had was 
 invested in the tools, so they walked back to Melbourne, 
 sixty miles, without * a red cent; and the sailor went 
 to sea again. 
 
 In the night the fog-horn groaned two or three 
 times. Now the sky is blue, and the sun white-hot 
 
HALIFAX. 41 
 
 and brighter than any sunlight that I have seen since I 
 was in the same southern latitudes many years ago. 
 When this steamer stops at Boston she will be in the 
 latitude of Eome. When I get north to St. John's, I 
 shall be as far south as Nantes. 
 
 Wednesday, July 20, Halifax. — We got in last night 
 at a quarter to nine by the time here ; one in the 
 morning by London time. We got to this, Halifax 
 Hotel, and then wandered about the streets till all hours 
 of the morning. 
 
 By all accounts here, it will not be easy to get to 
 Labrador, for all the fishermen are gone from Halifax 
 and Newfoundland. If I can't get on I will come back, 
 but I will go as far as I can. 
 
CHAPTEE III. 
 
 NOVA SCOTIA TO NEWFOUNDLAND. 
 
 July 20, 1864. Halifax. 
 Here we are about the latitude of Bordeaux. Asked 
 about sporting and icebergs. It seems that there is no 
 fishing in Nova Scotia worthy of the name. It seems 
 strange that so little should be known about neighbour- 
 ing colonies. Only a few wandering sportsmen know 
 anything about the places to which I am bound ; the 
 ways of Newfoundland and Labrador seem utterly un- 
 known to 'Bluenoses.' Tried for a chart of Labrador, 
 and found that no good chart exists. 
 
 In the evening drove by rail to Windsor, forty miles. 
 The route is through a country which is as nature made 
 it. The highest point on the line is about 550 feet 
 above the sea. The woods are chiefly pine, with hard 
 wood and low brush ; the ground a mass of boulders 
 and bare rocks. Lakes abound ; and in one of them, 
 called Rocky Lake, a company have established an ice- 
 
GOLD. 43 
 
 house, with railway complete, for exporting ice to the 
 States and elsewhere. About thirty miles from the 
 eastern coast the country changes. The rocks are softer, 
 and include shales and sandstones, limestones and beds 
 of clay. The country is cleared and well cultivated. 
 The belt of forest and wild land extends about 
 twenty miles from the eastern coast all along Nova Scotia. 
 The Gulf Stream runs nearly east, at a considerable dis- 
 tance from the coast. The cold stream runs westward, 
 near it. The tide at Halifax rises only four feet. In 
 lat, 45° the look of the country is the same as in 
 lat. 71° in Norway; but here are willows, and other 
 such trees, which do not grow about the North Cape. 
 Gold abounds, and the colonists are in a fever about it. 
 At one place, near the sea, they found enough to make 
 it pay ; now they are quartz-mining. Windsor is a neat 
 wooden town on a branch of the Bay of Fundy. It is 
 surrounded by gardens and green fields ; and when we 
 arrived, a vast plain of mud stretched as far as the eye 
 could reach. Vessels on the stocks were forty or fifty 
 feet up, and looked as if they never could get afloat. 
 After going to bed, heard the rushing of the tide, and 
 then remembered that the tides are famous in this place. 
 A travelling gymnast was walking matches against time, 
 backwards and forwards, with a wheel-barrow and witli 
 
44 AN AMERICAN TRAMP. 
 
 a cart-wheel, and throwing 56 lbs. over his head. Gave 
 the poor cl — 1 a shilling ; for he had only got a few 
 coppers for all his work. 
 
 July 21, 1864. 
 Windsor, Nova Scotia. — Water 70°, air 80°, at 3 
 p.m. Heat oppressive after the cold of the sea. Walked 
 about six miles, and made a sketch from the bank above 
 the bridge. The flood-tide was well worth seeing. A 
 broad plain of red mud stretching to the horizon, was 
 suddenly streaked with silver lines, and then the 
 'bore,' a foot high, came rushing up the narrow lanes 
 of water. It came slowly, roaring hoarsely, and the 
 broad tide spread behind it. In half an hour the broad 
 plain was covered by a wide, red torrent, whirling like a 
 mill-sluice, boiling, eddying, and sweeping everything 
 that would float before it. From the water's edge the 
 sea looked like a steep mound of water, a furious rapid, 
 pouring down from the horizon. By 3 p.m. the tide 
 was up to the edge of the wharfs, and the muddy water 
 had cleared in the centre. Boats came creeping out of 
 odd corners, and the sea was forty feet deep over the plain 
 of mud. According to the sailing directions the tides 
 in the Bay of Fundy seem to result from the cramming 
 of the tidal wave into a narrow wedge-like opening. In 
 
THE WINDSOR TIDE. 45 
 
 the Bay of Mines the water sometimes rises 75 feet, 
 while the tide in the Gulf of St. Lawrence, beyond the 
 narrow isthmus, 16 miles wide, rises 8 feet. At 
 Windsor, where the tide has to turn round a point, it 
 rises 40 feet. In the wider part of the bay it rises 30 
 feet only. In some parts of the bay are dangerous 
 whirlpools, where the stream runs nine knots. The 
 bottom seems to be composed of the debris of the soft 
 rocks, and it seems highly probable that the sea will 
 break through, and make an island of Nova Scotia, 
 unless the land rises. About high-water mark the 
 shore is strewed with very large boulders of coarse 
 granite, and numerous other stones foreign to this dis- 
 trict. It is evident that this creek is growing larger by 
 the wearing of its banks. They are undermined at 
 high-water mark. The rock near the bridge is a soft 
 limestone full of fossils, interstratified with beds of 
 loose clay dipping at a high angle. 
 
 In winter the Bay of Fundy freezes, and this great 
 tide packs the ice till it looks 'like the boulders on 
 shores/ No doubt the ice moves the granite boulders and 
 cuts into the grooved bank like a big saw. Ice-marks 
 abound in this district. In Halifax I took several rubbings ; 
 and at the summit level, 550 feet, took some more. The 
 natives supposed that I was prospecting for gold, and 
 
46 AN AMERICAN TEAMP. 
 
 were very much interested in the proceedings. The 
 direction is about N. 55° W. to S. 55° E. The direction of 
 the Gulf Stream S. 70° W. The trend of the coast S. 
 50° W. There are no high mountains to account for 
 local glaciers, and the marks on the highest tops corre- 
 spond in direction with marks near the sea-level twenty 
 miles away. The boulder-clay contains fragments of 
 sandstone, and the coal-measures are to the K 50° E. 
 in Cape Breton, and N.W. in New Brunswick. Saw 
 several Indian camps. The small boys came to the 
 train to stare and sell strawberries. The men carried 
 guns, and dressed like English gamekeepers. The 
 women were wild-looking, and very picturesque ; their 
 walk, a peculiar stride like the gait of men who in 
 Sweden walk on snow-shoes. The wigwams were 
 made of birch-bark and fir-poles, conical, with a hole 
 in the top. These people are Micmacs, and speak 
 English and their own language. The forest was burn- 
 ing in a dozen places, set on fire by cinders from the 
 engine. 
 
 In the evening went on board the steamer Delta, and 
 slept in a small cabin with five other big men. Conse- 
 quent mutual suffocation considerable. 
 
 July 22, 1864— Friday.— Start at 10. Coast bold 
 and hills rounded, but weather hazy ; sea smooth, fair 
 
SYDNEY, CAPE BRETON. 47 
 
 wind, vessel rolling abominably all day. Lots of ships in 
 sight. In the morning in sight of Flint Islands, on which 
 there is a lighthouse. There is a gap between these 
 islands. A few years ago there was a foot-bridge across 
 the gap, now it has become a wide deep passage. This 
 coast is therefore wearing rapidly ; it is broken by the 
 undermining of waves and the battering of ice. The rock 
 is sandstone, in beds nearly horizontal. Coal is seen 
 in the cliffs, dip JST. Made Sydney at 10.15, twenty- 
 five hours from Halifax. A fine section of the coal-mea- 
 sures is in the sea-cliffs. There is not a single fault or 
 dyke in many miles, apparent dip 1ST. 10.° The hills 
 are about three or four hundred feet high, forest-clad ; 
 trees low, soil thin, and strewn witli boulders of 
 granite and other hard rocks. The vegetation is very 
 like that of Scandinavia — stunted pines, birch, and 
 hard wood, multiberries in the bogs, and strawberries 
 abundant. One coal-mine is about five miles from the 
 sea, and has a railway. The temperature of the water 
 at the bottom is 47°, air 68° outside; it is 360 feet deep. 
 The average temperature of the place may therefore be 
 taken at 41°, as marked by Dove. It is near the lati- 
 tude of La Eochelle, where the average temperature is 
 55°. A similar cold temperature on the European coast 
 is found north of Bergen, and the isothermal line passes 
 
48 AN AMERICAN TRAMP. 
 
 near the south of Iceland. The appearance of the coun- 
 try coincides with the ascertained climate. It is very 
 like Norway, very unlike La Bochelle, in sunny France. 
 The colonists are chiefly Highlanders from Uist, Barra, 
 Inverness, and other parts of the Highlands. Grown 
 men who were born in the colony, children, and people 
 who came from the old country, all speak Gaelic. Many 
 are flourishing farmers, others work in the mines, and 
 earn as much as * ten shillings a day.' Asked many of 
 them if they thought more emigrants would succeed. 
 The answers were various; but the substance is that young 
 men will find plenty of employment, and that a man 
 with a strong family is sure to succeed. The winter 
 cold is the great drawback. A cute Irishman on board 
 the steamer, who is said to be a famous farmer in New- 
 foundland, held the Cape Breton people very cheap ; 
 he pointed out that Yankees come all the way from 
 Boston to catch the fish which none of these fellows will 
 catch, themselves. The mines are worked by Yankee 
 companies, and the farmers allow themselves to be 
 cheated by hucksters, who buy their produce cheap and 
 retail it to the ships. At one farm he found a man well 
 to do but a wretched farmer. He asked why he did not 
 lime his land, as there was excellent lime beside him. 
 ' Oh,' said the other, ' I did once, but the grass grew a 
 
CAPE BRETON FARMING. 49 
 
 yard high, and I was afraid that I would take all the 
 good out of it at once, so I have never tried it a^ain.' 
 Why did he not put on the sea-ware which was piled 
 upon the shore in vast mounds ? ' Oh, that burned the 
 grass right off.' < In short/ said the man, < I don't want 
 to do better, I am well enough/ This was an English- 
 man; but the principle is very like that of the old coun- 
 try of Mrs. Maclarty. Went into sundry houses and 
 found the usual familiar untidy ways. One fellow had 
 built a round end of loose stones at the end of his wooden 
 shanty. As this round-ended architecture is common in 
 the Hebrides, asked if he did not come from the 
 islands. He did, from Barra. The old familiar High- 
 land manner here in the new world was polite as ever. 
 One fellow with a black face led me to an Indian camp. 
 Found squaws making baskets ; the men were at work 
 stowing coals in the steamer, and doing such-like work. 
 One woman was really pretty. In winter there is a great 
 deal of ice in this harbour. The rocks at the water's 
 edge are ground and rounded. The beach was quite 
 different from anything which I have seen on the other 
 side of the Atlantic. Searched in vain for bare rocks on 
 shore. So went on board the steamer and sailed. This 
 country is in a very primitive state. Directly the 
 town is left, the wild forest begins. It is a maze of 
 
 E 
 
50 AN AMERICAN TRAMP. 
 
 tangled plants growing in marshy hollows, and a wilder- 
 ness of pine thickets on stony rock hills. In striving 
 to run a bee-line towards the coal-mines, which we had 
 seen from the steamer, we got fairly astray, and only 
 made our point by steering so as to hit the railroad. 
 Plants and landscapes resemble those of Scandinavia, 
 about 60°. The temperature of the water in the coal- 
 mine proves that the earth itself is no colder here than it 
 is in Europe, but the temperature of the sea is very differ- 
 ent. There is a cold current outside, inside in the Bay 
 of Fundy it is less cold, and the difference in climate is 
 proved by the aspect of the country. On one side is an 
 English landscape with Indian corn added, on the other 
 within forty miles is the bleak north. It is question- 
 able whether a farmer gains by moving three thousand 
 miles from a rocky sea-coast where the average tem- 
 perature is 50°, to another equally rocky sea-coast where 
 the temperature is 41°. If men will not fish and can- 
 not farm at home, why should they farm and fish better 
 without help or instruction in a worse climate, and a 
 far wilder sea abroad ? The general feeling amongst these 
 men appeared to be strong regret for their old haunts, and 
 a yearning towards a countryman. ' These shores are not 
 like our shores/ they said. 'This cold, gloomy, bleak win- 
 ter is not like our own.' Many who only knew of the old 
 
TRANSPLANTED HIGHLANDERS. 51 
 
 country from their grandsires or their neighbours, asked 
 if the other side was not a very different land. Philan- 
 thropists who benefit tenants by helping them over the 
 sea, would do well to study Dove's isotherms, and the 
 effects of ice on climate. 
 
 Strong breeze, bright sun. 
 
 Sunday, July 24 — At sea ; strong breeze, vessel 
 rolling fearfully, and a good sea on. Kan rather close 
 to the Newfoundland coast in a haze, and clawed off ; 
 then made for Cape Eace, which we passed in the night 
 for the second time without seeing the light. 
 
CHAPTEE IV. 
 
 ST. JOHN'S TO STRAITS OF BELLEISLE. 
 
 Monday, July 25—9.30 A.M.— Made St. John's. The 
 coast about Cape Spear is fine, hills about 500 feet 
 high, with brush and stunted pine growing on them. 
 The rocks are red sandstone, evidently very much 
 glaciated, dipping at high angles. The entrance to 
 the harbour is through a narrow passage guarded by 
 forts. The harbour itself is in a hollow, at right angles 
 to the entrance. All the town turned out to see all the 
 military authorities salute the general commanding, who, 
 with his aide, turned out in full fig — cocked hat and 
 spurs. The < Ariel' was to start next day for 'the 
 Labrador ;' so went on board, and found a filthy steamer, 
 stinking most villanously. A place forward, newly 
 painted, seemed the least bad, so chose a berth. The 
 place in question was the forehold, roughly boarded 
 over, and with twelve bunks rudely set up at the sides. 
 They were too short for a man of ordinary dimensions, 
 too low for common shoulders to lie on edge ; to get in 
 
CHEAP AND NASTY. 53 
 
 was a gymnastic feat ; to lie still, a violent exertion ; 
 to get out, an exploit. To stand upright on the floor 
 was impossible. The paint was wet ; but there was a 
 companion-hutch which could not be closed, so fresh 
 air must circulate below ; the screw was aft ; the paint 
 would dry ; the blankets were new ; the sheets, though 
 coarse brown holland, were fresh from the shop. It was 
 the least dignified part of the ship — smoking was al- 
 lowed ; and so the forehold of the * Ariel' was chosen for 
 a home on the ocean wave. Passage up and down, and 
 food for three weeks, £5 sterling ; cheap and nasty. 
 
 Walked up to the top of the signal-hill, and found 
 ice-marks very well preserved ; the direction nearly at 
 right angles to the coast. There does not seem to be 
 anything peculiar in the water-line ; yet this harbour 
 freezes, and sea-ice drifts in and out every year. The 
 marks on the hill were not made by shore-ice of this 
 description ; on the other hand, they point directly 
 across the main valleys and fjords of the island, and 
 there is no higher ground from which local glaciers 
 could come, and yet the marks are perfect on the sand- 
 stone. This must be the work of sea-ice, like that which 
 passes to the eastward in spring. We are here in the 
 latitude of Nantes. There is an iceberg now in St. Mary's. 
 Earlier in the year, sailing vessels, which got into the 
 
54 AN AMERICAN TRAMP. 
 
 ice far north, drifted down past St. John's, with bergs 
 and pack-ice, in Qne great moving mass, 150 miles wide. 
 The sea-coast consists of cliffs and ronnd rocks at the 
 water-line. It is said that the land is rising now. 
 
 July 26, Monday. — Sail at 10.30 ; very fine and 
 warm, bright snn, wind off shore. Crowds on board 
 going to a regatta at Harbour Grace, and to places all 
 down the coast. The coast is high as far as Cape St. 
 Francis. The section is very fine ; at one place the beds 
 run in long folds, which are planed off at the top — a more 
 conspicuous instance of denudation could not be conceived, 
 and because of the marks on Signal-hill the plane was ice. 
 The outline of the upper country has nothing to do 
 with the geological formation below. It has been shorn 
 over by some great ice-engine, but the last movement 
 here was across the bays and valleys. Landed at 
 Harbour Grace. Found great masses of terraced drift 
 resting on polished striated rocks. Here the direction 
 agrees with the shape of the country in some degree ; 
 but the strise, though perfectly well marked, do not run 
 down the harbour ; they cross it diagonally, and seem 
 to run northwards. The marks on the shore where bay- 
 ice abounds do not resemble these in the least. A large 
 square island of ice, about eighty or one hundred feet out 
 of water, was aground in Conception Bay. The chart 
 
55 
 
 gives 45 and 115 fathoms (270 and 690 feet). At the rate 
 of one-seventh, 100 feet above gives 600 below. Sketched 
 the berg as we passed it, bnt saw no sign of a stone on 
 the ice. It was of the colour of white marble, lustrous 
 and shining, but shaded with blue ; some veins looked 
 like brilliant lapis lazuli, but we were too far off to see 
 it well. A whole fleet of small pieces were drifting 
 from it out of the bay before the wind. In the middle 
 of the night there was a disturbance. A reverend ' bay- 
 man ' went on deck and saw breakers, upon which he 
 shouted, 'Breakers ahead!' The captain, who took him 
 for one of the crew, cursed him, and asked if he had 
 only just seen them. No one stirred in our bunk ; but 
 the fact was, that the vessel had nearly run stem on to 
 a cliff in a thick fog. 
 
 Wednesday 27. — Landed at 5 A.M., and walked in 
 a fog to a hill-top. Perched blocks here and there ; 
 but the rocks were all weathered, though rounded. Came 
 down and joined the crowd. Went to breakfast at a kind 
 of lodging-house, where the pork tasted of cod-liver oil, 
 and the eggs were abominable. Got a wash and went 
 on board again. The dip of the rocks 42 ° S. Steamed to 
 Catalina from Trinity. Landed again and walked to the 
 top of another hill. Eock yellow, slaty; dip 14° W.N.W. 
 Cleavage E.S.E. 54°, magnetic. At this place the ice 
 
56 AN AMERICAN TRAMP. 
 
 in winter extended 140 miles from the coast. It was 
 the mass in which the sealers got entangled. All the 
 cod have gone away, and some knowing cards attribute 
 their departure to the unusual quantity of ice. It is 
 said that fish were picked up dead, and that lumps of 
 ice were found in their stomachs. It is supposed they 
 swallowed the ice and died of cramp. Rounded Cape 
 Buonavista and sighted an iceberg. Landed at Buona- 
 vista, a large place in a port open to the westward. The 
 town stands in a hollow, on vast terraced masses of 
 glacial drift, consisting of gray clay, with large boulders 
 of granite, black marble, and numerous other hard rocks ; 
 many of these are scratched and polished. The rock of 
 the country is sandstone ; the water-line is broken, and 
 the boulder-clay undermined so as to leave a terrace. 
 The coast is like beaches elsewhere, but worn and 
 rubbed in spots. The hills are all rounded and of one 
 pattern. No striated rocks were found in the town, 
 and there was no time to search further. Steamed to 
 King's Cove and anchored for the night. Passed an ice- 
 berg aground below a house. The white mass con- 
 trasted strangely with the green hills, corn-land, and 
 white walls of the farm-house. Landed with a com- 
 rade. This genius is wild about treasure-seeking. He 
 pointed out several places where treasure is buried, and 
 
THE DIVINING-ROD. 57 
 
 told no end of stories about his adventures. He has 
 a divining-rod, which is a great secret, for which many 
 would give him large sums of money ; but he knows 
 better than to tell them anything about it. A man 
 who taught him the art of using it, proved the value of 
 the article by finding a pose of silver. He put two 
 pounds in silver in a handkerchief, and hid it in a bar- 
 ren moor, < where no man would think of looking.' They 
 went to the place, and the rod led the diviner to the 
 very spot. According to the account of the narrator, he 
 must have gone dancing about his pose like a hen part- 
 ridge with a nest, while the operator prowled round and 
 pretended to be dragged from his path by the rod. When 
 they got close together, the man who hid the plunder 
 pulled it out himself in a transport of joy ; the other 
 sacked it, and he got the stick. An article in the Quar- 
 terly Revievj, some years ago, attributed the phenomena of 
 biology, table-turning, and mesmerism, to 'suggestion.' 
 This is a case in point. An officer in the navy had 
 given him some useful hints about making the engine ; 
 in particular, he had told him to put mercury into it. 
 Seeing me at work with various glasses and instruments, 
 he attached himself to me, and we set off for a scramble. 
 Walked to the tops of two hills, the highest in sight. 
 One was a regular scramble over broken rocks, and 
 
58 AN AMERICAN TRAMP. 
 
 through very rough forest ground. Vegetation, berries, 
 ferns, and small pines. The view was fine. On coming 
 
 down Mr. spoke out ; ' Well now, this is the 
 
 last time we shall be together ; you might as well tell 
 a fellow how to make a divining-rod.' * Well/ said I, 
 ' 111 tell you all I know about it, but it is all nonsense ;' 
 and then I told him about the hazle rod, but the worthy 
 man was not half pleased. He said that he knew a 
 man who had found a great treasure lately. He had 
 seen a bit of the very box in which it was stowed. But 
 two fellows were beforehand with him. They went at 
 night and took the treasure, thirty thousand pounds, 
 with which they departed for the States. One bought 
 a mill, and the other a farm, and they are both alive 
 and flourishing. Found a man who spoke Gaelic, and 
 reads a Gaelic bible ; and went to his house with a worthy 
 missionary from Nova Scotia, who is bound for the 
 Labrador. We had a sociable glass of cold spring water, 
 and then wandered down to the fish-stage, where we sat 
 admiring the beauty of the night. In the midst of our 
 talk, a strange, low, wild, eldrich whimpering yell, like 
 the howl of a wild beast, startled me. ' What's that V I 
 said. ' Oh, it's only the dog,' said the Highlander. 
 ' Do you know what he's at ? All the dogs here have 
 something of the wolf in them, and at night they answer 
 
CANINE CUSTOMS. 59 
 
 one another, — listen.' Accordingly we listened, and 
 from all sides of the still harbour there suddenly sprang 
 an answer to the challenge of our dog ; it was a chorus 
 of howling, yelling, and whimpering, which rose and fell 
 and died away in the distance, to be taken up again by 
 still more distant country dogs. With the singing of the 
 mosquitoes, the ripple of the sea, and the still quiet of 
 the night, it was a strange, wild scene. After a deal of 
 shouting got a boat and went on board, and to bed. 
 Every one has heard of Newfoundland clogs, and every- 
 body wants to get one. They ought to be pretty large, 
 quite black, with rough waving shiny hair, black roofs to 
 their mouths, mild wise faces, and long tails, with a slight 
 curl at the end. There is hardly a specimen of the pure 
 breed left in the country, and the few that remain are 
 prized. The small smooth black Labrador dog is not so 
 much valued. Packs of cross-bred brutes of all sizes 
 prowl about all these coast settlements. They feed on 
 fish offal, and seem to be a highly independent com- 
 munity. Venturing once to pat the head of a venerable 
 brown shaggy dog, who looked like a fat, sleepy, good- 
 natured bear, my hand got an ugly squeeze, which 
 was followed by growling and grinning, and gnashing of 
 teeth. Head and tail went down, and bristles went up, 
 and the old brute looked perfectly savage and sulky as 
 
60 AN AMERICAN TEAMP. 
 
 long as we kept company. These dogs help the men to 
 drag blnbber on the ice in sealing times, and fatten on 
 dead seals. They are allies, not slaves or hired servants. 
 Thursday 28. — Steamed to Green's Pond, passing- 
 several large icebergs aground. The island is a broad tor 
 about 180 feet high. There is very little soil on it, and that 
 little is peat. The vegetation is arctic ; rein moss, Indian 
 tea, crowberries, bake-apples, and snch like. The honses 
 are perched upon weathered granite, all ground into one 
 shape. Many houses are on separate rocks, and cannot 
 be reached without a boat. At the end of the harbour 
 is the churchyard — surely the strangest that man ever 
 made. All the tombstones lean, except those which 
 have fallen down. One records the age of a girl who 
 died in 1808, and begs her parents to weep no more. 
 It stands about three feet above the sea, and close to 
 the edge of a peat bank. On looking over, there was 
 the coffin in the sea, with the bones of the poor girl rol- 
 ling about in it. The sea has encroached on the 
 churchyard ; but the inhabitants do not seem to care, 
 for their path from house to house skirts this grave, 
 and the bones are visible to all who care to turn their 
 heads. This looks as if this part of the coast were not 
 rising but sinking. The churchyard, however, is still 
 used, and it is said that coffins are scuttled and anchored 
 
A MARITIME CHURCHYARD. 61 
 
 with stones in peat graves which fill with sea-water as 
 soon as they are made. The bog is the only soil on the 
 island deep enough for a grave : there' is very little of it, 
 and boats and vessels run their prows against the bank, 
 and wear it aw T ay. Still the fact remains, that a peat- 
 moss is partly submerged. Unless peat was washed 
 down, this spot has sunk with the plants which grew 
 in the rocky hollow. Stopped all day, as a fog came 
 on, and the next bit of the voyage is dangerous. 
 Walked about with sundry agreeable shipmates. Found 
 a curious plant, Indian cup by name. It has a yellow 
 flower like a waterlily, and the leaves are like 
 small pitchers. These fill with water, and nourish the 
 plant in dry weather. The root is said to be a cure for 
 small-pox. Found a garden in which potatoes and pot- 
 herbs were flourishing amongst a litter of cod-heads. 
 The owner was fishing, but the wife did the honours of 
 her cabin. Mne-tenths of these people seem to be Irish, 
 and the accent of the whole colony is a decided brogue. 
 Studied the rocks at the sea-level, and found them very 
 smooth, but not striated. There is a wide sea-margin 
 above high-water mark, upon which nothing grows, and 
 no sea-weed grows on the rocks below water. There are 
 no limpets, and very few shells of any kind. A few 
 small whelks crawl about, and in chinks a few white 
 
62 AN AMERICAN TRAMP. 
 
 barnacles are to be found. It seems that bay-ice rubs 
 everything from the stone ; but at a short distance from 
 high-water mark, the rock is weathered. The trend of 
 the island is N.W. magnetic. A more dreary desolate 
 human camp it is hard to imagine ; but people live here 
 all winter, and the shops make fortunes. Got some tea at 
 a neat little house kept by a lady, who gave us tea with 
 real cow's milk, dried caplin, fried ham and eggs. Some 
 Indians from the interior, armed with bows and arrows, 
 crossed to the settlement, and prowled about the houses 
 and shops buying stores and drink. Unfortunately they 
 departed before I saw them. A pretty little girl at one 
 house had got a nest of young chickens in a box ; but 
 they were Mother Carey's chickens, and she was feeding 
 her pets with dainty bits of cod-liver. These strange 
 little webfooted sea-swifts breed here in great numbers. 
 This wild place corresponds nearly to the Scilly Isles, 
 where cacti nourish, and geraniums grow to be hedges 
 ten or twelve feet high. In winter the whole sea freezes ; 
 sometimes the drift is hundreds of miles wide, and the 
 sounds are roads. There is scarce a fragment of a shell 
 on the beach on one shore, on the other is shell-sand. 
 One great difficulty in exploring glacial drift is the ab- 
 sence of shells ; if shells be so rare on the beach in this 
 latitude now, their chance of preservation in old drift was 
 
SPORT IN CORNISH LATITUDES. 63 
 
 small. Future geologists may hunt for them in vain 
 here, as geologists do now elsewhere. 
 
 Friday, 29 — Air 48°, water 46°. — Sun shining, wind 
 1ST., 11 a.m. Steamed through a lot of reefs and small 
 islands. Passed Cape Freels and the Wadhams, and 
 ran into Fogo. This is a queer little harbour, with two 
 entrances ; a heavy sea was running, and as we came out 
 the vessel ran very near some nets. If the screw had 
 caught, we should have been wrecked to a certainty, for a 
 very heavy swell was setting us broadside on to the 
 rocks. The people ran out to look at us. 
 
 There is a low neck of rock here, and on it stria? 
 were well enough marked to take a rubbing. Went to 
 the top of a hill and found nothing but broken shattered 
 sandstone rocks. Ean in to Toulinguet, and anchored 
 for the night. Landed and went to a merchant's house, 
 where a young agent entertained us with baccy and 
 grog. 
 
 About thirty sealing vessels were lost this year. In 
 March, the whole spring fleet first tried to get outside the 
 ice, and, failing, tried to work up inside of it. Off Tou- 
 linguet, they were all jammed hard and fast. Fifteen hun- 
 dred men used to walk ashore from their vessels, and they 
 were quartered on the inhabitants. The place is neat 
 and well built, and about it there is a great deal of cul- 
 
64 AN AMERICAN TRAMP. 
 
 tivation — potatoes and pot-herbs flourish. There are 
 well-grown firs here and there ; and wild-roses, and such- 
 like plants, show a tolerable climate. In latitude, the 
 place corresponds to the Scilly Isles. The wood for the 
 houses and stages is got from the head of the bay, about 
 the Eiver of Exploits. Some of the logs were three feet 
 round. A few years ago, great herds of seals came off 
 this harbour, and many were killed. The men walked 
 six to ten miles out to sea, and killed the seals with 
 guns and clubs. The big ones are called ' harps,' and 
 show fight ; the young ones are helpless. As soon as 
 slain, the seals are flensed, and the blubber and skins of 
 five or six are made into a package. Dogs and men are 
 harnessed to this bundle, and the spoil is dragged home. 
 Our host went out himself, and slew a lot of seals, with 
 which he was proceeding on his homeward march, when 
 a cry was raised of, ' Slip your seals and run.' The ice 
 was opening. He stuck to his seals, but he presently 
 came to an open lane of water. Others joined, and they 
 broke off a piece of ice and ferried themselves across ; 
 but there was another lane before them. Here another 
 piece was freighted, but, this time, there was a man too 
 many on board, and the ice-raft began to sink. There 
 was a shout of ' Leap for your lives,' and one leapt into 
 the water and swam. They all got safe to land at last, 
 
SLIP YOUR SEALS AND RUN. 65 
 
 but there were hundreds outside, and the whole sea was 
 opening. It was a wild and fearful scene. Distracted 
 women, on the shore, were shrieking and wringing their 
 hands ; dogs were howling in all directions ; and men and 
 dogs were struggling in the ice outside. A sudden change 
 of wind drove the pack ashore again, and the men were 
 saved — all but two, who perished. The ice breaks up 
 here in June, sometimes in the end of July. The sea 
 freezes to a thickness of eighteen inches in the harbour, 
 but the pack and large bergs come drifting from the 
 northward, and jam on this headland. One berg came 
 in this year behind a hill, and the top was seen from the 
 shore of the harbour. The hill is 270 feet high (by 
 aneroid), so the berg must have been over 300 feet high. 
 It broke up on the shore, and fell to pieces with a noise 
 like thunder, or like the firing of heavy guns. A 
 similar account of the death of an island of ice was given 
 by an old man, at King's Cove. The water there is deep, 
 and large bergs commonly drift to the mouth of the 
 harbour. There they ground, and pour down streams of 
 excellent pure fresh water. From time to time, the 
 island starts and groans ; moves and changes its line of 
 flotation. At last, with a final roar, it bursts asunder. 
 Like a dying whale, it makes a great flurry, and then the 
 fragments set off on separate cruises. How the people in 
 
66 AN AMERICAN TRAMP. 
 
 St. Heliers or Falmouth would stare if a tiling as big as 
 the cliff at the end of Jersey or the Land's End were to 
 sail in and explode there! After wandering about in 
 the dark, for some time, got a boat, and went on board. 
 
 Saturday 30— Air 48°, water 40°.— Off Little Belle- 
 isle. Icebergs in sight when the temperature was taken, 
 wind south ; long rollers from the north. Passed near a 
 small berg, which rose about 40 feet out of water. Made 
 a sketch, and got the pilot to steer close to it. It was 
 perfectly clean, and looked like translucent white marble 
 veined with Prussian blue. The vessel had hardly passed 
 when one of these blue veins opened about a foot, and 
 the berg slid so as to alter its line of notation. It made 
 a loud, harsh, rattling sound, like near thunder, and 
 rocked to and fro. Then it gave a second loud growl and 
 settled. The captain shook his head, and said we were 
 a great deal too near. This sound gave a better measure 
 of the size than the look of the thing. It must have been 
 400 feet thick and 200 long. Passed many others of far 
 larger size, but the captain gave them all a wide berth : 
 some were guessed at 200 feet high, and they were cer- 
 tainly 150 above water. Most of this day out of sight 
 of land, or nearly so ; passed Belleisle in the straits in 
 the night, and made Henly Harbour at 5 a.m. 
 
CHAPTEE V. 
 
 THE LABRADOR. 
 
 Sunday, 31— Air 42°, water 37°— 9 a.m, cold and cheer- 
 less.— The first view of the Labrador coast is very like 
 the west coast of Scotland ; for instance, the Sound 
 of Mull without the high hills ; but one strange con- 
 trast is the ice. Large masses were stranded every- 
 where in the offing, and along shore. They looked pale 
 and ghastly in the yellow morning light. There were 
 patches of snow on the hills, and great wet pillows of 
 mist laid on their sides and tops. These hills are not 
 above three or four hundred feet high, and all of one 
 round pattern, except a square hill of columnar basalt, 
 beside Henly Harbour. 
 
 Now, this place is about the latitude of London, the 
 Bristol Channel, and the south of Ireland. The water 
 is 37° in July ; at the other side it is never so cold, 
 even in the dead of winter. The reason of the marked 
 difference in vegetation is the climate. The climate 
 results from the direction taken by the Arctic Current, 
 which brings a flotilla of ice. It never ends. As fast 
 
68 AN AMERICAN TRAMP. 
 
 as one island of ice grounds and bursts, another takes 
 its place, and in winter the whole strait is blocked up 
 by a mass which swings bodily up and down, grating 
 along the bottom at all depths. Bay-ice a few feet 
 thick, pack-ice, and broken bergs of all sorts and sizes, 
 with anchor-ice below, all moving bodily through a 
 rocky channel, must work notable denudation at the 
 bottom of the sea in this strait. Steamed on to Cape 
 Charles. All the low rocks in the straits are rounded 
 and smoothed, as if by the constant wear and tear of 
 ice moved by the current. Many bergs were aground 
 in the centre of the strait, and one seemed to contain 
 stones, but it was too far off to make sure, even with 
 the glass. Got to Cape Charles at 8.30, after passing 
 Battle Harbour. The rocks are pink gneiss, or, perhaps, 
 syenite, contorted, with dark slate interstratified. They 
 are all rounded. There are very few shells at the water- 
 line, very little sea-weed even in the most sheltered 
 corners ; but though these harbours are all frozen every 
 winter, the rocks at the water-line are not striated. 
 Picked up a scratched stone on the beach. Lumps of ice, 
 the fragments of broken icebergs, are everywhere, 
 aground and afloat, in all depths ; but these big engines 
 can only hit the rocks at the water-line where the coast 
 is steep, and the coast shelves everywhere ; only thin 
 
FISHING-STAGES. 69 
 
 ice can touch the water-line at present. About 400 
 inhabitants are scattered about here during the summer. 
 Their houses are mere wooden camps perched upon 
 rocks. A few men stay all winter. The fishing-stages 
 are long piers made of small fir-poles, and reach out 
 into deep water, where boats can come to the end. The 
 waves wash through the piles, and the floor of the stage 
 is made of round poles, between which the water shines. 
 A roof of poles, with fir-branches for thatch, covers the 
 whole, and there is little provision for light. On this 
 dark stage the fish are landed from the boats with 
 pitch-forks, which are stuck into them as Highlanders 
 fork peats. After the fish are cleaned, split, and salted, 
 they are dried on " flakes." Made Hurray's Harbour at 
 noon. This harbour was blocked with ice on the 20th 
 of July. The water-line is rubbed, and in some places 
 striated. The beach consists of broken stones, and 
 seems to differ in no respect from like beaches else- 
 where. Many rocks are shattered as rocks are by waves 
 alone, but all points are ground off within the influence 
 of the ice. In this respect this beach differs from the 
 other side. Some of the bergs had curious shapes in 
 this neighbourhood. When their ways were better 
 known these shapes were easily explained. Granite 
 veins abound in the rock. 
 
70 AN AMERICAN TRAMP. 
 
 St Francis' Harbour, at 2 p.m. — This is a small hole 
 amongst the rocks, with a merchant's establishment and 
 salmon-fishery attached. They are now catching about 
 fifty a day, and complain that they are doing very ill. 
 They have caught as many as 800 in a day. There is 
 a river about thirty miles up the country at the head of 
 a bay. These fish are working along the coast, and 
 they are caught in a bag-net. The river is said to ave- 
 rage a quarter of a mile in breadth. There are long still 
 reaches, then a portage, and more still reaches. But it 
 is very difficult to get anything like certain informa- 
 tion, and no chart of Labrador is worth anything. 
 Landed with two chums. A fog had come on, and the 
 captain said he would stay all night ; so we walked over 
 a hill, and called at several houses to seek shelter from 
 passing showers. One belonged to a hearty old native 
 of Dorsetshire, who offered us tea, and all manner of 
 luxuries. He said that he had once started from St. 
 John's for Carbonere in a small vessel, with a cargo of 
 rum, and a barrel and a half of water on board. It 
 came on to blow from the westward, and they were 
 blown off to sea. The first land they made was Fal- 
 mouth, and there the whole country came to see them 
 and their tiny vessel. The custom-house officers came 
 on board, and they made them all roaring drunk with 
 
ST. FRANCIS' HARBOUR. 71 
 
 the rum. He cut that ship and went up the Mediter- 
 ranean, and now he has squatted here with his wife and 
 family. They fish in summer, and in winter go up to 
 the head of the bay lumbering. Fell in with an Indian, 
 a half-breed, and an Englishman, who work the salmon- 
 nets. Two of them had never seen a steamer, so we 
 asked them to come on board, and fed them on tea and 
 bread and butter. They described the interior of the 
 country, which they frequent in winter, furring and 
 shooting deer. It is well wooded ; the trees are large 
 and well-grown. The old sailor had said, ' There be trees 
 there if you take a chalk in each hand and mark, you 
 won't get more than half round.' Twelve feet round, is 
 four feet through. There were plenty at 'the room' 
 a foot through, but none of this size. In these woods 
 the 'furrers' set their traps. 'It's awful work, sir/ 
 said the Englishman. ' It's no use saying, This is a bad 
 day : we won't travel. Travel you must, and the cold 
 is fit to burn you. You have to carry all you want ; 
 and what with gun, and axe, and grub, and skins, it's a 
 heavy back-load. It's a hard life, sir.' The Indian 
 was an Esquimaux— a little, broad, fat fellow. The 
 half-breed had a mountaineer for mother, and he 
 was very good-looking, dark, with a hooked nose 
 and marked eyebrows. He had the bearing of a gentle- 
 
72 AN AMERICAN TRAMP. 
 
 man, the absence of restraint and awkwardness — 
 an instinct which told him how to avoid vulgarity 
 or coarseness. How many a man who ranks him- 
 self a gentleman is but a spoiled savage, with his loud, 
 rough, vulgar polish of town vice. The great fur 
 prize is a black fox, worth £20 here, but the Indian 
 had never seen one. The next prize is a silver fox, 
 worth £15 to £20. These also are rare, but they can 
 be got occasionally. Black, silver, and red may occur in 
 one litter. The rocks are contorted gneiss, with many 
 quartz veins. The hill-tops are all rounded and much 
 w T eathered, so much that it is not possible to make out 
 the direction of glaciation. The water-line is much 
 rubbed ; smooth, but not striated. There are few 
 perched blocks at this place. The highest hills are 
 about 400 or 500 feet high. The coast is a maze of lochs 
 and islands, arms of the sea running in amongst the 
 hills in every possible direction ; there seems to be no 
 symmetrical denudation. Icebergs are everywhere: a 
 procession of large ones is passing outside. These break 
 up, and the bits are carried in by wind and tide. These 
 bits in their turn ground and break, and the little bits 
 drift into the bays. A large block was hard and fast, 
 close to a steep rock at the entrance of the harbour. 
 It was far larger than the hull of a first-rate, and 
 
ST. FRANCIS' HARBOUR. 73 
 
 the size under water was nine times as great. From 
 this mass, fragments as large as ships' boats had fallen, 
 and some dozens of bits as big as hogsheads were bobbing 
 about in the land-wash close to the wharf. In the 
 harbours to which we walked were bergs peering over 
 the hills and low points. According to a man who 
 lived in a small hut beside which one of these bergs 
 had stranded, it had turned over several times, and 
 dropped a load of stones where it lay. Sketched this 
 one, but could not detect a symptom of a stone or a 
 grain of sand in the ice. It was easy to trace various 
 water-lines on the sides of the berg. The mosquitos 
 would not let me sketch ; it came on to rain, and then 
 the sun came out, and shone right in my eyes. Found 
 another berg aground close to the rocks. Levelled the 
 top with a spirit-level, and measured the height with 
 the aneroid; made it 45 feet from the water-line. 
 This was a peaked berg, and a mere baby to many 
 which we have seen. It was aground, and the fishermen 
 said there was from 15 to 20 fathoms (90 to 120 feet) 
 at the place (120 below and 45 above = 165 feet of ice). 
 There is then a powerful engine at work here, and its 
 marks are seen even at the water-line. Ten days ago 
 men were walking on ice in these bays, and now that the 
 bay-ice has disappeared, the broken bergs have come in. 
 
74 AN AMERICAN TRAMP. 
 
 The bay-ice works at the water-line ; the bergs in deeper 
 water, where they are driven by the tide. The soil is 
 a brown peat, very thin. The vegetation like Scandina- 
 vian ; but gray mosses and lichens are not very abun- 
 dant. Birds are scarce : no game was seen all day. 
 
 In the bottoms of the bays, away from the cold 
 stream, trees are ' 100 feet high.' The soil is deep and 
 free of stones : turnips grow well, but * the mosquitos 
 are so thick that you can't see through them.' In 
 winter, the snow is ' 6 feet deep in the woods straight 
 up and down ; and 40, aye 50 feet deep in drifts and 
 gullies.' So say the inhabitants. 
 
 The latitude agrees nearly with that of Cardigan 
 Bay, Waterford, Yarmouth, and such-like places in the 
 old country ; and the climate evidently results from the 
 cold stream which flows down the coast. The air is 
 now far warmer than the water below it, and the 
 temperature rises immediately on leaving the coast. 
 The immediate coast-line is bleak and barren; the 
 sheltered bottoms inshore are well wooded and com- 
 paratively fertile. 
 
 August 1, 1864 — Monday, 9 a.m. — Air 47°, 
 water 37°. — Started early. Fine, northerly wind, and 
 clear weather. Coast bold and rocky, with hills 
 rising 500 or 600 feet. About Cape Bluff, patches 
 
LABRADOR COAST. 75 
 
 of snow were low down on the hills, within 100 feet 
 of the sea. Called at Venison Tickle. On Thursday 
 fortnight people crossed this sound on ice. The captain 
 was in a desperate hurry, dropping the letter-bags 
 into fishing-boats, and stopping nowhere. Watched the 
 rocks with a telescope, and failed to make out striae any- 
 where; but the water-line is everywhere rubbed smooth, 
 and the rocks for a considerable height are perfectly 
 bare. No sea-ware, no shells, no limpets, nothing but a 
 few barnacles in clefts. The fishing is bad, but improv- 
 ing since the ice departed. A theory that ice has driven 
 the fish off the coast prevails here also. At 9.30 the land- 
 scape was magnificent ; to seawards five enormous bergs 
 loomed like islands through a haze ; they looked like 
 familiar stacks and islands in the old country — the 
 Bass, Ailsa, and such-like. The sun shone brilliantly 
 in a blue sky streaked with fleecy clouds. In the fore- 
 ground were great masses of old green rotten arctic ice, 
 all water-worn ; landward was a rough iron-bound 
 coast, with small bergs dotted about close under the hills, 
 and far up in the fjords ; and these sparkled and glit- 
 tered at the water's edge like Pentelic marble. It is very 
 difficult to get a measure of these large distant bergs. 
 A small vessel passed about half-way to one of them. 
 The apparent height was about thrice that of the vessel, 
 
76 AN AMERICAN TRAMP. 
 
 distant about three miles. The mast being about 80 feet 
 high, the berg must have been over 300. The 
 steamer going six miles an hour in one direction, and 
 the vessel going about the same in the other, we took 
 two minutes to clear the berg on the horizon. Judging 
 by hills at about the same distance, the berg must have 
 been fully 300 feet high, and perhaps 900 long : at one- 
 ninth out of water, it was 3000 feet thick ; and yet old 
 hands said it was small to bergs which are seen here in 
 the spring. At 10.30 dropped letters at Seal Islands, 
 and during the pause watched a small bit of ice polish- 
 ing a stone. It seemed about the size of a hogshead, 
 and it was resting aground in a small bay. The waves 
 rocked it slowly like a white cradle, and it seemed to 
 rub against a large round stone in the land-wash. This 
 polishing movement could never produce striation, and 
 no strise are to be seen at the land-wash in these sounds, 
 or on open sea-coasts near the present water-line. It is 
 sufficiently evident that glacial strise are not produced 
 by thin bay-ice, but the tool-marks of this part of the 
 engine are everywhere conspicuous in the rounded form 
 of the stone. Striae must be made in deep water, by the 
 large masses which seem to pursue the even tenor of 
 their way in the steady current which flows down the 
 coast. It here moves at a rate of from two to three 
 
UPHEAVAL OF LABRADOR. 77 
 
 knots, fastest in spring and fall, and it moves south-east. 
 It is remarkable that up to this time we have only seen a 
 few doubtful stones on bergs which we have passed. They 
 are all worn, and from their numerous water-lines at all 
 angles they have all been capsized, or they have 
 heeled so far as to capsize any loose deck-load, such as a 
 moraine, but fellow-passengers have seen stones frozen 
 into bergs, though we have seen none to be sure of so far. 
 All along this voyage it has been said that the land is rising. 
 
 The banks of Newfoundland are said to be getting 
 shoaler. 
 
 At Bay Eoberts, in Conception Bay, according to a 
 gentleman who lives there, a rock which was barely 
 awash when he was a boy — say twenty years ago — is 
 now far out of water. It was marked in 1822, and in 
 1854 it had risen 42 inches (32 years at li per year). 
 At King's Cove noticed a raised beach or bar, which 
 first called my attention to the fact. There was a small 
 fresh-water lake behind it, and it was manifest sea-work 
 about 18 feet higher than the sea-level. Houses and 
 stages were built on it. Asked an old man if the waves 
 ever came over it in storms. Answer, * Never.' 
 
 At Fogo, asked a man, who was mending his nets, if 
 he had noticed any change in the sea-level. ' Yes,' he 
 said ; * I have. The harbour rock there used to be very 
 
78 AN AMERICAN TRAMP. 
 
 rarely seen at low water spring-tides. It is now so much 
 out of water that you might build a room upon it.' It is 
 a broad flat rock, and it was two feet out of water when 
 the steamer passed outwards. A merchant, who was 
 with us, pointed out a fresh-water marsh, and said that 
 they used to catch sea-fish in it not very long ago. 
 
 At Toulinguet the church is built upon a raised 
 beach of rolled stones. 
 
 Near the Eiver of Exploits, recent sea-shells occur in 
 a raised beach. 
 
 At St. Francis' Harbour, asked a man, who has worked 
 the salmon-nets for fifteen years, if he had noticed 
 any change. * Well,' said he, ' fifteen years ago, my boat 
 used just to ground at the end of the stage at low water, 
 with the nets in her. Now she grounds when empty, 
 and that's a solid rock. There is a difference of a foot 
 at least.' 
 
 Say an inch a year, and that comes near the measured 
 rate at Bay Eoberts. 
 
 Further north, at Holton Harbour, a man had no- 
 ticed that the bay had got shoaler ; but it was a sandy 
 bay, and he thought the sand had drifted in. 
 
 Thus, for a distance of 600 miles, the coast-line is 
 rising about an inch a year. Of former rising, there is 
 abundant evidence in terraces and raised beaches. At 
 
LAND RISING. 79 
 
 this rate of rising, all the hill-tops were awash not long 
 ago, and in deep water at some time or other. It is on 
 the hill-tops that marks of glaciation by large bergs ought 
 to be found. 
 
 August 1. — At 2, passed Bateaux, a settlement 
 amongst a lot of islands. Men were catching fish close 
 to the rocks. One was working four lines at once. At 
 3 passed Domino. A great many boats fishing, but 
 catching few. The wind cold ; a few deep snowdrifts 
 close to the sea. These islands are about 200 feet high, 
 and rounded ; the rocks veined with pink granite. Ean 
 in to Indian Island, and anchored for the night, 5 p.m. 
 It is about the latitude of Westport and Drogheda, Pres- 
 ton and Hull. It is at a corner in the coast, and if the 
 hill-tops were sunk deep enough, they would be in the 
 run of the large bergs. Landed, and set off for a walk. 
 The low grounds are covered with a terrace of boulders, 
 on which are pools and bogs. The highest hill is of 
 black igneous rock, 400 feet high, and on it are stones 
 which look like beach-stones. No shells were found. 
 The whole of the high grounds are roches moutonnees, but 
 much weathered. Numerous large blocks of light- 
 coloured granite were perched on the tops, and strewed 
 about in the lee of the dark black rocks. Striae were made 
 out here ; direction, N. 35° W. magnetic, or nearly N. 
 
80 AN AMERICAN TRAMP. 
 
 2 E. true. Twenty-two bergs were counted from this 
 top ; the largest, far out at sea, moving southwards. One 
 of the blocks of granite measured 6X5X4 feet. Another, 
 of very coarse granite, gray, with large crystals of fel- 
 spar, was twelve feet long. The rock on which these 
 blocks were perched is a kind of hornblende (?), of which 
 a specimen was taken. Made a sketch at 135 feet. The 
 prevailing wind, as shown by scrubby bushes of spruce, 
 growing like juniper, is N. 22° E. mag., or K 62° E. 
 true. Numerous deep snowdrifts were lodged on the 
 sheltered or south-west side of these hills. 
 
 The lookout from the top of this island was a wide 
 one ; no higher ground was in sight. Far as the eye 
 could reach, on a fine evening, the same rolling sea of 
 low rocky hillocks and ridges extended landwards to the 
 blue horizon, with gleaming sea-lochs and fresh-water 
 lakes shining like polished mirrors set in a granite 
 frame. There could be no higher hill in that direction 
 for 50 miles at least. Three parts of the circle were 
 bounded by a sea-horizon, studded only with islands of 
 ice. The striae on the rocks under foot, and the axis of 
 the island, aimed north. The perched blocks stranded 
 on the hill-top might have come from any distant place 
 in that direction ; at all events they were wholly foreign 
 to the black glittering igneous saddleback on which they 
 
DENUDING ENGINES. 81 
 
 rode in long procession. How came they to the top 
 of the highest point of a promontory, tlrrast out into 
 a circle bounded only by the horizon ? Seated beside 
 them, and looking out on this arctic landscape, near 
 the latitude of Wales, the answer appeared to be clearly 
 given. Though no bergs, with stones on them or in 
 them, have been approached during this voyage, many 
 on board the 'Ariel' have been close to bergs heavily 
 laden. 
 
 Mr. Drysdale states that, a few years ago, a large 
 island of ice drifted into Conception Bay, in Newfound- 
 land, and ran aground there. It was covered with large 
 stones, which lay on the ice ; it broke up in deep water, 
 and dropped the load. A large berg was seen by Mr. 
 M 'Donald, somewhere off St. John's, with a very large 
 stone frozen into it. The bay-ice continually picks up 
 stones about the water-line in winter. The main cur- 
 rent which carries all this ice moves southwards, and 
 trends westwards, hugging the coast ; but every pro- 
 montory turns it eastwards, off the land, and makes an 
 eddy in the lee. In winter anchor-ice forms at the 
 bottom, even in deep water ; it must also form about 
 the base of stranded bergs, and these may thus gather 
 heaps of gravel, sand, and stones. .When bergs turn 
 over they often lift stones, according to the fishermen. 
 
 G 
 
82 AN AMERICAN TRAMP. 
 
 In deep water, high points only are touched by the base 
 of heavy bergs of the largest size ; but bergs of all di- 
 mensions fit shallower water. If any point rises towards 
 the surface, high enough to escape the bergs alto- 
 gether, it is then washed by waves in summer and 
 attacked by rafts of bay-ice in winter. This part of the 
 engine carries everything portable from the rock. If a 
 rivulet has managed to build a small delta of sand dur- 
 ing the summer, it turns to stone and gets fast to the 
 end of a raft of sea-ice in winter. On a coast-line of 
 some hundreds of miles there is scarcely a sandy beach. 
 On a sea-bottom rising through a sea affected by such a 
 climate, no stones could remain but blocks of large size, 
 able to resist waves and bay-ice. Accordingly, on these 
 island hills few patches of gravel remain, but large 
 stones were seen on every hill-top that came within 
 range of a powerful telescope throughout the voyage. 
 Rocks awash and rising are touched by heavy bergs on 
 the sides only. Many rocks were seen in this condition, 
 awash with stranded bergs around. But if a whole tract 
 of country ground down to one general level, and fifty 
 miles wide, is rising to the surface bodily, the main 
 current is thereby turned, and the action of ice islands 
 transferred to deeper water at once. If glacial striae be 
 marks of sea-ice, they ought to coincide with the direc- 
 
THEIR MARKS. 83 
 
 tion which the current would follow if the place were 
 submerged. Here the striae do point up stream. 
 
 If this country were submerged and rising, the 
 current would flow over this island in the direction of 
 the striae found on the hill-top; and small bergs 
 would touch the hill-sides after the top had risen, as 
 small bergs touch the sides of rocks in the sound ; 
 finally, rafts of bay-ice might gather and drop, and pack in 
 flat layers, the terrace of large boulders, which rests on 
 the shore side of the scored rock, as bay-ice now packs 
 the beach. If this land goes on rising, the sound through 
 which vessels and small bergs now sail and drift will 
 become a terraced isthmus of drift, crossing the run of 
 the stream, joining a peninsula of glaciated rock to a 
 rolling country of like nature. In Scandinavia and in 
 Scotland similar forms abound at high levels. It is a 
 case of 'crag-and-tail/ but in this case the tail crosses the 
 stream. Where the sea has full swing and the rock is 
 brittle, this coast-line breaks into cliffs ; but these are 
 exceptions. The top of the country is very like the 
 top of Dartmoor and Cornwall; the edge of it, as a 
 rule, is unlike the broken water-line of the British coast. 
 The cause is the climate, which results from the course 
 now followed by the Arctic Current. Because a stream 
 of cold water now passes along a rising coast, waves 
 
84 AN AMERICAN TRAMP. 
 
 only beat upon it in summer. In winter it is protected 
 by a breakwater of ice ; so cliffs are rare. But the 
 floating breakwater is a moving engine which saws 
 rock whenever it moves : the edge of it is armed with 
 the stone-dust which it wears off, and picks up every 
 frost, and the mark of it is conspicuous in the Bay of 
 Fundy, at Cape Breton, and on harder rocks along the 
 coast of Labrador at many exposed spots. In shel- 
 tered nooks ice forms and melts, rises and falls, and does 
 not even stir the legs of fish-stages. Looking out then 
 from this advanced post, part of a great denuding 
 engine was seen at work. On the horizon were bergs 
 of the largest size, probably 2000 feet from base to 
 crest, moving steadily southwards at a rate of two or 
 three knots ; nearer in were smaller bergs in the eddy- 
 some moving, some aground. Still nearer were smaller 
 islands of ice, 40 feet out of water, and aground 
 amongst the islands ; and in the sound were a shoal of 
 ' growlers' as big as sloops and boats and casks, bob- 
 bing in the waves, and all moving one way with the 
 stream, against the wind. Surely the spoor of the Arctic 
 Current was under foot, and surely the stones at the 
 shore-line and at the base of the hill were the chips of 
 the engine which ground the flat rocky country on the 
 western horizon. 
 
THE ARCTIC CURRENT. 85 
 
 But the movements of solitary icebergs at this parti- 
 cular season appear to be too erratic to account for 
 glacial striae which keep one general direction over 
 whole tracts of country. Floating hills, even though 
 2000 feet thick, must give way to fixed rocks, and turn 
 aside ; but strise often run over considerable hills. 
 
 The engine here working appears to be the only 
 one in existence able to do such heavy work. The 
 spring and winter drift has passed down this coast for 
 countless ages. This year it was one vast solid raft of 
 floes and bergs. It was more than 150 miles wide, 
 perhaps 3000 feet thick at spots, for some bergs were 
 300 feet high ; it was probably more than 300 miles 
 long. It has been driven by a whole current bodily 
 over one definite course, year after year, ever since this 
 land was found. Nobody sees it in winter, so no one 
 knows its full power ; but the sealers who work their 
 perilous trade about the broken edges of the shattered 
 mass, in spring, know to their cost how terrible is the 
 march of this marble country of hill and plain, which 
 grows together and breaks up into scattered mountains 
 every year. If Ireland were shaved off at the sea-level, 
 turned upside down, and set afloat in a shallow sea, the 
 highest mountains would about equal the dimensions of 
 the largest bergs, and the area would not exceed that of 
 
86 AN AMERICAN TRAMP. 
 
 the ice-drift which passed from Cape Harrison to Cape 
 Eace in 1864. Islands of ice, with bases of frozen drift, 
 hemmed in by such a mass, driven on by a whole sea, 
 moving at two or three miles an hour, seem to be 
 engines of greater power than any glacier yet seen or 
 described, and amply sufficient to account for European 
 glaciation in similar latitudes. Like an army advanc- 
 ing in line, each part of the raft must take a line and 
 keep it ; when the mass joins. The spoor of this current 
 must be a wide one, with a general direction, and a 
 depth equal to that of the largest bergs. Off this coast 
 it may extend 3000 feet below the present sea-level, 
 and 300 miles from the coast, with a general direction 
 from N.W. to S.E. 
 
 The stream begins at Spitzbergen, lat. 80°, and ends 
 about lat. 36°, and its general direction is from N.E. to 
 S.W., wherever land does not turn the stream. 
 
 Tried to return by the shore, and stuck fast in a cliff. 
 Scrambled up again, and got down on the other side at 
 a place where a boat was hauling caplin. They shot a 
 seine in a rocky bay, and hauled it into the boat. They 
 ladled the fish out of the bag with a landing-net, and 
 got a vast haul. Another fellow was heaving a casting- 
 net, and got a great many amongst the stones. These 
 little fish come to land in myriads. They go in shoals 
 
CAPLIN. 
 
 87 
 
 of males and females. One haul will hardly produce a 
 female ; another boat will be loaded with females only. 
 They run ashore to spawn, and it is said that two males 
 and one female run side by side to land, the males 
 helping to press the spawn from their mate. This is 
 commonly asserted by soi-disaut eyewitnesses. Joined 
 company with a small imp of a boy about twelve years 
 old, who had been fishing all day, and had all the bear- 
 ing of an experienced old man. He asked us to come 
 in to the house where he lived, and when I gave him a 
 quid of baccy he stuck it into his cheek, and began to 
 chew with all his might. Picked up several chalk- 
 flints, with chalk adhering to them. They looked 
 strange in this land of primitive rocks. Went to the 
 house of Mr. Warren, who keeps a register of tempera- 
 ture, and a journal, and who lectures on Labrador. He 
 says that in winter the temperature is sometimes -37°, 
 and varies from 70° to 18° within twenty-four hours. 
 His glass is placed against the southern wall of the 
 house. At the bottom of Sandwich Bay, turnips and 
 potatoes grow well, but cucumbers will not. On the 
 islands nothing grows. They keep a few sheep and 
 goats, and some cows, but these are brought in the ves- 
 sels in spring, and are slaughtered and eaten in the 
 fall. Here are some quotations from Mr. Warren's 
 
«8 AN AMERICAN TRAMP. 
 
 journal for 1864, which was kindly placed at my dis- 
 posal : — 
 
 Monday, June 11th. — Ice coming in again. 
 
 14th. — Cove and harbour full of ice. Between the 
 pieces of ice the water froze so hard, that the seal-boats 
 in the morning with great difficulty forced their way 
 through. Keen wind. 
 
 16th. — Thermometer in shade 68°, 9 a.m. ; 95° noon. 
 
 28th. — Iceberg grounded in cove, and broke up, 
 having capsized. 
 
 The journal chiefly relates to fishing, which was 
 ' very bad indeed' at first, and to the behaviour of the 
 men, one of whom seemed to be continually ' drunk 
 and abusive ' — a state by no means rare in these re- 
 gions. About 1000 sail passed this station, according 
 to Mr. Warren ; one of these, a Yankee yacht, has gone 
 north, and means to get as far as possible. 
 
 Went to see the splitting process. It was a strange 
 scene. The stage, a long low building of fir poles and 
 branches, is perched on the rocks, so as to project over 
 the sea. It is like a long windowless house on a wooden 
 pier. In this long room a number of double-beaked tin 
 lamps hung flaring from the roof. The day's take — per- 
 haps 1500 fish to a boat — had been thrown up with pitch- 
 forks and lay in a heap at the sea end, where there is a 
 
SPLITTING COD. 89 
 
 double door for the boats. At the word ' Fish up/ a 
 shower of cod-fish was thrown from the heap upon a 
 table, where stood a mermaiden clad in sailcloth, and 
 covered with blood and slime. Seizing a fish by the 
 ' skruff' of the neck, she stuck a long knife into his inno- 
 cent dead throat, and at one slice she ripped him up from 
 stem to stern. A turn of the wrist and the fish slid to a 
 dark-browed dame called the "header," who tore his inside 
 out, broke his neck, and twisted his head off. The body slid 
 over to the splitter, an old rough bearded, brown-faced, gory 
 mariner ; the head and offal slipped through a hole into 
 the sea, and the fat liver fell with a soft oily plump 
 through another trap-door into a vat. Seizing the head- 
 less trunk with his left hand, one long tearing slice by 
 the splitter cleared the backbone on one side, and then 
 with a flourish of the knife a second slice from tail to head 
 cleared it out, and down it went through the table, after 
 the head, into the sea, plump. The split body slid off 
 the table into a wheel-barrow, and by that time a second 
 headless trunk was ready to be boned. In one minute 
 7 bones were cut out by one artist, another extracted 9, 
 and a third 10 ; three gangs at this rate split 1500 fish 
 in an hour at one stage alone. The barrow when filled 
 was wheeled along a plank, and the load stacked, back 
 downwards, with layers of salt shovelled over each bed 
 
90 AN AMERICAN TRAMP. 
 
 of fish. After about ten days the salt-fish formation is 
 quarried, and laid out on stages made of branches and 
 poles, called flakes, and on beaches of dry stones rudely 
 arranged. In the fall they are sent home 'green/ to be 
 cured and dried on flakes at St. John's and elsewhere. 
 In rainy weather the green fish are piled and thatched 
 with bark and old sails. After this bloody exhibition, 
 stumbled over the poles, through the piles of slain, and 
 went through another stage to the boat and on board. 
 
 August 2. — Crossing Hamilton Inlet, about the same 
 latitude as the Isle of Man— Air 42°, water 37°.— 
 Passing through a scattered fleet of broken bergs with 
 fresh fractures and strange shapes. One was like a 
 marble monument with a gigantic figure laid out on 
 the top, and a leopard's head looking out to the sea 
 at the end. This strange sculpture of wind and 
 weather was 40 feet high at least. Another was like 
 a giant bust of the Duke of Wellington, 50 feet high ; 
 in five minutes it had changed into a tall obelisk over- 
 hanging its base. Another was like a couchant hind. 
 The glassy sea was dotted with these strange white 
 marble edifices, telling sharply against low blue hills and 
 distant islands ; and here and there a dark round black 
 rock peered above the water like a sleeping whale. It 
 was a strange wild landscape, and very beautiful in its 
 
DWARF FORESTS. 91 
 
 own peculiar way. Ean into Indian Harbour, and then, 
 after visiting Mr. Norman, and jawing cod-fish for half 
 an hour, got a pilot. Steamed on to Holton Harbour, and 
 anchored for the night, having sighted Cape Harrison. 
 Landed and walked up the country. Found a series of 
 bogs and low round rocks, a shallow sea, and large stones 
 everywhere. The vegetation is peculiar : the forest con- 
 sists of a stunted scrub of spruce, betula nana, juniper, 
 etc., cut over by the wind. It is sometimes less than a 
 foot high, and spread so that it is easy to walk on the 
 tree-tops; it is sometimes six feet high with thick seems. 
 In other respects the country was very like Hammerfest. 
 
 The prevailing wind is KW. M fished in a lake, 
 
 and hooked a char. At night the sky burned with a mag- 
 nificent aurora. It seemed to rise from a point on the 
 horizon towards the magnetic north, as from a volcano, 
 up to the zenith ; and it streamed southwards, wavering- 
 like a great downy golden feather of yellow fire. 
 
 Our Indian Island pilot came into our berth to sleep. 
 The missionary cross-questioned him for a full hour, 
 while the rest of the inhabitants dropped sleepy remarks 
 plump into the conversation, and the old pilot snored 
 like a south-west storm. This pilot speaks Esquimaux 
 as well as English. He did speak the French language, 
 but now he mixes it with Indian. At the head of Ha- 
 
92 AN AMERICAN TRAMP. 
 
 milton Inlet, about 150 miles up, is a large 'room' (that 
 is to say, house), and a station of the Hudson's Bay Com- 
 pany. The Indians cross the country in about a fortnight, 
 to Musquarra, near Anticosti, where is another station. 
 The route is a canoe-route. Each man carries a blanket 
 and a * stand-by ' — to wit, some food. They hunt, by the 
 way, deer and partridges. There is a settlement in the 
 inlet. The man has been here for fifteen years, but he 
 has never been up to the end. The missionary's list of 
 animals inluded lemen and marmot (whistler), white 
 owls, and no end of birds and beasts. At a short dis- 
 tance from the sea-coast, the country is hilly, wooded, 
 and marshy. Trees grow to be ' three feet through.' 
 There are pines, 'aps,' and birch, but no hardwood. 
 The hills are very rocky. There are a great many 
 mountaineer Indians, who work for the Hudson's Bay 
 Company. They are tall well-made men, unlike the 
 Esquimaux, who are short, broad, squat, brown, and fat. 
 Most of them read and write. 
 
 So the interior, beyond the influence of the cold 
 current, has a different climate, and a vegetation less 
 arctic and weatherbeaten. 
 
 On the 24th of July, the mouth of Hamilton Inlet, 
 latitude of Donegal and Morecombe Bay, was full of heavy 
 drift, ' pan-ice.' The outer limit of it could not be seen 
 
HAMILTON INLET. 93 
 
 from the highest hills. On the 1st of August no clear 
 water was visible, except inside the islands, and this day 
 the inner edge was still visible, while the ice-blink in the 
 sky marked the place where the pack had gone. Outside 
 of Holton Harbour, and to the north of the Esquimaux 
 Islands, large bergs were seen at sea. Below the islands 
 small broken bergs only were seen ; but many were 
 aground, and some in contact with the rocks. It seems 
 that the ice here works south and westwards, and is 
 broken and shot off eastwards at corners. In the lee of 
 capes and clusters of islands, small bergs abounded in 
 the eddies ; but the large ones were at sea, on the weather 
 side or far off. The effect of this heavy ice on the water- 
 line is here conspicuous. A berg, about 40 feet out of 
 water, was aground, at the back of one steep island. It 
 seemed to have taken the form of the rocks, against 
 which it was ground by a heavy swell. The ice was 
 actually rubbing the stone for that height above water, 
 and for 400 feet under it. It was moved by all the power 
 of an Atlantic wave. Along the whole coast, for a height 
 of from 40 to 50 feet, an irregular zone of rock is thus 
 scoured bright and smooth. No seaweed is at the 
 water-line; no lichen colours the rock near it. It 
 is raw stone, smoothed and ground. Higher up, a 
 stunted vegetation begins suddenly, but luxuriantly. 
 
94 AN AMERICAN TRAMP. 
 
 The stone is blackened with lichens, and hollows are 
 filled with peat, covered with cloudberry, crowberry, 
 rhododendron, and Indian tea, as thickly as a Highland 
 moor is clad with heather. Gray reindeer moss makes 
 a soft carpet for the feet, and hides the soil, which is 
 the debris of this arctic vegetation. For a height of 50 
 feet, the rocks are polished by the ice-foot, and by frag- 
 ments of small bergs ; beyond the actual mechanical 
 wearing of ice, the vegetation is nipped by the cold ; but 
 beyond the immediate influence of the cold stream, the 
 vegetation struggles with the cold, and successfully. 
 The climate of lat. 71° is carried to 55° at Cape Harrison, 
 and to 47° near St. John's, and 45° near Halifax ; but 
 inland, the cold breath of the Arctic Current fails to 
 blight, and the sun's rays have power enough to force 
 the earth to wear a coat of shrubs and a cloak of forest 
 trees. At Hamilton Inlet trees grow to a large size ; at 
 Colinet, in Newfoundland, the climate is better than it 
 is at Holyrood, 30 miles away, for trees are twice the 
 size ; at Windsor, in Nova Scotia, the western fields are 
 worthy of the old country ; at Halifax, 40 miles off, the 
 eastern forests look like Sweden, and the land has * too 
 much bare bone' for farming. 
 
 At Washington pines grow near the coast. In the 
 same latitudes in the central district, no pines grow in 
 
MODERN GLACIAL PERIODS. 95 
 
 the forests of Ohio and Kentucky. The same thing is re- 
 peated everywhere on the Atlantic coast. Wherever 
 the Arctic Current flows, it carries an arctic climate. 
 Wherever the Equatorial Current lands, it carries heat. 
 Cape Harrison is in lat. 54°, and therefore corresponds to 
 Achil Head, Carlingford Bay, the Calf of Man, Lan- 
 caster, York, and Flamborough Head. An arctic cur- 
 rent may explain glacial phenomena in these regions. 
 
 Cape Eace is about the latitude of La Eochelle, in 
 France. One is a sunny fertile land ; the other is only 
 fertilised with fish-offal, and scarce got a glimpse of the 
 sun in 1864 
 
 August 3— Air 42°, water 37°.— Line day, KW. 
 wind, bright sun, and clear sky. Passing southwards 
 across the mouths of Hamilton Inlet and Sandwich 
 Bays. At 11.30, off Partridge Harbour, a small nook 
 crammed with fore-and-afters going north with salt to 
 fetch fish. The Mealy Mountains, the highest land yet 
 seen, were in sight to the westward. The range seemed 
 to be about 1500 feet high, and a few patches of old 
 snow were dotted about. At about 10 or 15 miles 
 from the coast the low hills are covered with trees. The 
 whole coast is a maze of rocky islands set in a blue sea 
 studded with broken white bergs. At any moment a 
 dozen or more could be seen from the deck ; many of 
 
96 AN AMERICAN TRAMP. 
 
 these were stranded on rocks ; and they were scattered 
 in clusters where large bergs had newly broken up. The 
 shapes were fantastic in the extreme ; the new fractures 
 angular, like white sugar ; old water-lines rounded and 
 smooth, and pitched at every possible angle. Stopped 
 at Pack Island. The rocks are about 180 feet high, and 
 consist of a black hornblende (?) which weathers easily. 
 No striae could be found at the top ; but the water-line 
 in a narrow sound was polished and striated in the 
 direction of the sound about KKW. This seems to be 
 fresh work, done by heavy ice drifting from Sandwich 
 Bay ; but, on the other hand, stages, with their legs in 
 the sea and resting on these very rocks, are not swept 
 away by this ice. If this be old work, done by extinct 
 glaciers, bred upon the Mealy Mountains, then the sea 
 protects the old work, and the air destroys it. Ther- 
 mometer on shore, 62° at noon, and the sun very hot 
 on the rocks. The captain took it into his head to 
 start an hour before his time, and having started, to 
 make our boat row half a mile in his wake. General 
 growl from those who wanted to go and those who 
 wanted punctuality. At 4, stopped at Long Island. 
 Went to the top. The sand is decomposed granite ; 
 ripple-marked by the wind ; the prevailing wind N., 
 magnetic — say KE. The rock is light-coloured granite, 
 
LONG ISLAND. 97 
 
 with lumps of dark mica-schist enclosed. Thermometer, 
 70° on the rocks ; 60° on the hill-top ; mosquitos abun- 
 dant and bloodthirsty. 
 
 The rocks at the water-line are all smoothed and 
 ground, the tops rubbed off horizontally. As the land 
 is rising, this form is the result of marine glacial 
 denudation. 
 
 Passed a berg near Greedy Harbour, and when the 
 busy and thirsty crowd had landed, went with two chums 
 to see it. It was aground in 90 feet of water (1 5 fathoms), 
 the height was about 18 feet, and the shape out of water 
 very irregular. A progeny of small ' growlers' were 
 bobbing about near the parent berg. Got alongside 
 one and tried to capsize him, but he was too much for 
 us. The surface was barely a foot out of water, and the 
 mass was larger than our boat. The proportion of ice 
 above and below was about as much as if the boat were 
 floating on end, with a square yard of the bow out of 
 water. Broke off a lot of ice, and with great trouble 
 hauled about a cart-load into the boat. It was like 
 glacier-ice, full of hollows and bubbles, and very hard 
 and cold. When melted the water was good to drink. 
 Cut out a cube and floated it in a tumbler of salt water, 
 and carefully measured the depth and height with a pair 
 of compasses and a fine scale. The proportion was 9 
 
 H 
 
98 AN AMERICAN TRAMP. 
 
 below to 1 above. The mass visible is therefore one- 
 tenth of the whole mass. A cubical berg 300 feet high 
 is 3000 feet thick ; but peaked, prismatic, pyramidal, 
 and jagged bits may be far higher than this visible 
 proportion, which depends on the mass and its shape. 
 Many people on board assert that ice occasionally sinks. 
 Off St. John's, and far south, one man was in a perfect 
 jam of pan-ice when he went to bed. In the morning 
 not a morsel of ice was to be seen anywhere, and the 
 watch said that they had seen the ice founder. If a 
 jam of rotten ice breaking in water at 37°, came sud- 
 denly into water at 69° or 70°, which is the temperature 
 in the Gulf Stream at the tail of the banks, it might well 
 crumble and melt in a few hours without sinking 
 bodily. Green says that he has seen ice go down 
 beside a wharf. Many others assert that bergs founder 
 and sink. We had hardly left this berg when it 
 gave a loud roar, and sank considerably, but it was 
 much worn and split, and it only slid down and took a 
 new position. If it fell on a point of rock it must have 
 smashed it. A strong tide ran in the sound, and this 
 great mass must have pushed with great force upon 
 rocks and stones at the bottom. It was but a small 
 fragment, but it was as big as a large warehouse. 
 Greedy Harbour earned its name that night : thirst was 
 
LARGE BERGS. 99 
 
 quenched. A noisy stoker was thrust into the coal- 
 hole, where he cursed himself to sleep. The missionary 
 put his head out of bed and said mildly, ' Is not that most 
 awful ! Did you ever see such a disgraceful scene in 
 your life, sir ?' I never did, and that's a fact. 
 
 August 4. — Fine day, N.W., strong breeze. The 
 bergs sketched on the way up are in the same positions. 
 Many of them are aground ten and fifteen miles from 
 the shore, but some have departed. The force which 
 worked on these rocks is the pressure of a whole current 
 of three or four knots upon the area of ice submerged, 
 perhaps 2000 feet square. Landed again at Indian 
 Island. 
 
 Looking to the places which were visited on the 
 way north, evidence of the rise of land is plain. Close 
 to the water's edge are raised beaches of boulders, and 
 they have a definite shape. Terraces of erosion, though 
 very much weathered, are also seen high up, and the 
 shape of the land at the old sea-level is that of rocks 
 awash and under water. On the top are perched 
 blocks, where they must have been dropped. Terraces 
 generally are not so well marked as in Scandinavia. 
 
 Stop at American Tickle, a small island with a 
 sound full of vessels. Eock, pink gneiss or syenite, 
 with bits of blue gray micaceous schist altered and 
 
100 AN AMERICAN TRAMP. 
 
 inclosed. A raised beach is near the sea. A good- 
 sized berg was aground close to the rocks. Beaches on 
 this coast are rare : they are short, and rest in hollows 
 in the rock, and they consist of very large stones of 
 many kinds. In low islands these beaches do not occur 
 near the tops. In higher islands they seem to occur 
 here and there at nearly the same distance below the 
 top, and they recur elsewhere at a short distance 
 above the sea, forming narrow necks of boggy land, 
 points, bars, terraces, and occasionally an isthmus. They 
 seem to be deposits made in deep water, and preserved 
 only in spots which were partially sheltered from heavy 
 seas when the land was rising. 
 
 Friday, August 5. — Warm southerly wind, bright 
 sun, mosquitos in clouds. They came on board at the 
 harbours, and took their passage and meals on board, 
 paying with a fine nasal performance on the horn. 
 Called at several ports. At Hawkes Harbour is an 
 isthmus of boulders and a raised beach. Bergs seen on 
 the way north are in the same position with reference 
 to each other and the land ; so these are aground. 
 Some of the most distant have departed, so they were 
 afloat. The water-lines have changed in many cases, so 
 the whole have moved and worked on the sea-bottom. 
 Many of these, at the rate of J-^} water, must be as 
 
ICE-CLOUDS. 101 
 
 large as Arthur's Seat. One was fully 250 feet high, and 
 if squared, it would still be fully 100. At the measured 
 rate it may have been 900 feet deep. It was in contact 
 with a rock nearly awash. Here is a hill of ice beat- 
 ing upon the side of a submerged hill of rock, and driven 
 by the whole force of the stream which carried the rest 
 away ; and in spring and whiter the force of a raft of 
 ice hundreds of miles wide is added. Near Venison 
 Tickle — air 60°, water 44°. To seaward were banks and 
 masses of cloud and low fog. These had a definite shape, 
 and lay in the direction which the bergs must have fol- 
 lowed when they drifted southwards. Damp S.W. 
 wind at 60°, in contact with ice at 32 , must condense. 
 So these distant clouds probably contained vanished 
 bergs. Passed Cape Bluff, where a cod-seine was at work 
 amongst a lot of hand-line fishers ; and a lot of bergs 
 were bobbing about and resting aground. On the hill- 
 tops large stones were perched. The water-line here is 
 a broken cliff. Ean in to Dead Island, passing between 
 a stranded berg and the shore. A number of boats were 
 fishing close to the ice. Stopped to ask the way, so 
 took an opportunity to make a rapid sketch. The boats 
 gave a good measure of size, and when this mass was left 
 behind, distant bergs could be measured by it. Many 
 must be over 200 feet. Ean in to Ship Harbour, and 
 
102 AN AMERICAN TRAMP. 
 
 anchored for the night. This is a quiet calm sea-loch, 
 with high hills rising steeply from the water's edge. The 
 flakes and huts are upon a well-marked terrace of 
 boulders. Two small bergs were sailing about close to 
 the flakes. Sat down to sketch them under an umbrella, 
 and found that they were moving slowly at about a yard 
 a minute down wind and across the loch. The wind 
 does therefore act upon bergs ; but very slightly. Many 
 of our crew landed and went off to other harbours. Some 
 fell into difficulties — over rocks and into bogs ; but they 
 all appeared at various hours of the night. 
 
 Saturday, August 6. — At 9.30 stop at Murray's 
 Harbour and sketched a stage. Got some fish from a 
 shore-boat. This bay is studded with small bergs. 
 Thermometer — air 42°, water 37°. The sea like oil, 
 and the sun bright. The sea-ice is evidently working 
 westwards in-shore as far as it can. The harbours are 
 full of small pieces, the creeks full of little bits. Further 
 off are clusters of larger broken bergs — some higher than 
 the masts of small schooners which are becalmed near 
 them ; some twice the height. In the distance are 
 larger bergs, some with the light behind them telling 
 dark as hills and islands of trap ; others glittering in 
 the sun's rays like wet chalk or polished marble. Yet 
 even these are but ruins, for they are split into peaks 
 
ETHNOLOGY IN LABRADOR. 103 
 
 and obelisks which look like the Mer de Glace as it 
 is on the way to the Col de Geant, at the great ice-fall. 
 
 In the distance was a fine double refraction, a second 
 horizon with a second fleet of inverted bergs. As the 
 vessel rose and fell on the swell the two horizons met and 
 parted, and their bergs rose and fell. A stratum of cold 
 air lay on the water, and the layer above was a mirror to 
 rays falling at a small angle. Air 42°, water 37°. 
 
 Ean in to Battle Harbour, and found a large berg close 
 to the stages. Began a sketch, but the steamer as usual 
 set off in the middle of it. This, the entrance to the Straits 
 of Belleisle, is crowded with bergs of quaint shapes. 
 
 At this place a boat manned, or, it may be, womaned, 
 by Esquimaux, came alongside. They were dressed like 
 other fisher-folk, rowed like sailors, and were steered by 
 a sturdy, rosy merchant, who looked very like a Scandi- 
 navian descendant of the Vikingr out on a cruise in a 
 whale-boat. The crew had never seen a steamer before, 
 and the steersman was kind enough to explain the 
 wonder in Esquimaux. That mellifluous speech is not 
 taught at English schools ; but the expression of the 
 auditors' faces, their looks and gestures, and Saxon 
 words introduced into the lecture, made the meaning 
 pretty clear. The yellow-bearded commander was tell- 
 ing his brown dependants that the ' Ariel' was alive, and 
 
104 AN AMERICAN TRAMP. 
 
 those on board were summoned to help to prove it. The 
 black-haired, half-tamed students of natural history 
 were very much amused, but they were too clever to be 
 gulled, if there be truth in human expression. When 
 the ' Ariel' wagged her tail, and swam out of the harbour, 
 panting, they seemed ready to caper with delight. They 
 were a people of very quaint shape — beardless, brown- 
 faced, black-haired, blubbery, flabby, seal-like, fish- 
 eating, sleepy, good-natured, savage Christians. They 
 are not like fisher Lapps in Scandinavia, who are bonnier, 
 soft-looking Christians, with similar complexions. They 
 are very unlike mountain Lapps, who are tough, wiry, 
 hardy little mortals. These follow Banting's rule un- 
 consciously, feed upon flesh and milk in mountain air, 
 and can walk like wild-cats and other carnivora. Like 
 them, the 'red-skins' and 'mountaineers' of this side, 
 who live by hunting, and feed on flesh, are tough and 
 stringy, well-featured and bright-eyed. Fisher Lapps 
 and Esquimaux, who feed on fish, are somewhat fish- 
 like ; and the last grow up within natural fat greatcoats, 
 like seals of the glacial period in which they live. 
 
 The architecture which we have seen is very like 
 that of cranoges and lake-dwellings in Ireland and 
 Switzerland. Though a very large, highly-civilized 
 population is busy on this coast, scarce a yard of 
 
MODERN KITCHEN-MIDDENS. 105 
 
 masonry exists in Labrador. Wooden buildings are 
 placed as near the water as they will go. They are 
 chiefly built of rough fir-poles, with the bark on ; and 
 many of them stand upon stilts in the sea. Beside 
 them are 'kitchen-middens:' piles of severed crania 
 and vertebras of marine species, mingled with gnawed 
 bones of terrestrial mammalia, amongst which Bos 
 Salinus and Porcus Chicagensis Americanus predomi- 
 nate. A few circular bone and metal ornaments, to wit 
 buttons, some glass beads worn by the mermaidens, 
 and some broken bottles, might be found amongst 
 cods' heads and beef-bones. A few remnants of fur- 
 bearing animals, egg-shells, old rags, nets, dry biscuit, 
 and such-like, might be preserved, with some rusty iron ; 
 but as sea-water had almost eaten up a trowel, used to 
 build the Skerryvore lighthouse, in about ten years, 
 the few iron tools carried to Labrador have small chance 
 of preservation. Very little crockery finds its way to 
 land. Human remains, and implements buried with 
 them, indicate a very low state of development and civi- 
 lization ; shells and scratched stones demonstrate the 
 existence of severe cold and a glacial period far south. 
 The Esquimaux still use bone instruments ; the In- 
 dians bows and arrows, and stone implements ; and these 
 men are buried where their savage ancestors lived and 
 
106 AN AMERICAN TRAMP. 
 
 died ; but very few of the 50,000 strong healthy Cau- 
 casians who people the sea in summer leave their bones 
 in Labrador. Their remains are buried near stone 
 churches and flourishing seaports in Newfoundland. 
 In similar latitudes are civilized communities, who 
 speculate on stone hatchets and human skulls. The pre- 
 sent state of things between lat. 60° and 54° may throw 
 light on the archaeology of Denmark and Switzerland. 
 
 Ean in to Henley Harbour, and anchored for the 
 night. Here is a large raised beach of big stones, about 
 forty feet above the sea. It rests on slaty altered gneiss, 
 which splits easily, and on this rests a square block of 
 columnar basalt about 250 feet high. It is part of a 
 sheet of which another block rests on a neighbouring 
 point, and the sound and harbour are * denuded.' In 
 the warm evening light the view was very fine. Belle- 
 isle and the low coast of Newfoundland beyond the 
 blue strait might have been the coast of France seen 
 from Dover, but the blue strait was everywhere dotted 
 with islands of ice. Thirty-six large bits were counted ; 
 the small bits were numberless, and the temperature of 
 the water was 37°. The ground was clad in an arctic 
 dress of mosses, and Indian cup and berries ; but inland 
 a few forest trees showed that the climate was better 
 within a few miles of the sea. 
 
DOG-BREAKING. 107 
 
 Examined the beaches and rocks at the water-line, 
 especially in sounds. Found the rocks ground smooth, 
 but not striated, in the sounds. Where the waves 
 break on points, the brittle rock is broken here as 
 elsewhere. The beach-stones are like beach-stones at 
 home ; mussels, coral, and whelks, are the shells. The 
 crowd sent a dog into the water after a stone. The 
 dog's master pursued him with boulders, and belaboured 
 him with a board. He explained that he was a sport- 
 ing-dog, who would be spoiled. Got on board and 
 went to sleep. Provisions reduced to salt beef and salt 
 pork, both hard and high. 
 
 Sunday, August 7 — Bed Bay. — Landed half- 
 dressed and found some striae perfectly fresh at the 
 water-level, but weathered out a short distance inland. 
 A great number of large stones were in the water, and 
 they were of many kinds — granites, and such-like. The 
 direction was E. half N. mag., or nearly N.E. true. 
 There are no high hills, and by the chart this direction 
 accords with the run of the coast, and cuts diagonally 
 over a point. The tail of the Arctic Current has there- 
 fore made its mark, where it is now moving S.W. In 
 winter this whole strait is frozen. It is possible, though 
 dangerous, to pass it on the ice. The bergs are nume- 
 rous ; many of them bring stones in the spring ; many of 
 
108 AN AMERICAN TRAMP. 
 
 them ground. The whole mass moves S.W., and with 
 the tide KE., but most to the S.W., and the strige are 
 found aiming S.W., while the land is terraced, and 
 rising slowly from the sea. Got to Lans-a-loup ; 
 anchored, and landed. The cliffs are sandstone, and 
 terraced. The strata are nearly horizontal, and the 
 weather has broken out fantastic doors and windows. 
 The sailors find out a resemblance to forts and castles. 
 The prevailing wind seems to be K mag. KW. On 
 the hill-tops are numerous large perched blocks of stone, 
 like the rocks further north. The cliffs are crumbling 
 with frost. There is a marked difference in the vegeta- 
 tion ; grass abounds. Mosquitos are furious. Found 
 no sign of any means of getting up the coast to 
 Quebec. So, nolens miens, stick to the ship, and go 
 back to St. John's. Salmon are to be got here, but 
 there is no large river. A sporting parson has caught 
 a few small ones with fly. Our priest held a congrega- 
 tion, so attended. The first part was a sensible lecture 
 to the men ordering them to work for their master, who 
 reported that some did not do as much as they ought. 
 They are all working on credit, paying with labour for 
 food and gear advanced by the merchant or planter. A 
 man who does not work is therefore robbing his creditor. 
 As merchants thrive, these men must be honest workers, 
 
A SERMON. 109 
 
 though they are poor. The second part was a series 
 of short prayers, repeated a vast number of times, very 
 rapidly. The father's mission is to give the faithful a 
 dispensation to fish on a coming saint's day if they will 
 give their earnings on that day to build a church in 
 St. John's, and so ' bring a blessing on their own la- 
 bours.' There is precious little to be got here now for 
 church or layman. After church set off again, and 
 steamed up the straits amongst the bergs once more. 
 As night fell, the old pilot pointed out to the captain 
 that Belleisle was on the starboard hand, whereas it 
 ought to be to port. The captain laughed him to scorn. 
 In the night the vessel ran stem on to a cliff in New- 
 foundland ; but happy go lucky they saw it through the 
 mist, stopped the engine, and got round the cape all 
 safe. This is the most experimental of navigation. 
 Twice we have almost touched the cliffs with the bows ; 
 we have shaved rocks, of which we knew nothing ; 
 we have run into wrong harbours ; we have stopped to 
 ask the way ; we have groped through dense fogs, 
 without a chart, to places where no one on board had 
 ever been ; but somehow we have got out of the mess, 
 and clear of Labrador, and now it is straight running 
 back to Newfoundland. Our captain deserves infinite 
 credit for his unwearied care of the ship and crew. 
 
CHAPTEE VI 
 
 THE LABRADOR. 
 
 Monday, August 8. — According to experienced men on 
 board, the currents in the Straits of Belleisle are uncertain 
 and vary. When the wind is from the eastward the flood- 
 tide runs three or four knots an hour to the westward, 
 and during the ebb it is about slack water. The rise, full, 
 and change, is about six feet. When the wind is from 
 the westward the current from the gulf and river St. 
 Lawrence overcomes the ocean-current ; but generally 
 there is a constant set from the ocean westward. The 
 same current passes down outside of Newfoundland, 
 eddies round Cape Eace, and has caused many wrecks 
 at St. Shots. Beyond the eddy the outer current meets 
 the current from the straits in the gulf, and the two 
 flow together down the coast of Nova Scotia, while the 
 Gulf Stream flows the other way outside. So say cap- 
 tains who know the place ; so say the chart and the 
 sailing directions. The water is getting shoaler on the 
 banks of Newfoundland. As the coast is rising, the sea- 
 
A MAKINE COMMOTION. Ill 
 
 bottom is probably rising also. In the fall of this year, off 
 St. Shots and St. Mary's Bay, the sea retired suddenly to a 
 great distance. Several wrecks were uncovered, and the 
 bottom was dry for several miles. When the sea re- 
 turned, it came with such violence that the people were 
 terrified and fled to the hills. Boats were swamped, 
 stages destroyed, and generally there was a grand dis- 
 turbance. No shock of an earthquake was felt, and 
 there was nothing peculiar in the weather, which was fine. 
 This looks like a submarine eruption. A man on board 
 says that he noticed flying fish and gulf-weed off Cape 
 Bace this year. These are marks of the Gulf Stream, 
 and were several degrees farther north than usual. The 
 summer has been very bad, cold and misty. An un- 
 usual quantity of ice has been on the coast. It seems 
 that a shift in the warm Gulf Stream has dislodged 
 enough of arctic ice to bring down a fresh charge of 
 cold. In Canada, away from the ice, the season was 
 unusually hot, dry, and clear. A man who has had 
 some experience of ice has never seen a stone on a berg 
 in these latitudes. Captain Anderson, of the ' Europa,' 
 who is a geologist, has never seen a stone on a berg in 
 crossing the Atlantic. No stones were clearly seen on 
 this trip ; but bergs do bring stones to the straits fre- 
 quently, according to men who live there. At Lans-a- 
 
112 AN AMERICAN TRAMP. 
 
 loup, large blocks of granite and other hard stones are 
 deposited on sandstone hills at 200 feet above the sea- 
 level, and there is no high ground from which a com- 
 mon glacier could come. 
 
 A fair take of fish for two hands in a boat, during 
 June, July, August, and September, is about 200 
 quintals hereabouts. 
 
 Thermometer 48°, wind KE., strong breeze, all sail 
 set. At sea passed some large bergs in a haze at 7 a.m. 
 In the evening the wind changed to a N.E. gale, 
 cold, rainy ; ship rolling, and many sick. 
 
 Tuesday, August 9. — Twillinget or Toulinguet. 
 Fine day, strong breeze N.E., bright sun. The highest 
 hill about this place is 270 feet. Walked up, as the 
 captain did not like to face the sea. The landscape is a 
 wide stretch of low rolling hills, points, islands, straits, 
 lakes, and fjords. There is vegetation in plenty, and some 
 trees, chiefly small spruce, grow. The marshes and low 
 grounds are thickly covered with rhododendron and 
 Indian tea, berries and wild flowers, amongst which are 
 wild roses and blue bells. There is a great deal of cul- 
 tivation, and the potatoes, etc., look well, and are good to 
 eat. The main difference in the vegetation here and in 
 Labrador is the absence of reindeer moss. The town is 
 built upon a raised beach. The hills have the form of 
 
sealers' adventures. 113 
 
 glaciation ; but the rocks are so weathered that no ice- 
 marks were found away from the water-line. In the 
 spring of this year, about 150 sail of sealers were beset 
 off this harbour. They were frozen in from Easter Sun- 
 day (March 2) till May. The crews, 1500 men, used to 
 walk five or six miles over the ice to shore, and the in- 
 habitants were obliged to feed them. Adventures were 
 numerous, of course. A great many vessels were crushed 
 and wrecked. When the ice moved south, they were 
 smashed and ground up. One vessel was forced up on a 
 large pan of ice, and floated past St. John's ; a steamer 
 was sent after her, and she was rescued near Cape Eace. 
 Few men lost their lives. They are so used to ice that 
 they skip on it like two-legged seals. Boats are 
 launched and hauled over ice, and so the crews escape 
 though the vessels are lost. In 1848 the ice did not 
 leave this harbour till August. This year it did not 
 go till June. Walked three or four miles to a station with 
 shop and warehouse. The man has built his wooden 
 house on a low rock in the sea, and a bridge to get at it 
 from the shore. He built one which the ice carried 
 away ; this one has stood the brunt so far. The ice is 
 18 inches thick near the shore. This fellow had a fight 
 with the sealers, about grog of course. His son, who is 
 a kind of giant, thrashed the rioters, and they in revenge 
 
114 AN AMERICAN TRAMP. 
 
 damaged the famous bridge with axes. Keturned to the" 
 appointed time, and found the captain with his mind 
 made up to stop all day, as the sea outside was break- 
 ing heavily, and Fogo is before us. Some of the crowd 
 went to a picnic : I went to bed. Thermometer, 48°. 
 
 Wednesday 10— Air 50°, water 46°. — Off Fogo. 
 Gray sky. No bergs in sight. The coast about Little 
 Fogo Island is all rounded; there are no cliffs here. 
 The weather this day is very curious. At one moment 
 the air is clear and the sun shining. A low bank of fog is 
 seen ahead, and the vessel's bow disappears when she 
 enters it. A thin fleecy veil comes first, and then she 
 plunges into thick darkness. In a couple of hours or 
 less she plunges out again into bright light and clear 
 air, and the fog bank is seen like a wall on the horizon 
 astern. It is a purple cloud on a dark-blue rolling sea. 
 A large shoal of porpoises came alongside, rolling and 
 leaping like mad things. Some of the party fired at 
 them, and missed of course. 
 
 Picked up a boat with a heavy cod-seine and four 
 hands in it, gave them a tow with a very long rope, 
 and dragged their bows under at every sea. It looked 
 very dangerous, but no one seemed to care. These fel- 
 lows were blown off, and have not been in for three 
 days ; they were cold and wet and tired. Cast them 
 
GEYER FOGEL. 115 
 
 loose off their harbour, when they hoisted a rag of a 
 sail and made for shore. Some parts of this day's sail 
 required good pilotage. The course lay between two 
 long reefs apparently on the strike of the rocks. The 
 long heavy sea of the late gale roared and thundered over 
 these sunken hills, making a fearful din. Watched the 
 breakers, which made the most extraordinary turmoil, as 
 there was a cross sea running two ways at once. About 
 40 miles outside lie the Funks. Here used to be great num- 
 bers of Geyer fogel* Their skeletons are now brought to 
 St. John's with guano. Anchor at Green's Pond for the 
 night. Stayed on board while the crowd went on a spree. 
 Thursday 11th.— Set off early. Strong breeze, 
 heavy sea, air 48°, water 47° ; took nine hours to go 30 
 miles to King's Cove. Barometer fallen half an inch, 
 heavy rain. Two men who went foraging for the mess 
 were left behind, but they can walk overland. Steamed 
 to Buona Vista and anchored. Barometer still falling 
 nearly an inch down since last night. The wind sud- 
 denly lulled, and changed from S.W. to N.W., when it 
 blew harder than ever. It came howling and singing a 
 shrill chant amongst the rigging, while blue and yellow 
 lightning flared and flashed, and thunder rattled a ter- 
 rible bass. The rain came down in bucketsful, and 
 * The great auk. 
 
116 AN AMERICAN TRAMP. 
 
 there was a regular storm. It seems as if we had got 
 into the middle of a small tornado. Stayed on board. 
 The crowd had a rough time of it coming off in the 
 night. One man tired of salt junk went to a dozen 
 houses knocking up the natives. When the sleepy mor- 
 tals came to their windows the question was, ' Have you 
 any lamb V There was none, but a man had some 
 chickens, so they were brought off alive and crammed 
 into another fellow's bed. Then came a shindy, which 
 subsided towards morning. Then the chain-gang began 
 to heave. Truly sleeping is a feat on board this ship. 
 
 Friday 12.— Ther. 48°, barometer down, sea rolling 
 every way at once. There are two tame wild-geese 
 on board, a box of live rabbits in the fore-cabin, a cat 
 in the men's berth, three sick men in the hold amongst 
 the coals, a wet dog running about the deck and seeking 
 refuge in the berths. There is a sick woman crammed 
 into a hole above the screw ; all our long-passage crowd 
 and several new hands, including the M.P. for Toulinquet 
 and the Speaker of the House. Had some eggs brought 
 from the Funks ; they were good. Ran into Catalina 
 and Trinity, where we picked up a doctor, who was sick 
 immediately, and so continued. Ran across the bay to 
 Old Purliken, and took in another sick woman and her 
 daughter. The water at Trinity was 52° in the harbour. 
 
LABRADOR LUXURY. 117 
 
 Ran in to Harbour Grace and anchored again, as it was 
 blowing a whole gale. The crowd went on shore, and 
 some of them tossed for champagne till the small hours ; 
 one drank a pint with a seidlitz before breakfast. Several 
 very damp cheerful men warmly shook hands with me 
 in bed ; but I have a very dim recollection of the even- 
 ing, having acquired the art of sleeping under difficulties. 
 If any of these shipmates happen to read this and 
 recognise the writer, let them accept his cordial thanks 
 for their kindness during the voyage. 
 
 All on board felt and constantly mentioned their 
 high approval of the captain's skill and unwearied atten- 
 tion to his very arduous duties. Fair or foul he was at 
 his post ; day and night he was always awake, bright and 
 cheerful ; and on such a voyage he had to keep his wits 
 bright. With thick weather, no good chart, and such 
 a coast, he had a hard time of it. 
 
 The way of our life of late was thus :— At some un- 
 known hour, a steward, housemaid, cook, and house- 
 keeper—a man with a powerful Newfoundland-Irish 
 brogue, who had been a sealer, and a traveller— an- 
 nounced that breakfast would be ready 'directly ;' and 
 accordingly, in due time, those who slept on tables and 
 chairs in the main cabin were turned out, and the rest 
 tumbled in. A single cabin-steward, who probably never 
 
118 AN AMERICAN TRAMP. 
 
 had washed himself, and whose hair would always curl 
 over his nose into his mouth at the most interesting 
 moments, appeared bearing the salt beef, and shortly 
 afterwards the salt pork ; and by diving through the 
 cabin floor the same official contrived to extract a supply 
 of biscuit. Tea, with or without milk, and salt butter, 
 completed the breakfast. Dinner was the same ; pork 
 and beef, with cask water instead of tea. Tea was ditto 
 repeated, the pork and beef being cold for a change. 
 We who lived forward had a bowing acquaintance 
 with the beef and the pork ; they lived together in a 
 barrel of salt water, and bobbed about us cheerfully 
 as we climbed out of our den. In the happy, lux- 
 urious days of our first start, when we had fresh 
 meat for dinner, the mortal remains of a tough 
 sheep, and the disjecta membra of an ancient cow, lay 
 swathed in an old sail on the top of our companion- 
 hutch. Whoever put his head out to see how the 
 weather looked, risked 'colliding' with sheep or cow, 
 as mutton or beef; but no one seemed the worse at 
 dinner-time. On Fridays we had salt fish, and occa- 
 sionally soup and pudding. Arrived opposite to some 
 landing-place, and the captain having announced that 
 he would stop ' two hours,' the passengers and the good- 
 humoured crew lowered the boats, and scrambled into 
 
THE LABRADOR MAIL. 119 
 
 them. At first we went anyhow ; but finding that 
 method objectionable, the port and starboard tables took 
 separate boats and raced. 
 
 Having reached the land, those who had business in 
 the place clattered and slid over the rocks and fish 
 offal into the nearest house, and the rest followed. We 
 were a goodly company — a priest, a missionary, several 
 clergymen of various denominations occasionally, and ten 
 or a dozen hardy, active, young merchants learning their 
 work thoroughly by doing it themselves. Crammed 
 into a wooden room, we filled it. The converse was 
 fishy. How many quintals a man ? How many had 
 we heard of ? Where was the best take ? What would 
 be the price ? It was a keen encounter of wits between 
 buyers and sellers, debtors and creditors, capital and 
 labour, all eager for intelligence to be turned into gold ; 
 and yet the 'Ariel' is all that Newfoundland turns out 
 in the way of steam-power applied to mails. 
 
 Questions and answers dry throats, and ere many 
 minutes had passed a bottle usually appeared. He was 
 often the last of his race, and he bled for his country 
 freely. For half an hour the clergy did their duty, 
 while the merchants transacted their business, and the 
 only real idler on board used his eyes. By that time 
 the captain had generally blown the steam-whistle, and 
 
120 AN AMERICAN TRAMP. 
 
 the boats had to return. It was a hard race to get a 
 boat hoisted first ; and it often happened that the two 
 short hours allowed were grievously curtailed. Some- 
 times two hours lengthened into half a day, but the 
 passengers were tethered to the ship by this uncertainty. 
 When a gale or a fog came on we knew what to do, 
 and broke loose accordingly. At night some went to 
 bed, but some one always had business which kept him 
 awake, and many walked great distances in the dark. 
 At any hour a stream of damp mariners, headed by the 
 representative of some firm, might pour down our hutch, 
 pour porter down their own throats, chew, spit, and 
 smoke, while they talked fish on boxes in the forehold by 
 the light of a tallow dip. When they came, they stayed 
 till the ship was ready to move, or the porter expended. 
 Great, strong, rough, sturdy, hearty, wet mariners they 
 were. It was pleasant to watch their weather-beaten, 
 brown faces, and listen dreamily to their long yarns, 
 and then gradually to drop off and kick the bald head 
 of the old snoring pilot in the next bunk. When the 
 ship was about to move she let us know. First the 
 crew turned out, and they were only a plank off next 
 door ; then the engines began to rumble in their insides, 
 and then to scream ; then some one rung a furious big- 
 bell at the open hutch, and then the whole crew dashed 
 
THE ABODE OF PEACE. 121 
 
 the whole iron chain, with all their pith, upon the 
 deck immediately over this abode of peace. In an- 
 other hour a place, an iceberg, an island, a whale, or 
 something else, made it absolutely necessary to get 
 up and go on deck. At first it was difficult to sleep, 
 at last we all slept like tops and enjoyed the noise 
 amazingly. No one ever really enjoyed the pork, but 
 constant foraging only produced a very little edible fish, 
 a dozen or two of gulls' eggs, and one brace of small 
 chickens. Those who had brought strong liquor consoled 
 themselves, and while the stores lasted they offered fluid, 
 solid, and vaporous consolation to those who had none of 
 their own. May their shadows increase ! Those who 
 did not drink strong liquor did as best they could with 
 strongly-coloured water, which lived in a cask beside 
 the larder, near the hatch of the fore-hold. 
 
 We were the admirals and merchant-princes of these 
 seas, the very cream and top oil of St. John's, and the 
 best of bay-men, and so we fared in the best mail-boat 
 in the colony, specially chartered to visit the most im- 
 portant of her fishing-grounds, and carry news for 
 119,304 anxious people. Steamers, regular as clock-work 
 and comfortable as yachts, run round the North Cape 
 of Norway once a fortnight, and a telegraph spreads 
 news of herring along the whole of that northern coast. 
 
122 AN AMERICAN TRAMP. 
 
 The ice which does so much harm appears to have 
 congealed the energies of the British colonists. 
 
 On the other hand, there is energy enough and to 
 spare somewhere in the people. In March they fight 
 seals and the pack, and it is a desperate battle. As 
 soon as the ice will permit, they flit northwards to 
 'the Labrador' to fish cod. There they fight the 
 battle of life with cold and hardship, waves, ice, storm, 
 and mist. They go to their ground in small vessels 
 crammed as the hold of a slaver is crammed. When 
 they get there they live chiefly in open boats, or 
 camp on bare rocks, in rickety wooden shanties that 
 look as if a puff would blow them to sea. Norwegians 
 who fish in darkness, in the dead of winter, within the 
 Arctic Circle, have better lodging and warmer weather. 
 When the short summer of Labrador ends, the men put 
 the boats into the ships, and pile themselves and their 
 fish into the holds. Men, women, and children, sick 
 and sound, ship and gear, off they go down stream to 
 Newfoundland, and there they spend their winter in 
 running up a fresh score, to be worked out in seals and 
 cod, blubber, liver, and men's lives, in March. No one 
 knows the number of this floating crowd. The fixed 
 population of the Labrador was about 1650 in 1857 ; the 
 fishers come from everywhere, and must exceed 50,000. 
 
'PLENTY OF FISH AT BRIG HARBOUR.' 123 
 
 Such a strange herd of migratory amphibious crea- 
 tures — men and seals — exists nowhere else ; to see them 
 was worth the trouble of this trip ; but why that trouble 
 should exist in a rich British colony in 1864, is incom- 
 prehensible. There is no direct mail communication 
 with England or Canada, though the imports and ex- 
 ports of Newfoundland exceed a million sterling, and 
 the port of St. John's is very famous for imported port 
 wine, which is earned in Labrador. Still in my dreams 
 there comes a loud drawling shout of — ' Plenty of 
 fish at Brig Harbour.' 
 
 In 1863 the Straits of Belleisle were crammed with cod ; 
 so, in 1864, lots of vessels went there for cargoes. 'When 
 they got there the cupboard was bare ; ' so the fore-and- 
 afters went prospecting up the coast. Each crew, as the 
 steamer passed down, hailed for news. It so happened 
 that Brig Harbour was near the furthest point reached, 
 and the first ship met on the way back was told to go 
 there. Thenceforth it grew into a habit, and finally it 
 became a joke. Every ship that hailed was sent to 
 Brig Harbour, and every one altered course and set off 
 at once. There must have been a large fleet there in 
 August. 
 
 There were ' plenty of fish in Brig Harbour,' but 
 quite as many at other spots, and some of the vessels 
 
124 AN AMERICAN TRAMP. 
 
 were sent a fool's errand as far as from Dover to New- 
 castle. Surely it would pay to run a proper mail up 
 that strangest of strange wild coasts, ' the Labrador/ 
 
 Saturday 13.— Off at daylight. Ther. 48°. Blowing 
 very hard, and a heavy sea on. The vessel rolled so 
 that I had to hold on in my berth and jam myself 
 against the ends. One man, being very sick, fetched 
 way, rushed headlong over the cabin in his shirt, and 
 plunged into the priest's berth ; his fist took him under 
 the ear, and nearly brained him. The next lurch sent 
 him sprawling on all fours, feet foremost, back to his 
 own side, apologising with all his might. In another 
 minute he was successfully sick, and back again to bed 
 quite well. Eose at 8, and watched the sea, which 
 was very grand. Eeached St. John's at 9.30. It has 
 been a curious trip, unquiet and uncomfortable, but 
 good fun on the whole. Spent the rest of the day in 
 eating and washing, and reading the Times in the news- 
 room, to which a shipmate introduced me a stranger. 
 
CHAPTEE VII. 
 
 AVALON. 
 
 Monday 15.— Walked round the harbour down to the 
 lighthouse. The rocks at the point are a very coarse 
 sandstone, made up of pebbles of granite, white and red 
 quartz, jasper, and sandstones of sorts, in a matrix of hard 
 red sand. Joints in the rock pass through these pebbles, 
 and are filled with white quartz in crystals. No fossils 
 to be seen. In some beds, the round water-worn peb- 
 bles are worn smooth, and to an even surface, as if the 
 beds had slid one upon the other in the process of up- 
 heaval. The dip 50° K To the north and westward are 
 slates underlying the sandstone. The valleys and lines 
 of hill correspond generally to the strike ; and in this 
 case the slate has been more worn than the sandstone. 
 The narrows are made by a gap crossing the sandstone, 
 and the glacial striae come from the high grounds 
 behind the town, and rise up and over the range of hills 
 which make the coast-line. Ice now comes in from the 
 sea. On the 2d of June 1863, the harbour was filled 
 
126 AN AMERICAN TRAMP. 
 
 with it, and the sea in the offing was covered to the 
 horizon. Every winter the harbour freezes to 18 inches 
 or more ; and in March vessels are cut out. This is the 
 glacial period at St. John's. The rocks at the water- 
 line are ground smooth, but not striated. When a 
 heavy sea comes rolling in from the Atlantic, heavy 
 breakers beat over this point, and the narrows are filled 
 with the broken water ; but the water-line is unlike the 
 cliffs of the opposite coast, where rocks are broken by 
 such breakers. Close above the water-line the rocks 
 are weathered by frost, so that hard ribs project half a 
 foot beyond the surface, and pebbles stand out like stones 
 on a beach. There is nothing in these ice-marks of the 
 present like the fresh sharp striae which run over the 
 top of Signal-hill, 540 feet above the sea-level, and which 
 have resisted the weather so as to be perfectly clear. 
 Walked up to the hill-top. Levelled the top of Signal- 
 hill, and made it 540 feet. The highest point on this 
 side is 630. The highest ridge inland is about 800, 
 distant about 4 miles. Looking down from this point, 
 the shape of the country generally corresponds to the run 
 of the currents, N.E. and S.W. magnetic, about N. 12° 
 E. true. The glacial striae can only be accounted for by 
 supposing that the hollows were filled with ice, so as to 
 overflow seawards. The heat very oppressive — 78° in the 
 
KENT IN NEWFOUNDLAND. 127 
 
 sun, 70° in the shade. Sprang three reiper ' partridge.' 
 Lay under the shadow of a big perched block, panting 
 and smoking, and rejoicing in a breeze of north wind. 
 Lots of women and girls were gathering partridge-berries 
 on the hills. The tops are bare tors, but weathered. 
 Every hollow contains a marsh or a small pond ; every 
 one of these has a fringe of scrub, thick and tangled. 
 On trying to return, got into one thicket, and nearly stuck 
 there. Struggled through, and got hold of the end of 
 a path which led to a small cottage with a potato-gar- 
 den and a flock of goats. The owner was an old chat- 
 tering Irishman, with lame legs ; and he and three girls 
 were seated on a rock basking. Joined the party, and 
 basked for half an hour, listening to the old man's ac- 
 count of himself and his ailments, and his family history. 
 Asked him if he paid any rent. * Faith and I do ; one 
 shilling ; and I pay it over there at the office every year 
 regular.' On leaving, found some rocks newly laid bare 
 in the path. Striae, not well marked, seem to run paral- 
 lel to the harbour — E.N.E. mag., or nearly at right angles 
 to the strise on Signal-hill. There seems to have been no 
 general direction of movement here. Made a hurried 
 sketch of the harbour, and got back at dark. Wrote till 
 bed-time, and smoked hard. Walked about 10 miles 
 only, and felt as if I had walked 30. 
 
128 AN AMERICAN TRAMP. 
 
 Tuesday 16. — Walked about the town in the morn- 
 ing, and hired a man, and his horse and trap, for £1 cur- 
 rency per diem, to go to Colinet, and wherever else I 
 chose. Got under weigh at 2, in a small double phaeton, 
 with a chestnut nag ; driver, Ned Breenan, in a steeple- 
 hat, looking as if he meant to be a regular woodman 
 for this trip. He was a dark-haired, hook-nosed man, 
 in a loose gray frock, and generally he looked like work. 
 Ther. 53°, wind N., the air feeling sharp and chilly after 
 the heat of yesterday. Drove over the hills and down 
 to Topsail, 630 feet, by this road. The whole country is 
 covered with glacial drift, the rock gray and yellow slate ; 
 the hill-tops are bare and much rounded. Farms are 
 numerous ; oats still green ; lots of raspberries ripe in 
 the woods. The valleys are clad with a dwarf forest of 
 spruce — black, red, and white. The descent to Placentia 
 Bay is in a glen, with glaciated rocks, moraines, and all 
 other ice-marks, striae excepted. These were not con- 
 spicuous ; at least none were seen from the trap. Walked 
 on ahead 7 miles from Topsail ; the country is a mass 
 of boulders of large size, heaped, and piled, and spread 
 about everywhere. Drove on to Holyrood — 30 miles in 
 all. Stopped at a little roadside inn, with a large chim- 
 ney in the kitchen. Two good-looking girls and an old 
 woman were the inhabitants, and pigs and poultry came 
 
THE WATER-BULL. 129 
 
 toddling in as if the place were their own. Supped 
 with the driver, and slept in a small closet of a room, 
 from which I could hear all the rest of the people going 
 to bed. Had a long jaw with an old skipper who owns 
 the house : subject, the Labrador seals and cod. One 
 subject started was the 'sea-cow.' Throughout the 
 British Isles the Celtic population firmly believe in the 
 existence of an amphibious and very uncanny creature, 
 which, according to their account of him, is a little gray 
 water-bull. He lives in fresh-water lakes, comes on 
 shore, breeds with tame cattle, and does no particular 
 harm ; but he has something supernatural in his nature, 
 and no one likes to venture at night to places haunted 
 by the Tarabh uisge. He frequents sea-lochs and the 
 ocean, where no large or deep fresh-water lakes exist. 
 This belief is so genuine, and stories told about the 
 appearance of 'the bull' are so very circumstantial, that 
 many Saxons have adopted the popular creed. English 
 sportsmen have watched beside Scotch lakes for a shot 
 at the monster ; proprietors have tried to drain ponds 
 and catch him, and, when that scheme failed, they have 
 whitened the water with quick-lime to kill him by foul 
 means. An English nobleman, distinguished for his 
 learning and accomplishments, once took the trouble to 
 write down all that he could learn about this mysterious 
 
 K 
 
130 AN AMERICAN TRAMP. 
 
 creature, and the evidence collected by him would have 
 gone far to prove a case in any court. The belief is not 
 peculiar to any one branch of the Celtic population of 
 the British Isles ; it seems to pervade all who dwell 
 near the Atlantic coast, The very same notion prevails 
 in Iceland. A few years ago a farmer described a water 
 creature which he had seen in a lake there, and some 
 English sportsmen set off in pursuit. It was not a 
 horned specimen, but it was as big as a cow. In New- 
 foundland the same story is told, with more details and 
 circumstances. On board the 'Ariel' our male house- 
 maid positively declared that he had seen a creature in 
 the ice which had the head and front and forelegs of a 
 cow. It rose beside ' a pan,' and scrambled half out 
 of water close to a lot of sealers armed with guns and 
 pikes and clubs. They were afraid to use their weapons, 
 and after a time the water-cow, horns and all, subsided 
 and disappeared. The hinder end of him seemed to fall 
 away something like a seal ; but he was neither seal nor 
 walrus, for he had little crooked horns on his head, and 
 feet like a cow. With this yarn reeled up, the old 
 sailor-landlord was set to spin another, and he spun it 
 ' right away' directly the bait was offered. He knew 
 all about the beasts. Many of the sealers had seen 
 them in the ice, but they did not like to meddle with 
 
TERRACES AND BEACHES. 131 
 
 them, and no one had ever killed a sea-cow, so far as he 
 knew. If this Tarabh uisge be a creation of Celtic 
 brains, he certainly is the most material < tarradiddle' 
 yet born of human imagination. 
 
 Wednesday 17.— Up early, and walked down to the 
 shore. The drift of yesterday seems to be a vast ter- 
 race, rising to 150 feet along the hill-side, for 15 or 16 
 miles along the shore of Placentia Bay. The rocks in 
 the land-wash, where sea-ice now works in winter, are 
 striated in the direction of the bay, but this seems to 
 be old ice-work not yet destroyed. The rock is slaty, 
 gray, and much weathered where exposed to the air. 
 The hill-tops are great tors, all rounded and quite 
 bare ; the low grounds are covered with thick forests 
 of small trees ; the coast only is cleared and settled. 
 All the able-bodied are up at the Labrador. Got 
 under weigh at 10.20 j drove down to one of these 
 quaint raised beaches which abound in this bay. They 
 are large ramparts of rolled stones, about as big as small 
 turnips, which run along the coast in sweeping curves ; 
 sometimes they cross the mouths of small harbours and 
 rivers, and make brackish lakes. These have no sort 
 of resemblance to the terraces and heavy drift on shore. 
 Rose the hill again through fields manured with fish- 
 guts, and redolent thereof. Cabbages, carrots, potatoes, 
 
132 AN AMERICAN TRAMP. 
 
 hay, fine grass, and grain of sorts, growing well. Climbed 
 to the top of a great bare tor which rises at the very 
 end of Placentia Bay ; it is 600 feet high. The rock 
 seems to be felspathic ash, too much weathered for 
 stria? ; but this hill is a tor. Looking down, it is mani- 
 fest that a glacier slid towards the magnetic N.E., down 
 into this bay from the hills, which here make an 
 isthmus about 25 miles wide, and only 550 feet high 
 at the watershed. Hills 1000 feet high are seen, and 
 from these the ice came. In short, though no stria? are 
 preserved, the whole evidence points to large glaciers 
 following the general slope of the land down the hills 
 and into the bays on the east coast, The piles of drift 
 are the moraines. In passing along the road the loose 
 stones change. At one place granite abounds, and granite 
 is in the hills ; at another, slate is the prevailing rock 
 in the drift, and the hills are slate. On this tor numer- 
 ous very large blocks of coarse sandstone are poised on 
 the bare hill-top, isolated from all neighbouring hills ; 
 but the hills inland are sandstone, and higher than this 
 hill. The last glaciation of Newfoundland was cer- 
 tainly effected by a local system of glaciers, which were 
 high enough to cover hills now 600 feet above the sea, 
 and to grind the glens below them. 
 
 Drove on up a very bad road into a forest, which got 
 
A NEWFOUNDLAND REEL. 133 
 
 gradually thicker and higher, as the cold sea was left 
 and the warmer sea approached. The weather very hot, 
 and flies in clouds. Vegetation changing rapidly. 
 Kubus arcticus, dog-rose, raspberry, strawberry, sweet 
 gale, rhododendron, larch (called juniper), and a thick 
 luxuriant scrub of other plants, hid the ground: the 
 trees grew so thickly that a man could hardly force his 
 way edgeways between the trunks. The lakes were 
 fringed with trees growing almost in the water, and 
 covered with yellow waterlily and water-plants. The 
 open leads which occurred here and there were wet 
 marshy muir. Stopped at the half-way house, and 
 sketched as well as the flies would let me. Hearing 
 
 o 
 
 music, went in and found a wandering mason droning 
 out a reel or a jig, and a driver dancing with a pretty 
 wild-looking girl. He handed her over to me, and to 
 please them rather than to gratify myself, I also 
 capered. The old landlady, who looked like a bolster 
 tied in the middle, sat in an arm-chair made of an 
 old herring-barrel, and applauded. Drove on down- 
 hill to Colinet, stopping for a few minutes at the 
 bridge at Salmoniere. This river is a succession of 
 shallow streams and deep weedy ponds in the forest. 
 It was vain to fish there, so drove on, getting gradually 
 out of the forest into a more open country. The driver 
 
134 AN AMERICAN TRAMP. 
 
 proposed fishing in a weedy loch by the road-side. 
 Would not insult my tackle by putting it into such a 
 hole. Got ferried over the Colinet river by two pretty 
 little girls, and took up quarters in the house of Davis, 
 a noted deer-hunter and poacher, who was away ' in the 
 country' with a party of deer-shooters. Asked the old 
 dame, and Helen Davis, her pretty daughter, to get some 
 tea, and walked a mile to the other river, where is a fall 
 about which a piece of work is made. It is pretty 
 enough — a stream tumbling over the edges of some 
 slaty rocks, the beds making water-slides of great regu- 
 larity. The last slide is into salt water, but fish come 
 up nevertheless. 
 
 Thursday 18. — Up early ; fine bright day. Went 
 a-fishing with Ned Breenan, who pretended to know all 
 about the rivers and the country. Went first to the fall, 
 and tried all the holes, catching one little par. Gave 
 that up, and tried the other river, which was a mere rill 
 in a wide bed of stones. It was full of par and char ; 
 killed 100, and lost a great many amongst the stones, 
 and while wading. Dined on the bank, by the help of 
 the kettle. Late in the evening went up about a mile 
 and found some deeper holes, Mr. Ned having informed 
 me that there were none. Hooked a small salmon in one 
 of these pools, and broke the casting-line, which had got 
 
SALMON-FISHING. 135 
 
 worn amongst the stones. It was evident that all the 
 salmon had gone up as far as they could. On returning 
 found the hunters come home blank. The sportsman is 
 a schoolmaster at Placentia, and had come to Colinet 
 with an attendant to spend his vacation in the woods. 
 They went about twelve miles inland to the second 
 pond, and there camped. When their fire was made the 
 salmon came plunging about in the deep water close to 
 the land- wash, ' large salmon a yard long.' They thought 
 they were deer, they thought they would leap on shore, 
 etc. In short, there were plenty of fish in the upper 
 pond, where I wanted to go, and where Ned Breenan did 
 not, as it now appeared. They had seen a great many 
 deer-tracks and one deer. He was in the river, but be- 
 fore the sportsman could make up his mind to fire, the 
 deer had leaped into the forest, and there was an end of 
 him. Sat over the fire jawing till late. Old Davis is a 
 manifest poacher, but a nice old fellow. 
 
 Friday 19. — Set off for the first pond to try for 
 a salmon. Ned Breenan retired to the stable, and, as 
 it transpired, slept all day. Old Davis shouldered my 
 basket and his own gun, which was two yards long at 
 least. I shouldered my rod, and we marched off into * the 
 country.' Our way lay through * leads,' marshy land 
 overgrown with rein-moss, multiberries, and such -like. It 
 
136 AN AMERICAN TRAMP. 
 
 was muggy and hot, and misty and rainy ; and at every 
 step my feet sank over the shoes in something like a 
 wet sponge without the spring. The old man, with 
 broad-soled shoes and his lighter body, scarcely sank 
 where I went far above the ankles at times. It was 
 very hot surely, and the flies were bloodthirsty, venomous, 
 vicious, and numerous exceedingly. They were as bad 
 as in Sweden, and that is about as bad as can well be. 
 The armies were headed by horse-bees, creatures half an 
 inch long, with daggers in their noses. Then came 
 smaller pests, as big as large bluebottles; then gally- 
 nippers or mosquitos, which bored holes in the skin 
 through stockings and trousers ; and the rest of the flying 
 squadron was made up of small midges and black flies, 
 which bit and stung, and sang and buzzed, and tickled 
 every scrap of bare skin. Put a handkerchief under my 
 hat, and got along tolerably. Deer-tracks were pretty 
 numerous and fresh, but there was not a bird to be seen 
 for six miles of this plodding, neither bird nor feather. 
 By turning and twisting round points of forest, we kept 
 in this ground till within a mile of the pond ; here we 
 dived into the wood, following a path. It was merely a 
 track in which a few branches had been lopped off to 
 make head-room, and no stranger could have kept it. 
 The old man kept it, and led to sundry trunks laid over 
 
A BEAVER TOWN. 137 
 
 deep streams, which we scrambled over by the help of 
 poles. He and his sons come here for birds and eggs, 
 and this is their path, used for many years, and still a 
 wilderness. Arrived at the pond, found a weedy hole, 
 with waterlilies close to the bank, so did not fish. All 
 this country now swarms with beaver, and we had 
 reached a settlement. A large pile of branches and mud, 
 about the size of a hayrick, was made at the water's edge, 
 and in the water. It was an old beaver-house, and I sat 
 down on the top, and heard the old man hold forth, 
 while we munched biscuits and smoked turn about. 
 Opposite to us was a second house, and at the end of 
 the lake, in a flat meadow covered with rank green 
 grass a yard long, was the top of a third house, now 
 building. It was on an island in a creek, and could not 
 be reached without a boat. All round us, in the soft 
 turf of the banks, were beaver-roads : canals, a foot 
 wide, dug into the land ten or twenty yards, and ending 
 in a path cleared to the trees. The canal had fur- 
 nished mud for the house, the path was the road for food 
 and timber, and food and timber were piled on the 
 house. The food is 'white wood' and birch, about a 
 couple of inches thick. The branches had been neatly 
 nibbled into portable lengths, and they were piled on a 
 turf opposite to the house. The old branches had been 
 
138 AN AMERICAN TRAMP. 
 
 neatly peeled, and the marks of the tools used — to wit 
 the teeth — were on every stick. Beaver-root — the root of 
 the yellow lily — was nibbled and left, about in scraps. 
 Followed the shore, and went to the forest to look at the 
 work there. A couple of birch-trees had been felled for 
 the bark ; one stump measured two feet in girth, and 
 not a scrap of the trunk or branches was left. The 
 other lay where it fell untouched, and it was a goodly 
 birch-tree. It had been felled late in the fall, and the 
 frost had come on before they could move the prize home. 
 There were the tooth-marks and the peculiar chips of 
 these strange little carpenters. We left their work, 
 and went off back to an upper lake where they had a 
 dam. It was made, like the house, of small branches 
 and mud piled at the end of the lake, and piled in the 
 very shape of Plymouth breakwater — broad below, nar- 
 row above, with the water oozing slowly through it, so 
 that no stream moved it and no fall undermined the base. 
 Now, is this instinct or design? Long ago a boy made 
 a dam in a similar position, in order to sail boats in a 
 pond. It was a wall made of turf, and when it was 
 pretty high the water cut a hole in the top, which en- 
 larged, till the wall-dam went off with the rush. A second 
 attempt failed also. After working all day, the first diffi- 
 culty was mastered by placing a plank on top of the 
 
ENGINEERING. 139 
 
 turf wall for the water to flow over ; but when the head 
 of water gathered and began to fall, the fall dug out the 
 foundation, and the whole fabric was swept away in a 
 moment. Engineers of experience lately failed to dam a 
 lake effectually, and so drowned a town. The beavers suc- 
 ceed ; their plan is the very best that could be devised ; 
 and the youngest beaver works on the old plan which 
 the young human animal does not inherit from his an- 
 cestors, but learns from them, or puzzles out for him- 
 self. But here is the difference between men and 
 beasts : — ~No beaver can do anything beyond his own 
 trade, but a man may be jack-of-all-trades, if master of 
 none. Meandering about amongst the woods, we came 
 to a place which these little engineers had flooded. We 
 had to grope about for a passage, and finally cut down 
 a tree to get over the old river-course. 
 
 It was queer walking amongst long drowned grass, 
 old stumps, fallen trees, branches, and scrub, with water 
 up to the knees, and deep holes hidden somewhere. Old 
 Davis found his way, nevertheless, and we scrambled 
 through another thicket to a new beaver-house, which 
 he knew to be inhabited. We danced upon the roof, 
 and shook it ; and out dashed the people under water, 
 leaving the long train of bubbles which also marks the 
 bolt of an otter. Presently the wave of the sunken 
 
140 AN AMERICAN TRAMP. 
 
 navigator was seen nearing some long grass, and then 
 the grass itself waved as the brute worked along the 
 shore. Old Davis spied him more than 200 yards 
 away, making for another old house on the oppo- 
 site side of the lake, but I never got sight of him. So 
 there we sat down, and smoked and prosed, in a damp, 
 warm, foggy, gray, still atmosphere, with steaming lead- 
 coloured water before us, and a dank, dripping, half- 
 drowned forest of scrubby birch and pine all around. 
 The only cheery creatures about the place were a family 
 of chattering jays, who seemed inclined to taste the 
 flesh on which gallynippers were feasting royally. The 
 house is so built that the door is under water. If it 
 were not deep enough, they would be frozen in ; there- 
 fore they make the dam after the house is made, so that 
 the ice may form a roof over the hall-door. If the walls 
 of the house were thin, the frost would freeze up the 
 water-way ; therefore they pile up such a heap that the 
 frost cannot penetrate, and having prepared for winter, 
 they dive out and dig waterlily roots under the glass 
 roof of their winter garden. The inside of the house 
 has an anteroom for shaking wet jackets, and a bedroom 
 neatly plastered with mud, with every projecting stick 
 nibbled off. The bed is of bark, and dry as a bone. It 
 seems a foul murder to slay such wise brutes ; but ' they 
 
DEER-YARNS. 141 
 
 are very good, and the tail makes first-rate soup.' To 
 trap them, a heavy trap is laid on the house in the 
 water, with a long chain. When the creature is caught, 
 he springs into deep water, and the weight drowns him. 
 An easy way to shoot them is to spoil the dam, and 
 watch the place. As soon as the water begins to ebb, 
 the colony go off to mend the works, and the enemy can 
 take them unawares. Old Davis once spoilt a dam, and 
 went away. When he came back, he found a log laid in 
 the breach, and a forked stick, with the root down-stream, 
 planted against the beam. ' You see, sir, the bayver 
 thought it was de wAter that pushed down the dam, and 
 he put the stick that way to stop the force of it.' I have 
 no doubt this is quite true, for many of the old fellow's 
 yarns stood the test of examination : houses, dams, canals, 
 roads, trees, beaver-meat, and deer-tracks came true. 
 It was harder to swallow his yarns about deer. He spoke 
 of killing five or six at a shot with single ball. But 
 here again others told the same tale ; and it is possible 
 that a gun six feet long, loaded with three or four fingers 
 of powder, may drive a bullet through five or six bodies 
 in a large herd crowded thickly together. The deer are 
 the reindeer, better grown. In summer, they migrate 
 northwards to the barrens : wide tracts of bare ground 
 strewn with pebbles, where scarce a tree grows, and 
 
142 AN AMERICAN TRAMP. 
 
 mosquitos are not abundant. In the fall, they return 
 southwards, crossing the isthmus at Placentia, and else- 
 where. When a grand drive is organized, three lines of 
 men, armed with sealing guns, are stationed inland, 
 and the herd is startled near the shore. In running the 
 gauntlet they lose first their heads and then their lives. 
 They get huddled together in dense crowds, and the 
 sealers' guns commit sad havoc. It is a point of honour 
 to kill nothing that is not wanted, and to carry out every 
 scrap of venison. Some Englishmen who killed deer 
 wantonly, and left the meat in the forest, are still men- 
 tioned with strong disapprobation. The taint of carrion 
 drives deer from the ground, and to kill them in scores for 
 the mere love of slaughter was not a sportsmanlike act. 
 Saturday, August 20. — Drove back 60 miles to St. 
 John's ; start 6.20, stop 9.20, at half-way house. Another 
 driver came with us, and having once run a hare down 
 in winter on this road, he was wild when a poor little 
 hare appeared. He set off at full gallop, but the hare 
 left the road and vanished. The old woman at the 
 half-way house was very fat, and seemed to spend 
 most of her time in the old barrel, into which she had 
 crammed a cushion. When she rose the barrel was apt 
 to stick to her, so she had removed an extra stave ; the 
 drivers made a great row, measuring the old lady with a 
 
A BITTERN-HUNT. 143 
 
 tape. Got to Holyrood at 1, stop till 2.45. An old 
 fellow who had been out seeking for minerals here pro- 
 duced his store ; he had specimens of lead and copper- 
 ore, and one stone which he said contained minute specks 
 of gold ; he had been employed by the American com- 
 panies, and was getting gradually drunk by constant 
 drams. A tall well-grown Newfoundlander overtook 
 us here, and asked the old woman about a strange bird 
 which was sitting beside the road. She had no strange 
 bird she said. Then it must be a wild one, said the 
 new comer ; * it's sittin' dere under de trees/ Away 
 went the whole lot immediately, miner, drivers, and 
 passengers, helter-skelter down the road — the big man, 
 with his coat off, leading. Having reached * de tree,' 
 he paused and pointed to a long-necked, brownish-yel- 
 low, shambling young bittern, sitting with his head laid 
 back on his humpy shoulders, gazing out at the high 
 road. He had just walked out to see the world for the 
 first time. The ruthless coat was over him in a moment, 
 and the long sprawling green legs were speedily kicking 
 out of one end, while the sharp dagger-like beak and 
 the bright eyes peered savagely out from the collar of 
 the blue jacket. We carried him to Holyrood, and pre- 
 sented him to the queen, who was frying eggs and bacon 
 in the kitchen. The poor debutant was very shy, and 
 
144 AN AMERICAN TRAMP. 
 
 tried to hide himself anywhere and everywhere, espe- 
 cially where he ought not to go. Finally he was packed 
 into a box, with a handkerchief tied over his head to 
 keep him in, and by the time he got to the capital he 
 was a stifled corpse. 
 
 It appeared during dinner that weasels in New- 
 foundland are peculiarly wise and vicious. A man 
 who was mowing in the neighbourhood found a nest of 
 young ones, and carried them off. The man and his 
 mate had a pail of milk for their special benefit, and the 
 mate, who was wiser than his partner, noticed ' de ould 
 weasel come up to de pail and spit into it three times. 
 ' Ah,' said he, * you had better take de young ones and 
 put dem back where you found dem, or de ould one will 
 be sure to do us some hurt.' Well, de man took de 
 young weasels and put dem whar he found dem, and 
 dey went on wid dere work. When de ould one found 
 de young ones all right she came back to de pail, and 
 she never stopped till she overturned it, and spilt de 
 milk. You see she had spit into it, and she did not 
 want to hurt us since we had not hurt de young ones.' 
 
 Thereupon followed a whole cable of weasel yarns 
 of the same kind. Got to St. John's by dark, having 
 stopped at Topsail for another hour. It was a long 
 drive for a single mare, but she did it well and easily. 
 
CHAPTEK VIII. 
 
 NEWFOUNDLAND, ETC. 
 
 Sunday 21.— After church dined with a friend and 
 fellow-passenger, who is also a good sportsman, and 
 with him and a colonial magnate of like tastes walked 
 to a hill-top. Thick mist. 
 
 Monday 22.— Air 58°, water in the harbour 50°, air 
 near the hill-top 64°.— Walked to Quidi Vidi over 
 the hills. Thick mist, and a very heavy sea rolling in 
 against the cliffs. Made a sketch. Heat oppressive. 
 
 Tuesday 23.— Air 58°, St. John's Harbour 50°, air 
 near the hill-top 64°.— Walked to the top of a hill to 
 the westward beyond Quidi Vidi. Sprang some reiper, 
 and found a lot of boys and girls gathering berries. 
 Made a sketch and some rubbings, and walked home 
 again. The stench of the fish-manure in the fields was 
 portentous. People hay-making busily. These hill- 
 tops are all ice-ground, but failed to discover strias, 
 though the rock is the same as on Signal-hill. In the 
 lower grounds found marks running up-hill in the old 
 
 L 
 
146 AN AMERICAN TRAMP. 
 
 direction, or nearly. The result of all the observations 
 points to large local glaciers passing seawards from the 
 watershed. 
 
 The fish-stages at Quidi Vidi are very good speci- 
 mens of their class, and exceedingly picturesque. One 
 is perched beneath a steep hill of red sandstone, which 
 is bare enough to show the edge of every bed in it, but 
 sufficiently clad with plants to make it a decent respect- 
 able sea-cliff. The building is upon a low stage in the 
 cliff where the sea has broken the sandstone, and worn 
 the broken edges into strange clefts and dark green 
 hollows and humps. On this uneven base a scaffold of 
 rough firs makes an intricate pattern. Some few sticks 
 are upright, but the most of them lean, and have to be 
 propped and stayed, bound together and thrust apart, 
 and jammed against the broken red stone. On this 
 maze of poles of uneven length, a burnt-sienna network 
 of withered fir-branches is woven and bound, and on it 
 rest piles of fish and nets, old barrels, oars, sails, and 
 marine stores, piled in admirable confusion. At one end 
 of this edifice the fish-mansion is placed. It is of the 
 same material, and nothing but a photograph could 
 ever convey any idea of the battered collection of sticks 
 and boards and branches, which are nailed and woven into 
 the shape of a house. The floor of it may be thirty feet 
 
A FLAKE. 147 
 
 above the sea, and from it rickety stairs and ladders, 
 and stages of smaller dimensions, creep down to the 
 water. The last stage is in the sea, and is a rack of 
 poles for men to climb out of the boats. The particular 
 narrow cove in which this stage was built is open to 
 the Atlantic, and when a heavy sea comes rolling in 
 amongst the broken sandstone reefs and points, it makes 
 a wondrous din and turmoil, and lights up the picture 
 gloriously. Flakes of snow-white foam settle in the dark 
 sea-green shadows, and fly up and over the house, to settle 
 upon the red sandstone and amongst the grass. With 
 sterns almost touching the rock, and bows fast moored 
 to heavy stones and rings, morticed into the rock out- 
 side, the sharp fishing-boats struggle in the green seething 
 whirling water, which comes roaring in as if to tear the 
 boat to bits, and toss her into the fish-stage. But lon<? 
 practice has taught the men to moor their boats so that 
 no harm comes to them. They rush in and charge out, 
 rock and plunge, like living things chained in a den. 
 The figures are in keeping : wild-looking pretty Irish 
 girls clustered round a handsome dark-haired mother, 
 hang over the rail ; and a battered old Triton father 
 below ought to have webbed feet and a forked tail, if he 
 has not got them somewhere in his waterproof overalls. 
 They do not live in the stage, but they pass most of 
 
148 AN AMERICAN TRAMP. 
 
 their time about it in all the perfumes of the sea. All 
 this seen through a luminous haze, which veils every 
 near object and hides the hills, but lets the hot sunlight 
 filter and flicker through so as to make the sea and 
 the rocks glitter and shine, with bright lights and bril- 
 liant colour, makes a very pretty object of this strange 
 maze of rotten poles and slimy boards which is called a 
 flake in Newfoundland. The town of Quidi Vidi is but 
 a larger flake. It stands at the end of a long creek, into 
 which a small river brawls from a neighbouring lake. 
 Heavy rollers cannot get to the end ; they are broken 
 up to make ripples before they get so far. The rivulet 
 purls quietly into a quiet still sea-pool over a beach of 
 bones and mud. The stages are over all. Carts and 
 carriages and pedestrians move about on the beach under 
 a broad roof of fir-branches, slated with salt fish. The 
 pillars of the arcade are tall fir-trees, and they are painted 
 bright green and brown with lichens and slimy things 
 which only grow in dark corners upon wet rotten wood 
 near the sea. Through the dim twilight of this long- 
 arcade, the bright sea and the btfats and gear in the 
 pool seem to shine, and the sunlight leaks in through 
 the basket-work overhead to make sparks flicker upon 
 wet stones and fish-scales, and all the wet slimy oily 
 things that come raining down with the light through 
 
MARINE ARCHITECTURE. 149 
 
 the stage. When this queer place is seen from the road, 
 it makes a picture unlike any that is to be found in 
 Europe. The tangled confusion of lines ; the houses, 
 scaffolds, and stages ; poles, boxes, and boats; stones, sea, 
 and cliffs ; — all mingled and jumbled together in a New- 
 foundland fog, must be seen and smelt to be appreciated. 
 
 The city of St. John's is but a larger specimen of 
 this peculiar style of marine architecture. In St. John's 
 East and West there were 30,476 people in 1857. They 
 live about a larger pool of the pattern of Quidi Vidi. 
 With some notable exceptions, the houses are wood; 
 the foot-pavement is a floor of boards, and it is by no 
 means unusual to mount a house upon rollers, and 
 move it to some other street. The wharfs stretch out 
 far into the sea, and hide the beach along the whole face 
 of the town. (See Frontispiece.) 
 
 Instead of small boats, the larger port is full of large 
 ships ; on the opposite side are the large flakes on which 
 the Labrador take is finally dried. These cover many 
 acres, and it is possible to walk for some miles under 
 and over the roof, which is tiled with cod-fish in good 
 years. Planted amongst these flakes are the seal-vats, 
 into which blubber is tossed to melt into oil by natural 
 chemistry ; and from all these perfumeries a gale of 
 tangled smells sweeps over a still sea to the fair city of 
 
150 AN AMERICAN TRAMP. 
 
 St. John's. While wandering along this sea-shore, how 
 strange was the old familiar tinkle of a Spaniard's 
 guitar, and the swift ride back on the sound to the 
 orange-groves of Granada ! 
 
 Wednesday 24.— The steamer from Scotland in, but 
 sailing uncertain, so telegraphed and took the mail to 
 Halifax. Start 2.30 p.m., with a strong easterly breeze, 
 and a very heavy sea rolling in. The sea was breaking 
 heavily right across the narrows. The air was 60° in 
 the harbour, and fell to 53° on running out ; water 48° ; 
 thick fog, cold and chilly. Thus, for a distance of about 
 600 miles, the water is cold, and it carries a cold misty 
 climate wherever it goes. The cold stream was crossed 
 in the ' Europa/ and followed from Halifax to Cape Harri- 
 son. The warm stream was also crossed in the Atlantic, 
 and it was followed round the North Cape of Norway 
 some years ago. The vessel behaved well, and we 
 plunged out into the haze, leaving Newfoundland in its 
 robe of perpetual mist. It is agreed by all that this 
 has been the coldest summer on record ; it was agreed 
 by all Canadians and Englishmen that it was the hottest. 
 It really is a phenomenon to find a country of this 
 size, in such a latitude, and settled for so many years, 
 so completely unknown to those who live in it. An 
 Indian war was going on a few years ago. This year it 
 
BUMP. 151 
 
 is rumoured that a tribe of Indians have migrated from 
 the Labrador. A few of the fierce old redskins are be- 
 lieved to survive ; but no one knows anything certain 
 about the interior. It is far easier to travel in Iceland 
 and Scandinavia. One or two men have crossed on 
 foot or in boats, and they are wonderful men to the rest 
 of the people. The sea is familiar, the coast a danger, 
 and the land a myth. The old ' Avalon ' was scarcely 
 more mysterious than ' Avalon ' in misty Newfoundland. 
 
 Thursday 25. — Air 66°, water 55° — Hazy, and thick, 
 heavy rain, and muggy. Off St. Pierre Miquelen, nothing 
 worthy of note. 
 
 Friday 26— at 10 A.M.— Air 61°, water 59°.— Off 
 Sydney, Cape Breton. The difference in climate between 
 these two places is then due to the Arctic Current. A 
 small stream only gets through Belleisle, and it is mixed 
 with the warm water of the St. Lawrence. Off St. John's 
 the water was 48° : here it is 11° warmer. A tired water- 
 rail came on board and was caught. The fog still very 
 thick, but the captain sighted the lighthouse and steamed 
 ahead. At last, having run as far as he dared, he went 
 slow. Presently, without any warning, the vessel ran on a 
 rock, and bumped heavily three or four times. The 
 engines were lifted three or four inches. The captain 
 shouted 'Back her!' The mate, a Frenchman, shouted 
 
152 AN AMERICAN TKAMP. 
 
 that if he went ahead she would go over, so the captain 
 shouted ' Go ahead, full speed ! ' and we went ahead and 
 got off without damage. We were past the harbour, and 
 close to some coal-pits, where the people heard the steam 
 blowing off, but no one on board had a notion where we 
 were. The women on board behaved exceedingly well. 
 The boats were cast loose in a moment, and as the 
 weather was exceedingly fine we were in no danger ; but 
 it was a very unpleasant feeling, and if there had been 
 any sea the steamer would have left her bones there. 
 Stopped the ship, fished, and caught a whole lot of cod 
 and haddocks, which were very good for tea. 
 
 Saturday 17.— At 6 A.M., got into Sydney, and out of 
 the fog, which kindly lifted about daybreak. Coaled, 
 and sketched an Indian camp. The < Delta' in the har- 
 bour. She had been to the West Indies, and two passen- 
 gers had died on board of yellow fever. Weather fine 
 and warm, with occasional showers on shore, thick haze 
 on the sea. Ran out into the fog, and lost sight of land. 
 The captain, being nervous after his bump, ran outside 
 Scateri so far, that by noon we did not know where we 
 had got to ; so ran in for shore, sounding as we went. 
 Found land in the morning, and made our course for 
 Halifax. 
 
 The beach at Sydney is strewed with large boulders 
 
A SMASH. 153 
 
 of granite and other hard rocks, like those of Labrador 
 and Newfoundland. These are now brought from Lab- 
 rador in the coast-ice every winter. Ice formed about 
 Prince Edward's Island is easily known by its red colour, 
 due to the mud which it picks up along that shore. My 
 informant, a clever engineer employed about the coal- 
 works, has seen boulders in the bay-ice, and thinks that 
 they are frozen in along shore and floated off by the 
 tides. Amongst these are coarse conglomerates and 
 striped gneiss ; the latter like Lawrentian rocks, the for- 
 mer like Newfoundland rocks. A very short time ago 
 this ice demolished a very strong wharf. It was made 
 of pine logs nine inches through at the small end, planked 
 outside, strongly bolted, and filled in with large stones. 
 1 Clumps of ice weighing tons and tons/ were hurled 
 against this structure by the waves, and it was smashed 
 and demolished : 80 feet of it went in a single tide dur- 
 ing the storm. This is the work of ordinary shore-ice, and 
 the sandstone rocks at the water-level record it. 
 
 28th. — At sea all day in a mist. - 
 
 29th— At six a.m. made Halifax. The captain, 
 who is one of the best officers in this hard service — a 
 gallant little man, decorated with a great gold watch 
 for saving a ship in the Gulf Stream— nearly fainted 
 from sheer exhaustion and want of sleep when he got to 
 
154 AN AMERICAN TRAMP. 
 
 land. The navigation of this misty gulf and the neigh- 
 bouring wintry coast is no child's play for those on 
 whom the responsibility rests. It is much to the credit 
 of all concerned that no serious accident has happened 
 to this line of steamers during twenty years, though 
 other lines have suffered many heavy losses. Landed, 
 and sought letters and breakfast. Eeturned to the 
 ' Osprey ' after calling on friends. Ate some biscuits, and 
 at 3.30 started by rail to Truro. The watershed along this 
 route is less than 200 feet high. The land at the head 
 of the Bay of Fundy is a deep red soil, exactly like the 
 mud in the bay, and near the river it is terraced. It is 
 well cultivated, and the villages and farm-houses look 
 very flourishing. The forest contains birch, pine, spruce ; 
 and the prevailing wind is S.W. In some cuttings the 
 mud is full of large stones, and in other places are beds 
 of gravel water -worn. Ther. about 80°. The sun very 
 hot and the weather very oppressive after the cold of the 
 summer in the north. A large party of pleasure-seekers 
 slept at the same hotel, bound in various directions. 
 
 Tuesday 30. — Walked out in the morning. The 
 land is flat and well cultivated. Indian corn is in the 
 gardens. Eidges of water-worn stones rise up amongst 
 the soil ; these pebbles include granite, slate, and other 
 rocks. Ther. 75°, sun out, haze in the morning. Thus, 
 
NOVA SCOTIA. 155 
 
 directly the cold water is left, the climate and vegeta- 
 tion change. Start at 10 in a queer-looking antedilu- 
 vian stage that looked like an insane Lord Mayor's 
 coach. Met some soldiers and their wives who were on 
 board the 'Osprey,' and a Newfoundland lady; the 
 former going to London in Canada, the latter going my 
 way in my stage. Observed willow, poplar, and apple 
 trees flourishing. Passed over a salmon river which runs 
 into the Bay of Fundy. Low hills to the north. The 
 most of the soil is red, like mud in the bay ; but large 
 stones, blocks of granite, and other hard rocks, abound. 
 At Londonderry passed a rocky nice little river. Thence 
 the road rises ; the rock red sandstone, dip E. Here is a 
 mine of brown hematite. In some specimens the ore 
 hangs in stalactites, as if it had been so fused as to drip. 
 It is worked and smelted with charcoal on the spot, and 
 is very valuable. Gold-mines are worked near Halifax, 
 and are said to pay pretty well. The hills are very 
 pretty, clad with hardwood forests, including yellow 
 birch, maple, and beech, ash and oak. The lady had 
 never seen anything of the kind in her native New- 
 foundland, and exclaimed, ' Well, they do not look like 
 wild trees in the woods at all ; do they now ? they look 
 as if they had been cultivated.' But still on this road 
 sledges run till May. The watershed is 900 feet above 
 
156 AN AMERICAN TRAMP. 
 
 the sea. Oats were green in the clearings at the top. 
 The view from the inn where we changed was very fine. 
 The sea and Prince Edward's Island were in the distance ; 
 and the foreground was a wide slope of forest-land, with 
 a clearing here and there. The bright corn and flowers 
 growing amongst the black stumps, and charred trunks, 
 and zigzag fences, looked strangely foreign. The new 
 driver spoke Gaelic, and was called MacLellan. Away 
 towards Cape Breton are numerous Gaelic settlements, 
 where no English is spoken. At the last stage we 
 picked up a couple of girls, and for the rest of the way 
 we sang songs. Got to Amherst about dark. The aurora 
 was flashing to the north, and lightning gleamed as if 
 some cruiser were blazing away at sea. At Amherst 
 found the town in excitement about a concert which 
 was going on. Got some food, lay on a bench for a few 
 hours, and then started at 11.30 in another strange 
 stage — this time alone. Tried to sleep, but the bumping 
 was fearful. The isthmus at the head of the Bay of 
 Fundy is low marshy land well cultivated ; the people 
 are Gaelic, old-country folk of all kinds, and negroes. 
 As the tide on one side is the highest in the world, and 
 on the other only six feet, this seems to be a dam made by 
 ocean-currents or by a rise of land. Its removal would 
 alter the climate of Nova Scotia and New Brunswick for 
 
NEW BRUNSWICK. 157 
 
 the worse. At dawn a tribe of very large and exceed- 
 ingly vicious mosquitos awoke and attacked me ; mist 
 was hanging about in patches, creeping over the mud 
 flats of the Bay of Fundy. In the midst of green 
 meadows the masts and hulks of new and old vessels 
 rose up beside solitary trees and houses. The forests 
 are far from the sea now, and as every river is a deep 
 muddy drain V, the people build their vessels as far up 
 as they possibly can, and launch them in these creeks. 
 Glacial boulders abound on the hills, prevailing wind 
 S.W. according to trees. Got to Monkton, a large 
 town on a big river of red mud, houses and ships mixed 
 in the strangest manner. Got some breakfast in a cloud 
 of flies, and got into the train for St. John. 
 
 Distances. 
 
 Halifax to Truro — rail . . . 60 miles. 
 
 Truro to Amherst — coach ) f 66 „ 
 
 Amherst to Monkton, 9 a.m. — coach J ( 42 „ 
 
 Monkton to St. John . . . (?) 110 „ 
 
 Total ... 27 
 
 Up to a height of 270 feet the stones along this road 
 are chiefly red sandstone. In mud near Monkton, and 
 low down everywhere are large blocks of granite. These 
 are foreigners, and probably came over the isthmus. 
 The rail has very few cuttings. In one of these red 
 
158 AN AMERICAN TRAMP. 
 
 sandstone appears, and it seemed to be ground from 
 N.E. to S.W., parallel to the course of the railway. 
 Farther on striae are very clearly seen in a valley 
 through which the line passes. The hills on each side 
 maybe from 800 to 1000 feet high. Moraine stuff and 
 drift abound ; the valley has terraced sides, the rocks 
 everywhere seem to be conglomerates and sandstones, 
 the drift granites and hard primitive rocks. Arrived at 
 St. John's at 1.30 p.m. ; went to the Waverley Hotel and 
 dined. Found strise in the town pointing up into the 
 glen whence I had just come, direction N. 15° E. true. 
 So this hunt has proved successful thus far. 
 
CHAPTEK IX. 
 
 NEW BRUNSWICK. 
 
 As shown above (p. 107), lines worn by ice upon rocks 
 awash in the Straits of Belleisle point from KE. to 
 S.W., and coincide with the run of the Arctic Current, 
 which there enters the Gulf of St. Lawrence through a 
 channel 250 feet deep, and 10 miles wide at the nar- 
 rowest place. A depression of 250 feet about lat. 
 46°, long. 64°, would sink the Shediac and St. John 
 Eailway line, and make a sea-strait equal in depth 
 to that of Belleisle, which is only six degrees further 
 north. According to theory, the current which is 
 shunted in the Gulf of St. Lawrence would flow on 
 south-west, through the Bay of Fundy, if the way 
 were open ; and would carry bergs as far south as it 
 now does. According to the chart of 'Dangers in 
 the Atlantic/ heavy drift abounds about lat. 46°, be- 
 tween long. 45° and 50°, and there it moves from N.E. 
 to S.W. At St. John, New Brunswick, the ice-spoor is 
 perfectly fresh. The grooves are as sharp as mouldings 
 
160 AN AMERICAN TRAMP. 
 
 newly chiselled on a pillar by a sculptor, and the direc- 
 tion is from N. 25° E. to S. 25° W. at the Suspension 
 Bridge. There is no apparent source for a local glacier ; 
 the great polar glacier ought to have moved from north 
 to south ; near the same latitude in Nova Scotia, ice 
 moved over the hills from N.W. to S.E., as shown above 
 (p. 46). The only known engine left to account for these 
 various marks is the current which was seen at work on 
 'the Labrador/ Thermometer about 75° most of the 
 day. So went to bed considerably tired with heat and 
 dust and want of sleep. 
 
 Thursday, Sept. 1. — The next step in spooring sys- 
 tematically was to cross the ice-track near the same 
 latitude, and seek it on the highest grounds. The chum, 
 who was left lamenting at Euston Square on the 9th of 
 July, was rejoicing in a telegraph at Fredericton ; so to 
 Fredericton ' I had to go,' as the Yankee phrase is. 
 
 The day was very fine and bright, the temperature 
 about 68°. The steamer was neat and clean, and fast, 
 and the contrast in travelling very marked and very 
 pleasant. Having scrambled up several ladders through 
 various well-found cabins, I got to the highest deck and 
 foremost place; looked out for a shady corner, where 
 the coolest wind would blow the strongest, lit a pipe, pulled 
 out a telescope, and prepared to enjoy myself on the 
 
RIVER ST. JOHN, N.B. 161 
 
 river St. John like a civilised traveller, for once in a 
 way. 
 
 The river and the country about it are exceedingly 
 like the Christiania Fjord in Norway ; the hills are not 
 so high, but they are of the same figure, and clothed 
 in the same dress. The strata are nearly vertical. The 
 whole country is glaciated and terraced. The river is a 
 chain of branching brackish lakes, in which a tide of forty 
 feet ebbs and flows. The area of this fjord is enormous, 
 and the passage through which the water enters is nar- 
 rower than the Menai Strait. The neck of this big 
 bottle can only be passed in safety when the sea-level 
 outside nearly coincides with the mean level of the 
 branching fjord within. So long as the tide-level is 
 above or below the mean, water falls in, or out at the 
 narrows, and then makes a rapid like that which falls 
 past Connal Ferry, near Dunstaffnage Castle, in Loch 
 Etive, in Argyle. The river-steamers therefore set out 
 from a point above < the falls/ The tidal wave is felt 
 at Fredericton, distant sixty miles as the crow flies. 
 In following this sea-way the steamer passes through 
 a gap in a series of parallel ridges, whose gene- 
 ral trend is from N.E. to S.W. ; and till these low 
 hills are passed, the banks are picturesque. Beyond 
 this barrier of hills, the banks are low, flat, rich, and 
 
 M 
 
102 
 
 AN AMERICAN TRAMP. 
 
 uninteresting ; the river narrows, and it winds about 
 through plains of drift. The shape of this country is 
 then a repetition of Newfoundland and Nova Scotia. 
 The eastern coast is guarded by ramparts of folded 
 crumpled beds of stratified rocks, with long grooves and 
 ridges running from N.E. to S.W. on the strike, and 
 with occasional passes crossing the folds at right angles. 
 Through one such breacli the tide ebbs and flows at St. 
 John's in Newfoundland ; a second is at Halifax in Nova 
 Scotia ; a third is the neck of the bottle which holds the 
 river St. John. The north-east and south-west grooves 
 hold large open bays in Newfoundland, the Bay of Fundy, 
 and endless sea-lochs, lakes, and glens further south. 
 
 Having made out the shape of the country so far, 
 and having exchanged apples, sketch-books, and other 
 civilities, with a gentleman in a buggy on deck, retired 
 to fraternize with an Indian. He was a good sample 
 of a wild man, and this is what I got out of him : — 
 
 A TRAVELLER'S PHONETIC VOCABULARY. 
 
 1. Neckht 
 
 2. Tabo 
 
 3. Sist 
 
 4. Naown 
 
 5. Nan 
 
 6. Gainachtshin 
 
 7. Loeganek 
 
 8. Ogamuchtshin 
 
 9. Escunadec 
 
 100. Gudaclit 
 
 10. Tleft 
 
 20. A r eshens 
 
 30. Tsinsk 
 
 40. JVaoinsk 
 
 50. iVamnsk 
 
 60. Gamachtshin ga sinsk 
 
 70. Loeganelc ga sinsk 
 
 11. Udanko 
 
 12. Nisanko 
 
 13. /wsanko 
 
 14. Nao&nko 
 
 15. Ndnsmko 
 
 16. Gamachtshin&nko 
 
 17. Loeganek&nko 
 
 80. Ogamuch /shin ga sinsk 18. Ogamuchtshin ge sanko 
 90. Escunadec ga sinsk • 19. Escunadec ge sanko 
 1000. Gudankskuacht. 
 
TOUGH WORDS. 
 
 163 
 
 These numerals, except Tien, cannot be borrowed 
 from Europeans, and they are on a system which is 
 capable of extension in any direction. It is as easy to 
 make 9000 as to make 9 and 10— say 19. 
 
 Good . 
 
 . Gloetz . . . . 
 
 , A chuckling guttural, 
 J like gulping good 
 ( liquor. 
 
 Bad . 
 
 . Matjegen .... 
 
 / A set of rattling den- 
 < tals, like shutting 
 v the ivory doors. 
 Weeops . . Meat. 
 
 Give me 
 
 Meelee .... 
 
 » 
 
 J) .... 
 
 Nemess . . Fish. 
 
 » 
 
 » .... 
 
 Squit . . Fire. 
 
 » 
 
 V .... 
 
 Geooxukle Wood. 
 
 Sun . 
 
 JJ .... 
 
 Gesochks. 
 
 Samaguan . Water. 
 
 Moon . 
 
 Nebouksetgesochkr. 
 
 
 Man . . 
 
 Skedap. 
 
 
 Woman . 
 
 Ehpit. 
 
 
 Girl. . . 
 
 Spilsquaseasig. 
 
 
 Expecting to see more of the instructor, no more 
 words were learned ; but with this to start upon, a 
 traveller need not starve amongst these Indians. 
 
 It is evident from this one short lesson that this 
 language is unlike Gaelic and Lapp. The Escuarra or 
 Basque has some points of resemblance in sound and 
 
164 AN AMERICAN TRAMP. 
 
 rhythm, and these black-haired dark-visaged mortals are 
 not unlike some of the Basques who live in the Pyrenees 
 over the water. 
 
 Found my chum waiting for me at Fredericton. 
 
 Friday, Sept. 2. — Thermometer 62°. Gray cloudy 
 weather. Paid my respects to two bears, one beaver, a 
 coon, and some flying and ground squirrels, who live 
 happily in a garden. The bears eat chokecherries when 
 they can get them, and prowl round trees describing- 
 circles with their neck-chains. They are apt to howl 
 and groan lugubriously ; they sit up on their sterns and 
 beg like well-trained dogs, and make hideous mouths to 
 attract notice and gain the sour fruit which is out of their 
 reach. The beaver devotes his talents to nibbling 
 tunnels through his house, and he too sits up and eats 
 carrots out of his clasped fore-paws with gravity and 
 decorum worthy of a great engineer ; and when he has 
 settled any bit of new work about his tub, he gives it a 
 finishing flap with his trowel-tail, like a great freemason 
 who taps the foundation-stone which he has been 
 summoned to lay in state. The coon looks like a foolish 
 fox, and is an idiot. The squirrels are the frisky 
 matrons and dancing damsels of the society, for they 
 frisk and dance in their cages all night, and sleep all day 
 in cotton wool. 
 
SPRING HILL, FREDERICTON. 165 
 
 After breakfast drove up the river, and up to a hill- 
 top scratch-hunting. The whole of the low grounds 
 near the river are thickly strewn with drift. Amongst 
 the stones were various kinds of greenstone and granite 
 in blocks three feet through, polished and grooved. 
 These were of the same size and pattern as blocks on 
 the shores to the north. There were also large masses of 
 conglomerate and great cubical blocks of sandstone as 
 big as a cottage ; one, by no means the largest seen, 
 was more than ten feet square. Amongst these were 
 large rounded boulders like the fixed rocks of Labrador : 
 quartz, and granite with broken fragments of other rock 
 enclosed. It would be too much to assert that these 
 stones came from Labrador and Newfoundland, but they 
 may have been carried thence. 
 
 On the top of the hill the rock is thinly covered 
 with earth and laid bare in newly-cleared fields. The 
 ice-spoor was plain at spots, and the grooves aimed N. 
 35° W., at a height of about 300 feet above the sea. 
 In that direction no higher ground was visible. 
 
 Laid down on a map the line passes near Lake 
 Temiscouata, distant more than 140 miles as the crow 
 flies. It leads directly into the pass through which a 
 railway will some day join the Grand Trunk on the St. 
 Lawrence, at Riviere du Loup ; and beyond the St. 
 
166 AN AMERICAN TRAMP. 
 
 Lawrence, the line passes close to the deep groove 
 which holds the Saguenay. Spring Hill at Fredericton 
 is composed of contorted beds of sandstone-grit, ground 
 into the form of roches moutonnees. On the top near 
 the striae, at about 300 feet above the sea, are large 
 boulders of horsetooth-granite, pink and gray granite, 
 quartz and other crystalline rocks, which are said to 
 occur in situ amongst the Tobique Mountains. These 
 rise to a height of 2000 to 5000 feet, and are distant 
 more than 100 miles. If these marks were made by a 
 glacier it was a big one, and it may have come out of 
 the Saguenay groove. 
 
 Laid down on a map, together with lines found at 
 St. Johns and Halifax, these high grooves seem rather 
 to indicate the windings of a broad ocean-current flow- 
 ing into the St. Lawrence groove, and bursting out 
 through breaks in the edge of the trough in a south- 
 easterly direction. In any case, grooves in this district 
 cross each other at right angles, and on this hill-top 
 small cross systems occur within a few yards. 
 
 Having finished this hunt and sacked the game — to 
 wit, a rubbing taken from the rock — we drove back and 
 launched a birch-bark canoe on the river. A great 
 many years ago a friend sent one of these primitive arks 
 to a Scotch boy, but he was never allowed to enter it. 
 
INDIANS. 167 
 
 The Dumbarton youth now embarked for the first time, 
 and with another unskilled hand to help him felt very like 
 a cat in a washing-tub. But patience and perseverance 
 had their reward, and the river was crossed by elegant 
 sweeping curves. We run aground frequently, and had 
 the cramp in our legs most of the way, but we got to 
 the Indian village at last. The men were working 
 silently at various jobs. Canoe-building, carpentry, 
 and basket-making, were their chief employments. The 
 women were making pretty delicate nick-knacks of 
 shavings and embroidery. The work, and some of the 
 workwomen, were very pretty ; they are broader, and 
 cast in a larger mould than Lapps. Tried the vocabu- 
 lary, found it act, added a few words, and acquired a 
 basket which could not possibly travel without the pro- 
 tection of a strong box. The cost was Neckhtshilling- 
 andgamachtshinpence, and it was left behind for lack of 
 luggage to stow it in. 
 
 It was very aggravating to see a girl stand upright in 
 her canoe, and shoot straight over the wide river, while 
 we punted, splashed, panted, and whirled about in vain 
 efforts to show off. In course of time the slow boat got 
 safe back; it was lifted tenderly, carried up the bank, 
 and laid bottom upwards on a shelf, and then the rowers 
 rolled on the grass and watched the sunset. As the light 
 
168 AN AMERICAN TRAMP. 
 
 faded away, the hills turned orange and darkened to 
 purple ; a fleet of gray clouds, hard and sharp as real 
 ships, anchored themselves in a cold yellow sky, and 
 black boats and dark canoes shot over a stream of orange 
 and gold, leaving trails of light behind them. Tempted 
 by the stillness and twilight, a bevy of nymphs com- 
 pleted the Claude landscape by bathing as nymphs used 
 to bathe. When the twilight and the nymphs were gone, 
 the northern aurora broke out of the cold northern sky 
 like a fiery fountain, and the Great Bear waded through 
 the pale light of the * merry dancers.' 
 
 This river, which nearly corresponds in latitude to 
 the Garonne in France, is obstructed by ice during five 
 months of the year. The whole fjord is sometimes 
 frozen, so that sledges drive on it from the hills to St. 
 John. When the ice ' goes/ there is wild work on the 
 banks. 
 
 The following description by an eyewitness of the 
 breaking up of a river in Hudson's Bay, agrees with the 
 New Brunswicker's account of their southern spring : — 
 ' On the 12th of May, Hayes river, which had been 
 covered for nearly eight months with a coat of ice up- 
 wards of six feet thick, gave way before the floods occa- 
 sioned by the melting snow ; and all the inmates of the 
 fort rushed out to the banks upon hearing the news that 
 
THE RIVER ' GOING.' 169 
 
 the river was ' going.' On reaching the gate the sub- 
 limity of the spectacle that met our gaze can scarcely 
 be imagined. The noble river, here nearly two miles 
 broad, was entirely covered with huge blocks and jagged 
 lumps of ice, rolling and dashing against each other in 
 chaotic confusion, as the swelling floods heaved them up, 
 and swept them with irresistible force towards Hudson's 
 Bay. In one place, where the masses were too closely 
 packed to admit of violent collision, they ground against 
 each other with a slow but powerful motion that curled 
 their hard edges up like paper, till the smaller lumps, 
 unable to bear the pressure, were ground to powder, and 
 with a loud crash the rest hurried on to renew the 
 struggle elsewhere ; while the ice above, whirling swiftly 
 round in the clear space thus found, as if delighted at 
 its sudden release, hurried onwards. In another place, 
 where it was not so closely packed, a huge lump sud- 
 denly grounded on a shallow ; and in a moment the 
 rolling masses which were hurrying towards the sea with 
 the velocity of a cataract were precipitated on it with a 
 noise like thunder, and the tremendous pressure from 
 above, forcing block upon block with a loud hissing noise, 
 raised as if by magic an icy castle in the air, which ere 
 its pinnacles had pointed for a second to the sky, fell "' 
 
170 AN AMEKICAM TRAMP. 
 
 with stunning violence into the boiling flood from whence 
 it rose/ 
 
 In this description nothing is said of the work done 
 by this ice-engine ; but after the flood, islands in mid- 
 stream were covered to a height of twenty feet with 
 huge masses of ice, forced up-hill by the stream, and the 
 banks were strewn thickly with similar heaps. 
 
 Eiver-ice carries stones into Hudson's Bay, and into 
 the Bay of Fundy. The Arctic Current carries floats 
 down the coast of Labrador. Perhaps the stone which the 
 river St. John now digs out of its own clay banks was 
 first dug from a hill near the river Hayes ; and carried 
 thence through the Straits of Belleisle, over New Bruns- 
 wick, to the governor's garden at Fredericton. 
 
 Saturday, Sept 3. — A great deal of information about 
 this colony may be gleaned from two recent books. One 
 is a small handbook, written by M. H. Perley, H. M. 
 Emigration Officer at St. John, N. B., and published by 
 Edward Stanford, Charing Cross, London, in 1857 ; the 
 other was written by the Hon. Arthur Gordon, the pre- 
 sent governor. Both are well acquainted with the 
 wilds ; and the first quotes Professor Johnston, the well- 
 known writer on agricultural subjects, who was em- 
 
 * Everyday Life in the Woods of North America, etc. By 
 Robert Ballantyne. Blackwood, 1848. P. 168. 
 
NEW BRUNSWICK. 171 
 
 ployed by Government in 1849 to inspect and report. 
 The professor was struck with the resemblance to Scan- 
 dinavia, which is sufficiently remarkable ; but he also 
 points out that many parts of the interior are admirably 
 fitted for husbandry. The country is well wooded and 
 watered ; accessible by great rivers and by good roads : 
 it is rapidly improving ; and when railways join it to 
 Nova Scotia and Canada, many of the evils of winter 
 will be overcome. At present, each colony is shut up 
 and isolated by ice. The St. Lawrence is closed in 
 winter ; but the sea-way is open at Halifax and St. 
 John, N. B. There is much sea-fog on the shores of 
 the Bay of Fundy during the summer, far less a few 
 miles inland. 
 
 Temperature has ranged at — 
 
 Max. Min. Range. 
 
 St. John, Bay of Fundy, coast . . 88° -18° = 106°. 
 
 Richibucto, Gulf of St. Lawrence, coast 90° -20° = 110°. 
 
 Fredericton, interior . . . 95° -24° = 119°. 
 
 Nine inches of damp English snow, when melted, pro- 
 duce one inch of water ; it takes seventeen inches of 
 cold dry New Brunswick snow to produce the same 
 amount. The climate here in the latitude of southern 
 France is excessive. While the sun is high, and warms 
 the land, the summer heats equal those which ripen good 
 
1*72 AN AMERICAN TRAMP. 
 
 claret; when the sun is low, the cold breath of 'the 
 Labrador,' which is always felt at sea, chills the land, 
 covers it with a thick white pall, and seals the rivers. 
 But the Bay of Fundy acts like warm water in a hot- 
 house, by storing part of the summer's heat for winter 
 use. The water is not chilled by a northern current, as 
 water is in the Gulf of St. Lawrence, and some of it 
 comes from the Gulf Stream. The effect of this climate on 
 forest vegetation is to produce flourishing pines, birches, 
 and beeches, but stunted oaks, — trees which, in Den- 
 mark, were associated with the stone, bronze, and iron 
 periods of ancient human art. Pines predominate in 
 New Brunswick now, and are associated with the rudest 
 human implements in Danish peat. The ancient climate 
 of the Danish stone period is therefore carried south to 
 latitudes in which reindeer lived in ancient France. It is 
 a healthy enjoyable climate — one to favour hunting and 
 fishing, and life in the open air. Natives and settlers, 
 governed, governor, and guests, civilians and soldiers, 
 savages and civilised, run wild and live in the woods 
 every year. 
 
 If the Arctic Current which chills Newfoundland 
 got through the isthmus, the climate here would suffer. 
 It is proved by a profusion of recent marine shells and 
 plants buried in level tracts, at many places in the 
 
BURNING WEEDS. 173 
 
 colony, that it was submerged ; but to what depth is not 
 ascertained. A very slight depression, sufficient to sink 
 the shells, would convert New Brunswick into an archi- 
 pelago of long rocky islands, and join the St. Lawrence 
 to the Bay of Fundy in the deep lake of Temiscouata, 
 whose upper end is 18 miles from the St. Lawrence, and 
 317 from St. John. The shells prove that the land was 
 an archipelago, and ice-marks indicate a glacial period, 
 like that of the present sea on the banks of Newfound- 
 land. 
 
 For statistics, solid information, and amusement, the 
 books above mentioned should be read. 
 
 Started at 9. Thermometer 65°. Barometer very 
 high, and weather delicious. With nothing to sketch, 
 and little to do, a good steamer to do it in, a good book, 
 and a good dinner, this is an idler's paradise. Watched 
 the first step in colonial farming, which consists in burn- 
 ing weeds enough to pay for the land, if the timber were 
 in England and the land here. Surely this * wilful 
 waste,' which makes ' woeful want,' according to pro- 
 verbial philosophy, might be avoided on the banks of a 
 river which leads to a great ship-building town. In 
 every direction were vast clouds of rolling smoke, each 
 the funeral-pall of a forest ; and near at hand the red 
 
174 
 
 AN AMERICAN TRAMP. 
 
 flames could be seen and heard, as they roared and 
 crackled about their prey. 
 
 Arrived at St. John ; drove to the Suspension 
 Bridge and watched the ebb and flood contending in 
 the narrows. The great broad whirling rapid gradually 
 slackened as the tide rose to meet it, and ships and 
 boats began to creep under the bridge till the stream 
 turned and the rapid flowed rapidly in. The bridge is 
 70 feet above high- water mark, 100 above low- water, 
 and 600 feet long ; the piers rest upon cliffs. 
 
 At this spot, if anywhere in the world, river-ice Ought 
 to produce striation. The whole drainage of a wide 
 basin, and one of the strongest tides in the world, here 
 works continually in one rock-groove, and in winter this 
 water-power is armed with heavy ice. There are no 
 strise about the water-line. The sides of the trench are 
 shattered cliffs, with fresh fractures at many parts. Up 
 to a height of 50 feet the limestone surface, where it 
 has been long exposed to the air, is weathered as usual, 
 and worn into pits and hollows. But on the top of 
 the cliff, at a spot where a bed of drift-clay was removed 
 in making a foundation for one of the piers of the 
 bridge, the old surface of glacial denudation is perfectly 
 fresh. The grooves point K 27° E., true. The force which 
 produced the movement crossed the present run of the 
 
A COASTING STEAMER. 175 
 
 tide iii the broken trencli below. It follows that the 
 narrows were lately broken through an old ridge of 
 glaciated rock, and that heavy ice moved from KE. to 
 S.W., 70 feet above the present high-water mark of the 
 river St. John. The direction coincides with that of 
 the Belleisle stream. If not the spoor of a polar current 
 this must be the spoor of a polar glacier. Nothing like 
 it is now produced at the sea-margins visited further 
 north, the sea-bottoms are out of reach, so ample room is 
 left for a glacial controversy. 
 
 Sunday 4. — Returned to the bridge and watched 
 the tide, smoked and loafed about, went to church, and 
 smoked and loafed again, visited friends who had shown 
 hospitality to strangers, and finally went to bed. 
 
CHAPTEE X. 
 
 THE STATES. 
 
 Monday 5. — Embarked for the first time in a Yankee 
 steamer. The general outward semblance of the vessel 
 was that of the Noah's Arks which delight English chil- 
 dren ; and the contents were as numerous and various. 
 All the stewards and stewardesses were ' free coloured 
 citizens of the United States/ and they were of every 
 shade, from yellow ochre to burnt-umber and ivory 
 black. They all spoke remarkably good English with 
 little accent, and the head cooks and commanders were 
 infinitely better dressed than some of the swell passen- 
 gers. Of these, a motley crew, all anxious for state- 
 rooms, crowded round a window where the captain dis- 
 pensed keys. Having procured a key through the kind- 
 ness of an American gentleman, we took possession. 
 The room was the very natiest clean white wooden box 
 into which a traveller ever was packed. The berths 
 were broad and high ; the beds of the very best ; the 
 sheets snowy white, and tucked in with consummate 
 art and neatness. 
 
MAINE LIQUOR LAW. 177 
 
 Of these neat double boxes there were more than a 
 hundred, ranged along a saloon as white and clean as the 
 rest of the ship, and fitted with sofas, stoves, tables, 
 plate, and a piano. The engine-room positively shone 
 with the polish of oil and elbow-grease. The inside of 
 the ship looked like a new ivory toy with ebony dolls in 
 it. When feeding time came we walked down stairs 
 like gentlemen, instead of < tumbling down the com- 
 panion' like sailors. We got to the third storey under 
 water, and found a bigger saloon with three tiers of lofty 
 berths curtained off at the sides. It was lighted with 
 lamps, and a well-found table would have groaned 
 under the load, if it had not been too well made to 
 creak, and too well bred to turn. Here was no watching 
 for the beam overhead, no diving for salt pork and 
 biscuit. We walked in with the upright carriage of 
 free men, and sat down to table like enlightened citizens. 
 A sable youth, like a Eubens' nigger, presented a spark- 
 ling goblet of pure water with a little iceberg in it, and 
 then we dined. We did not bolt our food, we dined 
 ' longuement, largement, et copieusement,' as the French 
 epicure did. No strong liquors were sold on board, but 
 those who cared for them carried a supply. One gentle- 
 man who had forgotten to bring a store, landed at the 
 first port in Maine, and returned triumphant with a fat 
 
 N 
 
178 AN AMERICAN TRAMP. 
 
 glass flask. Like a well-conditioned traveller, lie offered 
 to share the contents with his friends and neighbours. 
 Some declined ; others accepted ; and having filled their 
 glasses, proceeded to sip the illegal nectar. But as they 
 sipped, their mouths began to tell a tale of woe, and ere 
 long their tongues began to utter it aloud. ' The darned 
 old cuss of a pothicary had sold five dollars' worth of 
 doctor's stuff for Hollands/ so after one more sip it 
 went overboard, followed by expletives. 
 
 The most of the passengers drank iced water, and 
 were content, as they might well be with such cool 
 sparkling drink. Amongst our crew were a lot of block- 
 ade runners ; men who talked openly of their exploits. 
 One who looked very like an ill-dressed stage sailor 
 talked loudly, chewed, ' turned his quid/ ' hitched his 
 trousers,' and did the whole business to such perfection 
 that he seemed a sham. He was an Englishman, and it 
 is just possible that he was a crimp, or some other pre- 
 daceous fish in disguise. He was always asking ques- 
 tions, scraping acquaintance, and getting up political and 
 other discussions. 
 
 * Such a crowd as we were on board that ship, I 
 never did see ; all old man-o -war's-men, darned if we 
 wouldn't have robbed a temple and eat the plunder/ So 
 said the sailor. 
 
EASTPOETERS. 179 
 
 With such queer comrades time passed merrily. The 
 day was very fine and calm, the sea like glass, and 
 stained with drifting Gulf-weed here and there. The 
 Gulf Stream does eddy into the mouth of the Bay of 
 Fundy occasionally as it appears. The coast was in sight 
 all day. It was low and forest-clad, extremely like the 
 Swedish coast of the Gulf of Bothnia. Boats loaded with 
 fish to the gunwale passed close to us, and in the distance, 
 canoes under sail with an Indian crew, were made out 
 with the telescope. It was hard to believe that we were 
 near the latitude of Bayonne. At Eastport, in Maine, 
 the steamer stopped and kept her time to a moment. 
 Landed, and doffed my cap to Uncle Sam, having planted 
 my foot on his territories for the first time. 
 
 Went scratch-hunting with a clever Yankee engineer 
 first met with at Cape Breton. The rocks are sandstone 
 with veins of ironstone. The whole country is glaciated ; 
 the hills are about 200 feet high near the town, and from 
 the highest point no hill more than 500 feet high could 
 be seen in any direction. StriaB were found on rocks in 
 the town, and near it; the direction K 55° W. true. 
 Laid down on a map this line aims at the common water- 
 shed of a lot of rivers, and so favours the glacier theory, 
 but it also passes near a gap in the hills which may 
 have been a sea-stfait. 
 
180 AN AMERICAN TRAMP. 
 
 The hunt ended, we turned to the place and people. 
 It is a clean, flourishing seaport town, with captured 
 blockade-runners, and battered, rusty ships, who hunt such 
 game anchored in the offing. Could not help surmising 
 that the ' blockade-runners' on board had been to Halifax 
 to pick up a trail. Such things are done in hunting. 
 
 The number of maimed men in the streets savoured 
 of war. Many strong young chaps, short of limbs, were 
 walking or hopping about on crutches. With this ex- 
 ception there appeared to be no marked feature in the 
 Yankee population. All the names on the shops were 
 familiar old-country names, the faces were familiar faces, 
 the accent very like neighbouring accents. If these 
 Eastporters were poured into Scotland or Ireland, or 
 Nova Scotia, or New Brunswick, and well stirred up 
 with the people, it would be as difficult to separate the 
 mixture, as to get hops out of beer, or doctor's stuff out 
 of Hollands. They do talk through their noses, and reckon 
 and guess more than other people, and as they chew so, 
 they spit continuously ; but these slight peculiarities 
 would have passed unnoticed if they had not been dinned 
 into these ears. The maimed men attracted notice as a 
 new feature in society. 
 
 The steamer kept time to a moment, and set off for 
 Portland. The sunset was magnificent. The clouds, sea, 
 
PORTLAND. 181 
 
 and hills were dark purple, and a wedge of orange and 
 yellow fire blazed behind the hills. While striving to 
 find some colour bright enough to imitate the darkest 
 light in the sky, a voice behind observed : ' I saw that 
 behind an iceberg this year.' 
 
 The answer was ready : ' So did I.' ' Where V 
 ' In the Labrador/ ' Were you there V ' Yes.' ' So 
 was I. 1 ' You don't say so?' ' Yes, Sir.' 
 
 And so we fraternised. The other Labradorite was 
 a Bostonian, one of the yacht crew who had passed 
 Cape Harrison to go north. Tempted by a flaming 
 bogus advertisement of all that was to be shot, and seen, 
 and got, and learned in the Labrador, they started with 
 an artist, in a fore-and-after, and rued the day. They 
 shot nothing, got nothing, saw nothing worthy of note ; 
 fed ill, slept worse, and cursed their captain. They 
 were blocked in ice, battered by storm, tossed by waves, 
 forced to work the ship themselves, and generally they 
 had a ' very bad time in the Labrador/ 
 
 They were smart, active, good-looking fellows, in 
 shooting-coats of English cut. It proves our common 
 origin and taciturnity, that we have been meeting at 
 table for the last few days, and that neither suspected 
 the other till the spark of fire from the western sky 
 loosed the English tongues, and set them wagging. 
 
182 AN AMERICAN TRAMP. 
 
 Thursday, Sept. 6. — The sunrise was if possible liner 
 than the sunset. Stirred up by attentive niggers with 
 loud bells, we rolled off our luxurious shelves after a 
 few hours of rest; we dressed comfortably, walked 
 through the drawing-room, and out on to the balcony of 
 our floating house. There was nothing like a common 
 European ship about it. Inside, the unfortunates who 
 had not found shelves for themselves were perched on 
 chairs and sofas, blinking drearily at the fires. They 
 looked like people watching for the morning train at a 
 station, or London sparrows watching for crumbs in a 
 frost. Outside, sea and sky blazed with fires brighter 
 than any of human contrivance. We were gliding 
 swiftly over a calm sea of glass and fire, through a crowd 
 of coloured ships to a city of purple and gold. The first 
 step on the first foreign shore is never forgotten. Each 
 following stride in a march over the world leaves a fainter 
 trace ; but the first step in any new country leaves the 
 deepest footprint in each separate tramp. 
 
 The picture of Portland is hung up beside a picture of 
 Vigo, which, though painted long ago, is still fresh. In 
 one picture are crowded wharfs, a glassy sea, a bright sun, 
 mantillas, black eyes, donkeys, green fruit, old battered 
 picturesque houses, old trees, old churches, old dirty 
 delightful pavements and rocks, creaking carts of ante- 
 
STREET LOCOMOTIVES. 183 
 
 diluvian shape, black priests with shovel hats, breviaries, 
 fans, cigars, and sundries. In the most conspicuous 
 place there stands a postillion in yellow leather gaiters, 
 tight breeks, and a short jacket, on the back of which a 
 red cloth flower-pot, with embroidered flowers, blooms 
 luxuriantly. Near him is a diligence, a triple two-storied 
 edifice on yellow wheels drawn by some ten or a dozen 
 mules ; and the diligence drags out another mental pano- 
 rama, which rolls out till it stretches over Spain. The 
 Portland picture is a contrast. The sun and sky are as 
 hot and bright, but there is an end of the resemblance. 
 On the pier stand a crowd who might be Britishers, 
 many are in fact Irish ; there is nothing strange about 
 them. A custom-house officer of the common domestic 
 breed, civil and polite, chalks the luggage ; it is handed to 
 a bus-man, who put it on the top of big bus, and off we 
 drive into a new town, with new rectangular streets, new 
 houses, churches, and trees, no hills, few rocks, no pictur- 
 esque slovenly taterdemalions. But with everything 
 span new, nothing is new to the old-country traveller at 
 first. 
 
 In the most conspicuous corner there stands a one- 
 legged man, and he is a new feature, happily. The 
 bus lumbers up the street, and bumps over new-laid 
 rails ; they are new features too. The old horse-carri- 
 
184 AN AMERICAN TRAMP. 
 
 age goes jolting on, and meets the newest feature of all. 
 It is a live locomotive of large proportions with a long 
 tail of cars. Puffing, roaring, screaming, rattling, and 
 ringing a thing like a small cathedral bell, the fiery 
 monster toddles slowly up the middle of the street 
 amongst the other passengers, quite tame and harmless. 
 
 As all Spanish mental pictures contain old slow 
 picturesque things like those which were seen at Vigo, 
 so tame locomotives walking about streets amongst new 
 houses, maimed men, and new rapid unpicturesque 
 flourishing people and things, characterise new mental 
 pictures of Yankee-dooledom painted in 1864. 
 
 The bus landed the human freight at a new hotel, 
 and the bus-man demanded a certain number of cents. 
 The Britishers had no paper cents, but they had some 
 silver coin, and the driver kindly proposed to take his 
 fare in silver. An old hand who had paid his way 
 through Austria, and read the papers, was not to be done 
 in this fashion ; but the driver would give no change, and 
 the clerk of the hotel was in bed. A fellow-passenger, 
 scandalized at this " sticking/' paid the fare, and could 
 hardly be persuaded to accept repayment. The old 
 virtue of hospitality has not become extinct in the new 
 land. To avoid this bother, changed some English gold 
 and got 1186 cents for 20 shillings. At this rate a 
 
POPULAR POLITICAL ECONOMY. 185 
 
 dollar is worth less than two shillings, and the result is 
 highly advantageous to the owners of English gold. ' It 
 is an ill wind that blows nobody good,' and English 
 travellers profit by the war, if no other class do. Prices 
 have not risen in proportion to the fall of paper ; hotel- 
 bills and railway-fares are paid in paper, and a man lives 
 at the best hotels for seven or eight shillings a day. 
 
 Having settled these preliminaries, went in search of 
 something old, and found it. Close to the landing-place 
 a likely rock was marked down, and on closer inspec- 
 tion the ice-spoor was found upon it. The old surface 
 had been newly exposed in making a quarry, or in digging 
 the foundation of a new house. Above it, where it 
 passed underground, was a layer of rolled gravel and 
 gray sandy clay, stratified and water-washed. Large 
 blocks of stone were scattered about, which had been 
 moved from the gravel ; nearly all of these were finely 
 polished, and striated along the longest axis. These in- 
 cluded granite, dark limestone, and many other hard 
 rocks. 
 
 The direction of movement at the spots examined, 
 was from N. 14° W., and N. 28° W. The White 
 Mountains bear N. 57° W., distant 90 miles. The 
 striated surface is fine enough to make good rubbings 
 with paper and heel-ball. The rock is a crystalline lime- 
 
186 AN AMERICAN TRAMP. 
 
 stone in beds nearly vertical. According to Dana's 
 map, the age is unknown ; according to Professor 
 Eogers of Boston, and Keith Johnston's atlas, the 
 rocks are ' metamorphic,' somewhere about the Lower 
 Devonian. No fossils were found. 
 
 Having prospered thus far, walked up town to see 
 the shape of the country and the lie of the land, and 
 fell in with some Irishmen who were digging drains. 
 They had never found any shells amongst the sand, not 
 they ; did my honour think there was any gold in it ? 
 No, there was nothing but greenbacks in this country ; 
 and then it appeared that cotton garments had risen if 
 hotel-bills had not. After a word about Galway and 
 Connemara, and a phrase or two in Irish, we blessed 
 each other and parted. Walked on through streets 
 planted, like some European towns, with elm, plane, ash, 
 and other trees, and found out the highest point in the 
 neighbourhood. It is about 250 feet above the sea, 
 and a favourite promenade, to judge by walks and 
 benches. Here was another gang of Celts, who were 
 making a road of rolled stones dug from banks on 
 the hill-top. They had never found any shells either, 
 but they too had found war prices unpleasant. 
 
 Phrenology will never teach where the shoe pinches. 
 It is hopeless to go to the heads of departments, to 
 
TAXED COTTON. 187 
 
 learn practical, popular, political economy. The people 
 who suffer most know most of the ills of the republic 
 which stands upon the wills of the people ; so here it 
 appeared that her new fighting-boots pinched Miss 
 Columbia. Wages are paid in paper ; wages have not 
 risen very much, but paper has fallen desperately. 
 Home produce has not risen much in nominal dollar- 
 value ; food is cheap ; but wicked obstinate foreign foes 
 of the republic, and home shoddy traitors in Wall 
 Street, will not give gold for greenbacks without a 
 ruinous premium. Because of the war, the foreign 
 manufacturer cannot get cotton cheap, and must raise 
 the price of his cotton goods ; he will have dear gold 
 for his dear goods ; and they are taxed into the bargain, 
 to pay for the war. The American carrier and merchant 
 must have profit to pay for Irish or German substitutes, 
 if drafted for the war. Celts used to run naked in the 
 days of Queen Bess, if all tales be true ; but here they 
 wear cotton shirts, and navvies' striped smock-frocks, 
 socks, and other such cotton gear. Because of the 
 war, the Irishman (here synonymous with labourer) 
 has to pay cotton-famine, taxed, import, retail prices, 
 and pays dear for decency when greenback wages are 
 converted into muscular force. Moreover, he is liable 
 to the draft, and may be dragged off handcuffed to 
 
188 AN AMERICAN TRAMP. 
 
 fight for emancipation, against the repeal of the Union, 
 and in fighting he may chance to be maimed or am- 
 putated. If the Celtic feet be so pinched, they will 
 kick some day, unless their nature is changed in the 
 New World. 
 
 Though distant 90 miles, Mount Washington was 
 clearly seen from the hill above Portland. The chief 
 cluster of hills on the horizon was very like Ben 
 Lomond, as it appears through a gap near Dumbarton, in 
 steaming up the Clyde. To the right of the pyramidal 
 White Mountains was the Atlantic slope of the State of 
 Maine : 55 miles from the sea it is only 650 feet high. 
 To the left was Maine, with more New Hampshire hills 
 in the distance. The landscape seen from Portland 
 is a flat rolling base line, with several blue pyramids 
 planted upon the wedge-shaped block which makes the 
 Atlantic slope of America. 
 
 A A M 
 
 The foreground beyond the harbour is a rich cultivated 
 farming country, dotted with houses and trees, and ending 
 in woods. The whole is very like some parts of England : 
 the Vale of Chester, views in Staffordshire, and such-like, 
 
'BACCY IS RIZ.' 189 
 
 where the main features are rich plains and isolated conical 
 hills. Portland, about lat. 43° 40', is opposite to Corunna, 
 and in the latitude of Marseilles. Glacial strise are per- 
 fectly fresh ; they do not aim at the high hills, but 29° 
 and 43° to the right or north of them. They do not 
 aim westwards at the Alleghanies, or up-stream into 
 river-valleys ; they aim at a distant lake in a gap in the 
 ridge of mountains which leads to Quebec and the Gulf 
 of St. Lawrence. To get thence, land-ice must have 
 travelled along the Atlantic slope, slantandicularly 
 from the • to Portland. If these be marks of a land- 
 glacier, the other side of the glen which held it was 
 about Vigo, in Spain, where the rocks have the form of 
 glaciation in the old mental picture painted more than 
 twenty years ago. If these be marks of icebergs, tools 
 fit to do the work are now moving in deep water over 
 the sea-bottom between Corunna and Portland. 
 
 The next stage was to get to the top of the conical 
 pile of hills on the long rolling horizon, and seek the 
 spoor there. 
 
 In returning to the hotel, replenished the cigar-case 
 and tobacco-box. A notion that baccy is cheap and 
 good in the States has long prevailed at home. It may 
 have been so in former times ; now, war has been made 
 on the Southern States, and baccy has been taxed. A 
 
190 AN AMERICAN TRAMP. 
 
 common cigar costs ten cents, amateurs sometimes pay a 
 dollar. Twenty, thirty, and forty cents are commonly 
 paid. * Baccy is riz/ like cotton and broadcloth, so Paddy 
 the labourer is not so well off as he was led to expect when 
 he became an emigrant. Dined well and set off for the 
 station where the puffing monsters are stalled. Here 
 was something quite new, and really good ; to wit, the 
 American luggage system. The story of a portmanteau 
 is briefly told, and may here be told once for alL The 
 passenger goes to the office of his hotel, and tells the 
 clerk there that he means to go at such an hour by a 
 certain line. The clerk strikes a bell, and the first of a 
 row of niggers or Irish call-boys attends. He, or a big 
 porter, brings the portmanteau to the hall, where it is 
 stacked with other luggage. At the hour specified a 
 bus appears ; a porter shouts ' All aboard for the 
 west,' and the traveller departs, while the luggage fol- 
 lows in a van. The owner has nothing to do with it ; 
 he pays the porter in his bill, unless he is generous and 
 chooses to give him sixpence (fifty cents) ; the transport 
 is in his bus fare. Arrived at the station, he takes a ticket, 
 if he has not already taken one at some office in the 
 town, and, ticket in hand, he presents himself at the 
 baggage-office. On showing his ticket and pointing out 
 the goods, a porter hitches a brass ticket to each trunk 
 
THE LUGGAGE SYSTEM. 191 
 
 with a leathern strap, and hands a brass duplicate to the 
 owner, who goes his way, jingling his brass for lack 
 of silver coin. If he chances to turn his eyes towards 
 the luggage-van, the dismayed owner may see brittle 
 goods flying through the air ; for Yankee porters play 
 catch-ball with light and heavy parcels, and are apt to 
 miss the catch. The best plan is never to look, and to 
 hope for the best. On approaching a large town, a man 
 generally appears from somewhere in the train and walks 
 through the moving street, pencil in hand, muttering 
 ' Luggage ' — ' Luggage.' The traveller holds up his hand 
 and the wandering chief of porters stops. ' What hotel ? " 
 'The best ; which is it V 'The Linnel House.' 'That will 
 do.' 'Cheques.' 'Yes,^V-REE.' The brass is handed out and 
 exchanged for paper, a slip with a note of the number. 
 Arrived, the traveller gets into a bus, gets out at the 
 hotel, writes his name in a big book, gets a key and 
 becomes a number, gives his paper equivalent for brass 
 and boxes to the clerk, and, if so disposed, liquors. 
 He has nothing earthly to do with his luggage ; when 
 he goes to his room he finds it there, or he may leave 
 it in the hall. He pays the transport in his hotel-bill. 
 
 With some slight variations this system prevails all 
 over America, and works well. A broken desk with 
 fifty sovereigns in it, and a portmanteau without a hasp, 
 
192 AN AMERICAN TRAMP. 
 
 travelled together independently from Portland, through 
 the States, and never paid a red cent as extra luggage 
 till they got back to Liverpool. Then they paid dearly, 
 passed through all sorts of dangers, and were very hard 
 to find in London. A large and conspicuous bundle of 
 rods and tent-poles, booked and paid for at Halifax, 
 clearly directed to London, and sent home without the 
 owner, was taken to the Adelphi Hotel in Liverpool, and 
 there remained till a friend who knew it chanced to see 
 it in a corner, carried it off, and took it home. There it 
 was found, but after a long correspondence with the 
 carriers, who had forwarded one of two bundles, but 
 who were ' unable to find any trace of the other ' which 
 had the same direction. Loose packages of like nature 
 travelled alone from Chicago to New York, cost very 
 little, and were found waiting for the owner at the 
 proper office. 
 
 In the matter of steamboats and baggage-cheques, 
 Dame Britannia might learn from her big daughter, 
 Columbia ; though she has not got used to wear butcher 
 boots, and pay taxes for the fun of fighting her right 
 hand against her left. 
 
 If the Noah's ark coasting steamer * New England," 
 was unlike a European steamer, a Yankee train is 
 equally strange at first. A long car is a house upon 
 
THE RAIL. 193 
 
 eight wheels ; it is about fifty feet long, ten wide, 
 and eight high. The seats are in pairs, on both sides of 
 a passage two and a half feet wide. There is generally 
 sitting room for fifty people. Stoves and a washing- 
 cabin, a filter and iced-water, are in corners. The seats 
 are of many kinds, but all are comfortable. The com- 
 monest kind have a back, which is fixed to a T iron, 
 turning on a nail in the arm of the chair, so as to fit both 
 sides | 1 of the bench. Four people can sit to- 
 gether, and sometimes a table lets down for playing at 
 cards or reading. In some cars the seats are made with 
 S irons, which turn on a pivot in the centre, so as to 
 lean at any angle ; and when the back retreats above, a 
 foot-stool advances and rises below. To all these 
 luxuries spittoons are added on some lines, and sorely 
 needed where they are not provided. 
 
 The eight wheels are disposed in fours, and the 
 frames on which they are fixed turn on pivots near the 
 ends of the car, so that the machine turns easily. In 
 consequence of the great length, there is very little side- 
 long movement, but considerable jolting, especially near 
 the ends. In the centre the spring of the long beams 
 makes a long car like a see-saw. The doors are at the 
 ends, and open upon railed, roofed platforms, with side- 
 steps. Between the platforms of two carriages an open 
 
194 AN AMERICAN TRAMP. 
 
 space of a couple of feet leaves room for turning, and on 
 some lines a drawbridge spans this narrow gulf, while a 
 valance of boards hangs outside the wheels to keep down 
 the dust. According to theory, everybody ought to have 
 a comfortable seat, and ' passengers are not allowed to 
 stand on the platform.' Practically, all who can squeeze 
 into the space inside, hang on to the rails when the plat- 
 forms and steps outside are full, and as many as will sit 
 or stand or lie on the roof, do travel. On some of the 
 western lines a hundred noisy men occupied each car in 
 a long train, and the writer spent most of his time in 
 America on railway platforms. 
 
 The object of the journey was to see the country. 
 Accordingly a seat was chosen near the door, if one 
 could be got, or standing room was occupied outside the 
 door. With a small pocket aneroid in hand, the eleva- 
 tion was easily read ; a small note-book served for 
 journal and sketch-book. It was easy to see and smoke, 
 and enjoy the air ; possible to write and sketch, and the 
 guards took a lively interest in the proceedings, and 
 shared the baccy. At first there was a strong mesmeric 
 or other attraction which fastened the hands to the iron 
 rail ; at last, by force of habit, the platform came to be 
 the most agreeable walk in the street upon wheels, and 
 the hands returned to their native pockets. 
 
PASSENGERS. 195 
 
 This railway system has many advantages, but all 
 that is new is not gain. A tribe of itinerant booksellers 
 and fruit merchants wander about, and sometimes loose 
 parcels are carried off. According to the newspapers, in 
 October 1864 a crowd of New York rowdies took forcible 
 possession of a whole train, and robbed the passengers in 
 open daylight. Meeting a return train at a station on the 
 Hudson, they took it by storm, and returned by it, rob- 
 bing their new fellow-travellers as they went. The 
 authorities telegraphed to New York, but the roughs were 
 too cute for the police. They seized the guards, worked 
 the brakes, slowed the train some miles short of the 
 depot, leaped off, and went home with the swag. 
 
 If single men are occasionally murdered at leisure in 
 English carriages, it would be impossible for a hundred 
 roughs to scramble into each fortress, and each man might 
 defend his own Thermopylae by pulling up the glass. 
 
 Whether this tale be true or not, travellers are 
 forced to consort with all who use the cars, rough and 
 smooth, and all persons are not equally fond of studying 
 the masses. One who is not over nice must enjoy the 
 fun of a Yankee car. 
 
 Women have a car to themselves, and extra com- 
 forts. No man, unless he is accompanied by a lady, 
 may enter the sacred car-ess, and even 'brutes' of hus- 
 
196 AN AMERICAN TRAMP. 
 
 bands cannot smoke there. Elsewhere there is a freedom 
 and independence about the proceedings which has its 
 charm. Everyone is at liberty to break his neck, or be 
 left behind, if he thinks fit. Men jump off and on 
 while the cars are moving, and no guard interferes. 
 The engine stops and goes on again without the concert 
 of station bells which proclaims the fact elsewhere. It 
 does not whistle, but it tolls the big bell hung round its 
 neck, and roars a strange variety of notes and tones. 
 There is no fence. It is common for cattle to use the 
 path, and when a cow is seen ahead, the engine per- 
 forms a whole gamut of howls and snorts and roars, 
 till the terrified cow is driven away. If she does not 
 go, there is a provision on every engine for shunting 
 cows, and as Stephenson said to the M.P. who suggested 
 the event, it is very disagreeable for ' the coo ' to be 
 shunted. In the prairies a dead 'coo' was seen in a 
 ditch with her heels in the air, where she was laid 
 prostrate by the iron horse. If the cattle won't go, the 
 engineer don't care, and he goes on. 
 
 The first day's journey was a sample of a lot. 
 
 The railway crosses from Portland to Montreal, run- 
 ning 293 miles about K 55° W. To Gorham, 91 miles, 
 it passes through a well-cultivated drift country; the 
 soil is yellow clay, containing large boulders of sand- 
 
DRIFT. 197 
 
 stone and hard azoic rocks. The rock-foundation 
 shows occasionally in cuttings and elsewhere ; the sur- 
 face is glaciated, and it includes beds of mica-schist and 
 sandstone. The prevailing wind, shown by the inclina- 
 tion of trees, is S.W. At a height of 655 feet, near 
 West Paris, about 50 miles from Portland, is a large 
 and conspicuous deposit of rolled stones about the size 
 of small turnips. These are in a rocky hollow near a 
 small burn, and the rocks in the groove are strongly 
 glaciated up to a height of 800 feet at least. Boulder- 
 terraces are equally conspicuous at 800 feet further on, 
 in the same hollow. The rock near a very pretty 
 mountain-lake is a gray granite. At Bryant's Pond, 
 62 miles from Portland, 835 feet above the sea, the 
 shore of the lake is fine sand, but the terrace above the 
 lake is made of stones like those which form sea-beaches 
 in Newfoundland. At Locke's Mills, 65 miles, 900 feet, 
 beds of shingle and sand are packed in flats, which look 
 like water-work. Here the high mountains are ap- 
 proached, and the outline changes. They rise suddenly 
 from the shingle-flats, like a bold coast with steep head- 
 lands jutting out into fjords or sea-lochs with rocky 
 islands. At West Bethel, 70 miles, 810 feet, are ter- 
 races of gravel on the banks of small rivulets. Near 
 Gilead, 80 miles, 900 feet, the rail cuts through a bank 
 
198 AN AMERICAN TRAMP. 
 
 of gravel and sand, 50 feet high at least. It is a ter- 
 race above a considerable river. Near it similar water- 
 drift is packed in shapes known as 'kames' in Scot- 
 land, and 'osar' in Sweden, and these rest upon 
 glaciated rocks in hollow grooves. The river is the 
 Androscoggin, which here flows due east. At other 
 spots in this neighbourhood, shingle and sand are packed 
 above coarse drift, which rests upon the glaciated rock. 
 
 At Shelbourne, 86 miles, 900 feet, the shingle is 
 packed in flats beside the river. At Gorham, 91 miles, 
 about 900 feet, the same arrangement recurs. 
 
 Here is sufficient evidence of the action of water, 
 but the glens and hollows were not made by rivers, be- 
 cause the rocks are glaciated. Ice in the form of glaciers 
 does not so pack loose stones ; but the fjords of New- 
 foundland, where sea-ice drifts, and waves act on the 
 beach, closely resemble these elevated glens. 
 
 With note-book in hand, the aneroid in a waistcoat 
 pocket, a railway-map, and a fresh mental picture of 
 coast scenery in Newfoundland and Labrador, it was 
 easy to put the sea in the glens of the White Mountains. 
 It was not easy to fill them with glaciers, for lack of 
 moraines. 
 
 This system of spooring at railway speed was pur- 
 sued throughout this tramp. After fixing directions of 
 
A RECRUIT. 
 
 199 
 
 glacial movement at Fredericton, St. John, Eastpoint, 
 and Portland, an evening's drive of 90 miles up to 
 the watershed of Eastern America taught more than a 
 week's plodding. 
 
 This being occupation, fellow-travellers afforded 
 amusement. The majority were ' like ither folk.' They 
 got in and out, ate apples, and talked to each other, and 
 left no trace but baccy-juice when they went away ; but 
 amongst this crowd were soldiers on furlough, and recruits 
 going to be drilled. As the first of their class, they left 
 a permanent impression. The soldiers— officers and 
 men— were ruddy, healthy, strong, and active ; roughly 
 dressed, but fit for work of any kind. They seemed on 
 terms of familiarity that would amaze Old-Country 
 soldiers ; but all were quiet, sober, and well-behaved. 
 They smoked ; as one of them remarked, ' I am used to 
 smoke, and I am going to do it ;' and he did it too, and 
 spat into the bargain ; but he meant no ill, and 
 offended no one. One recruit was a strong contrast. 
 He was ' tight,' as the saying is, and very talkative. He 
 wanted to make a third on a bench where two well- 
 dressed civilians were established, and tried to wedge 
 himself in ; the others quietly resisted, so he sat on the 
 arm and swayed about while he held forth. ' I am a 
 Queen Victoria man,' he said, with a very strong down- 
 
200 
 
 AN AMERICAN TRAMP. 
 
 east twang. 'lama rock — in the ground,' with a very 
 lugubrious quaver at the end. ' I drove Jeff Davis in a 
 stage ; I reckon I'll give him hell ; I am a rock in the 
 ground. That darned old cuss, Abe Lincoln, can't 
 manage this war ; I reckon I'll give him hell too. I am 
 a rock — in the ground, I tell you. These rebs must be 
 shot down ; we won't have old Abe for President. 
 Hurrah for M'Clellan ! I am a rock in the ground.' 
 And then the 'rock,' who was about eighteen, and rather 
 small of his age, chumped his quid, and spat with great 
 dignity and force to show his manhood. Steady on 
 his pins, but maundering in his talk, this self-styled 
 boulder wandered to and fro, and perched upon odd 
 places, till the train whirled up to Gorham. The 
 last audible words he said were, 'lama rock — in the 
 ground.' 
 
 He was a sample of the raw American tourlourou, 
 and the text upon which the following letter was written 
 after a longer experience : — 
 
 One phase of this American war strikes a wanderer 
 very forcibly ; it is the change in the bearing of those 
 who are engaged in it. ' It is not good for man to live 
 alone.' Young swells in the Old Country are sent to 
 school to take the conceit out of them, and they soon 
 find their level in the crowd ; but in this vast country 
 
A ROCK IN THE GROUND. 201 
 
 men live much alone, and solitude works ill in their 
 human nature. Those who have trod the bypaths of 
 Europe know the manners of the people ; the ways of a 
 German beer-house, of an Irish whisky-shop, of an Eng- 
 lish country tap ; and here in the west, a country devoid 
 of graveyards, a German boor from some wide plain, a 
 Norseman from his solitary glen, a Swiss, an Italian 
 organ-grinder, a Connemara man, a Scotch peasant, or an 
 English labourer, takes up his abode in a forest, or on a 
 prairie, becomes a farmer, and lives alone. With all his 
 native roughness he settles down where his nearest neigh- 
 bour is miles away, and he learns that he is a sovereign 
 personage, one of the sovereign people, owner and mon- 
 arch of all he surveys. So he rusts and rusticates for 
 some years, orfor half his life ; and so his children grow up, 
 good stuff, but rusty blades. Once in a while this country 
 class travels. A son who has swarmed from the parent 
 hive sets out to visit his parents, or a parent to visit a 
 prosperous child. From Eome to Vienna, from Milan 
 to Paris, from Hamburgh to Madrid, or from the Land's 
 End to John o' Groat's house, are distances scarcely equal 
 to many of these visits. With travellers of this class a 
 vagrant in the Western States must associate, and so he 
 learns their ways. They are rough country kings, right 
 good stuff, independent, well-fed, well-clad, prosperous, 
 
202 AN AMERICAN TRAMP. 
 
 and good humoured ; they come of the class who in Nor- 
 way say ' thou' to the king, but they are very rough dia- 
 monds here. In the old country they were used to kick 
 up their heels, smoke, chew, and spit freely; they have 
 done the same more freely in their new-country home, and 
 when they are jammed together, 100 in one car, they con- 
 tinue their home practice and spit pools. Eecruits are 
 not the most polished members of any society, and a 
 crowd of recruits sifted from such a class is a rough lot. 
 In the State of Maine I fell in with a recruit. He was a 
 lad of eighteen or thereabouts, and was rather * tight.' He 
 spoke of ' Old Jeff Davis' and * Abe,' and what he would 
 say and do to them. He had once driven one in a stage, 
 and he would tell the ' darned old skunk' how to rule the 
 nation and conduct the war. Every fresh burst ended 
 with the same chorus, ' I am a rock— in the ground.' He 
 was a very rough geological specimen, but he was on his 
 way to the mill. Some weeks later a vagrant friend 
 happened to meet the same youth, and found him sad 
 and sober ; all the crow was taken out of the game 
 chicken ; he had found his level in the ranks, and his 
 stiff neck had learned to bow to authority ; a drum- 
 major, more despotic than Jeff Davis, had dethroned the 
 sovereign, and he was tamed. Later I was crammed into 
 cars with soldiers returning from the front, and their 
 
THE TAMING PROCESS. 203 
 
 bearing was different; the 'rock in the ground' be- 
 comes a granite boulder by dint of hard knocks, and the 
 soldier gets hacked and chipped into form. In a crowd 
 of recruits men struggle for life and elbow-room ; the 
 weakest go to the wall, and the strongest only holds his 
 place by sitting sturdily in it ; but in a crowd of soldiers 
 it is not so. One upright bronzed man, with stripes on 
 his well-worn jacket, rose unasked to let two friends sit 
 together ; another rebuked a waiter for keeping an old 
 man waiting. In endless nameless ways camp manners 
 outshine the country manners of rank and file, for the 
 civilian is civilised by discipline. 
 
 The way by which the change is wrought is plain as 
 the change itself. An army of autocrats could do little 
 in the field, so Liberty has to whip her naughty boys. 
 She does not flog them, but she finds ways to tame her 
 rebellious cubs. The schoolmaster in Midshipman Easy 
 had found out that one caning was worth two floggings, 
 and the most stubborn Yankee scholar has to yield when 
 hung up by his thumbs for a good spell. This change 
 of demeanour appears in all grades. Many green officers 
 are noisy roystering blades, full of very strange oaths, 
 and bearded to their full power. Some ' Captains ' and 
 Colonels ' are like escaped counter-jumpers ; but the 
 old hands are generally quiet, silent, courteous men, 
 
204 AN AMERICAN TRAMP. 
 
 with the open steady eye and fixed gaze which men earn 
 face to face with death. The majority are old hands 
 though young in years ; they dress the part ill, but they 
 act it well, nevertheless ; their clothes may be thread- 
 bare, torn, and dirty, but they have the bearing of 
 gentlemen who are good soldiers. Surely this adversity 
 has done some good. The traditional, cute, nasal boast- 
 ing, drawling, impudent, long-haired, offensive being 
 portrayed by Mrs. Trollope and Dickens, appeared last 
 night on the boards of a Yankee theatre ; but the real 
 man, if he exists anywhere, has not yet crossed the 
 devious path of — Your obedient servant. 
 
 St. Louis, Missouri, October. 
 
CHAPTEE XL 
 
 THE WHITE MOUNTAINS. 
 
 Arrived at Gorham, a vehicle appeared which was 
 something quite new Very few people in the Old 
 Country seem to have heard of the White Mountains ; 
 but nevertheless Gorham is the landing-place of a large 
 crowd of tourists. A map of routes to the White 
 Mountains is like a lattice-window of railroads, laid 
 upon the Yankee side of the frontier, between the sea 
 and the St. Lawrence. It comes to a sudden end 
 in the British Possessions ; for the Grand Trunk is 
 the only main line north of Maine: it looks like 
 the handle of the gridiron which reaches from Quebec 
 to New York. But the New York corner is joined 
 on to a larger lattice-window, which opens America 
 between the sea and the Mississippi. The class who 
 in England would visit ' the lakes,' here visit the White 
 Mountains and similar resorts ; and for their conveni- 
 ence great hotels grow up in the wilds, roads scale 
 mountains many thousand feet high, and stages are pro- 
 vided to fit the traffic. The new vehicle was a ' stage.' 
 
206 AN AMERICAN TRAMP. 
 
 It was yellow, with openings like those in the Queen's 
 state-coach, hung with curtains to keep out the rain and 
 let in the view. It hung upon very large C-springs, with 
 long leather straps and large buckles, and generally it 
 looked like the thing which a coach used to be in England. 
 It was driven from the box, and drawn by three pair of 
 prancing, long-tailed, good-looking gray horses. As the 
 train drove up, the driver performed a kind of circus 
 evolution round the Gorham Hotel, and he afterwards 
 explained that his horses would stand anything but 
 ' Indjuns.' 'When they scream and smoke, my horses will 
 not stand still, I reckon.' I had seen no Indians in this 
 part of America, but on consideration it seemed that 
 Jehu meant engines, and his manoeuvres were explained. 
 Mounted on the top of the stage, with a falling twilight 
 rapidly settling down, we drove into the glen which 
 leads westward to the Glen House. The driver managed 
 his team admirably ; they stepped out well, and at first it 
 was pleasant going. The road was good, and the first plank 
 bridge, over which we rattled merrily, was sound, though 
 it had no parapet or hand-rail. But as the night fell the 
 road became abominable. By force of jolting and C-springs 
 we were thrown half a foot into the air, and dropped 
 down again w T ith grievous bumps. Having travelled 
 much in many lands, I never was so jolted anywhere. 
 
A YANKEE STAGE. 207 
 
 It further appeared that some of the plank bridges 
 ahead were rotten, and broken into holes ; so a halt was 
 called to light the lamps and take the fares : one dollar 
 each paid for the whole turnout. With lamps lit, and 
 a volunteer running-footman ahead to look out for holes, 
 we got on well till a turn of the road showed a couple of 
 lamps advancing to meet us. To the right was a burn 
 brawling amongst boulders, which I knew to be hard 
 though I could not see them clearly ; a thicket of birch- 
 trees rose to the level of the road, and a felled pine laid 
 lengthwise was the only parapet. To the left was a 
 steep bank of red clay. 'I reckon it's a bad bit,' said 
 the driver. 'That's Tom with the other team. Go 
 along !' So saying, he gathered up his handful of straps, 
 stamped his foot, and, taking the outside, went along, 
 touching the prostrate tree, as it afterwards appeared 
 from the wheel-marks. Tom, on his part, was driving 
 another empty Lord Mayor's coach with four pair of 
 bays. So fourteen horses and two stages met and passed 
 in the dark with scarce an inch to spare. There is a 
 Highland legend which portends woe and disaster from 
 gray horses, and it rose up like a warning ghost in these 
 American highlands ; but the day of the gray horse had 
 not come. Jehu took the compliments showered 
 upon him very composedly, and we got to the Glen 
 
208 AN AMERICAN TRAMP. 
 
 House safe, sound, and chilly. A bright hall, full of 
 well-dressed quiet people, an excellent meal, and good 
 quarters were ready, ordered by telegraph by a provident 
 comrade, who had heard much of the crowds at the 
 Glen House. So here we landed safely, at 1632 feet 
 above the sea, in the midst of an American forest, 
 100 miles from the steamer, in a mansion worthy of 
 the great cities whose tourists here delight to abide. 
 Delta, Ariel, Osprey ; huts in Labrador and hotels in 
 the capitals of Newfoundland, Cape Breton, Nova Scotia, 
 and New Brunswick, even the 'four-in-hand club' are 
 sadly eclipsed by coasting steamers, cars, country inns, 
 and eight-in-hand stages in Yankeedoodledom. 
 
 Sept. 7. — An adventurous American company have 
 constructed a road to the top of the highest peak of this 
 high cluster of mountains, christened by loyal citizens 
 after their greatest men. From various ' public houses ' 
 in the district, stages, carriages, pony-phaetons, country 
 cars, ponies, and pedestrians, start for the ' tip-top house ' 
 at all hours. The stables at the top are crowded with 
 cavalry in fine weather. An electric telegraph orders 
 dinner above, in proportion to the number who start 
 from below. Vehicles are drawn up by four, six, and 
 even eight horses. 
 
 The American cockney travels by rail from his Lon- 
 
THE WHITE MOUNTAINS. 209 
 
 don or Liverpool to the foot of his Ben Nevis, or ' Beinn- 
 na-muice-duibhe;' drives to the top in a coach-and- 
 six ; dines, drives down again like a gentleman, and pays 
 in greenbacks. 
 
 The distance from the Glen House to the top of 
 Mount Washington is 8 miles, the average grade is 12 
 feet in 100, the ascent from the plateau on which the 
 hotel stands is 4653 feet, according to the measure- 
 ments given. The road was begun in 1855, finished in 
 1861, and is a very creditable tourist's promenade. It 
 is, in fact, good solid engineering, worthy of an Alpine 
 pass. Sketching and scratch-hunting are best pursued 
 on foot, so we scorned the coaches and mounted ' shanks' 
 nagie.' 
 
 The mountains are not very remarkable for beauty 
 of outline, but they are grand big hills. The ridge oppo- 
 site to the Glen House is of the shape which is called a 
 sierra in Spain, a scaur in Scotland, a scaw in some parts 
 of England, scarn in Gaelic. It is scarped, serrated ; 
 in short, it is like the sharp-toothed instrument whose 
 name comes from the same root, — a saw. The points 
 of this saw are named after men who helped to shear 
 the States from their English root, and the top-sawyer is 
 Washington, of course. He is 6285 feet high. 
 
210 AN AMERICAN TRAMP. 
 
 These family portraits may be expressed by Lord 
 Dufferin's shark-tooth diagram of the Lofoden Isles. 
 
 A A A A A 
 
 ' Mount Clay, 5400, rising over the Gulf of Mexico ; 
 the stout, square-shouldered Jefferson ; the symmetrical, 
 sharp, and splendid pyramid of Adams, 5800, and Madi- 
 son, 5361, who completes the staff of Washington/ make 
 a respectable old saw, but the teeth are blunted when 
 compared with Alpine aiguilles, Norwegian spik, and 
 Highland cathair. 
 
 American scenery is very grand, but the grandeur is 
 
 horizontal not vertical. The nursery rhyme tells that 
 
 There was an old woman 
 Lived under the moon, 
 And all that she wanted 
 Was elbow-room. 
 
 She might have found it in America. There is so 
 much space, that land is spread out in plains; but 
 in the Old Country the land and the people are piled in 
 heaps for want of elbow-room. 
 
 If the peaks of this North American sierra be 
 like a blunted saw, the back of it rests on rounded hill- 
 shoulders. Up to a height of about 4000 feet, the outlines 
 are curves ^, and the ground is hidden by dense forests of 
 tall trees. The foundation of the pile is rock, of course, 
 
CHILDREN OF THE MIST. 211 
 
 but scarce a bit of rock is visible from below. Trees 
 need soil and a certain average climate, so the vegetation 
 registers the climate and betrays the nature of the hidden 
 soil. These records are marked in horizontal lines of 
 green and gray ; they come out conspicuously in sketch- 
 ing, and in good photographs the forest limits are clear 
 as ruled rays and horizontal washes of brown sunlight 
 can make them. The pedestals on which ' the staff of 
 Washington ' stand have mouldings of boulder-terraces, 
 flights of giant steps, on one of which the Glen House 
 Hotel is perched at 1632 feet above the sea. In the 
 morning the sunlight creeps down from the bald bare 
 sharp heads of the fathers of their country, to their 
 round shoulders, and it leaps from step to step into the 
 corn-fields in the wide strath. In the evening the 
 blue shade of Washington stalks out of the yellow 
 corn, up the steps of the green amphitheatre, into 
 the forest ; mounts over the ridge of Carter, and wraps 
 up his New-England children in a robe of blue 
 for the night. This in fine weather. As a rule, 
 the ancients wear damp sheets of mist and night-caps 
 of snow, and sit behind cloud curtains, with their 
 feet in cold water. What colds they must have in 
 their poor old stone noddles ! Surely it is better to 
 call old hills by old native sonorous names, which 
 
212 AN AMERICAN TRAMP. 
 
 have a natural or mythical meaning. ' The Abode of 
 Storm,' 'The House of the Mist/ 'The Bear's Hill/ 
 or ' The White Mountain,' suggest appropriate trains 
 of thought ; but men's proper names, improperly used, 
 suggest twaddle to those who write guide-books, and to 
 those who read them. 
 
 John Nokes, the father, or Jonathan Styles, the son, 
 is right to inscribe his name in Westminster Abbey, or 
 the Capitol at Washington ; in the Pantheon, or Val- 
 halla, or on Mount Parnassus — if he can get there ; if 
 he does not, no one else will. But George Washington 
 has no need to be advertised in the highlands like 
 PLANTATION BITTEES. His name is conspicuous 
 on the page of history, on the map of the world, and 
 in the temple of Fame. 
 
 Up to a height of about 3000 feet the soil on the 
 hill-side appears to be drift. Stones are rounded, and 
 packed in a matrix of clay. In this region the trees 
 are tall and well grown. Above 3000 feet the trees 
 diminish to the size of a Newfoundland forest. At 4000, 
 or thereabouts, they dwindle to the size of a forest in 
 Labrador, crouch down and crawl along the ground, as if 
 crushed by snow, scourged by wind, and cramped by 
 rheumatism. They point their blasted arms and crooked 
 fingers at the upper region, in which Jack Frost abides. 
 
HILL CLIMATES. 213 
 
 In this zone all the loose stones are angular and 
 natives ; the vegetation is like that of the coast near 
 Cape Harrison in Labrador, near the North Cape in 
 Norway, and about the perpetual snow-line everywhere. 
 There is a belt of berries and bushes, which fades into an 
 upper belt of mosses and lichens. This belt is very like 
 the low coast country in Lapland, Iceland, Labrador, 
 and Newfoundland ; and the highest hills in Scotland, 
 drift excepted. The glacial period can be reached by 
 mounting, by moving north, or by seeking a sea-coast 
 near polar water. 
 
 The shape of the lower ground is that of the amphi- 
 theatre of boulder-terraces which surrounds Conception 
 Bay in Newfoundland : the materials also are similar. 
 The terraces are made of large heavy hard rounded 
 stones, gravel, clay, and sand, and they do not seem to 
 be natives. It is clear that water had much to do with 
 the packing of the terraces, for sand and pebbles are laid 
 in beds and arranged about the larger stones, as water 
 only can pack such materials. 
 
 The highest point in the glen is at 'the Notch,' 
 where two rivers part. The ground there is a ruckle of 
 loose stones arranged in flat beds by running water, 
 possibly by streams which flow out of 'the Gulf of 
 Mexico,' or whatever the name of the highest corrie 
 
214 AN AMERICAN TRAMP. 
 
 may be. The streams are insignificant in summer, and 
 their rock-denuding work, measured at falls and such 
 places, nowhere exceeds a few vertical feet or yards of 
 rock-cutting. The drift at watersheds looks like foreign 
 drift arranged at spots now 2000 or 3000 feet above 
 the sea. Hitchcock calls this an ancient sea-margin, 
 and it looks very like a ' tarbert' at the end of a couple 
 of long sea-lochs — a place like the Labrador isthmus 
 above mentioned (p. 79). 
 
 Three hundred and ninety-eight feet lower than this 
 watershed, a couple of miles from it, in the bottom of 
 the glen, at the level of the hotel, and 1632 feet above 
 the sea, glacial striae near the burn point K 35° E. and 
 S. 35° W., allowing 9° for magnetic variation. 
 
 If these were made by a local glacier, it came out of 
 the highest corrie, and went down-stream to Gorham ; its 
 depth is to be found by marks on the sides of the glen V- 
 
 On the flank of Mount Washington, beside the new 
 road, at 1992 feet above the sea, and 38 feet lower than 
 ' the Notch,' the striae point N. 30° E., and they are per- 
 fectly horizontal. 
 
 Higher up, beside the same road, at 2307 feet above 
 the sea, 675 feet higher than the hotel, and 277 feet 
 higher than 'the Notch,' stria? perfectly horizontal by 
 spirit-level aim N. 30° E., or S. 30° _W. 
 
HIGH ICE-MAKKS. 215 
 
 All these are so fresh that rubbings were taken from 
 the rock-surface. 
 
 If these marks were made by a local land-glacier, 
 familiar pictures of glaciers elsewhere make it easy to 
 map out the old ice. It must have come out of the high 
 corrie ; it was at least 700 feet deep opposite to the 
 hotel ; it must have gone after the water to Gorham, and 
 thence along the Androscoggin river-course to the sea- 
 coast, 25 miles to the north of Portland. The other 
 stream, which parted from it at ' the Notch, ' must have 
 followed the other stream, which reaches the sea a little 
 to the south of Portland. At Portland, 90 miles away, 
 glacial striae are as well marked as they are at Mount 
 Washington, but they point N". 28° W. at a mountain-pass, 
 diagonally across the rivers, instead of pointing up- 
 stream, as they ought to do, if made by local glaciers. 
 
 Either the whole land was covered by one vast 
 sliding geological formation of polar land-ice, or it was 
 drowned in an arctic current like that which is now 
 passing the same latitude in the east. Immediately 
 under the ' tip- top ' house is a ' corrie ' called by the 
 euphonious name of Tuckerman's Eavine. Tuckerman 
 was somebody, of course. In this temple of Tucker- 
 man's apotheosis, a snow-wreath generally survives the 
 summer, and forms an arch, which is a favourite ( lion,' 
 
216 AN AMERICAN TRAMP. 
 
 though rather hard to get at. The rocks about it have 
 the form of rocks about Alpine glaciers ; it is the very 
 spot in which to plant a glacier. If the snow-wreath 
 be the last remnant of a departed race of giants, 
 the last of them must have carried stones from Mount 
 Washington to Gorham. But if the ice was sea-ice 
 drifting through a narrow sound, from the north-east 
 towards the south-west, no loose stones from Mount 
 Washington could well reach Gorham, though they might 
 reach New York, or any other place to the south. 
 
 At Gorham, 802 feet above the sea according to 
 guide-books, the rocks are all glaciated ; the bottom of 
 the valley is a plain of drift, the sides are conspicuously 
 terraced, and the rivers have not laid the rock bare. 
 Eivulets higher up have done more work, so they are of 
 older date than the lower rivers. 
 
 At Thomson's Fall, above the Glen House, the 
 rivulet has smoothed a considerable breadth of rock, 
 and it has worn a trench in gneiss 18 inches deep and 
 36 wide ; the depth of water was 5 inches, the width 
 of the stream 18, and the height of the fall below this 
 tiny spout is some 6 or 8 feet. The other falls which 
 are visited have done about as much in proportion to 
 their size. The river at Gorham has not cleared the 
 drift out of the rock-groove in which it flows. The 
 
GORHAM TERRACES. 217 
 
 terraces line the hills : one is fully 200 feet high, and 
 as well preserved as any in Scandinavia. They contain 
 very large boulders of red, gray, pink, coarse and fine 
 grained granite, granite with dark slate enclosed, black 
 and red porphyry, black hornblende, hard slate, and 
 others, similar to Labrador rocks and northern boulders. 
 Many of these are finely polished and striated ; but, 
 after a long search, no single scrap of the peculiar 
 shiny mica-schist of Mount Washington was found at 
 Gorham. The base of the terrace on the north side has 
 been laid bare by a landslip ; the foundation on which 
 heavy boulders are piled is finely-laminated gray sandy 
 clay, arranged horizontally. Where small rivulets have 
 washed the face of the terrace, beds, thin as paper— 56 
 to an inch, and 50 feet thick at least— are seen. The 
 beds are evenly disposed about large stones, so they 
 must have been deposited in still water. With the 
 thermometer at 70 in the shade, it was very pleasant 
 to think of cool lakes and ice, and drink iced water. 
 No shells were found in these terraces ; even under a 
 strong microscope, nothing was found in the sand ; and 
 till something organic is found at some high level in 
 American terraces, glacialists may continue to theorise. 
 While busily rubbing a bit of heel-ball upon a sheet 
 of paper laid on a rock, with the edges north and south 
 
218 AN AMERICAN TRAMP. 
 
 by compass, a regular pedestrian in blouse and knap- 
 sack, alpenstock and all, stalked up, followed by a 
 gentleman in spectacles, who said nothing. The guide, 
 if such he was, took a wrinkle from the stranger, and 
 told him in return that he had hunted striae on these 
 mountains for many years. He meant to write to 
 Agassiz ; it is to be hoped that he will send heel-ball 
 copies of glaciated rocks to head-quarters at Boston. 
 So much for the superficial geology learned during three 
 days in this region. 
 
 The natural history was taught by bears. Each of 
 these public houses keeps a bear, chained by the neck 
 to a large post. The bear at the Glen House was big 
 and black and lusty, and looked good-humoured. 
 Wishing to make acquaintance with §yery living thing, 
 walked down to fraternise with the bear. The brute 
 turned his back and walked off to the far side of his 
 worn ring, sighing and grunting, as if he were some- 
 what uneasy in his mind or body, and wanted comfort. 
 Having got to the end of his tether, he sat down on his 
 hunkers and gazed abstractedly at Washington over the 
 way. But there was something indescribable in the 
 manner of doing this ; it was so like acting that sus- 
 picion was roused. Pausing at the edge of the ring, the 
 traveller tried to act his part and sell the bear a bar- 
 
FKATERN1TE. 219 
 
 gain. Judging by the chain-marks how far the brute 
 could reach, the human actor took his place within the 
 ring, turned his back on the bear, and gazed abstractedly 
 at Carter on the other side. Both were looking out of 
 the corners of their eyes. The bear, thinking he had 
 done it rather well, suddenly sprang up and charged, 
 running as fast as ever he could to catch the man ; but, 
 as the stage directions might have it, enter bear L. ; exit 
 traveller R, with a quick motion. The first act ended, 
 the second began by puffing and snuffling, and whining 
 and fawning for food ; but a vision of the brown, bushy, 
 Labrador dog, with the sharp white teeth, rose up, and 
 that mild dodge would not do either. So Bruin rose, 
 and stalked off with a tragic, solemn, two-sided step, 
 and laid himself down to bask in the sun. 
 
 The bear at the Alpine House was bigger, and fatter, 
 and better-natured, but evidently a very miserable 
 brute. Near him were a tribe of very happy big free 
 brown kingfishers. They made a noise like the sharpen- 
 ing of edge-tools, and delighted to sit swinging on the 
 telegraph wires, from which they dived headlong into a 
 still mill-pond. After each plunge they flew round 
 their domain, and then they sat in a row and sang their 
 song of triumph over dead minnows. 
 
 If there be ' sermons in stones/ the rocks hereabouts 
 
220 AN AMERICAN TRAMP. 
 
 are eloquent, and teach something of American ethno- 
 logy. There is a puffing tribe of bill-stickers in every 
 community. Moses and Son keep a poet ; here they keep 
 artists with a good eye for the picturesque. Londoners 
 used to read the virtues of Warren's blacking from every 
 dead wall ; but Highlanders, who wear no boots, were 
 spared this blessing. American city highlanders do 
 wear Wellington boots when they stamp on the head of 
 Washington, and they drink bitters ; so at every pictur- 
 esque spot in this their highland region, they learn the 
 virtues of the ' cherokee medicine/ ' golden bitters,' the 
 ' vermin exterminator,' or some other quackery. On every 
 picturesque foreground rock or stone which peers through 
 the tangled forest grass, hideous white letters a yard 
 long roused a strong wish to exterminate some vermin 
 with their own drinks and drugs. Scribbling on walls 
 is an English vice ; in America it has grown big, like 
 everything else. In this land of liberty, it is to be 
 hoped that citizens will be so free as to duck the bill- 
 stickers in their own pails of whitewash. The tourist 
 Americanus, whose sense of beauty is thus outraged, 
 seems to be a well-dressed, well-educated, good- 
 humoured, prosperous mortal, pleasuring with his wife 
 and bairns, with plenty of spare cash to pay his way, 
 and fully resolved to enjoy his holiday. There seems 
 
BILL-STICKERS, BEWARE! 221 
 
 to be no shoddy here. The difference is in the wider 
 region over which this variety of a common human 
 migratory species delights to wander. 
 
 Tourists from Cuba and South America, and the 
 Southern States ; Labrador and the North ; Canadians, 
 Europeans, men from opposite ends of the earth, make 
 a struggle to get to the ' tip-top house ' and get photo- 
 graphed on the head of Washington. Amongst the 
 Britishers who shared that honour was one with a 
 handle to his name, and his advent was announced by 
 telegraph. It so chanced that the writer was the first 
 Britisher up, and while standing on Washington's bump 
 of veneration, in the cool breeze, he heard these words : — 
 ' There he is — do tell ; look what a beautiful bag he has on 
 his back ; that's the Lord.' Turning suddenly, a bevy of 
 girls were detected at the kitchen-door, so the sham lord 
 pounced amongst them, and routed them in emulation of 
 the black bear down below. The real lord was called ' a 
 lone object/ and much and deservedly admired when he 
 arrived with his friend. Britishers and Yankees, lords 
 and commons, fraternised, dined, got photographs, and 
 drove down together in peace and good fellowship ; and 
 may they long stick to the same excellent plan. 
 
 As they used to say in France in 1848 — 
 
 VIVE LA REPUB DEMOC — SOC — 
 
222 AN AMERICAN TRAMP. 
 
 The points established by this upward cast are — 
 first, that the flanks of the highest mountain in eastern 
 North America are striated horizontally, up to a certain 
 height at least, in a direction parallel to the longest 
 mountain-chains in that region ; secondly, that stones 
 similar to Labrador rocks occur at far greater heights 
 than 1000 feet in terraces at Gorham, at the hotel 
 1632, at the 'Notch* 2030, near the 'ledge' above 3000, 
 and elsewhere. Without a knowledge of the local 
 geology of the whole district, it is impossible to say 
 whence these stones did not come ; but stones like 
 them occur along the whole route described so far, and 
 they did not come down from Mount Washington. 
 
 The geologist in the blouse referred to Dana's ' Geo- 
 logy' for information as to the age of the rocks in this 
 tract. The work, when consulted, gives no certain in- 
 formation on this point ; but the rocks themselves are 
 sufficiently conspicuous. They are disposed in beds, 
 which are much upheaved and contorted. Many of 
 these are sedimentary beds, which retain their original 
 texture ; others have been altered into a peculiar 
 crumpled mica-schist, which looks very like frosted 
 silver. When the sunlight streams through the forest, 
 and lights up a fallen block by the road-side, it glimmers 
 like a great nugget of virgin ore. Where this rock has 
 
HIGH ICE-MARKS. 223 
 
 weathered, branches like silver boughs seem to be spread 
 on the stone, and shapes like fossil-shells rise up in 
 clusters elsewhere. Other beds are hard gray gneiss ; 
 others have large plates of mica ; but no rocks like the 
 loose boulders on Mount Washington were seen in it, 
 and none of the mica was found in the terraces to the 
 north ; plenty of mica was found at New York. 
 
 On leaving Gorham for Montreal by rail, on the 
 9th, the same system of spooring was pursued. It is 
 excellent pastime while travelling through a new 
 country, but, like other hunting, detailed description of 
 every run is a bore. The result is easily told. The 
 same water-work which occurs on the Atlantic slope 
 recurs in the middle and on both sides of the valley of 
 the Connecticut, and on the east side of the St. Law- 
 rence valley. At all the watersheds crossed by the 
 Grand Trunk — at all heights up to 1500 feet at least 
 — beds and mounds of water-worn gravel are piled ; 
 but above a certain height — apparently about 3000 
 feet — the mountains are bare rock. From Dana's 
 'Geology' it appears that glacial striae occur on the 
 summits of hills in the whole of this region. 
 
 He says : — 
 
 1 Again the scratches are found on heights as well as lower 
 lands. They occur to a height of 5000 feet on the Green Moun- 
 tains (Hitchcock) ; on the top of Jay's Peak, 4000 feet high 
 
224 AN AMERICAN TRAMP. 
 
 (Adams) ; on the top of Monadnock. In some instances the 
 wear and scratches are most decided on the north side of eleva- 
 tions. Professor Hitchcock has observed that Mount Monadnock, 
 in New Hampshire, 3250 feet high, is scarified from top to 
 bottom on its northern and western sides, but not on the southern. 
 
 Groovings over the highest parts of the summits 
 
 in the Green Mountains on which they occur were more easterly 
 in their direction, according to Hitchcock, than those over the 
 general surface below. The following are a few examples : — On 
 Mansfield Mountain, 4848 feet high, the course is S. 20° E. ; on 
 Jay's Peak, 4018 feet, S. 40° E. ; on Camel's Hump, 4188 feet, 
 S. 40° E. ; Mount Holly, 1415 feet, S. 60° E. Several peaks in 
 the Hoosac range, in Massachusetts, S. 45° E. to S. 70° E. 
 Hitchcock also gives S. 40° W. as another course observed on 
 Mansfield Mountain.' 
 
 From this quotation it appears that the course on 
 
 isolated peaks was not from north to south, as required 
 
 by the big-glacier theory, but fnm various directions, 
 
 which agrees with the movement of a current flowing 
 
 amongst and over submerged hills. In valleys, current 
 
 or local glacier must have moved in the big grooves 
 
 which still remain ; and accordingly scratches in big 
 
 valleys do sometimes coincide pretty well with the 
 
 shape of the land. 
 
 'In the valley of the Connecticut the courses S. 8° E. to 
 S. 10° W. are very common, as well as over the country east and 
 west.' 
 
 Now, in reading of ' a valley' an old-country traveller 
 
 is apt to picture something like the Valley of Chamouni, 
 
PROSTRATE GRANDEUR. 225 
 
 or the country about the Lake of Geneva, or the Cale- 
 donian Canal, or the Vale of Clyde. In travelling from 
 Portland to Montreal, these old-fashioned notions are 
 driven away. The valley of the Connecticut would pass 
 for a wide, boggy, sandy, gravelly plateau, overgrown 
 by a dense forest, but with occasional hills rising in 
 the distance. Without a barometer, it is sometimes 
 hard to tell where the road crosses a valley or scales a 
 ridge. The deep glens are at right angles to the ridge. 
 With the barometer in hand, a section can be made of the 
 whole of a day's route, and one was made accordingly. 
 
 After scaling the last of four ridges, at a point 1500 
 feet above and 160 miles from Portland, there is a clear 
 run down hill for 134 miles to Montreal. The drift- 
 terraces on this side are more conspicuous than they 
 are on the Atlantic slope. The Canadian side is a rich 
 slope of well-cultivated land, with sleek horses and 
 cattle grazing placidly in green fields, which are watered 
 by still shining rivers of clear water, moving slowly 
 over beds of gravel and sand. Through these, glaciated 
 rocks and boulders peer out here and there. In the 
 midst of this flat smiling land occasional rocky hills 
 stand out boldly upon the horizon like blue islands. 
 Montreal Mountain is one of these, and from it a very 
 wide landscape is seen. It is grand scenery, but 
 
 Q 
 
226 AN AMERICAN TRAMP. 
 
 horizontal grandeur. The Adirondaks, 100 miles away, 
 and other mountains which make a figure on maps, 
 are too distant to make conspicuous features in Canada. 
 The Lawrentian chain is too far off to be seen at 
 all. The river St. Lawrence looks like a strait; the 
 'valley' suggests immensity, but it is the immensity 
 of a wide green sea, with a few rocky islands on the 
 distant horizon. Upon Montreal Mountain, which is 
 limestone and trap, are large blocks of gneiss and 
 granite, and striae, found about 200 feet above the sea 
 on a trap-dyke, near a road, aimed N.E. magnetic, as 
 does the long axis of the mountain itself. So the spoor 
 left in the Straits of Belleisle (p. 107) was picked up at 
 Montreal after a long cast. 
 
 Nothing worthy of note occurred during the journey, 
 unless that we arrived in exceptional good time, and 
 without accident. The unfortunate Grand Trunk spent 
 its energies in building the biggest bridge in the world, 
 and has never recovered the effort. Permanent way, 
 rolling stock, and shares, are shaky. A train broke 
 down not long ago in the heart of the wild boggy forest 
 near the frontier. There was nothing to eat ' on board,' 
 and nothing but berries and birch-bark 'on shore/ 
 The passengers were almost starved, but they were 
 rescued at last. In winter, frosts are such that the 
 
RAIDERS. 
 
 English system of chairs will not suit American rails — 
 so it is said. They are hitched in somehow with hooks, 
 and play so that the ends move. One result is a peculiar 
 clanking sound, which is characteristic of American 
 travel. Another is an occasional smash. The pace 
 is everywhere slow, therefore a smash does little serious 
 damage ; but now and then it does a great deal, as in 
 the late Eichmond accident, where a whole train full of 
 emigrants was decanted into a canal, by the simple 
 expedient of opening the drawbridge. 
 
 At the frontier, baggage was chalked and dinner 
 eaten, and that was the only symptom of passing from 
 one country to another. It was rumoured that several 
 Southern officers, bag and baggage, passed successfully 
 into Canada; but who can tell a Southern from a 
 Northern, a State's man from a Canadian or a Britisher, 
 unless he choose to reveal himself or betray his nation- 
 ality by some peculiar phrase or twang? Without 
 acting a part, I have passed for a native everywhere, 
 unless I chose to say that I came from the Old Country. 
 One of our fellow-passengers was a Scotchwoman, 
 who had been a Canadian, and now is a Cuban, travelling 
 as interpreter, maid, companion, and factotum to a Spanish 
 party out on ' the tramp/ as the phrase is. No wonder 
 that Southerns slip in and out in such a crowd. 
 
CHAPTEE XII. 
 
 MONTKEAL TO NIAGARA AND BUFFALO. 
 
 Arrived at Montreal on Friday 9th. On the 12th 
 travelled by rail and steamer to Ottawa city, about 120 
 miles ; on the 14th by rail to Prescott, 54 miles, and 
 down the rapids by steamer to Montreal, 113 miles ; 
 on the 15th by steamer to Quebec, 150 miles ; on the 
 17th to Montreal by the river, 150 miles ; on the 19th 
 by rail to Brockville, 125 miles; on the 20th left 
 Brockville by steamer, and arrived at Toronto on the 
 21st, about 200 miles ; on the 22d travelled by rail to 
 Hamilton and Niagara, 80 miles. In all, with sundry 
 expeditions in carriages and on foot, more than 1100 
 miles in 13 days. 
 
 On arriving at a new place, it is a good plan to 
 mount to the highest attainable spot, and there make a 
 mental map for future use. The article is useful, port- 
 able, and easily made ; and when combined with other 
 maps and mental sketches, it becomes a portable model. 
 Like solid statues, which grow out of a dozen photo- 
 
MENTAL SURVEYING. 229 
 
 graphs, the length, breadth, and height, form and colour, 
 of a country, seen in a short time, grow into a solid 
 miniature image at last. 
 
 At Montreal the best attainable spot for a traveller's 
 survey is the top of 'the Mountain.' In the native 
 country of many Canadians a rock 550 feet high would 
 be ' a hill,' but in Canada it is high ground. The view 
 from the Mountain is magnificent. The Adirondaks are 
 clearly seen in one direction, and they are distant more 
 than 100 miles. A few pictures taken from such points 
 may include a large tract. For example, ten circles of 
 100 miles described about points visited in this region 
 approach each other or cross. 
 
 One horizon seen from a hill near Sydney joins 
 another seen from a hill near Halifax ; and these two 
 circles are linked together by a third seen from a hill 
 near the head of the Bay of Fundy. The horizon of 
 Springhill, at Fredericton, joins these three to the wider 
 eye-circle described by turning the head on the top of 
 Mount Washington. Five more eye-sketches, taken from 
 Quebec, Montreal, Brockville, Buffalo, and High Peak 
 in the Catskills, carry this survey to New York. Broad 
 bands carried across and around the country, by looking 
 out from steamers and railway cars, leave few blanks. 
 In fine clear weather, by the help of steam, it is possible 
 
230 AN AMERICAN TRAMP. 
 
 to see a large country so as to learn the shape of it in a 
 very short time. 
 
 The country seen from Montreal Mountain appears 
 to be a fair sample of a tract of greater area than Britain. 
 Koughly, it is about as far from Quebec to Lake Ontario 
 as it is from London to Edinburgh, and the whole rise 
 (234 feet) is less than the rise to a church weathercock. 
 Two good trees would measure it. Water is a levelling 
 instrument, and the level of Lake Ontario (234 feet) 
 may be carried from Hamilton past Brockville and 
 Montreal, 500 miles to Quebec, where the vertical 
 scale may be read in the hill on shells and sea-mar- 
 gins. When Canada is fully mapped, the shape of it 
 will be like that which the sea and a rivulet make in 
 sand when the tide ebbs through a narrow passage be- 
 tween two rocks, and a new-born streamlet follows the 
 track of the ebb-tide. 
 
 The view from the esplanade at Quebec takes in 
 the rock-pass through which the sea escaped when it 
 retired from Lake Ontario ; and through which that 
 young giant, the St. Lawrence, now follows the sea. On 
 a fine bright sunny autumn morning, the Quebec land- 
 scape is painted in brilliant colours. The land is 
 yellow with corn and spangled with white houses ; the 
 sea and the blue hills are like the fairy robe which 
 
THE DOORSTEP OF CANADA. 231 
 
 the good lady got from her godmother — ' couleur du 
 temps ;' the foreground town is ' dirty box' and brick- 
 dust glazed with soot and sunlight; and the picture is 
 worthy to be engraved on the memory. In the centre 
 of it, about 9 a.m. in September, a spot of blue 
 shadow is let into the yellow terrace which bounds the 
 blue St Lawrence on the left. It is a manifest notch 
 chipped out of a step on the hill-side. So much is 
 best seen from a distance of ten miles. 
 
 A drive of ten miles shows that the little blue chip 
 on the edge of the door-step of Canada was made by the 
 famous fall of Montmorenci, which tumbles 250 feet 
 down-stairs into the sea. When the sea-level was higher 
 than this threshold, there were no falls, so the notch 
 made by the fall records a date in the pre-historic annals 
 of Canada. If the rate at which the falls now dig shale 
 could be ascertained, the date of the dynasty of boulders, 
 drift, and sea-shells could be fixed. The step is some- 
 what higher than the top of the fall, for the river has 
 cut a trench on the stone. At Quebec one sea-margin 
 is clearly marked at about 300 feet above the present 
 shore. The Chaudiere on the opposite bank of the St. 
 Lawrence does not plunge at once into the arena, but 
 leaps 100 feet, and staggers on broken stones the rest of 
 the way down to the strand. Numerous smaller streams 
 
232 AN AMERICAN TRAMP. 
 
 run down in y grooves, but they all run down-stairs 
 from shelving plains ; and a well-marked shelf recurs 
 at about 300 feet, at many distant points about Quebec. 
 
 Upon some of these opposite steps, common sea-shells 
 are buried in drift, at about 300 feet, and boulders of 
 large size are perched in fields above the falls of Mont- 
 morenci and to the west of Quebec. At Brockville, 300 
 miles away, the level of 234 to 300 feet is marked by 
 cockle-shells and boulders. The cockles were found by 
 a native of Wicklow in sinking a well, and he was very 
 much astonished. Big Laurentian boulders are piled 
 on the surface of a low hill, and fixed in a matrix of 
 yellow clay. Below them, in a well, w T ere smaller stones 
 mixed with black earth, and lower down is a bed of fine 
 sand, which yields water. The cockles were 28 feet 
 from the surface, below beds of clay of various colours ; 
 and they were for all the world 'like cockles in ould 
 Ireland.' At the head of Lake Ontario, 500 miles away, 
 at Hamilton, the level of 300 feet is marked by gravel, 
 boulders, and stratified sand ; but, according to Dana's 
 ' Geology,' (549), the Ontario terraces are ' destitute of 
 marine remains' beyond Kingston. More searching 
 will probably unearth more shells. 
 
 On the hill-slopes seen from Quebec, higher steps 
 are visible to the left ; and to the right lower steps are 
 
THE AMPHITHEATRE. 233 
 
 seen on the Isle of Orleans. Mental eyes look at the 
 model, and follow the terraces through the Straits of 
 Belleisle, up the Labrador, round Newfoundland and 
 Nova Scotia, and from Portland to the shilling gallery of 
 the amphitheatre, 3000 feet high, where Washington and 
 his staff sit gloating over the fair proportions of Canada. 
 
 At the head of Lake Ontario, 500 miles from Quebec, 
 the land rises suddenly from 234 feet to the level of 
 Lake Erie, 564 feet above the sea, or 330 feet above 
 Lake Ontario, nearly level with the top of Montreal 
 Mountain, with terraces seen at Quebec, and on the 
 flanks of the Alleghanies. 
 
 On the borders of Lake Champlain, sea-shells have 
 been found up to a height of 325 feet. On the opposite 
 side of the country, more than 100 miles away to the 
 north, on the banks of the Ottawa, sea-shells have 
 been found up to a height of from 400 to 500 feet, 
 and they have also been found at lower elevations at 
 many places between New York and Cape Breton, be- 
 yond the Alleghanies, and in Canada. At Montreal, 
 according to Sir W. Logan, quoted by Dana, they reach 
 450 feet above the river, 470 feet above Lake St. Peter, 
 and the tide. From the habits of the shells found, the 
 sea was from 100 to 300 feet deeper than the places 
 where the 'shelly critturs' lived and died. The species 
 
234 AN AMERICAN TRAMP. 
 
 found are identical with those which now inhabit the 
 Labrador Seas, and a whale was found 150 feet above 
 the ocean-level, 60 feet above Lake Champlain. A sea 
 more than 600 feet deeper than the present ocean is 
 thus carried from Quebec to Niagara Falls, and past 
 the whale's tomb through Lake Champlain to Albany, 
 past the foot of the Catskills, and to New York. It is 
 proved by sea-shells that a sea extended from Belleisle 
 past Quebec to New York. As yet, according to the 
 books, the shell-scale reads no higher than 470, and 100 
 of water, 570 above the present sea ; but the terrace- 
 scale on the hills reads to 3000 feet at least, and the 
 old scratch of Jack Frost's claws is higher still. 
 
 Nearly 800 miles away from Quebec, the level of 
 570 feet is marked by the shore of Lake Michigan. It 
 may be read on Lake Erie and elsewhere, for all the 
 upper lakes communicate and are near the same level. 
 Beyond Chicago is the highest step to the westward. It 
 is a dead level plain of drift at about 620 feet above the 
 sea. It corresponds in height to a hill fifty feet high at 
 Buffalo, where Lake Erie escapes, in order to tumble 
 downstairs at Niagara ; to the tops of trees on Montreal 
 Mountain ; to boulders near Quebec ; to collections of 
 water-worn drift on both sides of the Alleghanies. 
 
 Judging by eye, by rough measurements hurriedly 
 
A GEOLOGICAL BATH. 235 
 
 made, and by facts culled from books, terraces seen from 
 the esplanade at Quebec might be followed round the 
 St. Lawrence basin, in which Europa and John Bull 
 might bathe. 
 
 The Canadian rivers confirm this view. They are 
 large copies of Swedish rivers which enter the Baltic and 
 pour their waters through the Sound. If the bed of the 
 Baltic goes on rising, all the Swedish and Eussian streams 
 will join to make one large stream, and it will enter the 
 sea, and pour out of the Baltic basin at the lowest notch 
 in the lip of it, if the whole basin rises evenly. Elsinore 
 will be the Quebec of the Baltic when the sea is poured 
 out and rain pours through. The Canadian basin appears 
 to have risen evenly and gradually ; the sea has poured 
 out, rain pours through, and the river St. Lawrence 
 enters the sea at the lowest notch in the lip of the rock- 
 basin, which once held an inland sea larger than the 
 Baltic. Quebec is the Elsinore of Canada, and the largest 
 Canadian rivers are new-born streams. 
 
 When shells lived at 120 feet above Lake St. Peter, 
 at the foot of Montreal Mountain, the sea-coast was 
 somewhere near Lachine Eapids, and there the old sea- 
 margin seems to extend inland from both sides of the 
 St. Lawrence. All the land below that limit was under 
 tidal water when the shells lived, and the great river 
 
236 AN AMERICAN TRAMP. 
 
 only began to cut out its groove when the sea retired 
 from Lachine towards Quebec. The Ottawa and St. 
 Lawrence then formed a V, now they make a Y- The 
 same coast-form is repeated higher up. Shells are found at 
 Montreal at 120, 220, 386, 440, 490 feet above the level of 
 Lake St. Peter.* At higher rapids in the St. Lawrence 
 and Ottawa, the rapid fall in land is not confined to the 
 river-bed, but extends as far as the eye can reach and 
 judge. Each rapid marks the end of a step, the mouth 
 of a river, an ancient sea-margin, or the end of a sub- 
 marine delta. Near Prescott, about 300 miles from 
 Quebec, is a rapid, and a corresponding fall of forty feet 
 is at Ottawa city, more than forty miles away. Between 
 Prescott and Lachine are other rapids, which correspond 
 to rapids on the Ottawa. Ancient sea-margins, or con- 
 tour-lines made by the ebb, cross the fork of this Y- 
 When the sea reached so far, the two rivers were neigh- 
 bours, like the Lulea and Umea, but did not meet. Like 
 Swedish streams, these and other Canadian rivers, which 
 now join in the St. Lawrence at Quebec, form long 
 shallow lakes, with short rapids between, throughout 
 their course. The flat water-level of the lakes marks 
 the top of a broad bench, the ' portage,' ' rapid,' or ' fall,' 
 is at the edge of it. Like the rivers, the Grand Trunk 
 * Dana, p. 551. 
 
A MENTAL MODEL. 237 
 
 and other railways and canals mount and descend step 
 by step, and each step was plainly seen along the hill- 
 side, when the barometer marked a sudden fall. Rail- 
 roads, canals, rivers, terraces, and sea-shells, tell one tale 
 and help the model. 
 
 In the midst of this amphitheatre of great plains, a 
 rock of trap and limestone has been left standing by 
 the denuding engines which shaped the low ground ; 
 shells left on the side of it make it a scale like a 
 nilometer ; but above all the shells, on the top of it, 
 three large blocks of granite and gneiss are stranded. 
 They stand near the level of ground near Niagara, 
 Buffalo, and Chicago, at about 570 feet above Lake 
 St. Piere, near the highest water-level marked by 
 Canadian drift-shells. The mountain seems to be a roche 
 moutonne, with hard trap to the N.E., limestone to the 
 S.W., and the long axis of the hill pointing S.W. Striae 
 found on the Mountain aimed up the valley ; they 
 abound throughout the whole district, according to the 
 Geological Survey, and aim all manner of ways. At the 
 foot of Lake Ontario, at Brockville, a rock of gray quartz 
 in the town is so finely polished that lines on it were 
 invisible, and almost impalpable, till a heelball rubbing 
 brought them out. Their main direction is K 45° E. 
 (magnetic), and large polished grooves, in which sand- 
 
238 AN AMERICAN TRAMP. 
 
 lines occur, are ten feet wide. At other spots on the 
 same rock, lines point north, and have other bearings, 
 but the whole shape of the country bears N.E. and 
 S.W. Beyond Brockville, " the thousand isles " of Lake 
 Ontario closely resemble groups of low rocks off Gotten- 
 burgh. The solid rock foundation of Canada, up to the 
 level of Lake Ontario, is glaciated. It is striated in 
 various directions, but the main lines observed aimed 
 from Belleisle towards Magara. Upon or near the rock 
 are beds of sand, shells, gravel, and clay, with large and 
 small scratched boulders of foreign origin. Higher than 
 these beds of drift are more beds of sand, shells, gravel, 
 clay, and boulders, as high as up to the top of Mon- 
 treal Mountain, and the top of Magara Falls. 
 
 Surely this glaciated, striated, terraced, flat land of 
 drift and sea-shells, which looks like a green sea with 
 blue islands in it, was once at the bottom of a gulf like 
 the Baltic, 500 miles long, in which bergs drifted, and 
 grounded, and sowed boulders, as they now do in the 
 same latitudes, in the bays and on the banks of New- 
 foundland. Surely no glacier could descend from the 
 North Pole, pass south into Canada, and climb over the 
 Alleghanies towards the Equator, and yet cut the low 
 grounds into hills and hollows bearing N.E. and S.W., 
 as do the Alleghanies, Canadian hills and hollows, 
 
COLD CRUST. 239 
 
 rivers, lake-basins, striae, and sand-lines. The spoor 
 found in the valley of the St. Lawrence points towards 
 Niagara, so it had to be followed there. 
 
 In winter the power of ice-floats driven by water- 
 power is tremendous. The river freezes, and packs ice 
 till the flow of water is obstructed. The rock-pass at 
 Quebec is like the Narrows at St. John's, Newfound- 
 land, in the frontispiece. A photograph was made 
 some years ago, when the river 'took' at Quebec. The 
 whole pass, about a mile wide, was then paved with 
 great broken slabs and rounded boulders of worn ice, 
 as big as small stacks, piled and tossed, and heaped 
 and scattered upon the level water below, and frozen 
 solid. The upheaved and contorted crust appeared to 
 be at rest, and the camera was placed upon it ; but the 
 solid was shaken by ice-quakes, which resulted from 
 tides and waves in the water below. The camera moved, 
 and the picture was blurred. As a register of an ice- 
 quake, it has the more value. This kind of ice does 
 not produce striation at the water-margin at Quebec. At 
 Montreal, when the river 'goes' the ice goes with it 
 with a vengeance. A watchman sits in a box at the 
 end of the iron tube of the Victoria Bridge, some 50 
 feet above the river, on a solid stone pier. The river 
 once drove its broken crust up the side of the pier, 
 
240 AN AMERICAN TRAMP. 
 
 over the parapet, on to the railway and the watchman's 
 box. If a river can push ice over an impediment 50 
 feet out of water, the Arctic Current may do more, for 
 it is wider, and deeper, and stronger. The piers are not 
 yet striated by river-ice at Montreal. At Ottawa the 
 river flows along the foot of a cliff of limestone, which 
 is about 150 feet high. The river is frozen in winter, 
 and when it goes in spring the water is 18 or 20 feet 
 higher than it was in September 1864. The rocks at 
 the high-water level have no trace of glacial striae. 
 Horizontal beds are undermined, and project over the 
 water-line, as rocks do at the Bay of Fundy, and 
 further north. The upper water-line is marked by a 
 horizontal groove, sawed out by river-ice and waves ; 
 but this tool-mark is not the same as the ice-spoor. 
 In the dry autumn of 1864, a broad rock-surface was 
 bare in the bed of the river, below the new buildings at 
 Ottawa. This rock is rubbed by river-ice every spring, 
 and always in one direction, but it is not striated. The 
 beds are shattered, and the fragments thrust from their 
 places down-stream. Large slabs have been moved 
 various distances, so that joints are open from one to 
 three or four feet, and the last of a series has been 
 carried away. 
 
 These surfaces are all rubbed smooth, and the edges 
 
JACK FROST AT OTTAWA. 241 
 
 of broken beds are rounded where exposed to the ice, 
 but there are no striae. The limestone is ice-rubbed 
 and water-worn, shattered with ice-wedges, and moved 
 by levers of river-ice worked by water-power, and it 
 bears the marks of these engines. An island below the 
 fall is made of similar horizontal beds of limestone. 
 A stream, occasionally loaded with heavy ice, is con- 
 stantly passing it in one direction, and the shape of the 
 island is the result of river-denudation. The plan of it 
 is like the water-line of a yacht or a fish : sharp in 
 front, broad at the shoulder, tapering down-stream. 
 The elevation is a terraced mound rising by steps 
 to a small slab on the top of all, and each course of 
 masonry has taken the same fish-like plan to resist the 
 ice and the stream. The steepest end is up-stream. 
 This rock is a miniature of shapes in the Faroe Isles. 
 An ocean-current with ice-floats may sculpture rocks 
 into large copies of the Ottawa Island. On the top 
 of the cliff, the foundation of the new building is 
 dug through beds of unstratified clay, which contain 
 many large striated Laurentian boulders. Where the 
 limestone rock beneath this boulder-clay was newly ex- 
 posed in a drain, it was not striated, but apparently 
 water-worn. The striation of rocks is not universal, as 
 it would be if caused by a polar glacier ; but partial, as 
 
 R 
 
242 AN AMERICAN TRAMP. 
 
 it would be if produced by ice-floats heavier than river- 
 ice, but similar in all other respects. 
 
 The water-line at Brockville, where the still river 
 or flowing lake forms an ice-bridge between Canada and 
 Yankeeland every year, is distinctly grooved. If the 
 lake were drained, the old water-level could be read on 
 a granite scale ; but the surface on which thin ice 
 works every year is coarse. It is neither polished nor 
 striated. A glaciated tor of quartz near the spot appears 
 to be made of sandstone, altered by the heat of whin- 
 dykes, or of the granite about it. Marks on it contrast 
 with marks made by river-ice, and prove that some 
 heavier engine sculptured the ship-like form of Montreal 
 Mountain, and the rocks in the street of Brockville. 
 
 Many of the colonists who now live at the bottom of 
 the old Canadian gulf are queer fish. It is very strange 
 to hear the familiar accents of Norman French, and to 
 see crowds of old Frenchwomen in broad straw hats 
 craning over the edge of locks to sell apples and pears ; 
 screaming and chattering like their relatives over the 
 water in the market-place at Avranches, and scolding 
 like furies about ' sous.' Voleur ! voleur ! voleur ! rend 
 me les paires. In Hogarth's print of the gate at Calais, 
 a lot of old fish-fags are made like the skate which they 
 offer for sale, and the old French-Canadian apple-women 
 
QUEER FISH. 243 
 
 were, if possible, stranger fish than they. The scene 
 changed when the boat was left for the cars, and the 
 Irish element broke out in a free fight between drunken 
 lumberers. It was not the English battle of fists and 
 fair play, nor was it Italian murder ; the fight was 
 a series of cuffs and kicks, like the ' knock-him-down 
 and-stamp-upon-him ' faction-fight of Ireland, with a 
 cross of French savatte and Scotch caution. It is told 
 that a Scotchman once mastered his foe in a street fight, 
 and having done so held him. ' Let him up, you cow- 
 ard/ said the English crowd. ' If it had cost you as 
 much to get him down/ said the Scot, ' you would not 
 be so ready to let him up/ Having floored his man, the 
 upper Canadian kicked him and pounded him till it was 
 time to embark on a second boat. Amongst these rude 
 bony pike an English maiden, under a blue umbrella, 
 selling tea and snowy bread and butter, with a broad 
 shady yellow straw hat and flowing ribbons above her 
 bright curls, might have inspired Sir Joshua. For sweet 
 maidenly modest beauty, and fair rosy complexion, a 
 purer type of Anglo-Saxon beauty could not be found in 
 merry England. She was lissom as an eel, and fresh as 
 a trout. Close at hand was a picturesque brown half- 
 breed, with dark locks and a wild roving eye, armed 
 with gun and powder-horn, bound for the backwoods. 
 
244 AN AMERICAN TRAMP. 
 
 A strong sulky salmo ferox of a man he was— half 
 Indian, half habitant, French Celt and savage. Then 
 came a well-known home figure — the old Highland dame, 
 with snowy cap and broad black ribbon, the tartan shawl 
 and short gown, and the neat strong shoe and woollen 
 stocking of the flourishing farmer's wife. She had brought 
 her niece down to see the train for the first time. To 
 see them and hear them was to think of herrings and 
 heather, and the smell of peat-reek and wet birches, far 
 away in Argyll. How strange it seemed to hear the 
 very accent of Lome naturalized in a Canadian forest ! 
 She lived in the strath, she said, close by, and she had 
 not been so far from home for many a day. Her speech 
 was Gaelic, and it is the common everyday speech of a 
 flourishing race of well-dressed proprietors, farmers, 
 and labourers, who have changed their sky— not their 
 nature, 'We had a ball here last week in the barn,' 
 said one of these Celts in broadcloth, whose twang be- 
 trayed him in the car ; ' and a better-looking set of lads 
 and lasses you would not find in all Canada, We kept it 
 up till gray daylight. We had the pipes and a fiddler, and 
 plenty of good whisky ; and a better-behaved, decenter 
 set of people there could not be. There was not wan 
 of them that was drunk/ In another place it was sug- 
 gested long ago that Celts would never make sailors, 
 
CONTRABAND GOODS. 245 
 
 because the genius of the race lay in farming and ad- 
 venture on shore. 
 
 Here in Canada Highland emigrants flourish. They 
 settle kindly to farming, rejoice in a forest life which 
 admits of a shot at the deer, make excellent lumberers, 
 and in the backwoods earn large sums by cute trading 
 with wild Indians. If farmers must give place to herds 
 on the Highland hills, it is better to send them here than 
 strive to drive them out of their element into the sea 
 after fish. As a Gaelic proverb has it, * The cat's delight* 
 is on the strand, but she will not go there to fetch it.' 
 The Gaelic region passed, there enters a mongrel, who 
 is neither fish nor flesh nor good red herring, as it appears. 
 He is drunk as an owl, his speech is a jargon of English 
 and French, with some novel ingredient intermixed ; his 
 hair is woolly, his features most like those of a chim- 
 panzee, and his colour whitey-brown. As the midship- 
 man wrote in his log, under the head 'Manners and 
 Customs of the Natives ' — This native * has no manners, 
 and his customs are disgusting and obscene.' He is 
 supposed to be a cross between a slave and a slave- 
 driver, with a dash of the Eedskin and habitant somehow 
 introduced. Then comes the lake-steamer, and from a 
 nondescript crowd of everyday folk a group of Indian 
 * Fish. 
 
246 AN AMERICAN TRAMP. 
 
 women stand out in strong relief. Dark-skinned, dark- 
 eyed, with straight hair black as night, and graceful 
 figures draped in blue and russet brown, they stand 
 alone in the crowd, unable to speak the jargons of white 
 men. They are out on the tramp with a store of em- 
 broidered nick-nacks which can be of no earthly use to 
 anybody, but may tempt idle folk with more money than 
 brains. The neat small feet of a pure breed come gliding 
 into the saloon, the slender thoroughbred hand presents 
 a coloured contrivance of bark and quills, and a soft 
 musical voice suggests 'Will you buy V When night 
 comes they make their camp amongst the boxes, roll 
 their heads and drape their figures in some picturesque 
 gear, and lay them down to sleep on the boards in 
 graceful postures worthy of sculptors' models. There is 
 no unseemly sprawling — there they rest with the native 
 grace of a healthy young savage, still as veiled figures on 
 a bronze tomb. When feeding-time comes, the figures 
 awake, the boxes open, and stores of wheaten bread 
 and apple-pie appear and disappear with great decorum. 
 Old and young, the squaws are pictures, but they are 
 mute as fishes for want of a common tongue. Not so 
 the backwoodsmen bound for home. Seated in clumps on 
 boxes and barrels, they gaze silently first on the red-hot 
 sun, then at the red foxy sky, and then at the silver moon- 
 
THE BATTLE OF LIFE. 247 
 
 light on the calm lake ; but when night has fairly come, 
 their deep manly voices awake, and there they sit and 
 chaunt Methodist hymns and forest melodies for hours. 
 
 How different from these natural figures are the 
 actors on the stage of society in large towns ! There the 
 life-drama is played out by kind, hospitable, well-bred 
 people ; by men and women who would adorn any 
 station in any land ; but very like well-bred, hospitable, 
 kind people everywhere else. There also are ' fast young 
 ladies ' and ' frisky matrons,' prudes and ' pretty horse- 
 breakers;' careful matrons, muffs and muffins ; soldiers, 
 sailors, tinkers, tailors, apothecaries, ploughboys, gentle- 
 men, and thieves — all in active pursuit of each other, and 
 the ends which people like them pursue at home. They all 
 fight out the battle of life, like whales and shrimps, cod- 
 fish and caplin, off the Labrador. 
 
 The landscapes in which these figures appeared are 
 strongly marked. There is something strangely weird- 
 like in the glimmering lustre of the bright tin church- 
 spires, shining with the reflected glow of sunset against a 
 cold twilight sky. On the St. Lawrence, the foreground 
 is clear smooth green water ; the background, a line of 
 dark green firs, with a log-hut, or a big warehouse, or 
 a corn-field, or a white town, or a cloud of dun smoke, 
 a tin roof, or some such incident, to relieve the dead 
 
248 AN AMERICAN TRAMP. 
 
 fatness of the lines. A rapid is approached, and the 
 banks begin to heave and roll like the water. The 
 vessel seems to acquire new life, and speeds on like a 
 bird, while the magnificent river rolls and tumbles like 
 the Eace of Alderney, or the flood in the Bay of Fundy, 
 as wild and as wide. 
 
 The rapid ended, the first picture rolls on again 
 like a revolving circle of green water and fir trees, 
 passing continually, but never ending. The marked 
 feature in every picture is vastness, clearness, and uni- 
 formity. There seems no limit to the country, no point 
 from which to begin or end. The new incident is the 
 passing raft. Those who have seen floats on the Rhine 
 or Danube may add up all they ever saw there in a 
 year to make one mental raft, and the sum will scarce 
 equal one of many Canadian timber-floats seen in a day. 
 It is an island of wood, with a large floating population. 
 There are the log-huts, the tall spars for masts, the 
 axemen hacking and hewing timber as they go ; there 
 sit whole crews, working sweeps, and above all stands 
 the admiral or pilot commanding by signal. He may 
 be some old Indian, wrapped in a buffalo robe, still as 
 Nelson on his column in Trafalgar Square till the rapid 
 is near ; then up goes the flag, and men and trees, wood 
 and waves, fight out their battle with might and main ; 
 
LUMBER. 249 
 
 they roar, and struggle, and shout, till the raft is safely 
 launched, or torn into little chips, which are great trees, 
 or large faggots of fir. At Quebec — the bourne of so 
 many forests and the birthplace of so many navies — 
 timber is gathered so as to cover some square miles. 
 The road along the river- side is paved with deals, the 
 footpaths for miles around are like the road. An 
 offshoot led from the falls at Montmorenci works, the 
 largest saw-mill in the world ; and the sole occupation of 
 the machinery is the making of planks, deals, and ' the 
 wood that is neither crooked nor straight.' There is 
 food for many such mills, and for many years to come, 
 at Quebec. The beach is laid with logs and shavings, 
 every creek is filled with spars and chips. Every man, 
 woman, and child, for three miles at least, seems to be 
 a carpenter, and fully employed. Above this timber- 
 shore is the steep fractured rock on which the fort is 
 perched at Quebec. 
 
 Landscapes on the Ottawa are much the same. The 
 water is brown and thick, instead of green and clear. 
 The river is far smaller and the banks somewhat higher, 
 but the same endless panorama of trees and water seems 
 to roll past the ship, as she paddles up or down. Ot- 
 tawa city is a marked feature. The landscape and the 
 building would be fine anywhere. The banks of the 
 
250 AN AMERICAN TRAMP. 
 
 river are low cliffs, hewn into bluffs by small streams. 
 Falls, forty feet high, are fondly compared to Niagara, and 
 are in fact grand falls. The neighbouring country swells 
 up into low, rolling, pine-clad hills, somewhat like the 
 country near Ascot and Wellington College. On one of 
 the bluffs, above a river as wide and as still as the 
 Thames at London, and with dark rolling hills and forest- 
 plains on every side, the new Provincial Parliament 
 House is growing up, a stately pile, worthy of the Union 
 whose interests are to be cared for within the walls. 
 
 It is little inferior to the palace at Westminster, and 
 the materials of which it is made are better and more 
 durable. Like the Capitol at Washington, it stands near 
 the middle of the settled country, in a town which scarce 
 exceeds an English village in commercial importance. The 
 railway scenery is like that of the rivers, and the lakes are 
 like seas with the low American coast on the horizon. 
 
 About a hundred years ago, Captain Carver travelled 
 through America, and of this region he wrote : — ' On the 
 north-west parts of this lake (Ontario), and to the south- 
 east of Lake Huron, is a tribe of Indians called the Missi- 
 sauges, whose town is denominated Toronto, from the lake 
 on which it lies ; but they are not very numerous.'* 
 
 * Carver's Travels through the Interior Parts of North America, 
 in the years 1766, 1767, and 1768, p. 172. 
 
CAPTAIN CARVER. 251 
 
 Since these days great changes have happened, and 
 one thing which strikes a wanderer is, that the further 
 west he goes the better things seem to grow. St. John's 
 is a big oily fish-market on the banks of Magotty Cove. 
 Halifax, and St. John and Portland, are no great shakes. 
 Quebec is better, and bigger, and richer, but it is a dirty 
 old French-looking town, and the only beggar seen in 
 Canada dwelt there. It is fair to add, that the beggar 
 was an Irishwoman newly landed. Montreal is a far 
 handsomer city, with stone churches, wide well-built 
 streets, and active commerce. Kingston is a bright 
 gay lake-town, with white ships, forts and fish-markets, 
 fruit and flowers, drums and fifes, and military parades. 
 But Toronto boasts a museum, a university, a garrison, 
 a review, shops worthy of Glasgow, banks, busses, 
 statues, gardens, and railways, telegraphs, steamboats, 
 all the newest and best paraphernalia of a rich flourish- 
 ing new town. No wonder the proud sisters quarrelled 
 about who was to be queen, and growled at the favour 
 bestowed on the modest Cinderella Ottawa. But if the 
 chief town of the scanty tribe of Missisauges has grown 
 to be Toronto in a hundred years, the chief town of a 
 tribe of British colonies may grow a body to fit the big 
 head which is sprouting at Ottawa. 
 
 If colonial senatorial M.P.P. brains only grow to the 
 
252 AN AMERICAN TRAMP. 
 
 proportions of the colony and colonial buildings, what 
 prodigious wisdom and gigantic intellect will flourish 
 on this ancient sea-bottom, between Quebec and Lake 
 Huron ! They have the sympathies of a countryman 
 who owes them a day in harvest, for many a good turn 
 done in a short time. May the provinces unite and 
 flourish, and take warning from their neighbours. Even 
 whales come to grief sometimes. 
 
 The getting up-stairs from Toronto to Niagara is 
 soon and easily accomplished. At Hamilton, a red-coated 
 sergeant, armed with the traditional rattan, was keep- 
 ing guard over British interests. It spoke well for the 
 service, when one man was set to stop all deserters, and 
 even he seemed to have nothing to do. Behind the 
 station at Hamilton is a green terrace, broken down by 
 a sand-pit. Near the top are beds of sand so packed as 
 to indicate water flowing towards the south. The 
 country between Hamilton and Niagara is rich, flat, 
 cleared, and well cultivated. It is a raised plateau : the 
 edge of it is near the lake shore ; the other side of the 
 step is beyond Chicago. Captain Carver, a hundred 
 years ago, could find nothing new to say about Niagara 
 Falls, and his example is worthy of imitation. It is now 
 a cockney resort for all the world, and one of the best 
 worth visiting. One institution has not yet been suffi- 
 
A LASHER BATH. 253 
 
 ciently praised. A lead, like a small mill-race, carries a 
 small burn from the big river through a garden past a 
 kind of summer-house. By raising a sluice a miniature 
 of the rapids outside is turned loose in a square wooden 
 box, and those who love a hearty morning set-to with a 
 strong fresh opponent, may get into the box and fight 
 the fall. There is a rope to hold on by, and a strong 
 man may struggle to the upper end. When there flesh 
 and muscles seem to nutter and quiver against the bones, 
 like furled sails against a ship's mast ; and if the hands 
 slip their grip, away goes the man, body and bones, to 
 the other end. 
 
 A breather of this kind calls up a wolfish appetite, 
 which can be satisfied at the neighbouring hotels. There 
 tribes of coloured gentlemen minister to the motley 
 crowd, which flows in and out, comes and goes, like 
 the river. 
 
 If any one wishes to study a crowd, his best plan is 
 to lay a trap for conversation, and hold his tongue till 
 the bait is swallowed. 
 
 One of the best baits for a tourist is a sketch-book. 
 There is something in drawing which invariably draws 
 all the neighbourhood to stare over the draughtsman's 
 shoulder ; and if he is willing to hear he may learn a 
 great deal from his critics. 
 
254 AN AMERICAN TKAMP. 
 
 1 E molto bello questo quadro, e molto piu bello del 
 originale,' said an English lady to an artist at Eome ; 
 and the same good-humoured spirit is always uppermost 
 when people are amused. 
 
 Seated on a bench on Goat Island, with pencil and 
 book, making daubs and enjoying the weather, was 
 pleasant occupation ; and the passing crowd who 
 stopped to criticise were as good as a play. One pale 
 dark-eyed Spaniard, who took the bait greedily, preferred 
 to converse in French, and got quite excited. He told 
 his own history. He was a surgeon ; and, anxious to 
 study his profession, he had joined the Northern armies 
 ' en amateur/ His health gave way, and he had been 
 sent to recruit at Niagara. 
 
 ' Monsieur,' he said, waving his arm like Gavazzi, or 
 a pump-handle, ' nous avons eu des operations superbes 
 — su-perbes, Monsieur, superbes. Un seul homme avait 
 seize blessures, figurez-vous, 9a Monsieur, seize blessures ! 
 Ah, c'etait magnifique. Yes, sir, it was. Seize blessures 
 superbes, il &ait crible. Bon jour, Monsieur, au plaisir 
 de vous revoir.' 
 
 I would almost as soon meet death on his pale 
 charger as that enthusiast ; but he represented the 
 class whose work now goes hopping about in Yankee 
 towns. 
 
THE AMERICAN PEOPLE. 255 
 
 To him succeeded a couple newly married, and 
 spooning desperately ; a party from the uttermost end 
 of America doing the lions, a Californian, a British 
 officer, a university man, a lot of New Yorkers, some 
 shopkeepers, Canadian farmers, wounded soldiers ; but 
 the stock stage Yankee never came. The majority 
 spoke through their noses, and reckoned ; but they were 
 civil, quiet, holiday folks, exceedingly like their class 
 at home. 
 
 Having utterly failed to discover this antediluvian, 
 set off scratch-hunting and had several good finds. 
 Behind Niagara House a bit of the rock-surface was 
 lately cleared up to the verge of the cliff which makes 
 the American side of the river. It is ground, polished, 
 striated, and grooved in many directions. Small 
 remnants of very hard sand and clay are left in some of 
 the hollows. The following bearings were got within a 
 space of three sheets of foolscap :— N. 5° E., N. 10° K, 
 N. 30° E., N 35° E., K 45° E. 
 
 It is plain that the ice that had made this uncertain 
 and devious spoor was moving southwards and west- 
 wards up-stream towards Goat Island, Buffalo, Lake 
 Erie, and Chicago ; and no glacier could well move in so 
 many directions at once. Near the end of the Suspen- 
 sion Bridge is a very large boulder of foreign rock 
 
256 AN AMERICAN TRAMP. 
 
 perched about 600 feet above the sea, nearly level with 
 similar blocks perched on Montreal Mountain. While 
 contemplating the stone, and wondering how it got 
 there, a neighbouring cottager called out a Gaelic saluta- 
 tion. By some freemasonry he had found out a country- 
 man, and if we had only been French, we would have 
 embraced then and there. The man and his wife came 
 from the Highlands to Canada, worked up beyond 
 Toronto, and got to the States at last. Their son went 
 to the wars, and they lost him ; and now they are spend- 
 ing their lives in a cottage very like a Highland bothy, 
 no better off than they were at home. * This place is 
 very dear,' they said. ' Since the war everything is 
 raised, and we are by ourselves in this world/ As 
 their proverb says, ' Men may meet, though hills will 
 not ; ' and so we met and parted beside a wandering 
 block at the end of Niagara Bridge. 
 
 At the ' Whirlpool,' shells are found in a bed of gravel 
 which is 300 feet above the present level of the river. 
 A great many of them were picked out of a bank, 
 newly cut in making a walk. They are fresh-water 
 shells, like shells now living in neighbouring rivers and 
 lakes. A native, who is a sportsman addicted to super- 
 ficial geology, said that shells and striated rocks abounded 
 throughout this district. On Luna Island, at the edge 
 
ICE-MARKS AT NIAGARA. 257 
 
 of the fall, is a large boulder of gneiss. The rock- 
 surface, within a foot of the fall and in the water, was 
 carefully examined for recent marks of river-ice ; but 
 there were none, though ice is carried over the falls 
 every winter. 
 
 As everybody knows, Goat Island is in the middle of 
 the river ; at one end it is nearly level with the water, the 
 other end is a cliff capped with drift. It is a bit of the 
 country hewn out by the river, and left standing. At 
 the upper end, a corner of rock has been newly exposed. 
 It is polished like the top of the cliff beyond the gulf 
 made by the fall, and in a similar direction, N". 25° K, 
 N. and N. 25° W., magnetic, within the compass of a 
 sheet of paper. At some short distance above the rock 
 is a bed of fine red sand, disposed in layers, dipping 15° 
 S.E. up-stream. Upon the flat surface of this bed rest three 
 feet of gravel, coarse sand, and clay, containing scratched 
 stones. These beds are disposed horizontally, and indi- 
 cate still water. Upon these rest flat layers of stiff clay, 
 containing scratched stones, many of which are ' azoic ' 
 rocks. Above these, near the surface, are beds of gravel 
 containing recent fresh-water shells, and these dip KE. 
 down-stream. In the talus, shells, bones, and other 
 things were mingled. The translation seems to be — 1st, 
 That when the rock was scratched, it was under water, 
 
 s 
 
258 AN AMERICAN TRAMP. 
 
 which moved towards Lake Erie, laden with heavy ice, 
 boulders, and sand. 
 
 2d, That after a time the water ceased to flow in that 
 direction, but flattened the sand-bed, and overlaid it 
 with gravel and clay. 
 
 3d, That fresh water began to flow towards Quebec, 
 and rearrange gravel, clay, and boulders. 
 
 If the sea were now 650 feet deeper it might flow 
 from Spitzbergen past Quebec and over Chicago into 
 the Gulf of Mexico. The Goat Island document seems 
 to record that it did. 
 
 Having finished the scratch-hunt, went stick-hunt- 
 ing in the woods, and gathered a goodly armful of 
 cudgels, especially one for the original ' Wanderer.' 
 They were all duly baptized in the river, one over the 
 edge of the fall. Sir C. Lyell has used this fall to 
 measure geological time, and it is a chronometer if its 
 rate of going were known. The water in falling drives 
 the wind, and the wind in return drives the spray ; so that 
 a constant whirlwind whirls like a mill-wheel behind 
 the green curtain of Niagara. One of the things to do is 
 to go under the fall, and when there it is scarcely possible 
 to see anything for the storm. But by dint of feeling 
 and blinking, it is possible to make out that the cliff is 
 worn into a hollow curve ) by this revolving wheel. 
 
BEHIND THE FALL. 259 
 
 The force of an ocean-wave is at work, and it under- 
 mines the cliff. In winter, ice forms in the chinks, and 
 hangs in festoons from every cliff and tree. Where it 
 forms it is a wedge, where it hangs it is a weight. The 
 rock behind the fall is shattered like shale in a frost, so 
 that bits can be picked out with the fingers. The rock 
 in the cliffs elsewhere is cracked horizontally and ver- 
 tically. Water and ice together split off slices of rock, 
 and these fall and break, and are fallen upon and further 
 broken by all the power of this water-hammer. A pile 
 of fallen cliff is under Terapin Tower. When the sun 
 shines the cairn of stones may be seen through the spray. 
 The deep water in the Horse-shoe Fall is then emerald- 
 green ; the shallower water and foam next Goat Island 
 tells purple against the green, and the wet burnt sienna 
 stones shine through the purple haze. The pool below 
 heaves like a green sea after a storm in a bay. With 
 all these water-powers, this purple and green engine eats 
 back into the land, not gradually, but by fits and starts. 
 It has eaten from the step near Lake Ontario, and it will 
 burrow up to Buffalo and drain the lakes if it goes on. 
 The St. Lawrence is a bigger stream, but so far it has 
 scarcely dug a trench big enough to hold the water. 
 
 The river Niagara is an older stream than its de- 
 scendant the river St. Lawrence ; because it has done 
 
260 AN AMERICAN TRAMP. 
 
 more work with less power, but the shell picked out of 
 the bank above the whirlpool is older than either. 
 
 At Magara the ice-spoor pointed to Buffalo ; so to 
 Buffalo we went on the 26th, after spending three 
 pleasant days in dawdling and sauntering about the 
 falls. 
 
 At Buffalo, Lake Erie is 564 feet above the sea, The 
 town is built on a plain of sand packed in beds which 
 dip 15° S.E. in the foundation of a new house in Main 
 Street. At 150 feet above the lake, 714 feet above the sea, 
 and therefore higher than part of the watershed of the 
 St. Lawrence basin, on the highest ground near the 
 town, are large boulders of gneiss, gray crystalline quartz, 
 ditto with black crystals, and other hard foreign rocks. 
 The rock of the country is dark limestone of Lower 
 Silurian age. At ' Blackrock,' near the railway, a sur- 
 face is cleared of drift in a quarry. The limestone con- 
 tains hard nodules of chert (?), which will not yield to 
 the knife, and have resisted the wearing power which 
 ground the rock. They are broken, not ground. Each 
 nodule is a ' crag ' with a limestone ' tail.' From this 
 shape it is easy to make out the direction in which ice 
 moved — the head is up stream, the tail down. The ice 
 which made this rock-sculpture went towards Toledo, up 
 Lake Erie. On three sheets of paper the following cross 
 
DRIFT AT BUFFALO. 261 
 
 bearings were got within a few yards : — N. 25° E., N. 30° 
 E., K 45° E. (magnetic). 
 
 Beside this ground scored surface with cross mark- 
 ings are small pot-holes, like those which are found in 
 all limestone rocks over which water flows. The sur- 
 face is both ice-ground and water-worn, and it is dinted 
 as if by blows. On the rock are beds, of which sections 
 are got in railway cuttings and at the quarries. The 
 surface-beds are about thirty or forty feet thick, and con- 
 sist of stiff reddish clay, containing small angular stones, 
 water-worn stones, and large blocks of azoic rock, 
 scratched and finely polished. Amongst these were 
 mica-schist, like Mount Washington rock ; gneiss ; 
 quartz, highly crystalline and transparent ; and many 
 other specimens of azoic rocks. In some places the 
 clay is largely mingled with stones, in others nearly 
 pure. No stratification could be made out ; but no 
 clean section was got, for rain had washed clay down the 
 banks. Some broken shells were found, but they may 
 have been snail-shells from the top. Tried pitching 
 stones down upon the rock, and found that dints made 
 by throwing a stone towards the south-west resembled 
 old dints. That nilometer, Montreal Mountain, will not 
 fathom depths thus recorded at Buffalo ; but if the sea 
 were here, the seaway would be open to the Gulf of 
 
262 AN AMERICAN TRAMP. 
 
 Mexico, and the rock-sculpture seems to record that the 
 Arctic Current passed this way. 
 
 If a beaver's dam were constructed here of a timber 
 raft, and enough of hay and stones and boulder-clay to 
 make a mound rise fifty feet above the water for a quarter 
 of a mile, a deluge would result. The river escapes in 
 a rock-groove, which might be corked-* A rise of fifty 
 feet at Lake Erie would flood all the upper lakes, and 
 would be felt in seven of the Western States, and in 
 Canada. Unless a notch somewhere else is lower than 
 fifty feet, the waste would escape near Chicago, flood the 
 Mississippi, and drain the St. Lawrence. In the event 
 of a war, a Buffalo dam would be worth consideration. 
 Newfoundland beavers have done greater works in pro- 
 portion to their size. The dam would do more harm than 
 all the guns that ever were made ; and the work to be 
 done is less by far than many a Dutch dam-dyke in 
 Holland. 
 
 Descending from these heights, went seeking for 
 shells on the beach ; and having gathered a store ex- 
 actly like those which were found above the whirlpool 
 at Niagara, went to a picture-gallery and the play. The 
 gallery contained one excellent picture of a scene in the 
 Eocky Mountains. A young damsel opposite to it 
 fainted, but was revived with a glass of water. She 
 
A DAM-DYKE. 263 
 
 could not have paid the artist a better compliment. 
 The play was a performance of poses plastiques, nigger 
 melodies, comic dances, and melancholy nonsense. The 
 audience smoked and drank beer, and bestowed their 
 applause on patriotic songs and sentiments. Most of 
 them were soldiers or recruits. A couple of Britishers 
 would have heard something to their disadvantage if 
 there had been any popular notion of war, but they 
 heard nothing of the sort. They smoked and swigged, 
 and clapped their hands like the rest, and never felt 
 a passing wish to build the beaver's dam-dyke at 
 Buffalo. 
 
 All the central plain of America was now open to 
 choose a route. If the sea were level with the boulders 
 on the hill at Buffalo, ice-rafts might float south-west. 
 The spoor at Blackrock pointed south and west ; so places 
 were taken for Chicago and the lip of the St. Lawrence 
 basin, to see what could be seen there. 
 
 Buffalo to Erie 
 
 88 miles. 
 
 Erie to Cleveland 
 
 95 „ 
 
 Cleveland to Toledo . 
 
 112 „ 
 
 Toledo to Chicago 
 
 247 „ 
 
 Total .... 542 
 
 The distance is about equal to a drive from London 
 to Aberdeen, which in England is done in eighteen 
 
264 AN AMERICAN TRAMP. 
 
 hours. The first 295 miles skirt Lake Erie, the next 
 stage passes over the isthmus of Michigan, and the 
 extreme points are at opposite ends of a great silver 
 star of inland seas, and within a few feet of the same 
 level. 
 
CHAPTEE XIII. 
 
 BUFFALO TO THE WATERSHED. 
 
 Friday, September 27. — Very fine bright hot day. 
 The country rich and well cultivated ; green fields and 
 fine masses of hard- wood scattered about like planta- 
 tions in the richest and best parts of England. The 
 soil appears to be a thin bed of drift evenly spread over 
 the whole rolling country. The rock-foundation shows 
 here and there, and consists of shales and slates, which 
 are weathered where exposed. A few sections are seen 
 in the banks of rivers, but the rivers hereabouts have 
 not dug far into the rock, though it is easily weathered 
 and worn. According to American geological slang, this 
 is the 'Chemung' formation; according to the original 
 English slang, it is ' Devonian.' At all events it is some- 
 thing conspicuously different from rocks in Canada and 
 Labrador. Boulders near the way-side are large, and 
 where gathered from fields abundant. They are chiefly 
 rounded, striated, polished, or weathered blocks of 
 ' azoic' rock. The prevailing direction of the wind is 
 
266 AN AMERICAN TRAMP. 
 
 plainly marked by trees at Buffalo, and along the shore 
 of Lake Erie it is S.W. If currents of wind thus keep 
 a general direction in passing over these plains, currents 
 of water would probably hold to their prevailing direc- 
 tion if the plains were sunk low enough to let them 
 pass. The Arctic Current flows from N.E. to S.W. as far 
 as it can. Probably the Arctic Current carried the 
 boulders to lat. 42° at least : 42° is near one northern 
 edge of the Gulf Stream in January and February now ; 
 and plenty of ice-floats are working still farther south 
 along the Atlantic coast. 
 
 Towards the upper end of the lake a few low hills, 
 from 200 to 300 feet high, are seen to the left, or 
 towards the Alleghanies. Amongst them are the 
 famous oil regions, where fortunes are made by boring 
 a hole and sitting still. It is narrated that country 
 damsels in these regions have grown so proud of their 
 oily greenbacks that they scorn their former admirers. 
 * You needn't come bobbin' around here, I reckon ; dad's 
 struck ile.' 
 
 Such is the way of the world. One of a pair goes 
 down or up, and the uppermost nose turns snub, and 
 aims up at the stars above it. 
 
 Besides oil, this country yields wine, and fatness in 
 the form of pigs and bullocks. Long trains full of 
 
TEN MINUTES TO DINE. 267 
 
 corpulent creatures, grunting and lowing, quarrelling 
 and squealing, at the tail of an equally noisy engine, 
 were shunted to let us pass. Boulders, pork, and beef, 
 are abundant near Buffalo. Lake Erie is in a very well 
 lined rock-basin. And 'that's so, Sir,' as the natives 
 say. 
 
 On this day's tramp we found out why British 
 tourists talk so much about Yankee haste in dining. 
 Arrived at a country station, it was somehow commu- 
 nicated to us that we stopped ten minutes to feed ; 
 and by watching the crowd and a big bell we found 
 out where to go. Some hundreds of hungry mortals 
 clustered round a lot of small tables in a large wooden 
 room, and a corresponding number of country damsels 
 — whose ' dads hadn't struck ile,' it is to be presumed 
 — were condescending enough to wait. There was a 
 decorous pause to get a fair start, and then there was a 
 rush upon the dinner. Everyone took his own line, and 
 went straight ahead. It was like the old mail-coach 
 dinner, which many are old enough to remember, but 
 the pace was fitted to the railway cars. An old story 
 tells how a famous Scotch judge once travelled with 
 some reverend Scotchmen, and by dint of a white 
 choker passed himself off for one of the same cloth. 
 They had ten minutes to dine at some country inn near 
 
268 AN AMERICAN TRAMP. 
 
 the Kirk of Shotts. The padres were hungry ; the 
 Scotch lawyer was sharp-witted, and though sharp-set, 
 he was going to dine at a country house hard by. ' My 
 brethren/ he said, * let us ask a blessing.' Putting on 
 his best judicial solemn face — which could look very 
 solemn when the owner chose — the sham parson asked 
 a blessing, and continued to ask it till the coachman 
 blew his horn. Here, on the shores of Lake Erie, no 
 blessing was asked, but the signal given by one of the 
 damsels was followed by a vigorous attack upon ex- 
 cellent beef, potatoes, green corn, apple-pie, and other 
 smoking delicacies. It is always disagreeable to be 
 beaten at anything by anybody ; nature had been kind 
 in the matter of teeth, and she abhors a vacuum ; we 
 said nothing, but we did all we could. Boasting may 
 be forgiven for once — we two Britishers rose first from 
 table, and we reckon we were ' crowded/ as a dis- 
 tinguished lady said to her hostess after dinner. 
 
 While smoking the pipe of peace in the cars after this 
 rapid act, a couple of gentlemen with note-books walked 
 up and asked whether we would vote for Lincoln or 
 M'Clellan. Hurrah ! No one knew us to be foreigners. ' T 
 haven't got a vote.' ' How ? ' exclaimed the teller who was 
 taking the sense of the meeting in the cars — ' How V It 
 was evident that he thought something must be wrong 
 
AN ELECTION ' STRAW.' 269 
 
 about a grown man without a vote. 'I'm a Britisher,' I said. 
 ' Wal, stranger, if you had a vote, which would you vote 
 for?' ' Neither,' I said. * I should only put your num- 
 bers wrong by voting ; so go along, and let us hear the 
 result' Away they went, acting all the formalities of a 
 real election, and when they had finished one car they 
 walked through to the next, and so on to the guards' 
 box and the engine. The result was a majority for 
 M'Clellan. This was the first of many similar elections, 
 and the only one that went for George B. ; so the 
 probable result of the big election came to be pretty 
 well known to a traveller long before the event came off. 
 
 Many of our fellow-passengers this day were young 
 men but old soldiers. One, who had seen much service 
 and was minus a leg, explained that he would as soon 
 shoot a Beb as a coon ; but on being further interro- 
 gated, the witness declared that the ' Graybacks ' fought 
 well. ' We'll whip them,' he said ; * we've got to do it ; 
 and as we are the strongest, we'll whip them at last ; 
 but it will take us a long time to do it, I reckon. The 
 Bebs fight well — yes, sir, that's so.' And then came a 
 long string of Yankee expletives which are unfit to 
 be recorded. 
 
 A Cincinnati man, the last and not the least 
 plucky of the arctic explorers, records that an 
 
270 AN AMERICAN TRAMP. 
 
 Esquimaux woman remarked to him that American 
 whalers swear much more than English ; and Mr. C. F. 
 Hall records that he blushed for his country. At the 
 famous fire-engine contest, held at the Crystal Palace in 
 London, it was remarked that the New Yorkers, who 
 were beaten, * cussed ' so as to frighten the foe. It is told 
 that two wicked old Highlanders once swore a match, 
 and the curse which won is recorded. A Highland 
 keeper once got his foot jammed between two big stones, 
 and cussed awful. When he was extricated, a pawky 
 boatman quietly observed, ' I 'm sure Hughy swore the 
 worth of a new leg.' The young soldier who had lost 
 his leg swore ten times as much as Hughy, without the 
 provocation ; his cusses would have beaten the winner 
 of the match out of time, the firemen and whalers ; 
 perhaps a Billingsgate fishwife might have matched 
 him, but out of the States I never met his match at 
 cussing. There is a perverted ingenuity, an invention 
 de m4chanceU } about American blasphemy, that would 
 be absurd if it were not disgusting. Swearing is an 
 obsolete English vice, still flourishing in an old English 
 colony. It is unfashionable, ill-mannered, senseless, 
 stupid, and wicked ; but it is not confined to the ' lower 
 classes,' if there be any classes in a republic which will 
 not admit a first-class car. 
 
A DOUBLE-BEDDED ROOM. 27l 
 
 At night we had a rough time at Toledo. All the 
 hotels were full. At the Station Hotel crowds were 
 sitting about a large hall on benches, sleeping, talking, 
 smoking, chewing, spitting drowsily, and waiting for 
 beds or trains. By favour we were promised the first 
 vacant room. 'Is it a double-bedded room?' said the 
 British lion. 'Well, I reckon there's a double bed in 
 it,' said the clerk ; and there were two or three people 
 in it then, as it appeared. When a morning train set 
 off for somewhere, the sleepers awakened and got out of 
 bed ; fresh sheets were put on, and the Britishers were 
 put into a closet without a window at the top of a stair. 
 They had slept in worse quarters many a time, and lay 
 heads and thraws, and slept placidly for a few hours ; 
 but it was unusual to have to bundle in this fashion in 
 a grand hotel, with gas-lights, billiard-rooms, and a 
 capital table d'hote ; and it was difficult for two tall 
 men to bathe in one small basin. 
 
 2&th. — Between Toledo and Chicago the railway 
 passes for 243 miles over land which is near a water- 
 shed. It is rich green rolling land, with white houses, 
 and blue pools of water, and old forest-trees clad in all 
 the hues of the rainbow. It is very like England in 
 many ways— very unlike it in many others. There are 
 no old English gentlemen and no old paupers ; there is 
 
272 AN AMERICAN TRAMP. 
 
 no mountain-peak or valley, no palace or hovel to be 
 seen. The country and the people are on a pretty high 
 level. 
 
 The shape of the country is like many a watershed 
 in old Scotland near the same level. Eskar and osar, 
 mounds and ridges of stratified gravel and sand, are 
 abundant everywhere. The whole surface appears to 
 be water-work ; but a large proportion of the loose 
 stones are of the old northern type. They are glitter- 
 ing, crystalline, striped, hard, azoic rocks. The people 
 and their soil have travelled in the same direction; 
 natives and native rocks are hidden alike by foreign 
 masses which travelled westward over the sea. 
 
 Most of the boulders scattered about near the rail- 
 way stations are about the size of turnips, but many are 
 as large as haycocks and hogsheads, and some at least 
 are scratched stones. The highest point reached was 
 about 300 feet above Toledo, or 864 above the sea. 
 When this level is carried back to Mount Washington, 
 similar gravel-beds and boulders are found there, re- 
 marked while passing from the watershed of the 
 Alleghanies into Canada. By looking back, terraces 
 at about this level are seen beyond Quebec; but 
 Montreal Mountain and Buffalo will not reach so 
 high as the isthmus in Michigan and its boulders. The 
 
A COUNTRY WITHOUT OLD GRAVEYARDS. 273 
 
 nearest 'azoic' rocks are away north beyond Lake 
 
 Huron, or north-east about the Adirondaks ; the rocks 
 
 of the district are Devonian and Carboniferous. Very 
 
 few rocks, and no striated rock-surfaces were seen ; but 
 
 according to Dana (p. 539) — 
 
 < In western New- York the course is mostly south-west ; in 
 Ohio, generally south-easterly ; and the same in the larger part 
 of Michigan and Illinois, in Iowa and Wisconsin, and over the 
 country to the Lake of the Woods from the northward. In 
 northern Michigan the courses vary between W. by S. and S.W.' 
 
 Either the big glacier passed up-hill this way from 
 Quebec, or the Arctic Current flowed from the polar 
 basin on both sides of the Labrador, as it now flows on 
 both sides of Greenland. So far the drift looks very 
 like water-work, and very unlike a moraine. Our 
 comrades this day had nothing remarkable about them, 
 or we are used to their peculiarities. There was 
 something peculiarly English about the look of the 
 country, antf nothing un-English about the people. 
 The zigzag fences, Indian corn and pumpkins, the 
 charred stumps amongst the wheat-stubble and in the 
 green meadows, told of a new southern country. There 
 were no old churches or churchyards, but there was a 
 look of comfort and neatness about white houses peep- 
 ing out through glades of oak and groves of poplar, that 
 was very English or very German, and the majority of 
 
 T 
 
274 AN AMERICAN TRAMP. 
 
 these people are emigrants from England and the plains 
 of Germany. At one station a school treat was going 
 on ; it was a grand open-air tea-party of pretty fair 
 children, headed by masters and mistresses, all smiling 
 and chattering, cheering and gobbling and speechifying, 
 as if there were no one-legged cussing soldiers or black 
 slaves in the world. At another station an amateur 
 fire-brigade out on the tramp came on board with a 
 brass band, and made themselves merry with lugubrious 
 horn music. They were dressed in fancy dress helmets 
 and uniforms, and were at first supposed to belong to a 
 circus. They left us to dine publicly with other fiery 
 spirits in some lake town. 
 
 And so we got to Chicago at last, after two long 
 days of pottering railway travel, through a country able 
 and willing to support ten times the population which is 
 thriving there. 
 
 The guard had announced that a message had just 
 gone down the lines to proclaim that Lee and 30,000 
 men had surrendered to somebody else somewhere. 
 Hungry for details of so great an event, we searched 
 the papers, and found many other crams, but no tele- 
 gram to this effect. Thenceforth we took no heed 
 of anything political, and waited for news till we got 
 to a place, or within reach of English papers ; for 
 
'THE POOR MAN'S BLOOD.' 275 
 
 amongst other crops, the West grows a large crop of 
 big lies. 
 
 The echoes of the late Chicago meeting were still 
 grumbling in the city. The walls were placarded with 
 notices about ' the poor man's blood and the rich man's 
 gold/ and it was feared that the draft would be resisted 
 by force. Many brave words were uttered, but there 
 was no fight. What could an unarmed population hope 
 to accomplish against the military power arrayed against 
 them ? They might talk— for this is a land of liberty— 
 but their only possible act was meek submission. Sulky 
 crowds attended at their several places of muster ; and 
 those who were drawn cussed and went to battle peace- 
 ably, if they could not pay for a substitute. 
 
CHAPTEE XIV. 
 
 CHICAGO. 
 
 If there be sameness in Canadian scenery, here it 
 amounts to uniformity. In running through Canadian 
 plains, occasional glimpses of distant hills, or rising 
 grounds in the middle distance, relieve the eyes. The 
 dancing green water of the river is always something 
 bright and cheery ; but the ' Garden City ' stands upon 
 piles in a swamp, between flat water and flatter land. 
 The water has waves, but the land is as flat as new- 
 made ice ; and outside the gardens there is not even a 
 tree to break the horizon. Except in the middle of the 
 Atlantic in a dead calm, such another dead flat land- 
 scape is hard to find. Nevertheless, Chicago is well 
 worth a visit. About twenty-five years ago, the only build- 
 ing there was a log-hut, in which bargemen used to liquor 
 when they came to fetch grain or pork from the farmers. 
 It was a place like the city in which Mark Tapley was jolly, 
 and Martin Chuzzlewit was chiselled and fevered. It is 
 now that which a city becomes when the site is well 
 
THE FURTHER WEST THE BETTER. 1 1 I 
 
 chosen. In the streets of Chicago a foot-passenger has 
 to look out sharp at the crossings. He has to watch 
 for a break in the long procession of carts and busses 
 and carriages, and bolt over, as he must in Paris, or 
 in any other capital. The main street is worthy of a 
 large European town — wide as Oxford Street, and with 
 far better houses on both sides of a wide carriage-way 
 some miles long. The farther west we go, the better 
 things will grow, and here towns grow like prairie- 
 grass and mushrooms. On the outskirts of this western 
 growth are gardens and villas stretching far and wide. 
 Some of the railways had to go out into the lake and 
 walk on stilts, for there really was no more room for 
 them on shore. Ships of large size, big steamers, tugs, 
 boats, and all the paraphernalia of a big inland seaport, 
 come straggling through the town in canals which open 
 to the lake; and street-cars and locomotives come ratt- 
 ling, panting and hissing, roaring and ringing, through 
 the town. The whole is something unlike any other 
 place in the world. In its water streets it savours 
 of Amsterdam, and a very bad savour it is. In its 
 wharfs, it has something of Glasgow or Liverpool. The 
 main street, with the magnificent shop-fronts, is some- 
 thing like Argyle Street ; the bustle is like Lord Street ; 
 the tame railway engines unlike anything to be found 
 
278 AN AMERICAN TRAMP. 
 
 out of America. The useful dragons do no harm. Why- 
 should they not be allowed to snort about streets at 
 home? These tame railway engines travel on lines 
 which radiate from Chicago into the plains ; and wher- 
 ever a line goes, there a crop of farms and farmers 
 forthwith grows also. To the company who make the line 
 grants of land are sometimes given, and these the com- 
 pany sell to emigrants. In each district a warehouse is 
 placed, to which farmers ' haul ' their produce, and there 
 they sell it, and have done with it. Corn and wheat 
 are tossed loose into railway cars, which look like horse- 
 boxes. The train speeds slowly over the plain, and 
 unless it runs foul of another train — which happens 
 occasionally — corn and train, engine and all, come snort- 
 ing and rattling through the city, and vanish at last into 
 a great tall brick magazine like a lofty Liverpool 
 warehouse. That is the ' elevator ;' the railway is 
 within it ; the wharf and the ships are beside the great 
 corn-bin, and it contains a steam-engine, which does a 
 great deal of work. The loose grain is shovelled from 
 the cars into a wooden well, through which pass a whole 
 regiment of tin buckets. They move on the principle 
 of the engines which deepen rivers. A strap is passed 
 round a couple of rollers at the top and bottom of a 
 system of wheels, and the buckets on the strap go down 
 
< provisions.' 279 
 
 head-foremost empty, turn up, and return full of corn ; 
 at the top they turn again, overturn, and tilt the grain 
 into hoppers and spouts. Through these the grain is 
 turned into bins, where it is weighed to an ounce by 
 the machinery ; and when a ship is ready for a cargo, 
 a sluice is drawn, and the grain pours into the hold. 
 The whole operation seems to go on without human 
 care. Labourers shovel grain into the maw of the 
 elevator, and it does the rest like a brownie. It only 
 wants a feed of coal and a drink of dirty water now and 
 then. 
 
 The trains which thus haul grain from a circle of 
 hundreds of miles, also haul hogs and beeves. It is 
 quite impossible to convey any idea of the shindy which 
 goes on when a congregation of cattle-trains get together 
 near the station. The voice of a Yankee engine has no 
 resemblance to the shrill yell of an English locomotive ; 
 the tones are all deep, and they are modulated to all 
 manner of notes and keys. When a gathering of iron 
 monsters takes place in a wilderness of rails, and in the 
 dark, each has something to say; and the result is like a 
 conversation of wild beasts with fiery eyes. Grunts, 
 howls, roars, and yells, with gurglings, hissing, and 
 snorting, make a strange concert. But when the pas- 
 sengers are hungry country hogs, who have roamed at 
 
280 AN AMERICAN TRAMP. 
 
 large all their lives, and stout oxen used to gallop over 
 the wide prairie or feed at. ease in the barn, then the 
 music becomes discordant. The voices tell of sore dis- 
 comfort and discontent. On a still evening it seems 
 possible to understand all about it. Get out of the way 
 — Don't tramp on my hoof — Let go my tail — I can't get 
 out — Take that — Oh dear, my ear — Worry, worry — Yell. 
 Having seen an elevator, it was necessary to see an abat- 
 toir and the end of the hogs. In ' Life in Normandy/ a 
 description is given of the making of country bacon ; a 
 whole family of Normans spend half the day in putting 
 a pig to death, and when they have done the deed they 
 spend the rest of it in salting him and talking over 
 their prowess. Here it is a very different thing. They 
 kill pigs by steam in Chicago. The talking engines de- 
 liver their noisy freight at warehouses. It is found best 
 to pack hogs and beeves together in railway travelling, 
 so they have to be sifted and separated. The hogs go 
 into square yards, and there they are left without food 
 for twenty-four hours. Now these are free and inde- 
 pendent pigs, and they do not take kindly to captivity. 
 Some go to sleep and try to be quiet, but the most of 
 them spend their last hours in biting each other vici- 
 ously. One, without any apparent cause, takes the 
 nearest neighbour by the hind leg and grunts savage 
 
pigs. 281 
 
 defiance. The neighbour generally accepts and turns to 
 battle. The champions clash their jaws and smite their 
 armed cheeks, howling and screaming and foaming, till 
 one is vanquished, and then he charges over the lazy 
 sleepers, squealing, and each down-trodden hog howls. 
 The victor grunts content for a time, but the battle 
 breaks, out anew, at unexpected places, and the end of 
 the prairie-hogs is not peace. One spotted brute in 
 particular seemed to be furious or ravenous, and bent 
 upon eating somebody, for he kept charging open- 
 mouthed at distant dreaming hogs, trampling on every- 
 body, and biting viciously at ears, tails, and legs, and 
 anything that came in his way. But the hour of execu- 
 tion was at hand. It was the first day of some new 
 machinery, and it took time to get it into gear. 
 
 On the upper storey of the building were the exe- 
 cutioners. They were tall well-grown men, chiefly 
 Germans, probably used to sausages at home. They 
 were dressed for the work, in sailors' waterproofs, 
 leggings, and frocks, and each was armed with some 
 deadly weapon and a steel. To wile away the time, 
 while they chatted pleasantly they whetted their knives, 
 and felt the edge, and as they felt they smiled. At 
 one end of the building was a large trough, in which a 
 steam-pipe heated water to the scalding point. The 
 
282 AN AMERICAN TRAMP. 
 
 grand invention, winch was to work for the first time 
 that day, was a great iron claw, which dipped under 
 water and rose again, like an iron hand with five 
 fingers. It was meant to hook out the pigs who were 
 quarrelling down stairs in the pen. Below this iron 
 hand was a long sloping table, and at the foot of it was 
 a gibbet, with hooks and turntables, wheels and rails, 
 for shunting split pigs along the rafters. When steam- 
 power had been applied to the wrist of the iron hand, a 
 signal was given, and the spectators scrambled out of 
 the way, up the rafters, and anywhere. Outside, a door 
 was opened in the long pen below, and a certain num- 
 ber were driven into a passage and up an inclined 
 plane, where they stood quarrelling to the very last. 
 The top door was opened, and two small pens were 
 filled with the combatants. Their battles were nearly 
 done. A sweet smiling rosy dandy new hand, a youth 
 in new yellow leggings, and armed with a hammer, 
 stepped in amongst them, and dead silence followed 
 him. A hutch like a rat-trap rose up, a fat body slid 
 down a way of rollers, and plumped into the tub, and a 
 second followed — plump. But by some mishap these 
 unfortunate brutes were only half killed, and thereupon 
 came a scene that was perfectly horrible. With heads 
 broke and throats cut, the scalded hogs dashed furiously 
 
pork. 283 
 
 to and fro, struggling to escape, while two Germans 
 tried to drown them by holding them down with long 
 staves. 'You, Heinrich/ they cried, when the battle 
 was over, ' why do you not kill the hogs ? No man 
 can stand this.' And then they rubbed their scalded 
 arms ruefully. No one seemed to care for the pigs but 
 one of the spectators, who felt very sick. 
 
 The two scalders now stirred the pot, and finally 
 pushed a pig into the iron hand. It turned its wrist, and 
 emptied the handful upon the table. Another followed, 
 and yet another; and the stream of pork, once set agoing, 
 flowed on. Out of the prairie the pigs drove at railway 
 speed into the hog-pen. Out of the pen they walked 
 up-stairs quarrelsome live pigs, and fifty were dead, 
 scalded, scraped, cleaned, split bacon, and hung in rows 
 ready for salting, within an hour. Within a few days 
 they would be food for soldiers and sinews of war. 
 
 After the first few hitches, the whole machine worked 
 like a clock. Luckily it was seen after the 'Ariel' cruise, 
 for salt pork has become an abomination not to be borne. 
 It is said, in joke or earnest, that a pig is here put in 
 alive and comes out, packed in his own inside, a string 
 of sausages. 
 
 Wishing to retain the power of eating beef, no more 
 Chicago lions of this kind were visited. 
 
284 AN AMEBIC AN TRAMP. 
 
 The great boast of the natives is the lifting of houses. 
 At first the town was built anyhow. A clever American 
 gentleman thus described the growth of a Western town : 
 — * You see/ he said, * we are liberal people in the West. 
 When a lot of people get together, they want their own 
 clergyman of course, and we give him a lot for a church 
 at once. He builds, and then more people come over to 
 join their friends, and a block gets filled up. No matter 
 what his religion may be, we give a parson a lot, and he 
 soon draws a congregation ; and so the town grows. We 
 are liberal people in the West, and so we go ahead.' 
 Now this process did not produce uniformity in the 
 growth of a town which only a few long heads foresaw 
 in the swamp. The churches multiplied, and the town 
 grew ; but the pavement was irregular, and the sanitary 
 regulations nowhere. The town had to be rebuilt or 
 lifted. It seemed good to the natives to lift it out of the 
 mire, and they assert that they lifted whole blocks at a 
 time. In particular, a large hotel was lifted, with all 
 the guests in it, and all the dining and sleeping opera- 
 tions went on. A man who went out in the morning 
 found the door-step higher when he came home, and that 
 was all he knew about it. A great number of men with 
 a great number of screw-jacks were underneath, and 
 when their ' boss' whistled they turned together, and up 
 
UNCLE TOM. 285 
 
 went the Tremont House, hair-breadths at a time. On 
 telling this tale to an old London builder, he utterly- 
 refused to credit it. 'Did you see it yourself?' he said. 
 < No, I did not ; but I believe it.' < Well, I don't/ he 
 said ; ' you are younger than I, and you haven't been 
 taken in so often. It would have been far easier to bury 
 the lower storey and build one on top.' That may be 
 so — the fact was so often repeated by so many people 
 that it must have some foundation. The city stands 
 sturdily in the marsh, and will probably nourish there 
 till the beavers' dam is made at Buffalo. It is one of 
 the queerest places in the world, and may become one of 
 the most important. 
 
 The people who dwell there are chiefly natives of 
 Europe — many of them are British subjects. The work- 
 ing population are chiefly Irish and German — many of 
 the richest merchants Scotchmen. The whole lot are of 
 European origin, and except that no beggars exist, and 
 everybody has plenty to eat who chooses to earn it, 
 populations might be exchanged with an English town 
 without producing any marked outward difference. 
 
 The play at Chicago was worthy of the town, and 
 some of the pieces acted were signs of the times. In 
 the first place, the sorrows of Uncle Tom were enacted 
 nightly, with all the tragic bits selected and fully de- 
 
286 AN AMERICAN TRAMP. 
 
 veloped. Eva died by slow degrees ; Legree mur- 
 dered Eva's papa, and flogged everybody with a big 
 whip. The only redeeming feature in all the misery 
 was a charming Topsy, who had just returned from 
 starring it in California, as the bills declared. It was a 
 sign of war when Uncle Tom was allowed to appear ; 
 but niggers were not popular, and scarce in the streets. 
 Another favourite play was in illustration of the Maine 
 Liquor Law, and it was well acted and much applauded ; 
 but every one went home and liquored nevertheless. The 
 Ticket-of-leave Man was a special favourite, and ex- 
 ceedingly well acted. The bills published letters from 
 young men who had been saved from crime by the skill 
 of a charming actress. Here, and elsewhere throughout 
 the States, actors on the stage dropped their accent, and 
 spoke through their throats ; off the stage, they used 
 their noses like other people, and emigrants seemed to 
 acquire that art in a few years. It is hard to understand 
 why they do it or whence the twang came, for no other 
 part of the world has this proboscidal peculiarity. As 
 it is possible to speak otherwise, it is desirable to drop 
 the twang, and apply noses to their proper uses. 
 
CHAPTEE XV. 
 
 CHICAGO TO ST. LOUIS. 
 
 It was here determined to vary the proceedings by a 
 little shooting. Tickets for Wilmington and a bag of 
 shot were purchased, and on the 30th of September, the 
 end of the month called ' poppy,' we started. The 
 distances travelled in a short time may give some idea 
 of the size of the farm over which we had leave to 
 shoot. 
 
 Sept. 29. 
 
 Chicago to Wilmington . 
 
 58 miles. 
 
 
 „ St. Louis 
 
 230 „ 
 
 
 „ Seymour 
 
 253 „ 
 
 
 „ Louisville 
 
 49 „ 
 
 
 Mammoth Cave and back, aboul 
 
 150 „ 
 
 
 Cincinnati by river, about 
 
 150 „ 
 
 
 Indianapolis . 
 
 112 „ 
 
 
 Lafayette 
 
 64 „ 
 
 
 Michigan City 
 
 91 „ 
 
 
 Chicago 
 
 50 „ 
 
 Oct. 21 
 
 Pittsburg 
 
 468 „ 
 
 
 Total 
 
 1675 „ 
 
 ' Scratch-hunting' can be combined with other sport. 
 
288 AN AMERICAN TRAMP. 
 
 At Chicago a scratched stone was found on the beach of 
 Lake Michigan, but no bare rock was discovered. The 
 Chicago and St. Louis railroad passes south-westwards 
 over a dead flat, alongside of a canal with very few 
 locks, for about 20 miles. The surface beds in this 
 plain are stratified water-worn gravel, with large scratched 
 stones. Where the rains have washed the rubbish on 
 the bank of the canal, large boulders occur in patches, 
 and smaller boulders abound at other places. Were it 
 not for the canal and railway, the country would seem 
 to be a grass meadow, with black rich soil. At Le Mont 
 the rock appears in a quarry. It is a yellow limestone 
 in horizontal beds. Here the rail ascends ; and there 
 is a step in the plain, over the top of which the rail and 
 canal run to Joliet, 40 miles in all. The edge of this 
 step is a terrace of yellow limestone, with a cap of drift, 
 and it looks like the ancient margin of a lake or sea. 
 The upper plain seems to be the level top of a bed of 
 limestone, washed almost bare, and large azoic boulders 
 are strewed about on the top of the limestone. This is 
 the summit-level — the common watershed of the St. 
 Lawrence and Mississippi. The highest point is about 
 50 feet higher than Chicago, and 100 feet higher than 
 Joliet ; and the rock is so near the surface, that the 
 canal runs through a rock-cutting for many miles. If 
 
THE WATERSHED. 289 
 
 the rock-cutting in which the Niagara flows at Buffalo 
 were filled to the level of glacial striae in the quarry at 
 Blackrock, the fresh-water lakes would overflow in this 
 direction, unless there is a lower watershed elsewhere. 
 Here the limestone appears to be water- worn ; it no- 
 where seems to be glaciated. Beyond this latitude, and 
 in this region, no mention of striated rocks lias been 
 found in any book on the subject. 
 
 More than 1000 miles away from this spot, a 
 whole fleet of icebergs are stranded off the entrance to 
 the Straits of Belleisle. The biggest stand up like the 
 Castle-rock at Edinburgh, and they are pushed by a 
 whole ocean-stream. There they stick for months, but 
 they are constantly wasting ; and as they waste away 
 above, they rise like ships relieved of their cargo, and 
 drift on. By insensible degrees the draught of water 
 decreases, and the bergs advance towards the straits, 
 scraping the ground. The plane of the sea is level, but 
 the bottom of the sea is a rising ground up which the 
 bergs advance. If Arthur's Seat were thus to slide up 
 from Edinburgh to the Kirk of Shotts, it would leave a 
 spoor. Those who have the taste may calculate the 
 power of the tide on such a mass. In course of time 
 the bergs off Belleisle melt or break so as to float into 
 the strait, and they finally drift through. But having 
 
 u 
 
290 AN AMERICAN TRAMP. 
 
 passed over the top of a ridge in forty fathoms, they 
 cannot ground in deeper water on the other side. 
 Though they do not ground in the Gulf of St. Lawrence, 
 ice-rafts carry stones and mud to Cape Breton, and 
 further south. There is very little mud about the Straits, 
 but a great deal at Cape Breton, Prince Edward's Island, 
 and the Bay of Fundy. Over this western water-worn 
 American watershed, some engine has carried azoic 
 boulders, and they are exactly like boulders strewed 
 over Newfoundland. In size, shape, and material, they 
 are alike. The boulders and mud are here together. 
 
 At Joliet the rail leaves the canal, and mounts 
 ninety feet to the upper plain. It passes through 
 a cutting in yellow drift clay, which contains azoic 
 boulders ; and having regained the summit, the iron 
 horse gallops over a sea of green grass, which has no 
 apparent limit but the horizon. At Wilmington the 
 prairie ' rolls/ as the saying is. It is not quite a dead 
 flat, but the rising grounds are insignificant. Accord- 
 ing to the accounts of those who live north of Chicago, 
 and the published works of travellers and surveyors, 
 the whole region between the Mississippi and the 
 great lakes is like this tract. Along the watershed, 
 rivers crawl sluggishly and interlace. A beaver's dam, 
 or a delta made by a rain-flood, turns water into the 
 
BOULDERS AND MUD. 291 
 
 Gulf of Mexico or the Gulf of St. Lawrence, into 
 Hudson's Bay or the polar basin. At Wilmington 
 one of these slow-going rivers, called the Kankakee, 
 has dug through the drift, down to the rock ; but it 
 has got no further. It has washed away the lighter 
 materials, and large boulders are left on the bank. One 
 beside the bridge is of greenstone, 6 feet long, 4 wide, 
 and 2 thick. It is polished and striated, so that a good 
 rubbing was taken from the surface. At Niagara and 
 Buffalo, limestone rocks beneath such stones are striated ; 
 here the rock is limestone, full of fossils which are not 
 far below the neighbouring coal-formation ; but though 
 every bare rock and quarry that could be found was 
 carefully examined, no trace of glacial work was found 
 here. These facts seem to record that the watershed in 
 Illinois was like the sunken ridge in the Straits of 
 Belleisle, over which the Arctic Current carried northern 
 boulders on ice-rafts. The mud ought to be found 
 beyond the boulders to complete the case. 
 
 The section of the drift, so far as it was made out 
 while shooting prairie-hens, appears to be — 
 
 1 . Surface. From one to three feet of black mould, in which 
 large glaciated azoic boulders are planted. The largest 
 found was nineteen feet in circumference, and six high. 
 It stands in a wide plain, fifty feet above the river Kan- 
 kakee. 
 
292 AN AMERICAN TRAMP. 
 
 2. In the Lank of the Kankakee. About six feet of sand with- 
 
 out any visible stratification. 
 
 3. Same place. About two feet of gravel and coarse sand in 
 
 beds dipping down-stream. A few gray flints are in the 
 gravel, but no shells were found. Thickness varies. 
 Looks like river-work. 
 
 4. Same place. About twenty feet of clay, containing 
 
 angular gravel and scratched stones. The upper part of 
 this bed is roughly stratified horizontally. The large 
 stones are all foreigners. 
 
 5. Talus. About eight feet, hiding the base of the bank. 
 
 6. Large boulders, apparently washed out of the clay. 
 
 7. Yellow limestone with a water-worn surface, from which 
 
 fossils project in strong relief. The river has not quarried 
 a foot of stone. Numerous large shells abound in the 
 water, which is wide and shallow. Wherever land has 
 been disturbed, great numbers of large boulders appear 
 throughout this district, and all the sections and rocks 
 discovered were much alike. The drift was evenly 
 spread, and has not been much disturbed by rivers. 
 Here then ice can only be tracked by boulders ; and 
 the next thing to be done was to hunt them down. 
 
 Wilmington is a fashionable resort. It is within 
 easy reach of Chicago, and New Yorkers addicted to 
 gunning get into a sleeping-car, and move themselves 
 and their batteries to the west. The Times' correspon- 
 dent was here arrested, and fined for shooting on Sun- 
 day, but really for writing about Bull Kun. Natives 
 shoot on Sunday without fear of the law. H.K.H. the 
 Prince of Wales went gunning in this neighbourhood, 
 
WILMINGTON. 293 
 
 so now it is a favourite resort. Game is abundant, 
 but will soon be extinct. Prairie-bens are the chief 
 attraction ; in size and colour they are very like gray 
 hens, in nature they resemble grouse. They either sit 
 so close that no one can find them without a pointer, 
 or they pack and get so wild that no one can get near 
 them. They are very good to eat, sell well, and the 
 railways open a large market. There are no game-laws 
 in America, therefore sporting poulterers overrun the 
 country, and the race of prairie-hens will soon be eaten. 
 Besides these birds, great numbers of snipe frequent 
 marshy bottoms and half-drained river-courses. Geese 
 pass to and fro ; the little russet American woodcock 
 may be found in scrub ; and there is a ruck of miscellane- 
 ous game, for all is game in the West. Owls, hawks, 
 greenshanks, cranes, quails, prairie-larks, bitterns, and 
 other creatures, may be shot in a morning tramp. Even 
 deer are seen now and then. 
 
 A tough wiry Englishman, who has been to the real 
 'far West,' keeps pointers and manages the hotel at 
 Wilmington. He is a first-rate shot, and one of the 
 chief attractions there. He is not the sole representa- 
 tive of his country : a tidy Englishwoman keeps the 
 inn ; and there are so many Britishers about, that the 
 place is called Little Britain. 
 
294 AN AMERICAN TRAMP. 
 
 Dogs, men, guns, and prog, are packed into a tray on 
 wheels, and off they set. If there be roads they follow 
 them, if not, they go over the prairie right ahead. There 
 is nothing to stop a mail-coach for a hundred miles, 
 unless it be a hospitable farm-house or a railway station. 
 The inhabitants are a flourishing, well-fed, solitary race, 
 who live the life of the last cotter on a Highland moor. 
 They are a happy race, but the echoes of distant war 
 reach even here. 
 
 Having finished the prairie-hen season, set off for 
 boulder-hunting to St. Louis on the Mississippi. It was 
 announced and partially credited that General Some- 
 body had invested the town. He had made a vigorous 
 attack, but the Federals were so valiant that he was 
 forced to retreat with the loss of a thousand men. The 
 Federal loss amounted to a dozen all told. But though 
 St. Louis was saved, no travellers could enter without a 
 pass, and no one was allowed to move about after sun- 
 set. Mentally cutting snooks, took a ticket, went to St. 
 Louis without a pass, and walked about the streets that 
 night without obstruction. General Somebody was 
 somewhere in the neighbourhood, and there had been a 
 fight at some place some forty miles away. The wild- 
 fowl are large in the West. 
 
 People at home know more about the war than I 
 
THE BEE AD-BASKET OF THE WORLD. 295 
 
 do, though I am near a field of battle ; but I see small 
 details. This is a great country, and there is room in 
 it for all the spare population of Europe—room and 
 food, work and plenty. I have seen but one person ask- 
 ing charity, and she was a blind Irishwoman. As we 
 rush over these vast plains we see wide oceans of yellow 
 Indian corn, sugar-cane, wild grass, and wheat stubbles, 
 with occasional islands of green trees. Leave the rail- 
 road and take a stretch into the country, and it is still 
 the same. We drive where we will, for this is a land 
 of liberty ; occasionally we meet a train of waggons out 
 on the tramp as we are, steering out into the wide world, 
 with a human freight and a lot of gear; they are farmers 
 who have sold their land, and are seeking new pastures 
 to plough. When they get to their new station, they 
 knock up a house with a few boards, plough up the 
 prairie, and, without more ado, sow and reap and prosper. 
 Near Wilmington I measured stalks of natural grass over 
 eight feet high. I have walked through acres of it 
 higher than my head. The Indian corn is like a small 
 forest, each stalk hung with two or three yellow ears, 
 each yielding 700 to 900 fold. 
 
 When we stopped for our noonday halt a buftalo- 
 robe was laid on the ground, and the horse's master 
 walked into the corn forest and returned with an arm- 
 
296 AN AMERICAN TRAMP. 
 
 full of yellow fruit. There were no owners in sight to 
 cry out ; and if they had seen us their only cry would 
 have been * Welcome.' Pricking up his brown ears, the 
 horse watched the spreader of his dinner on the hide 
 tablecloth, and when it was ready he fell to. "With skill 
 which only long practice could give, he twisted the long 
 spiral ear of corn, and scraped off the yellow grains till 
 nothing remained but the white cob, the foundation of 
 the corn. A dozen of ears was a good feed for the horse, 
 and the Brobdignag corn-field beside which we sat was 
 nearly a mile wide. 
 
 It is no wonder that birds abound in such stubbles, 
 that prairie-hens and wild geese, cattle and horses, are 
 fat and lazy as the quarrelsome pigs who are executed 
 for the crime of fatness at Chicago ; and there is a 
 market for everything close at hand. If there were a 
 hill to look at, this would be an earthly paradise, as it 
 seems. The people I have fallen in with are chiefly 
 from old countries — Swiss, Germans, Norwegians, 
 English, Scotch, and Irish. Those who have strong 
 arms use them and get on ; those who have brains and 
 arms prosper. This is one side of this fair picture ; but 
 no landscape is complete without a shadow, and the 
 shadow here is the black draft. One man has two 
 sons in the war, another has lost some near relation, a 
 
THE BLACK DRAFT. 297 
 
 third lias come home broken down with hardship, 
 another has lost a leg and goes limping about on 
 crutches, without pay or pension, ' cussing.' At any 
 moment a man who has spent his strength to make a 
 home is liable to be drawn and sent to fight whether 
 he will or not, and dismay reigns in this ' bread-basket 
 of the world' Pondering these things, watching for 
 boulders, smoking, munching apples, and reading a 
 stupid novel turn about, I whirled down the lip of the 
 Mississippi basin from Wilmington in one of the long- 
 cars. We stopped at a country station, and I was 
 overwhelmed by an avalanche of gray-coated men. 
 They tumbled in and filled the car to overflowing. 
 One sat on my knee, another sat beside me, a third 
 made a pile of packs and sat on my feet, and a cluster 
 stood around us. All were sturdy, brown-faced, hard- 
 handed men, but they did not seem to fit into their 
 gray clothes, and it soon appeared that they had been 
 'drawn.' The only happy face among the whole lot 
 belonged to a lad who was half-seas-over: he was a 
 substitute ; he had got a thousand dollars from a richer 
 man who could pay for his hide, and he was performing 
 ' Dixie ' on a Jew's-harp. ' What have you done with 
 your money V said I — ' drunk it V The Scotch- Yankee 
 youth winked his eye. ' I've put it where I can find it 
 
298 AN AMERICAN TRAMP. 
 
 again if I come back ; and if I don't, them that's at 
 home knows where to get it, I guess;' and then he 
 resumed 'Dixie/ and worked away till he wore a raw 
 on his lip with his forefinger. My neighbour on the 
 right was grim as a signpost ; and he, too, was a horny- 
 handed Scotch farmer. We got our mouths opened 
 with a pipe, and it soon appeared that he and the rest 
 were ' bad ' — that is to say, exceedingly disgusted at 
 having to go to the war. His brother had his head 
 knocked off by a cannon-ball, and- he had been drawn, 
 and he had not got a thousand dollars to pay for a 
 substitute. He was of the class who posted placards 
 in Chicago about the rich man's gold. As we smoked, 
 his heart seemed to warm up to his home. There was 
 the town, there the court-house, there the local insti- 
 tutions for educating the children of citizens, free gratis 
 and for nothing, as well as they could be taught at 
 Edinburgh or Glasgow. That was fine land off which a 
 man could get a 'turf-crop' the first year; and then 
 sorrow came over the honest brown face, and he seemed 
 to remember that he was a prisoner going to be drilled 
 and shot at. It was evident why sentries with fixed 
 bayonets stood at the doors. By the aid of an apple 
 and a cigar, the nearest sentry was set agoing, and he 
 explained that this lot was ' ugly,' but that there was 
 
BOUNTY-JUMPING. 299 
 
 no danger of anything unpleasant as he thought, and 
 then he puffed placidly and spat vigorously upon my 
 poor novel, which had fallen on the floor. At the next 
 station we stopped, and the conductor roared, ' All out 
 for dinner.' ' Yes/ grumbled my neighbour, ' for them 
 as can get out.' ' Let none of our men out of the cars,' 
 shouted a captain. I got out and dined well and 
 cheaply, bought a lot of baccy for my neighbours, and 
 returned. I met my friend getting out, followed by a 
 soldier with his loaded piece. ' All right,' he said, ' I 
 have spoken to the captain,' and off they went towards 
 the refreshment-room. Ding-dong went the engine- 
 bell, and the train began to move. The captain 
 beckoned, and the train moved faster. He beckoned 
 harder than ever, and the recruit came hurrying slowly 
 over the boards. The train went on, and by the time 
 the soldier of the Republic got to the step, it was going 
 so fast that to leap in was a serious risk, not to be 
 incurred of course ; so the Scotchman looked at the 
 captain and made signs, and gradually faded away in 
 the distance. One of the institutions of this country is 
 a rope, which passes from car to car, and to the engine ; 
 the captain seized it and pulled, but by some accident 
 the cord was loose, and it came away till there was 
 ' quite a coil of it.' Then the captain looked round the 
 
300 AN AMERICAN TRAMP. 
 
 corner and ' cussed/ and the sentry, turning to me, said, 
 with unction, ' Well, now, that's awful ; them's thousand- 
 dollar men.' 
 
 Now, whether the Yankee-Scotchman and his sentry 
 * skedaddled ' together, or came on by the next train, 
 I do not know ; but no man moved a step afterwards 
 without a sentry at his heels, with his hand on the 
 lock of his gun. ' A second human avalanche of Ger- 
 mans came down upon us at another station ; and 
 so, packed like cattle on a freight-train, we all arrived 
 at last. 
 
 Abolitionists are apt to say that America sheds her 
 blood freely to wash out the blot of slavery : this sort 
 of freedom is not the sort that suits people at home. 
 Scarce a journey was made in the Western States with- 
 out some such adventure. Nearly every squad of 
 recruits was guarded by armed soldiers with fixed 
 bayonets, and a pair of glittering handcuffs often 
 dangled openly from under the soldier's gray coat. 
 The natural pugnacity of the races who have migrated 
 to the far West makes them fight when it comes to the 
 point ; but when taxes and service are so very un- 
 popular, it is a marvel how the war goes on. The next 
 rent in the Union will surely tear off this new Western 
 patch upon the American f luireach.' Arrived at St. 
 
ST. LOUIS. 301 
 
 Louis, a train of oinnibusses-and-four drove up to the 
 side of the train, took in the freight, and drove on 
 board a steamer. The steamer snorted and paddled 
 over, and the procession of busses drove out as they 
 drove in. We rattled up the streets, and dropped our 
 passengers at their respective hotels ; and I found myself 
 in a real palace, beyond the Mississippi, on the 6th of 
 October. The further I go the better things grow. I 
 have travelled more than 9000 miles since I left Liver- 
 pool on the 9th of July, and here is a better hotel than 
 the best I know in London. 
 
CHAPTEE XVI. 
 
 ST. LOUIS TO LOUISVILLE. 
 
 The last boulder seen on this line was near about 
 50 miles from St. Louis, and was like the rest in size, 
 shape, and material. According to the Mississippi Sur- 
 vey, the junction with the Missouri, a little above St. 
 Louis, is 381 feet above high-water. The aneroid made 
 it 430 ; but after a journey of 288 miles from the known 
 point, and a week of varied weather, the difference (49 
 feet, or half a tenth) is not to be wondered at. The 
 height of the river-bank is nearly as much. At the 
 most the fall from the watershed is only 247 feet in as 
 many miles. The < valley' of the Mississippi is some- 
 thing very like a plain. 
 
 The 'valley' has much the same character as the 
 watershed of Hudson's Bay and of the polar basin. In 
 confirmation of this, and in illustration of life in the 
 West, a story told by an American gentleman may be 
 here retailed. The utmost source of the Mississippi is 
 only 1680 feet above the sea, according to the American 
 Survey. Near it is the territory of Minnesota, and be- 
 
MINNESOTA. 303 
 
 yond it, in British territory, is Lake Winnipeg, near 
 latitude 50°. It is in the latitude of the Land's End, 
 and the country about is said to be exceedingly fertile. 
 The winter is cold, but the climate is healthy and 
 agreeable. Wheat grown in Minnesota weighs heavier 
 than any other kind that passes through the Chicago 
 elevators, and fetches a higher price there. In the days 
 of Captain Carver, a hundred years ago, it was well 
 known that copper and iron abounded about Lake 
 Superior; 'the copper district' and 'the iron district' 
 are marked on the American * Bradshaw' map. Of late 
 years it has been discovered that gold abounds in British 
 Columbia, and that the best, the shortest, and the easiest 
 way of crossing North America is about latitude 50°. 
 With gold at one end, copper and corn in the middle, 
 and energy at the other end of this chain of communi- 
 cation, a way must be opened before long, and the 
 Minnesotans knew it. In the first place, they set up a 
 line of stages to run over the prairie, without any road 
 at all, and the stages are running on grass at the old 
 English mail-rate, on English ground, paid by the 
 American Government. Then they started a steamer. 
 She was built to run on American waters, but it 
 seemed to her owners that she would pay better on 
 the other side of the frontier. So they hauled her 
 
304 AN AMERICAN TRAMP. 
 
 out of the water, mounted her on a lot of wheels, 
 
 harnessed four-and-twenty span of oxen to the prow, 
 
 and drove the steamer over the prairie. She was 
 
 launched in water which flows to Hudson's Bay, and 
 
 she is plying now upon Lake Winnipeg, in English 
 
 latitudes, on English territory, if I rightly understood 
 
 my informant. 
 
 -> 
 In an old country a man takes up a business and 
 
 sticks to it, and his son follows in his father's groove. 
 Steamers stay in the sea, Here everybody turns his 
 hand to everything that happens to turn up, and goes 
 ahead his own way ; and ' there's nae law aboon the 
 pass,' as the old Highlander said to the Saxon. Old 
 Norse worthies w T ere dragged in their ships overland, to 
 fulfil the letter of a grant of all that they could sail 
 round in the Western Isles of Scotland. Bruce followed 
 in his ship over a tarbert, as it is told. Perhaps Uncle 
 Sam meant to circumnavigate the Hudson's Bay terri- 
 tories, and the colonial league, and circumvent his old 
 father John Bull. If he won't use what he has no 
 wonder. A Scotch lawyer turned Yankee, and too 
 energetic for the Eastern States, represents an accumu- 
 lation of energetic cuteness that may do a great deal ; 
 and such men abound in the north-west, amongst the 
 British bison bulls. 
 
MISSISSIPPI MUD. 305 
 
 Rose early from a luxurious bed. Above a marble 
 basin was a printed request, that notice might be given 
 of anything amiss with the waterworks. Turned on 
 the water, and a stream of chocolate flowed in. Reck- 
 oned that this was amiss, and rang accordingly, but 
 reckoned without my host. An ebony gentleman 
 answered. He looked blandly at the water, which was 
 so thick that an inch hid the white basin ; he dipped 
 his black ringer daintily in, as if that would make it 
 any cleaner ; and then he smiled cheerfully and said, 
 ' I reckon there must be a lot of steamers in the basin.' 
 I thought he meant my basin, but it seems he meant 
 the basin of the Mississippi, or that part of it which 
 is opposite to St. Louis. Pointing humbly to the 
 notice, excused myself for my ignorance, bowed out 
 the blackamoor, and did the best I could with the 
 golden water. The mud of this great yellow flood is so 
 exceedingly fine, that it is next to impossible to get rid 
 of it, but after a few trials the water does as well as if 
 it looked clean. Filled a glass, and left it to settle ; the 
 mud was still suspended after twenty-four hours. 
 
 As the river is muddy at all seasons, the quantity 
 carried by it in a year must be something portentous. 
 According to the Mississippi Survey, enough to cover a 
 square mile to a depth of some feet (I think ten) is 
 
306 AN AMERICAN TRAMP. 
 
 annually taken away from America and given to some 
 land under the sea. But a river whose fall is 1680 feet 
 in 3000 miles, or about twenty inches in a mile, could 
 never move a heavy boulder. The denudation effected 
 by this, one of the largest rivers in the world, amounts 
 to something like the scouring of a road by a shower. 
 The macadam is washed in the rut where the rain- 
 water accumulates most; the road itself is not much 
 altered, but some of the mud is packed in the gutters, 
 and there sorted into particular forms. Having got 
 through the muddy marble basin of this magnificent 
 hotel, fed like a prince in a hall of dazzling light with 
 dark attendants, and went out to see what was to be 
 seen in St. Louis. At home I always skip the American 
 political news; here American affairs are forced into 
 notice. The first thing worthy of note was the absence 
 of bustle and the presence of soldiers. The enemy really 
 was somewhere near, headed by a former State governor 
 who was very popular, and all the town was drilling or 
 being drilled. The shops were closed in the afternoon, 
 and the owners were met in the streets learning the 
 goosestep in plain clothes. They looked very like an 
 awkward squad of London volunteers on an undress 
 drill-day. It was rumoured that one-half of the town 
 men were 'secesh' at heart. Why should Chicago 
 
' SILENCE IN THE PIG-MARKET.' 307 
 
 flourish and St. Louis pine ? One is a baby in a bog ; 
 the other an old respectable merchant-city, seated upon 
 the biggest river, in the heart of the richest land in 
 America, and founded on a rock. 
 
 This cruel war is the apparent cause ; but what is 
 the cause of the war ? 
 
 The chief commerce of this town lies up-stream and 
 down. The Northern States have opened the river, and 
 hold New Orleans at the mouth, but they cannot guard 
 the whole bank. The enemy are always popping at 
 steamers. Sometimes a couple of guns get on the inside 
 of a curve in a bend, and follow the steamer, pitching 
 shot into her till she gets round the curve of the S> and 
 has the inner curve. There is nothing for it but to sit 
 on the safety-valve and go. As it is a service of danger 
 to travel, commerce is in a bad way down-stream ; 
 up-stream the water is so low that steamers can hardly 
 make their way. A whole shoal of white Noah's arks 
 were stranded and moored like herrings packed in a 
 barrel, with their sharp noses in the mud and their tails in 
 the water. It is an ill wind that blows nobody good ; and 
 the blast of war has blown all the pigs to Chicago. But 
 what evil power blew the ill wind that blasted the trade 
 of St. Louis ? — that is the question. As it appears, Chicago 
 is better placed for the provision trade than St. Louis. 
 
308 AN AMERICAN Tit AMP. 
 
 It is good for wine to sail round the world ; it 
 is especially good for port -wine to be carried to 
 Newfoundland to be cooled in a sea fog — why or 
 wherefore nobody knows, but the fact is so. It is 
 very bad for corn and flour, salt beef and pork, to 
 be carried through the torrid zone past St. Louis 
 and New Orleans. On the other hand, it is impos- 
 sible to get out of the basins by way of Quebec in 
 winter, because of the ice-plug. At all times the lake 
 navigation is difficult and dangerous : the shores are 
 low and hard to see, nights are dark, winds are strong, 
 and there is a lee-shore close at hand in every wind. 
 To get to Buffalo from Chicago, my friend the murdered 
 pig must describe a path like the letter Z- But the 
 rail on a flat goes straight as a dart ; and rails radiate 
 from Chicago in all directions. The dead pig and John 
 Barleycorn may travel together by rail from abattoirs 
 and elevators at Chicago, through cool climates, good 
 for provisions and consumers, at all seasons, to seaport 
 towns on the eastern seaboard, and there embark for 
 anywhere. For these reasons, as it is said in the West, 
 the Garden City and the farm-states about her cannot 
 afford to quarrel with friends on the eastern slope of the 
 Alleghanies. The Western States submit to the draft, 
 and support the war, which could not go on without 
 
CAUSA TETEKKIMA BELLI. 309 
 
 their help, because of their provision trade. In Ould 
 Ireland, the pig pays the rint, and is the poor man's 
 best friend. Here, as it appears, he is his deadly foe. 
 'The poor' (Irish) 'man's blood' flows that 'the rich' 
 (merchant) 'man's gold' may be boiled out of scalded 
 pigs and mush. On what strange little pivots great 
 events seem to turn ! The old song says — 
 
 ' Buy my caller herrin' ; 
 Though ye may ca' them vulgar fairin', 
 Wives and mitliers, maist despairing 
 Ca' them lives o' men.' 
 
 When we dined on salt pig in the ' Ariel,' we fed on 
 Irish men, and supported the war by supporting the 
 provision trade of the Western States. For the sake of 
 dead pigs the steamers are stranded at St. Louis in the 
 mud, through which 1 had to wade on getting up. The 
 pigs keep the war going, but what set it agoing at first ? 
 Was it the ebony gentleman who answered the bell? 
 Or some other ? 
 
 The banks of the river are made of mud. Sections 
 cut by small creeks show beds of yellow-gray sand, 
 and impalpable mud, all dipping down-stream. This 
 is river-delta work, but it is packed in a rock-groove. 
 The town is founded on rock, which appears at 
 the end of one of the streets, and below the town, 
 
310 AN AMERICAN TRAMP. 
 
 in a quarry; it also appears on the opposite side. 
 In winter this river freezes, so that carts can cross. 
 Boulders abound higher up. Here there is scarce a 
 stone to be seen. On the cap of the quarry, next to the 
 river and immediately above the river-plain, a section 
 is got of the surface-beds. At about fifty feet above the 
 river, the beds are horizontal, and the rock beneath 
 them is water-worn limestone, with knots of gray chert. 
 This looks like the work of still water. About forty 
 miles below St. Louis there is a quarry of pink granite, 
 and about twenty-five miles below the town the river is 
 narrow and rocky, according to the account of boatmen. 
 If a delta of mud left there has been removed by the 
 river, it has drained a wide lake hereabouts. The 
 country looks like it, and this looks like an ancient 
 shore. By the help of a strong lens, some minute 
 scratches were found on the chert in this quarry, but 
 the shape of the surface was the shape of limestone in 
 the bed of the Ottawa. It was full of pot-holes and 
 honeycombed. The cap of the quarry is about twelve 
 feet of yellowish earth and clay. 
 
 To the west rise low hills, and they were selected for 
 a day's tramp, to see the country and the fortifications. 
 
 The river flows in a limestone groove, at the bottom 
 of a larger groove, which is about 200 feet deep : that 
 
DENUDATION. 311 
 
 is to say, the highest hills about the town are 200 feet 
 higher than the river, and from them no higher ground 
 was visible in any direction. But at 200 feet above the 
 river the ground is very near the level of Chicago, and 
 not more than 50 feet below the watershed of the basin. 
 The river cannot have been so high, for loose drift is 
 there still. The rock shows at the brow of the hill, and 
 it has been cut through in making roads and quarries. 
 Fossils in the limestone project half an inch or more, 
 and stand out like shells half-buried in sand. Accord- 
 ing to geological slang, this is umbral or vespertine, or 
 carboniferous limestone ; and as the coal-measures are 
 close at hand to the east and west, some denuding engine 
 has probably cut out a groove in the prairie in which 
 the river now flows. That engine was not a glacier 
 according to the marks. All the rock-surfaces are 
 weathered or water- worn. On this foundation are beds 
 of compact clay, with scarce a vestige of a loose stone : 
 the few that were found, after a long search, were small 
 bits of chert and limestone. No symptom of a boulder 
 was discovered, and yet the moraine of the big glacier 
 ought to be hereabouts if it ever existed. The groove 
 does not look like river- work. That kind of denudation 
 is well exemplified in small water-courses cut by rains 
 in the swelling green hills about St. Louis. Every sec- 
 
312 AN AMERICAN TRAMP. 
 
 tion of a trench dug by running water in the clay is 
 angular, like V, and the plan of it is like a gnarled oak- 
 branch ; but the wide trench from coal-measure to coal- 
 measure is like the Bay of Fundy when the tide is out 
 — a plain of red mud, with leads of shallow water here 
 and there, and a coast-line of rocks with a cap of drift. 
 This is the shape of sea-work. 
 
 On leaving St. Louis on the 8th, the road passed 
 eastwards for 20 miles over a plain as flat as a board ; 
 it then reached a low range of yellow limestone hills 
 capped with sand and clay, and about 150 feet higher 
 than the plain. This semblance of a coast-line bounded 
 the lower plain as far as the eye could reach on a clear 
 day. 
 
 The clay on the hill-top is more than twenty feet 
 thick, and had no apparent stratification. In a cutting 
 near a road, it stands firm, upright as a wall ; but the 
 rain digs into the clay, and small streams have made 
 trenches in it more than six feet deep. If these hills 
 had been long above w r ater the clay would all be gone — 
 washed from the solid foundation into the Gulf of 
 Mexico, or the wash-hand basins at the Linnel Hotel. 
 
 The results of this tramp to St. Louis so far co- 
 incided with former results, and supported the theory 
 founded upon them. The last vestige of Greenland ice 
 
AN IRONCLAD. 313 
 
 in the Atlantic was seen about 37° 10' (see page 2) ; the 
 last northern boulder was found about lat. 39°. The next 
 cast was therefore organized so as to keep along near 
 this latitude by travelling eastwards to Louisville, with 
 the Mammoth Cave for a southern point to aim at in 
 Kentucky. 
 
 In wandering about St. Louis looking for boulders, 
 other things intruded themselves, and had to be noticed. 
 
 On the river-bank one only place appeared to be a 
 centre of active work. It turned out to be an iron- 
 factory, whence came the peculiar clang of clinching 
 rivets in iron plates. Sentries with shouldered arms 
 mounted guard at every opening; but, nevertheless, 
 enough of a sharp snout was seen, to betray an ironclad 
 gunboat of small proportions. Perhaps she may be in- 
 tended for the raiders and bushwhackers and rebs who 
 pelt the peaceable white arks in the yellow mud ; but 
 she may be intended for other purposes. Once in the 
 Mississippi, a steamer may go anywhere — even over the 
 prairies, as it appears. 
 
 On the hill-tops were fortifications very ugly and 
 very like other mud edifices of their class. Near them 
 were soldiers. They were camped under tentes cVdbri, as 
 all the soldiers seen encamped in these regions were. 
 They were very jolly, very noisy, very busy about cook- 
 
314 AN AMERICAN TRAMP. 
 
 ing beef, and mostly very young. Not far from them 
 were a gang of navvies working in the clay cutting. 
 One of these — an Englishman by his accent — advanced 
 and began: 'Friend, are you from the Old Country?' 
 * Yes, I am,' I said. ' I thought so/ he exclaimed. 
 'Well, then, will you tell me how things are in Liver- 
 pool?' And then he opened the floodgates of his grief, 
 and poured his sorrows into my ears. His cotton shirt 
 was egregiously dear. He got good pay, but what was 
 it worth when things were so dear? He thought he 
 would go back to England, for this was a bad place to 
 live in now. There were the soldiers on the hill there 
 looking down at us. That one was an officer. Did he 
 look one in that shabby hat ? — and so on. Not wishing 
 to be mistaken for a disguised reb taking a plan of the 
 new defences, I launched out in strong approbation of 
 the officer and his costume, shook hands with the 
 navvy, and departed. One of the soldiers was kind 
 enough to accompany me part of the way home, and we 
 conversed amicably till we got to his destination, a 
 camp in the suburbs, and there we parted. Unless 
 these fellows were looking after suspicious characters, 
 no other creature in this besieged town under military 
 law, swarming with spies, and inaccessible to peaceable 
 travellers, took the smallest notice of ' dis here child.' 
 
SUPPER AT CARLISLE. 315 
 
 The result of the boulder-hunt to the eastward is 
 soon told. Though the roadside was keenly watched, 
 with the full expectation of seeing the familiar shape 
 of a big striped stone, not one was seen between St. 
 Louis and Louisville, on plain or in railway cutting. 
 The road crosses a number of rivers, which flow south- 
 wards into the Ohio, and join the Mississippi. As soon 
 as the old coast-line (if it be one) is passed, the way 
 rises, winding through well-wooded hills of sand and 
 clay, containing small water-worn stones. At 180 feet 
 above St. Louis (460 above the sea), the prairie is 
 reached. It is a beautiful rolling country, like the 
 best parts of fertile England, with neat villages nestling 
 among trees, and wide tracts of corn-land stretching as 
 far as the eye can reach. They extend to Wilmington 
 and Chicago. After a while the road descends to 50 
 feet above St. Louis, and there it stays for a spell. 
 
 At Carlisle the engine broke down, and there we 
 had to stay for a spell also, waiting for a fresh horse. 
 We had taken berths in a warm sleeping-car, and as this 
 was Saturday night, no more trains were coming ; but 
 as we had no food on board, all adjourned to Carlisle 
 in search of supper before going to roost. The landlord 
 of a little country inn was rather taken aback by this 
 invasion of hungry men ; but he and a lot of smart girls, 
 
316 AN AMERICAN TRAMP. 
 
 who had just fed a large country company, set their 
 shoulders to their wheel, and their hands to the frying- 
 pans, and in ten minutes twenty or thirty ravenous 
 travellers were munching as many good beefsteaks, and 
 swilling hot tea. A large map of the county hung on 
 the wall. The whole of it is rolling prairie, grass land, 
 and woodland, disposed in long strips, which run N.E. 
 and S.W., as do the rivers. Hill and dale, and varieties 
 of soil and vegetation, all trend one way. According to 
 a sharp, good-natured * native, who clearly thought I 
 was a land speculator, boulders of granite, and of a blue 
 stone, as big as a man's head, are found in the land. 
 If so, they must be rare, for I saw none. There is 
 good shooting in this district. Prairie-hens abound, 
 ducks and geese are numerous, and three deer were 
 brought in this morning. The rivers are flooded once 
 a year, generally in May and June. The bottoms are 
 very rich. The district is rich in coal. One pit was at 
 work at the first rise, and several more were seen at 
 work. A seam 7 feet thick was found at 250 feet below 
 the surface, in boring an Artesian well near this place. 
 Large fortunes have been made by purchasing land 
 with undiscovered coal-seams hidden under the rich 
 prairie. Any man who does not mind the chance of 
 being drafted, may here become proprietor of a large 
 
SUNSET COLOURS. 317 
 
 coal estate for a small sum, if he has sufficient geological 
 knowledge to select his farm in a good place. The coal- 
 market is handy, the country pretty, and the climate 
 excellent. A German passenger had lately come up 
 from New Orleans ; he came in a steamer between two 
 gunboats with guns loaded and cocked ready for fight- 
 ing ; but there was no fight this time. Many other 
 steamers had been fired at. He described the scenery 
 as monotonous, and the voyage cost a week. 
 
 Having supped and listened to a political discussion 
 till sufficiently sleepy, strolled out into the frosty moon- 
 light, and listened to the cackling of wild-geese in the 
 air, and all the sleepy sounds of a country-town going 
 to roost. The sunset colours this evening were most 
 beautiful. The sky was perfectly clear, and glowed 
 with orange and green till the dark blue and silver of 
 a hard frosty sky sunk down upon the horizon, and 
 put out the orange light. There is something peculiar 
 in these American sunsets in low latitudes. We are 
 far enough south to note the rapid change from day to 
 night ; but that is not the only peculiarity. The 
 European sun goes down behind a sea-horizon, and the 
 light is reflected from the convex water-mirror, and 
 shines through haze ; here the sun goes down behind 
 a dry plain which does not reflect. There is a marked 
 
318 AN AMERICAN TRAMP. 
 
 difference in the colour, whatever the reason may be. 
 There is less variety of shade, and a recurrence of the 
 same effects night after night. Found the way to the 
 railroad in the dark, and after stumbling over the 
 sleepers, found the end of the shipwrecked train. Got 
 in, and walked through the deserted cars to the sleeping- 
 car ; turned in, and went to sleep. Dreamed of dancing 
 furious reels in a very small house, and of the chain of 
 the ' Ariel,' and the fore-hold of that palace on the water ; 
 and finally awoke, to find the sun shining, and the train 
 crawling slowly through a rolling country. The barometer 
 was at the same level. It was a fine, sharp, frosty, 
 cloudless morning, but there was no breakfast to 
 be got. Passed a cutting in which were beds of 
 sand dipping opposite ways, a shape which indicates 
 ebb and flow. Got into an empty car, toasted myself 
 at the stove, and thought how much I should like to 
 eat somebody if I really were the wolf whose appetite 
 had fallen to my share for breakfast. We got nothing 
 all that frosty Sunday but a slice of apple-pie late in 
 the day. The breakdown had thrown everything out of 
 gear. Near the White Eiver the country is hilly, the 
 rock a coarse sandstone, which forms weathered cliffs 
 near the river. The hills are not more than 200 or 
 300 feet high, but well-wooded and very pretty. The 
 
THE COW-SHUNTER. 319 
 
 rail winds through the hills like an eel up to 360 feet 
 (740 above the sea), and therefore higher than the 
 watershed near Chicago. For a distance of 213 miles 
 there is no symptom of glacial action, but every sign of 
 water-work in all forms. An unfortunate woman here 
 proved the use of the frame ahead of the engine. 
 She was seen by the engineer sitting on the track, and 
 the usual staccato movement on the steam-horn was 
 performed with vigour. The woman never stirred. 
 The engine took her on the side of the head, and the 
 frame lifted her up and cast her into the ditch. The 
 train stopped, and all the passengers got down and 
 trotted back a quarter of a mile to the place where the 
 woman lay. They clustered round her, and then the 
 train thought it would go back too. So it snorted and 
 screamed, and ran backwards into the thick of them. 
 They scattered and made room, and, for a wonder, no 
 one else was hurt. The woman was badly stunned, 
 and her head was cut and bleeding, but no bones were 
 broken. So she was bundled into a baggage-van and 
 taken on to Mitchell, where she was left in charge of a 
 landlady. No one knew anything about her, and it was 
 surmised that she had been liquoring freely somewhere 
 on Saturday night. 
 
 From Mitchell the line runs southwards to the 
 
320 AN AMERICAN TRAMP. 
 
 Ohio, and the country is much the same. At Salem, 450 
 feet (830 above the sea), the rock is yellow sand- 
 stone, clear of drift, and weathered. The country ap- 
 pears to be a series of hollows scooped out of horizontal 
 beds of sandstone of the coal-measures. The shape may 
 be expressed by curved lines, thus — 
 
 A tongue of land like a low promontory extends ont 
 into the prairies westwards from the Alleghanies. The 
 Ohio is on one side of it, Lakes Erie and Ontario on 
 the other ; the crest of it is about lat. 41°, and the end 
 of it near Chicago. The hollows are mere ruts dug out 
 of it, and we have been crossing the hollows thus far. 
 From Mitchell the road rises to 630 feet (1010), and 
 then runs down to New Albany, on the Ohio, where the 
 aneroid marked 150 feet above St. Louis. According 
 to the survey, the difference between Louisville and 
 the junction of the Mississippi and Missouri is only 
 20 feet. 
 
 Omitting details, the present shape of the surface 
 which covers the coal-basin in the fork of the Y made 
 by the Ohio and Mississippi may be expressed by a 
 curve of 340 miles ^-^ long, and 630 feet high. The 
 rocks seem to be very little disturbed, so coal-mining 
 
CHAFF. 321 
 
 ought to be easy. A reference to Plate 8 in Johnston's 
 1 Physical Atlas' will show that the form of the coast of 
 the Gulf of Mexico is repeated in miniature about the 
 fork at Cairo. The black colour on the geological map 
 coincides with a rise like a coast near St. Louis, and 
 near Mitchell. The hollows look like aqueous denuda- 
 tion ; and there is no symptom of a glacier, little or big, 
 in this region. 
 
 The Ohio is crossed in a steamer, and from the 
 landing-place busses carry passengers to the several 
 hotels. The water is quite as dirty as in the Mississippi, 
 and the colour of the dirt is the same. The town is 
 crowded with soldiers and all that belongs to war. The 
 railroad which runs south into Kentucky is new ; it 
 was not finished when my edition of Mitchell's ' Guide' 
 was published ; but, as the publishers of that useful 
 work wisely omit to date it, the date of the railroad 
 cannot be learned from the railway guide. In July, the 
 first thing the Halifax pilot had to tell was that gold 
 was at some fabulous premium, and the next was that 
 a great Southern raid was threatening Washington. 
 When it was over, the armies near Eichinond used to 
 chaff each other. The Eebs bellowed like bulls, and 
 shouted, ' Bo ! have some beef, Yanks ? — Ba ! ' The 
 
 Y 
 
322 AN AMERICAN TRAMP. 
 
 Yanks returned bullets, and the Eebs retorted ; and so 
 men died for beef and chaff. 
 
 On returning from the North, the war pendulum 
 had taken another swing. Atlanta had fallen — so had 
 gold. Nobody knew where Atlanta was, but all were 
 agreed that it was a glorious victory. After some time, 
 Atlanta was discovered in a map, and it seemed plain 
 that a very disagreeable missile was in the side of the 
 Eeb. The bullet went in by way of Louisville and the 
 Kentucky railroad, and supplies of men and provisions 
 followed through the wound. The most obvious remedy 
 was to plug this hole, and extract General Sherman and 
 his army. On this head nothing certain was to be 
 extracted from the newspapers, but it was gradually 
 drawn from fellow-travellers that the communications 
 with Atlanta were in considerable danger ; that to 
 travel on the railway was now a service of great 
 peril ; and that the North had got a pretty considerable 
 whipping somewhere near Salina. It further appeared 
 that the Federals held the ground on which they stood 
 in Kentucky, but little else even there. A gagged press 
 would not be apt to insert stories against the rule of the 
 ruling power ; and here are a few stories of daily life 
 taken from one paper one morning : — 
 
THE BORDERS. 323 
 
 Louisville, Kentucky, October 13, 1864. 
 
 ' Murder of an Enrolling Officer. — Captain M'Carty, 
 formerly of the 42 d Indiana, and enrolling officer for Eeeves 
 township, Daviess County, started, on Monday of last week, to 
 notify the drafted men of the township. In the afternoon, while 
 riding along the road in the south-east part of the county, he 
 was shot by men in ambush, and, as it appears from the confes- 
 sion of one of the conspirators, by a detachment of eighteen who 
 banded together for this purpose. 
 
 1 After killing M'Carty, they placed the body on a sled and 
 dragged it the distance of one and a half miles to White River, 
 and, tying a large stone to the body, sank it in the river. His 
 horse ran to a house not far off, and was taken up, but not recognised. 
 
 ' On Tuesday, the family becoming alarmed at his protracted 
 absence, inquiry was made in relation to his movements ; and his 
 horse was found, and traces of blood discovered on the saddle. 
 
 ' One man was arrested on suspicion of having committed 
 the murder, but no proof of his guilt could be adduced, and he 
 was liberated. On Thursday the place of his assassination was 
 discovered, and the track of the sled traced to the river-bank. 
 
 ' The man who had been arrested accompanied the party on 
 the search, and when the body was dragged from the water, 
 stricken with remorse, he burst out crying, and declared that, 
 though his hands were clear of M'Carty's blood, his heart was 
 not, and then proceeded to make full confession of his 
 guilt, and of the damnable conspiracy that had been set on 
 foot, and thus cowardly executed. Eighteen had banded together 
 for this purpose, and on Monday, knowing of the movements of 
 Captain M'Carty, had divided into squads and waylaid the different 
 roads along which they supposed he would pass. Five men 
 formed the squad that did the killing. He gave the names of 
 the entire band, and seven of them have been arrested and sent 
 
324 AN AMERICAN TRAMP. 
 
 to Indianapolis. Captain M'Carty is represented by all who knew 
 him as an excellent and estimable man ; and even the men who 
 murdered him so cowardly and cruelly bore this testimony to his 
 character.' 
 
 What a popular service it must be when the people 
 thus welcome the recruiting officer north of the Ohio ! 
 No wonder there is a conspiracy and a political trial 
 now going on in the Western States. 
 
 Murder No. 2. 
 
 ' Murder in Putnam County, Ind. — We learn that on 
 Wednesday, the 28th ult, a most shocking murder was com- 
 mitted in the town of Cloverdale, Putnam County, Ind. An old 
 citizen named George Young, who was residing alone, was mur- 
 dered by some person or persons unknown, who entered his 
 house in the night time. The marks on the corpse indicated 
 that he had received a blow on the back of the head with a 
 bludgeon of some kind, and that he had also been choked. The 
 horrible deed was not discovered by the citizens till Friday fol- 
 lowing, when he was found lying on the floor of his house, the 
 front door locked, and some article of furniture drawn up to the 
 back door to keep it closed. A coroner's jury was summoned, 
 which elicited the above facts. Mr. Young bore the reputation 
 of being a peaceable and quiet citizen. 
 
 ' Several persons of questionable standing have been missed 
 from the neighbourhood since the murder, one of whom is known 
 to have belonged to Morgan's raiders when they entered Indiana 
 over a year ago. 
 
 Morgan is a famous 'Gorilla' of great power and 
 
BORDERERS. 325 
 
 ferocity, according to one side ; a sucking dove of great 
 suavity and polite demeanour, according to the other. 
 
 Murder No. 3. 
 
 ' Two Men Hung. — Last week two men were hung at Paris, 
 Linn County, Kansas, for robbing a soldier's wife of over three 
 hundred dollars. When the soldier returned home, he raised a 
 party of citizens and caught the robbers. They were forced to 
 reveal where they had hid the stolen money, after which they 
 were hung.' 
 
 Lynch law seems to prevail in this region. 
 
 i «, 
 
 Snow. — Snow fell on Friday at Indianapolis, Lafayette, and 
 other places in the northern part of Indiana. This will account 
 for the cool weather in this vicinity.' 
 
 Pleasant weather for campaigning, and a good 
 reason for carrying the war into the enemy's warm 
 country ; perhaps this may account for the northern 
 practice of burning everything. 
 
 This was the whipping which individual soldiers 
 confessed, but the papers would not : — 
 
 1 General Burbridge's Expedition. — The following facts 
 in regard to the failure of General Burbridge's expedition into 
 Virginia were obtained from a gentleman of Covington, who con- 
 versed with General Burbridge during his brief stay in that city 
 Sunday afternoon. 
 
 ' General Burbridge left Lexington Ky., about two weeks 
 since with a force of mounted men, for the purpose of destroying 
 the extensive salt works at Saltville, Va. Upon arriving there, 
 
326 AN AMERICAN TKAMP. 
 
 he found the place strongly fortified and defended by a large 
 rebel force, under command of Breckinridge and Echols. General 
 Burbridge had two brisk skirmishes with the enemy, capturing 
 two redoubts, one hundred and fifty prisoners, and a large number 
 of horses, mules, and cattle. Our losses in the two fights were 
 small. Colonel Mason, of the 11th Michigan, was killed, and 
 Colonel Hanson, acting Brigadier-General, and a very brave officer, 
 was mortally wounded. 
 
 ' Finding the place too strongly fortified, and defended by a 
 superior force, General Burbridge withdrew in the night, leaving 
 his wounded at the farm-houses in the vicinity where the fight 
 took place. The rebels pursued our troops about eight miles, 
 but with what effect is not known. General Burbridge and staff 
 arrived at Covington on Saturday afternoon, via Big Sandy river, 
 and left immediately by special train for Lexington.' 
 
 Here lies one of the Western wild-fowl — a Canard 
 sauvage; but he proves that nigger soldiers are not 
 popular in this region, and that is true : — 
 
 'Versailles, Oct. 9, 1864. 
 ' To the Editors of the Louisville Journal. 
 
 ' The paragraph in your paper on Friday, the 7th inst., under 
 the caption of ' A Difficulty in Versailles,' is purely imaginary, 
 and without the slightest foundation in fact. 
 
 ' There has been no collision between the citizens and negro 
 soldiers in Versailles, and no stringent measures adopted by the 
 military authorities in consequence thereof. It is not true ' that 
 negro soldiers are stationed at every corner of the streets, and 
 have orders to disperse all gatherings of the citizens, or that only 
 two men are permitted to stand and converse with each other on 
 the street,' as stated by your informant. 
 
 ' It is true that on Monday, the 3d inst,, a squad of negro 
 
A BREACH OF DECORUM. 327 
 
 soldiers, with arms in hand, paraded the streets after night, to 
 the great annoyance of pedestrians, and rudely thrust aside gentle- 
 men, and even ladies, who happened to be in their way. Now, 
 there was no apparent necessity for this military display at such 
 a time — there was no threatened danger from any quarter. Upon 
 inquiry, it was ascertained that these negro troops were acting 
 under the orders of a major in command at this post, who was 
 drunk at the time, and not conscious of the character of his offence. 
 The citizens, feeling justly indignant at such a breach of decorum 
 and respect, drew up a remonstrance to head-quarters at Lexing- 
 ton, setting forth the facts in the case, and in a very short time 
 said officer was required to appear before his superiors and answer 
 for the offence charged against him. 
 
 ' It is not true that hostility exists on the part of the citizens 
 toward the negro soldier, for, as a general thing, they are obedient 
 and civil ; but the cause of complaint is against those placed in 
 command, who are generally Dutch, rude and rustic in manners, 
 never looked into Chesterfield, with scarcely an idea above con- 
 verting a cabbage head into krout. Of course there are some 
 honourable exceptions. 
 
 ' With all due deference to your informant, I am induced, 
 from a sense of justice to all parties, white and black, to make 
 the above statement. Sam.' 
 
 Here are the pleasures of war in a loyal State, and 
 close to head-quarters : — 
 
 ' Guerilla Operations near the City. — The guerillas are 
 growing extremely bold, as their operations within a few miles of 
 the city plainly testify. We are informed that at an early hour 
 on Wednesday morning, a band of twenty-five armed men was on 
 the Bardstown pike, a short distance from Louisville, engaged in 
 committing depredations. Last night seven of the scoundrels 
 
328 AN AMERICAN TRAMP. 
 
 made a raid on the Two-Mile-House, and robbed several parties 
 living near. One gentleman, whose name we did not learn, was 
 relieved of his pocket-book, containing 1000 dols. The toll-gate 
 keeper was robbed of a small amount of money. We trust that 
 an energetic move will be made by the military authorities, 
 which will result in the capture of the entire party of thieves. 
 
 ' At an hour later than the above writing, we learn that the 
 guerilla scoundrels lorded it completely over the highway this 
 morning. Every person met on the road was halted and robbed. 
 A great commotion existed among the marketmen and milkmen, 
 as the robbers paid particular attention to them. Mr. I. M. 
 Hornsby was halted by five of the desperadoes, four and a half 
 miles from the city. They presented cocked pistols at his head, 
 and forced him to hand over his purse, containing 300 dols., and 
 a fine gold watch. They then unharnessed his horse, and left 
 him on the highway, quietly sitting in his buggy. The last he 
 saw of the thieves, they were riding down the Taylorsville Eoad. 
 From other parties we learn that they robbed the toll-gate keeper 
 on this road, and he (the keeper) says, threatened to kill him. 
 He is an old grey-headed man, and we would have thought that 
 his silver hairs would have commanded respect. The robbers 
 did not respect his age. He was beaten over the head with the 
 butt of a pistol, and otherwise roughly handled. 
 
 ' Five miles from the city, on the Taylorsville Road, Mr. S. 
 Gibson, of Shelby County, who was coming to Louisville on 
 horseback, was halted and robbed of 556 dols. in money. As he 
 neared the city he overtook men on foot, on horseback, and in 
 waggons and buggies, who reported themselves as victims of this 
 wholesale robbery. The guerillas addressed their leader as 
 Captain Furgueson. It is a shame that so daring a band of 
 robbers should be allowed to approach so near the city and 
 practise so many outrages.' 
 
 So there was irritation about this wound in the side 
 
' GORILLS.' 329 
 
 of poor old Kentucky, and her Southern friends were 
 striving to plug the wound. 
 
 The state of military affairs, as it appeared, was not 
 then favourable for the North, or for travelling from 
 North to South. The Atlanta raid was going the way 
 of the Southern raid — back again ; and the draft was 
 not going on quite as well as might be wished in the 
 Western States. 
 
 What is the cause of all this evil ; this making and 
 shedding of ill-blood % If it is not the dead pig, the pro- 
 vision trade, and pelf, is it philanthropy and the live 
 nigger ? 
 
 The ladies of Louisville are famed for their beauty 
 throughout the States, as I am told. English and 
 French damsels are as fair, so far as I have been able to 
 ascertain. Shortly before leaving England, a fair young 
 English girl arrived from France with the French polish 
 of the most select French millinery added to her numer- 
 ous charms. The newest of the French novelties brought 
 to bear upon dazzled male Eebs by this fair young 
 damsel arrayed for conquest, was a black silken coat 
 with a white lining, shaped like a man's evening 
 swallow-tail, but adorned with sundry frills and ruches 
 set round the borders, which made it a truly feminine 
 garment of great elegance. No such garment had ever 
 
330 AN AMERICAN TRAMP. 
 
 delighted male eyes before, and certainly no such gar- 
 ment ever was seen behind the Alleghany Mountains, 
 as I supposed. One of the first things seen in Louis- 
 ville was the outward form of the frilled swallow-tail 
 coat, which was new in London in July. This specimen 
 of art was sky-blue, and beautifully made ; so was a 
 silken gown, so was a bonnet with a garden of flowers 
 and a nodding plume, so was a parasol over all. The 
 wearer was slight and graceful, and carried herself and 
 her silken train with a light tripping gait. It was 
 impossible to resist trying for a peep at the face of the 
 most beautiful of the beauties of Louisville, in the 
 Parisian fashion of the fairest of London ladies. Slid- 
 ing off the pavement not to seem impertinent, I strode 
 through the dust, got ahead, turned incidentally to 
 look at a shop window, and saw — a nigger. She was a 
 regular darky, with blubber lips, disguised as ' the girl 
 I left behind me.' 
 
 As I was going down de street, 
 Down de street, down de street, 
 A dark fair sex I chanced to meet — 
 
 and there she walked on, ogling, this < dark gal dressed 
 in blue.' 
 
 Is this the triumphant Bellona, the type of her race, 
 causa teterrima belli, the Helen of the American war? 
 
HELEN. 331 
 
 Are free men drafted to free enslaved niggers? The 
 records of every-day life tell a different tale — 
 
 ' Diabolical Murder in Henderson County. — The Owens- 
 boro Monitor of Wednesday says : — 
 
 * Mr. Charles Winfrey, a wealthy and highly respected citizen 
 of Henderson county, was murdered last week under the follow- 
 ing circumstances, as related to us. — -A party of nine men, who 
 had been drafted in Indiana, went to Mr. Winfrey's residence 
 and tried to persuade or steal from their master a sufficient 
 number of negro men to relieve them from the draft. They 
 made several attempts to accomplish their purpose, but the 
 negroes could not be induced to leave. They also tried to 
 intimidate Mr. W. by telling him they had an order from Colonel 
 Moon, who commands at this post, for the negroes for military 
 duty, but this had no effect. They then left. Mr. Winfrey 
 called his servants together and told them that these men would 
 make their appearance again, and if they did not desire to go 
 they would have to assist him in defending themselves. This 
 they readily assented to do, and a signal was to be given by 
 which they would be called to the main building. A noise 
 being heard on the premises the same night, Mr. Winfrey got up 
 and opened a side door to give the alarm, when he was shot by 
 a man named Peyton formerly of Henderson county, who was 
 concealed near the door, killing him almost instantly. A man 
 by the name of Pipes, and another named Holder, were among 
 the accomplices. They immediately fled to the opposite side of 
 the river, and have not as yet been arrested. As an evidence of 
 attachment existing between Mr. Winfrey and his servants, we 
 will state that at the beginning of the war Mr. Winfrey divided 
 a large sum of money among his servants and bade them take 
 and conceal it, which they did, and after he was killed, as we are 
 informed, 6O00 dols. in gold and silver were brought by these 
 
332 AN AMERICAN TRAMP. 
 
 faithful negroes and delivered over to the proper person to 
 receive his effects.' 
 
 Nigger recruits are stolen or taken, but they would 
 rather be household slaves than be shot. 
 
 It is sweet and decorous to die for country, but dis- 
 agreeable to be made to die for a drafted somebody else, 
 who, as the song has it, ' doesn't want to go.' 
 
 Theoretically, the North is fighting to free niggers ; 
 practically, it is doing nothing of the sort. Here are 
 more crumbs of daily bread : — 
 
 'Police Proceedings. — Wednesday, Oct 11, 1^64. — Thomas 
 Moore, drunk and disorderly conduct. Three dollars fine. 
 
 ' J. R. McGee, drunk and disorderly conduct. Three dollars 
 fine. 
 
 ' William Demph, disorderly conduct. Three dollars fine. 
 
 ' Mary Henley, drunk and disorderly conduct. One hundred 
 dollars bond for two months. 
 
 1 Sarah Ganaghty, drunk and disorderly conduct. One hun- 
 dred dollars bond for one month. 
 
 * Butler Smith, charged with aiding Bill, a slave of Guntcher- 
 man, to escape. Continued. 
 
 ' James Manning and Julia Manning, charged with stealing 
 towels, sheets, &c, from J. R. Nesbith, worth over four dollars. 
 James discharged, Julia three hundred dollars to answer. 
 
 ' Elijah Bremer, fast driving. Fined five dollars. 
 
 ' Thos. Kincholow, shooting Mary Dolan with intent to kill. 
 Four hundred dollars to answer. 
 
 'William, a slave of John Summers, stealing a horse and 
 wagon from Mr. Rogers. William being a drafted man was 
 handed over to the military. 
 
FREEDOM. 333 
 
 ' John CoogrifF, stabbing Pat. Flaherty with intent to kill 
 Continued. 
 
 ' Henry, slave of Mr. Marshall, stealing a coat from a soldier. 
 Discharged.' 
 
 ' Coekim non animam mutant qui trans mare currunt :' 
 — poor Pat is drunk and disorderly, but three cases of 
 slavery in one morning do not look very free. 
 
 As there are no old scratches in this district, atten- 
 tion was directed to black men, and a trip was organ- 
 ised for the Mammoth Cave and the lower regions. 
 
 Not wishing to get involved in the fight which was 
 coming, we went no further on Tom Tiddler's ground. 
 Here is a sample of stories told by men who had lately 
 travelled through the conquered country in Southern 
 bounds, which all described as a howling wilderness of 
 blackened houses, burned fences, and ruined farms, with 
 a population of soldiers, guerillas, and ruined angry 
 hungry men. 
 
 ' The Raid on the Lexington Railroad. — From a gentle- 
 man who was a passenger on the Kentucky Central Railroad, 
 captured eight miles from Lexington on Tuesday morning, we 
 learn the particulars of the raid. About 7 o'clock in the morn- 
 ing the train was thrown from the track by an obstruction 
 placed upon the road. The cars were immediately surrounded 
 by thirty armed men dressed in Confederate uniform, under 
 the command of Captain Pete Everett. 
 
 ' The passengers were ordered from the trains, and permitted 
 to secure their baggage. As a general thing, private property 
 
334 AN AMERICAN TRAMP. 
 
 was respected. The Mail Agent preserved the most of the mail 
 under his charge, and carried it safely to Lexington. But one 
 bag, as far as our informant could learn, was cut open and rifled. 
 One of the guerillas took a watch from the conductor, but as 
 soon as the loss was made known to Everett, Pete promptly 
 ordered the watch to be returned to the owner. 
 
 'The Express safe was opened and robbed of packages of 
 money to the amount of two thousand three hundred dollars. 
 The private papers of the Company were not molested. Everett 
 claimed that the robbing of the safe was strictly against his 
 orders, and told the messenger that, if he would point out the 
 man guilty of the act, he would make him refund the money, 
 and would punish him for disobedience of orders. 
 
 ' The messenger was unable to point out the robber, and 
 therefore the passengers could not determine whether Pete was 
 sincere in what he said or not. Everett claimed that he did not 
 capture the train for plunder. He said that he expected to find 
 General Burbridge and staff aboard, which was the only induce- 
 ment he had in making the raid. He said that he had been 
 watching the road for three days, in hopes of capturing the 
 General. 
 
 ' The cars — three passenger, and the express and baggage — 
 were set on fire and burned to the ground. The locomotive 
 and tender were uninjured. Three Federal officers were cap- 
 tured on board the train and carried off as prisoners of war. 
 We did not learn their names. The guerillas left in the direc- 
 tion of Mount Sterling. They told the passengers, in taking 
 their departure, that they were the advance of a large force of 
 rebels under Breckinridge, who was now in the State. This 
 announcement was made with an air of bravado, and, as a matter 
 of course, is regarded as nothing but a monstrous stretch of the 
 truth.' 
 
 Having gone as far underground as possible — having 
 
THE CAUSE OF THE WAR. 335 
 
 reached the Styx and Lethe with a black man for guide, 
 and having got safe out of the mess, the cause of the 
 American war seemed deeper and darker than ever. 
 
 This great country is shedding white blood to wipe 
 out the dark stain of black slavery, as it appears. I 
 have now seen something of the result. Some days ago 
 I spent a long morning with a very intelligent darky, 
 who had a white twilight glimmering through his shiny 
 skin. Having gained his confidence ' some,' I ventured 
 to ask if he was a free man. ' No/ he said, with the 
 echo of sorrow in his voice, ' I belong to a man in Nash- 
 ville (a town now held by the North) ; and while you 
 are here, I belong to you. I am hired out to do this.' 
 ' And do they give you anything for your work V ' No, 
 sir, nothing.' The answer made the blood of a free- 
 born citizen glow, and drew a tip of course. That same 
 day I saw a spirit-stirring sight. At the edge of a tall 
 forest, just beginning to turn from green to scarlet, 
 beside a still pool of clear water, smooth as a mirror, 
 under a bright blue sky, with the glorious hot October 
 sun of these Southern regions glowing on the autumn 
 leaves, a nigger regiment had pitched a snowy camp, 
 and the bright sun glittered on the steel of their 
 weapons, as it might gleam from the helm of a knight. 
 The slaves had taken up arms to fight for liberty. The 
 
336 AN AMERICAN TRAMP. 
 
 officer in command poked his ebony phiz out of an ivory- 
 white tent, when I doffed my battered tile, and gave me 
 leave to inspect his troops thus : — ' You men, let dis 
 man walk about.' Hurrah for liberty and equality ! 
 We were ' men' and brothers. I walked about and 
 looked. One fellow as black as my boot was playing 
 Scotch reels on a fiddle ; another was strumming on a 
 banjo ; a great many were singing and playing at vari- 
 ous games ; some were hacking beef, others cooking it 
 round a glorious camp-fire ; everybody was munching, 
 and grinning, and chattering. One only seemed out of 
 humour with his work, and he was splitting firewood by 
 driving his fixed bayonet into a log, and ramming it home 
 against the ground. It was a glorious happy picnic of 
 idle thoughtless beings ; and, though the log-practice 
 was bad for the weapon, it might teach the soldier to 
 strike home for freedom. 
 
 It was a picturesque sight, and one to make free 
 blood stir. But this Eembrandt-brown picture, with 
 the glittering high lights in the foreground, had deep 
 shadows in the background. All is not gold that 
 glitters. I thought of the drafted men who stole 
 niggers for substitutes, and of the slave in the police 
 report who was handed over to the military authorities. 
 
 At railway stations it was ordered in large print 
 
* HOBSON'S CHOICE.' 337 
 
 that <no rebel or disloyal person should be allowed to 
 ship stock or produce on any railway car or steamboat ;' 
 ' no loyal person without a permit/ etc. So it appeared 
 that loyal persons, even in disloyal States, may trade 
 and own slaves ; but disloyal persons, even in Border 
 States, may do neither. This freeing of niggers is con- 
 fiscation. 
 
 It turns out that the black cattle in the camp had be- 
 longed to < disloyal persons,' and they have been set free ; 
 but, being free, they have been < impressed,' and they were 
 only waiting their turn for slaughter, as happily as the 
 other live stock penned near them for their rations. 
 
 An Irish story tells that two Irishmen came to a 
 river with a pig, and the wiser addressed his comrade 
 thus : < You carry me, Pat, and I'll carry the pig.' Here 
 as it seems the Chicago pig carries Pat to battle, and 
 Pat carries the nigger; but few care more for the 
 nigger in the fight which ensues than for the Chicago 
 pig. It is a question whether the slave who got no- 
 thing for his work or the impressed soldier was in the 
 best condition of life. 
 
 The condition of the black knight is unpleasant in 
 this chequered game. The Irishman hates him, and says 
 so openly. In Ohio a traveller who was an orator pro- 
 tested against giving political rights to coloured men. 
 
338 AN AMERICAN TRAMP. 
 
 1 If they do that I'll get upon every beech-stump in the 
 state— and I reckon I know them all pretty nigh— and 
 
 I'll tell the darned' etc. etc. 
 
 No white soldier will fraternize with the nigger. I 
 overheard a soldier's conversation at Indianapolis. One 
 asserted that he had seen a nigger in the ranks of a 
 white regiment ; the other, with a string of expletives, 
 denied the fact as perfectly impossible. ' The man that 
 would say that is a . . . cuss.' In Kentucky I 
 saw a very respectable woman, who had been head cook 
 at a large hotel, hoisted into the luggage-van with other 
 chattels, and I rather envied her, because I was nearly 
 crushed, and partially choked, in my dignified place 
 among the white sovereign people. I see children 
 black and white fraternizing everywhere ; I have frater- 
 nized with niggers myself in many lands. There is no 
 real antipathy of race ; that is sufficiently proved by 
 the complexion of three-fourths of the coloured people. 
 But here in the West strong political antipathy breaks 
 out everywhere. Among his allies a black soldier is 
 ill off when taken from a rebellious master in a Border 
 State, freed and impressed. He can hope for scant 
 mercy from Southern masters, if he gets to the front 
 and meets regular troops. He seems to have a bad 
 time of it everywhere. 
 
THE WAR-CLOUD. 339 
 
 But in the Border States — Missouri, Kentucky, and 
 West Virginia — he has to meet cruel foes. The whole 
 country is overrun by armed bands, who are always 
 called 'gorillas' in this vernacular. They are a rough 
 lot generally. A worthy farmer told me that he had 
 been robbed of horses and cattle, and that he expected 
 to find all he had ' swept,' for there had been a raid near 
 his place. A young citizen remarked that he never 
 took his watch out for a country walk. A stage-driver 
 ' reckoned that staging was pretty nigh paid out in this 
 State.' He had only been stopped once ; they took 
 the horses and harmed no one. ' Go along.' At Louis- 
 ville, under the very noses of a small army, the raiders 
 robbed. ' Society is tumbling to pieces in these States.' 
 'Gorillas' may be deserters, robbers, murderers, cut- 
 throats, horse-thieves, foot-pads — men who belong to 
 neither party: some wear Southern uniforms, and are 
 1 bushwhackers,' waging irregular war ; there are speci- 
 mens of all kinds, of course, but they all destroy rail- 
 roads and shoot niggers. One chief has lately killed 
 near upon half a dozen black men, because, as he says, 
 ' he likes to see them fall.' So, the picture of a great 
 nation shattering the fetters of slavery, which looked so 
 grand and bright at a distance, seems all shadow on 
 close inspection. The war seems to be one for the 
 
340 AN AMERICAN TRAMP. 
 
 abolition of slavery by exterminating rebels and niggers 
 with armies of Western conscripts who object to fight. 
 Every dark cloud has a silver lining ; good may come 
 out of all this ill, but this war-cloud is a dense one, 
 and the silver as hard to see as Yankee gold, or the 
 dark reason of the war. 
 
 ' Sir/ said a Yankee to me one day, ' I should like 
 to know your opinion about this war.' ' Sir/ said I, ' I 
 hope you will not be offended if I give you my true 
 opinion.' ' No, sir/ said the other ; ' it is always in- 
 teresting to hear the opinions of foreigners.' ' Well, sir,' 
 said I, ' begging your pardon beforehand, you have the 
 finest country I ever saw, plenty of room, corn, cotton, 
 coal ; plenty to eat, and might be the greatest people 
 on earth : and yet you fight the biggest battles ever 
 fought, and do more harm to yourselves than any 
 people ever did to a foe in the same short time. I 
 think you are darned fools for fighting ; and that's my 
 opinion. 3 The Yankee scratched his head, and then 
 a smile came over his phiz, and he spoke : ' Wal, 
 maybe that's so.' 
 
CHAPTEE XVII. 
 
 LOUISVILLE TO CAVE CITY. 
 
 The country between Louisville and Cave City is very 
 like parts of Devonshire. The railroad, like its Eng- 
 lish brother in the Old Country, climbs hills and walks 
 over ravines on tall scaffolds. After crossing a wide 
 plain near Louisville, it runs up the western side 
 of a large ravine, and crosses a number of lateral 
 gorges to an upper plateau, which is about 300 feet 
 above the Ohio. The rock is a blue-gray fossiliferous 
 limestone, arranged in beds, which are nearly horizontal, 
 and it is ranked as Devonian by American geologists. 
 It is the lip of the basin which holds the coal of the 
 northern field. All surfaces are weathered. Upon this 
 upper plateau are conical hills, and on the highest 
 grounds the limestone is bare. The weathering of rock- 
 surfaces in this tract is very instructive. The limestone 
 is worn by rain into miniature mountain-chains, with 
 valleys and peaks and ridges, which within the space of 
 a few feet or inches mimic the shape of Alps. A slab 
 
342 AN AMERICAN TRAMP. 
 
 of this weathered limestone might be taken as a model 
 of some mountain region. By lowering the eye to the 
 edge of a flat stone, so as to bring the horizon down to 
 the foot of a miniature mountain, the stone is seen to 
 have the same form as the country of which it forms 
 part. Both seem to have been sculptured by falling 
 rain and flowing waters. Upon this uneven weathered 
 limestone base some ten feet of reddish clay are spread. 
 These beds of clay contain very few stones, and no 
 scrap of azoic rock was found anywhere. The rivers 
 are muddy, for they are washing the clay off the lime- 
 stone. This country might sink and rise a dozen times 
 without changing the course of rivers. When it sank, 
 the river would be abolished of course ; when it rose, 
 the rain would begin again, and the rivers would follow 
 the old drains. The shape of the country may be ex- 
 pressed by 
 
 u u A u u 
 
 straight lines for plateaus covered with mud; steep- 
 sided grooves, 300 feet deep, for river-courses ; and 
 cones, 200 feet high, for bald limestone hills. According 
 to the barometer, Cave City is 200 feet above Louisville ; 
 and the highest point reached, a bare hill-shoulder near 
 the station, was about 550. Add the height of Louis- 
 
MUD AND MORAINES. 343 
 
 ville 361, and 911, the level, carried northwards, passes 
 over the highest ground on the Michigan Railway. The 
 nearest northern land of equal height is beyond Lake 
 Superior, in the land of azoic rocks. There is no 
 symptom of glacial action here ; but the clay beds 
 spread over the rock have to be accounted for. They 
 cannot be old deposits ; if they were, the rain would 
 have washed all Kentucky as clean as the rock-road to 
 the cave, and the clay would be in the Gulf of Mexico, 
 or elsewhere, by this time. A glacier carries stones of 
 all sizes to its furthest limit, and there builds a breast- 
 work of cones and ridges of clay, mud ; sand, scratched 
 stones, and great masses of rock and rubbish, all shot 
 together, heaped up in piles. 
 
 The terminal moraine of the polar glacier ought to 
 be somewhere, if it ever existed ; but it is not here. A 
 stream of water, laden with ice-floats and moraines, 
 carries the heavy rubbish as far as the ice lasts, and 
 washes lighter stuff as far as it can after the ice melts. 
 Ice-floats off Spitzbergen, Greenland, Labrador, and 
 Newfoundland, carry stones and mud to lat. 46° 30' 
 (see p. 3). and may carry them to 37° 10' (see p. 2) ; but 
 wherever the ocean-current flows, it must carry sus- 
 pended mud, because rain-drops carry mud from Min- 
 nesota to Mexico. The Mammoth Cave is in 37° 
 
344 AN AMERICAN TRAMP. 
 
 10', within a degree of the latitude of the last of Captain 
 Couthony's icebergs; and the Arctic Current would 
 spread a sheet of fine mud over Kentucky if ice-floats 
 melted about lat. 40°, over land now called Illinois, 
 Indiana, and Ohio. No boulders had been seen south of 
 lat. 39°. The next cast was northwards, about lat. 40°, 
 because the last bit of a northern rock was seen about 
 39° 20', near St. Louis. 
 
 The rocks thus far seem to record that America sank 
 deep enough for the Arctic Current to flow over it ; did 
 not stay down long enough for sea-shells to grow in any 
 great numbers ; rose again with a top-dressing of mud 
 and drift, and rose so lately that the mud has not been 
 washed off the weathered limestone of Old Kentucky. 
 This region is like a rabbit-warren, in that it is full of 
 holes. About twenty caves are known, and one of them 
 has become famous. It has the unusual advantage of a 
 short guide-book, written (1860) by a clever man* 
 instead of a tourist touting for inns. The Mammoth 
 is so called because of its size. Mammoths' bones were 
 found at some other place in Kentucky, but bats' bones 
 are the biggest yet found underground. The cave is 
 water-sculpture of the same kind as the sculpture on 
 
 * Charles W. Wright, M.D., Professor of Chemistry, etc., in 
 Kentucky and Ohio. 
 
MAMMOTH CAVE. 
 
 345 
 
 the tops of the hills outside, and in the beds of rivers 
 below it. Beginning at the hotel, about 200 feet higher 
 than Louisville, 560 above the sea, and near the level 
 of Chicago, the cave goes down — the following table will 
 show how much : — 
 
 Barometer. 
 
 Place. 
 
 Difference 
 
 Feet. 
 
 Total from surface 
 
 29-400 
 
 Plateau . . . 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 down. 
 
 29-500 
 
 .Mouth . . . 
 
 
 100 
 
 90 
 
 90 „ 
 
 29-600 
 
 Richardson's Spring 
 
 200 
 
 90 
 
 180 „ 
 
 29-700 
 
 f Great Relief . 
 1 Bacon Chamber 
 
 \ 
 
 300 
 
 90 
 
 270 „ 
 
 29-750 
 
 Lethe River 
 
 
 350 
 
 45 
 
 315 up. 
 
 29-450 
 
 Arm-chair . 
 
 
 50 
 
 45 
 
 45 down. 
 
 29-400 
 
 Mouth . . . 
 
 
 100 
 
 90 
 
 90 „ 
 
 29-650 
 
 Green River 
 
 
 250 
 
 225 
 
 225 up. 
 
 29-250 
 
 Hotel . . . 
 
 
 150 
 
 135 
 
 135 „ 
 
 Barometer fallen while underground and during the day 0'150 
 inch, equal to 135 feet. Rain in the evening, and heavy rain 
 next day. 
 
 We started at 9.20 A.M. At 10.7, a mile and a 
 quarter S.E., down 180 feet, we halted at Eichardson's 
 Spring. The Sidesaddle Pit, 60 feet deep, has fine 
 flutings above and below the hole through which it is 
 seen ; it is very beautiful when lighted. The Bottom- 
 less Pit is 160 feet deep, and is, like the other, a rifled 
 
346 AN AMERICAN TRAMP. 
 
 tube bored in the solid rock, with the different beds 
 showing like courses of masonry. Fat Man's Misery is 
 an underground copy of streams near the Perte du Ehone 
 in Switzerland, in Wales, in the White Mountains, and 
 in this country. It is a steep-sided trench U in a 
 plateau, but roofed with a flat water-worn roof. Great 
 Eelief is 270 below the hotel, not quite a mile and three- 
 quarters from the mouth. Here the direction changes 
 to S.W. Eiver Hall and Bacon Chamber are specimens 
 of water- work like Fat Man's Misery, but this time in 
 the roof. Channels three feet deep have been cut, and 
 then the whole floor has been cut away and down, 
 leaving the divisions hanging like bacon in a store- 
 room. 
 
 Infandum Regina jubes renovare dolorem. 
 
 Am I to be haunted by the shade of that scalded 
 Chicago pig even here ? 
 
 Course south, and down to Lethe, 315 feet below 
 the hotel, and supposed to be level with Green Eiver 
 outside. The water runs south-east, two miles and a 
 quarter from daylight. 
 
 The rock in this chamber is worn like rock in the 
 subterranean river which was cut through in Park Mine, 
 in Wales. No one knows where the water comes from ; 
 but when the Green Eiver rises, the Lethe does the 
 
LETHE. 347 
 
 same, and the mud in both is mud washed from the top 
 outside, and dropped in the river. It is peculiarly stiff, 
 tough, sticky stuff. A boat was in it swamped by a 
 fall in the stream. The water was thick as pea-soup, 
 and there was no chance of catching an eyeless fish. 
 The cave beyond Lethe is but a repetition of the first 
 part. We left the boat and Lethe in the mud, and re- 
 turned. Fossils are so weathered in this place that 
 some were broken from the wall ; one was attached by 
 a tenth of an inch of limestone, the rest of it projected 
 more than an inch, perfect as when it was buried ; 
 others were peeping out of the rock, others were half 
 out ; and so the river-mud must contain numbers of un- 
 melted fossils, the insoluble refuse of dissolved lime- 
 stone rock. On the way back branched off into side 
 galleries to see the Star-Chamber, the Gothic Chapel, and 
 other lions, and got to grass after five hours. Walked 
 six miles by pedometer, seven according to the guide's 
 reckoning. Went down-hill to Green Eiver and found 
 the stream running S.W., at right angles to Lethe. The 
 long round is said to be a tramp of sixteen miles. 
 
 By way of experiment, took the lead on the way 
 back, and told the darky to follow and say nothing. 
 Though well used to underground work, and provided 
 with an organ of locality that seldom fails, and with a 
 
348 AN AMERICAN TRAMP. 
 
 compass to boot, I was lost in ten minutes. It is sup- 
 posed that this single cave has a total length of gal- 
 leries equal to 100 miles. One hundred and fifty 
 avenues have been explored. No map of it has been 
 attempted, and generally it is still an unexplored natural 
 mine. In all probability all the caves and all the rivers 
 in Kentucky communicate with each other, with the 
 Mississippi, and with the upper air. The ventilation of 
 this mine is perfect. It is said to breathe once a year ; 
 but the salt-mines in Cheshire do the same for the same 
 reason. In summer, according to the doctor, when the 
 temperature of the external air is above that of the cave 
 the current sets out, when the temperature outside is 
 below 59° the current sets in ; in spring and fall, when the 
 temperature is balanced, the air stagnates for a few days 
 or hours. As there is a current, there must also be a 
 passage through. In summer, when the temperature is 
 near 100°, the cold air at 59° tumbles out at the mouth 
 with such force as to blow out the lamps in the narrows. 
 Further in, the motion in larger halls is imperceptible. 
 The air is perfectly pure, perfectly still ; no ray of light 
 ever gets in, no sound louder than the flap of a bat's 
 wing is heard in the dry galleries, and here some wise- 
 acre thought lit to lodge consumptive patients. The 
 poor creatures pi nod and died, and their houses are 
 
UNDERGROUND FOLK. 349 
 
 left standing records of an unsuccessful medical experi- 
 ment. 
 
 In the cave are bats, of course ; rats a size larger 
 than Norway rats, with head and eyes like a rabbit and 
 back hair like a gray squirrel — legs and abdomen white ; 
 also cave-crickets. These are curious monsters, blind, 
 and apparently deaf and dumb. They do not stir for 
 noise or light, but they have enormous antennae, far 
 longer than they are, and the smallest touch on these 
 awakens the sleepy cricket. Cave-lizards are from three 
 to five inches long, yellow, with black spots, and semi- 
 transparent. The eye is large and prominent, and they 
 are sluggish in their movements. Eyeless fish and craw- 
 fish are found in Echo Eiver. The fish are viviparous, 
 have rudiments of eyes, but no optic nerve. The eyeless 
 crawfish spawn like other crustaceans, and both are per- 
 fectly white. Ordinary fish and crawfish are sometimes 
 washed in, and frogs may be heard croaking in this 
 region. The eyeless fish eat each other, and resemble 
 the common catfish, but rarely exceed eight inches in 
 length. Human patients who remained in the cave for 
 three or four months presented a frightful appearance. 
 The face was entirely bloodless, eyes sunken, pupils 
 dilated to such a degree that the iris ceased to be visible ; 
 so that, no matter what the original colour of the eye 
 
350 AN AMERICAN TRAMP. 
 
 might have been, it soon appeared black. If, instead of 
 living for some months, and dying in a few days after 
 leaving the cave, a healthy tribe of niggers were to breed 
 there, and feed upon each other — as do the fish, crawfish, 
 crickets, lizards, bats, and rats — a new human species of 
 * Underjordiske ' might people Kentucky down -stairs. 
 When warm water comes in, a fog as thick as the fogs 
 off Newfoundland settles on the dark waters of Lethe. 
 
 The cave-world has its own system of atmospheric 
 circulation — its evaporation and condensation, clouds, 
 rivers, denudation and deposition, chemical and mecha- 
 nical wearing of rocks, its own fauna, and a flora of fungi. 
 Altogether it is a very queer place to wander about in, 
 with a black slave for genius loci, and a 'wonderful' 
 petroleum ' lamp.' 
 
 In the Star-Chamber an illustration of ' suggestion ' 
 is enacted. The roof is high and black, and people have 
 pelted it with stones, so that white spots are laid bare. 
 The officiating black priest prepares the tourist mind by 
 long pauses and preparations, and total darkness ; and 
 after a time he assures his followers that they see stars 
 and a comet, clouds and a storm. My obstinate eyes 
 would see nothing but blackened stone, white chips, and 
 the shadow of a great rock, or of a black blockhead 
 moving over the darkness of the roof ; but these ob- 
 
A STATE BALL. 351 
 
 stinate peepers never will see mesmeric marvels — so 
 they are to blame. The majority who go to the Star- 
 Chamber return delighted with the view, which is said 
 to rival the vault of night. The coal-hole, with imagi- 
 nation, would produce the same effect. 
 
 There are but few stalactites in the Mammoth Cave, and 
 these few are smoked and spoiled ; but within a mile of 
 it is another cave, in which the limestone formations are, 
 if possible, more beautiful than those of Adelsberg. 
 An artist might sit here for hours amongst the cave- 
 crickets, and learn design from nature. Endless curves 
 and hollows, cups and basins, pendants and strange 
 branching growths of pure white alabaster, might have 
 suggested to some Western story-teller the silver trees 
 and jewelled fruit of Aladdin's cave. That confounded 
 Yankee custom of tacking men's names to natural curi- 
 osities has nicknamed this grotto White's Cave ; and all 
 other caves are temples in which some snob or other is 
 enshrined. 
 
 In 1845 the Queen of England gave a state-ball, at 
 which the guests appeared in the dress of 1745. Dress, 
 decorations, and dancing, were of the period ; and some 
 archaeological dancing-master discovered that in 1745 
 Scotch people danced solemn strathspeys. A lot of 
 Scotch people, under the guidance of this terpsichorean 
 
352 AN AMERICAN TRAMP. 
 
 antiquary, got up a strathspey, which was danced high 
 and disposedly before the Queen. After 1745, 'loyal' 
 Scotch people were sent to America as a punishment. 
 In 1864 one of the strathspey party went to America 
 for a ploy, and the landlord of the hotel at the Mammoth 
 Cave proposed that his guests should dance, and they 
 danced accordingly. The whole company numbered 
 eight. Before the war, they often numbered hundreds. 
 Two Britishers, the landlord and a Yankee, two ladies 
 from Nashville, and two from down-stairs, composed the 
 ball. The music was a fiddle, and the performer a 
 darky dressed like a lord. Beside him sat an official 
 who was a new character. In Scotch churches where 
 people cannot all read, the fashion is for the precentor 
 to repeat a line before it is sung. Here was a man who 
 called out the steps before they were danced, for people 
 who did not all know how to do it. He called them 
 out in a singing high key, like that of a London toast- 
 master, and chimed in with the fiddle as well as he 
 could. There was something irresistibly funny in the 
 whole thing. A couple of very ill-dressed Englishmen ; 
 a very well-dressed nigger ; a tall, well-made, good- 
 humoured colonel of cavalry turned inn-keeper ; a little 
 Yankee, and four charming ladies, gravely performing 
 solemn dances, and making conversation in a vast 
 
AN OLD KENTUCKY REEL. 353 
 
 wooden hall, like a decorated barn in the backwoods. 
 At it we all went. First gent to the front Bum tidy 
 idy — rum tidy idy — rum tidy idy. Eight hand to 
 your partner. Turn tidy idy — turn tidy idy — turn 
 tidy idy. Turn the first lady. Bum — , and so on till 
 the country dance was ended. At it we went, hammer 
 and tongs, and at it we kept for some hours. I knew 
 the Gaelic name of nearly every tune the nigger played. 
 At last, by general consent, it was determined to dance 
 something new and national, and it was carried by 
 acclamation that we should dance an Old Kentucky 
 reel. The dark Orpheus tucked his barbiton under his 
 chin, rosined his bow, and struck up a strathspey. The 
 master of ceremonies shouted, All gents to the right, and 
 off we set at score — gents and ladies — right and left, 
 to the very eightsome reel which was danced high and 
 disposedly in 1845 before the Queen of England, and 
 in 1745 at Holy rood before Prince Charley. 
 
 Are we not all men and brothers — Britishers, Yan- 
 kees, and nigger slaves ? and didn't we dance on the roof 
 of Lethe in 1864, before the black cook? 
 
 Somewhere in the wild prairie, a country damsel, 
 when asked to dance, replied, as it is said, ' You dry up 
 and go along, do. I reckon I've gone four squares and a 
 round, and I'm moist already ; guess I shan't dance again.' 
 
 2 a 
 
354 AN AMERICAN TRAMP. 
 
 Like her, I reckon we were considerably moist, and 
 had to ' liquor up some ' after the Old Kentucky reel. 
 ' Cantabit vacuus coram latrone viator.' 
 
 Cave City consists of three shops, three dwelling- 
 houses, three eating-houses, three log shanties, and a 
 railway station ; but, like the priest, the friar, and the 
 silly old man, who went to a garden where three pears 
 grew, took one apiece, and yet left two pears, Cave City 
 consists of three shanties, which may be variously de- 
 scribed. A capital dinner is to be got there, and the 
 landlord is a right good fellow. ' Gentlemen,' he said, 
 4 have you anything valuable about you V In any other 
 country of bushwhackers this would have been a suspi- 
 cious question ; here, the landlord's face was a certificate 
 of honesty, and the answer was ' Yes.' ' You had better 
 leave what you care to lose with me,' said the landlord ; 
 and so we gave him a handful of loose Yankee gold and 
 the unlocked portmanteau with the English sovereigns 
 inside of it. On returning, we gathered up our gear, 
 and thanked our banker. 
 
 The Mammoth Cave is a favourite summer resort, 
 much frequented in peaceful times by rich citizens of 
 rich towns in this rich state ; and the road to it may be 
 taken as a fair sample of country roads. It is a mere 
 track in a hard- wood forest, with a pretty thick under- 
 
RECRUITS. 355 
 
 growth of scrub and trailing plants. Creepers hang to 
 the highest branches of tall trees, and it is hard to un- 
 derstand how, in the name of fortune, they get there, 
 unless tree and creeper grow together. A thing as thick 
 as a rope, and as long as a tree, cannot stand alone ; and 
 yet such things have their branches interlaced with the 
 topmost twigs of tall trees, and swing free of other sup- 
 port from root to branch. According to the accounts of 
 men who fought with Sherman on his advance to At- 
 lanta, this is the kind of country in which battles were 
 fought and a long advance made. The troops had no tents, 
 but made bowers of branches, and did regular bush-fight- 
 ing. At such work, an American army greatly excels one 
 recruited in Europe. The European is born and bred in 
 a house, and is used to have everything done for him. If 
 a mechanic is lodged under a hedge, or if a pauper gets 
 hard fare in England, we hear about it, Everywhere in 
 America, except in the large towns, men are to be found 
 who live chiefly out of doors ; and even picnic parties 
 of town ladies think nothing of camping out for a night- 
 or two in summer. When an Old Country weaver, 
 down in his luck, enlists, he expects to be well lodged 
 in a comfortable well-ventilated room, with a bed in it. 
 If he is not, we hear about it again. When the same 
 kind of man emigrates, he soon learns to rough it ; when 
 
356 AN AMERICAN TRAMP. 
 
 he has to do everything for himself, and pay for it, he 
 learns to do with very little ; and when he enlists, and 
 camps ont, and chops wood, and sleeps on the ground, 
 he is doing nothing out of the ordinary routine of his 
 daily life at home. A lumbering train of baggage- 
 waggons would find American backwood ways rather 
 miry and rocky ; but the country carts which haul farm 
 produce over these ways can also haul provisions. The 
 woods provide fuel and shelter, the leaves make a bed, 
 and the blue sky a healthy roof in fine weather. Thus 
 bush -fighting is but a pleasant picnic, with some 
 very disagreeable seasoning in the dish of pleasure. 
 There is rather too much pepper in it. At Louisville 
 are establishments for remedying the evil effects of lead 
 and steel taken inwardly. The military hospitals are 
 worthy of the army. When the war began, one of the 
 chief officers in charge was asked to go to Europe to study 
 the hospital system there. As he says, it seemed to him 
 that hospitals in old countries were great erections of 
 stone and lime, meant to stand for ever ; so he declined, 
 and asked leave to study within his own circle of thought. 
 A great stone edifice was not wanted in the West, where 
 everything grows from the stump. Instead, the wooden 
 shanty architecture of the prairies was twisted into the 
 form of a wheel, with the doctor's shop and kitchen in 
 
HOSPITALS. 357 
 
 the middle, and the sick-beds in the spokes, and the 
 hospital was ready for action in no time. The country- 
 principle of doing for one's-self was adopted by the doctor. 
 He learned everybody's work by doing it himself before 
 he set others to do it ; and so the hospital acted well from 
 the first, and acts right well now. Bringing the doctor's 
 chemical knowledge to bear on the kitchen, the cook 
 was set to make decoctions and extracts ; and the result 
 was excellent food, no waste, no refuse, no matter in a 
 wrong place, which is a polite name for stinks and dirt. 
 With utter contempt for precedent, the doctor went to 
 work ; and he found out a new cure for hospital gan- 
 grene, which saved many lives. He certainly did 
 not prevent hospital gangrene, for he had a tent full of 
 patients. Let those who encourage war walk through 
 a military hospital, and ask to see the patients afflicted 
 with hospital gangrene. The American people, army, 
 and hospital, are things made not for ornament, but for 
 practical use. They are all admirable, and all work 
 remarkably well, but as it seems to me they are now 
 doing for themselves as fast as they possibly can. 
 My American politics are those of Jeannette : — 
 If I were king of France, 
 Or, what is better, Pope of Koine, 
 There should be no fighting men abroad, 
 No Aveeping maids at home. 
 
358 AN AMERICAN TRAMP. 
 
 All the world should be at peace ; 
 Or, if kings must show their might, 
 Why, let those who make the quarrels 
 Be the only ones to fight. 
 
 If I were asked to express my views on trans- 
 atlantic politics, I should propose a grand concert of 
 kings, kaisers, and colonists, with the refrain — 
 
 Let those who make the quarrels, 
 Be the only ones to fight. 
 
 It seemed, in October 1864, that General Sherman 
 
 was in a mess. The rail was broken some way down ; 
 
 guards black and white were at every spot where a 
 
 blackguard of a guerilla could stop the train by sawing 
 
 a post in a scaffold bridge, or by sawing down the 
 
 signal-post at a station. It seemed impossible that the 
 
 General could hold Atlanta with such a train behind 
 
 him unless the South were fairly done. Soon afterwards 
 
 a Southern army got round Atlanta between Sherman 
 
 and his western farm, and as it appeared in January 
 
 1865 this army got a good whipping ; but the ' cracker 
 
 line ' which bound Sherman to the Western States was 
 
 cut, and he was adrift. If they could not crush or extract 
 
 him, the best thing the Southern doctors could do with 
 
 this bullet-headed general was to squeeze him out ; and 
 
 in spite of all the triumphant songs that have been sung 
 
 over Sherman's victory, I still think that he was in a 
 
SURGERY. 359 
 
 mess, out of which he was cleverly helped by his foes. 
 They got behind him and on both sides of him, gave 
 him his head and let him go, and he went like a bird 
 to the coast. He made tracks, and his were like ' the 
 duck's morning track' from the feeding-ground on shore 
 to a refuge at sea at sunrise. With a well-found army, 
 in excellent health and good condition, made of country 
 materials, and fit for rough country work, it was easy to 
 march. It was the interest of the South to make a 
 bridge of gold, to cut a fresh wound through her own 
 bleeding sides; or to do anything to get rid of that 
 terrible Yankee missile with the big square head. But 
 if the patient is exhausted, what avails military surgery ? 
 Time will show the result. The North will whip the 
 South, as I believe, but nations live long, and the South 
 will resent the blow for all time. The end of the 
 Yankee war has yet to come, and when it does come 
 perhaps it will not be peace. 
 
 A Frenchman was asked his opinion of the Derby. 
 He spread his palms, shrugged his shoulders, raised his 
 eyebrows, and said — ' Here cley come ; dere dey go ; 
 pay me one hundred pounds. Ma foi, voila tout.' 
 The Frenchman's view was pretty near the truth ; but 
 the fun of going to and coming from a stupid race is 
 
360 AN AMERICAN TRAMP. 
 
 something peculiarly enticing to all Caucasians. At 
 Louisville the Kentucky Derby was going on, so we 
 went to the races. The fun of the race consisted in 
 seeing two niggers ride two screws two miles twice. 
 They would have done it again, but the first screw beat 
 the other both times, and so the fun ended prematurely. 
 Nevertheless, there was a great deal of excitement and 
 a great deal of fun. The betting was all managed by 
 an Irishman, who had invented a peculiar style of his 
 own, which took amazingly. It was managed in this 
 wise : — Standing up at ' the corner/ the Irishman spoke 
 out like an auctioneer, with a rich brogue ; and it was 
 rumoured that he had knocked down many things in 
 his day. The sound of the auction came floating to the 
 grand stand — 
 
 'Eighty-five dollars in the pool — Harper sold — 65 
 dollars bid, and (screw No. 2) gone to Captain Jones/ 
 
 In this, the simplest possible case, Captain Jones 
 bets 65 to 85 against Harper. The Irishman holds the 
 stakes, and sacks 5 per cent on 150 greenbacks — a sum 
 equal to 14s. — on this bet ;* and his interest is to pro- 
 mote the noble pastime of horse-racing by every means 
 in his power. So at it he goes again — 
 
 ' How much for this pool, gentlemen ? How much 
 for this pool?' Somebody speaks. 'Eighty-five dollars 
 
GOING TO THE RACES. 361 
 
 bid for Harper. Any more for Harper ? No more bid 
 
 for Harper. Harper sold to Captain , and 85 
 
 dollars in the pool. How much for the next horse?' 
 (There were but two.) ' Fifty— thank you, sir. Fifty 
 bid for the next horse— 55— 60— 60 dollars bid, and 
 85 in the pool— 62— 5— 6— 7. Any more bid for this 
 pool? No more. Gone to Mr. Mace for 67 dollars. 
 One hundred and fifty-two dollars in this pool.' 
 
 At this rate an industrious man may pick up a 
 decent living ; and this was an industrious man. He 
 never stopped all day, and when night came, he came 
 with it to the hotel, and went on again faster than ever 
 in the bar. The natives are fond of the turf, though 
 there is but little turf to be seen. Eaces occur fre- 
 quently ; and the Irish auctioneer is an honest fellow, 
 and has something like a monopoly of the per-centage 
 on all racing bets. More power to his elbow ! He got 
 nothing out of me. 
 
 We went to the races in a carriage and pair. A train 
 of trotting buggies and vehicles of all sorts streamed 
 along a dusty road, and a railway train rattled along- 
 side of us, without even a hedge between. One trotter 
 raced the engine, and kept neck and neck with the fire- 
 box for a mile. The drive was fun ; as for the race, 
 put greenbacks for gold, and the Frenchman's account of 
 
362 AN AMERICAN TRAMP. 
 
 the Derby fitted the Louisville races to a hair : they 
 came and went and paid. 
 
 Eeturned by train, and as the train stopped a very 
 
 long time, got out and walked. ' Who the is that 
 
 fellow V said a man in the horse-box from which I had 
 escaped. ' Wal, I don't know/ said another ; * but he 
 must be a Britisher, I reckon ; no other would be such a 
 darned fool as to pay for his place and walk home. I 
 guess he must be a friend of the Consul's.' He guessed 
 right, and the Consul sat beside him ; but he reckoned 
 wrong, for the walk was pleasanter than standing-room 
 in a horse-box, and better worth tenpence. 
 
 The small cross-streams which here enter the Ohio 
 have only cut down to the rock ; the bed of the larger 
 river is but a shallow groove. Since this great river 
 Ohio last began to flow, it has only cleared out a small 
 hollow in beds of water-drift. There are no boulders 
 hereabouts. There were no bushwhackers either ; but 
 they might have done a good stroke of business amongst 
 the betting men, if it had occurred to them to pounce 
 upon the road to the Louisville Derby. 
 
CHAPTEK XVI11. 
 
 LOUISVILLE TO CINCINNATI. 
 
 From Louisville took boat for Cincinnati, to see 
 whether the Ohio had been able to find a boulder in its 
 banks of gravel and red clay. The banks of the Ohio 
 above Louisville are low hills, about 100 feet high, 
 sometimes ending in cliffs of rock which rise out 
 of a plain of sand. The rock is limestone, in horizontal 
 beds. Trees grow luxuriantly, and were beginning to 
 turn. The prevailing wind is up-stream, S.W. A great 
 part of the land on both sides appears to be unoccupied. 
 
 Why will the Yankees fight when they have so 
 much room to get away from disagreeable neighbours ? 
 
 At some places the hills are far apart, a mile or 
 more ; at others, they are close together. For about 
 150 miles, the river winds between these low bluffs, 
 while small lateral gorges join at every half mile or 
 hundred yards. The depth of water varies from eight to 
 three feet. The beach between high and low water- 
 mark is terraced in miniature, The water has fallen 
 
364 AN AMEKICAN TRAMP. 
 
 gradually, so a terrace does not indicate a sudden change 
 or a long pause in a rise of land. The bank above is a 
 steep wall of clay, a miniature of the limestone cliff 
 beyond the alluvial plain, which is level with the top of 
 the clay-bank. Above the cliff is the rolling prairie, 
 and the cap on the cliff is loose drift. At first sight it 
 appears that the Ohio and its tributaries have sculptured 
 the country into this shape, which may be represented 
 by the diagrams at pages 320 and 342. On second 
 thoughts, the loose sand and clay on the top of the cliffs 
 could not well stay there, while the rain dug out a 
 valley more than 150 miles long, more than a mile in 
 average width, and more than 300 feet deep at Cincin- 
 nati. The Ohio and its predecessors, helped by the sea 
 at intervals, might do the work ; and the sand on the 
 top of the hills may record the last presence of the sea. 
 The day was fine, cool, and pleasant, the night 
 cold, with fog towards morning. The scenery was 
 pretty, something like the Ehine without the old 
 castles and the seven hills. The water is a reddish 
 yellow, the sky cloudless and blue as the sky of Italy, 
 and the high banks and low plains a blaze of autumn 
 tints and bright greens, mingled with yellow corn. It 
 is a bright and beautiful land on which the demon of 
 war has planted his fiery hoof. 
 
A RIVER STEAMER. 365 
 
 The steamer ' General Huell' makes 12i miles an 
 hour up stream, and draws three feet of water. The 
 lower deck is about two feet above the river. On this 
 floating foundation is the engine, open to all comers. 
 It is a deck-passenger working its passage, and has no 
 cabin. The next storey is a saloon, built upon a scaf- 
 folding of slender beams. It is about 250 feet long, 
 with 58 state-rooms and 116 beds arranged on each side. 
 It is painted white, and varnished to look like ivory. 
 On the roof of the saloon is a second storey, with a few 
 more rooms in it, and a broad open deck to walk about 
 upon. Above that is a tower between two funnels, and 
 there the steersman and the captain look out for shoals, 
 and steer the ship. There is room to stand on the top, 
 and a flag floats above all. It is a Noah's ark in a big 
 butcher's tray. 
 
 At meal-times we, the hungry animals, gather about 
 long tables, and stand with our fore-paws upon the 
 backs of chairs. At the first sound of the gong we sit, 
 and for ten minutes the worry is like that of a pack of 
 fox-hounds. When one set has fed, the board is cleared, 
 and a second pack rush in to feed in like manner. 
 When they have done, another dinner comes from some- 
 where, and the stewards dine when the rest are stodged. 
 The dinner is paid for in the ticket, and the man who 
 
366 AN AMERICAN TRAMP. 
 
 does not look out for his own interests gets nothing. 
 These are the feeds that American tourists truly describe, 
 but they are not like dinners in good hotels, where there 
 is plenty to eat and plenty of time to do it in. This 
 kind of thing is but an exaggeration of a dinner on the 
 Rhine. It is better, bigger, and faster. 
 
 Passed another floating butcher's tray with a house 
 in it five storeys high, driven down stream by a single 
 mill-wheel at the stern, and with a barge alongside. 
 This edifice and tender were crammed full of soldiers 
 going down to Sherman. They were clustered thick as 
 bees newly swarmed, and as we passed they set up a 
 chorus of wild whoops and yells. Now, there is some- 
 thing characteristic in a shout. It is not articulate 
 speech, but the human animal's natural method of ex- 
 pressing his feelings, and each variety of homo sapiens 
 has its own natural note. An English cheer is like 
 the roar of a bull, or the sound of the sea ; this was the 
 terrible shout which frightened the soldiers of Queen 
 Bess. It was then ' Laun dearg abo,' ' red hand,' accord- 
 ing to Froude. It is Hurroo at a wake ; it was a shrill 
 Irish yell on board that butcher's tray in the Ohio, if 
 there be truth in discordant sound. 
 
 Passed Madison, where steamers are made and 
 mended, and where a great many butcher's trays were 
 
porkopous. 367 
 
 on the stocks or in the water, and got to Cincinnati in 
 the middle of the night. Hired a man and a thing like 
 a fishmonger's tray ; put the luggage in and sat upon it, 
 and drove up in this guise to the best hotel in the place. 
 Got a famous clean double-bedded room, with two beds 
 and basins in it. Went to bed, and slept for a few 
 hours before going out to see Porkopolis. 
 
 The weather in the morning was gray and cool after 
 the most brilliant of clear, hard, moonlit nights. Cin- 
 cinnati is a pretty town, if one could see it for smoke. 
 Above it rises Mount Adams ; the top is about 300 feet 
 above the river, and the rise from Louisville cannot be 
 great. The top of the hill is about 700 feet above the 
 sea, and level with the rolling prairie. The rock is fos- 
 siliferous limestone, in horizontal beds, under a cap of 
 fine red sand unstratified. The surface under the cap 
 is weathered, so that fossils project, and there is no 
 symptom of glacial action anywhere. The view is very 
 extensive, and devoid of any marked feature, the river 
 excepted. The town is in one of the side trenches, and 
 picturesque from the uneven ground on wdiich it stands. 
 The black smoke of numerous factories, the din of ham- 
 mering on iron, the screaming of railway-engines, and 
 the music of giant steamboats on the river, mark the 
 neighbourhood of a coal-field and busy life. Wandered 
 
368 AN AMERICAN TRAMP. 
 
 about the hills and the river-banks all day, and only 
 found a few pebbles of porphyry and quartz, and some 
 larger water-washed stones, which are used for paving ; 
 went eight and a half miles out, and returned in a street- 
 car to the Spencer House. Had a long talk with an 
 Irish labourer turned Yankee citizen, who declared that 
 no power would induce or drive him to draw trigger in 
 this quarrel. After dining, drove off to Indianapolis, 
 and got housed by midnight. 
 
 There is something rather startling in the bills of 
 fare. French names look odd in English, and curious 
 things are to be eaten. For sheer curiosity asked for 
 ' An epigram of mutton, breaded and fried, plain,' ' Ken- 
 tucky middlings,' 'punch biscuit/ 'cold slaw,' 'mush,' 
 ' squash,' ' fried egg-plant/ and ' oyster-plant.' 
 
 The epigram was dry and stale, cold, old, and tough, 
 and seemed to be a scurvy joke played off by the cook ; 
 the middlings were pork clippings of very middling 
 excellence ; the other things were good enough in their 
 way, and the last really tasted like an old oyster stewed 
 to pass for a fresh one. 
 
 At the Tremont Hotel, at Chicago, all the servants 
 are Irish ; at the Indianapolis Hotel, the male servants 
 are black. At the one, everything goes like clockwork ; 
 at the other, everything goes wrong. Shown to a room 
 
FREE NIGGERS. 369 
 
 late at night, the bed was unmade ; the water-jug had 
 ebbed dry in the morning ; the shoes stood unbrushed 
 at the door ; no towels were to be had ; a breathless boy 
 answered the bell ; an Irishwoman brought water and 
 linen, but the boy never returned till a peal had been 
 rung continuously for many minutes. He only returned 
 to announce that 'he said he had no time to brush 
 boots, and that he said I must come down to the barber's 
 shop, as it was breakfast time.' 'The stomach is a 
 good clock,' says the proverb. A bell and an inward 
 monitor had announced that fact long before ; but in 
 the West it is unfashionable to appear at breakfast 
 bootless. Donning the dusty shoes, descended, and 
 found a grand saloon, with a bill of fare as long as my 
 arm, and a tall, good-looking, well-dressed, coloured 
 gentleman standing attention at the end of each of a 
 long regiment of tables. Having selected the desired 
 breakfast, sat down and waited, patiently at first, im- 
 patiently at last. The African gentleman who conde- 
 scended to take my order, took it with an abstracted 
 air, as if he were inwardly contemplating his own 
 admirable proportions, or some other infinite pro- 
 position. His eye was aloft, and his mind absent 
 from this grovelling world, and so he returned at last 
 with a lot of cold dishes, apparently scraps left by 
 
 2 B 
 
370 AN AMERICAN TRAMP. 
 
 preceding guests, but amongst them all no solitary dish 
 that was ordered. 
 
 ' I asked for a kidney/ I said ; ' you have brought 
 me bacon.' 
 
 ' 1 know you did/ said the nigger. 
 "Was I to bite off my nose to spite my face, and throw 
 my food at his woolly pate ? No. I ate my cold nasty 
 breakfast, and went out in my dusty shoes to wander 
 about in the bright clear fresh air of the prairie and 
 look for boulders ; and as I wandered, I thought of 
 niters and the war ; and since then the train of thought 
 has grown longer. 
 
 We are told on high authority that 'here we see 
 darkly as through a glass/ If a short-sighted man 
 sticks a dollar in his eye for an eye-glass, and winks, he 
 will see no sin. In the eighth volume of Froude's 
 History of England we are told how a certain Captain 
 Hawkins and the good Queen Bess, who seem to have 
 been a very bad lot, winked at each other and looked 
 at the situation through Spanish dollars. They saw 
 no sin in saving heathen niggers from perdition, 
 and in cheating Portugals, so they fitted out a kind 
 of man-o'-war free-slave-trading, piratical, smuggling, 
 coast-surveying, blockade-running fleet, which went 
 to the West Indies by way of the west coast of 
 
WILD NIGGERS. 37l 
 
 Africa, and smuggled a lot of slaves. They were not 
 the first, but amongst the first, who hunted niggers. 
 The Europeans found a " quiet, peaceable, and contented 
 people basking in the sunshine in harmless idleness," 
 unsuspecting and trusting as the tame wild birds and 
 animals of which Alexander Selkirk is made to say, 
 " they are so unaccustomed to man, their tameness is 
 shocking to me." 
 
 It certainly was shocking barbarism to be so happy ; 
 and Hawkins civilized the heathen and took them over 
 sea. The natives laid a plan to entrap and kill them, 
 " God, however, who worketh all things for the best, 
 would not have it so, and by him they escaped danger : 
 His name be praised." They were becalmed. " Al- 
 mighty God, however, who never suffers his elect to 
 perish," sent a breeze in time, and the nigger cargo was 
 safely run. Hawkins came home by way of the Banks 
 of Newfoundland with sixty per cent profit on the 
 voyage, and he and Queen Bess looked through their 
 golden eye-glasses and saw nothing wrong. This was 
 in 1564 Surely it was the small end of the big black 
 wedge which rent the Indies from Spain, and has now 
 rent the severed English plantations in twain. 
 
 After three hundred years here stands the American 
 nigger, ' quiet, peaceable, contented, harmless, idle,' fond 
 
372 AN AMERICAN TRAMP. 
 
 of basking in the sunshine, thoughtless and merry as 
 one of the wild birds ; as fit to manage himself or rule 
 others as a big black baby newly caught in the Bight of 
 Benin. 
 
 At the end of that week I arrived, late at night, at 
 Pittsburg, and heard the cheery sound of a fiddle and 
 the voice of the master of the ceremonies shouting, 
 ' First gent to the right ;' ' swing corners/ and so on. 
 
 1 What's up V I said to the darky who was showing 
 me to my room. 
 
 ' A dance of coloured people, sir,' he said. 
 
 I looked out of a window and saw over the way a 
 brilliant room filled with neatly-dressed black lads and 
 lasses dancing quadrilles to reel time. The music was 
 excellent, the time perfect, and they went at it with 
 vigour and skill that rivalled a gillie's ball. They have 
 music in their souls these children of Ham, and they 
 are jolly under adverse circumstances. On Sunday I 
 hunted out the black church, got into the darkest corner 
 I could find, and found myself conspicuous for the rest 
 of the day, for I was the only Caucasian there ; I might 
 have sought vainly in every other church in the town 
 for an African. The minister was black, but he spoke 
 good English, and good sense. His text was from the 
 book of Job, and the gist of his sermon was trust in 
 
TAME NIGGEKS. 373 
 
 Providence. I have heard many a worse discourse 
 from the lips of white men. The sermon ended, a 
 younger, and, if possible, a blacker man prayed fervently 
 and fluently, and the congregation chimed in with 
 'Praise the Lord/ and deep groans. They prayed for 
 their brethren who were ' fighting the good fight ' — that 
 they might be restored to their homes and families ; 
 and they were in earnest, if there be truth in outward 
 signs of inward feeling. They can be roused by elo- 
 quence, they can feel enthusiasm, they can pray ; they 
 are not so far down in the scale after all. They sang 
 truly, in parts, and made excellent music. They were a 
 motley congregation. Beside me was a boy with straight 
 yellow hair and blue eyes, a skin like chalk, and the 
 features of a negro. A little way off were Caucasian 
 features with a black skin. In a corner was a woman 
 whose face would draw children like a magnet ; — a quiet, 
 motherly, benevolent old lady she was, though she sat 
 in the nigger church. They were not simply well 
 dressed ; they were handsomely and expensively dressed ; 
 and they behaved themselves as well as any white con- 
 gregation could do — all but one. Service ended, the 
 minister announced that on such a day a lecture on the 
 negro character would be delivered in this place by 
 Captain , who commanded a negro regiment. It 
 
374 AN AMERICAN TKAMP. 
 
 really was hardly fair to introduce the recruiting officer ; 
 but as this congregation is protected and supported by 
 the North, it ought to fight. It had sent out friends to 
 ' fight the good fight/ and it probably will send more. 
 That subject disposed of, the - minister gave his flock a 
 sound rating for eating chestnuts at the last lecture. 
 * A good bushel of hulls had been swept out/ he said. 
 The white boy with the yellow hair turned paler and 
 yellower, and sat like a statue of innocence ; the culprit 
 had a large pile of fresh chestnut hulls between his feet. 
 
 Later, I sat in a gig beside an old nigger for a whole 
 day, and found him a very agreeable, chatty, intelligent 
 companion. He had whitewash in his face, and spoke 
 with great contempt of newly-escaped plantation nig- 
 gers, who, as he said, were thieves and rogues. Still 
 later, I had a similar drive with one of this black class, 
 and could get nothing out of his woolly pate. He knew 
 nothing about the country in which he lived. The 
 names of hills or rivers or trees were unknown mysteries ; 
 but as soon as he got his tip he spent it in cigars, stuck 
 one in his cheek, liquored up, and drove off like a 
 gentleman. 
 
 At Philadelphia there was a demonstration in cele- 
 bration of Tree Maryland. The nigger crowd assembled 
 
BLACK NIGGERS. 375 
 
 before an illuminated house, and orators addressed them, 
 but no shouting or excitement resulted. ' I wish they 
 would show us some more pictures ; that would be far 
 better fun,' said an old lady at my elbow. They are not 
 easily roused. 
 
 There are niggers and niggers. Uncle Tom is a 
 portrait ; but there are dark darkies, whose portraits 
 have not yet appeared. 
 
 About a hundred and fifty years ago, one who became 
 M.P. for Glasgow in 1721-1724, dealt in niggers, and 
 saw no harm through his golden spectacles. The sun 
 never sets on the English flag, or on the lineal descen- 
 dants of that man ; for they are scattered over the whole 
 earth. Some are French sailors ; others West Indian 
 coloured people ; some are in India ; others are, or were 
 lately, in Japan, at the Cape of Good Hope, on the 
 African station, in Australia, China, Java, the West 
 Indies, America. They stick together like Scotchmen 
 everywhere, and many of them describe niggers as 
 ' quiet, peaceable, contented, harmless, idle/ black 
 beings, utterly unfit to manage themselves. 
 
 One of this scattered Scotch tribe was lately in 
 Jamaica, and his mule having cast a shoe, his free black 
 gentleman-usher and groom was sent to the forge to get 
 him shod. His name was Morgan, which he pronounced 
 
376 AN AMERICAN TRAMP. 
 
 Maaargan. Unless the title ' Mr.' was prefixed, the sable 
 attendant never heard, and he never understood unless 
 his employer spoke to him in his peculiar jargon of 
 English. The mule was wanted, and like the shoes at 
 Indianapolis, the mule did not come, so the master went 
 to do his own work. He got on the mule at the forge, 
 and was about to take him home, when he spied his 
 truant servant, and shouted ' Morgan/ Morgan studied 
 the stars as the waiter did at breakfast. 'Morgan/ 
 Morgan was stone-deaf and could not see. ' Mr. Mor- 
 gan/ ' Yes, sar.' ' Come here, sir.' ' Yes, sar,' said 
 Mr. Morgan, advancing. ' Why did you leave my mule 
 at the forge ? ' Mr. Morgan's eye is fixed on a passing 
 cloud, and his hearing fails utterly. 
 
 ' Mr. Morgan, I beg you da tell me why you da leave 
 de mule in da toon ? ' 
 
 1 Me khaaan't say at all/ 
 
 ' I beg you da tell me, sir.' 
 
 ' I tink I go for a leetle waaalk in da toon,' says Mr. 
 Morgan. 
 
 ' Will you have the goodness not to do so again ?' 
 says the master. 
 
 ' Hi, hi ! what for ? I tink I go for a leetle waaalk in 
 da toon ;' and off he goes, placidly gazing upwards. Off 
 he goes, and as he goes down the street, he meets a 
 
BLACK GENTLEMEN. 377 
 
 couple of black ladies of his acquaintance. The master 
 hears the first of their conversation. 
 
 ' Hi, hi ! I tink de massa him craaass. I think when 
 'im craaass, 'im face dam oogly.' 
 
 The waiter said he knew I wanted kidney, and 
 brought me pork ; and his look was the stolid look which 
 the massa wears when he acts the part of Maaargan. 
 
 Travelling in Jamaica one rainy day, a horseman 
 took shelter in a nigger's hut, and found the rain pour- 
 ing through a big hole in the roof. 
 
 'Why don't you mend the hole, Sambo V said he. 
 
 ' Eh massa, it do da rain, I get wet — no can mend 
 'im.' 
 
 'But why do you not mend it in fine weather?' said 
 the other. 
 
 ' massa, den 'im no da want mending/ said the 
 contented Sambo. 
 
 In Nova Scotia the complaint was that niggers 
 settled there would do nothing ; and in Canada most of 
 the crime committed was attributed, rightly or wrongly, 
 to lazy contrabands. 
 
 In the streets of London may be seen a big cage 
 upon wheels, in which a costermonger keeps a menagerie. 
 There is a sleepy owl, a pert magpie, a kestrel or two, a 
 great fat drowsy cat, some mice, some London sparrows, 
 
378 AN AMERICAN TKAMP. 
 
 a raven, a rabbit or two, rats, a terrier, and other crea- 
 tures who disagree when outside their prison. The 
 owner ' feeds 'em well/ and they do not take the trouble 
 to fight, though well-fed Americans do. The original 
 African niggers were well fed, and did not take the 
 trouble to fight, according to Froude ; but it will not do 
 to trust laziness too far. The present African is always 
 at war. The American nigger does not want to fight, 
 but when he is driven to it he is too lazy to stop, too 
 careless to care about his life ; and some of the wild 
 ones may do wild work. They are not all black, and 
 some may partake of their fathers' pugnacious energy. 
 
 Traditions are straws which show the way the wind 
 blows ; and nigger stories are full of horrors. 
 
 A West Indian lady, who lately died at the age of 
 eighty, used to terrify girls at her first English school with 
 stories learned from a nigger nurse. In one of these, 
 two white children get lost in a wood, and find the hut 
 of an old black crone, who puts them to bed. She puts 
 a large pot on the fire, sits down and sings, and, as she 
 sings, she rocks her body to and fro, and whets a knife 
 on the hearth-stone. The children wake and cry, 
 'Mammy, what a go so? Mammy, what a go so?' 
 ' Shickety shack, shickety shack, shickety shack, shoo ! 
 You go to sleep/ says the old dame. The gist of the 
 
A BLACK OGRE. 379 
 
 story is cannibalism, which may be traced in ogre 
 stories all over the world ; and these, black and white, 
 are founded on historical facts, if all histories be true. 
 
 From the nursery to the play is an easy pleasant 
 step, and seven-leagued boots are nothing to steam, 
 telegraphs, printing, and memory. On one side of the 
 Atlantic here is Hop-o'-my-thumb, and the Christmas 
 Ogre — the very people who were going to eat the little 
 children — but in a different dress. Over the water, on the 
 Northern stage at least, stands Uncle Tom. He is a quiet, 
 silent, patient, courageous, much-enduring, determined, 
 holy man ; and the fashion is to give him white wool, 
 and dress him like a parson in a white choker and a 
 black coat. After the play a pipe and a book are good 
 before going to roost. Bun over the leaves of Euro- 
 pean history, and by travelling far enough into that 
 dark forest, the old Ogre's den is reached at last. Turn 
 to the last civil war, the French Ee volution of 1848, 
 and there stands a female savage with a string of eyes 
 and ears, and other trophies of men sawn in two be- 
 tween fir planks, and otherwise tortured to death in the 
 streets of Paris. She is one of many worse horrors 
 which were suppressed at the time. They proved civili- 
 zation to be a mere varnish in France. Turn to the Irish 
 papers during the ridiculous Irish rebellion, and there 
 
380 AN AMERICAN TRAMP. 
 
 stalks the tamed savage armed with vitriol and broken 
 glass, and other explosives which missed fire : he is in 
 America. Kim the eye along the book-shelf and look 
 throngh the titles into books of late African travel, Du 
 Chaillu, Gordon Cumming, Burton, Mungo Park, Living- 
 stone, Grant ; and there in Africa sits the black Cannibal 
 Ogre whetting his big knife. ' Shickety shack.' Now 
 peep into the ' forbidden book ' which contains a record 
 of slave life in the Southern States, culled from Southern 
 daily papers, by abolitionists, all the evil sifted out and 
 made into one hideous mess of horrible crime. Now 
 look at a file of daily papers bought at random this 
 year, kicking about in an arm-chair. Out of that heap 
 rises a train of horrible hideous crimes, the offspring of 
 civil war, and the face of a man with a bullet-hole and 
 hospital gangrene in his throat. Skip victories and 
 totals, look for once at units, for units suffer the horrors 
 of war alone. With these pictures in the 'baccy-reek, 
 listen to the voice of the people expressed in song. In 
 the last British civil war the British Ogre was far away, 
 and the savage was a gentle savage, tender and true. 
 The burden of his songs were, ' Bonny Prince Charley, 
 wha wadna fight for him V ' They were the lads that 
 wad dee for Prince Charley;' 'How beauteous and 
 sweet is the voice of my doggie.' Listen now. From 
 
HIS ANTHEM. 381 
 
 the South comes one cheery martial air of ' The bonny 
 blue flag that bears a single star.' But the chivalry is 
 smothered by the all-pervading nigger melodies whose 
 echoes rumble inside the barrel-organs of our own streets. 
 There they go, grotesque and hideous as the piratical, 
 slave-dealing, fanatical sailor on board the 'Jesus' of 
 Lubec — 
 
 Massa's run away. 
 There's wine and liquor in de cellar, 
 
 And de niggers will hab some. 
 I guess urn all be confisicated when de Lincum gunboats 
 
 come. 
 I guess I think de kingdom coming, 
 
 And de year ob jubalo. 
 
 Banjo in hand, there stalk murder and rapine, 
 dressed in psalms — 
 
 John Brown's body lies buried in the grave, 
 
 But his soul goes marching along. 
 "We'll hang Jeff Davis on the sour apple tree. 
 Chorus — Glory, glory, Hallelujah. 
 
 With this hideous nigger-concert ringing from New- 
 foundland to the Potomac — the only popular melodies of 
 the United States— take up the English daily papers 
 and read — 
 
 Lagos, Dec. 11. — Trade very brisk since the roads from 
 Abeokuta had been opened. A great quantity of cotton was 
 
382 AN AMERICAN TRAMP. 
 
 daily arriving. There were at least 4500 bales in the town 
 when the mail left ; 1200 bales were brought by the ' Armenian.' 
 There were 1500 slaves in irons and ready for shipment at 
 Whydah. Her Majesty's ship Zebra was stationed off the port, 
 and had her boats cruising in search of the vessel, which is a 
 large steamer, said to be the one that has made several voyages, 
 with large cargoes, and the one that has given our cruisers such 
 annoyance on more than one occasion.' 
 
 Turn the page and read again — 
 
 New Yoek, Dec. 30. — Admiral Porter reports — that his whole 
 fleet bombarded Fort Fisher, and was beat off, etc. etc. 
 
 By the help of negroes the South may go on fighting for 
 years. 
 
 Driven hard, the upholders of * the bonny blue flag ' 
 speak very bitter words, and may yet do desperate 
 deeds. The savage is roused, and up and doing. If 
 they all sing loud enough and long enough they may 
 wake the ogres, black and white. Dahomey may 
 sharpen his Fan-knife, and chant the anthem of 
 ' shickety shack, shickety shack, shickety shack, shoo.' 
 
 The present performance may end in a blaze, to 
 which all the red fire yet expended is nothing ; and 
 here, with eyes blinded with paper for lack of silver 
 dollars, are slaveholders heaping fresh black African 
 savage fuel upon their own hearths. 
 
 What is to be done with this everlasting nigger who 
 
A DIVINE INSTITUTION. 383 
 
 spoiled my breakfast? In 1852 a very strange book 
 was published at Charleston. It is called the Pro- 
 slavery Argument. There are 490 pages of it, and, 
 according to it, slavery is a divine institution — one of 
 the greatest blessings bestowed on the human race. The 
 rapping-spirits of Hawkins and Queen Bess must 
 surely have guided the pens of these writers. Head- 
 ing history, sacred and profane, through dollar eye- 
 glasses, and winking hard at each other, these Southerns 
 saw no harm in slavery, and foresaw none to them- 
 selves ; and the Southern papers still go on quoting 
 Scripture as the companion of Hawkins did when he 
 wrote his account of the nigger-hunt three hundred 
 years ago. The abolitionist, on the other hand, still 
 hurls his texts at the foe, and with a nigger regiment 
 in each eye, the North falls to extracting niggers and 
 cotton from neighbouring eyes. ' Hinc illse lachrymae.' 
 They all saw darkly, and down they went into the 
 trenches. ' He who is at rest thinks his own hand 
 best at the plough : ' one who has neither niggers nor 
 dollars may perchance see as far into this millstone 
 as those who wear it and have their own interests in 
 their mental eyes ; but this everlasting nigger problem 
 is too dark to see through. * What do you want to do V 
 I said one day to a Scotch chartist turned American 
 
384 AN AMERICAN TRAMP. 
 
 railway politician, after an hour's discussion. ' Well, I'll 
 tell you,' said he. 'First we'll whip the South. We don't 
 want to live near the cussed aristocrats ; we'll extermi- 
 nate them and confiscate their lands. From the moment 
 they fired on the flag there was no other course open.' 
 'What next? what will you do with the niggers?' 
 ' We'll put them before us, and drive the French out of 
 Mexico.' 'And then?' 'Why, then, we'll turn them 
 round and take Canada.' 'And then exhibit the 
 French Emperor and the Queen of England at Bar- 
 num's,' I suggested. 
 
 ' The Queen's a lady, sir,' said this cutter of Gor- 
 dian knots, gravely. 
 
 I can't make anything of the nigger ; I can't under- 
 stand the war. It is all about the nigger, but not for 
 his dear sake. Like little Peterkin, I have wandered 
 asking the Yankee, ' What did they kill each other for?' 
 'I'm sure I do not know,' said he, 'but (the last battle) 
 was a glorious victory.' 
 
 An astute politician said, ' Grattez le Eusse, et vous 
 verrez le Tartarre.' There is bull-beef under Yankee 
 hides ; when the Great Bear scratched Taurus he 
 caught a Tartar ; when Eeb met Yank then came the 
 tug of war ; but we have yet to see what will come of 
 scratching Uncle Tom. Effects follow their causes ; 
 
NONSENSE AND COMMON SENSK. 385 
 
 the President likes stories ; a story and ' common sense' 
 made his son * Prince of Rails.' At school we used to 
 
 Take an old woman and wash her, 
 
 And strip her up to the knees, 
 
 And lay her out wet on a cold frosty night, 
 
 And a hundred to one but she '11 freeze. 
 
 Carry her in, and rub her down dry, 
 
 And kiver her up to the jaw, 
 
 And lay her down hot by a jolly good fire, 
 
 And a hundred to one but she '11 thaw. 
 
 It was a vulgar song, but common sense. 
 
 Give a tamed savage a striped hide for battle-flag ; 
 photograph him, write about him, put him on the stage, 
 in the pulpit, in the trenches ; give him a monopoly of 
 popular songs, hymns, music, and dances; more than 
 his share of the worst laws ; give him no education, the 
 woes and rank of a martyr, enough religion to make a 
 fanatic, drill enough to make a good soldier of a man 
 with strong brute passions and sound wits in a sound 
 body — a man able to reason, combine, foresee, conspire, 
 and act in concert with other strong men under a leader ; 
 give him a bayonet and a log, show him good rations ; — 
 and a hundred to one but he'll " flare up and join the 
 Union" in splitting itself to chips to cook rations of 
 Yankee beef. That black ogre will gobble up these 
 
 2 c 
 
re 
 
 38G AN AMERICAN TRAMP. 
 
 two white children in the backwoods, unless they take 
 care. Their cruel uncle is that Uncle Tom, who ga\ 
 me cold bacon and sauce for breakfast ; and he will say 
 grace, and sing his national anthems, if he gets the 
 upper hand. One sings, 
 
 " We'll hang Jeff Davis on de sour apple-tree ;" 
 
 another answers, 
 
 " We'll hang Abe Lincoln ;" 
 
 and a third has, 
 
 " Three rousing cheers for the British grenadier*. 
 Hallejujah !" 
 
 A feast of boulders in the prairie was better than 
 such grim thoughts. 
 
CHAPTER XIX. 
 
 PARTING. 
 
 The rail from Cincinnati starts at 60 feet above the 
 river, runs down, and down-stream along the river-plain 
 for some distance, and then passes a lateral valley through 
 high banks of stratified gravel. The rivers Miami and 
 White Water are crossed. One is coloured with gray 
 clay very like the colour of glacier-rivers. At Indian- 
 apolis the barometer only marked 125 feet above the 
 Ohio, 135 miles away, and the highest point reached 
 was only 450. The top of the hill above Cincinnati 
 is thus nearly as high as the highest point on the journey. 
 The country consists of great flat alluvial plains, with 
 rounded limestone islands rising in the sea of yellow 
 corn. It seems impossible that rain-water can have 
 done so much work without washing the sand off 
 the hill at Cincinnati. At Indianapolis the terraced 
 river-plains were found to contain land and fresh-water 
 shells mixed with fine sand, the lowest terrace resting 
 
388 AN AMERICAN TRAMP. 
 
 upon boulder-clay, in which the rivers had dug their 
 beds. The rain-water has washed and sorted gravel, 
 sand, and mud, and some of the clay has been cleared 
 from the- big stones. That is all the denudation which 
 has been accomplished by rain-water since the drift 
 period. The engines now at work are unable to carry 
 one of the big boulders a yard. There is no fall, and no 
 great head of water can gather in such a plain. 
 
 The solitary Sunday walk was amusing pastime, 
 but notes of it would be egregiously dull ; and heavy as 
 the boulders. 
 
 On Monday returned to Chicago, and on the way 
 saw things which men very seldom see in the Old 
 Country. 
 
 At Chicago parted from a pleasant comrade, who is 
 a capital traveller. 
 
 What wandering animals men are ! We, who stood 
 side by side near the top of Eyriks Jokul in Iceland a 
 couple of years ago, chanced to meet in a London ball- 
 room in July. One had been to Egypt and Palestine, 
 the other a long way. 
 
 1 Will you go to America?' said one ; * I'm going.' 
 ' Well, I don't care if I do,' said the other. 
 Since then one had been to the Labrador, the other 
 into all sorts of queer places. We had scaled Wash- 
 
DINING. 389 
 
 ington and dived to Lethe together. Now, after a long 
 tramp here in the middle of North America, amongst a 
 wandering race like ourselves, we parted ; hoping soon 
 to meet again, like a pair of scissors. One meant to go 
 through the Gulf of Mexico to Montreal, the other 
 intended to go through Washington and Boston to 
 Albany, New York, and London. We are Britons, and 
 like each other well ; but we neither wept nor embraced. 
 We dined and drank a bottle of Catawba, went together 
 to the depot, took opposite ends of the broken port- 
 manteau and carried it to the car, and then we shook 
 hands and parted for opposite ends of the earth. After 
 London we hope to go to Greenland. One has so far 
 accomplished his object, and sincerely hopes that the 
 other may prosper in all his ways. 
 
 Gastronomy is not much in our line, but here is our 
 last bill of fare for the benefit of those who care to know 
 what a dinner is like in Chicago, where men pay four 
 greenbacks a day, or about eight shillings, for board and 
 lodging :— 
 
390 AN AMERICAN TRAMP. 
 
 TKEMONT. 
 
 Five o'clock Ordinary. Wednesday, Oct 18, 1864 
 
 SOUP. FISH. 
 
 Corn. Baked White Fish, Stuffed. 
 
 BOILED DISHES. KOAST DISHES. 
 
 Duffield's Sugar-cured Ham, Cold. Duffield'sHam, Champagne Sauce. 
 
 Corned Beef, Cabbage. Beef. 
 
 Beef Tongue. Young Pig, Stuffed. 
 
 COLD DISHES. 
 
 Cold Roast Prairie Chickens. Cold Roast Lamb. Cold Roast Beef. 
 
 SIDE DISHES. 
 
 Fillets of Beef Broiled, Mushroom Sauce. Veal Chops, a la Jardinier. 
 Harricot of Mutton. Boiled Celery with Ham, Egg Sauce. 
 
 RELISHES. 
 
 Worcestershire Sauce. Olives. Raw Tomatoes. 
 
 French Mustard. Horseradish. Cold Slaw. 
 
 VEGETABLES. 
 
 Boiled Potatoes. Squash. Mashed Potatoes. Fried Egg-Plant. 
 
 New Beets. Boiled Onions. 
 
 Boiled Rice. Stewed Tomatoes. Fried Sweet Potatoes. 
 
 GAME. 
 
 Roast Mallard Ducks. 
 
 PASTRY. 
 
 Quince Pies. Custard Pies. Tapioca Pudding. 
 
 Floating Island. Raspberry Tarts. Assorted Cakes. 
 
 DESSERT. 
 
 Almonds. Apples. Raisins. English Walnuts. Hickory Nuts. 
 Filberts. Isabella Grapes. Lemon Ice Cream. Coffee. 
 
 It is time to reel up this long yarn. The Eastern 
 States are well known, and have been described by abler 
 
ELECTIONEEKING. 391 
 
 pens. The journal of a mere scratch-hunter, penned 
 while he was bored himself, would be an affliction too 
 grievous to be borne. 
 
 The election was seen, and it was evident that a 
 working majority of the Northern people wanted to 
 fight by deputy, and meant to elect Lincoln ; while a 
 large minority, liable to be deputed, did not want to 
 fight, and could not manage to elect their candidate. It 
 was evident that every possible electioneering dodge was 
 practised in order to swell the majority. All the soldiers 
 sent home to vote appeared to be quiet steady men, si- 
 lent and decided, determined to vote for Lincoln and fight. 
 I never met one who said he would vote for little Mac. 
 As a man remarked one day, each was good for three 
 votes at home. On the other hand, all the noisy, royster- 
 ing, cheering, shouting, or sulky crowds, who were going 
 away from home to be drilled, about election time, roared 
 and shouted, * Hurrah for M'Clellan !' The army had as 
 much right to express an opinion as any other body, so 
 it was all fair, but nevertheless it was a dodge, and the 
 President is seated on bayonets, some of which are 
 held by black men. It is to be hoped he likes his 
 place. It also appeared that free shouting is good for 
 the constitution. At Boston two rival parties had 
 rival processions on different nights. They marched 
 with torches and fireworks, paraded the streets, and 
 
392 AN AMERICAN TRAMP. 
 
 yelled. One procession was almost exclusively Irish, 
 and the spectators were of the same persuasion. The 
 Lincoln procession was not so Irish, but there were 
 Irishmen in it, and it was rumoured that Southern 
 raiders were in all the towns ready to fire them. The 
 processions met, shouted, and parted, without exchang- 
 ing a blow. In Belfast, rivals beat one another about 
 nothing, soundly, for three days. In the Boston crowd, 
 I found busy hands where revolvers or bowie-knives 
 are usually worn, and thought I felt the hand of the 
 police rather than the pickpocket. But if the police- 
 man was there at all he was in plain clothes, and he had 
 nothing to do. On the election day a deal of printer's 
 ink was wasted ; the day after, no symptom of excitement 
 remained. The people descended into the streets, as they 
 say in Paris, but the people did no harm to the other 
 people, and they ascended to bed after their descent. 
 
 In New York it was the same ; rows and raids were 
 expected, none came. I heard street speeches made in 
 German and English, by Jews, and by all sorts of 
 orators. These and other fireworks exploded freely in 
 the streets, but there was no street fight. 
 
 Tired and bored I went to bed in the best marble 
 palace in the place. My door opened, and in walked a 
 stranger without luggage. ' Sorry to disturb you/ he said, 
 * but the hotel is very full, and I am come to sleep here.' 
 
HAIR-BRUSHING. 393 
 
 It was a double-bedded room with two beds in it, so in 
 he rolled, and I thought no more of him till morning. 
 He rose early and donned his clothes, and then a very- 
 German voice said — ' Sar, shall I use your brushes V 
 
 Not even in the far west had I met with this being, 
 but I had read of one like it in some book or other, 
 and the tooth-brush flashed into my mind. 
 
 ' Sir/ 1 said from my blankets, ' if you will kindly use 
 the brush with the long handle, I should prefer it/ 
 
 ' Thank you, sar,' he said, and did use it on his frowsty 
 head. It was one specially bought for brushing dusty 
 coats and shoes, and constantly used for that purpose 
 for some months. How I did inwardly grin at my bed- 
 fellow ! 
 
 Snobs and savages chiefly reside in big towns and 
 marble palace hotels like the Fifth Avenue. Close 
 alongside of ' the upper ten thousand/ of whom I can 
 say nothing, for I know nothing about them, English 
 travellers congregate and meet the beings whom they 
 describe. The American people are to be found at 
 their own firesides, or at their several occupations, 
 and, so far as I am able to judge, they are remarkably 
 like people with whom I am accustomed to consort 
 at home. I like them. I found no ill-feeling towards 
 England amongst them ; they did not seem to dis- 
 like me. Unless snobs, slaves, dollars, and savages, 
 
394 AN AMERICAN TRAMP. 
 
 set them by the ears, I see no reason why John Bull 
 should not live in peace with his family of fighting 
 giants. If any one of them forgets his paternal duty, 
 the rest will back the old 'un, and he is not yet played 
 out for all that is come and gone. 
 
 The result of the search after glacial marks is told 
 in the first chapter. 
 
 Boulders abound along the watershed of the Ohio 
 and St. Lawrence, between Chicago and Sandusky. 
 According to the survey it is about 1563 to 1063 feet 
 above the sea. The boulders on the watershed had got 
 over their greatest difficulty, and might, like an old 
 wife, go down-hill to Pittsburg on the Ohio, which is 975 
 feet above the sea. A long search about Pittsburg failed 
 to discover a single specimen of azoic rock or a big 
 stone. No sign of glacial action was detected in cross- 
 ing the mountains to Harrisburg. There, according to 
 Dana's ' Geology/ glacial striae are found on the top 
 of Peter's Mountain, so a day was devoted to a search 
 there in spite of the very unpromising look of the 
 hills. They are all sharp, broken A ridges of broken 
 sandstone beds, crumpled up into long mountains, 
 with long valleys between. The rough walk up was 
 over fallen angular stones, through a forest. The top 
 had no symptom of an ice-mark, but there may be marks 
 elsewhere on the ridge. At Washington is a bed very 
 
SCRATCHES. 395 
 
 like boulder-clay, but after three days no scratched 
 boulder or rock was found. Going north, marks 
 were abundant near New York, and all the way to 
 Boston. Along the route to Albany, which crosses the 
 Green Mountains, mounds of water-worn gravel were 
 found on the highest pass, at the end of a hollow where 
 no large river could get. These correspond to similar 
 deposits on the same chain of mountains farther north. 
 Descending from these mountains, on a very fine clear 
 afternoon, the Catskills, Adirondaks, and other dis- 
 tant mountains, were seen upon a flat blue horizon. 
 They suggested familiar capes and headlands and well- 
 known sea-views. Without the shells and the whale, 
 the hills themselves suggested an ancient coast. When 
 the watershed of the plains rose so high as to make a 
 dam from the Alleghanies to the Eocky Mountains, the 
 Arctic Current would be shunted through this low 
 hollow. In ascending the face of the Catskill escarp- 
 ment, above Catskill village, with a nigger, a pony, and 
 a tray, I found a rock which is very like the terraced 
 red cliff in the Straits of Belleisle, marked with hori- 
 zontal grooves exactly as described by Professor Eamsay 
 in May 1859 * 
 
 The marks seem to follow the very course which a 
 stream would follow if it came out of the Canadian 
 * Quarterly Journal of the Geological Society. 
 
396 AN AMERICAN TRAMP. 
 
 basin, and was up to the brim of it. On the top, the 
 marks, no longer held in by the great wall of rock, break 
 loose, and point away down towards the south-western 
 valleys about Peter's Mountain. In the valley of the 
 Susquehanna there are many large stones which re- 
 semble rocks here ; and it may be that ice-rafts went 
 that way, though icebergs were shunted towards New 
 York. A great many of these rock-surfaces were copied, 
 and an expedition made to the top of High Peak to 
 look for more marks. None were found there. The 
 ground is covered with dense forest, underwood, and 
 brush, so tangled that, after forcing a way through a 
 thicket, guide and traveller found themselves on the 
 brink of an unexpected precipice, with the grandest 
 view seen by them in America at their very feet. It 
 was not like mountain-views anywhere else — it was 
 the lookout over a wide plain, with low swelling ridges 
 and gleaming water on the distant horizon and in the 
 plain below. It was such a view as a man might get 
 from a balloon, if he were in Lombardy out of sight of 
 the High Alps. A few flakes of snow told that winter 
 had come at last, and next day it was a white world in 
 the Catskills, with a thermometer at 22°. 
 
 At New York, glaciation is conspicuous in Broad- 
 way and in the New Park, and the marks aim back 
 at the Catskills and the grave of the Vermont whale. 
 
CONCLUSION. 
 
 397 
 
 Beyond New York, about the new forts which are seen 
 from the steamer, piles of the old boulders were seen 
 with a strong glass, behind the big guns which are 
 planted there to resist invaders. The facts observed 
 entirely support the view expressed in Professor Bain- 
 say's paper above quoted. The marks on the Catskills 
 are like marks that would result from the movements 
 of icebergs in winter-drift moved by an ocean-current 
 and by local tides. As a rule, they are horizontal, but 
 I found some which are vertical, and others which seem 
 to plunge down into a cul-de-sac, as stranded bergs 
 might where the tide ebbed. On the watershed I found 
 drift containing boulders of the old pattern. 
 
 I do not believe that these stones were carried there 
 by a glacier whose source was at the North Pole. I do 
 believe that the Arctic Current, whose source is in the 
 polar basin, carried them over America on ice-rafts, like 
 those which I have attempted to describe. 
 
 The journal from which these leaves are taken was 
 not originally intended for publication. Por something 
 to do, Chapter I. was licked into shape during a week of 
 wet weather at Boston, and a week at sea, and that 
 much was intended for a magazine article. The pub- 
 lishers sent back a sheet, and, like Oliver Twist, asked 
 for more. Now they have got a volume. If we are 
 fortunate enough to find readers who will be charitable 
 
398 
 
 AN AMERICAN TRAMP. 
 
 to such hurried rough work, we may all be as thankful 
 as one of us was when he had got through his ' American 
 Tramp.' 
 
 ' Oh, my prophetic soul ! my uncle.'— Shakspearo, Born 1564. 
 
 ' I saw, as in a dream sublime, 
 The balance in the hand of Time ; 
 O'er east and west its beam impended, 
 And day with all its hours of light, 
 Was slowly sinking out of sight'— Longfellow, 1851. 
 
 ' Into the scale the head plump'd straight, 
 And there, I trow, was honest weight'— Breton Ballad, a.d. 841. 
 
 A 8UNSKT EFFECT. WESTWARD, HO ! 
 
 * Think on this when ye smoke tobacco.'— Ota Sony. 
 
APPENDIX. 
 
 No. I.— CLIMATE. 
 
 As a curious contrast to American weather, part of 
 the summary of English weather, published in the 
 Times of January 4, may be added. 
 
 In May, a fleet of sealers were frozen in, hard and 
 fast, off Toulinguet, in Newfoundland, and many disas- 
 ters occurred. 
 
 June. 
 Barometer steady, below 30 in., except on the 19th and 20tli. 
 Although rain fell on 17 days, there were only 6 with any 
 considerable amount ; a quarter of an inch fell on the 23d and 
 28th. Severe frosts occurred on the 1st and 2d, the minimum 
 temperature on the 1st falling to 30'5 deg., and on the grass to 
 23*3 deg. ; the temperature never reached 80 deg. during the 
 month. Considerable wind changes occurred on the 3d and 9th ; 
 on- the 1st there was ice at 7 a.m., and the damage to tender 
 plants was great ; 9th, thunderstorm ; 10th, strawberries ripe ; 
 11th, vast number of ghost moths, thunder ; 12th, curious solar 
 phenomenon ; 18th, gale ; 23d, thunder. 
 
400 APPENDIX. 
 
 At Indian Tickle, on the Labrador Coast, the sea 
 froze in the harbours, so that fishing-boats could hardly 
 get out. Drift and pack ice extended 150 miles from 
 the shore. Icebergs abounded. Some sounds were still 
 frozen over. 
 
 July. 
 
 Barometer tolerably steady at 29'8 in. Rain fell on the 2d 
 and 3d. after which none till the 22d, and then only four days' 
 rain to the end of the month ; the whole month only yielded 
 half an inch of rain. No frost occurred in July. The tem- 
 perature was high from the 14th to the 21st, being 84*3 deg. 
 on the 17th, 85'2 deg. on the 19th, and 84 deg. on the 20th ; 
 it was again hot from the 27th to the 30th, reaching 80*6 deg. 
 on the 30th. The mean temperature was above 70 deg. on the 
 19th and 20th. The sky very free from cloud on the 14th, 
 15th, 18th, 20th, 24th, and 29th. Great wind changes occurred 
 on the 6th, 7th, 14th, 17th, 18th, 25th, and 27th ; 28th, many 
 thunderclouds. 
 
 For temperature in the Atlantic, see the table below. 
 On the Coast of Labrador and Newfoundland the tem- 
 perature of air and water was about 37° to 47°. Nume- 
 rous icebergs and large pieces of ice and small pack were 
 drifting off the coast. Narrow sounds and some har- 
 bours were still frozen over at the end of the month. 
 
 August. 
 Barometer steady, with a rapid rise on the morning of the 
 
RAIN AND SUNSHINE. 401 
 
 11th, reaching above 30*5 in., reduced to sea-level on the morn- 
 ing of the 15th, after which falling to 29*7 in. by the morning 
 of the 19th. No rain fell except on the 7th, 8th, 9th, 10th, 
 21st, 23d, 28th, and 29th ; 0-2 in. fell on the 9th, above half 
 an inch on the 21st, and above a quarter of an inch on the 28th ; 
 the amount on other days was scarcely measurable. Much ozone 
 on the 1st, 15th, and 17th. Gales on the 2d, 8th, 10th, 23d, 
 24th, 30th, and 31st. Frosts occurred on the 22d, 26th, and 
 27th ; and in the valley on the 12th, 18th, and 25th. There 
 were 3 deg. of frost on the 27th. The weather was hot on the 
 3d to the 8th, on the 12th to the 16th, and on the 29th and 
 30th, reaching in the shade 84-5 deg. on the 5th, 80*7 deg. on 
 the 13th, 83-6 deg. on the 14th, 80-2 deg. on the 16th, and 81-5 
 deg. on the 30th. Sky almost free from cloud on the 1 1th, 12th, 
 13th, 14th, 16th, 18th, 22d, 24th, 25th, 26th, 27th, and 30th. 
 On the 9th many meteors and lightning; 21st, thunderstorm, 
 water-spout at Brighton, and earthquake at Lewes ; 23d, thunder- 
 storm ; 26th and 27th, potatoes in valley cut by frost. Great 
 wind changes on the 3d, 12th, 14th, 16th, 18th, 20th, 24th, 
 and 25th. 
 
 Aug. 27. — Twenty-two large pieces of ice were seen 
 from one hill in the latitude of Cheshire, and great 
 numbers of bergs and other ices were seen as far south 
 as Cape Eace. The weather was foggy and chilly at 
 sea, hot and muggy where the sun shone, on shore. 
 Thermometer in shade seldom above 50° up to the 23d 
 in Labrador and Newfoundland. Gales, 8th to 13th. 
 
 2 D 
 
402 APPENDIX. 
 
 September. 
 The barometer was below 30 inches until the 25th, and then 
 above ; it fell from the 12th to the 16th from 29-801 to 29-091 
 in. Eain fell on 14 days, but the whole amount was only an 
 inch, of which nine-tenths of an inch fell on six days, and only 
 a tenth on the eight remaining days. Frosts occurred in the 
 valley on the 13th and 15th. The temperature never reached 
 74 deg. ; ozone was in large amount except on the 3d, 4th, 21st, 
 and 25th to the end. There was but little cloud on the 1st, 
 12th, 18th, and from 25th to 29th. On 2d, thunder and light- 
 ning, and a remarkable solar beam ; 3d, a thunderstorm. No 
 great wind changes. Gales on 1st, 5th, 8th, 9th, and 14th ; 
 that on the 9th blew off one-half of the apples ; on 11th, hail 
 and lightning ; 21st, hail ; fog on 25th, 26th, 27th, and 28th. 
 
 In Canada the weather was very fine, warm, and 
 dry, with occasional cold winds. 
 
 October. 
 The barometer fell from 30-0 in. on the 15th to 29*0 in. on 
 the 20th, rising in the evening to 29-5 in., and falling to 28-8 in. 
 on the evening of the 2 2d, rising to 29'4 in. on the evening of 
 the 24th. No rain fell till the 16th ; the amount fallen on the 
 2 2d, 23d, and 27th together was 1-1 in., and half an inch more 
 in the remaining nine days. Frosts occurred on the 15th, 21st, 
 and 31st ; the temperature reached 677 deg. on the 19th ; the 
 sky was nearly cloudless on the 6th, and almost overcast from 
 the 21st to the 30th. Great wind changes on the 21st, 24th, 
 and 28th. Gales on the 4th, 5th, and 17th. 
 
FROST AND STORM. 403 
 
 In the Western States the weather was very fine, 
 bright, and dry. In Kentucky it was warm and soft, 
 and the trees had only begun to turn on the 12th. Rain 
 fell once. 
 
 November. 
 
 Barometer very high on the 6th — viz., 307 inches ; and 
 very low on three dates — viz., 28*6 in. on the 13th, 28*5 in. on 
 the 14th, and 28*7 in. on the 15th ; also 28*7 in. on the 17th, 
 28*8 in. on the 18th, 28*5 in. again on the 25th, and 287 in. on 
 the 26th. Scarcely any rain till the 13th ; frosts occurred on 
 15 nights. Scarcely any ozone till the 18th. Great wind 
 changes on the 5th, 7th, 8th, 15th, 16th. On the 3d, severe 
 frosts, dahlias killed ; on 20th, a meteor of very large size ; a 
 gale of 12 lb. pressure on the 25th, another of 10 lb. on the 
 18th, and others on the 26th, 28th, and 31st. 
 
 On the Catskill Mountains snow fell on the 13th. 
 The thermometer fell to 22° ; sponges were frozen in 
 bedrooms, and generally it was exceedingly cold and 
 wintry. At New York on the 14th the weather was 
 warmer. No frost. At sea the thermometer was read 
 every four hours ; see table. The temperature was dis- 
 posed in lanes, which were crossed, and the difference 
 was clearly perceptible to all on board. On passing the 
 Arctic Current ordinary west-country weather was found. 
 On the west coast were gales of warm moist wind. 
 
404 
 
 APPENDIX. 
 
 Table No. 6. — Greatest Cold during the past 
 Six Years. 
 
 
 1864. 
 
 1863. 
 
 1862. 
 
 1861. 
 
 1S60. 
 
 1859. 
 
 
 Deg. 
 
 Deg. 
 
 Deg. 
 
 Deg. 
 
 Deg. 
 
 Deg. 
 
 January . 
 
 77 
 
 26-5 
 
 19-0 
 
 16-5 
 
 22-0 
 
 27-0 
 
 February 
 
 
 
 17-2 
 
 26-0 
 
 20-4 
 
 23-5 
 
 19-8 
 
 27-4 
 
 March 
 
 
 
 23-3 
 
 24-0 
 
 18-5 
 
 26-5 
 
 22-0 
 
 25-2 
 
 April 
 
 
 
 
 32-5 
 
 29-6 
 
 20-4 
 
 26-5 
 
 21'0 
 
 21-8 
 
 May 
 
 
 
 
 32-3 
 
 27-3 
 
 35'5 
 
 287 
 
 30-0 
 
 30-8 
 
 June 
 
 
 
 
 30-5 
 
 42-0 
 
 397 
 
 42-5 
 
 39-5 
 
 41-9 
 
 July 
 
 
 
 
 44-0 
 
 36-4 
 
 41-0 
 
 44-0 
 
 41-4 
 
 45'6 
 
 August 
 
 
 
 
 33-0 
 
 39-3 
 
 36'9 
 
 41-8 
 
 33-5 
 
 44-4 
 
 September 
 
 
 
 37-0 
 
 37-1 
 
 37-0 
 
 36-2 
 
 32-6 
 
 37-5 
 
 October . 
 
 
 
 34-0 
 
 31-5 
 
 24-9 
 
 29-8 
 
 26-5 
 
 19-4 
 
 November 
 
 
 
 27-0 
 
 27'3 
 
 20-6 
 
 17-0 
 
 28-0 
 
 18-0 
 
 December 
 Minimum 
 
 
 
 15-0 
 
 25-5 
 
 31-0 
 
 22-0 
 
 -8-0 
 
 7-0 
 
 77 
 
 24-0 
 
 18-5 
 
 16-5 
 
 -8-0 
 
 7-0 
 
 
 — Signil 
 
 ies 'below zero.' 
 
 
 
 From this table it appears that eight below zero is 
 the minimum, on one side ; on the other, so far as ob- 
 served, lower temperatures commonly occur every year. 
 
WEATHER IN 1864. 
 
 405 
 
 Table No. 10. — Adopted Mean Temperature from 
 1810 to 1864. 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 43 
 
 
 CO CO t*< 
 
 *a 
 
 p 
 go 
 
 a> co cs 
 
 t»»r- 1 >o 
 
 „co 
 
 a 
 
 o 
 go 
 
 03 "^ . 
 C ffrH 
 
 o 
 
 fe a 
 
 Deg. 
 
 > S CO 
 
 S3 §© 
 
 ^ gEo 
 
 p^>i — i 
 
 ^ o 2 
 
 m 
 
 
 Deg. 
 
 Deg. 
 
 Deg. 
 
 Deg. 
 
 Deg. 
 
 January . 
 
 
 37-3 
 
 377 
 
 36-9 
 
 36-6 
 
 367 
 
 — 0-8 
 
 February . 
 
 
 
 39-2 
 
 38-1 
 
 37-5 
 
 38-6 
 
 38-6 
 
 — 2-2 
 
 March 
 
 
 
 41-8 
 
 40-9 
 
 41-5 
 
 42-1 
 
 421 
 
 — 1-8 
 
 April 
 
 
 
 44-8 
 
 45-9 
 
 47-6 
 
 47-3 
 
 47'1 
 
 + 0-9 
 
 May 
 
 
 
 53-4 
 
 50-8 
 
 54-3 
 
 531 
 
 53-1 
 
 + 1-8 
 
 June 
 
 
 
 57-2 
 
 58-4 
 
 59-0 
 
 587 
 
 58-6 
 
 — 1-1 
 
 July 
 
 
 
 59-1 
 
 61-1 
 
 60-9 
 
 61'3 
 
 611 
 
 — 1-0 
 
 August . 
 
 
 
 59-4 
 
 60-6 
 
 597 
 
 60-3 
 
 60-2 
 
 — 1-2 
 
 September 
 
 
 
 54-7 
 
 59-6 
 
 55-8 
 
 56-6 
 
 56-4 
 
 — l'O 
 
 October . 
 
 
 
 50-5 
 
 48-8 
 
 47-4 
 
 49-4 
 
 49-5 
 
 + 0-6 
 
 November 
 
 
 
 40-5 
 
 41-0 
 
 42-8 
 
 42-4 
 
 42-2 
 
 — 0-9 
 
 December 
 Mean . 
 
 
 
 397 
 
 39-1 
 
 39-3 
 
 39-2 
 
 39-2 
 
 — 1-3 
 
 48-2 
 
 48-0 
 
 48-6 
 
 48-8 
 
 48-7 
 
 — 0-6 
 
 REMARKS ON THE YEAR. 
 
 The temperature for the year 1864 was 0*6 deg. lower than 
 the average of the past 55 years, being colder in every month 
 except April, May, and October ; April was 2'2 deg. colder than 
 the average, and May 1*8 deg. warmer. 
 
 The amount of rain was 8*1 in. below the average of the last 
 
406 APPENDIX. 
 
 20 years, being less in all months except January, February, 
 April, and November. There was also a much less number of 
 wet days. 
 
 The tables explain themselves. 
 
 E. J. Lowe. 
 
 Observatory, 
 
 Higlifield House, Jan. 2. 
 
 In Canada the season was unusually dry. In New- 
 foundland and Labrador, unusually foggy and cold. A 
 great deal of ice came down from the northern regions 
 
 far more than usual. The Gulf Stream appears to 
 
 have come further north, as drift-weed and flying-fish 
 were seen in warm water, nearer to Cape Eace than 
 usual. 
 
 To this comparison of weather on shore may be 
 added the temperatures of water in the Atlantic in 
 1864, copied from the log of the ' Persia/ by the kind 
 permission of her captain. 
 
 If any one cares enough about the subject, the table 
 may be made into a diagram, by treating vertical lines 
 in a sheet of section paper as meridians in a map, and 
 horizontal lines as the scale of a thermometer. 
 
 The result is horizontal, or nearly horizontal, lines of 
 
WEATHER IN 1864. 407 
 
 temperature, dipping suddenly about one particular re- 
 gion, and rising when that region is passed, thus — 
 
 v 
 
 The V is the Arctic Current on its way south, the 
 rest is still water or the Gulf Stream on its way north. 
 
 The climates on opposite coasts depend on the course 
 of these two, and they are as easily shunted as a mill- 
 stream with a sufficient dam. 
 
 I believe that the ' glacial period ' now exists, that 
 1 boulder-clay' is forming in the Atlantic, and that 
 ' boulder-clay ' was formed elsewhere in old arctic 
 currents, like the cold Atlantic stream which now 
 washes the Labrador. To see it was 
 
 THE END OF THIS TRAMP. 
 
No. II.— TABLE OF DISTANCES 
 
 The following TABLE of DISTANCES may have some 
 interest. 
 
 July 9 
 
 19 
 
 „ 20, 21 
 
 n 22 > 23 
 25 
 
 31 
 
 Aug. 1,2 
 
 13 
 
 16, 20 
 
 52 days 24 
 
 at sea. 
 
 Sept. 
 
 Oct. 
 
 29 
 
 31 
 
 2 
 
 6 
 
 22 
 
 26 
 
 28 
 
 6 
 
 9 
 
 V ' Ariel' 
 
 Liverpool to Cape Race Lg liropa ; 
 
 „ to Halifax ) 
 To Windsor and back, rail 
 To Sydney } , p^, 
 To St. John s j 
 To Labrador 
 The Labrador, up 
 
 do down 
 Lansaloup 
 Belleisle 
 St. John's 
 
 To Colinet and back 
 At Colinet, about 
 At St. John's, about . 
 
 To Halifax, about 
 
 To St. John, KB. 
 Fredericton and 
 St. John to Portland . 
 ( To Montreal . 
 \ "White Mountains, about 
 In Canada, about 
 Niagara to Buffalo 
 Buffalo to Chicago 
 Chicago to St. Louis . 
 St. Louis to Louisville 
 
 Miles. 
 
 Miles. 
 
 1850 
 660 
 
 
 2,510 
 
 80 
 
 2,590 
 
 330 
 
 2,920 
 
 540 
 
 3,460 
 
 480 
 
 3,940 
 
 180 
 
 4,120 
 
 180 
 
 4,300 
 
 60 
 
 4,360 
 
 60 
 
 4,420 
 
 480 
 
 4,900 
 
 120 
 
 5,020 
 
 20 
 
 5,040 
 
 30 
 
 5,070 
 
 870 
 
 5,940 
 
 278 
 
 6,218 
 
 200 
 
 6,418 
 
 260 
 
 6,678 
 
 294 
 
 6,972 
 
 50 
 
 7,022 
 
 1100 
 
 8,122 
 
 24 
 
 8,146 
 
 542 
 
 8,688 
 
 288 
 
 8,976 
 
 342 
 
 9,318 
 
TABLE OF DISTANCES. 
 
 409 
 
 Oct. 
 
 Nov. 
 
 12 
 15 
 15 
 
 17 
 21 
 
 24 
 
 28 
 28 
 
 31 
 
 1 
 2 
 
 10 
 14 
 
 15) 
 
 26 f 
 
 To Cave City and back 
 
 To Cincinnati by river 
 
 To Indianapolis 
 
 To Layfayette 
 
 To Michigan City 
 
 To Chicago 
 
 To Pittsburg . 
 
 At Pittsburg, about 
 
 To Harrisburg 
 
 At Harrisburg 
 
 To Baltimore 
 
 To Washington 
 
 At Washington 
 
 To Baltimore 
 
 To Philadelphia 
 
 To New York 
 
 At New York 
 
 To Boston, about 
 
 At Boston, about 
 
 To Albany 
 
 To New York . 
 
 At Catskill, about 
 
 To Liverpool 
 
 Miles. 
 
 250 
 
 150 
 
 112 
 
 64 
 
 91 
 
 50 
 
 468 
 
 20 
 
 249 
 
 40 
 
 82 
 
 40 
 
 50 
 
 40 
 
 98 
 
 90 
 
 20 
 
 230 
 
 50 
 
 200 
 
 144 
 
 50 
 
 3000 
 
 Miles. 
 
 9,568 
 
 9,718 
 
 9,830 
 
 9,894 
 
 9,985 
 
 10,035 
 
 10,503 
 
 10,523 
 
 10,772 
 
 10,812 
 
 10,894 
 
 10,934 
 
 10,984 
 
 11,024 
 
 11,122 
 
 11,212 
 
 11,232 
 
 11,462 
 
 11,512 
 
 11,712 
 
 11,856 
 
 11,906 
 
 14,906 
 
 The distance travelled was more than 14,800 miles in 
 142 days at a cost of £180, which sum includes the fares 
 between London and Liverpool, and sundry purchases. 
 
 '." 
 
 
No. III. — Temperature of the Water, taken every Foui 
 
 of the Tenipei 
 
 New York, 
 
 72° 43' 
 
 65° 20' 
 
 Passed a r 
 Clo 
 
 58° 03' 
 
 iece of ice. 
 udy. 
 
 Lat. 42° 40' 
 50" 45' 
 
 April 6. 
 
 44 44 43 42 
 
 40 41 40 50 52 52 
 
 50 42 49 46 38 
 
 42 46 44 33 39 44 
 
 April 20. 
 
 69° 24' 
 
 63" 07' 
 
 . 56° 56' 
 
 50° 28' 
 
 
 41 41 40 41 41 41 42 41 40 
 
 50 52 51 56 54 
 
 54 56 59 62 57 56 
 
 60 5S 57 56 52 
 
 Air, 84°. 
 New York, 
 Aug. 11. 
 
 70° 35' 
 SO 70 75 74 74 70 61 64 
 
 63° 69' 
 61 66 76 70 66 66 
 
 57° 10' 
 62 66 71 70 67 70 
 
 Lat. 42° 50' 
 50° 10' 
 
 70 64 66 56 60 64 ' 
 
 Dense Fog. 
 
 New York, 
 
 68° 24 
 
 62° 07' 
 
 55° 46' 
 
 49° 23' 
 
 Aug. 24. 
 
 78 72 74 72 58 60 66 68 68 
 
 60 70 66 67 67 64 
 
 64 64 61 62 61 57 
 Dense Fog. 
 
 56 56 56 53 50 56 1 
 Fog. 
 
with the Longitude at noon ; to show the Approximate Position 
 From the Loo- of the ( Persia,' 1864. 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 1864, 
 
 
 37° 33' 
 
 . 30° 58' 
 
 25° 17' 
 
 19° 13' 
 
 13° 19' 
 
 March 27. 
 
 ; 56 
 
 56 56 54 50 50 
 
 50 50 
 
 50 52 51 50 
 
 50 50 51 51 
 
 51 52 53 53 46 45 
 
 
 
 37° 05' 
 
 29° 58' 
 
 22° 22' 
 
 14° or 
 
 
 
 1 53 
 
 52 53 53 54 52 
 
 52 52 
 
 52 52 
 
 52 53 5] 49 
 
 49 46 46 45 
 
 
 
 38° 13' 
 
 31° 36' 
 
 25° 43' 
 
 19° 07' 
 
 12° 11' 
 
 August 1. 
 
 .7 68 
 
 66 64 65 66 58 
 
 60 60 60 60 60 60 
 
 62 60 60 60 62 60 
 
 60 61 60 62 62 60 
 
 61 60 60 61 60 58 
 
 
 
 36° 18' 
 
 28° 33' 
 
 20° 02' 
 
 11° 15' 
 
 Sept. 3. 
 
 
 ] 65 
 
 63 65 64 62 58 63 
 
 62 61 64 61 57 64 
 
 62 60 58 62 62 62 
 
 61 62 63 64 62 61 
 
 60 59 
 
 
INDEX. 
 
 Abattoir at Chicago, 281-283 
 Accident (Railway) at Richmond, 227 
 Adams (Mount), one of the White Moun- 
 tains, 210 
 Adams (Mount), near Cincinnati, 367 
 Adirondak Mountains, 226, 229, 395 
 Admiral of wood-raft on Canadian rivers, 
 
 248^ 
 ' Africa ' on homeward voyage, 35 
 African trade, 381 
 African Travel (late Books of), on habits 
 
 of natives, 380 
 Agassiz on views of most advanced school 
 
 of glacialists, 21-25 
 Alabama, first lieutenant and crew of, 35 
 Alleghany Mountains, length of the chain 
 
 and highest points, 6 
 America, physical geography of, 6-19 ; 
 
 submerged, testing of the theory, 5-14 ; 
 
 must have been flowed over by arctic 
 
 current, 344 
 Americans improved by the discipline of 
 
 the army, 203, 204 
 American Tickle, a small island 99 ; 
 
 raised beach, 100 
 Amphibious character of inhabitants of 
 
 Newfoundland, 123 
 Amsterdam, Chicago in its water-streets 
 
 resembles, 277 
 Anchor-ice, 81 
 Anderson (Capt.) has never seen a stone 
 
 on a berg, 111 
 Androscoggin River, 198 
 Aneroids (pocket), 194, 198 
 Anglo-Saxon beauty in Canada, 243 
 Animals of Kentucky caves, 349, 350 
 Antennse (long) of cave crickets, 349 
 Archaeology of Denmark and Switzerland 
 
 illustrated by Labrador, 106 
 Archipelago, New Brunswick once one, 
 
 173 
 Architecture in Labrador, 104, 105 
 Arctic ice, old, 75 
 Arctic current, reasons why an ancient 
 
 current flowed over British Islands, 4 ; 
 
 spoor of, 84 ; influence of, 85 ; its 
 
 course, S6 ; causes arctic climate, 95 ; 
 
 supposed marks left by, 215 
 Argyll, scene recalled by Highland women 
 
 in Canada, 244 
 ' Ariel ' steamer, bad condition of, 52, 53 
 Army (American) in the field, 355 
 Atlanta, news about fall of, 322 
 Atlantic, spots in that ocean where ice has 
 
 been seen, 3 
 Atlantic coast of N. America, & 
 'Atlantic Monthly Magazine' for 1864, 
 
 quoted for opinion of Agassiz on glacier 
 
 action in America, 23, 24 
 Atmospheric circulation, etc., of Ken- 
 tucky caves, 350 
 Auk (great) once found at Funk Islands, 
 
 115 
 Aurora observed in Labrador, 91 
 Axis, supposed change in earth's, 29 
 Azoic rocks to the North of St. Lawrence, 
 
 19 ; nature of, 20 
 
 Backwoodsmen bound for home, 246 
 Bacon chamber, Kentucky, 340 
 Bacon-curing at Chicago, 283 
 Ball (Celtic) in Canada, 244 ; in Mammoth 
 
 Cave, 352 
 Ballantyne's ' Every -day Life in the Woods 
 
 of N. America ' quoted, 168-170 
 Baltimore oysters, 16 
 Banks off N. American shore in constant 
 
 movement, 7 
 Barnacles at Green's Pond, 61 ; Labrador 
 
 coast, 75 
 Barometer falling, a severe storm, 115 
 Barra, Higlander from, in Cape Breton, 
 
 49 
 Basins of American central region, 10 
 Basket, price of an Indian, 167 
 Basque language somewhat resembles 
 
 Indian language of New Brunswick, 163 
 Bateaux, fishing settlement, 79 
 Bath in miniature rapids at Niagara, 253 
 Bats of Kentucky caves, 349 ; bones found 
 
 in caves of Kentucky, 344 
 Battle Harbour, Labrador, 68, 103 
 
414 
 
 INDEX. 
 
 Battle of life in Canada, 247 
 
 Baunigarten on a bed of Arctic shells on 
 Snowdon, 4 
 
 Bay-ice, Labrador, 74 ; boulders among, 
 153 ; wharf at Sydney destroyed by, 153 
 
 Beach-stones and' shells at Henley Har- 
 bour, 107 
 
 Beaver, a tame one, its habits, 164 
 
 Beaver-houses in Newfoundland 137-139 ; 
 
 Beaver-root, the root of the yellow lily, 
 138, 140 
 
 Beavers and their settlements, 137-139 ; 
 movements of beaver, 139, 140 
 
 Bears, two tame ones, their habits, 164 ; 
 kept at public houses in White Moun- 
 tains, 21S, 219 
 
 Beggar, the only one seen in Canada, 251 
 
 Bells (blue) at Toulinguet, 112 
 
 Belleisle from Henley Harbour, 106 
 
 Belleisle (Straits of), currents in, 110 ; 
 terraced red cliff in, one resembling, 
 396 
 
 Ben Lomond, cluster of hills in U.S. 
 resembling, 188 
 
 Bethel (West), gravel terraces at, 197 
 
 Betula nana in Labrador, 91 
 
 Betting at Louisville, managed by Irish- 
 man, 360 
 
 Bills of fare at Indianapolis, 368; at 
 Chicago, 390 
 
 Bills stuck on rocks, 220 
 
 Birch-bark canoe, 167 
 
 Birch trees used by beavers in constructing 
 their dams, 138 
 
 Birds that may be shot at Wilmington, 293 
 
 Bittern, a young one caught, 143 
 
 Black Dome, N. Carolina, height of, 6 
 
 Black flies (Simulium) in Newfoundland, 
 136 
 
 Blackrock, Buffalo, ice-marks at, 260 
 
 Blasphemy, perverted ingenuity about 
 American, 270 
 
 Block of ice, breaking up, 72, 73 
 
 Blockade runners on board steamer, 178 
 
 Blocks of granite at Lans-a-loup above 
 sea-level, 112 ; of granite in mud at 
 Monkton, 157 ; of greenstone and granite 
 , near Fredericton, 165; (polished) at Port- 
 land, 185 
 
 Blubber of seals, 149 
 
 Bluff (Cape), cod-seine at work, 101 
 
 Bone instruments of Esquimaux, 105 
 
 Bones on kitchen-middens, 105 
 
 Boston, rival processions at, 392 
 
 Bottomless pit, Kentucky, 345 
 
 Boulder at suspension bridge, Niagara, 
 
 255 ; at Luna island, 256 
 Boulders near the great American Lakes, 
 18 ; their story, 19 ; of old Canadian 
 azoic rock, very conspicuous, 21 ; fight 
 about, 23 ; (granite) on shore of Bay of 
 Fundy, 45 ; in Newfoundland, great 
 numbers of, 128 ; at Sydney, 152 ; seen 
 by an engineer in bay-ice, 153; at Fre- 
 
 dericton, probably from Labrador and 
 
 Newfoundland, 165, 166 ; (Laurentian) 
 
 in beds at Ottawa, 241 ; in country 
 
 between Toledo and Chicago, 272 ; on 
 
 banks of Kankakee, 291, 292 ; want of, 
 
 at St. Louis, 311, 315 ; on watershed of 
 
 Ohio and St. Lawrence, 394 
 Boulder-terraces near West Paris, 197 ; 
 
 among White Mountains, 211 
 ' Bread-basket of the world,' 297 
 Breakers off Newfoundland, 115 
 Breakfast on board the ' Ariel,' 117 
 Breakwater (Plymouth), beaver dam 
 
 shaped like, 13S 
 Breenan (Ned), a Newfoundland driver, 
 
 128 ; fish with him, 134 
 Breton (Cape), vegetation of, resembles 
 
 that of Scandinavia, 47 ; fisheries and 
 
 mines worked by Yankees, 48 
 Bridge between houses at Toulingiiet and 
 
 shore damaged by rioters, 114 ; biggest 
 
 in world, 226 
 Bridges, rotten ones on road to White 
 
 Mountains, 207 
 Brig Harbour, plenty of fish in, origin of 
 
 saying, 123 
 Britain (Little), Wilmington, why so called, 
 
 293 
 Brockville, cockles found at, 15 ; cockle- 
 shells and boulders at, 232 ; polished 
 
 rock of gray quartz, 237 ; ice marks and 
 
 tor at, 242 
 Bruce takes ship over a tarbert, 304 
 Bruin, cunning of one kept at a public 
 
 house at Glen House, 219 
 Bryant's Pond, terrace of beach stones at, 
 
 197 
 Buffalo, rocks and drift, 260, 264 ; dam 
 
 at, its effects in case of a war, 262 ; 
 
 picture gallery, and play at, 262, 263 
 Buffalo-robe, use of, 295 
 Bull (water), existence of one believed in 
 
 by the Celts, 129 
 Buonavista, 56; lightning and rain at, 15 
 Burbridge's (General) expedition, from 
 
 newspaper, 325 
 Burrowing effect of water at Niagara, 259 
 Bush-fighting in America, 356 
 Bushwhackers destroying railroads ami 
 
 shooting negroes, 339 
 Business (following a), difference in old 
 
 and new countries, 304 
 Butchers (pig) at Chicago, 2S1-283 
 
 Camera picture on ice when river was 
 
 frozen at Quebec, 239 
 Camp manners outshine country manners, 
 
 203 ; of Negro regiments, 335, 336 
 Canada, season of 1864 very hot, dry, and 
 
 clear ; once at the bottom of a gulf like 
 
 the Baltic, 23S 
 Canadian * azoic ' rock, fragment of, very 
 
 conspicuous amongst more recent rocks, 
 
 21 ; colonists, peculiarities of, 242 ; ter- 
 
INDEX. 
 
 415 
 
 ritory, cultivated slopes, 225 ; rivers, 
 
 lessons they teach geologists, 235 
 Cannibalism, story of a negro-nurse. 378, 
 
 379 
 Canoe, a birch -bark one, 166 ; an Indian 
 
 girl's navigation of one, 167 
 Cape Bluff, Labrador, 74 
 Cape Charles, Labrador, 68 
 Caj>e Clear passed, 33 
 Cape Fear, extract from article on defences 
 
 of, 7 
 Cape Race, climate compared with that of 
 
 La Rochelle, 95 
 Caplins, fishing for, 86, males and females 
 
 in separate shoals, 87 
 Captain taken by the 'Alabama,' his 
 
 sorrows, 35 ; his skill and attention, 
 
 117 ; a gallant one who saved a ship in 
 
 the Gulf-stream, 153 
 Carpenters at Quebec, every man, woman, 
 
 and child seem to be, 249 
 Carlisle, engine breaks down at, 315, 
 
 landlord at, 316 
 Carolina (N) coast, changes on, 7 
 Carrion, taint of, drives deer from ground, 
 
 142 
 Carter Ridge, White Mountains, 211 
 Carver's 'Travels in 1766,' 7, 8; quoted, 
 
 250, 252 
 Catalina, ice extended 140 miles from 
 
 coast, 56 
 ' Cats delight,' a Highland proverb, 245 
 Catskill mountains, 395, snow on, 397 
 Cattle on railway lines, how warned off, 
 
 196 
 Cattle-trains on railways, 279 
 Caves in old Kentucky, 344, 354 
 Central region of America, two great 
 
 basins, 10 
 Chalk and chalk-flints picked up, 87 
 Champlain (Lake), sea-shells on borders 
 
 of, 233 
 Changes (great) in Canada since Captain 
 
 Carver's time, 250 
 Char hooked in a Labrador lake, 91 
 Charred stumps in fields, 273 
 Chaudiere river-, 231 
 Cheer (English) and Irish yell contrasted, 
 
 366 
 Chemung formation, Devonian of English 
 
 geologists, 265 
 Cheques for luggage in America, 191 ; 
 
 might be copied advantageously in 
 
 Britain, 192 
 Chester (Vale of), country resembling, 
 
 _ 189 
 Chicago, highest step to the westward, 
 
 234 ; echoes of meeting about draft, 
 
 275 ; situated in the swamp, 276 ; un- 
 like any other place in the world, 277, 
 
 285 ; war has moved provision trade 
 
 from St. Louis to, 307 ; bill of fare at, 
 
 390 
 
 Chili, terraces along the coast, 34 ; ob- 
 servatory is affected by heat, 34 
 
 Christiania i Fjord, Norway, river and 
 country in N. Brunswick compared to, 
 161 
 
 Chronometer (geological), Niagara Falls 
 as a, 258 
 
 Churches and graveyards, country with- 
 out old, 273 
 
 Churchyard at Green's Pond encroached 
 on by the sea, 60 
 
 Cigar, cost of, 190 
 
 Cincinnati, situation of, 367 
 
 City in Mammoth Cave, 354 
 
 Civil war, crimes the offspring of, 380 
 
 Civilisation, a mere varnish in France, 
 379 
 
 Clay (Mount), one of White Mountains, 
 210 
 
 Clay near St. Louis, peculiarities of, 312 
 
 Clay-beds above weathered limestone, 
 342 
 
 Clergymen (Scotch) and Scottish judge 
 at a country inn, 268 
 
 Cliff in Newfoundland, steamer danger- 
 ously near, 109 ; at Niagara, action of 
 water and ice on, 259 
 
 Cliffs (fantastic), at Lans-a-loup, 108 
 
 Climate, how affected by depression, 12 ; 
 of N. America, supposed change of, 28 ; 
 of Labrador, 67 ; particulars of, 74 ; 
 of New Brunswick, 172 ; registered by 
 vegetation, 211 
 
 Clouds seemingly lowered to sea-level, 39 
 
 Coal near Carlisle, 316 ; a hint to specu- 
 lators, 317 ; basin in fork of Ohio and 
 Mississippi, 320; measures, Cape Breton, 
 fine section, 47; mine, Cape Breton, 
 temperature of, 50 
 
 Coalpits, Cape Breton, 152 
 
 Coast of Labrador, rising, 77 ; rate of, 78 ; 
 rising from Cape Race to Cape Harri- 
 son, 8 ; line (ancient) traces of, 312 ; 
 traces of an ancient, 395 
 
 Coat, black silk coat with white lining at 
 Louisville, 329 
 
 Cockles found by Irishman at Brockville 
 in digging a well, 15, 232 
 
 Cockney (American) among White Moun- 
 tains, 208, 209 
 
 Cod, disappearance of attributed to ice, 
 56 ; on Labrador coast, splitting of, 89 ; 
 fished for off Labrador when ice br-eaks 
 up, 122 ; abounded in Straits of Belle- 
 isle in 1863, scarce in 1864, 123 
 
 Cod-fishing boat towed by steamer, 114 
 
 Cod-heads, potatoes and pot-herbs flour- 
 ishing among, 61 
 
 Cod-seine at work, 101 
 
 Cod and haddocks caught, 152 
 
 Cold (greatest) during last six years, 402 
 
 Colinet, drive to, 128, 133 ; ferry over 
 river, 134 
 
416 
 
 INDEX. 
 
 Colony of Cape Breton, Highlanders from 
 
 Uist, etc., 48 
 Colour of water at Niagara Falls, 259 
 Commerce of Newfoundland, 123 
 Conception Bay, iceberg aground, 55 ; 
 
 ice-island with large stones, 81 
 Conglomerate boulders, Eddington, 26 
 Congregation of Negroes, 372 
 Connecticut (valley of), 224, 225 
 Conversation of passengers ashore, 119 
 Coon or racoon, a tame one, 164 
 Copper district, 303 
 Cork, author searches for but does not 
 
 find ice-marks near, 33 
 1 Corrie ' in White Mountains, 215 
 Cotton taxed, 187 
 
 Couthony, Capt. , icebergs seen by, 2, 3 
 Cows, apparatus for shunting them out of 
 
 the way of trains, 196 
 ' Crag and tail,' case of, 83 
 Crawfish, eyeless, of Kentucky caves, 349 
 Creepers in hard-wood forest, Kentucky, 
 
 355 
 Crews of vessels crushed by ice, are saved, 
 
 113 ; of Canadian wood-rafts, 248 
 Crickets of Kentucky caves, 349 
 Crossing America, shortest and easiest 
 
 way, 303 
 Cudgels from woods at Niagara, 258 
 * Cultivated ' trees in Nova Scotia, 155 
 Cultivation in Nova Scotia, 156 
 Current, rate and direction of, 77 
 Currents changed by every depression and 
 elevation of land, 8 ; in Straits of Belle- 
 isle, 110. See Arctic and Ice currents 
 Cuttings on Halifax railway, 954 
 
 Dam constructed by beavers, 138; how 
 they protect dams, 141 ; at Buffalo, harm 
 it would do to an enemy, 262 
 
 Damsels in oil regions about Lake Erie, 
 and their answer to admirers, 266 
 
 Dana on glacial theory, 24 ; ' Geology' re 
 ferred to, 222, 223, 232, 236, 273 
 
 Dance, story of an American country dam- 
 sel at a, 353 ; of Negroes at Pittsburg, 
 372 ; in Mammoth Cave, 352, 353 
 
 Danger of the pursuit of seals, 64 
 
 Danube wood-floats nothing to those on 
 Canadian rivers, 248 
 
 Dartmoor and Cornwall, country resem- 
 bling, 83 
 
 Davis, a deer-hunter and poacher, his fa- 
 mily, 134 ; himself, 135 
 
 Dead Island, fishing-boats close to ice, 
 101 
 
 Deals made at saw-mill in Canada, 249 
 
 Deer-shooting in Newfoundland, 141 ; 
 tracks in Newfoundland, 136 
 
 • Delta ' steamer, 46 ; in Sydney harbour 
 from W. Indies, 152 
 
 Denmark and Switzerland, archaeology il- 
 lustrated by Labrador, 106 
 
 Denudation caused by ice, 68 ; effected by 
 
 Mississippi river, 306 ; by supposed sea- 
 work, 311-312 ; caused by rain-water, 
 388 
 Depression of 100 feet, effects of, on New- 
 foundland, etc., 9 ; of 600 feet, effects of, 
 on British North America, etc., 9, 10; 
 of 700 feet, effects of, on America, 10, 11 ; 
 of 2000 or 3000 feet, effects of, on N. 
 America, 12 
 Derby race described by Frenchman, 359 
 Devonian rocks at Buffalo, 265 
 Devonshire, country between Louisville 
 
 and Cave City resembles, 341 
 Digging for gold in Australia, 40 
 Dining, Yankee haste in, 267 
 Dinner on board the steamer 'Europa,' 32 ; 
 a rush for, 267 ; at railway station, 299 ; 
 on board Ohio steamer, 365 
 Direction of ice-movement at Portland, 
 
 185 
 Disadvantages, some, of American rail- 
 way travelling, 195 
 Discipline, civilising effect of, 203 
 Discomforts on board steamer, 116 
 Dispensation to fish on a Saint's day, 109 
 Distances, table of, gone over in this book 
 
 by the author. See Table at end. 
 Divining-rod of a treasure-seeker, 57 
 Doctor, American, and military hospitals, 
 
 356, 357 
 Dog, a sporting one, 107 
 Dogs howling like wolves, 58; Newfound- 
 land dogs, 59 
 Dog-rose in Newfoundland, 133 
 Domestic animals, brought to Labrador in 
 
 spring, and killed in the fall, 87 
 Domino, boats fishing, 79 
 Dorsetshire man in Labrador, hospitality 
 
 of, 70 
 'Double-bedded room' at Toledo Station 
 
 Hotel, 271 
 Draft, Irishman liable to the, 187; for 
 the war at Chicago, 275 ; why submitted 
 to by Western States, 308 
 Draining (probable) of the American Lakes, 
 
 259 
 Drawing in a sketch-book, a good bait to 
 
 get information from onlookers, 253 
 'Drawn' men at Railway Station, 297, 
 
 300 
 Dress of Negroes at church, 273 
 • Dressed rocks' of Scotch geologists, 22 
 Drift, where carried to by ice, 4 ; section 
 of between Chicago and St. Louis, 291, 
 292; (heavy) in the Atlantic, 159; stones 
 on Mount Washington, 212, 213 
 Drift-terrace, Mount Washington, 17, and 
 on sides of Grand Trunk Railway, 17, 
 18; Lake Superior, 18; on Canadian 
 side, 225 
 Drivers, American, 206, 207 
 Driving Reindeer in Newfoundland, 142 
 Drysdale (Mr.) on an ice-island covered 
 with large stones, 81 
 
INDEX. 
 
 417 
 
 Earthquake in Chili, sound and motion, 
 
 34 
 Eastport, Maine, United States, 179; cap- 
 tured blockade-runners at, 180 
 Eastporters, though Yankees, much like 
 
 Britishers, 180 
 Echo river, eyeless fish and craw-fish of, 
 
 349 
 Election of President, trying railway pas- 
 sengers, 268 
 Electioneering in America, 391 
 Elevation of land supposed to have pro- 
 duced large local glaciers, 29 
 1 Elevator,' Chicago, 278, 279 
 Elsinore may yet he the Quebec of the 
 
 Baltic, 235 
 Emigrants to Cape Breton, who they 
 
 should be, 48; (Highland) flourish in 
 
 Canada, 245 
 Encroachment of sea at Green's Pond, 
 
 60, 61 
 Engine at Chicago for killing pigs, 282 ; 
 
 tame railway engines in Chicago, 278 
 Engineering of beavers, 139 
 England, likeness and dissimilarity of 
 
 country between Toledo and Chicago to, 
 
 271 
 English girl at Louisville, 329 ; maiden in 
 
 Canada, 243 ; luggage system bad when 
 
 compared with American, 192 
 Enthusiast, a Spanish surgeon, 254 
 Erie (Lake), height above sea, 280 ; effects 
 
 of a rise of 50 feet, 262 
 Eruption, a probable submarine, 111 
 Esquimaux islands 93; boat, 103; men 
 
 described and compared with Lapps, 
 
 104; fisher, 71 ; woman on swearing of 
 
 American whalers, 270 
 Ethnology (American), teachings of rocks, 
 
 220 
 'Europa,' the steamer, 30; arrangements 
 
 on board, 31, 32 ; amusements, 33 
 European glaciation may be accounted 
 
 for, 86 
 Exaggeration about Federal loss at St. 
 
 Louis, 294 
 Exploits, River of, 64 ; sea shells in raised 
 
 beach, 78 
 Expressiveness of old names of mountains, 
 
 212 
 Eyeless fish of Kentucky caves, 349 
 
 Faction-fight, an Irish one in Canada, 
 
 243 
 ' Fall,' a mark to Geologists, 236 
 'Falls' (the), River St. John, 161 ; at Ot- 
 tawa, 250 
 False news about the war, 274 
 Fare, omnibus fare at Portland, 184 
 'Farm,' size of 'farm' over which author 
 
 shot, 287 
 Farming at Cape Breton, 4S, 49 ; in worse 
 climate than the native country of 
 emigrants, 50, 51 ; in New Brunswick, 
 
 first step, 173 ; in Canada, Highlanders 
 
 adapted for, 245 
 Faroe, rock at Ottawa a miniature of 
 
 shapes in, 241 
 Fat Man's Misery, Kentucky, 346 
 Features (marked) of Canadian landscape, 
 
 248 
 Feet (small).of pure Indian breeds, 246 
 Fellow-travellers, on American rail, 199 
 Field-produce in Newfoundland, 132 
 Fire-brigade, an amateur, 274 
 Fire-engine contest at Crystal Palace, 
 
 swearing of New Yorkers at, 270 
 Fish curing in Labrador, 69, 70 ; a fair 
 
 take of, 112 ; driven off coast by ice, 
 
 75 ; (eyeless) of Kentucky caves, 349 ; 
 
 splitting on Labrador coast, 88, 89 ; 
 
 manure, stench of, 131, 145 
 Fishermen blown off coast, 114 ; High- 
 landers not adapted for the life, 245 
 Fishing stages, Labrador, 69; at Quidi 
 
 Vidi, 146-148 
 Fishing in Newfoundland river, 134 
 Flake, a fish-stago: so called in New- 
 foundland, 148 ; large flakes, 149 
 Flesh-feeders versus Fish-eaters, 104 
 Flies in Newfoundland, 133 ; the various 
 
 kinds of fly pests, 136 
 Flint Islands, 47 
 Fying-fish and gulf-weed observed off 
 
 Cape Race, 111 
 Fog described, 114 
 Fog-whistle on voyage, 36, 39 
 Fogo, harbour with two entrances, 63 ; 
 
 change of sea-level at, 77" 
 Fogo Island (little), 114 
 Food of beaver, 137 
 
 Food for man and beast in an Indian corn- 
 field, 296 
 Forest on fire from engine cinders, 46 ; in 
 
 Labrador, growth of, 91 
 Forests of maple, oak, etc., in Nova 
 
 Scotia, 155 ; on White Mountains, 210, 
 
 211 
 Fossils discovered in so-called 'azoic' 
 
 rocks of Canada, 20; in limestone at 
 
 St. Louis, 311 ; near Lethe river, 347 
 Fox (black) great fur prize in Labrador, 
 
 72 ; silver-fox, 72 
 Frame ahead of the engine, woman saved 
 
 by, 319 
 Franconia notch, beaches on, 27 
 Fredericton, New Brunswick, 164, 165 
 Free black groom in Jamaica, 375, 376 
 Freezing of sea, 65 
 French (Norman) accents of Canadian 
 
 colonists, 242 
 Fresh water from icebergs, 66 ; marshes, 
 
 where sea-fish used to be caught, 78 
 Frontier of Canada and United States, 
 
 227 
 Fundy, Bay of, 9; (rushing of tide, 43, 
 
 44 ; freezing of, in winter, 46 ; land at 
 
 the head of, 154; much sea-fog on 
 
418 
 
 INDEX. 
 
 shores, 171 ; uses of, as a storehouse of 
 
 heat, 172 
 Funk Islands once tenanted by great auk, 
 
 115 
 Furrers and their traps in Labrador, 71 
 
 Gaelic driver and colonists in Nova Scotia, 
 156 
 
 Gally-nippers or mosquitoes in Newfound- 
 land, 136 
 
 Game laws, none in America, 293 
 
 Gangrene (hospital), new cure for, 357 
 
 Gap, Flint Islands, 47 
 
 Garonne in France, a river in N. B. cor- 
 responding to, frozen over for five 
 months, 168 
 
 Geese (wild) in air, 317 
 
 Geikie (Archibald) on the phenomena of 
 the glacial drift in Scotland, 22 
 
 Geological features of rocks at St. John's, 
 125 
 
 Geologist in a blouse, 218, 222 
 
 Geology of America, its chief features, 19 
 
 German at hotel in New York, 393 
 
 Geyer fogel, or great auk, skeletons of, 
 115 
 
 Geyser in Iceland, comparison, 34 
 
 Giants' tubs, ice-marks so called, 26 
 
 Gilead, terrace at, 198 
 
 Girl with mother Carey's chickens, 61 
 
 Glacial period, 22 ; work, no trace of, on 
 watershed of Illinois, 291 ; striae not 
 produced by bay-ice, 76 
 
 Glacialists, two rival schools of, 21 
 
 Glaciated rock foundation of Canada, 238 
 
 Glacier, Northern Europe, according to 
 Agassiz, once covered by a great, 22 ; 
 ancient glacier of America, its extent 
 according to Agassiz, 23, 24 ; marks of 
 an ancient one, Placentia Bay, 132 ; 
 spoor of a polar glacier or current, 175 ; 
 local, traces of, on Mount Washington, 
 214, 216 
 
 Glasgow M.P. in 1721-24 dealt in negroes, 
 375 
 
 Glen House among the White Mountains, 
 208 ; hotel, 211 
 
 Goat Island, sketching at, a Spanish sur- 
 geon, etc., 254 ; ice-marks at, 257 
 
 Gold, advantage of English, in America, 
 184, 185 ; in Nova Scotia, 43 ; author 
 supposed to be prospecting for, 45 ; in 
 British Columbia, 303 
 
 Gold-digger in Australia, 40 
 
 Gold-mines near Halifax, 155 
 
 Gordon, Hon. Arthur, on New Brunswick, 
 170 
 
 Gorhani, cultivated drift country, 196 ; 
 and the White Mountains, 205 ; glaciated 
 rocks at, 216 
 
 ' Gorillas,' armed bands so called in bor- 
 der states, 339 
 
 Gottenburg, low rocks off, ' Thousand 
 Isles ' resemble, 238 
 
 Grain as carried into magazines at Chi- 
 cago, 27S 
 Grand Trunk Railway, energies spent in 
 
 building bridge, 226 
 Granite blocks, Indian Island, 80; at 
 
 Monkton, 157 
 Grass at Lans-a-loup, 10S ; lofty stalks of, 
 
 295 
 Graveyards, country without old, 273 
 Gravel-beds on White Mountains, 17 ; 
 
 (water-worn) beds and mounds, 223 
 Gray horses, Highland legend about, 207 
 ' Graybacks fought well,' opinion of Fede- 
 ral soldier, 269 
 Gray-coated men, an avalanche of, at a 
 
 railway station, 297 
 Great Eastern at Liverpool, 30 
 Great Relief, Kentucky, 346 
 Greedy Harbour, iceberg and ' growlers ' 
 
 at, 97 ; adventures at, 99 
 Greenbacks and no gold, 186 
 1 Green ' cod sent from Labrador to be 
 
 dried, 90 
 Green River, Kentucky, 346, 347 
 Green's Pond, icebergs, 60 ; churchyard 
 
 at, 60 ; corresponds in latitude to the 
 
 Scilly Isles, 62 
 Growth of towns in United States, 276 
 Guano, skeletons of great auk found in, 
 
 115 
 Gulf-stream outside current near Nova 
 
 Scotia, 110 ; marks of, 111 ; how it 
 
 would be affected by depression of 
 
 America, 11 
 Gulf-weed, 179 ; observed off Cape Race, 
 
 111 
 Gunboat (iron), one making at St. Louis, 
 
 313 
 Guns, firing of great, at Liverpool, 31 
 Gymnast at Windsor, 43 
 
 Half-breed (Indian) in Canada, 243 
 Halifax, steamer arrives at, 41 ; tide at, 
 
 43 ; resemblance of country to Norway, 
 
 43, 163 
 Hall (C. F.) on swearing of American 
 
 whalers, 270 
 Hamilton, sergeant and beds of sand at, 
 
 252 
 Hamilton Inlet, Labrador, 90 ; Hudson's 
 
 Bay Company's station, 92 
 Hands (slender) of thoroughbred Indians, 
 
 246 
 Hanging of two men at Paris, Kansas, 
 
 from newspaper, 325 
 ' Happy Family ' street menagerie in Lon- 
 don, 377 
 Harbour Grace, terraced drift, 54 
 Hare on the road pursued by the driver, 
 
 142 
 ' Harps,' seals so called, 64 
 Harrison (Cape), Labrador, 91 ; climate 
 
 at, 94 
 Haste of Yankees in dining, 267 
 
INDEX. 
 
 419 
 
 Hatteras Swash, inlets above, filling 
 
 up, 7 
 Hawke's Harbour, isthmus of boulders 
 
 and raised beach, 100 
 Hawkins (Capt.) and Queen Bess, 370 
 Hayes River, breaking up of ice on, 168, 
 
 169 
 ' Header ' of cod on Labrador coast, 89 
 Hebrides, climate of, better than that of 
 
 Cape Breton, 50, 51 
 Hematite (brown), a mine of, in Nova 
 
 Scotia, 155 
 Henley Harbour, 66 ; raised beach above 
 
 sea, 106 
 High Peak : excursion to find ice-marks, 
 
 396 
 Highest spot in a new place, advantage of 
 
 early visit to, 229 
 Highland (old) dame in Canada, 244 
 Highlander met with at Niagara, 256 
 Highlanders of Cape Breton, 48 ; untidy 
 ways and politeness of, 49 ; (two) swear- 
 ing a match, 270 
 Hill-tops of Labrador, 72 
 Hills (old) should be called by old native 
 
 names, 211 
 Hitchcock (Prof.), on surface geology, 27 ; 
 
 of American Continent, 28 
 Hogarth's ' Gate of Calais' referred to, 242 
 Hogs carried by rail, 2S0 ; how they kill 
 
 and cure them at Chicago, 280-283 
 Holton Harbour, bay getting shoaler, 78, 
 
 91 ; bergs seen outside, 93 
 Holyrood, minerals found at, 143 
 Horizons linked, mental surveying, 229 
 Horizontal nature of American scenery, 
 
 210 
 Horse, a dozen ears of Indian corn a good 
 
 feed for, 296 
 Horses that would stand anything but 
 
 engines, 206 
 Horse-bees, bloodthirsty Newfoundland 
 
 flies, 136 
 Horseshoe Falls, Niagara, colour of 
 
 water, 259 
 Hospital (Military), in Europe and in 
 
 America, 356, 357 
 Hospitality of an American, 184 
 Hotel, discomforts of a crowded one at 
 
 Toledo, 271 
 Hotel lifted at Chicago, 284 
 Houses constructed by beavers, 139, 140 ; 
 lifting of, at Chicago, 284 ; (white), neat- 
 ness and comfortable look of, about 
 Chicago, 274 
 Human patients in caves for three or four 
 months, 349 
 
 Ice on Labrador coast, 67, 68, 72 ; thick- 
 ness of, at Toulinguet near shore, 113 ; 
 from Prince Edward's Island known by 
 its red colour, 153 ; polishing a stone, 
 76 ; breaking up on a river in Hudson's 
 Bay, 168, 169 
 
 Icebergs carried by ocean-current, 2 ; 
 cause phenomena of drift, 25, 29 ; on 
 voyage out, 36, 37 ; colour at sunset, 
 38 ; aground in Conception Bay, 54, 55 ; 
 at Toulinguet, 65 ; breaking up of one, 
 65 ; a small one off Little Belleisle, 66 ; 
 a peaked berg aground, 73 ; resembling 
 Bass, Ailsa-Crag, etc., 75; probable 
 size of, 76 ; acted on slightly by wind, 
 102 ; curious shapes of, 90 ; observa- 
 tions on the ice of one, 97 ; calculation 
 of dimensions, 98 ; large ones N. of 
 Hawke's Harbour, 100 ; off Straits of 
 Belleisle, action of, 289 
 Ice-floats, power of, in winter, 239 
 Ice-house at Rocky Lake, 42, 43 
 Ice-islands, seen from Henley Harbour, 
 
 106 
 Ice-marks near Halifax and other parts of 
 Nova Scotia, 45 ; St. John's, 53 ; at St. 
 John's, Newfoundland, 126 ; at Frede- 
 ricton, 165 ; at St. John, New Bruns- 
 wick, 174 ; at Eastport, Maine, 179 ; at 
 Portland, 185 ; on Mount "Washington, 
 214, 215 ; at Goat Island, 257 ; at Black- 
 rock, Buffalo, 260 
 Ice-quake, a register of one, 239 
 Ice-raft, danger of, 64 
 Imports and exports of Newfoundland, 
 
 123 
 Indian corn, 273 ; like a small forest, 295 ; 
 a dozen ears a good feed for a horse, 
 296 
 Indian cup, a curious plant (Sarracenia?), 
 
 61 
 Indian Harbour, Labrador, 91 
 Indian Island, Labrador, observations 
 
 made on, 79, 80, 99 
 Indian tea (Ledum), in Labrador, 94 ; at 
 
 Toulinguet, 112 
 Indian camps, Nova Scotia, 46 ; on board 
 steamer, vocabulary, 162 ; men and 
 women near Fredericton, 167 ; war in 
 Newfoundland, 150, 151 ; Indian camp 
 at Sydney, 152 ; women in Canada, 246 
 Indians working for Hudson's Bay Com- 
 pany, 92 
 Indianapolis, a soldier's conversation 
 about negro soldier, 338 ; bills of fare, 
 368 ; hotel at, 369 
 Inn, Newfoundland, 133 ; a roadside inn 
 
 in Newfoundland, 128 
 Innkeeper of hotel, Mammoth cave, 352, 
 
 354 
 Instinct or design of beavers in construc- 
 tion of their dams, 138-141 
 Interior of Newfoundland quite unknown 
 
 to inhabitants, 150, 151 
 Irish colonists in Canada, 243 ; colony at 
 Green's Pond, 61 ; driver, modesty of, 
 33 ; farmer, Newfoundland, 48 ; girls at 
 Quidi Yidi, 147 
 Irishman, an old one and his family in 
 Newfoundland, 127; and labourer, syn- 
 
420 
 
 INDEX. 
 
 onymous terms in U. S., 187 ; managing 
 
 betting at Louisville, 360, 361 ; digging 
 
 drains at Portland, 186 
 Iron : district, 303 ; does not last long in 
 
 Labrador, 105 ; factory at St. Louis, 313 
 Iron-ore boulders, 26, 27 
 Island of limestone shaped by the ice into 
 
 the outline of a yacht or a fish, 241 
 Isothermal line of Cape Breton, 47 
 
 Jackson on glacial striae and transport of 
 boulders, 25 ; on water-marks near 
 Mount Washington, 25 
 
 Jamaica, free black groom in, 375, 376 ; 
 hole in roof of a free black's hut, 377 
 
 James River near Richmond, sea-shells 
 above, 17 
 
 Jays in Newfoundland, 140 
 
 Jeannette (politics of), 357 
 
 Jefferson (Mount), one of White Mountains, 
 210 
 
 Joliet, railway at, 290 
 
 Judge (Scotch), with white choker, story 
 of, 267 
 
 Juniper, larch so called in Newfound- 
 land, 133 
 
 ' Kames,' water-drift in, 193 
 Kankakee, a slow-going river at Wilming- 
 ton, 291 
 ' Kearsarge ' one of the crew, 35 
 Kentucky, feeling about war in, 328 ; mud 
 carried by old arctic current over, 344 ; 
 caves of, 344, 354 
 Kinsale, old Head of, 33 
 Kitchen-middens of Labrador, 105 
 Kingfishers (brown), among White Moun- 
 tains, noise of, 219 
 King's Cove, iceberg, 56 ; atreasure-seeker, 
 
 57 ; raised beach at, 77, 115 
 Kingston in Canada, 251 
 
 Labour in Labrador, how paid for, 108 
 
 Labrador, how a depression would affect 
 it, 11 ; ancient sea-level, 15 ; first view 
 of coast, 67 ; inhabitants of, 69 ; chart 
 of, wanted, 70 ; interior of, 71 ; dogs, 59 ; 
 temperature of, 87, 88 ; interior has a 
 milder climate than coast, 92-94 ; meet 
 with two passengers who had been in, 181 
 
 La Chine rapids, ancient sea-coast pro- 
 bably near, 235 
 
 Lake-steamer in Canada, 245 
 
 Lakes, levels of American, 234 ; Superior 
 and Michigan, high terraces on sides of, 
 18 
 
 Lamb, a vain search for, at Buona- Vista, 
 116 
 
 Land-glaciers cause phenomena of drift, 
 23, 24, 29 
 
 Land-ice, course of its travels near Port- 
 land, 189 ; (polar), supposed marks 
 caused bv, 215 
 
 Landlady in Newfoundland, 133; a very 
 fat one and her barrel, 142 
 
 Landscape in Canada, 247 ; on the Ottawa, 
 249 
 
 Lans-a-loup, fantastic cliffs at, 108, large 
 blocks of granite, etc., 112 
 
 Lapps of Scandinavia compared with Lab- 
 rador Esquimaux, 104 
 
 Laski (Mr. John de), on glaciated rocks 
 about Penobscot Bay, 25 
 
 Laurentian chain of azoic rocks, 19 ; rocks 
 to south of, 20 ; sinking and rising of, 
 influence on current, 28, 29 
 
 Lawyer (Scotch) turned Yankee, 304 
 
 Lecture on negro character, 273 
 
 Lemen in Labrador, 92 
 
 Lethe river, Kentucky, 346 ; peculiarities 
 of, 347 
 
 Levels of American lakes, 234 
 
 Lies, a large crop of big ones grow in the 
 west, 275 
 
 Lieutenant of ' Alabama,' 36, 37 
 
 Lifting of houses at Chicago, 284 
 
 Light thrown on archaeology of Denmark, 
 etc., by Labrador, 106 
 
 Lightning at Buona-Vista, 115 
 
 Lime, reason of a farmer of Cape Breton 
 for not using, 48 
 
 Limestone rock at Ottawa, ice-rubbed, 241 ; 
 singular weathering of, 341, 342 
 
 Lincoln, voters for, 391 
 
 Liverpool, 30 
 
 Lizards of Kentucky caves, 349 
 
 Locke's Mills, shingle and sand-beds at, 
 197 
 
 Locomotives, a gathering of, on a wilder- 
 ness of rails, 279 
 
 Logan (Sir Wm.) discovers fossils in so- 
 called azoic rocks, 20 
 
 Log-hut where Chicago now stands, 276 
 
 Londonderry, Nova Scotia, 155 
 
 Long Island, Labrador, observations made 
 at, 96 
 
 Lome, accent of, heard in Canada, 244 
 
 Louisville, guerilla operations near, 327 ; 
 ladies of, 329 ; military hospital, 356 
 
 Luggage system of America, its goodness, 
 190-192 
 
 Luna Island, Niagara, boulder at, 256 
 
 Lyell (Sir C.) on Niagara Falls as a 
 geological chronometer, 258 
 
 MacLellan, a majority for, 269 ; voters 
 
 for, 391 
 Madison, steamers made and mended at, 
 
 366 
 Madison (Mount) one of White Mountains, 
 
 210 
 Mail up Labrador coast would pay, 124 
 Mail-steamer, Newfoundland, 119 
 Maimed men at Eastport, 180; at Portland, 
 
 183 
 Maine, Atlantic slope of, 188 ; liquor law 
 
INDEX. 
 
 421 
 
 illustrated in a play, 286; liquor, an 
 unfortunate trial of, 177, 178 
 Mammoth bones found in Kentucky, 344 
 Mammoth cave, stalactites in, 351 ; hotel 
 
 in, 352 ; houses in, 351 
 Manure of fish-guts in Newfoundland, 131, 
 
 145 
 Marine architecture, Quidi Vidi, 147, 14S ; 
 
 St. John's, 149 
 Mariners (damp) on board ' Ariel,' and their 
 
 occupations, 120, 121 
 Marmot (whistler) in Labrador, 92 
 Masonry, none in Labrador, 105 
 M'Donald (Mr.), sees an iceberg with a 
 
 stone frozen into it, 81 
 Meals on board Ohio steamer, 365 
 Mealy Mountains, 95 
 
 Meat on board Newfoundland and La- 
 brador steamer, 118, 121 
 Metamorphic rocks at Portland, 186 
 Methodist hymns and melodies chaunted 
 
 by backwoodsmen, 247 
 Miami river crossed, 387 
 Mica-schist of White Mountains, 222 
 Michigan (Lake), scratched stone on beach, 
 
 288 
 Micmac Indians in Nova Scotia, 46 ; em- 
 ployments of, 49 
 Migration of reindeer, 141 
 Millinery (French), at Louisville, 329 
 Minerals found near Holyrood, 143 
 Mines (Bay of) rise of tide in, 45 
 Miniature rapids close to Niagara, 253 
 Minnesota, territory of, 302, wheat of, 303 ; 
 
 enterprise of, 303, 304 
 Missionary for Labrador, 58 
 Missisauges, an old Indian tribe, 250 
 Mississippi (Valley of), its character, 302 ; 
 
 mud of river, 305 
 Missouri, junction with Mississippi, 302 
 Mitchell, 319, 320 
 Mongrel breeds in Canada, 245 
 Monkton, Nova Scotia, 157 
 Montmorenci Fall, as seen ten miles off, at 
 
 Quebec, 231 
 Montreal Mountain, scenery from, 225, 
 
 229; blocks on, 226; boulders and 
 
 glacial stripe on the mountain, 15 
 Moraines on icebergs, 3 ; of Lombardy 
 
 and Germany, 22 ; Placentia Bay, 132 
 Morgan (Mr.), a free black groom in 
 
 Jamaica, 375, 376 
 Morgan, as described by different sides, 
 
 324 
 Mosquitos of Labrador, 73 ; so thick that 
 
 you can't see through them, 74; on 
 
 board steamer, 100 ; furious at Lans-a- 
 
 loup, 108; large and vicious ones in 
 
 Nova Scotia, 157 
 Mother Carey's chickens at;Green's Pond, 
 
 62, 40 
 Movement and effects of great glacier in 
 
 North America, 24 
 Mud around stranded iceberg, 3 ; at Cape 
 
 Breton, etc. , carried by ice, 290 ; carried 
 by ocean-currents, 343 ; of River Missis- 
 sippi, 305 ; of banks, 309 
 Murchison (Sir Roderick) discovers fossils 
 in so-called ' azoic' rocks of Scotland, 20 
 ' Murder of an enrolling officer,' from Ken- 
 tucky paper, 323 ; in Putnam county, 
 Indiana, from newspaper, 324 ; (diaboli- 
 cal) in Henderson county, from news- 
 paper, 331 
 Murray's Harbour, Labrador, 69, 102 
 Music and dancing at an inn in Newfound- 
 land, 133 
 Musician (negro), Mammoth cave, 352 
 Musquarra, near Anticosti ; route to, 92 
 
 Names of mountains, expressiveness of 
 old, 212 
 
 Nashville, conversation with a slave of, 
 335 
 
 Native names best for old hills, 211 
 
 Natives, ' manners and customs ' of, 245 
 
 Navigation, a good place for experimen- 
 tal, 109 
 
 Navvy, discourse of one at St. Louis, 314 
 
 Negro, what is to be done with him? 382, 
 386 ; cargo, Captain Hawkins and his, 
 371 ; character, lecture on, 272, 273 ; 
 girl at Louisville in sky-blue silken 
 swallow-tail, 330 ; life, peculiarities of, 
 375, 386 ; life at Pittsburg, 372 ; inter- 
 course with negroes, 374 ; melodies (po- 
 pular), 381 ; nurse, stories learned from, 
 378 ; regiment encamped, 335, 336 ; sol- 
 diers not popular in Kentucky, 326; 
 white soldiers will not fraternise with, 
 338 ; waiter at Indianapolis Hotel, 369 
 
 Negroes prefer slavery to being shot, 332 ; 
 stick together, 375 ; war with South 
 may be carried on for years by the help 
 of, 381 
 
 New Brunswick, its resemblance to Scan- 
 dinavia, 171 ; climate, 172 
 
 'New England' steamer, 192 
 
 Newfoundland, how a depression would 
 affect it, 8, 9 ; lee of, 39 ; dogs, their 
 characteristics, 59; banks getting shoal- 
 er, 77, 110, 111 ; from Henley Harbour, 
 106 ; steamer too near a cliff in, 109 ; a 
 visit to, worth the trouble of author's 
 trip, 123 ; phaeton and driver, 128 ; local 
 system of glaciers, 132, 146 ; change of 
 climate away from cold sea, 133 ; igno- 
 rance about interior, 150, 151 
 
 News about the war at Chicago not to be 
 trusted, 274 
 
 New York, election speeches at, 392 ; ho- 
 tel experience at, 393 ; ice-marks at, 397 
 
 Niagara Falls, 234 ; nothing new to say 
 about, 252; ice-marks, 255; action of 
 water and ice oifcliffs, 259 ; river older 
 than St. Lawrence, 259 
 
 Nick-nacks (embroidered), sold by Indian 
 women, 246 
 
422 
 
 INDEX. 
 
 Nobleman (English) wrote down history 
 of water-bull, 130 
 
 Normans take half a day to kill a pig, 280 
 
 North theoretically fighting to free others, 
 practically^not, 332, 335, 339 
 
 Norway and Newfoundland compared in 
 means of communication, 121 ; in lodg- 
 ing and weather, 122 
 
 Nose, speaking through the, 286 
 
 ' Notch ' on Mount Washington, 213 ; of 
 Montmorenci fall affords a date to 
 geologist, 231 
 
 Nova Scotia, how a depression would 
 affect it, 9 ; likely some day to become 
 an island, 45 ; no fishing in, 42 ; gold 
 in, 43 
 
 Oaks (stunted) of New Brunswick, 172 
 Ocean-current, direction of an ice-laden, 
 1, 2 ; floating into St. Lawrence groove, 
 166; currents carry suspended mud, 
 343 
 Ohio River, muddy water, 321 ; its bed at 
 Louisville, 362 ; banks, 363, 364 ; depth 
 of water, 363, colour of water, 364 
 Oil regions near Lake Erie, 266 
 Ontario terraces of gravel, sand, etc., 232 ; 
 
 rise of land at head of lake, 233 
 Open-air living common in America, 355 
 'Osar,' water-drift packed in, 198 
 Ottawa, Canada, arctic shells at, 15 ; 
 river frozen at, 240 ; water deeper in 
 spring, 240 ; rapids of, 236 ; landscape 
 on, 249 ; city, 249 ; fine falls at, 250 ; 
 probable growth of, 251 
 Oyster shells on hills between Madison 
 and Yellow Stone River, 16 
 
 Pack Island, observations made at, 96 
 ' Pan-ice ' mouth of Hamilton inlet, 92 
 Paper cents and silver coin, an American 
 
 driver, 184 
 Paper, wages paid in, 187 
 Par and char in Newfoundland, 134 
 Paris (West), deposit of rolled stones at, 
 
 197 
 Parliament House at Ottawa, 250 
 Partridge-berries, women and girls gather- 
 ing, 127 
 Partridge Harbour, 95 
 Passage, ' cheap and nasty,' 53 
 Passengers on board steamer, 116, 117, 
 
 119 ; on board a Yankee steamer, 176 ; 
 
 in railway trains, 195 
 Penobscot Bay, glaciated rocks about, 25 
 Perched blocks on hill-top of Indian 
 
 Island, 80 ; Indian Island, 99 
 Perley on New Brunswick, 170 
 Photographs taken on Mount Washington, 
 
 221 
 Phrenology does not teach where shoe 
 
 pinches, 186 
 Physical geography of America, 6-19 
 
 Pig in Ireland pays rent, in America is 
 
 poor man's foe, 309 
 Pigs and poultry at an inn in Newfound- 
 land, 128 
 Pig-killing at Chicago, 280, 281 
 Pilot of wood-raft on Canadian rivers, 
 
 248; (Indian Island) cross-questioned 
 
 by missionary, 91 
 Pines of New Brunswick, 172 
 Placentia Bay, ice-marks at, 128 ; terrace 
 
 on shore, 131 
 Plains of America, plenty of room, 210; 
 
 of United States, what traveller by rail 
 
 sees, 295 
 Planks made at saw-mill in Canada, 249 
 Platforms of railway trains, 194 
 Play at Chicago, 285 ; at Buffalo, and 
 
 those present at it, 263 
 ' Plenty of fish in Brig Harbour,' origin of 
 
 saying, 123 
 Polar currents, their character and effects 
 
 should be studied, 13 
 'Police proceedings,' from newspapers, 
 
 Oct. 11, 1864, 332 
 Political economy to be learned from 
 
 people, 187 
 Population of Labrador, fixed and transi- 
 tory, 122 
 Pork and beef, as well as boulders, 
 
 abound about Buffalo, 267 
 Porpoises on voyage out, 35 ; a large shoal 
 
 of, 114 
 ' Portage,' a mark to geologist, 236 
 Portland, scenes at, 181-183 ; views from 
 
 188 ; ice-marks at, 189 
 Portmanteau, story of, 191 
 Port-wine imported into St. John's, 123 ; 
 
 improved by being carried to New- 
 foundland, 308 
 Post-bags, delivery of, in Labrador, 75, 76 
 Pot-holes in granite, observed by Mr. 
 
 Jackson, 25 
 Prairie, shooting on, 294 ; farming adven- 
 turers on, 295 ; fertility of, 296 ; above 
 
 St. Louis, 315, 316 
 Prairie-hens at Wilmington, 293 ; Carlisle, 
 
 316 
 Prairie-hogs, their end at Chicago, 281 
 Prescott, rapid at, 236 
 Primitive condition of Cape Breton, 49 
 Prince Edward's Island in the distance, 
 
 156 
 Prince of Wales at Wilmington, 292 
 Processions at Boston, 392 
 ' Pro-slavery Argument,' a book published 
 
 at Charleston, 383 
 Provision trade of Western States, 283, 
 
 309 
 Pumpkins, 273 
 Purliken (old), 116 
 
 Quarry at St. Louis, 310 
 
 Quebec, arctic shells on terraces, 15; 
 
INDEX. 
 
 423 
 
 landscape from esplanade, 230 ; rock- 
 pass at, 239 ; the Elsinore of Canada, 
 235 ; immense stores of timber at, 249 ; 
 frozen up in winter, 308 
 Quidi Vidi near St. John's, 145 ; fish-stages 
 at, 146, 148 
 
 Rabbits on board steamer, 116 
 
 Race (Cape), passed without seeing light, 
 
 51 
 Race at Louisville by two negroes, 360, 
 
 361 
 Racoon, a tame one, 164 
 Rafts (wood) on Canadian rivers, 248 
 Raid on Lexington railroad, 333 
 Raiders (American) in Canada, 227 
 Railroad from Halifax to Truro, 154; 
 
 Chicago and St. Louis, geological re- 
 marks, 288 
 Railway cars for women, 195 
 Railways on flats, advantages of, 308 
 Rain at Buona "Vista, 115 
 Rain-water, denudation caused by, since 
 
 drift period, 3S8 
 Raised beach or bar at King's Cove, 77 ; 
 
 Henley Harbour, 106; Placentia Bay, 
 
 131 
 Raised beaches of boulders, Indian Island, 
 
 99 ; American Tickle, 100 
 Ramsay (Prof.), on terraced red cliff in 
 
 Straits of Belleisle, 396 
 Rapid at river St. John, 161 
 'Rapid,' a mark to geologist, 236; effect 
 
 on vessel, 248 ; wood-raft in one, 249 
 Raspberries in Newfoundland, 128 
 Rat seen on voyage, 35 
 Rats found in Kentucky eaves, 349 
 Reasons why author visited America, 29, 
 
 30 
 Rebel, 'as soon shoot a reb as a 'coon,' 269 
 Recruits in America, a specimen, 202; 
 
 guarded by soldiers, 298, 300 
 Red Bay, Labrador, observations made 
 
 at, 107 
 Reefs off Newfoundland, 115 
 Refraction (double) with a second fleet of 
 
 inverted bergs, 103 
 Reindeer in Newfoundland, 141, 142 
 Reindeer moss, country covered by, 94 ; 
 
 absence of, at Toulinguet, 112 
 Reiper ' partridge' near St. John's, 127 
 Remains on Kitchen-middens, 105 
 Rent in Newfoundland not very serious, 
 
 127 
 Retirement (sudden) of sea off St. Shots 
 
 and St. Mary's Bay, 111 
 Rhine wood-floats nothing to those on 
 
 Canadian rivers, 248 
 Rhododendron, 94, 112 
 Richardson's Spring in Kentucky, 345 
 Richmond railway accident, 227 
 Ridge of mountains and the names of 
 
 their peaks, 209 
 Rise of land at head of Lake Ontario, 233 
 
 Rising of coast from Cape Race to Cape 
 
 Harrison, 8 ; of Labrador coast, 77, 78 
 River, breaking up of ice on a river in 
 
 Hudson's Bay, 168, 169 
 River-ice carrying stones, 170; rock at 
 
 Ottawa rubbed by, 240, 241 
 Rivers in Canada, 235 
 River Hall, Kentucky, 346 
 Rivulets on White Mountains, 214, 216 
 Road, an abominable one ; 206-207 ; top 
 
 of Mount Washington, 209; to top of 
 
 highest peak of White Mountains, 208 ; 
 
 to Mammoth Cave, 354 
 Robberies by New York rowdies in train, 
 
 195 
 Roberts (Bay), rock rising out of water, 77 
 Roches Moutonnees, Indian Island, 79 ; 
 
 their origin, 80 
 Rock of trap and limestone, with shells 
 
 on it, 237 ; scoured bright and smooth 
 
 by ice, 93 ; steamer bumps on, 151 
 Rocks among White Mountains placarded 
 
 with bills, 220, 221 
 ' Rock in the ground ' — a talking soldier, 
 
 200 
 Rock-pass at Quebec, 239 
 Rocky Lake ice-house, 42 
 Room for all the spare population of 
 
 Europe, 295 
 Roses (wild) and blue-bells at Toulinquet, 
 
 112 
 
 Sable Island, part of, washed away since 
 1828, 7 
 
 Saguenay groove, 166 
 
 Sail, number of, which pass a Labrador 
 station, 88 
 
 Sailors, Celts would never make, 244 
 
 Saints' Day, dispensation to fish on, 109 
 
 Salmon at Lans-a-loup, 108 ; catch a small 
 one, 134 ; plenty in upper pond, 135 ; 
 Fishery, Labrador, 70 
 
 Salmoniere, bridge at, 133 
 
 Salt, ships carrying, 95 
 
 Salt-lakes of Rocky Mountains, remnants 
 of ancient inland sea, 16 
 
 Sand-beds dipping opposite ways, 318 
 
 Sandstone, large blocks of, 165 
 
 Sandusky, boulders between Chicago and, 
 394 
 
 Sandy beach rare in Labrador, 82 
 
 Sausages, a joke about, at Chicago, 283 
 
 Saw-mill at Montmorenci the largest in 
 the world, 249 
 
 Scandinavia, New Brunswick greatly re- 
 sembles, 171 
 
 Scandinavian system of glaciers, 22 
 
 School treat near Chicago, 274 
 
 Schoolmaster: a sporting Newfoundland 
 one, 135 ; in ' Midshipman Easy,' his ex- 
 perience, 203 
 
 Scotch farmer drawn for the war, 29S, 300 ; 
 man and his foe in a street tight, 243 ; 
 woman, a Canadian and a Cuban, 227 
 
424 
 
 INDEX. 
 
 Scratch-hunting about Niagara, 255 ; and 
 shooting combined, 287 
 
 Scripture, Southern papers quote, for 
 slavery now, as Captain Hawkins did 
 300 years ago, 383 
 
 Sea, freezing of, 65 ; a grand one off New- 
 foundland, 124 ; a heavy sea and the 
 boats at Quidi Vidi, 147 ; once deep over 
 Canada, 233 ; its probable coast, 235 ; 
 margin (an ancient), on Mount Washing- 
 ton, 214 ; margin (ancient), at Quebec, 
 231 ; marks of ancient sea-level in Lab- 
 rador, etc., 15; retiring suddenly off 
 St. Shots, 111 
 
 Sea-bottoms (old) in N. America, 27 
 
 Sea-cow, old skipper on the existence of, 
 129 
 
 Sea-shells found near Boston, 28 ; in drift 
 near Quebec, 232 ; borders of Lake 
 Champlain, 233 ; at Montreal, 233 
 
 Sea-ware, why not used by farmers of 
 Cape Breton, 49 
 
 Seal islands, delivery of letter-bags, 76 
 
 Sealers frozen in off Toulinquet, 113 
 
 Seals near Toulinquet, 64 ; pursuit of in 
 March, 122 ; and whale, bones of, found 
 near Montreal, 15 
 
 Seal-vats at St. Johns, 149 
 
 Sealing vessels lost in the ice off Toulin- 
 guet, 63 
 
 Seats in railway trains in U. S., 193 
 
 Sentries with fixed bayonets over ' drawn ' 
 men, 298 
 
 Sergeant guarding British interests at Ha- 
 milton, 252 
 
 Sermon in Labrador, 108, 109 
 
 Settler in America learns he is one of the 
 sovereign people, 201 
 
 Settlers at Chicago, chiefly Europeans, 
 285 
 
 Shadow to a fair picture, war-draft, 296, 
 297 
 
 Shallowing of the sea off Newfoundland, 7 
 
 Shapes (strange) of ice-bergs, 90 
 
 Shelbourne, shingle flats, 198 
 
 Shells, rarity of, on icy coasts, 62 ; a lesson 
 to geologists of old drift, 63 ; none found 
 in terraces at Gorham, 217 ; (arctic) at 
 Ottawa and Quebec, 15 ; and other 
 parts of N. America, 17 ; arctic, at great 
 elevations in western Europe, 4 ; fresh- 
 water, in bed of gravel at Whirlpool, 
 Niagara, 256 ; among sand, a search for, 
 186 ; (land and fresh water), in terraced 
 plains at Indianapolis ; (marine), in 
 New Brunswick, proving it was once 
 submerged j identical with Labrador 
 species found near Montreal, etc. , 234 
 
 Sherman's advance to Atalanta, kind of 
 country, 355 ; helped out of a mess by 
 his foes, 358, 359 
 
 Ship Harbour, observations at, 102 
 
 Ships dragged overland by Norse worthies, 
 304 
 
 Shoes, advantage of broad-soled shoes in 
 Newfoundland, 136 
 
 Shortest and easiest way of crossing 
 America, 303 
 
 Sick man, 124 
 
 Side-saddle pit, 345 
 
 Sierra (an American), the White Moun- 
 tains, 209, 210 
 
 Silurian boulders in Penobscot Bay, 26 
 
 Silver coin and paper cents, 184 
 
 Silver fox of Labrador a great prize, 72 
 
 Sinking of ice, on the probable, 98 
 
 Sketch-book, advantage of, to a tourist, 
 253 
 
 Skipper (old Labrador), conversation with, 
 129 
 
 Slave handed over to military authorities, 
 332-336 
 
 Slave-trade rent the Indies from Spain 
 and severed the English plantations, 371 ; 
 state of feeling about, 337, 338 
 
 Slavery in America, instances of, 335, 337 
 
 Sleeping-car on railroad, 318 
 
 Small-pox, root of Indian cup said to be 
 a cure for, 61 
 
 Smoothed rocks, 7 ; action of sea-ice, 107 
 
 Snipe and woodcock at Wilmington, 293 
 
 Snow, depth of, in Labrador, 74 ; amount 
 of water produced by damp and dry 
 snow, 171 ; wreath in Tuckerman's 
 ravine, 215 
 
 Snowdon, bed of arctic shells on, 4 ; an- 
 cient sea-beach, 28 
 
 Soil of Labrador, 74 
 
 Solar system, supposed change in tem- 
 perature of, 29 
 
 Soldiers (American), familiarity of officers 
 and men, 199 ; at St. Louis, 313, 314 ; 
 on steamer going down Ohio to Sher- 
 man, 366 
 
 Soldiers (Federal), wounded, one met 
 with, 267 
 
 Sound, peculiar clanking sound on Ame- 
 rican railways, 227 
 
 Soup made of tail of beaver, 141 
 
 Source of Mississippi, height of, above sea, 
 302 
 
 Spain and Yankee land, contrasts, 182-184 
 
 Spaniard, a surgeon, enthusiastic over 
 operations, 254 
 
 Spear (Cape), character of coast about, 52 
 
 Spittoons in railway trains, 193 
 
 Splitting fish on Labrador coast, 88, 89 
 
 Spoor of arctic current, 84 
 
 Spooring of icebergs, 5 ; for ice move- 
 ments by rail, 198, 223 
 
 Sportsmen (English), watching for water- 
 bull, 129 
 
 Spring Hill at Fredericton, 166 
 
 Spruce bushes affected by wind, 80 ; in 
 Newfoundland, 128 
 
 Squaws (Cape Breton), making baskets, 
 40 ; (Indian), in Canada, 246 
 
 Squirrels, tame, flying and ground, 164 
 
INDEX. 
 
 425 
 
 Staffordshire, country resembling, 189 
 
 Stage, a Yankee one at Gorham, 206-208 ; 
 
 coach, a curious one in Nova Scotia, 
 
 155 ; driver on armed bands, and their 
 
 effect on staging, 339 
 
 Stalactites in Mammoth cave, 351 ; in 
 
 White's cave, 351 
 ' Stand by,' what it means in Labrador, 
 
 92 
 Star-chamber in cave in Kentucky, sup- 
 posed sights in, 350 
 State-room on board Yankee steamer, 176 
 Steamboats, America might teach Britain 
 
 lessons about, 192 
 Steamer to Fredericton, a neat, clean, and 
 fast one, 160 ; a Yankee one, 176-177 ; 
 ' General Huell ' on Ohio, 365 ; from 
 Scotland, arrival of, at St. John's, 150 ; 
 how transported by Minnesotans, 303 
 Steamers run once a fortnight round North 
 Cape, Norway, 121 ; on Mississippi shot 
 at, 306, 317 
 Steam-whistle blown, 119, 120 
 Step (first), on first foreign shore, 182 
 Steward on board the 'Ariel,' 117, 118 
 Stewards and stewardesses on board 
 
 Yankee steamer, 176 
 St. Francis (Cape), 54 
 St. Francis Harbour, Labrador, 70 ; rising 
 
 of coast there, 78 
 Stick-hunting in woods at Niagara, 258 
 St. John, New Brunswick, ice-grooves 
 near, 159 ; New Brunswick, 174, 175 ; 
 (river), New Brunswick, 161 
 St. John's, 52 ; ice-marks, signal-hill, 53 ; 
 land rising, 54 ; church to be built at, 
 means of raising funds, 109; 'the very 
 cream and top-oil ' of, on board ' Ariel,' 
 121 ; Newfoundland, 124 ; rocks at 
 lighthouse, 125 ; ice at, 126 ; population 
 of, houses of, port, 149 
 St. Lawrence (Gulf of), rise of tide in, 45 
 St. Lawrence (river), closed in winter, 
 171 ; from Montreal Mount looks like a 
 strait, 226; rapids of, 236; landscape 
 on banks of, 247 
 St. Louis on Mississippi, icebergs followed 
 to, 5, 301 ; hotel at, 304 ; news and sol- 
 diers at, 306 ; chief commerce of, 307 ; 
 situation of, 309 ; iron factory and forti- 
 fications, 313 
 Stone implements of Indians, 105 
 Stones brought by icebergs in spring, 107; 
 few at St. Louis, 310 ; (loose), on Mount 
 Washington, angular and natives above 
 3000 feet, 213 ; lifted by bergs when 
 they turn over, 81 ; on bergs in Straits 
 of Belleisle, 111 ; carried by river-ice, 
 170 ; dropped by icebergs, 73 ; stones on 
 icebergs, 77, 81 
 Storm of rain and lightning off Buona 
 
 Vista, 115 
 Story of the ' water-cow,' 130 
 Stoves in railway- trains, 193 
 
 Strathspey at Queen's state-ball in 1845, 
 851 ; in Mammoth Cave, 353 
 
 Streams, cold and warm, crossed in the 
 Europa, 150 
 
 Streets of Chicago, 277 
 
 Strise (glacial) on hills in British islands, 
 their general direction, 4 ; must be 
 made in deep water, 76 ; on rocks at 
 Portland, 185 ; on White Mountains, 
 222 
 
 Striation, partial, of rocks at Ottawa, 241 
 
 St. Shots, current causes wrecks at, 110 
 
 Submerging of N. America, proofs of an- 
 cient, 14-16 ; of part of New Brunswick, 
 173 
 
 Substitute, a happy one, 297 
 
 Subterranean cave, a walk in, 347-351 
 
 ' Suggestion,' phenomena of biology, mes- 
 merism, etc. , attributed to, 57 
 
 Summer, a very cold one, 150 ; (Labrador), 
 end of, resort of fishermen, 121 
 
 Sun's heat, how it affected basalt hill on 
 which a Chilian observatory was placed, 
 34 
 
 Sunrise, a splendid one, 182 
 
 Sunset, a magnificent one, 181 ; colours 
 at Carlisle, 317 ; differences between 
 European and American, 317-318 
 
 Surface geology, Hitchcock on, 27 
 
 Survey of a large country, how to take 
 one in a short time, 229 
 
 Suspension bridge, St. John, New Bruns- 
 wick, 174 ; Niagara, boulder at, 225 
 
 Susquehanna, large stones in valley, pro- 
 bable source of, 396 
 
 Swallow-tail coat at Louisville, 330 
 Swear, American whalers swear more than 
 
 English, 270 
 Swearing, prevalence of, in America, 270 
 Sydney, Cape Breton, 47, 151 ; boulders 
 on the beach, 152, 153 
 
 Tail of beaver makes good soup, 141 
 Taming of American autocrats, 203 
 Tarabh Uisge, or water-bull of Celts, 129 
 'Tarbert' of Scotch sea-lochs, drift re- 
 sembling, 214; Bruce takes ship over 
 one, 304 
 Telegraph on Norwegian coast, 121 
 Temiscouata (Lake), 165 
 Temperature of Kentucky caves, 348; 
 (adapted mean), from 1810 to 1864, 403 ; 
 of water at New York (see table at end) 
 Terapin Tower, Niagara, fallen cliff at, 259 
 Terraced and glaciated country on St. 
 John River, New Brunswick, 161 ; 
 rock above Catskill village, 395 
 Terraces along the coast of Chili, 34 ; on 
 Mount Washington, 213; at Gorham, 
 217 ; round St. Lawrence basin, 235 
 Thomson's Fall, White Mountains, 216 
 ' Thousand Isles ' of Lake Ontario, 238 
 ' Ticket-of-leave man,' a play at Chicago, 
 
426 
 
 INDEX. 
 
 Tide of Windsor, Bay of Fundy, 43 ; ris- 
 ing of, described, 44 j the highest in the 
 world, 156 
 
 Tides in Straits of Belleisle, 110 
 
 Timber, wasteful burning of, in N. Brims- 
 wick, 173 ; floats on Canadian rivers, 
 248 
 
 Time (geological) measured by Niagara 
 falls, 258 
 
 ' Times ' correspondent arrested at Wil- 
 mington, 292 
 
 Tin church spires in Canada, 247 
 
 Tobacco raised in price in U. S., 189 
 
 Toledo, hotels full at, 271 
 
 Topsail, Newfoundland, farms at, 128 
 
 'Topsy,' a charming one in play at 
 Chicago, 2S6 
 
 Tor end of PJacentia Bay, 132 
 
 Toronto, old Indian town, 250; the 
 modern one, 251 
 
 Toulinguet, sealing vessels lost off, 63 ; 
 church built on raised beach, 78 ; land- 
 scape seen from hill at, 112 ; sealers 
 frozen in, 113 
 
 Tourist to White Mountains, 208, 209; 
 (American), description of, 221 ; met on 
 Goat Island, 255 
 
 Town-life in Canada, 247 
 
 Track through Newfoundland forest, 136 
 
 Train, a Yankee, 192-194 ; breaking down 
 on Grand Trunk, disadvantages of, 226 
 
 Trap to take beavers in, 141 
 
 Traveller and his luggage in America, 190, 
 191 
 
 Travelling in Labrador, 71 
 
 Treasure-seeker and his divining-rod, 
 56, 57 ; treasure found, 58 
 
 Trees in the interior of Labrador, 71, 74 ; 
 growing thickly in Newfoundland, 133 ; 
 in streets of Portland, 1S6 , on Mount 
 Washington, 212 ; at Buffalo mark pre- 
 vailing direction of wind, 266. 
 
 Trowel used in building Skerryvore 
 lighthouse, 105 
 
 Tuckerman's Ravine, White Mountains, 
 215 
 
 Turnips and potatoes grow at bottom 
 of Sandwich Bay, 87 
 
 Twillinget (see Toulinguet) 
 
 ' Ugly' lot of drawn men, 298 
 
 Umbral or carboniferous limestone at St. 
 
 Louis, 311 
 * Uncle Tom ' acted at Chicago, 285 
 United States, first planting of author's 
 
 foot on soil of, 179 
 
 'Valley'— of old world traveller and 
 
 American very different, 225 
 Vegetation at Toulinguet, 64 ; Labrador, 
 
 74 ; about Henley Harbour, Labrador, 
 
 106 ; of Newfoundland, 133 
 Venison Tickle, Labrador, 75, 101 
 
 Venison, every scrap of, carried away in 
 
 Newfoundland, 142 
 Ventilation of Kentucky caves, 348 
 Vespertine or carboniferous limestone at 
 
 St. Louis, 311 
 Vessels crushed and wrecked amongst 
 
 ice, 113 
 View of Labrador from top of Indian 
 
 Island, 80 
 Vigo, author's landing at, compared with 
 
 landing at Portland, 182 
 Vocabulary from an Indian on board 
 
 steamer, 102, 163 
 Vote for Lincoln or M'Lellan? 268 
 
 Wages paid in paper, 187 
 
 'Wanderer,' cudgel for, from Niagara 
 woods, 253 
 
 Wandering animals, men are ! 388 
 
 Wanton killing of deer reprobated in New- 
 foundland, 142 
 
 War in America, change of bearing in 
 those engaged in it, 200, 204 ; draft, a 
 dark shadow, 296, 297 ; end of Yankee, 
 359; news, 321, 322; prices, 185; found 
 by Irishmen to be unpleasant, 186 : 
 traces of at Eastport, 180 ; at Portland, 
 183 ; traces of, 333 ; what is the cause 
 of the? 329; cause deeper and darker 
 than ever, 335 ; Yankee asks author for 
 his opinion about the war and gets it, 
 340 
 
 Warren (Mr.), a lecturer on Labrador, 87 ; 
 extracts from journal, 88 
 
 Washington (George), his name need not 
 be given to a mountain, 212 
 
 Washington (Mount), its height, 6 ; drift 
 and striae on, 17 ; water-marks on, 25 ; 
 visible from hill near Portland, 188 ; 
 road to summit of, 209; why so called, 
 209; 1 zones as you ascend, 212, 213 
 
 Water on board 'Ariel,' 121 ; at St. Louis 
 hotel, very muddy, 305 ; (action of), evi- 
 dences, 198 
 
 Water-bull, Celtic population of British 
 Islands believe in the existence of, 129 ; 
 and in Iceland, 130 
 
 Water-line at Ottawa, 240 
 
 Water-lily (yellow), in Newfoundland, 133 : 
 root eaten by beavers, 138, 140 
 
 Water-marks near Mount Washington, 
 Jackson, on, 25 
 
 Watershed, Nova Scotia, 155; of St. Law- 
 rence and Mississippi, 288 ; of Ohio and 
 St. Lawrence, boulders on, 394 
 
 Water-work, country between Toledo and 
 Chicago, 272 ; near Goat Island, 258 
 
 Water-worn limestone, Chicago and St. 
 Louis railroad, 289 
 
 Weasels in Newfoundland wise and 
 vicious, 144 
 
 Weather off Newfoundland, 114; (English), 
 in June, July, August, September, Oc- 
 tober, and November, 399, 401 
 
INDEX. 
 
 427 
 
 Weathering of rock-surfaces between 
 Louisville and Cave City, 341 
 
 Whale, bones of, found near Montreal and 
 in Vermont, 15 ; found in beds 60 feet 
 above Lake Champlain, 234 
 
 Whales spouting, 40 
 
 Wharf of pine logs destroyed by bay-ice, 
 153 
 
 Wheels in railway carriages, 193 
 
 Whelks at Green's Pond, 61 
 
 Whirlwind, a constant one, behind Nia- 
 gara Falls, 258 
 
 Whirlpool, Niagara, shells found in bed of 
 gravel, 256 
 
 White Mountains of North America, high- 
 est point, 6 ; gravel beds and other 
 marks of sea on, 17 ; peaks named after 
 American celebrities, 209; geological 
 results of author's visit to, 222 ; much 
 resorted to by tourists, 205 ; sea once 
 in the glens, 198 ; road to, 205, 208 
 
 White River, country about, 318 
 
 White's Cave, and its limestone forma- 
 tions, 351 
 
 Whitewash bill-sticking among White 
 Mountains, 220 
 
 Wild geese, two on board, 1 hi 
 
 Wigwams of Micmac Indians, 46 
 
 Wilmington, ' rolling' of prairie, 290 ; river 
 at, 291 ; a fashionable resort, 292 ; hotel 
 keeper at, a great shot, 293 
 
 Wind (prevailing) indicated by growth of 
 spruce, 80 ; acts slightly on icebergs, 
 102 ; at Buffalo, prevailing direction 
 marked by trees, 266 
 
 Windsor, Nova Scotia, 42 ; plain of mud 
 when tide is out, 43 
 
 Winnepeg (Lake), steamer on, 304 
 
 Woman on rail saved by frame ahead of 
 the engine, 319 
 
 Women, railway cars for, 195 
 
 Woodcock at Wilmington, 293 
 
 Wooden buildings in Labrador, 105 ; house 
 at Toulinguet on rock in sea, 113 
 
 Wood-rafts on Canadian rivers, 248 
 
 Wright (Dr. Charles), guide book to Ken- 
 tucky, 344 
 
 Yankee steamer, the author's first, 176, 
 177 ; portrayed by Mrs. Trollope, and 
 Dickens altered, 204 
 
 Zigzag fences, 273 
 
 THE END. 
 
 Printed by R. & R. Clark, Edinburgh. 
 

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