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diff --git a/78758-0.txt b/78758-0.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..ee0eb93 --- /dev/null +++ b/78758-0.txt @@ -0,0 +1,4039 @@ +*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 78758 *** + + + + +TRANSCRIBER’S NOTE + +Italic text is denoted by _underscores_. + +Small caps in the text is denoted by UPPERCASE. + +Superscript text is denoted by text preceded by a caret. +Example: C^o. + +Some minor changes to the text are noted at the end of the book. + + + + + SIX MONTHS + + IN + + AMERICA. + +[Illustration: + + G.T. Vigne, delṭ T. S. Engleheart, sculpṭ + +LOCKS ON THE RIDEAU CANAL, AT BYTOWN, ON THE OTTAWA RIVER. + +_Published by Whittaker & C^o. April 10, 1832._] + + + + + SIX MONTHS + + IN + + AMERICA. + + BY + + GODFREY T. VIGNE, ESQ. + + OF LINCOLN’S INN, BARRISTER AT LAW. + + VOL. II. + + LONDON: + WHITTAKER, TREACHER, & CO. + AVE MARIA LANE. + + 1832. + + + + + LONDON: + Manning and Co., Printers, 4, London House Yard, + St. Pauls. + + + + +SIX MONTHS IN AMERICA. + + +I now left Washington to proceed to Harper’s ferry. The English and +American ideas of the picturesque are widely different. The Englishman, +who sees enough of cultivation in his own country, travels to other +lands in search of wilder scenery, and gazes with delight on the +immense forests of America. The American would readily dispense +with the romantic, and wonders that every body is not like himself, +an admirer, by preference, of a rail-road, a canal, or a piece of +newly cleared ground. Excellent as these are in their way, I really +believe that the Americans, of the middle and lower class, regard them +not merely with reference to their beneficial effects, but as the +_ne plus ultra_ of the beautiful. When I inquired which was the +prettiest road towards Harper’s ferry, “Go by such a road,” was the +reply; “it runs by the side of the canal, sir.” However, it so happened +that the canal-road lay also along the bank of the Potomac, and the +scenery certainly was very pretty. At a distance of two miles from the +road, and thirteen or fourteen from Washington, are the Great Falls of +the Potomac. I did not turn out of my way to see them; I have seen a +great many, and purposed visiting Niagara. + +After all I had heard, I must say, that I was disappointed with +Harper’s ferry. The Shenandoah and Potomac rivers unite at the foot +of the Blue Mountains, through which they have forced, or rather +worn a passage; but the rivers are of the same width. The mountains, +composed of limestone, and schistose rocks, are of moderate and uniform +elevation, and they appear to be perfectly acquiescent, while the +stream glides in silent triumph over its smooth though rocky channel, +without the least appearance of exasperation. + +I visited the United States’ arsenal, containing 70,000 stand of arms. +The chief armourer was an old Englishman, who served at the battles +of Alexandria and Trafalgar. I observed that, with the exception +of the ramrod and touchhole, which was of brass, every part of the +musket, lock, barrel, and bayonet, was browned. They were not ranged +in order, as in other arsenals, but were kept in boxes, so that there +was no display whatever. From the arsenal I proceeded to Captain +Hall’s manufactory of patent rifles. With one of these, after a little +practice, a man may load and fire eight or nine times in a minute. The +arrangement is very simple. The barrel appears to have been divided +from the breech with a fine saw. The breech is raised by means of a +hinge and a spring, which is struck by the hand, and when loaded is +immediately shut down, so as to form part of the barrel, similar to +that of a screw pistol. The great advantage gained by the invention of +this rifle is, that with it a soldier can load, and defend himself with +his bayonet at the same time. + +There are also some large saw mills here well worth the attention of +the traveller. + +I proceeded up the well-cultivated valley of the Shenandoah, and +arrived at Winchester, a neat and considerable town; thence to a +good inn in the middle of the forest. In my way I crossed the sandy +ridge and the Capon Mountains, though they hardly deserve such a +name, being, to all appearance, scarcely higher than the Wrekin in +Shropshire. I breakfasted at Romney, a pretty village on the south +bank of the Potomac. A little farther on, the road is frowned upon +by an overhanging rock of bastard lime-stone: its appearance is very +singular. The strata are disposed in arches one within the other, so +that, with the aid of fancy, its surface may be thought to resemble the +solid frame-work of a stupendous bridge. The highest arch, to which the +others are parallel, is nearly semi-circular with a radius of 270 feet. + +When the mail, in which I was travelling, arrived at the north branch +of the Potomac, we found it so swollen by the late rains that a +passage seemed not only dangerous but impracticable. The coachman, +however, a cool and determined fellow, crossed over on horseback; he +then returned, placed one of the passengers on the near leader, and +resolutely drove his four horses into the torrent, which was sixty or +seventy yards in width, running like a mill-race, and so deep that +it reached nearly up to the backs of the horses. I was with him on +the box. The inside passengers pulled off their coats, and prepared +to swim. The water forced itself into the coach; but we reached the +opposite bank without disaster. On the preceding evening the coachman +had only prevented the mail from being entirely carried away, by +turning the horses’ heads down the stream, so that the coach and horses +were swimming for nearly thirty yards. I think the American coachmen, +in general, are good drivers: the horses are well adapted to their +work, and in fine condition: in summer they are allowed any quantity +of oats they can eat, and in winter a little Indian corn is mixed +with them. It is too heating to be much used in the stable during the +summer months; one feed of Indian corn is supposed to contain as much +nourishment as two of oats. The coaches stop every five or six miles, +and the horses drink at least half a pail of water; they could not work +without it on a hot day. The roads in the country would puzzle the most +experienced English coachman; they are often execrably bad,—and require +making, not mending,—with the roots of trees sticking up in the middle +of the road. The expense of finishing good roads through the forest +would be enormous, far too great to be borne at present; but in the +neighbourhood of the large towns I have sometimes seen them in a state +of inexcusable neglect. + +Cumberland is delightfully situated in the valley of the Potomac, +surrounded by lofty hills, out-topped by the distant Alleghany, which +had appeared in sight towards the close of the day. + +Virginia is famous for its breed of horses. Till I passed through that +state I had not seen a horse with at all the shape and figure of an +English hunter; but in Virginia I have seen horses on the road, and +brood mares in the pastures, displaying a great deal of blood and +symmetry. In all parts of the Union which I visited, a well-bred horse +is termed a “blooded horse:” but the Americans are quite at liberty +to use what terms they please. Besides the paces usually known in +England, the horse in the United States is valuable according to his +performances as a square or natural trotter, a pacer, or a racker. A +racker is a beast that can trot before, and canter behind, at the same +time. The recommendations of a pacer are, that he moves his fore and +hind legs on the same side at the same time, like a cameleopard. When +hiring a hack, you are questioned as to which you would prefer. As +there is no fox-hunting, a fast trotter is considered the most valuable +animal next to the racer. A horse that can trot a mile in two minutes +and a half, is not thought very extraordinary. + +At Cumberland I joined the high road or “turnpike,” between Baltimore +and Pittsburgh, and soon afterwards I began the ascent of the Alleghany +for the second time. The road passes over Keyser’s ridge, one of the +highest parts of the mountain, rising to a height of 2800 feet above +the level of the western rivers. The mountain presented the same +distant and interminable forest view that I beheld when I passed over +it in Pennsylvania; but in that state, there were more patches of +cultivated land to be seen here and there in the vicinity of the high +road. Silence and tranquillity to a degree I never before witnessed, +are, I think, the prevailing characteristics of the American forests, +where the Indian is no longer an inhabitant. They are dark, but never +gloomy, excepting where they are composed of pine trees: they are +solitary, and are silent as the grave, without inspiring horror. They +are curious and interesting to the European traveller. In Europe the +eye is frequently attracted by the ancient relics of feudal grandeur, +or the formidable structures of modern, and more civilized warfare. But +the wild scenery of America is dependent for its interest on nature, +and nature only; the mountain pass is without banditti, the forest is +without fastness, and the glens and glades are quiet and legendless. +I was never tired of the forest scenery, although I passed through +it day after day. The endless diversity of foliage always prevents +it from being monotonous. Sycamores and tulip trees of most gigantic +dimensions, are to be seen on the banks of the smaller rivers, or +creeks, as they are termed in the United States. With the more stately +trees of the forest are mingled the sassafras, the gum-tree, the +hickory, and many others that are new to the European eye. But the +most beautiful sight is afforded by the wild vine that entwines itself +round the acacia, and covers every branch of it with a green tile-work, +extended in festoons to the nearest trees; like those which are to be +seen in the vineyards of Italy. + +Soon after passing the Alleghany, I was shown the remains of an old +entrenchment in a meadow on the left of the road: it was formed by +Washington, then a Colonel in the British service, when pursued by the +Indians after the defeat of General Braddock. A little further on, on +the right hand, on the bank of a small stream, I saw the spot where +the General was buried on the 9th of July, 1755; having neglected +the precautions recommended by Colonel Washington, who offered to +scour the forest alongside his line of march with the provincial +troops; he was attacked by the Indians in a defile on the banks of +the Monongahela, when within about ten miles of Fort du Quesne, at +Pittsburgh, then occupied by the French, and which he was marching to +besiege: his bravery was of little use; all the officers about his +person were killed, he had five horses shot under him, and at last he +himself received a mortal wound. He was conveyed away by his retreating +soldiers; but soon afterwards died, and was buried in the middle of +the road, and the wagons and horses were allowed to pass over his +grave, in order to conceal the spot from the pursuing Indians. With +his dying breath he acknowledged to Colonel Washington the error he +had committed in not following his advice. He presented him with his +horse, and gave his parting injunction to an old and faithful attendant +to enter into the service of Colonel Washington, and remain with him +till the day of his death. Fort Du Quesne was afterwards taken by +General Forbes, and the name was changed to Fort Pitt, in compliment +to the British minister. The magazine and part of the wall, are all +that remain of it at present, and are to be seen near the point of +confluence of the rivers at Pittsburgh. + +At Washington town, I attended a black Methodist meeting; they are to +be found in every considerable town in the Union, but I had never seen +one before. The preacher was a half-cast, or quarteroon, as the negroes +call them, and he and his congregation were all ranters; he talked the +most incoherent nonsense, and worked himself up to such a pitch of +frenzy, that his appearance was almost that of a maniac. At intervals I +was nearly stunned by the noise he made; and I could not help thinking +of the speech of the frogs in the fable, who said to the boy as he +pelted them, “It may be very good fun for _you_, but _we_ +really find it exceedingly disagreeable.” + +As I approached Pittsburgh the forest became less extensive, and the +country exhibited a more general appearance of cultivation, although +it may be broadly asserted that the Americans are at least fifty years +behind us in agriculture; yet there are many gentlemen’s estates on +which more than ordinary care and labour have been bestowed, and +which, consequently, are far in advance of others. I observed some good +farming adjacent to the road. Some part of the country I am speaking +of, might have been mistaken for the more wooded parts of England, had +it not been for the worm or zigzag fence which is in universal use +throughout the United States, and offers but a poor apology for the +English hedge row, although they are sometimes composed of cedar logs. + +Pittsburgh is built on the confluence of the Alleghany and Monongahela +rivers, both of them being about a quarter of a mile in width, whose +united streams form the Ohio. They are both passed by a fine wooden +bridge. + +The city contains 12,000 inhabitants; but if the suburbs are included +in the calculation, its population will amount to nearly 23,000. It +may be called the western capital of Pennsylvania. It manufactures +annually about 18,000 tons of iron, and the same quantity of steel. +It has also an extensive manufactory of cotton and glass. Bituminous +coal is found in the greatest plenty in the neighbourhood, and in +consequence of the smoke and black dust from the manufactories, the +shopkeepers complain that it is impossible to keep any thing clean. +I entered Pittsburgh on the 4th of July, on which day, as every one +knows, the Declaration of Independence was signed at Philadelphia. It +is, of course, always and universally a day of rejoicing in the United +States. The militia are called out, a public dinner is always given +in every town and village in the Union, and an appropriate oration +is delivered by the appointed orator of the day. I regretted I did +not arrive in time to be present at the dinner, which had taken place +under the shade of some trees on the opposite side of the Alleghany, +but I heard a great number of sentiments delivered, without being +drank. Any bystander wrote an idea upon a slip of paper and handed it +to the orator, who read it aloud to the company. They were all more or +less patriotic, but usually couched in the most ridiculous bombastic +language. The cause of reform in England, was a frequent theme of +eulogy. William the reformer was applauded as being more glorious than +William the Conqueror. Henry Brougham was coupled with Henry Clay, and +a drunken Irishman requested “parmission to give a woluntary toast,” +and lauded his majesty to the skies, in terms which I cannot pretend to +recollect. + +On this day died, at New York, James Monroe, the fifth president of the +United States, having twice held that office from 1817 to 1825. His +eulogy was spoken by Mr. Adams, who appears to be the orator-general +upon such occasions, and who, in the true spirit of republicanism, +thinks it no degradation to take his seat as a member of congress after +having once filled the president’s chair. Mr. Monroe was five years +of age at the date of the Stamp Act. At an early age he joined the +standard of Washington, when others were deserting it. He was present +at the celebrated passage of the Delaware at Trenton, was wounded in +the subsequent engagement, and was afterwards present in the actions +of Brandywine, Germantown, and Monmouth. He took his seat in the +federal congress in June 1783, at the age of twenty-four. He was at +first opposed to the adoption of the articles of the constitution, +believing them to be imperfect, and of little remedial efficacy; +although he was decidedly in favour of some important change in the +existing government under the articles of confederation. Mr. Monroe +was appointed by President Washington, the minister plenipotentiary to +the court of France, and was received with splendid formality by the +national convention; but being unsuccessful in his negociations, he was +recalled, and Mr. Pinkney appointed in his place. He was afterwards +appointed governor of Virginia. When Napoleon had 20,000 veterans +assembled at Helvoet-sluys, ready for embarkation to Louisiana. Mr. +Monroe was sent over by President Jefferson on a special commission. On +his arrival, the war between Great Britain and France was rekindling, +and the danger to Louisiana was averted. In conjunction with Mr. +Pinkney, the then United States’ minister at Madrid, he concluded the +treaty by which Louisiana was ceded to the United States, in the year +1803. This state was in the possession of the Spaniards from 1762 till +1800, when it was again ceded to the French, the original settlers. The +United States paid 15,000,000 of dollars for it; Mr. Monroe afterwards +went to England as minister plenipotentiary, he was present in Paris at +the coronation of Napoleon. He returned to the United States in 1807, +and became secretary of state in 1811, and afterwards secretary at war. +In 1817 he was elected president, and was re-elected in 1821 without +opposition. His opinion on the subject of internal improvements, was, +that a power of establishing a general system of internal improvement +had not been delegated to congress, and he returned a bill to the +house, in which it originated, with a justification of his exercise +of prerogative, in an able and elaborate exposition of the reasons +for the refusal of his assent. It is a very singular fact, that Mr. +Monroe is the third out of four deceased presidents, who have died on +the 4th July. The circumstances attending the deaths of Presidents +Jefferson and John Adams were very extraordinary. A committee of five +was originally appointed to draw up the articles of the constitution. +Jefferson and Adams were selected as a sub-committee, and were in fact +the real framers of the constitution. These two gentlemen died on the +4th of July, in the same year, and the news of their decease arrived +at exactly the same time on the same day, at Philadelphia, where the +Declaration of Independence was signed. + +From Pittsburgh I rode to Braddock’s field. It was pointed out to me +about three hundred yards from the bank of the Monongahela. The ground +has been considerably cleared since the action took place; but it +seems to have been admirably adapted to the Indian mode of warfare, +on account of the undulating surface of the field, that enabled the +Indians, with the aid of the forest with which it was then covered, to +lie in ambush, and fire without being perceived. When, as a child, I +used to read the account of this sanguinary conflict, as narrated by +the highlander in the history of “Sandford and Merton,” little did I +dream that I should ever stand upon the field of battle. + +From Pittsburg, I proceeded for fifteen miles down the western bank of +the Ohio to Economy, a German settlement, under the superintendence +of Mr. Rapp, conducted on a system somewhat resembling that of Mr. +Owen of Lanark. The members call themselves the “Brothers;” and have a +community of property. Any person, of any country, however poor, may +become a member, by conforming to the rules, and submitting to learn +one of the trades or other occupations which are taught in the society. +If he be weary of its regulations, he is at liberty to leave it, and +takes with him, from the public fund, all that he brought into it: his +earnings, during his stay, becoming general property. It is open on +the same terms, even to the entirely destitute. The town is regularly +built, and extremely neat: there are 4000 acres of land belonging to +the establishment, cultivated by the members, and at the expense of +the society; they have a good museum, an admirable band, and public +concerts twice in the week. The “Brothers” are chiefly Lutherans, from +Wirtenberg, where I understood they originally attempted to form a +society of the same kind, but it became obnoxious to the government, +and was suppressed. Mr. Rapp himself is a Lutheran clergyman, and +preaches the doctrine of brotherly love. His first settlement was +on the Wabash river, several hundred miles to the south; but he sold +the place to Mr. Owen, whose philanthropic exertions were, as usual, +unattended with success. Mr. Rapp occasionally goes to Philadelphia, in +search of recruits amongst the latest importations from Germany; and it +will be readily believed, that he enlists none but his own countrymen +to undergo this voluntary confinement, and second schooling. It is +scarcely necessary to mention, that marriage and a continuance in the +society, are incompatible. It is said, that Mr. Rapp’s system has been +sufficiently successful to cheat him into the idea, that his calling, +if not of the prophetic, is, at least, of the patriarchal order. + +At Economy, I joined the passing steam-boat for Maysville. For about +a hundred and fifty miles of its course, the average width of the +Ohio is not greater than that of the Thames at Vauxhall bridge. It is +often very low; and not navigable for steam-boats. The water is then +extremely clear; but when I saw it, the river had been swelled by the +late rains, and was very muddy. The surface of its unruffled and rapid +stream was nearly covered by trunks of trees, which had been washed +down by the torrents from the forests, and rendered it often necessary +to stop the engine, in order to prevent accidents to the paddles. In +our passage down the river we passed, amongst others, Blennerhasset’s +Island, so called from its having been the residence of a person of +that name, who had involved himself in the supposed conspiracy of +Colonel Barr, who, in 1806, fitted out an armed expedition on the +Ohio, with which he intended either to make a hostile incursion into +the Spanish territories, or, according to the more general belief, to +make himself master of New Orleans, with a view to the formation of an +independent power. Blennerhasset had beautified the island at a great +expense, but his property was confiscated by order of government. + +We passed Wheeling, a town containing about 6000 inhabitants, and +manufactories of the same kind as those at Pittsburg. At this place, it +is said, that the Baltimore and Ohio rail-road is to come in contact +with the river. + +Maysville is a much prettier town, with a more picturesque situation; +and looks well, in spite of its red houses. I ascended a hill whence I +had a fine view of the Ohio, which is here above a quarter of a mile +in width. It is observable of its banks, that they never rise to any +height, directly from the water, on both sides of the river at the same +time. If they are abrupt on the one side, the opposite shore is sure +to display a fine strip of cultivated land intervening between the +hills and the river, in the back ground. Near Portsmouth, on the Ohio, +is a slip of ground containing 4000 acres, the whole of it planted +with Indian corn, but it is hidden from the view of the steam-boat +passengers by the trees on the margin of the river. + +About twenty-four miles from Maysville, on the road to Lexington, is a +very fine sulphureous spring, called “the Blue Lick.” There are several +houses in the neighbourhood for the accommodation of visiters, who +resort thither for the benefit of the water. + +Lexington is the neatest country town I had yet seen in the United +States; the streets are regular and spacious, and delightfully shaded +by acacia trees, which are planted before every house: it contains +about 6000 inhabitants. Although comfortable and cheerful in its +appearance, Lexington is the only place of note in the United States, +whose prosperity, for several years, has been on the decline. It could +boast of excellent society; but being an inland town, and supported +only by the surrounding country, it is now paying the penalty for +having enlarged itself beyond its means of supply. One additional +cause of its decline is the great increase of steam navigation on +the Ohio and Mississippi, which affords so much greater facility to +travellers going to New Orleans than the land route, which runs through +Lexington. A college which had been established here did not answer the +expectations of its founders, and a few years since was unfortunately +burnt. + +Till lately the greatest confusion prevailed through the whole of +Kentucky, in consequence of the complicated state of titles to +landed property, which has considerably retarded the advance of its +prosperity. Lands were sold by the government of Virginia before +the separation of Kentucky from that state, without having been +previously surveyed and marked out. The consequence was, that four +or five different persons entered with their warrants of possession, +as purchasers of the same lots, where, in many cases, their interest +had already been sold and re-sold. The endless litigation occasioned +by this state of affairs produced a law, limiting the time of action +to seven years, after which the occupier was to remain in undisputed +possession of the property. + +The system of country banks has been still more ruinous to Lexington, +and the state of Kentucky generally. They were first established +towards the end of the year 1817. The persons principally connected +with them were members of the legislature; about forty of them were +opened with, of course, a very limited capital, but an unlimited +supply of paper. The establishment of the branch bank of the United +States obliged them to pay in specie, and the consequence was the +greatest embarrassment in their affairs. The directors enacted what +laws they pleased, to save themselves from the impending ruin: they +abolished imprisonment for debt, and passed what were called stay +laws,—general and particular enactments, which extended the time of +payment; a desperate mode of proceeding, and which only served to +plunge them deeper in the mire. Those who were of opinion that payment +of debts, contracted at a time when paper was the only currency, +could not now be demanded in specie, contrived to get a law passed +establishing a new court, filled by judges whose opinions coincided +with their own, and who were removable at pleasure. The decisions +of this court were at variance with those of the old one, and a new +and old court party immediately arose. The judges of the new court, +however, immediately resigned. Public and private credit is still at +a low ebb, and the ultimate ruin of many of the leading families in +the state, who are connected with the banks, appears, I was informed, +almost unavoidable. + +A rail-road to Louisville is shortly to be commenced, which will, no +doubt, much benefit the town and surrounding country. At the distance +of a mile stands the English-looking residence of Henry Clay, Esq., +whose public services are too well known to need any remark here. + +I visited several caves in this neighbourhood; that called Russell’s +cave, distant about six miles, is most worthy of attention. It is +three quarters of a mile in length, formed in a rock, composed of +innumerable strata of marine shells, embedded in lime-stone. The action +of water, occasioning an immense pressure, is evident at first sight. +A delicious spring issues from the cave, which unfortunately was so +swollen as to prevent my entrance. Three miles hence, I observed two +Indian forts. The larger is surrounded by a trench, which is now about +seven feet deep and three quarters of an inch in length. In the swollen +one the ditch is considerably deeper and more distinct, encircling it +on every side, excepting where an entrance, wide enough to admit a +carriage, has been left untouched by the spade. + +At Lexington, I was much amused at the master-aping manners of the +slaves. They give themselves great airs. On Sundays they either hire +hacks, or more commonly ride their masters’ horses. I saw dozens of +them, attended by their females, playing the agreeable on horseback, +and “doing a bit of park” “à la militaire.” The slaves of the southern +states are a very happy race. In some places their numbers constitute +a “plaie politique,” equally troublesome, and far more formidable, +than the system of poor laws in England. In many places they far +outnumber the whites, who are obliged to use great precautions, and +restrict their slaves in many particulars. About twenty years ago a +conspiracy was formed by the negroes at Lexington: a house was to be +set on fire, and whilst every one repaired to the spot, they were to +take possession of a large stand of arms kept at the inn, and the +defenceless crowd were to be fired upon. The bank was to be plundered, +and the town burnt. The conspiracy was discovered by a negress, who, on +the preceding evening, told her master that the leaders were below, in +deliberation, and that if he would listen, he would be convinced of the +truth of what she said. He did so, and they were taken into custody. + +There are still such animals in existence as slave merchants, but +they are not numerous. Slaves are purchased in different parts of the +country, and sent down the Mississippi to the sugar plantations at New +Orleans. An able-bodied young negro is worth three hundred dollars, and +the merchant is encouraged in his brutal traffic by a sure market, and +a profit of at least thirty-five, and frequently of forty or forty-five +per cent., after deducting the necessary expenses for food and +clothing, and making allowances for losses by death and accident. Three +or four years back, one of these men and his assistants were murdered +on the Mississippi by a cargo of slaves, who spared no torture that +could be applied by means of fire and steel. + +In Virginia, if a black is freed by his master he is presented as a +nuisance by the grand jury, and generally is not allowed to remain in +the state. In Kentucky, a freed man cannot leave his native county +without quitting the state entirely; and a master who emancipates his +slave, is obliged to give security to the county for his maintenance. +Even a white man, who would be called a vagrant in England, is there +liable, not only to be taken up but to be sold, for two or three +months, to the highest bidder, who has the power of treating him as a +slave, if he refuse to work. When any ship arrives at Charleston in +South Carolina, the police immediately go on board, and have the power +of arresting the black cook, or any free negro they find there, who is +placed in confinement till the ship is ready to put to sea again. So +jealous are they of the presence of a free negro, that a master is not +permitted to emancipate his slave without sending him out of the state; +and if a slave has left South Carolina, in the capacity of valet with +his master, and has once obtained his liberty, by setting foot in a +free state, he is never allowed to return. At Washington, the sound of +the slave auctioneer’s hammer may be heard within a short distance of +the capitol. In Virginia, the country of Hampden-Sydney College, the +slave population amounted, in 1830, to 469,724, being larger than that +of any other state, and bearing a proportion to the whites of rather +less than four to six. In Georgia there is a county, most appropriately +called Liberty County, where the slave population is to the whites as +five to one. + +The slave children are not instructed to read or write at the expense +of their masters; if they enjoy these advantages, they have been taught +by persons of their own colour. If they could write, they would forge +their pass-papers, and run away; and those who can, are always ready +to do this for those who cannot. The slave population could not be +educated, and remain long in a state of bondage. Its march of intellect +would be stronger and more terrible than the fire in the vast American +forests which it would traverse: to check it is impossible, and flight +is unavailing; so that the only means of avoiding destruction is to add +vigour, and give direction to the flame. + + Chè più facil sarìa svolger il corso + Presso Cariddi alla volubil onda, + O tardar Borea allor che scote il dorso + Dell’ Appennino, e i legni in mare affonda. + +The apparent advantage of procuring labour for nothing is often far +outweighed by the consequences arising from the idle and careless +manners of the slaves, and the expense incurred in their maintenance. +Two white men will easily perform the work of three negroes, when the +weather is not intolerably hot. They do as little as they can for +their masters; but on a holiday they will work for each other like +real slaves. Even an unaccustomed eye would recognize a slave district +by the slovenly appearance of the farms, and of every thing connected +with them. The residence of the slaves is usually at some little +distance from the dwelling-house of their master. The quarter, as it +is termed, consists of a number of small huts, with a larger house +for the overseer, and will sometimes contain three hundred or four +hundred negroes, with their families, and all more or less distantly +related to each other. An arable farm will scarcely pay, unless its +superintendent be a man of skill, firmness, and perseverance. So much +depends upon him, that if he be a person of that character, a good +farm, one year with another, will return a profit of eight or ten +per cent.; but it is usually not so large, and is never equal to the +emolument of an attentive agriculturist in the northern states, where +slaves are unknown. + +By the last census, the total population of the United States was +12,856,165: of these 2,010,436 were slaves, existing only in what are +termed the southern states, of which Maryland is the most northerly. It +is said, that supposing an inclination to secede from the Union should +be prevalent in the southern states, the danger they would incur from +their inability to defend themselves against their black population, +would be a sufficient reason for their thinking twice on the subject. +There can be no doubt, that the slaves, with an offer of liberty, would +prove a most formidable weapon in the hands of an enemy. This, however, +is not very likely to take place, at least not as yet. Before I quitted +America a partial insurrection had taken place in Virginia, in which +sixty or seventy persons were brutally massacred by the negroes; and +it is most probable that the state legislature will consider of some +measures by which the superabundant slave population may be effectually +disposed of. Their attention will probably be directed to the colony +of Liberia, on the windward coast in Africa, hitherto supported +exclusively by the funds and management of the colonization society, +which provides vessels for the transportation of slaves manumitted +on condition of their departure for that place. Within the last few +years two or three hundred negroes have been annually sent out of the +country in this manner. The capital of the colony, which is defended +by a garrison, is called Monrovia, because it was founded during the +presidency of Mr. Monroe. The blacks support themselves by traffic with +the natives, and by cultivating the soil. + + * * * * * + +I really think I had not seen more than one or two ponds in the United +States, before I entered the state of Kentucky; there, they are +common enough, and plenty of bull-frogs may usually be heard grunting +in the mud on their margins. With the aid of a little fancy, there +is certainly some truth in the assertion, that the noise they make +resembles the words “blood and ’ounds,” repeated in a very deep and +coarse human voice. + +I confess that I had formed an erroneous idea of Kentucky, at least, +of that part of it through which I passed. Contrary to my expectations, +I found the land as much cleared as in any state I had previously seen. +The soil is very rich in many parts; and will produce five or six crops +of Indian corn or wheat, in successive years, without the assistance +of manure. It is a positive fact, that the grazing farmers will not +unfrequently pull down and remove the sheds in the fields, sooner than +incur the trouble and expense of clearing away the quantity of manure +that has accumulated in them. Labour is dear, and land is cheap; so +that a farmer who can clear good fresh land whenever he pleases, has +no inducement to be at the expense which is necessarily laid out on a +farm in England, before it is rendered sufficiently productive. The +dressing of land, by laying on manure or otherwise improving it, would, +in Kentucky, be considered generally, a waste of labour. Hemp is the +staple article of produce in this state. + +The finest specimens of American forest scenery are to be found in +Kentucky: the oaks and sycamores, in particular, grow to an immense +size, and throw a delicious shade on the soil beneath; which is +often free from all kinds of underwood, and covered with a carpet of +greensward,—affording the finest pasture ground imaginable to great +numbers of cattle, which are constantly grazing there. I was forcibly +reminded of the beautiful description in the opening scene of “Ivanhoe.” + +I had resolved to visit the great Mammoth cave in Kentucky, distant +about 120 miles from Lexington, on the right of the Nashville road. I +accordingly proceeded in that direction, and soon arrived on the banks +of the Kentucky river. I considered this ferry as a most beautiful +specimen of Indian scenery. The river is here seventy or eighty yards +across, and flows with a dark and quiet stream, between two very high +cliffs, whose bold, bare, limestone fronts are seen to great advantage, +as they rise above the mass of forest, that intervenes between their +base and the water. It bore some resemblance to Swinsund ferry, on the +frontier of Sweden and Norway, although certainly inferior. + +Shaker’s town is occupied as the name implies, by persons of that sect. +One of their number, which amounts to a few hundreds, is an architect, +and this accounts for the superior build of their houses. From Glasgow, +a cross road conducted me to Bell’s tavern, a solitary house standing +at the meeting of the Lexington and Louisville roads, to Nashville, +in the midst of what are called “the barrens.” These barrens, it is +supposed by many, were originally Prairies, or “Pararas,” as they are +called by the lower class of Americans, but are now principally covered +by dwarf oaks. Wild turkeys, deer, pheasants, and the bird called +the barren hen, which is also the prairie hen, and the grouse of the +northern and middle states, are found in the barrens; cougars, wolves, +foxes, &c. are also to be met with there. At Bell’s tavern, which, by +the way, is a very comfortable little country inn, I procured horses +and a guide, and set out for the Mammoth cave. After an agreeable +and shady ride of seven miles, I arrived at a small lonely log house +tavern, built about a hundred yards from the mouth of the great cave. +There are several smaller caves in the neighbourhood; but the only +one of these I visited was the white cave; of no extent, but curious, +on account of the number, and diversified shape of its stalactitic +formations, formed by the depositions of water, dropping through the +limestone rock. + +Immediately in front of the inn, begins a narrow path winding down a +dark ravine, which conducts to the cave. Its entrance is overshadowed +by the dark foliage of the surrounding trees, and its appearance +altogether is exceedingly gloomy, and calculated to inspire a feeling +of horror. The presence of two beautiful humming birds very much +heightened by contrast the effects of the scene. They were darting in +all directions, as quickly as the eye could follow; sometimes passing +with the greatest rapidity across the mouth of the cave, or remaining +for an instant, motionless in the air, as they sipped, on the wing, of +the water that was incessantly dripping from the projecting rock. I +could not but think of the incantation scene in “Der Freychütze.” + +The very sudden encounter of cold air at the mouth of the cave, is more +agreeable than safe during the hot weather. Not that the air itself +is damp or unwholesome; on the contrary, it is particularly dry and +healthy. I have been told of its acting as a febrifuge, and can easily +believe it. A great quantity of salt-petre was made there during the +late war. The works still remain, but have not been used for many +years. The salt was procured by pouring water over a wooden trough, +filled with the earth from the cave, which, when saturated, was allowed +to run off; was then boiled, and the salt separated by vaporization. By +this process, two pounds of salt-petre were procured from one bushel +of earth. The air is so highly impregnated with the saline particles, +that meat, butter, cheese, and many other substances, after remaining +a short time in the cave, become of a bright red colour, and are +unfit for use. I was attended by an old man, and two boys, sons of the +landlord, each of us carrying a small lamp, with an additional supply +of grease to trim them. The rock is very low near the entrance, but +soon expands to a magnificent size. The average width and height may be +about seventy feet, but in some places it is more lofty, and far wider. +I first visited an antechamber, and walked a mile before I reached the +end, where there is a small but curious waterfall, that has worked +its way into the side of the rock in a serpentine direction. Sulphur, +red and yellow ochre, may be picked up there; and gum borax, sulphate +of magnesia, and sulphate of soda, are found adhering to the walls +in considerable quantities, but not in every part. We returned from +the antechamber and proceeded up the principal part of the cave. The +roof and sides were but little broken, and in general their evenness +and regularity of angle were surprising. The walking was very good at +first; but our passage was soon impeded and rendered fatiguing, by +the enormous number of loose blocks of limestone, that were heaped up +on every side. At intervals we came to a small pyramid composed of +broken fragments, raised by the aborigines, who have left traces of +their existence throughout the whole of North America. I pulled down +one of them, and found only the remains of a fire; similar marks are +to be seen on the bare rock in many parts of the cave. Pieces of cane +with which Kentucky originally abounded, within the memory of many +now living, were strewed around, having evidently afforded the fuel +with which these fires were fed. In some places the face of the rock +had been slightly worked, but for what purpose will for ever remain +undetermined. The floor of the cave is generally parallel with the +surface of the ground above, as no great rise or fall is perceivable +throughout its entire direction. At about the distance of a mile and +a half from its mouth, the cave takes a majestic bend to the left, +and two miles further we arrived at what is called “the cross roads.” +From this large and gloomy expanse, four distinct caverns branch out +in different directions. The glare of our lamps was just sufficiently +powerful to display the opening on the left. It looked as black and +dismal as darkness could make it, and was formed by vast fragments of +rock, thrown together with a confusion equalling that at the pass in +the Pyrenees, usually known by the name of Chaos. We clambered over +them, and after half an hour’s walking, we arrived at what seemed to be +the termination of the cavern; but, in the corner on the left, is a +kind of natural chimney, through which we climbed to another chamber. +It did not much differ from the other parts of the cave, excepting that +it is much wider in proportion to its length, and the roof blacker. A +solitary bat was clinging to it, and was the only living animal I saw +in the cave. No others inhabit this mansion of utter darkness. The +small pyramids of stone, and the marks of fire, were very numerous. We +explored the other branches of the cave in succession. At intervals the +huge blocks of limestone rose nearly to the roof, and seemed to set +progress at defiance; but, after mastering the summit, we were enabled +to continue, till we reached another and similar difficulty. The cave +never appeared to such effect as when seen from the top of one of these +eminences; because its downward dimensions were not visible by the +light of the lamps, and a bottomless pit was an easy conjecture. The +most terrific place is what is called the cataracts; here, the floor +sinks away to a greater depth, and a large chasm is formed on one side +by gigantic mis-shapen rocks, fearfully disposed over the head of the +explorer, as he gladly descends to refresh himself with a draught of +the pure, delicious water, that falls from the roof. I thought I had +never before seen anything so unearthly, excepting perhaps, the crater +of Vesuvius. We subsequently entered a smaller part of the cave, which +is gradually contracted into so narrow a passage, that we were obliged +to crawl on all fours. It led us, in a few minutes, to the brink of +a large black pit, down which I tossed some fragments of stone, and +we heard them descending from rock to rock, for the depth, I should +judge, of 150 feet. In this manner I visited three, and I have reason +to believe, all the four extremities, of the principal branches of the +cave. I had been told that it was as much as twelve miles to the end +of the cavern which I entered through the chimney, and that the cave +itself had been explored for more than fourteen. The guides make it out +to be more than double its real length. I was more than six hours under +ground, and moving almost incessantly, during which time, as nearly +as I could calculate, I walked but nine or ten miles. The extreme +ends of the principal branches, I should say, were between four and +five. There are several smaller chambers, which I did not visit, but I +heard that they contained nothing new, or different from the others; +and feeling greatly fatigued, was glad to emerge into the open air. I +found it requisite to pause at the entrance: there is no intermediate +temperature between the cool, but not chilly air of the cave, and the +sultry atmosphere of noon. The sensation was extraordinary; with both +my arms extended, one hand would be warm, at the same time that I would +gladly withdraw the other from the contact of the colder air of the +cave. Those who do not take the precaution of waiting a few minutes, +are almost invariably attacked with giddiness, or a fainting fit. + +I had erred in believing that the huge bones of the mammoth and other +quadrupeds at present unknown, had been found in this cave; and in +imagination I had listened to the dying cries of agony sent forth by +those stupendous animals as they struggled in the thundering billow +of the deluge that had risen, and rolled into their hiding place, and +reduced them to a state of frenzy and desperation. But it has received +its name of the “mammoth cave” only on account of its superior size +and extent: the term being frequently applied where size or importance +is intended to be designated. For instance, the branch bank of the +United States at Cincinnati, is called the Mammoth bank. None but human +bones have been found in this cave. These were often dug up by the +saltpetre manufacturers, and were usually found lying side by side, but +separated and covered over by a rough slab of limestone. I was informed +that upwards of a hundred skeletons had been there unearthed; and it is +probable that more are still remaining in different parts of the cave. +In general they are not larger than those of the ordinary race of men. +They are doubtless the remains of some of that ancient nation, whose +very name is unknown; whose customs and occupation are unrecorded; +whose chiefs and heroes remain unchronicled, and whose existence is to +be traced only in the monuments of death or warfare. + +The manner in which this and the other caves in Kentucky have been +formed may, perhaps, be more than conjectured. They are all composed +of secondary limestone, resting on a substratum of sand,—a singular +formation, but one that is common in this part of America. The sand may +have been gradually dislodged by the action of water; a theory which +the sloping nature of the ground between the cave and the Green river, +only a few hundred yards distant, does not contradict. A gentleman +informed me that he had lately witnessed a similar process. He had +for a long time watched the increase of a small sand bank, that had +been forming in a stream on his own property in the lower part of +Kentucky,—and upon further examination he found, as he expected, that +a cave had been gradually hollowed out by the action of the water +behind it. The whole of this country and the region watered by the +Mississippi, is diluvial, and in many places marine shells and the +fossil remains of marine animals have been found in great abundance. + +In the neighbourhood of the cave, there are a great many wild turkeys, +and a tolerable sprinkling of deer, but both were difficult of approach +at that season of the year. I was exceedingly anxious for a shot at a +wild turkey, but committed a great error in loading with ball only; and +although I contrived to get three or four fair shots on the ground, +and on the wing, yet I confess through eagerness to have missed them. +Once I contrived to near a brood, but had the mortification, although +close to them, to hear them rising one by one on the other side of +a thicket; and when I did pull at the last bird, my gun, which was +loaded with shot, missed fire through the badness of the copper cap. +After vainly toiling through the forest in search of a deer, for one +whole August day, I was poacher enough to drop down the Green river +in a canoe, in the vicinity of the cave, at two in the morning, in +order to get a shot at one whilst feeding upon the moss at the bottom +of the river. A light was placed at the head of the boat with a board +behind it. I sat in the middle of the canoe, which was paddled forward +by a man at the stern; both of us being as silent as possible. The +darker the night, the better; the deer stand gazing at the light, till +the canoe almost touches them; they appear as white as a sheep, and +the aim of a Kentucky rifle is usually too true, at any reasonable +distance, to render the death of one of them an uncertainty. But I +was again unfortunate. I had been disappointed in the attendance of an +experienced hunter, whom I had engaged to go with me, and my companion, +who was a novice, allowed three deer that were standing close to +us, but not distinguishable by me among the tall sedge, to run off +untouched by the random shot I sent after them. The back-woodsmen are +excellent marksmen, their rifles are long and heavy, carrying a very +small ball, often not bigger than a large pea. With these a good shot +will alternately hit and miss the head of a squirrel at sixty yards +distance. + +I returned to Bell’s tavern with the determination of advising every +travelling friend who visited Kentucky, by no means to leave that state +without having seen the Mammoth cave; and I think that a sportsman, +well provided with dogs, guns, &c., might well spend a week in a very +satisfactory manner by taking up his quarters at Bell’s tavern. When +we had forded the Green river, the coachman addressed a man on the +opposite side, and asked him how his wife was, “Thank ’e, I guess, +she’s smartly unwell this morning,” was the reply. + +Louisville is about ninety miles from the cave. For the last twenty, +the road runs along the banks of the Ohio, passing through the most +magnificent forest of beech trees I had ever beheld. There is nothing +remarkable in the appearance of Louisville. It is a large and regularly +built town, containing 11,000 inhabitants. From this place the larger +steam-boats start for New Orleans. Those that come from Pittsburgh are +of smaller dimensions, on account of the shallowness of the water. +The course of the Ohio, from Pittsburgh to Louisville is about 600 +miles, and thence, to its confluence with the Mississippi, is nearly +300 more. The length of the Mississippi, from its junction with the +Ohio, is 1200. The falls, or rapids of the Ohio, are immediately below +Louisville, and part of them may be seen from the town. + +I had been very desirous of seeing St. Louis and the Missouri; +but the season was too far advanced, and that part of the country +is exceedingly unhealthy during the summer heats. Steam-boats run +thither constantly, in three days, from Louisville. There is also a +land conveyance, which occupies nearly the same time on the journey, +and passes through the great Prairies, in Indiana and Illinois. +Wild turkeys are there very plentiful; quails and Prairie-hens are +frequently to be seen from the road in great abundance; and I would +strongly recommend any traveller who is fond of shooting, and who will +put up with very indifferent accommodation, to proceed for about one +hundred miles, or even less, by this road, into the Prairies, for the +purpose of shooting. It must, however, be added, that he will probably +kill much more than he can either eat or carry away. + +That there is a great quantity of game in some parts of America is +indisputable; but it is equally so, that it is fast decreasing in +others. Unless some attention be paid to preserving, deer will become +extremely scarce, except in the unsettled country; and the breed of +wild turkeys will be extinct, as they are not found much to the west of +the Mississippi and Missouri rivers. Go where you will, you are told +there is plenty of game of some kind; but the sportsman who relies on +this information at this season of the year, while the trees are yet +thick with foliage, will be surely disappointed. I have occasionally +stayed for a day at different places, where I had been induced to +believe that I should find some sport; but I seldom found any game, +although I always took with me some person well acquainted with the +woods. The want of dogs must certainly be taken into consideration. + +The inhabitants of Kentucky may be called the Gasçons of America. +They have a humorous, good-natured, boasting, boisterous peculiarity +of language and manner, by which they are known in all parts of the +Union. To a stranger, they are courteous and hospitable; but amongst +themselves, they quarrel and fight, like the Irish, for fun; or merely +to see which is the best man, without any provocation; and they evince +great partiality for their own state—which they familiarly denominate +“Old Kentuck,”—perhaps more than the inhabitants of any other in the +Union. + +Kentucky was originally used by the Indians as a hunting-field, and for +no other purpose. The neighbouring nations agreed never to build upon +it. + +From Louisville, I proceeded in a steam-boat to Cincinnati, in +eighteen hours. About forty miles on this side of the town, we passed +the mouth of the stream, so well known by the name of the “Big Bone +Lick,” on account of the number of the bones of the mammoth and other +animals that have been frequently dug up in its vicinity. There is a +sulphur-spring, and a house for the accommodation of visitors. Our +distinguished countryman, Mr. Bullock, whom I saw at Cincinnati, had +been lately residing on the spot for three months, and had had twenty +men constantly employed in digging. He had discovered, amongst other +animals, the bones of a smaller and distinct species of migalonyx; +an animal having partly the generic character of the armadillo, and +partly that of the sloth, and nearly equalling the rhinoceros in size. +But the most remarkable remains were those of a young colt, and a +gigantic horse, that could not have been less than twenty-four hands +high. Unfortunately, however, for the advancement of science, they were +all destroyed by a fire, which took place about three weeks before +my arrival. The fossil remains of about thirty animals, now supposed +to be extinct, have been found at the Big Bone Lick; and Mr. Bullock +conjectures that there are no more remaining. That the animals did +not perish on the spot, but were carried and deposited by the mighty +torrent, which it is evident once swept over the face of the country, +is probable, from the circumstance of marine shells, plants, and +fossil substances having been found, not only mixed with the bones, +but adhering to them, and tightly wedged into the cavities of the +skulls—“those holes where eyes did once inhabit,” were often stopped up +by shells or pieces of coral, forcibly crammed into them. + +From the Big Bone to the Blue Lick, a distance of about sixty miles, +there is a buffalo-path. Those animals existed in great numbers in this +part of the country, within the memory of many individuals now living. +They passed from one favourite spring to the other in vast herds, +always pursuing the same path, seldom turning to the right or left, and +overturning very young trees, or any slight obstacle that might occur +in their line of march. They have, however, long been killed off from +the eastern side of the Ohio, and Mississippi; not being seen nearer +than within fifty miles of St. Louis. They are found in innumerable +herds in the widely extended plains of the Missouri, and towards the +region of the rocky mountains. The Indians kill a great many of them, +for the sake of their skins, which sell in Philadelphia at four dollars +a piece, while that of a bear may be purchased for three. They are so +numerous, that this traffic occasions no perceptible difference in the +size of the herds. An Indian will drive an arrow so hard that the point +will appear on the other side of the buffalo. At certain seasons of +the year, their tramping and bellowing may be heard at a vast distance +on the plains, by putting the ear to the ground; and in this way, if +heard in the morning, incredible as it may appear, it will sometimes +be evening before the hunters can come up with them. The bonassus, +exhibited some years ago in London, was merely the common American +buffalo; which is, strictly speaking, the bison, or animal with the +hump, and not the buffalo. The bison is found of different sizes and +under different names in Africa, in Asia, in the island of Madagascar, +and on the Malabar coast; and exists, as we have seen, in immense +numbers in North America; and it will associate with, and breed with +tame cattle: but the real buffalo, which has no hump on the shoulder, +is not found in the New Continent, but is common in India, and in +Africa, near the Cape. I have also seen them in the Pontine marshes, +where they are used for agricultural purposes. A marked difference +between the buffalo and the bison, from the different varieties of +which, it is supposed, that our domestic animals have descended, is to +be observed in the fact of the tame cattle refusing to breed with the +buffalo, and in the period of gestation in that animal being extended +to a whole year. + +The navigation of the Ohio and the Mississippi, is often rendered +dangerous by the trunks of trees, or snags, as they are called, which, +in floating down the stream, get entangled and stick fast in the mud at +the bottom; presenting a most formidable, and frequently unseen point +near the surface of the water. Our steamer ran upon one of them, but +was soon got off again by means of a long spar of wood that was dropped +into the water, and then used as a lever, with the side of the boat +for a fulcrum, by means of a rope wound about the capstan and fastened +to the top of the spar. In the midst of the confusion, an American +stepped up to me, and said, “Stranger, I guess we’re in a bad fix!” +To be in a good or a bad fix is an expression very commonly made use +of in cases of dilemma. Speaking of a man placed in the stocks, for +instance, a common American would remark, that he was in a “bad fix,” +without the least fear of committing a pun, even at Philadelphia, +where the disease is very prevalent. The American error is detected in +the formal and decided accentuation of particular syllables in several +common words, and in the laughable misuse of many others; and not in +any mispronunciation of the language, generally. The word Engine, +for instance, is pronounced Engīne; favourite, favourīte; European, +Eurōpĕan, &c. A patois, or provincial dialect, such as is heard in the +more distant counties in England, is unknown amongst the natives of the +United States; and the similarity of language to be heard in every part +of the Union that I visited, could not but attract my attention as an +Englishman. To travel by the mail, for two or three hundred miles, and +to sit beside a coachman who spoke as good English as the one with whom +I first started, had certainly, at least I thought so, the effect of +shortening the distance. + +The education of the poorer classes is very much attended to, excepting +perhaps, in the more western states, where the inhabitants think they +can get on just as well without it. In the Atlantic states, there is +not one person in five hundred (I am speaking of native Americans), +that cannot read and write. The mail would often stop opposite a +solitary log-house, in the midst of the thickest forest, and throw +down a newspaper, which was immediately picked up, and spelled over +with the greatest avidity. Most of the back-woodsmen can talk with all +reasonable correctness of the state of Europe generally, but the reform +bills in England, and the Liverpool rail-road, were always amongst the +most prominent subjects of eager inquiry. An Englishman cannot travel a +mile in a stage coach in the United States, without being asked whether +he has been on the Liverpool rail-road. In Europe, and in France +particularly, it is, “Have you seen de tunnel under de Thames?” It is +the usefulness in forwarding the prosperity of a country that suggests +the American query: whilst with the Frenchman, the use is entirely out +of the question; he thinks merely of the magnitude and the novelty of +the undertaking, and never fails to remark, that the engineer was a +native of France. A great proportion of the inhabitants of the eastern +states are Dutch and German. They are very numerous in different parts +of Pennsylvania, where they have the character of being good and +industrious farmers; but in other respects, they are very ignorant and +opinionated, refusing the education that is offered to them gratis for +their children, who are, of course, far behind the young Americans in +intelligence. I have often, when passing through the forest, stopped +to ask a cottager’s child of what country he was. A very frequent +answer was, “Please, sir, father’s an Irishman, and mother’s Dutch;” +and “I was raised here!” The latter expression is very commonly used +when the place of nativity is inquired after. I have been frequently +addressed with, Where were you raised, stranger? I guess you’re from +the old country? There are about half-a-dozen words in constant +use, to which an English ear is unaccustomed, in the sense they are +meant to convey, such as—“to fix, to locate, to guess, to expect, to +calkilate, &c.” The verb “to fix,” has perhaps as many significations +as any word in the Chinese language. If anything is to be done, made, +mixed, mended, bespoken, hired, ordered, arranged, procured, finished, +lent, or given, it would very probably be designated by the verb “to +fix.” The tailor or bootmaker who is receiving your instructions, the +barkeeper who is concocting for you a glass of mint-julep, promise +alike to fix you, that is, to hit your taste exactly. A lady’s hair is +sometimes said to be fixed, instead of dressed; and were I to give my +coat or my boots to a servant to be brushed, and to tell him merely +“to fix” them for me, he would perfectly understand what he had to do. +There is a marked peculiarity in the word “clever.” In America, a man +or woman may be very clever without possessing one grain of talent. The +epithet is applied almost exclusively to a person of an amiable and +obliging disposition. Mr. A. is a man of no talent! no! but then he is +a very clever man! According to their meaning, Buonaparte was terribly +stupid, and Lord North was a very clever fellow indeed. + +To say nothing of their oaths, their expressions are sometimes +highly amusing. I have heard a horse described as a “raal smasher +at trotting,” and a highway robbery considered as a “pretty middling +tough piece of business;” with a vast number more of the same kind. I +beg it may be understood, that I mean these remarks to apply chiefly +to the middle and lower classes of Americans: the language of every +one is perfectly intelligible, and as I have before remarked, there +is no patois: I think it should rather be called a “slang.” There is +also much less of the nasal twang than I had been taught to expect in +American parley. Still I was informed, that many Americans when they +hear a man talk, will instantly mention with certainty the country +in which he has been long resident, being able to detect some words, +accents, or expressions peculiar to each state. The English language +does not contain words enough for them. The word congressional is +a fair coinage from “Congress,” like the word parliamentary from +parliament. But a member of congress is said to be deputized; and a +person in danger, to be jeopardized. I remember that about two years +ago being in the Jardin des Plantes, I was nearly “cameleopardized” +by the giraffe that kicked at me. In New York I observed that a +gunmaker had put up over his door, “Flint and steel guns altered +and percussionized.” Although the meaning of all this is perfectly +understood, still it is American, not English; and although the English +language be in use, yet the very un-English construction and distorted +meaning of many sentences, render it so different from the language +spoken in good society in England, that I do not think it can safely +be dignified with the name of good English. But the English spoken in +the first circles in all the larger cities of the Union, is usually +very good: so that between the language of the English and the American +gentleman, the difference is exceedingly slight; but still there is a +difference here and there, by which I think any person of observation, +who had been in the United States, could decide upon the country of the +speaker, unless of course he had resided in England. I should however +add, that I have in a few instances met with gentlemen whose language +and pronunciation would have deceived any one. + +At Baltimore whilst taking a sketch, I told a drunken ill-favoured old +nigger, that I would take his picture. He accordingly placed himself +in attitude, and I soon hit him off with the camera-lucida. He was +very much pleased, and showed the picture to his coloured friends, the +slaves, who were working near me. He soon returned with an old black +as ugly as himself, and said, that this man wished to have his “title” +taken too. + +We arrived at Cincinnati, the emporium of commerce, and the largest +city in Western America, containing 30,000 inhabitants, and thirty +different places of worship. In appearance it differs from most of the +larger towns in the United States, on account of the great improvement +that has taken place in the colour of the houses, which, instead of +being of the usual bright staring red, are frequently of a white +grey, or a yellowish tint, and display a great deal of taste, and +just ornament. The public buildings are not large, but very neat and +classical; I admired the second Presbyterian church, which is a very +pretty specimen of the Doric. The streets are handsome, and the shops +have a very fashionable air. The principal trade of Cincinnati is in +provisions. Immense quantities of corn and grain are sent down the Ohio +and the Mississippi to New Orleans. Part of it is consumed by the sugar +planters, who are supposed to grow no corn, and part is sent coastwise +to Mobile, or exported to the Havannah and the West Indies generally. +In the United States, the word “corn” is applied exclusively to the +Indian corn or maize, other grain is specified by name as in England. +The quantity of flour received in 1831 at New Orleans, amounted to +370,000 barrels, about 150,000 barrels more than had been received in +any former year. A great quantity of flour had also been shipped to +England, but it is very often soured by the warmth of the water in the +Gulf of Mexico. In 1828, the quantity of sugar produced at New Orleans +was 88,878 hogsheads of 1000 pounds each, and in 1827, the number of +sugar plantations was seven hundred, in which an aggregate capital of +45,000,000 of dollars was invested. + +Cincinnati has displayed more wisdom than her opposite neighbour in +Kentucky. A speculative system of banking was carried on about the same +time, and was attended with the same results as those I have before +noticed when speaking of that state. Credit was not to be obtained, +commerce was at an end, and grass was growing in the streets of +Cincinnati. But the judicature, with equal justice and determination, +immediately enforced by its decisions the resumption of cash payments. +Many of the leading families in the place were, of course, ruined, and +at present there are not above five or six persons in Cincinnati, who +have been able to regain their former eminence as men of business. +But it was a sacrifice of individuals for the good of the community, +and fortune only deserted the speculators in order to attend upon the +capitalists, who quickly made their appearance from the eastern states, +and have raised the city to its present pitch of prosperity. + +Cincinnati professes to have two excellent inns, both of which give +promise of every comfort: the table was very good, but my rest was +destroyed, not merely disturbed, by the worst of vermin. A clean bed, +be it but of straw, is a _sine quâ non_ with an English traveller; +and as I did not feel perfectly well after breathing the unhealthy +fogs of the Ohio, I had consoled myself with the idea of a comfortable +sleep for that night at least. But I was wofully disappointed, being +nearly in a fever; and when I was permitted to close my eyes for a few +minutes, I dreamed of the most unconnected subjects,—bullfrogs, and +universal suffrage, for instance. + +I started by the mail, in order to cross the country to Lake Erie. +Before we were out of the town, the near leader became unmanageable, +and the coach was overturned in the open street. I was on the box, and +expected to be kicked to pieces, as I fell close to the horses; but +providentially they all four galloped off with the two front wheels, +and no one was hurt. It was scarcely day-light—no one was up—the +coachman went after the horses, and it fell to my lot to deliver the +coach of her nine inside passengers, who scrambled out one by one +through the window, guessing and ‘calkilating’ the whole time. + +By the evening, we had reached the Yellow Springs; a fashionable +watering place, taking its name from the colour imparted to the rocks +by the water, which is chalybeate. A large boarding house for the +accommodation of visitors is the only building of consequence in the +neighbourhood. + +At Centreville, about twenty miles from the springs, is, or rather was, +for it has been partly destroyed, a remarkably fine Indian fort; being +a deep ditch lying between two raised banks, and inclosing a space of +three quarters of a mile in circumference, on which the town is built. +On the outside is a large mound, which had been lately opened, and was +found to contain a number of human bones. + +At a distance of nine miles from the springs, on the Sandusky road, +stands Springfield, a small thriving town, which like most of those +in this part of the country, is exceedingly neat and clean. In the +neighbourhood is a considerable number of English settlers, chiefly +farmers from Yorkshire. There is no doubt that any man who is able +and willing to work for his livelihood, can always, in two or three +years, make himself master of a farm, in the back woods, in this or +any other part of the Union. The average value of uncleared land, is +a hundred dollars for eighty acres. A single man can every where earn +at least twelve dollars a month. Provisions are exceedingly cheap; a +sheep or a deer, can be purchased for a dollar; wheat may be about two +shillings the bushel, and an acre of Indian corn, which is only one +shilling the bushel, will produce twice the quantity that is raised on +an acre of wheat. It is unfortunate that the common class of British +emigrants are too much disposed to believe that a land of liberty is +identified with a land of promise, and that when they emigrate to +America, no difficulties will ever present themselves. The consequence +is, that exaggerated accounts of their first troubles, bearing no +proportion to their real privations, are frequently sent home to +their friends in England: but I am convinced from my own observation, +and occasional colloquy with my emigrant countrymen, that it must be +a man’s own fault, however poor he may be at first, if he be not, +in a very few years, to use a common phrase, completely above the +world; be his occupation what it may. The English and Scotch commonly +travel a long way into the western country, where they become farmers +and graziers; the Irish prefer remaining in, or near the principal +towns, and what is very unusual in Irishmen, they find employment as +road-makers, canal-diggers, or bricklayers. Witness the result of free, +and protecting institutions.—Fifty years ago, the population westward +of the Alleghany did not exceed 15,000; now it amounts to 5,000,000! +The population of priest-ridden Mexico has not increased for centuries. + +Columbus, the capital of the state of Ohio, contains nearly 4000 +inhabitants. Its appearance is very promising, but there is nothing in +it to detain the traveller. + +At Mansfield I was obliged to remain a day and a half, in consequence +of the late rains having rendered the streams impassable. Fortunately +I placed myself in very good quarters, at the inn or tavern, where I +met with the greatest civility and attention, and far more comfort +and cleanliness than is often found at a country inn in the United +States. I passed a whole morning unsuccessfully with my gun in the +woods. “Well, stranger, are you going gunning this morning?” “Yes; +and pray what game is there in the forest here?” I inquired. “Why, +sir, there is robin, and some turkey, and considerable squirrel, about +sundown.” The robin is a very common bird of the fieldfare genus, with +a red breast, a little larger than our redwing. However, I met with no +turkey, and contented myself with seeing my companion hit or “scare” +(terrify) the squirrels with his rifle. Sassafras, sarsaparilla, and +ginseng, are found in these forests. The latter root is so plentiful +as to be an article of commerce; great quantities of it are sent to +the coast, and exported to China, where, as is well known, it is very +highly prized, being considered a panacea. + +The last five miles into Sandusky, or Portland, lie over a small +prairie; but it is not a good specimen, as the herbage is short, and +copses of stunted trees are frequent. Prairies are either dry or wet. +The wet prairies are, in fact, nothing but a marsh covered with long +grass, and have been so from any indefinite period of time. Of the +dry prairies some may have been originally wet, and some may have +been cleared by the Indians, for the purpose of using them as hunting +fields. But the former supposition, if the fact could be ascertained, +would probably, in most cases, be found to be the true one. + +The shores of the lake at Sandusky are exceedingly flat. I was +fortunate in finding a steam-boat there, which was going to Detroit, +Green bay, and the Saut de St. Marie, at the entrance of Lake +Superior, and would afterwards return to Buffalo. The “Superior,” as +she was called, was, I think, the most comfortable steamer I had yet +entered; her upper deck, about one hundred and twenty feet in length, +was of great width, and afforded a most excellent promenade. We +had on board upwards of sixty passengers, many of whom were ladies; +and there was plenty of room for us all, with the advantage of an +excellent table, and a small band. The lake afforded us a supply of +most delicious fresh water. Soon after leaving Sandusky we passed +in sight of Put-in-Bay, in the Bass Islands, forming one of the +finest natural harbours to be found any where. Commodore Perry lay at +anchor there on the night previous to the 10th of September, 1813, +on which day he gained his victory over our fleet in the vicinity. +Night soon closed in upon us. We passed Malden, or Amherstburg, as +it is more usually called. The British squadron lay at anchor there +previously to its engagement with Commodore Perry. A boat pushed off +in the darkness, and asked to be taken in tow. “Who are you?” very +properly asked the captain. “We, British!” was the ludicrous answer +of some French Canadians, and the steamer passed on. A company of the +79th was stationed at Malden. In the morning we found ourselves at +Detroit: this place was a considerable French settlement so long ago +as the year 1759, when it fell with the Canadas into the possession +of the British, and is now increasing with a rapidity to which it is +fairly entitled by its situation, on the outlet of the great lakes. +The French unquestionably displayed their usual tact and foresight in +their choice of the different points of communication in the extensive +chain of forts which was originally continued from the Canadas to the +Mississippi—the proof is, that all of them are of great importance at +the present time. A similar but more enlarged instance of this, the +highest grade of military strategy, is to be found in the vigorous +and persevering policy of Great Britain, which has secured to her a +chain of fortresses by which, as a gallant American General-officer +expressed himself to me, “She has check-mated the world.” The master +mind of General Bernard, the elève and aid-de-camp of Napoleon, and +perhaps the first engineer now living, whom I had the honour of meeting +at Washington, has displayed itself in the very extensive and accurate +military surveys, which he has taken in almost every part of the United +States. The fortifications which he has constructed, have rendered the +estuaries of the United States altogether inaccessible to an invading +fleet. General Bernard, as is well known, has lately quitted the +service of the United States, and returned to France. + +The wharfs and buildings at Detroit extend along the river side for +about a mile, and exhibit much of the bustle of a commercial town. The +streets are spacious and regular,—the largest is more than half a mile +in length, and contains some excellent shops and a capital hotel. That +part of the bank upon which the city is built, is slightly elevated +above the rest of the country, and commands a view which, although +generally flat, is far from being uninteresting. The farms are laid out +in narrow slips of land, which run parallel to each other, and at right +angles to the river, reaching to the edge of the forest, distant about +two miles from the city. By this means the first settlers were enabled +to build their habitations within a short distance of each other; they +had a smaller space of road to keep in repair, and afforded each other +a mutual support against the sudden attacks of the Indians. At Detroit, +the American General Hull surrendered to General Brock during the last +war, but the city was subsequently retaken, previously to the battle +of the Thames. + +We entered the lake of St. Clair,—about thirty miles in length, and +twenty five in breadth; we passed a considerable distance from its +banks, but they appeared to be very flat and uninteresting. On the +right is the mouth of the river Thames; made remarkable by the victory +obtained over the British by a superior force under the American +General Harrison. The celebrated Indian chief, Tecumseh, fell in the +engagement; and the importance of this victory to the Americans was +felt by the dissolution of the hostile Indian confederacy consequent on +the death of their leader. + +On the left of the entrance to the river St. Clair, is a large wet +prairie: on the right are several islands, forming to all appearance +but one extensive morass, and abounding in wild fowl. As the channel +became narrower, we perceived that the American banks were far more +settled than those on the Canada side; but they soon alike presented +nothing but a dense mass of forest trees, at a slight elevation above +the water. + +After moving on for about thirty miles, we arrived at Fort Gratiot at +the head of the river; it contained a small garrison, just sufficiently +strong to resist an attack from the Indians. The pay of an American +private is eight dollars a month, with an allowance of one ration per +diem; but his duties are far harder than those of the British soldier, +which accounts for the frequency of desertion. A lieutenant in the army +receives but sixty dollars a month, after deduction for subsistence, +forage, fuel, quarters, and expenses for servants. The pay of a captain +after the same deduction, amounts to about eighty dollars a month. +The stipend of a naval captain amounts altogether to four thousand +four hundred dollars a year; his cabin is furnished better, and the +allowance for breakage is more liberal than that of an English officer +of the same rank. + +I here saw an Indian dance: the performers, an old man and his sons, +advanced towards us, on a forest path, looking like wood demons, +jumping and racing with each other, and uttering a small shrill cry at +intervals; they were nearly naked, bedaubed all over with clay, and +began the dance with light clubs in their hands: sometimes they writhed +on the ground like snakes, at others they shook their clubs at each +other, and used the wildest and most extravagant gestures. The old +Indian beat time on a small skin stretched across a piece of hollow +tree. When stooping to the ground and looking upwards, his features +and figure reminded me of the celebrated statue of the “Remouleur” at +Florence. + +The whole of this part of America is inhabited by the Chippewas, by +far the largest tribe of Indians on the shores of the great lakes. The +waters of Lake Huron had been agitated by a furious north wind, and +headed directly on the mouth of the river; the current was running with +such velocity, that the steam boat did not effect her passage without a +long and very severe struggle, and when at last fairly out on the lake, +she made so little progress that she was obliged to put back. Some of +the passengers amused themselves with fishing, and caught some black +bass; as for myself, I proceeded with two Indians in a canoe to the +morass opposite the fort, which abounded in wild fowl of all kinds; +I contrived to shoot several ducks, notwithstanding the unseasonable +cries raised by the Indians in token of their delight, on seeing a +bird fall. Their quickness of sight and hearing answered nearly all +the purposes of a water spaniel, when I could not immediately find a +wounded bird. At length we made another attempt, and entered the vast +expanse of Lake Huron. The coast on the right stretched away to the +north nearly at right angles; and we gradually lost sight of it. Our +course was along the western shore, where the banks were, or seemed to +be, a little higher; but still very low, appearing nowhere to exceed +thirty feet in height. The unbroken and interminable forest, with which +they are covered, contains more game than any other part bordering on +the lakes, being less frequented by hunters. The American elk (the +wapiti of the Egyptian Hall), the moose, and common deer are found +there, with plenty of bears, wolves, and other wild inhabitants of the +forest; the moose has the power of remaining under water for a very +long time, and, when in danger, has been known to plunge into a pool, +and remain at the bottom for more minutes than I care to mention here. + +We steered directly for the Saut de St. Marie, at the foot of Lake +Superior, and distant two hundred and twenty miles. One mile of the +coast on any of these lakes will give a very tolerable idea of the +whole of them, with, of course, some exceptions. Yet although there +was but little variety in this respect, the voyage was exceedingly +interesting. The fineness of the weather, the cool breeze so refreshing +after the sultry heat to which I had been exposed, the comparative +absence of musquitos, and the ever present recollection that we were +sailing on the great lakes of North America, where, comparatively +speaking, so few had been before me, gave a tone to the excursion +that compensated for more commanding scenery. As we passed Saganaw +bay, we were very nearly out of sight of land. The Mannito, or Spirit +islands were the next objects that presented themselves to our view: +these are supposed by the Indians to be inhabited by spirits, the word +_mannito_ in the Indian language, signifying spirit. We then +passed Drummond Island, which during the last war contained a British +fort and garrison, but has been since abandoned. Some ruins on the +large island of St. Joseph were visible from the steam boat; they were +the remains of a fort, which was suffered to fall to decay, previously +to the fortifications being erected on Drummond’s Island. On the +American bank, near the entrance of the river St. Marie, we observed +a spot called the Sailor’s Encampment. The forest had been partially +cleared away, and there was no vestige of humanity remaining. Some +years ago, a sloop was wrecked there; the crew suffered incredible +hardships, and many of them died from want, before the survivors +contrived to make their escape. We entered a cluster of small islands +at the mouth of the river, and I thought this the finest piece of lake +scenery I had yet witnessed; as far as I could judge _en passant_, +they appeared to be chiefly composed of gneiss, lying in large masses +of rock, resembling those that are so common in some parts of Sweden. +In comparing these with the islands of Killarney, and Loch-Lomond, I +should remark, that the full rich foliage did not seem complete without +the arbutus; and the dark tint of the fir trees, with which they were +covered, was not relieved as in the Scottish lake, by the exquisitely +delicate appearance of the weeping birch. + +It was a remarkably fine evening: as the steamer passed rapidly on, her +paddles seemed to take infinite pleasure in defacing the astonished +surface of the water, and splashed away through the liquid crystal with +as little ceremony as if they had been propelling a mere ferry boat. +Every thing besides was hushed and tranquil: the very passengers, who +had all assembled near the forward part of the deck, were intensely +gazing upon the scene around them; and watched in almost breathless +silence, as the vessel rounded each bend in the deep, but comparatively +narrow river, that developed in quick succession some new and more +beautiful object at every turn. Suddenly we heard the screams of a +party of Indians, who had descried us from their wigwams on one of +the islands, and were paddling after us in a canoe with all their +might. One of them was a chief, who displayed the flag of the United +States. In the course of the afternoon, we had been amusing ourselves +by shooting with rifles at a bottle attached to a line about forty +yards in length; this had been left hanging from the stern, and the +endeavours of the Indians to catch hold of the string afforded us +no little amusement. Their faces were deeply stained with the red +extract from the blood root (Sanguinaria Canadensis); they were in the +best possible humour, and their wild discordant laugh, and the still +wilder expression of their features, as they encouraged each other +to exertion with quickly repeated and guttural exclamations, enabled +us to form some idea of their animated appearance, when excited to +deeds of a more savage description. By dint of the greatest exertion, +they contrived to seize the string; they held on for a moment by it; +it snapped, and the canoe was instantly running astern at the rate +of seven or eight knots. They again had recourse to their paddles, +and used them with redoubled energy; we then slackened our pace for +a minute or two, and threw them a rope, by which they soon pulled +themselves under the stern. We conversed with them through the medium +of an interpreter, and made them presents of bread and spirits. They +seemed very thankful, threw us some pigeons which they had killed, and +fired a _feu-de-joie_ with their fowling-pieces at parting. + +The next morning we came in sight of the Saut, resembling the inclined +plane of a large artificial dam. The scenery, though not grand, was +decidedly curious and picturesque. On the right are the Canadian +settlements, and the original establishments of the north-west company: +the left bank is lined by a succession of small neat-looking country +houses and white cottages. Near the Saut stands the fort, large enough +to contain three companies; but then garrisoned, I believe, with but +eighty men. Every thing about it was in excellent order: before our +drawing up to the landing-place, we were boarded by several Indians +with moccasins (leathern sandals), belts, tobacco pouches, and bark +work, for sale. + +The Saut de St. Marie most effectually prevents any vessel from +ascending the river to Lake Superior, excepting such as are light +enough to be towed up. As the steam-boat could not proceed farther, +we embarked in canoes on a small canal, which has been cut from the +fort to the river above the Saut, and paddled away for the entrance +of the lake. Immediately after I had started, my canoe began to leak; +she was instantly drawn on shore by the Indians close to a wigwam, and +turned keel upwards. A light-coloured pitch, extracted from a species +of pine, was boiled in about ten minutes. A piece of canvass was then +besmeared with it, and laid over the leak on the outside. Another layer +of pitch was followed by another piece of canvass, and then a third and +last plaster of the pitch was spread over the whole. In a quarter of +an hour she was again launched perfectly water tight. These canoes are +of a light and most elegant construction. They are made of birch bark +extended over a slight frame of cedar, and fastened or rather sewed to +it, by the flexible roots of the young spruce tree. They are usually +about fifteen feet in length, and can carry seven or eight persons +without danger. Some of them, however, are much larger. + +The land on each side of the river presented much the same appearance +as that we had hitherto seen. Lake Superior may be fairly said to +commence at the Point aux Pins, a flat sandy promontory, distant +about six miles from the Saut. Beyond it, the surface of the water is +suddenly enlarged to a width of three or four miles; and though the +open expanse of the lake is not visible from the Point, yet the high +and abrupt ridges of land that rise immediately at the entrance of the +lake, and the clear expanse of cloudless sky that was extended beyond +them, clearly informed us, that the mighty inland ocean was near at +hand. Lake Superior is six hundred and seventy miles in length—of +course a vast deal larger than the British Channel,—the water is as +clear as crystal, and cool in the hottest weather. Being chiefly +supplied by land springs, the quantity of water that falls over the +Saut is much greater than that which is poured into the lake by its +tributary rivers and streams, which are comparatively small and +insignificant. The sailors in the steam-boat would occasionally peel a +large potatoe, and throw it in advance of the boat, and by the time she +arrived at the spot where it fell, the potatoe has sunk to the depth of +thirty or forty feet, but from the clearness of the water, its shape +and colour were perfectly distinct. + +Of all the different places we touched at on our voyage, the Saut +had the strongest claims on our time and attention. We were much +mortified at being obliged to leave it the same afternoon. The captain +determining to return, contrary, I believe, to the wish of every one +on board. Only one or two canoes that had started earlier than the +others, were able to proceed farther than the Point aux Pins. + +In our way back to the steamer, every canoe shot down the Saut. This +is an exceedingly dangerous experiment, except when they are guided by +people who have been long accustomed to the management of them. The +Saut, which is the only outlet to the waters of Lake Superior, may be +about one-third of a mile in width, and about half-a-mile in length; +the fall in that space being about twenty-four feet. The canoes, with +the paddles fore and aft, soon began to feel the effect of the current, +and were immediately after carried forward with great velocity. In many +places the waters were without foam, and perfectly transparent, and the +large loose rocks at the bottom were distinctly seen; many of them rise +nearly to the surface, but were avoided by the remarkable dexterity +of the steersman, where the slightest want of skill must inevitably +have overturned the canoe. The descent occupied between three or four +minutes. The rapids on the left bank were evidently more furious, and +are very seldom descended. + +The Saut de St. Marie was originally occupied by the French as a +military and trading port. At the foot of the rapids there is, I was +informed, some of the finest fly-fishing in the world: the trout are +very fine, in enormous quantities, and rise very freely. But our +inexorable captain cared for none of these things. White-fish (supposed +by some to be of the salmo genus), are also exceedingly plentiful. +Their flavour is remarkably fine and delicate. + +The next morning we approached the island of Michilimackinac, +signifying in the Indian language, the Great Turtle; and so called +from its outline bearing a supposed resemblance to that animal when +lying upon the water, though I cannot say that I could discover so +flattering a likeness. When within a short distance it appeared to be +diamond-shaped, with an angle projecting towards us, and the sides +regularly scarped by the hand of nature. Apparently about the centre +of the island rises what in America is called a “bluff;” a word which +is provoking from its absurdity, and constant recurrence in American +descriptions of scenery. What is a bluff?—I asked, and so would any +other Englishman: “A bluff, sir! don’t you know what a bluff is? A +bluff, sir, is a piece of rising ground, partly rock, not all of it, +with one side steep, but yet not very steep, the other side sloping +away, yet not too suddenly; the whole of it, except the steep side, +covered with wood; in short, sir, a bluff is a bluff!” The word, I +think, may do well enough to express a small rough rocky hill, but +sometimes it happens that a bluff is highly picturesque, and then to +talk of a most beautiful bluff, is something like talking of “Beauty +and the Beast.” As a substantive, and, in the sense in which it is used +in America, the word is exclusively their own, and it really would not +be fair to call it English. Nevertheless, there is, and shall be, “a +bluff” in the midst of the island of Michilimackinac, rising to the +height of more than three hundred feet above the waters of the lake, +which have been ascertained to be about six hundred feet above the +level of the Atlantic. On the left side of the island is the town, and +above it appeared the fort. In the bay were several trading sloops, +smaller craft, and Indian canoes; and the sun shone brilliantly on the +whole of this enlivening scene, which we saw to the best advantage. +The town may contain about eight hundred inhabitants, exclusively of +the garrison. The Indians are sometimes to be seen in great numbers, +even to the amount of one thousand or one thousand five hundred, who +live in wigwams close to the water’s edge. A wigwam, or Indian village, +is a collection of small tents constructed of matting and birch bark. +The day before, we had met twenty-two canoes in the open lake, each +containing seven or eight Indians, who were going from Mackinac to our +settlement at Pen-y-tang-y-shen, on Lake Huron, to receive their annual +presents from the British government. + +Mackinac is the rendezvous of the North-West American missionary +establishment. It contained six missionaries; of whom four were +Presbyterian, one a Catholic, and one of the Church of England, and +a large establishment for the instruction of one hundred children, of +whatever persuasion. + +A very curious and regularly shaped natural Gothic arch, on the top of +a rock at the north-eastern side, elevated about two hundred feet above +the level of the lake; a huge isolated calcareous rock; and a small +cave called Skull Cave, are the natural curiosities of the island. + +The principal trade is the fur trade, which is carried on there to a +great extent, chiefly through the medium of Canadian _voyageurs_. +The fort, which is kept in admirable order, commands the whole town, +but is itself commanded by another eminence in the woods behind it. +During the late war a strong party of British and Indians pushed +across from Drummond’s Island, with eleven pieces of cannon, and +being favoured by the darkness of the night, contrived to gain this +eminence, distant half-a-mile, without being perceived by the Americans +in the fort, who had not received notice of the war having broken +out. They beat the “reveillée” as usual in the morning, and were +exceedingly astonished to hear it immediately answered by the British, +who were above them. Resistance would have been useless, and the fort +surrendered. The remains of the old British fortification are still to +be seen upon the hill: it is called Fort Holmes, after Major Holmes, +a gallant American officer, who was advancing to retake it, and met +his fate at the head of the attacking column. Mackinac was given up to +the Americans by the treaty of Ghent, in 1814. There was originally a +French fort and settlement on the main land of the Michigan territory. +The first British garrison who occupied it were murdered by the +Indians, and the fort and settlement were afterwards removed by the +British to the island. + +I amused myself with shooting pigeons, which are to be found on the +island in great numbers. I was quite surprised at the extraordinary +facility and quickness of eye, with which my guide, half Indian and +half Canadian, discovered them sitting in the thickest foliage; his +sight seemed to me to be far keener than that of an English sportsman +when looking for a hare. The woods with which the island is covered, +are principally composed of hazel and maple; I could have fancied +myself in a Kentish preserve, but that wild raspberries were in great +abundance in the open spaces. + +In the evening I went to see the Indians spear fish by torch light. +A lighted roll of birch bark, emitting a most vivid flame, was held +over the head of the boat, where the Indians were stationed with their +spears. The water was excessively clear, and the fish were attracted by +the light, and several of them were instantly pinned to the ground at +the depth of four or five feet. + +About ten miles north-east of Mackinac are the St. Martin’s islands; +one of them abounds in gypsum. At about the same distance from Mackinac +and on the main land, I was informed that there was a remarkably fine +trout stream that would amply repay the fly-fisher for his trouble in +going there. There is no fly fishing at Mackinac, but very fine fish +are to be taken with a bait: they have pike, bass, white-fish, and what +are called salmon-trout, in great perfection. As to these last, I very +much question whether they are of the salmo genus at all; as they never +rise at a fly. They certainly are not what are called salmon-trout by +English sportsmen, nor are they the large butt-trout of the English +lakes. I saw a boat-load containing a dozen that had been caught in one +night weighing from fifteen to twenty pounds each; they more resembled +in every respect the fish called the salmon in the Lake Wenner in +Sweden, and which I have seen taken of an enormous size below the +falls of Trollhätta. The meat at this season (August) was white, but +well flavoured. I was informed that it becomes of a reddish colour in +October or November. + +Mackinac is an excellent market for Indian curiosities. + +Our next destination was Green bay, on Lake Michigan. On our way we +passed several fine-looking islands,—all thickly covered with forests, +and apparently uninhabited. A fort and a flourishing settlement are +to be seen at Green bay; but there is nothing attractive about either, +and the country is very flat and uninteresting, except to a sportsman. +There are plenty of wild fowl to be found at Duck creek, about three +miles off, and I proceeded there in hopes of shooting some, but did not +fall in with them until it was too late to have much sport. However, +I chanced to meet an old Indian who had been more successful, and I +carried back to the steam-boat two silver ducks, which answered every +purpose, as no questions were asked. My guide had been enumerating to +me the different wild animals to be found in that part of the forest, +and I chanced to ask him, if foxes were plentiful; his answer was +amusing, “Yes, sir; there is considerable fox.” In the very darkest +part of the forest, about two and a half miles from the mouth of the +creek, was the residence of an Indian doctress and fortune-teller. +I landed there out of curiosity to have my fortune told; but her +manner, her language, and the substance of what she said, differed in +no respect from that of a common English gipsy woman. She shuffled a +dirty pack of cards, and told me of the fair lady and the dark lady, +the false friend and the true friend, the treasure to be found and the +journey to be taken, with the same chapter of accidents and unavoidable +dangers. I purchased some of her medical herbs: the principal plant was +sarsaparilla. I observed wild rice growing in great abundance on the +margin of the stream. + +By passing up the river at Green bay, a traveller may proceed in canoes +down the Wiskansaw river to the head of the Mississippi, having only to +pass over one mile of terra firma; so that with this single exception, +the whole distance from Quebec to New Orleans may be travelled by water. + +We left Green bay, and returned to Mackinac, and passed the day much +in the same manner as before. Our evening’s entertainment was rather +of a novel description. A Catholic priest, whom we had previously +left at Mackinac, and who was known to be an eloquent man, was going +to preach in the chapel, and accordingly many of us went to hear him: +he had come to the island for the sole purpose of holding a religious +controversy with some of the Presbyterian clergy. The expected meeting +did not however take place; and having been, or fancying himself to +have been very much wronged, he entered into a long explanation of +the whole affair. He read letters and papers, and commented upon them +in his robes from the altar; he made a long tirade, in which sarcasm +and ridicule were successively prominent, and wound up his speech more +suited to the bar than the pulpit, by accusing his adversary of telling +a “thumper.” Whether he was in the right or the wrong was little to the +purpose: in common, I believe, with every one that heard him, I thought +the whole proceeding was exceedingly disgraceful. + +We now steered again for Fort Gratiot, and passed to Detroit and Lake +Erie. From Detroit to Buffalo it is three hundred and fifty miles. +We touched at several posts; and in short, after a voyage of one +thousand eight hundred and ten miles, performed in nineteen days, +we arrived at Buffalo, and fired a salute of twenty-four guns, one +for each state. The distances the steam-boat had passed over were as +follows. From Buffalo to Detroit, three hundred and fifty miles; to +Fort Gratiot, seventy-five; length of Lake Huron, two hundred and +twenty; from the mouth of the river St. Marie to the Saut, and back +to the Lake, one hundred miles; thence to Mackinac, forty miles; to +Green bay, one hundred and eighty; back to Mackinac, one hundred and +eighty more; thence to Fort Gratiot, two hundred and forty; to Detroit, +seventy-five; to Buffalo, three hundred and fifty; total, one thousand +eight hundred and ten miles. The voyage altogether had been very +pleasant, and the weather so favourable that quadrilles were danced +on deck almost every evening. On one night only, the surface of Lake +Huron was agitated by something like a squall, and the rolling of the +steam-boat was exceedingly disagreeable. I had nothing to complain +of, but the conceit and untameable insolence of the stewards; which +were remarked, and I have no doubt will be remembered, by many of the +warmest admirers of liberty and equality who were on board. + +Buffalo is a large, thriving and cheerful town, containing about +fourteen thousand inhabitants. The principal street is spacious and +handsome, and of great length. + +And now for Niagara, the diapason of fresh waters! An hour’s drive +brought me to the village of Black Rock, where the Niagara river is +about half a mile in breadth, and runs from the lake with a very +strong current. Opposite to Black Rock are the remains of Fort Erie, +unsuccessfully besieged by the British in 1814. + +I proceeded along the side of the river. Its rapidity soon ceases, and +it presents a surface as still and as calm as that of a lake. A turn +of the road brought my voiture to a small inn, close to the field of +battle of Chippewa, fought during the last war. At this spot, which +by the road is about four miles distant, we were within hearing of the +deep hollow roar of the cataract, and first saw the spray that arose +from the gulph beneath. Both are sometimes perceptible at a far greater +distance. The moon was just rising, and threw a faint, pale light over +the river, which is here expanded to a breadth of several miles. There +was scarcely a ripple to be seen; the whole sheet of water was tranquil +and resigned: the stream appeared to cease flowing, while all nature, +hushed and breathless, listened with it to the distant thunders of the +cataract. This scene is continued for about a mile further, and thence +the tale is soon told. The bed of the river begins to slope, and the +agitation of the waters indicate the commencement of the rapids. The +mighty stream rushes forward with ungovernable violence—its confusion +and exasperation are increased every instant—it nears the brink of the +precipice in a state of frenzy—and bounds over it to its destiny of +mist and foam, in unexampled volume, and with terrific impetuosity. + +This stupendous fall has been frequently and well described; and I do +but trespass on your patience in remarking, that it is divided into +three parts by two islands—a larger and a smaller one. Including these, +the bed of the river immediately above the fall is suddenly narrowed +to about three quarters of a mile. The fall of the rapids above, +commencing near the village of Chippawa, two miles from the brink of +the cataract, is estimated at ninety feet. On the American side, the +river is precipitated from a height of one hundred and sixty-four feet: +on the Canadian bank, the fall is about ten feet less; but contains by +far the greater quantity of water, the precipice having been worn into +the form of a vast crescent by the “green water,” (so called on account +of its brilliantly transparent colour when the sun shines on it), which +falls from the middle of the river in a solid mass, not less than five +or six feet in thickness, and is driven forwards with an impetus that +hurls it into the gulph below, at a distance of fifty feet from the +base of the rock. + +The finest general view is, I think, to be obtained from the top of Mr. +Forsyth’s hotel (where, be it added, having just entered the British +dominions, we drank his Majesty’s health in a bumper, at the table +d’hôte), because the whole surrounding country and the rapids, which +of themselves are worth a long journey, are seen at the same time. The +bottom of the fall it is true is not visible; but I believe the view +will not be thought the less magnificent on that account, as it is +very possible from that spot to imagine the height of the fall to be +even greater than it really is. I may also be allowed to remark, that +I think the immediately surrounding scenery is sufficiently in keeping +with the grandeur of the cataract, although I am aware that many are of +a different opinion. The country is on the same level both above and +below the fall, as the river precipitates itself into a channel which +it has formed in the solid, but soft fetid limestone, and which, as is +usually contended, has been hollowed out by the receding cataract, all +the way from Lewistown, distant seven miles. + +This fact has been sometimes doubted, but it would appear, without +much reason. It has been ascertained that an irregular ledge of rock +is extended between the lakes Erie and Ontario, at a varying distance +from either of them; sometimes piercing through the soil that covers +it, and in many places jutting out with salient and re-entering +angles, like an immense fortification; and it has been supposed that +the Niagara river has found its way into one of the ravines formed +between them, which has thus become the bed of the river, towards lake +Ontario. This theory, however, is very much weakened, if not entirely +overthrown, by the observations of our countryman, Lieutenant Owen, +who, when employed on the government surveys in the years 1815, 16, 17 +and 18, contrived to force his boat nearer to the foot of the falls +than any person had ever done, and ascertained by repeated soundings, +that the nearly constant depth of the river from Lewistown to the +falls, was about two hundred feet, excepting in limited spaces, where +it did not exceed forty-five feet. These spaces or points he conceived +to be composed of granite “in situ,” or of some other rock, which +being harder than the soft lime-stone of which the bed of the river is +generally composed, had offered a proportionably greater resistance to +the regular action of the falling element. + +Having first stripped off my clothes, and enveloped myself in an +oilskin dress, I followed a guide, who conducted me under the fall. +This is a service of some danger, as a single false step in some +places might prove fatal. As we crept along the side of the rock we +encountered a most furious gust of wind, that increased in violence +till we were fairly behind the sheet of water, and arrived at what +is called the Termination Rock. Here we remained for a few minutes, +gasping for breath, stunned with the noise, and drenched with a shower +of spray. If I wished to speak I was obliged to put my mouth close to +the ear of the guide, and to raise my voice to the utmost; and it was +with the greatest difficulty that I could look upwards for a moment, +and glance at the tumbling element, as it rushed over the edge of the +rock that towered high above our heads, and then fell into the abyss +within arm’s length of us, with the rapidity of lightning. + +About half-a-mile below the fall, the river is crossed in a ferry-boat. +On the American side a wooden bridge of admirable construction conducts +the visiter to Goat Island, the larger of the two which divides the +fall. A walk of a few minutes will lead him to another bridge, thrown +from rock to rock, till it actually overhangs the edge of the principal +part of the cataract. I am fully persuaded, that when any one who has +seen the fall from this spot asserts that he is disappointed, it is +but a proof of insufferable affectation, or what Johnson would call +“stark insensibility.” It is possible, that some flat-souled Dutchman, +who would think of nothing but how he might turn the course of the +river by a dam; or some passionless manufacturing Yankee, who would +“guess it to be a pity that such an all-mighty water power should +remain unemployed,” might regard the scene, when viewed from any other +point, and remain unmoved by its grandeur; but it is next to impossible +to look upon it from this bridge, and not be affected with something +like awe and astonishment. Let the atheist—and, if he will, with wine +and warmth in his bosom—repair to this spot, as is usual, by moonlight, +when one-half of the cataract is in shade, and the other glistening +with more than snowy whiteness,—he may there gaze in security, and +enjoy the _sublime without terror_; but should one thought of +annihilation trouble him—should he covet the pinion of the bald eagle +as he fearlessly glides over the abyss, or envy the finned tribe that +can live and revel in the boiling gulf beneath—let him reflect, that +his reason is with him, the undoubted substitute for these physical +advantages; his reason, alike the promoter of his happiness and the +medium of his misery. Then, turning to a more tranquil scene, let +him gaze on the silvery spirit-like beauties of the lunar rainbow; +let him observe the worlds upon worlds that throng the heavens above +him, declaring the existence of their Creator as they roll onward in +eternal obedience to his will, but in silent amazement at his meaning; +and let him ask why his reason should be, as it were, so tantalized by +his senses. Had no lesson been intended, the firmament might as well +have been placed far beyond the reach of mortal sight, and perhaps the +little he can see and know of it may teach him to believe in, and hope +for, another and happier home, by proving to him, at once, how much +must be withheld from him, and how much must remain to be enjoyed. + +I am not aware whether the experiment has ever been tried, but I should +conceive that the effect of a Bengal light sent up from this bridge, on +a dark stormy winter’s night, would be exceedingly fine. + +At about two miles below the fall, the river again becomes a torrent. I +proceeded along the edge of the chasm through which it rages, in order +to visit “the Whirlpool,” whose deep and gloomy appearance well repaid +me for a very hot walk. + +I procured a hack, and rode to the abyss in the side of the river, +known by the appellation of the “Devil’s Hole.” I followed a party who +had descended the ladders before me; we all, as I learned afterwards, +took a wrong path to the right, which soon conducted us to the edge of +a small but impassable precipice, and under the impression that we had +seen all that was worth seeing, we re-ascended the ladders and returned +to Niagara, after having enjoyed a very fine view of the river from the +bold flattened rock, that is projected on the left hand. + +The road by which I passed down the Canadian side of the river, for +the purpose of joining the steam-boat on Lake Ontario, at but a very +short distance from Niagara, lies over the field of the murderous and +severely contested battle of Bridgewater, or Lundy’s Lane, which was +fought on the night of the 25th of July, 1814, and terminated without +much advantage to either party. A few miles further on, to the left, +is a heavy-looking pillar, erected to the memory of General Brock, who +was killed early in the battle of Queenston, October 13, 1812, in which +the Americans were forced to repass the river with great loss, whilst +several thousands of their militia were idly looking on from the other +bank. + +Near the mouth of the river, on the Canadian side, is Fort George; +on the American bank stands Fort Niagara, in which the notorious +William Morgan, who wrote a book, in which, as I have before remarked, +he revealed the secrets of freemasonry, was confined under false +pretences, previously to his being murdered by some fanatic masons, and +afterwards, as it is supposed, pitched into the lake, or the Niagara +river. + +I am afraid I shall be excommunicated by my American readers, as I +visited neither the Erie nor the Welland Canals; not even the Locks at +Lockport, or the Deep Cut, or the Mountain Ridge. The Welland canal, +however, is unquestionably a great national work, and reflects much +credit upon the spirited individuals by whom it was undertaken; by +its means, the obstacles presented to navigation by the falls of the +Niagara, have been effectually overcome, and a communication opened +between the lakes Erie and Ontario. + +Ontario is one of the deepest of the lakes; its mean depth being about +six hundred feet. It has been ascertained that the bottom of lake Erie, +which is two hundred and seventy miles in length, is six feet higher +than the surface of lake Ontario. The distance between the two lakes is +thirty-five miles, in which space the river Niagara is supposed to fall +about three hundred feet, which is therefore the depth of lake Erie. + +I embarked in a splendid steam-boat, “the Great Britain,” proceeding to +Kingston, at the other end of the lake. I could not but remark, that +although a finer vessel, her table was by no means so well supplied as +that of the American boat in which I had made my excursion to the great +lakes. + +During the short time we remained at Kingston we were entertained by +the band of the 66th, which gave us the national airs of England and +America in the finest style: the principal British naval establishment +and dockyard on the lakes, is at Kingston. I observed two first-raters +and a large frigate on the stocks. The St. Lawrence, of one hundred +and twenty guns, which made one cruise at the end of the last war, was +rotten, and half sunk in the water. There were several smaller vessels +in ordinary, but those on the stocks are not to be proceeded with, +according to the stipulations of the treaty of Ghent. + +Immediately afterwards, we entered the thousand “islands,” extending +for sixty miles up the river St. Lawrence. There are in fact, twelve +hundred of them, and although certainly very picturesque, are without +variety, and much resemble those on the lakes, being flat and thickly +covered with trees. Their number is not of course perceived, as they +lie so closely together along the side of the channel that they appear +more like points or promontories from the main shore. + +I quitted the steamer at Cornwall, and entered a large boat with a +number of ladies and gentlemen who, like myself, wished to descend the +rapids. In our way to Montreal we were obliged to change our mode of +travelling by land and water, no less than four times in one day. The +river above Montreal is full of rapids. The most formidable of these +are called the Long Saut and the rapids of the Cedars. We passed down +two or three of minor consideration, and then commenced the descent +of the “Long Saut.” Our boat was carried along at a great rate for +several miles, and soon approached the only part that can be considered +dangerous, where the river was running with appalling violence. The +waves as soon as they are formed, do not subside and then swell up +again at regular distances, but dart furiously onward, racing and +crowding upon each other in a most extraordinary confusion of spray +and foam, that rises to a height of four or five feet, and splashes +over the sides of the boat, to the great discomfiture of the ladies’ +dresses, and the very serious looks of the gentlemen. The boatmen +directed our attention to the rapids of the “Lost Channel” on our left, +from which we were divided by an island. They are far more dangerous +than those we were passing, and at a distance of half-a-mile, we could +see that the river was most terribly agitated. The “Lost Channel” +receives its name from the number of persons that have perished there. +In the old French war, three hundred British troops were lost in the +torrent; the first boat took the wrong channel, the others followed, +and all went to pieces. The floating bodies first intimated to a French +garrison on the river below, the surprise that had been intended for +them. The boatmen are of course usually experienced persons, and if +sober there is no danger; but it is not always that they are so. At one +place our tipsy pilots allowed the boat to swing across the stream: +fortunately the worst of the rapids were passed, or an accident might +have occurred. Both the Long Saut and those of the Cedars which we saw +from the road, are certainly more boisterous than those at the Saut de +St. Marie, on account of the greater body of water in the St. Lawrence, +but the descent at the latter is more rapid as the fall is far more +precipitate in proportion to its length. + +I entered a steam-boat on the banks of the Ottawa, which although a +noble-looking stream in other respects, is dark and dirty in comparison +with the St. Lawrence. The latter river seems not to relish the +alliance. A sudden change is perceivable in the colour of the water, +the line of junction being distinctly observable; and for scores of +miles down the St. Lawrence, its clearer waters confine themselves +to the eastern bank, while those on the western are discoloured by +the “Ottawa tide.” I afterwards ascended the Ottawa. We arrived at +La Chine, and proceeded by land to Montreal. The mountain behind it +was already in sight, but the city itself by this road, remained +hidden till we were within a very few miles of it. I passed through +it the same evening, intending to see it on my return. The Hercules, +a very fine steam-boat, carried me to Quebec in about twenty hours; +touching at “the Three Rivers,” eighty-four miles from Quebec, and +ninety-six from Montreal. Six miles from Quebec, we passed the mouth +of the Chaudiere river, celebrated for its falls, which are situated +about three or four miles from the spot where it empties itself into +the St. Lawrence, whose banks, every where interesting, become still +more so on approaching Quebec, being thickly lined with Canadian +villages. Every cottage is white; the churches are of the same colour, +with their spires covered with tin, and are frequently to be seen at +a great distance out-topping the neighbouring forest and glistening +in the sunbeam. In some places the river is two miles in width; but +at Quebec it is narrowed to about a mile, which adds to the beauty +of the view by making the lofty banks appear higher than they really +are. On the left are seen the fortifications on Cape Diamond, the +most elevated spot in the vicinity of the city. On the right is Point +Levi. At different distances down the river are Cape Tourment and the +Beaufort mountains, and the Isle of Orleans, dividing the river into +two channels—that on the left being dangerous for any but very small +vessels. The city itself was not visible till the boat was standing in +for the landing-place. Numerous merchant ships were lying at anchor in +different parts of the river; whilst rafts, ferry-boats, and smaller +craft, were moving in all directions. The Government-House, or Castle +of St. Louis, was the most prominent object: below it on the right, +is the old parliament house. The space which intervenes between these +buildings and the water, is occupied by the lower town, which like +all lower towns, is far more dirty and lively than the upper ones, +where some of the streets are dull and even gloomy. The only two +large steeples in Quebec, are those of the Protestant and Catholic +churches. The upper town is surrounded by a strong rampart, and cannon +are planted in every place where they could be used with advantage in +case of a siege. The whole city is commanded by the fortress on Cape +Diamond, which it is supposed, when finished, will be impregnable. The +interior works occupy a space of about six acres, and are advanced to +the edge of the precipice, where it is about three hundred and fifty +feet in height. In 1775, the American General Montgomery and his two +aides-de-camp were killed by the same cannon-shot at the water’s edge +beneath the fort. + +I think I shall never forget the appearance of the view from the +ramparts. It is very beautiful and inexpressibly enlivening. In +looking down the river, the isle d’Orleans is on the right; in the +extreme distance is Cape Tourment; while on the left is a gently +sloping bank, exhibiting all the varied hues of extensive cultivation, +between thirty and forty miles in length, and from two to five and +six miles in width, and reaching from the margin of the water to the +foot of the Beaufort mountains. The most conspicuous villages are +Indian Lorette, Charleburg, Beaufort, and the Chateau Richer, easily +distinguished by their light steeples covered with tin. Beside these, +many hundreds of white cottages are scattered over the plain; and the +road to Montmorenci is entirely lined with them. I was reminded by the +prospect, of the highly cultivated garden that environs a city on the +eastern coast of Spain. Olive trees and vineyards, it is true, there +were none; but olive trees and vineyards are not missed at a great +distance, and the Charleburg country is backed by the fine range of the +Beaufort mountains, which although not of the highest elevation, can +yet boast of a very picturesque outline; and being thickly covered with +a noble forest, have at least one advantage over the barren rocks that +usually rear their heads in the vicinity of a Spanish “vega.” + +On the south side of the city, at a distance of two miles, are the +plains of Abraham, and at their further extremity, is Wolfe’s cave. The +view from the bank above is scarcely less enchanting than that I had +so lately turned from. On the western horizon are seen the mountains +which by the late decision of the king of the Netherlands are to +form the boundary line between the Canadas and the United States. The +intermediate landscape is most delightful; large yellow patches of +cultivation rescued from the apparently endless forest, are espied +in different directions, each surrounding some thriving village in +the interior, whilst the opposite banks of the river are fringed with +Canadian cottages, as white as lime and brush can make them; and the +intervening and majestic waters of the St. Lawrence having at length +escaped from the turbulence of the rapids, are seen flowing beneath, as +calmly and as silently, as when, during the darkness of a night more +than seventy years ago, the gallant Wolfe was floated on the retiring +tide to his victory and his grave. + +Till within a year or two, the stone close to which he breathed his +last, was remaining on the field; but the proprietor, a person of +infinite taste, has had it removed, part of it having been used for +the purposes of the builder, while other parts of it are constantly +undergoing a process of subdivision for the benefit of the curious. + +A plain, but very elegant stone obelisk, worth a dozen such as +Washington’s monument at Baltimore, or General Brock’s at Queen’s Town +Heights, had been lately erected to the memory of Wolfe and Montcalm. +The idea of paying this late tribute to the memory of those illustrious +soldiers, originated with Lord Dalhousie. A singularly chaste classical +inscription from the pen of Dr. Fisher, the editor of the Quebec +Gazette, will be engraved in front of the monument. It is as follows: + + WOLFE——MONTCALM. + + MORTEM. VIRTUS. COMMUNEM. + FAMAM. HISTORIA. + MONUMENTUM POSTERITAS. + + DEDIT. + A. S. 1827. + +A longer inscription will be placed on the other side of the monument. +An aged nun is now living in the Ursuline convent at Quebec, who +remembers having held a taper when the remains of the chivalrous +Frenchman were lowered to his grave in the chapel vault. I saw a small +oval slab of marble, which was shortly to be fixed in the wall near the +spot where he is buried. It bore the following inscription:—“Honheur á +Montcalm: ledest in en lui derobant la victoire, l’a recompensé par une +mort glorieuse.” + +Quebec was taken from the French in the reign of Charles I., 130 years +before the death of Wolfe, but being thought of little value, was given +up in the same reign to Louis XIII., by the treaty of St. Germain. + +At Lorette are to be purchased the best Indian moccassins, and other +leathern curiosities, at the house of Mere Paul. The three Huron chiefs +who visited England in 1825, and who were introduced in the first +circles in London, may now be seen, any hot day, sober or intoxicated, +just as it may happen, sitting perhaps in the dust, before the doors +of their cottages. They take great pleasure in showing the medals and +portraits they received in England, and the queen, or wife of the +principal chief—a short, dumpy, masculine woman—occasionally comes to +Quebec to sell moccassins, and has no aboriginal antipathy to a glass +of gin. She constantly wears in her bosom (and very close to it too) a +silver medal, presented to her husband by the Lord Mayor. There is some +good woodcock shooting at Lorette, and a very pretty waterfall,—the +foam spreading itself over the rocks, so as to resemble the finest +lacework. + +On looking up the course of the St. Lawrence, from this very +interesting village, a wide opening is discerned in the distant bank, +once apparently the channel of the river, which at some time as is +supposed, by a junction with the mouth of the river St. Charles, made +an island of the promontory on which Quebec now stands. + +The Canadian cottages are in general extremely neat, the windows, +in particular, being remarkably clean; and occasionally a tall pole +or flag staff, is placed in front of one of them, to indicate the +residence of an officer of militia. + +Of the falls of Montmorenci, I will only remark, that they are well +worth the ride, or the walk, or the sail to them. The splendid view +of Quebec, the river, and the surrounding country, that is enjoyed +from the ground above them is a sufficient recompence; and no stranger +should leave Quebec without paying them a visit. The same may be said +of the falls of the Chaudière. They are in fact much finer than those +of Montmorenci, and within riding distance. + +At Chateau Richer there is one of the best snipe grounds in the +Canadas. In October they may be shot in extraordinary numbers, but +should the sportsman be disappointed in finding his game, he may +proceed to the falls of St. Anne, distant twelve miles. I mention +this, supposing him to be a regular water-fall man. I had ceased to be +so since I had seen Niagara. The different accounts I heard of Lake +Charles prevented me from going there. Some told me it was full of +cat-fish, and large frogs, which eat the little ones; others called it +a beautiful lake, and that good trout-fishing was to be had there. I +certainly eat some small ones, which had been caught there, of a most +delicious flavour. + +[Illustration: + + G. T. Vigne, delṭ T. S. Engleheart, sculpṭ + +JACQUES CARTIER, WITH SALMON FISHING. + +_Published by Whittaker & C^o. April 10. 1832._] + +The attractions of Jâques Cartier, twenty-seven miles from Quebec, +were not to be so trifled with. This is the finest place for salmon +fishing in the Canadas, and a very pretty spot into the bargain. All is +as it should be; there is a small, but clean and comfortable country +inn: the landlord throws a fly beautifully; his sister, a very pretty +Canadian girl, waits at table; and the mother broils the salmon _à +merveille_. The river, at all times a torrent, and now very much +swollen by two whole days’ rain, was rushing with the greatest fury +through the narrow channel it has worn for itself through the solid +rock. The bridge, which is close to the inn, is a very neat government +work. Under it is a hole, forty or fifty feet in depth; and when +the river is low and clear, salmon may be seen lying there in great +numbers. But the season was too far advanced, the weather too cold, +and the river too high; and my friend and I, seeing that we could not +expect sport, returned, having killed but one salmon a-piece in the +course of the afternoon. A fine open ledge of rocks extends along the +side of the river, affording some excellent fishing stations. The place +is named after Jâques Cartier, who first sailed up the St. Lawrence in +1535, and founded the city of Montreal. He is said to have wintered +there, at the mouth of the river which bears his name. On his return +to France, he was of course coolly received, as he brought no precious +metals. He sailed a second time, with orders to establish a colony on +the St. Lawrence, but having had the misfortune to quarrel with the +Indians, he returned to his native country to die of a broken heart. + +The Canadian peasantry are of the middle size, or under it. Although +they breathe some of the purest air in America, their countenances are +worn, and unhealthy in appearance. They may be said to be smoke-dried, +being seldom without a pipe in their mouths, and in winter they shut +themselves up in their cottages, and breathe an atmosphere of tobacco +fumes. I am not of course speaking of the athletic progeny of British +settlers, when I affirm that a tall, fine hale-looking man is rarely +to be met with. Nevertheless, the French Canadians are a brave, hardy, +independent race, and happier, I should imagine, than any peasantry in +the world. They pay no taxes, or just sufficient to keep the roads +in repair. Most of them have small farms, and find a ready market +for the produce; and those who have no land of their own, can easily +find employment with those that have. They never give away money, +but are exceedingly hospitable in other respects; and the poor Irish +emigrant, who is travelling barefoot and pennyless to the place of his +destination, is sure of a meal at any cottage where they have one to +give. There still remains much of the French _naiveté_ in their +character, and at a few miles from Quebec, they know and care as little +about the proceedings of government, as the Irish peasant did, and does +now, about Catholic emancipation. Without meaning to detract from the +merit of their charity, it may be remarked, that there is something +like a spirit of conciliation, if not of apprehension, mixed up with +it, for they are afraid that the “_Bas de soie_,” as they call +the stockingless Irish, will finally drive them and their descendants +from house and home. + + * * * * * + +The population of Upper Canada, which I did not visit (my time being +occupied in the unexpected voyage on the Great Lakes), is about +250,000. That of Lower Canada may be estimated at 500,000; but the +amount in both provinces is rapidly increasing. Sixty thousand +emigrants had landed at Quebec in 1831, before the river was frozen up, +being more than double the number that arrived in 1830. Many of them +brought out considerable sums of money. One morning, during my stay at +Quebec, an old Scotchman, who had lived about fourteen years in the +Canadas, returned from Scotland with ninety of his countrymen, whom +he had persuaded to follow him: he himself bringing with him several +thousand pounds, and the others possessing one, two, or three hundred +pounds a-piece. Two thousand of the emigrants that arrived in Upper +Canada, were small farmers from the North of England. + +The soil of Upper Canada is as productive as any in the world, so +that the emigrant has no occasion to pass into the United States, in +order to obtain a better, unless he proceed to particular spots where +he would be liable to catch a fever and ague, and where the excessive +heats together with the moisture and richness of the soil, render it +so hastily prolific, that it is often a matter of great uncertainty +whether a crop will arrive at perfection. The strong natural prejudice +in favour of the British flag; the fact that the British manufactures +can be purchased after payment of a very trifling duty of two per +cent., whereas they must have paid an average duty of 30 per cent., if +coming _viâ_ the United States: that lands of equal fertility, +and possessing equal advantages of situation, are sold at one half +the price that is paid in the United States: that the climate of the +Canadas is most decidedly the healthier of the two; are additional +and substantial inducements to a permanent residence in the British +colonies. Good land in the best situations is sold by the Canada land +company at from 10s. to 15s. the acre: their sales for the year 1831, +having amounted to 100,000 acres at an average price of 10s. per acre. +One-seventh of the lands in every township in the United States is +reserved for the payment of the clergy; and the agent for the clergy +reserves, is authorized to sell 100,000 acres a year at 15s. an acre. + +The nature of uncleared land is known by the timber which grows upon +it. Where a great variety of timber abounds, the soil is generally a +black loam. A clayey soil is known by the great proportion of firs +intermixed with other trees, but when they grow alone, it is found that +sand usually predominates. This is also the case where there are none +but oaks and chestnut trees. Potatoes and turnips succeed better than +any other crop on newly cleared land. + +Both in the United States, and the Canadas, great quantities of sugar +are made from the maple tree. The molasses are an excellent substitute +for sweatmeats. In the month of March, a notch is cut in the tree, and +a small pipe of wood is fastened into it, through which the sap runs +into a wooden trough that is placed to receive it, and in this manner +from five to seven pounds’ weight of sugar may be obtained annually +from one tree. The process of boiling and preparing the sugar takes +place in the forest. + +The agents of the Canada Land Company, on the arrival of emigrants at +Quebec or Montreal, for the season of 1832, undertake to convey them +free of expense to York or the head of Lake Ontario, in the vicinity +of the choicest lands, provided the emigrants pay a first instalment +in London, Quebec, or Montreal, or two shillings an acre upon not +less than one hundred acres: and the Company’s agents in all parts +of the Upper Province, will give such emigrants every information +and assistance in their power. Should emigrants on their arrival at +York not settle on the Company’s lands, the money paid by them will +be returned, deducting the actual expense of conveyance. At York +there are large buildings expressly appropriated to the reception of +emigrant families previously to their finding employment; and both the +government and the Canada Land Company have waggons drawn up on the +wharfs, in order to convey them and their baggage from the place of +landing. + +I cannot add any thing new to the particulars given in the printed +papers relating to emigration, which are issued both by government and +the Canada Land Company; to say nothing of the “Wiltshire Letters,” +or the “Hints to Emigrants,” published at Quebec. These may all be +purchased for a few pence, and the information they contain is, of +course, derived from the best sources. Their instructions and advice +on the subject of imposition, which might be practised upon emigrants +at their first arrival, will be found most useful. + +Wheat at the Canadas, according to the distance from the place of +export, varies from 3_s._ to 5_s._ 6_d._ the bushel; beef (winter) +2½_d._ the pound, (summer) 3½_d._ to 4_d._; mutton in the winter is +2½_d._ the pound, in summer it is a little dearer; potatoes are from +1_s._ to 2_s._ the bushel; a goose or a turkey may be purchased for +2_s._ or 2_s._ 6_d._, and a couple of fowls for 1_s._ or 1_s._ 6_d._ +Ship-carpenters can earn from 5_s._ to 7_s._ a-day; labourers 2_s._ +6_d._ to 4_s._ a-day; handicraft tradesmen from 5_s._ to 7_s._ 6_d._ +a-day; house-servants receive from 26_s._ to 36_s._ a-month, with +food; females from 15_s._ to 30_s._ a-month, with food. In Quebec and +Montreal, excellent board and lodging may be obtained in the principal +hotels and boarding-houses at 20_s._ to 30_s._ a-week. A labourer +or mechanic would pay 7_s._ to 9_s._ 6_d._ a-week, for which he +will get tea or coffee, with meat for breakfast, a good dinner, and +supper at night. An excellent private dwelling-house may be rented +at from 100_l._ to 150_l._ a-year unfurnished; shops according to +their situation at from 30_l._ to 100_l._ A farm of 100 acres with +20 or 30 acres clear, with a dwelling house, may be purchased in the +Canadas for 150_l._ to 300_l._ according to the situation. There are, +I believe, few persons who would not allow that emigration should be +encouraged, at all events as a temporary remedy, and the rage for +building discouraged, provided it can be done by just and legitimate +means. The British government have an emigrant agent at Quebec; it +encourages emigration, and finds co-operation and assistance in the +Canada Land Company and the Emigrant’s Hospital at Quebec. Yet if the +timber trade in the Canadas were suddenly destroyed by the measures +which are said to be in contemplation, the immediate consequence would +be, that the efforts of government in regard to one object would be +neutralized by its own acts with reference to another. At present, +there are from six hundred to eight hundred ships employed every summer +in the timber trade. They sometimes carry out a cargo of coals, or +salt, both paying a very insignificant freight (coals sell in Quebec at +26_s._ the chaldron) or more usually go out as it is termed in ballast, +and thus afford facilities of emigration at an exceedingly cheap rate, +to thousands whose absence from Great Britain is an advantage to both +countries, as far as population is concerned; and who otherwise benefit +the mother country by affording an additional market for her cotton and +other manufactures, which they soon find the means of purchasing. In +destroying the Canada timber trade by a sudden increase of duties, she +is depriving herself of all these advantages. She would bring sudden +ruin upon a numerous class of individuals who have large capitals +invested in saw mills, and other buildings connected with the trade; +she would deprive thousands of the means of buying and selling land; a +number of ships would be thrown out of employment; emigration would be +stopped, or at least greatly impeded for want of the facilities which +are now given; England would not gain in the affections of the Canadas; +she would lose a rapidly increasing market, and the benefit of a fine +race of British peasantry, who would be ever ready to fight in defence +of their newly adopted country. + +The timber is cut in the winter, before the sap rises. Suppose then +that the new duties were imposed, that the trade had consequently +ceased, and that next year a war, by which the Baltic would be closed, +should break out about the month of March, no timber would have been +cut and prepared in the Canadas, and there can be no doubt that Great +Britain would be obliged either to purchase inferior timber, cut in +the summer, and prepared at a great additional expense, or remain +without a supply of timber for sixteen months. It is said, and with +truth, that clearing, for the sake of the timber only, rather impedes +than assists the progress of cultivation,—a few trees only being +selected on a given space, which are squared on the spot, while the +lumber and branches are left to present additional difficulty to the +farmer by becoming entangled in the underwood; and it has been also +remarked, that the annihilation of the trade would benefit the Canadas, +by augmenting the capital and labour that is annually expended in +agricultural purposes, and that the additional quantity of exported +wheat, would soon make amends for their temporary loss: but it should +also be considered, that the white-pine, which forms much the largest +proportion of the timber exported from the Canadas, is in many places +found on a rocky and sandy soil, which is not available for the +purposes of cultivation, and moreover that the quantity of wheat +exported, is already increasing with the tide of emigration to an +incalculable amount. + +In a mercantile and political view, it would be better that the Canada +timber trade should not be interfered with; but if any increase of the +duties be resolved upon, it should certainly be gradual. One reason why +the Canada timber is not so much liked as that which comes from the +Baltic, is, that it is not so well squared and finished off for the +market. In the first year, a gradual increase of duties might remedy +this defect, by encouraging competition, while at the same time both +the British government, and the Canadian capitalist, would be enabled +to see their way more clearly. + +A great proportion of the lands in Lower Canada is divided into +seignories, which were originally granted by the French crown, under +the feudal tenure. No seignory has been created since the conquest +in 1759: but when crown lands have been disposed of, they have been +granted in what is termed free and common soccage, and laid out +like the old seignories, of which there are about two hundred, in a +direction of N.N.W. by E.S.E., nearly at right angles with the banks +of the St. Lawrence. The seignor then made grants or “concessions” to +his under tenants, which by the old French custom were thirty acres in +length, by three, fronting the river. This measurement, however, is now +often departed from. The seignor receives from his tenants an annual +rent of a very trifling amount, which is not redeemable: he is, also, +entitled to a mutation fine, called “lods et vents,” being one-twelfth +part of the money paid by the purchaser of land within the seignory. +The old French law compels the tenants to bring their wheat to be +ground at the seignor’s mill. This custom has been sometimes objected +to, but no complaint can be reasonably made on the score of its being +an injury to the farmer. It imposes no burden, because he can have +his wheat ground at his own door, and if the seignor’s mill does not +perform the work properly, he may take it to another. + +In the Canadas, the civil and criminal laws of England are in force +generally, subject to provincial alterations. The old French law, +which was in existence previously to the year 1663, is still the law +of property, with some exceptions, in Lower Canada. None of the laws +enacted in France since that period, extended to the colony unless +enregistered there. This is the reason why the ordinance of 1673, for +the better regulation of trade, is not in force. The criminal laws of +England were transplanted into the colonies, by 14 Geo. iii. c. 83, +and, of course, none passed since that period can become law in the +Canadas, unless they are particularly specified and included in their +provisions. Properly speaking, the Canadas have no commercial code. +Great confusion sometimes arises respecting the decisions according to +the English custom of merchants, and those made under the old French +code, and actions at law are frequently settled according to what +appears to be the principle of natural justice, rather than according +to established precedent. This surely conveys a reflection upon the +wisdom of the provincial legislature; but the fact is, that the +mercantile community is not sufficiently represented in the house of +assembly for Lower Canada. + +Lower Canada is divided into three judicial districts—of Quebec, the +Three Rivers, and Montreal, the boundary line being drawn nearly at +right angles with the St. Lawrence. + +There are but three courts of justice—the Court of Appeal, the King’s +Bench, and the Summary Court. The governor sometimes sits as president +of the Court of Appeal; but the chair is more often filled by one of +the chief justices. The court is formed by all the members of the +executive council. + +The Court of King’s Bench is divided into a superior and inferior +court. The latter has jurisdiction only where the matter in dispute +is of the value of ten pounds or under. There are a chief justice and +three puisnè judges at Quebec; the same at Montreal, and a district +judge at the Three Rivers. When the superior court is held at this +latter place, it is held by one of the chief justices, two puisnè +judges, and the district judge. The summary courts have jurisdiction +over property to the value of one hundred francs, and are held once a +month before a commissioner appointed by the provincial government, +on petition from the country inhabitants. Quarter sessions are held +regularly before three magistrates, with much the same power as in +England, for the punishment of offences against the criminal law; and +petty civil cases may be disposed of daily by one or more magistrates. +A magistrate is required to have property of the real actual value of +300_l._, and the oaths upon taking office are very strict. + +A barrister may act as an attorney and solicitor at the same +time,—which, as in the United States, appears to have originated +in the impossibility of making the profession pay, without such an +arrangement. Pleadings may be written in either language, and English +and Canadian French are spoken almost indiscriminately in the courts. +I have observed great and unavoidable confusion in the inferior court +of King’s Bench—the judges, counsel, solicitors, clients, and witnesses +all talking occasionally at the same time in either language, just as +it may happen; and in the midst of the uproar, the Stentorian voice +of the officer of the court may be heard as he endeavours to restore +tranquillity by calling out Silence! (English), Silence! (French), +in quick succession. But the proceedings in the superior court are +conducted with all the decorum of an English court of justice; and +the old jealous British lion, painted in the king’s arms over the +heads of the judges, frowns grimly upon the scene, with a pair of +eyebrows sufficient to inspire even ermined dignity itself with awe +and veneration. Many of the powers belonging to a court of equity, +are exercised by the court of King’s Bench under the old French law. +It grants injunctions by a process termed a sequestre. It takes care +of the property of minors, and appoints curators of the persons and +property of lunatics. The law of entail by a limitation, called a +“substitution fidei commissaire,” is well known in Lower Canada, but +seldom acted upon. + +The attention of the legislature has of late been called to the state +of the law of dower and mortgage, both of which are often productive +of great confusion and actual injustice. Supposing there has been no +renunciation of her dower by the marriage contract, the wife upon +her marriage is entitled to a dower of one-half of the estate of +inheritance then in the possession of her husband; and this dower is +of itself an estate of inheritance which descends to her children, +supposing they take nothing by the “communautè,” an arrangement by +which the wife is entitled to one-half of all property real and +personal, acquired subsequently to the marriage. A communautè may exist +with a settlement or without one, as in the case I have proposed. +At the death of the wife in the life time of the husband or _vice +versâ_, the law permits the children to elect—between one-half of +the property in communautè to be enjoyed immediately, and the real +estate which would have formed the dower of the wife had she survived +her husband, which is not to be divided amongst them till after the +death of the surviving parent. It sometimes happens that the husband +and wife have joined in the sale of the estate, perhaps for the present +benefit of the children, and with their knowledge. This sale, however, +cannot deprive the children of their estate of inheritance in the dower +after the decease of the wife, and although it is justly reckoned +disgraceful for the children to claim the estate from a purchaser under +such circumstances, yet it is sometimes done in cases where there was +nothing left to be divided in communautè. A gentleman informed me that +such an instance had occurred to himself. He had purchased an estate, +and had been in possession about twenty years. It had been sold by +the husband and wife upwards of forty years; but they were both still +living, and he was much surprised one day at being informed by the +children, that at the decease of their mother, they intended to come +upon him for the amount of the dower, as there was no prospect of +receiving any thing by the communautè. + +Till lately, under the then existing law of mortgage, a purchaser could +seldom be sure of buying an unincumbered estate; a previous possessor +in want of money might have been before a notary and have borrowed +of a dozen different persons, on what is called a tacit mortgage. No +title deeds were required by the lender, but all the property of the +borrower is liable for the amount borrowed; and claims of this kind +were constantly made upon estates even after the possessor, who had +taken all pains to clear them off, had reason to think himself secure +in the enjoyment of them. But by a bill that passed the legislature in +1828, newly purchased property is cleared against creditors who do not +put in their claims within four months, the rights of widows and minors +forming an exception. + +No writ can issue to secure the person of a debtor in the common gaol +until all his property real and personal has been sold, the real +property having been advertised in the Gazette for four months. At the +expiration of that period, attempts are sometimes made by a fraudulent +debtor or his friends, to evade imprisonment by a purchase in the +debtor’s name of real property to a trifling amount, which must be +again advertised, and so on; although of course wherever the attempt +to defraud can be made apparent, the courts of justice will interfere. +In cases of a commercial nature where a judgment has been obtained, the +debtor has the right of being enlarged, upon giving security that he +will not leave the limits of the city. + +In general, the Canadian farmers when old and unable to work, make +over their property by a notarial writing to one of their sons, on +condition of his paying a certain sum of money to his other children; +a custom which has the effect of preventing too great a division of +real property. In the deed, which is rather curious, it is stipulated +that the old man is to be supported by his son; that he is to receive +from him a certain quantity of tea, sugar, and tobacco; he is to be +furnished if necessary with a horse to ride to chapel on Sundays and +festivals; and when dead a certain number of masses are to be said for +his soul. + +The governor of Lower Canada is assisted by an executive council, +composed of any persons whom he chooses to recommend to his majesty +for appointment. The legislative council, of which the members are +also appointed by the king for life, and the Lower House, or House +of Assembly, consisting at present of eighty-four members. The Chief +Justice is the Speaker; and the puisnè judges of Quebec are members +of the Legislative Council; but it is in contemplation to procure +an act of Parliament to remedy this unconstitutional arrangement. +Independently of the objection that could be urged against it as an +abuse, the judges find ample employment for their time in their other +avocations. They were placed there as a matter of course when the +colony was in its infancy; but the reasons have ceased as the colony +has increased in wealth and population. The Legislative Council is +composed of the principal officers of the province, and other persons +of consideration. Their number is unlimited, but is usually about +thirty. The members of the House of Assembly are elected in the same +manner as the members of the House of Commons in England. Quebec and +Montreal return four members each. There are but two boroughs; William +Henry or Sorel returning one member, and the “Three Rivers” returning +two members. The other members are returned by counties, but no +qualification whatever is required of any. This is an advantage in a +young country, where society is comparatively small, and wealth is so +often separated from talent. The qualification necessary for a voter is +real property to the annual value of forty shillings. In the towns the +payment of ten pounds a-year rent is sufficient, and single women are +allowed to vote. The sittings of the Legislative Council, and the House +of Assembly, do not usually occupy more than ten weeks in the year, +commencing about the middle of January. + +By far the larger proportion of the House of Assembly are of the +radical persuasion. Like the rest of the old French Canadians, they +have a strong negative attachment to the British government: because +they are satisfied with the protection they enjoy, and are aware that +they could not exist without it; but their proceedings evince little +actual gratitude or affection for the mother country. Their grievances, +whether they are those that really do exist, or those that are to +be traced in the imaginary discontents of a few leading demagogues, +being frequently discussed with more than constitutional jealousy, and +with more petulant vehemence than is merited by the redressing and +conciliatory spirit of the British government. And yet when we consider +the events that are passing in Europe, it is not singular that such +should be the conduct of a people, of whom it is said, that when a +constitution was first talked of, they would have preferred that their +country should have continued under the direction of a governor and +council, or rather under that of a governor alone. + +During the last session a bill passed the house of assembly, for an +allowance to the members of 10_s._ a-day, beside their travelling +expenses, but was rejected by the legislative council. Nevertheless +when the Supply Bill came under consideration, the house of assembly +tacked on the desired amount for the payment of their members, and +the bill in that state was most inconsistently consented to by the +legislative council. + +Another instance of unconstitutional irregularity may be mentioned. +The 31st of Geo. iii., c. 31, declares who shall be qualified to sit +as members of the assembly, but it creates no disqualification to +sit and vote in persons accepting offices of trust and profit, after +their election. By this act also, no bill reserved by the governor for +the royal signature shall have any force or authority within either +province, unless his majesty’s assent thereto shall be signified +within the space of two years from the day on which the bill shall +have been presented for his majesty’s assent by the governor. In the +year 1830, after various proceedings in the same matter, a bill for +the disqualification of persons accepting government offices, until +re-elected, from sitting in the legislative assembly, was passed by +both houses, and the governor thought it of sufficient importance to +reserve it for the royal assent. Two years, as we have seen, is allowed +for the signification of his majesty’s pleasure, and if no answer is +given in that time, the bill passes into a law forthwith. The bill was +sent to England, and long before the time had expired, the impatient +house of assembly entered a resolution on their journals, that any +member accepting an office under government shall be considered as +vacating his seat _ipso facto_, with the capability of being +re-elected. As to the justice of the case, there can be no doubt; but +when they themselves had commenced the application in a constitutional +manner, their subsequent attempt to fly in the face of the prerogative +does not reflect much credit on their loyalty. + +The net revenue of Lower Canada for the year 1830, was 128,345_l._ +3_s._ 4_d._, being an increase of 5200_l._ over the preceding year. +The bulk of this sum is at the disposal of the provincial legislature; +and is expended in the country on internal improvements of every kind. +The proposed civil list for the year 1831 amounted to 19,500_l._; but +14,000_l._ of this is all that is asked of the province by the royal +message, besides a reservation by virtue of the prerogative, of what +are termed the casual and territorial revenues of the crown, such as +the rents of the Jesuits’ estates, rents of the king’s posts, &c. +&c., which, to use the words of the governor’s message, of the 23d of +February, 1831, can operate in no degree as a tax upon the people, or +tend either in their nature, or in the mode of their collection, to +impede or impair the prosperity of the province. But nevertheless the +committee of the house of assembly have resolved never to compromise +what they call the natural and constitutional right of watching over +and controlling the receipt and expenditure of the whole revenue. Will +they object when the remuneration of their clergy is thrown upon them, +as is contemplated by the British government? + +It would be tedious, and far beyond the limits of this work, to enter +into a detail of all the grievances complained of by the house of +assembly; many of them have been, or are in the way of being, remedied, +and they may be found in the report of the committee of the house +of commons on the affairs of the Canadas, in 1827. They complain in +their petition to parliament that the affairs of the province were +growing worse under the existing government; that the value of land +was diminished; that there was a waste of the public revenue; that +the enactment of beneficial laws was rejected by one branch of the +legislature composed of persons dependent on the government; that the +creditor of the government had not sufficient remedy; that sufficient +security was not required of persons having the disposal of the public +moneys; that the independence of the judges was not sufficiently +consulted; and they asked for the appointment of a resident agent for +the colonies, in England, &c. &c. + +One of the schemes at present in agitation in the house of assembly +is the entire dissolution of the legislative council; a measure which +that more loyal body do not exactly relish, and on the 31st of March, +1831, they passed a number of resolutions expressive of their loyalty, +and respectfully setting forth their grievances at the same time. In +the report of a special committee of the house of assembly appointed +for taking into consideration the governor’s message, in which his +majesty, relying on the liberality and justice of the legislature of +Lower Canada, invites them to consider the propriety of making some +settled provision for such portion of the civil government of the +province, as may upon examination appear to require an arrangement of +a more permanent nature than those supplies which it belongs to the +legislature to determine by annual votes; it was resolved, that as +information relative to the expenditure of the sum demanded for casual +expenses, and divers services, and of the manner in which the rents of +the Jesuits’ estates, and the other casual and territorial revenues, +are applied, was still refused by the British government; they had +therefore deemed it inexpedient to make “aucune allocation permanente +ulterieure pour les depenses du gouvernement;”—the legislative council, +in their resolutions noticed above, having expressed a cordial +disposition to concur with his majesty’s government in making such an +arrangement. + +The Jesuits’ estates, the convent, and the seminary, hold the city of +Quebec in signory. The convent of the Jesuits is now converted into a +barrack, and forms one side of the market-place in the upper town. By +the way, I should recommend any traveller to visit the market-place in +the lower town, where he will see some of the old French Canadians, +with their long pig-tails tied up with eel-skins. The order of the +Jesuits was suppressed at the conquest of the colony by the British. +Government took possession of the estates belonging to them, and has +since enjoyed the whole revenue, amounting to about 2500_l._ per +annum; and though frequently applied to by the provincial legislature, +has thought fit to conceal the manner in which it has been employed. +Amongst other expenses, those incurred in the building the episcopal +church, were, it is said, defrayed from this source. + +Before I quitted Quebec, I was present at a ball, given by a lady and +gentleman who had been united for the first time that day fifty years, +and were again married on that morning by a Catholic priest. + + * * * * * + +I returned from Quebec to Montreal by the John Bull steam-boat, +probably the largest river boat in the world. Montreal is considerably +larger than Quebec, and contains 50,000 inhabitants. Its front towards +the river will be much improved by a fine quay which is now building. +The principal objects are the convents and the new Catholic cathedral, +a very large and handsome specimen of the simple gothic; but its +internal decorations do not correspond with its majestic exterior. +The view from the mountain of Montreal, nearly 700 feet high, is of +the same kind, but I think inferior to the view from the ramparts of +Quebec. The city is nearly two miles distant, and is seen to great +advantage lying along the bank of the magnificent St. Lawrence, whose +broadly expanded waters can be followed by the eye for many a league, +both above and below the city. On the opposite side, the country is +one vast flat plain, from which the isolated mountain of Chambli, and +another peak at a few miles distance, abruptly arise; and by relieving +the monotony of the view, have the merit of giving it a decided tone +and character, to which it would not otherwise be entitled. The horizon +is formed by the bold outline of the distant mountains of Vermont, and +those of the eastern part of the state of New York. + +I left Montreal to make an excursion up the Ottowa. The beauty of this +river, the situation of Bytown, and the Rideau canal, were themes +of admiration with every one who had seen them. I went on board a +steam-boat at the village of La Chine, and in a few hours we were in +sight of St. Ann’s, and alongside the rapids, which we passed by means +of a short canal. About this spot the clear but dark-coloured “Ottowa +tide” is chequered by many a green isle, if they can be so called, when +clothed, as I saw them, in the diversified and brilliant colours that +characterise the foliage of the American forest during the autumn. +Every variety of green can be discerned—from the darkness of the fir, +to the silvery leaf of the poplar or the willow—while the unaccustomed +eye is delighted by the bright yellow of the fading hickory, and the +admirable finish which is given to the picture, by the broad patches +of deep and actual crimson of the sumach and the soft maple. I must +again repeat, that I have seen nothing of the kind that can equal the +surpassing beauty of an American forest in “the fall.” It may with +justice be compared to the brilliancy of a bed of tulips. We entered +the lake of the Two Mountains, so called from two lofty hills on the +right. On the top of one of them, Mount Calvary, is a chapel built by +the Jesuits, and connected with the Indian village on the margin of +the lake by a line of chapels, placed at intervals in the pathway. Its +sudden appearance in the bosom of the forest, is extremely effective +and picturesque. Immediately behind the Indian village is a large +bank of white sand, which in the distance may be easily taken for +a well-cleared stubble field. At Carillon we were obliged to leave +the steam boat, and proceed by land to the town of Grenville, along +the side of the canal, cut for the purpose of avoiding the rapids of +the “Long Saut,” which, when the river is swollen, are said to be +exceedingly violent, even more so than those of the St. Lawrence. I +found the banks on both sides of the river were cleared and cultivated +to a degree that far exceeded my expectations, whilst the unfinished +canal gives employment to several hundred poor emigrants, who were +living chiefly in log-houses along the road-side, ranged amongst many +other dwellings of a better description. + +The Ottowa, although perceptibly inferior to the St. Lawrence in width +and volume, is still one of the largest second-rate rivers in North +America. Below Carillon, which is thirty-five miles from St. Ann’s, +I observed nothing excepting the foliage I have mentioned, that an +acquaintance with American scenery had not rendered familiar; but on +approaching Grenville a lofty range of hills, containing rich mines +of plumbago, ranges very majestically on the north bank of the river, +which in many places is widened to a surface equalling that of a small +lake, with its shores broken by majestic headlands. Soon afterwards, +cultivation comparatively ceases, and the river bears a resemblance to +the wilder part of the Ohio above Louisville, excepting that the forest +trees on its banks and islands, are not so lofty as those of the latter +river. + +Bytown is 65 miles from Grenville and 120 from Montreal. It is divided +into an upper and lower town; containing many excellent houses. Thirty +years ago, there was scarcely an habitation in the vicinity, excepting +that of Philemon Wright, Esq., a Bostonian, and one of the best farmers +in Canada, who with singular enterprise and sagacity, foresaw that at +no very distant period it must become a place of importance, and as the +Americans would say, “located himself” in the untouched forests of the +Ottowa. A new world has sprung up around him, and he now predicts, with +great appearance of truth, that Bytown will become the capital of the +country: a glance at the map will shew the justice of his reasoning. +The Ottowa or Grand river, runs through the country for about 500 +miles above Bytown. In its course it is joined by several considerable +streams, by means of which a water communication can be extended to +Hudson’s bay on the north; and on the south it is connected with Lake +Huron, which is not more than 100 miles distant, through the medium +of Lake Nipisany; and as the Saut de St. Marie, at the foot of Lake +Superior, is said to be 800 miles nearer Montreal than to New York, it +is highly probable that a considerable proportion of the product of +the country around the great lakes, even from the further part of Lake +Michigan, will find its way to the Ottowa. + +The pretty, unpretending fall of the Rideau, so called by the +French from its resemblance to a white curtain, is seen on the left +immediately before the boat rounds the headland that conceals the +locks of the celebrated Rideau canal, which are suddenly presented to +the view, lying in a slope, between two lofty and precipitous banks, +nearly perpendicular towards the river. That on the right is 160 feet +in height, composed of limestone. On the area of the top, which may +be from 500 to 600 yards in circumference, are the barracks and the +hospital. It will probably be the site of an impregnable fortress, +which might be built for 60,000_l._; an expense which should not +be spared, when it is considered that the splendid works on the canal, +at present unfortified, might be destroyed in half-an-hour. The locks +themselves, eight in number, are magnificent in every respect, and +reflect the highest credit on the engineer, Colonel By. In length they +occupy a space of 1260 feet, and from the surface of the river to the +top of the bank there is a perpendicular rise of 84 feet. Each lock is +134 feet long, 33 wide, and 17 in depth. The canal, for several miles +above Bytown, is supplied by the Rideau river, and before it reaches +Kingston on Lake Ontario, a distance of 140 miles, a head of water is +obtained by means of thirteen dams of different dimensions, the largest +being 300 feet wide and 65 deep. The navigation is continued by means +of these dams, as there is not above seven or eight miles of excavation +throughout the whole distance. + +On the supposition that military stores are to be sent from Montreal to +supply the troops in Upper Canada, or a fleet on Lake Ontario, it is +intended that they should pass through the channel behind the island of +Montreal, which is not yet rendered navigable; that they should proceed +up the Ottowa, ascending the rapids by means of the Grenville canal, +and upon arriving at Bytown, be forwarded to Kingston along the Rideau, +which thus affords a method of communication infinitely shorter than +any land conveyance,—an additional advantage arising from its great +distance from the American frontier, and proportionate security from +hostile incursion. Although the Rideau canal is principally a military +work, it will be of the greatest importance in a commercial point of +view, on account of its affording a direct means of conveyance by its +communication with a number of smaller streams that intersect it at +intervals, and which will enable the settlers who live many miles from +the banks to forward the produce of their farms, with certainty and +celerity. The difficulty and expense of conveyance was originally +a great drawback upon the use of British manufactures in the Upper +Province; they paid a freight from Quebec of 5_l._ a ton; but by +means of the Rideau canal, the freight has been reduced one-half. Land, +according to its situation on different parts of the canal, was selling +from two to five dollars the acre; crown lands at a fixed price of +1_l._ the acre. On application to any of the crown land agents, +a ticket may be obtained, containing a permission to cut timber on a +certain space of ground, on payment of a duty to government of one +penny the foot. + +On the opposite side of the river stands the village of Hull. A winding +road about a mile in length conducted me to the bridges thrown over the +fall of the Ottowa, which according to the usual appellation bestowed +by the French upon any fall of magnitude in the Canadas, is termed the +“Chaudiere,” or “boiler.” The bed of the river is divided into five +channels formed in the solid rock, with more or less of a fall in +each of them. The largest may be about thirty feet in height, and from +its greater violence has worn away the precipice for a considerable +distance behind the others, which project and recede in a most singular +manner, whilst the river not contented with so many ways of escape, +rolls over the bare ledge of the rock that is extended between them, so +that its eager waters are tumbling in all directions. The whole width +of the stream immediately at the head of the fall, is more than half +a mile. It was not particularly full when I saw it, but was darting +through the bridges with extreme violence. In the spring, when the +river is swollen by the melted ice and snow, the whole of the rocks +are so deeply covered by the flood, that there is little or no fall to +be seen even at the Chaudiere, as the principal fall is called; and +I could easily conceive that the rush of water at that season of the +year must be tremendous. The whole scene was exceedingly curious; +and although rather disappointed at first sight, I felt myself amply +repaid for my excursion to Bytown. When it was first understood that +a bridge was to be thrown across from rock to rock, an old American +who had known the river in its fury, and firmly believed that such a +scheme was impracticable, was heard to predict with great emphasis, and +corresponding action, that some day or other “it would go right slit +to immortal smash.” Many of the poor Scotch emigrants answered to my +inquiry as to their destination, that they were “ganging to Perth;” a +thriving town, about fifty miles above Bytown, and situated between the +Ottowa and the Rideau canal. Thirty miles on the river above Bytown, is +the settlement on the Lake “des Chats.” + +On the evening of the fatal field of Culloden, the unfortunate Prince +Charles Edward presented himself, wearied and alone, at the door +of a hut, and requested sustenance and momentary concealment; the +inmate, a poor tailor, who recognized his person, mounted guard at the +door whilst his illustrious guest was sleeping within, on a pallet +of heather. He was soon aroused by the tailor, who awakened him by +exclaiming in Gaelic, “My prince, core of my heart! save yourself, for +the enemy are upon you.” A party of cavalry were galloping towards +the hut, and the prince had just time to escape through a small back +window, and reach the Morven mountains. For his greater comfort in +repose he had deposited his sword upon a bench in a corner of the hut; +and in the precipitancy of his flight he had forgotten to take it with +him. The tailor had just time to conceal it, by removing the earth and +burying it under the heather. The cavalry demanded the prince, saying +that they had information that he had taken refuge in the hut, and +carried off the tailor as their prisoner, who was afterwards confined +in Edinburgh castle. In the mean time the sword still remained where +he had buried it, but the hut became a heap of ruins. Whilst the “Clan +and Disarming Act” (afterwards repealed by the exertions of the Duke +of Montrose) was in force, he dare say nothing about the sword, but +upon his death-bed in Breadalbane, the poor tailor informed his cousin, +Finlay Mc Nauton, where the sword was to be found. He searched and +found it, in the spot where it had lain from 1745 to 1784. The belt +and scabbard were rotted with moisture, and the blade of course nearly +covered with rust. It is the real old Highland basket-hilted claymore. +On the rust being removed, the burning heart of the Bruce surmounted +by the crown of Scotland became visible on the blade. Between them is +engraved “Le Chevalier.” On the reverse are the words, “Vive le Roi,” +extending the whole length of the blade. Finlay Mc Nauton joined the +veteran battalion, and died at Gibraltar, the sword being still in his +possession. Upon his death, it passed with the rest of his effects +into the hands of John Mc Nauton, his brother, who is still alive +at a very advanced age in Glengary, the oldest settlement in Upper +Canada. Who would expect to hear that this sword, positively the most +classical object in America, is now, as it were, lying in state on +the banks of the Lake “des Chats,” in the wild forests of the Ottowa, +not less than 150 miles from Montreal. Mc Nab of Mc Nab, the nephew +and representative of the late laird, founded the settlement with the +advice and under the auspices of his kinsman, the Earl of Dalhousie, +the late governor of Lower Canada. He has collected around him about +two hundred of his clan, whose forefathers followed his ancestors in +the hour of battle, and have now gone with him in the day of their +distress to clear and cultivate the wilderness of the Ottowa under his +superintendence. He has possession of the sword, and never shows it to +a stranger but in the presence of his piper, who is ordered to play +the whole time. It was given to him by John Mc Nauton, who added in +Gaelic, that “some damned long-legged fellow of a Sassanach had asked +him for the sword and offered him money for it, but that he would +never disgrace the clan of Mc Nauton by giving over that sword to an +Englishman.” + +The boundary line between Upper and Lower Canada leaves the St. +Lawrence about 28 miles below Cornwall, and after running in nearly a +straight direction, comes in contact with the Ottowa river at Point +Fortune, opposite to Carillon. It pursues the course of the river for +many a league beyond the habitations of civilised society; and then +strikes off to Hudson’s bay. During the last session, an Act was passed +in the provincial Parliament for the appointment of Commissioners to +ascertain its exact direction, in order to satisfy the borderers, +who complained of being subjected to the laws of either province +alternately. The idea of an union of the two Canadas has apparently +been dropped for the present. Perhaps the majority of the British +inhabitants in both provinces would be in favour of such a project, or +at all events would not offer much opposition to it; but the French +population in Lower Canada would display a most violent aversion to any +change of the kind. The old French law would of course be superseded +by the laws of England subject to provincial alterations, and the +French Canadian influence in the government would decline in proportion +to the importance of the British interest in the House of Assembly, +which would be increased by the accession of delegates from the Upper +Province. Upper Canada would have no objection to a port of entry, by +which her share of the duties on imports would be exactly regulated +by the quantity she consumed. Every ship trading to the Canadas must +of course discharge her cargo either at Quebec or Montreal. By the +arrangement, solicited and obtained by Upper Canada in 1822, no duties +can be laid on goods imported or passing into Lower Canada without the +consent of both provinces, or by the British parliament; and the just +proportion of the duties due to each province settled by arbitration, +and its share paid over to the Upper Province. The proportion it now +receives by the existing regulation is 25 per cent.; but this it will +be seen must be increased, when it is considered that by far the +greater number of the settlers resort to the Upper Province, that the +French Canadian peasantry usually prefer the coarse cloth of their own +manufacture, and that therefore the bulk of the imports from Great +Britain must find their way to the northern shore of Lake Ontario. + +It is probable that much confusion would ensue for a length of time +after an union should take place, and it is equally so, that the +Canadas themselves would eventually be gainers by the measure; but the +more serious question is, whether it is not better for the mother +country to have two parties there, instead of one; and whether it +would be politic in Great Britain to promote an arrangement that would +render the colonies far more independent than would be consistent +with their allegiance to their mother country. As it is, the French +Canadian interest is really on the decline, and the British population +is wonderfully increasing. Every thing considered, the Canadas are +improving with a rapidity not surpassed by any country upon earth; and +I humbly conceive, that experimental interference should be deprecated, +because it would lead to a certain interruption of their present career +of prosperity, for the sake of a distant and not certain advantage. + + * * * * * + +I returned to Montreal. When a traveller approaches Montreal he +naturally turns his eye to the mountain behind it, and feels surprised +that there is no fortification by which a city of so much importance, +and so near the American frontier could be commanded,—strictly +speaking, a fort should be built on the top of the mountain, and at +La Chine, and on Nun’s island, by which, together with the batteries +on St. Helen’s island in the river, immediately opposite to the +city, the passage of the St. Lawrence would be effectually defended. +But, when it is considered that the top of the hill, or mountain, is +three miles from the city; that it requires eleven pounds of powder +to throw a thirteen-inch shell to the distance of one mile; that all +the fortifications in the world would not preserve the Canadas to us, +if the natives were against us; that the Americans could never take +Montreal so long as the Canadians would fight on our side; that there +is a prospect of a lasting peace between Great Britain and the United +States; and finally, the probability that before another half century +has passed away, the Canadas will cease, by a bloodless negociation, to +be a British colony—an enormous expense may well be spared, by leaving +the city in its present state. + +The picturesque island of St. Helen’s, contains a small garrison, and a +large quantity of military stores. On the angle of the saluting battery +on the south-west corner of the island, the French flag waved its last +in the Canadas. + +I left Montreal, after having discovered that there was a pack +of fox-hounds kept close by, and that they hunted regularly, and +occasionally on by-days. They had not been long organised, but promised +very well. I was also present for one day during the races. The course +is two miles in length, and in excellent condition, being railed off +the whole distance. I saw one race, which was admirably contested; +but the ground was not well attended, and the others did not go off +with spirit. I was told, however, that there was a great prospect of +improvement, as the Canadians were beginning to be fond of the sport. +The excitement would have been much greater if it had lasted but two +days instead of four; and a public ball afterwards would not have been +amiss. + +I then crossed the river in a steam-boat to La Prairie, distant nine +miles from Montreal. A miserably bad road conducted me to Blair Findie, +and subsequently to the very pretty village of Chamble, where orchards +and corn-fields were to be seen on all sides. Both these places, +particularly the former, are well known to the Canadian sportsmen as +the favourite haunt of the woodcock—perhaps the best in America. They +are found in great numbers in the low birch woods around Blair Findie, +where a good shot will sometimes kill above twenty couple in a morning, +and I heard that in one instance as many as eighty couple were killed +in two days by two guns. + +The beginning of October is the best season for shooting all kinds of +game in the Canadas. + +The American woodcock is considerably smaller than the European bird, +seldom or very rarely exceeding eight ounces in weight, and its plumage +is, I think, handsomer. The spots of brown on the back are larger and +deeper, and the breast, instead of being marked with dusky bars, is +of a fine almond colour. Their flavour is similar. The American bird +when flushed, rises very rapidly, with a small shrill quickly repeated +whistle, and seldom flies beyond a distance of one hundred yards. +Sportsmen who do not mind the heat, will find the shooting exceedingly +good in the month of July, when the woodcocks first return from their +southern haunts for the purpose of breeding. In the northern States +and the Canadas, they may be shot till the first fortnight in November +has elapsed, after which they retreat to a warmer climate for the +winter. No pheasant, partridge, or quail, is strictly speaking found +in North America. The partridge, so called in the States, is the quail +of the Canadas: but although on account of its size and general +appearance it might easily be mistaken for the latter bird, it is in +fact a species of the new genus, “ortyx.” The difference between the +real quail and the ortyx of America, like that between the long and +short-winged hawks, consists in the structure of the wing: in the +one, the second feather is longest; in the other, the fourth, which +evidently unfits it for taking a long flight. The “ortyx virginianus” +has become naturalized in Suffolk, and has been shot near Uxbridge. A +species of the genus coturnix, or real quail, has been found near the +Straits of Magellan. The pheasant of the States is the partridge of the +Canadas, and is in fact a very handsome species of grouse, feathered +down to the toes, and having in a great measure the habits of the +capercaily, living entirely in the woods, and treeing readily when put +up by a small dog. I have before noticed the grouse, or barren, or +prairie hen. In the Canadas there is also a darker coloured species, +called, the spruce partridge. A large grouse, nearly allied to the +capercaily in size and colour, is found near the Rocky Mountains; and +although five or six different kinds of grouse are to be found in North +America—including, I believe, the ptarmigan—yet the black and red game +of Scotland are not among them. A smaller species of red grouse is +plentiful in Newfoundland. + +The same animal is called a hare in the States, and a rabbit in the +Canadas. It never burrows; its usual colour is that of the European +hare and rabbit mixed, and the meat is dark, like that of the European +hare. A larger species which turns white in the winter, and is termed +on that account, the varying hare, is more common in the Canadas than +in the States, but is no where plentiful. I would here remark that any +traveller who brings his gun with him, and has a decided wish to see +some American shooting, should bring his own dog with him; any that he +can depend on for general purposes, be it of what breed it may. + +America offers a fine field to the ornithologist, and even a traveller +who is usually careless of the study of natural history, cannot fail to +be delighted with the variety of beautiful birds which he will see in +merely passing through the American forests, more particularly in those +of the States. Red birds, blue birds, and yellow or Baltimore birds (a +species of starling), will frequently fly across his path; turtle doves +are constantly alighting in the road before him; a large, magnificent +species of woodpecker, with a red crest, usually termed the woodcock, +will sometimes make his appearance; a great variety of the same +genus, particularly a small species with a marked plumage of black, +white, and crimson, are almost always in sight; he will be startled +and deceived by the mew of the catbird,—and his eye and ear will be +attracted by the brilliant plumage of the blue jay, the singing of the +mocking-bird, the melodious flute-like whistle of the wood-thrush, +or the instantaneous buz of the passing humming-bird. Considering the +wildness of the country, I was very much surprised at the scarcity of +the larger birds of prey; a small brown vulture, commonly misnamed the +turkey-buzzard, is however an exception. I never saw but one bald eagle +in America: he was beating for his prey over the mountain of Montreal; +his snow-white head and tail being discernible at a great distance. +They are more numerous on the sea coast, near the haunts of the +fish-hawk (osprey). When this latter bird has taken a fish, the bald +eagle who has been watching his movements from a neighbouring height, +will commence a most furious attack upon him, will force him to drop +his prey, and frequently seize it before it can disappear under water. +The bald eagle is the national emblem of the United States. It was well +remarked by Dr. Franklin, that the wild turkey would have answered +the purpose better, being exclusively indigenous to North America, and +having an innate and violent antipathy to red coats. + +Chambli is a large, straggling village, containing perhaps 5000 +inhabitants, of which 4000 are communicants at the Catholic church. +The Catholic doctrine, divested of the pomp and absurdity of ceremony, +being no where more strictly adhered to, than amongst the peasantry +of Lower Canada. The houses are scattered around what is called the +basin of Chambli—a lake about three miles in length and two in breadth, +formed in the Richelieu river. A canal is now forming, which in a few +years will contribute very much to the prosperity and importance of +the village of Chambli and the surrounding country. When finished, +the course of navigation between lake Champlain and the St. Lawrence, +at present impeded by the rapids at Chambli, will be safe from +interruption; so that the produce of “the townships,” as the lands +granted by the crown are termed, will be conveyed directly to Quebec +instead of passing through Montreal. + +An old fort built by the French is standing at the foot of the rapids. +The situation is selected with their usual judgment, it being scarcely +assailable from the water. Chambli has also barracks for 1000 horse, +and 15,000 infantry, but at present they are unoccupied. + +I would recommend every one who has time at his disposal, to ascend +the Belleisle mountain, distant eleven miles from Chambli. It is +principally composed of granite, and rises abruptly from the plain to +a height of more than 2000 feet. From the top may be seen the finest +view in the Canadas. The eye roams on every side, over a vast extent +of country, and the uniform direction of the “concessions” or lands +held in signorie, contributes not a little to the singularity of the +prospect. On the north, the St. Lawrence is visible on a clear day +as far as the “Three Rivers,” which is half-way to Quebec; on the +south and east, are the mountains of New York and Vermont. The city +of Montreal, at the distance of seventeen miles to the westward, +would appear like a white streak on the banks of the river; but that +the superior height of the towers of the cathedral are distinctly +relieved by the dark wooded sides of the hill, whose elevation is much +diminished by the distance. The Richelieu river appears to run at the +foot of the mountain, and the whole of its course is visible from lake +Champlain to the St. Lawrence. The mountain itself is exceedingly +picturesque; a small and very pretty lake being embosomed in its +well-wooded recesses, like that of Tarni near Tivoli. The ascent from +Chambli occupied a day; but I thought myself amply repaid for the time +I had expended, and the fatigue I had undergone. I proceeded to St. +John’s, and took the steam-boat for lake Champlain. In a few hours we +passed the old fort at Rouse’s point, which by the late decision of the +king of the Netherlands, on the boundary question, is now in possession +of the Americans, although it stands on the Canadian side of the river. +By the treaty of 1783, the boundary line between the United States and +Lower Canada was imperfectly defined as extending “from the north west +angle of Nova Scotia (now New Brunswick) to that angle which is formed +by a line drawn due north from the source of the St. Croix river to +the Highlands; along the said Highlands which divide those rivers that +empty themselves in the river St. Lawrence from those which fall into +the Atlantic ocean.” But as the land had never been surveyed, so that +the position of these Highlands might be ascertained, and it having +always been disputed which were the rivers referred to, commissioners +were appointed at the treaty of Ghent, to determine the true boundary, +and as they could not agree, the king of the Netherlands was proposed +as an arbitrator. Two lines were laid before him, on one of which +he was to decide; one drawn by the Americans on the north of the +Temisconata lake, and the other by the British 300 miles to the south +of it. His majesty, however, in his award followed neither of them; but +has drawn a line between them to the river St. John, transferring to +the United States about six millions of acres; and has brought the most +northerly point of the boundary for sixty miles within thirteen miles +of the St. Lawrence, whilst 200 miles below, it strikes off to the +south-east after having approached within fifty miles of Quebec. The +old French Canadian settlers on the St. John and Madawaska settlements, +and who, like the rest of their countrymen, have a mortal antipathy to +the Americans, are exceedingly annoyed at being thus transferred into +the dominion of the States; but as both Great Britain and the United +States are dissatisfied with the decision, it is probable that some +other arrangement will be made. + +We then passed the isle Aux Noix, the British naval establishment on +lake Champlain, I observed several schooners on the stocks, remaining, +like the ships at Kingston, as they were at the close of the war, and +several old gun boats that appeared to have taken part in it. The +expenses of the fort, which effectually commands the passage from the +lake, are the same as those of a frigate; and, as such, are placed on +the naval establishment instead of the military. + +Upon entering the lake, the shores appeared extremely flat and +uninteresting. We touched at Plattsburg, and passed over the scene of +Mc Donough’s victory over our fleet in the last war. We then arrived +at Burlington, and at nine o’clock the next morning I started to cross +the New England, or Yankee States, on my way to Boston. The coachman +drove six-in-hand, and in a very workmanlike manner, without locking +the wheels, but descending several hills so steep that as a Yankee +expressed himself, It was like driving off the roof of a house. A +detailed description of the road is unnecessary: it wound through the +beautiful and well cultivated valleys of Vermont and New Hampshire, +running for many miles along the banks of the Onion and Connecticut +rivers; whilst the forests on the hills around were every where clothed +in their splendid autumnal garb, and overshadowed some of the prettiest +and happiest looking villages I ever saw in any country; the houses +being chiefly white, with green blinds, and otherwise displaying an +excellent taste in design. Whole fields were strewed with enormous +pumpkins, and others were covered with broom corn, which is no bad +substitute for oats. We passed through Montpelier, and skirted the +rocky mountain of Monadnoc, stopping to look at the Bellow’s fall, on +the Connecticut river, and afterwards arriving at Concord, where the +fire of the British troops was returned by the Americans for the first +time during the revolutionary war, on the 19th of April, 1775. General +Gage had sent them to seize and destroy some stores which had been +secretly collected at Concord. They succeeded in their attempt, but +were subsequently obliged to retreat. The fight took place at the north +bridge, about three quarters of a mile from the bridge over which the +road now passes. The inhabitants are proud, and justly proud, of this +event. + +At Lexington, six miles nearer to Boston, stands a plain monument to +the memory of the militia men who were fired upon and dispersed by the +British troops on the same morning, previously to their advance upon +Concord. + +I entered Boston by the light of innumerable lamps, that plainly +marked the direction of its many bridges, and took up my quarters at +the Tremont hotel,—decidedly, taken altogether, the best house in the +United States. The table and the bed-rooms were equally good, which is +not the case at any other I had seen. In appearance it more resembles +a government building than a hotel. Breakfast, dinner, tea, and supper +are served up, as usual, at a certain hour; and although that hour at +breakfast time is liberally extended, yet if it happens that a person +be detained too long, he must either go without his dinner, or put up +with cold and disfigured viands placed before him with an ill grace by +a tired waiter, or pay extra for a meal expressly served up for him; +as the hotel charges are two, or two dollars and a half a-day, and it +makes no difference whether he attends the table d’hôte or not. + +The principal theatre is exactly opposite the Tremont. The front is +ornamented with Ionic pilasters supporting an entablature and pediment. +The interior is tastefully arranged, but is seldom visited by the first +circles. + +The Indian name of Boston was Shawmut, its first English appellation +was Trimountain, and its present name was given in 1630. + +At an early day after my arrival, I took the opportunity of ascending +the capitol, which stands on the most elevated corner of “the Common.” +The Common, according to the usual English signification of the word, +deserves a better name, as it is the prettiest promenade in the States. +It contains about seventy-five acres, disposed in a sloping direction +from north to south, varied by other eminences, of which the most +conspicuous is formed by the not yet quite levelled remains of the +British fortifications of 1775. It is surrounded by trees, and the best +houses in Boston; some of them being large and handsome, and not the +less deserving of the epithet because they are of a stone colour, or +any other than that of red brick. But at Boston generally I observed +greater taste in this respect than in any other of the cities which I +visited. On one side of the Common is a mall, or promenade, formed by +parallel avenues of fine elm trees; but yet, notwithstanding the beauty +of its situation, it is deserted by the Boston belles for the gay +glitter of the fashionable shops in Cornhill or Washington street. + +To the best of my recollection, every capitol or state-house that +I have seen, or of which I have seen a picture, is surmounted by a +dome or cupola,—that of Boston is particularly conspicuous; but the +smoothness of its exterior is but ill assorted with the richness of the +Corinthian columns in the facade: it should be grooved like the dome of +St. Paul’s. The present heavy appearance of the cupola at Washington +would be very much improved if it were altered in a similar manner. + +The capitol at Boston contains a very fine statue of Washington, +by Chantrey. From the top is obtained a fine panoramic view of the +whole city, with the bay, its islands, and their fortifications; its +bridges, wharfs, and enormous warehouses. On the north is the memorable +Bunker’s Hill, with part of the fine obelisk that is to be; the +navy-yard, and the suburb of Charlestown. The bay of Boston, like that +of New York, is fondly thought by some of the inhabitants of each city +to be as fine, if not superior in beauty, to that of Naples;—whether +they have seen it or not, is of little consequence; the bay of Boston, +with its flat treeless islands and headlands, shall be as fine as the +bay of Naples, and so may it remain! + +The city resembles Baltimore more than any other in the Union: as a +collection of buildings it is prettier, but I prefer the environs of +the latter city, to the more distant hills that form the amphitheatre +of Boston; which is too large to add much effect to the landscape. + +Boston contains 70,000 inhabitants, and the first bridge and the first +canal in the United States were constructed there. It appeared to +me the neatest city in the Union; and although there is no edifice +particularly striking, yet there are many that are handsome, and there +is an air of civic importance pervading every street in the place, so +that the eye does not easily detect the absence of any object that is +necessary to complete the appearance of a place of such pretensions as +Boston. The Fauneuil Hall, named after the founder, who lived a hundred +years ago, must not be forgotten. It is the cradle of American liberty; +because, within its walls, were held and heard the consultations and +the eloquence of those who more than fifty years back were first +aroused to resentment and resistance by the obstinacy of the government +of England. It contains an original full-length portrait of Washington +in his regimentals, by Stewart. The figure is excellent, but the horse +is very indifferently executed. The other ornaments in the hall, are +emblematical of the purposes to which it is applied. Public meetings +and dinners are held there, and the company usually leave behind them +the decorations that have been mottoed for the occasion. The name of +“Skrzynecki” was very conspicuous, among a multitude of others. + +Societies have always been in vogue among the young Bostonians. The +objects of some of them are ridiculous enough. Many years ago a sum of +500_l._ was raised by subscription for the purpose of converting +the Jews in England. At a much later period, a self-constituted college +of young fellows sent a diploma to the Emperor of Russia; another gang, +who called themselves “the Peace Society,” sent a deputation to the +same august personage, requesting him to become a member. His answer +was very gracious, and was accompanied by a valuable diamond ring. +A Massachusett’s farmer, hearing of this, immediately packed up and +dispatched to him an enormous turnip (“considerable vegetable”) as a +specimen of American agricultural produce. He received no diamond +ring; which was not a fair return, as it was quite reasonable to +suppose that, as of yore, the head of a “noble Swede” would not be an +unacceptable present to the Autocrat. A pair of colours, which ought to +have been worked by the fair hands of the Boston belles, were lately +forwarded to the Poles through the hands of General Lafayette; and +before I quitted the United States, a meeting favourable to the Poles +was held at New Orleans, and “an army in disguise,” consisting of no +less than twenty-nine volunteers, was waiting at New York in order +to sail to their assistance. The delay, I understood, had arisen on +account of a dispute as to the place of embarkation, because, in case +of their triumphant return, the city that last held them would be +entitled to the whole honour of the expedition. + +I was present at a meeting in the Fauneuil Hall, held for the purpose +of adopting resolutions, and electing representatives to attend the +grand meeting on the Tariff question, which was held on the 26th of +October, at New York. + +The literary institutions at Boston are very numerous, and the number +of booksellers’ shops is quite surprising. Upwards of 60,000 dollars +are annually expended in public education, and perhaps an additional +150,000 may be the amount laid out in private establishments. There +are fourteen infant schools in the city, and sixty primary schools +affording the means of education to about 4000 children. The next in +order are the grammar-schools and the Latin school, from which the boys +are qualified to go to Cambridge (Harvard) university. Upon entering +the infant schools, the first questions I chanced to hear were very +national, characteristic, and amusing. “When goods are brought into +a country, what do you call it?—Importing goods! and when goods are +taken out of a country, what do you call it?—Exporting goods!” with a +most joyous and tumultuous emphasis upon the distinguishing syllable +of either answer. Cambridge, or Harvard University is about three +miles from Boston, and situated within a large enclosure. The centre +building, amongst several others detached, and standing apart, is of +stone, and contains the lecture and dining rooms, and a library of +37,000 volumes, the best in America. I was shown nothing remarkable in +it, excepting a valuable manuscript of the aphorisms of Hippocrates. +I also saw the apartment containing the philosophical apparatus, and +another in which there was a very good collection of minerals. I could +not refrain from a hearty laugh at the contents of a paper which was +wafered on the outer door of the library, and which I was malicious +enough to copy whilst the librarian was absent in search of the keys. +“Missing, the first and second volumes of the catalogue of books in +the library of Harvard university! If the person who borrowed will +return them immediately to their place on the table, he will oblige +all those who have occasion to consult them, and no questions will be +asked.”—(_Signed by the Librarian_). + +The whole annual expenses of an undergraduate do not amount to more +than 250 dollars; for this he is boarded, and instructed by the +lectures of different professors on every subject, from divinity to +“obstetrics” and medical jurisprudence. Christianity is respected and +promoted in its broadest sense, not according to the tenets of any +particular sect: the professor of divinity being obliged to declare +his belief in the Scriptures, as the only perfect rule of faith and +manners, and to promise that he will explain and open them to his +pupils with integrity and faithfulness, according to the best light +that God shall give him, &c. + +Massachusetts is the only state of the Union in which a legislative +jurisdiction is made for the support of religion. In every other, a +person is at liberty to belong to any sect, or none if he pleases; but +in this state the constitution compels every citizen to be a member +of some religious order, or pay for the support of some teacher of +religion, although in making the choice it allows him to follow the +bent of his own inclinations. + +With respect to the salaries of clergymen it may be mentioned, that +in the large cities they vary from one to three thousand dollars, and +from five hundred to a thousand in the more populous country parishes, +exclusively of perquisites. Every clergyman is paid by his own +congregation; so that his engagement with them is a kind of contract. + +At Boston, I attended the Unitarian chapel, in order to hear the +celebrated Dr. Channing, whose preaching was so popular during his +residence in London a few years ago. His language was very fine, +his accent purely English, and his manner more subdued than that +of American preachers in general, who are usually too oratorical +to be impressive. I was fortunate in hearing an exposition of his +doctrine. He considered Christianity as only a kindred light to nature +and reason; that the germs or seeds of the different excellences in +the character of Christ were to be found in the bosom of every man, +but that he alone possessed them in an eminent degree; and that the +doctrine of the atonement had its foundation in the fears of guilty +mankind, &c. &c. The extraordinary eloquence of the preacher did not +however make me a convert to his tenets; yet it riveted my attention +for more than an hour, and I came away with the impression that he +was one of the very finest preachers I had ever heard; although I was +not shaken in the conviction, that where there is no settled form of +prayer, the principal part of the service must necessarily be the +sermon, and that the sermon, if it be at all worth hearing, instead of +containing religious admonition, is usually filled with a discussion +on controverted points of doctrine. + +The medical college at Boston is a department of Harvard university. +There has been and still is, as in England, a difficulty in obtaining +subjects for dissection in the United States. It is remedied by +different laws in different states: the more usual provision being, +that the bodies of persons who die in almshouses, or by the hands of +the executioner, or who are unknown, shall be given up for that purpose. + +When at Boston, I was favoured with the sight of an admirable +picture just finished by Mr. Alston; the scene being taken from Mrs. +Radcliffe’s novel of the Italian, where the assassin, who is obliged +to commit murder at the instigation of the monk, is terrified by the +fancied apparition of a bleeding hand. The monk, with a stronger +intellect and more determined purpose, is raising the lamp that he +may be enabled to see more clearly into the darkness of the vault. +A better flame and a more murky atmosphere were never painted. The +outline of the figures is extremely good, and the terror in the +countenance of the murderer is finely contrasted with the cool, stern, +and incredulous gaze of the monk. + +Mr. Alston, who is the first, if not the only historical painter in +America, has been employed for many years upon a very large picture, +which is not to be seen by any one till finished. The subject is +Belshazzar’s Feast; and the figures are as large as life. He intends to +rest his reputation on the success of this painting, which will not see +the light till he himself is perfectly satisfied with it. Many parts +of it are said to have been repeatedly altered. On one occasion when +it was threatened by fire, Mr. Alston requested a particular friend to +assist him in its removal, but made him walk with his back towards the +picture, that he might not catch a glimpse of it. + +Lowell, the Manchester of America, is twenty-seven miles from Boston, +and may be visited in the way from Burlington to Boston. Twelve years +ago there was scarcely a house in the place; and only eight years +ago it formed part of a farming town, which was thought singularly +unproductive, even in the midst of the sterile and rocky region with +which it is surrounded. At present it contains 8000 people, who are +all more or less connected with the manufactories; and thirty-three +large wheels, which are the movers of all the machinery in the place, +are turned by means of canals supplied by the prodigious water-power +contained in the rapid stream of the Merrimack river. There is no +steam-power there, and consequently little or no smoke is visible, +and every thing wears the appearance of comfort and cleanliness. At +present there are 50,000 cotton-spindles in operation at Lowell, +besides a satinet and carpet manufactory. A good English carpet weaver +who understands his business, may earn a dollar a-day; but the calico +weaving is chiefly performed by females, whose general neatness of +appearance reflects the greatest credit upon themselves and their +employers. No less than 40,000 additional spindles had been contracted +for, and workmen were employed upon them in the large building called +the machine-shop, which of itself is well worth the attention of the +traveller. The vast buildings belonging to the Merrimack and Hamilton +companies, are very conspicuous from the road by which the town is +approached from Boston, particularly the latter, which are ranged along +the side of the canal. As yet there is, I believe, no linen manufactory +in the United States. Lowell contains the most extensive cotton-works; +but as a manufacturing town merely, its population and business are +perhaps trebled at Pittsburg on the Ohio. The scenery about Lowell is +not deficient in interest and beauty, but it scarcely merits further +description. + +The prices of provisions at Boston for the last two or three years +have been as follows: the best beef has sold at eight or ten cents +(nearly five-pence halfpenny) the pound; mutton from six to eight +cents: venison from ten to twenty-five cents; salmon from ten to twelve +cents, and other fish from two to four cents. Butter from fourteen to +sixteen cents; cheese fourteen and a half; coffee from thirteen to +fourteen cents. Tea of course varies in price according to its quality; +the best tea in all the larger cities selling from about one dollar +and a quarter to two dollars a pound. Before the East India Company +entered into the Canada tea trade, the colonies were supplied from the +United States. But now the course of smuggling, which from the nature +of the country it is morally impossible to prevent, is decidedly in +favour of the Canadas. The duties on tea in the United States have been +reduced nearly fifty per cent, since the 31st of December, 1831; but +still the duties in the Canadas are very much lower; the best gunpowder +tea, for instance, paying a duty of twenty-five cents, whilst in the +Canadas it pays but four pence, and hyson tea paying a duty of eighteen +cents in the United States, and but sixpence in the Canadas, &c. The +Americans have petitioned for a further reduction in the duties; but +it appears that none will be made as yet. If the American government +would allow the tariff duties and the national debt to expire at the +same time, it is not difficult to foresee, that as it is the amount of +duties which governs the trade, the provinces would again be supplied +from the United States, unless the British government should lower +their duties also; and then if this were to be done, and the United +States and the Canadas were on the same footing, as the East India +Company are supposed to purchase their teas as cheaply as they can +be purchased, no fear need be entertained by the Canadas that any +advantage will be gained over the British trade with regard to the +expenses of importation. And in addition to this, the rapid means of +communication with the Upper Province, afforded by the Rideau canal, +will, it is supposed, bid defiance to hurtful competition on the part +of the Americans, when either the time or the cost of conveyance is +considered. The course of the tea trade between the United States +and the Canadas has been so much in favour of the British colonies, +that the East India Company intend this year to send out four ships +to Quebec and Halifax, instead of two as heretofore. Many of the old +contraband traders have amassed large fortunes: the consumer, whether +royalist or republican, having been by no means averse to render +assistance where it was obviously for his own benefit to do so. + +At Boston, Philadelphia, and Baltimore, house rent is about fifteen +per cent. cheaper than at New York, where the rent of a good house, +situated, for instance, on a par with those in Gloucester-place in +London, would amount to one thousand or one thousand two hundred +dollars a year; but counting-houses and other houses taken for their +convenient situations with reference to commercial purposes, would rent +in either of the largest cities just mentioned, at a higher rate than +in London. + +The assessment or tax upon houses varies in the different cities, from +five to eight dollars in the thousand. + +At Boston, the wages of an in-door male servant are from ten to +eighteen dollars a month; of females from one and a quarter to two +dollars a week. + +The expense of keeping a horse at livery in either of the larger cities +is about ten dollars a month; but if groomed by a gentleman’s own +servant it may be done for half that sum exclusively of the groom’s +wages. Hay has been very abundant in Boston market for the last two or +three years, and has sold at from ten to fifteen dollars the ton. Oats +at forty-five to fifty cents the bushel, wholesale price. + +In Boston a carriage and a pair of horses, including the coachman’s +wages, &c., may be kept at an annual expense of three hundred and fifty +dollars, about 80_l._ + +I shall ever feel grateful for the hospitable reception I met with at +Boston. The society is excellent—the Bostonians more resembling the +English than the inhabitants of any other city I had visited; and the +bearing and appearance of some of them being so aristocratical that +they have much ado to keep one another in countenance. The governor of +Massachusetts is entitled “his excellency,” and the lieutenant-governor +is addressed as “your honour.” The belles of Boston dress exceedingly +well, better perhaps than any others in the Union; Philadelphia and +Baltimore not excepted. At New York, as I have before remarked, the +colours of their dresses are far too gaudy, and certainly ill-judged as +to the manner and the time of wearing them. + +I believe that there is in England a very mistaken idea of American +society; as I have frequently been asked, what could not but appear +to me the most unfair and absurd questions on this subject. With us +the term “yankee” is generally one of ridicule, if not of disdain; +but to apply it in that sense to all the members of society in the +United States, is far too indiscriminate to be just. There is, as +I have before remarked, an aristocracy in every city in the Union; +and, perhaps, as many as four or five different sets or circles, +notwithstanding their boasted equality of condition. As far as I have +been able to judge from what I have seen and heard, the American ladies +are certainly not (generally speaking) what in England would be called +accomplished—in music and drawing, for instance: and still fewer of +them are entitled to the appellation of “a blue;” but if exceedingly +pretty features, elegant dress and manners, and agreeable and sprightly +conversation are to have the same weight with us in forming an opinion +of the state of society in America, that we should allow to them if +speaking of society in England, I cannot but affirm that the refinement +of first circles in the larger American cities is very far advanced, +and much farther than it has credit for in England. Gentlemen, who +are such from feeling, from habit, and from education, are to be met +with in every part of the States; men who are quite distinct from the +tobacco-chewing, guessing, calkilating, fixing, locating, expecting, +and expectorating yankee, whose very twang, even in the merriest +moments, has something in it that is absolutely provoking to the ear of +an Englishman, and in whose presence one is often tempted to exclaim, +“Be their constitution what it may, for heaven’s sake let us have +something gentleman-like!” + +I would here earnestly recommend every traveller in the States, never +to leave any thing to be done by another which he can reasonably do +for himself; and never to defer any arrangement which had better be +made over night, in the expectation that all will go smoothly in the +morning, unless of course he have with him a confidential European +servant. With ordinary care there is not much fear of losing any +thing by theft; but the Yankees are often as careless of the property +of others, as they are careful of their own. Above all things, let +him, as “Bob Short” has it, “be sure to keep his temper.” Anger is +of not the slightest use, and a man may as well be out of humour +with his mantelpiece, as with a Yankee. Independence is visible in +the countenance both of the Englishman and the American: but in the +one, it is stamped as it should be on the forehead; with the other, +it is more often entwined in the curl of the nether lip. Never take +the corner inside a coach on a rainy day, you’ll be wet to the skin: +carefully avoid comparison between any thing that is American, and any +thing that is European, particularly if it should be English. I have +several times received a friendly caution from Americans themselves on +this head. There are liberal minded men in the States who will talk +like gentlemen on every subject; but I believe there is nothing unjust +in the remark that jealousy of England and English arts, and English +improvements, and English manufactures, may be reasonably classed as +the most prominent of their national failings,—and that out of what may +be designated as steam-boat acquaintance, there are not fifty men, from +Maine to Louisiana, who can listen to such a comparison without biting +their lips. + +I left Boston, as I did Baltimore with regret, and proceeded to +Providence, the capital of Rhode Island. In the way, I passed through +Pawtucket, a very considerable manufacturing town on the banks of the +Blackstone river. + +Providence contains nearly 20,000 inhabitants, several manufactures, +and some exceedingly good private houses. In the neighbourhood, by the +assistance of a friend, I procured some excellent woodcock shooting. +Upon my return, I chanced to be standing with my gun in my hand near +the bar of the inn, when a very decent looking American cooly removed +a cigar from his mouth, and most civilly addressed me with, “Well, +stranger! how do you prosper in gunning?” + +At Providence I embarked for New York in the splendid steam-boat, +the President, passing by Newport, a large and populous place, much +resorted to on account of the sea breeze, which is said to be cool +and refreshing during the greatest heats of summer. The Providence +river is one of the finest harbours in the Northern States, and the +best station for ships of war; as a junction could be effected with a +fleet from the Chesapeake in less than forty hours, with the same wind +that would be adverse to a ship sailing from Boston harbour, and would +perhaps prevent a junction in less than ten days: the next morning I +found myself once more at New York—standing just where it did when I +first left it; and after the lapse of a day, I embarked in a steam-boat +to proceed up the North or Hudson’s river. The extreme rapidity with +which we were hurried through the water soon carried me into the +midst of the most superb river scenery I had yet beheld in America. +I congratulate myself upon having deferred this excursion to the end +of my tour instead of seeing it at first, and would recommend every +traveller to do the same, because all that will be seen afterwards of +the same description will probably lose by a comparison. The western +bank soon presents a perpendicular of trap-rock, so denominated on +account of its basaltic formations and general appearance, “the +palisades,” continuing for nearly twenty miles along the river, and +forming a natural wall or precipice, which varies from twenty feet to +500 feet in height, nor is the elevation sensibly diminished by the +great width of the stream. On the east or opposite bank, at a distance +of twenty-five miles from New York, my attention was excited by the +beautiful situation of a small village embosomed in woods and still +farther concealed by a projecting headland. Upon inquiry I found it +was Tarrytown, where Major Andrè was made prisoner, and its appearance +immediately became doubly interesting. Whether he was or was not a +spy, cannot, I think, be determined without an answer to the inquiry, +“suppose he had succeeded?”—but whether the cause of freedom would have +thriven the worse for the generous dismissal of a noble-minded enemy, +or whether the memory of Washington would have descended to posterity +the less untarnished in consequence of such an action, are questions +which are still less problematical. Major Andrè was executed at Tappan, +on the other side of the river, standing on the boundary line between +the states of New York and New Jersey. + +The penitentiary at Sing Sing, is the next object of attraction; it is +built by the convicts themselves, in the shape of a rectangle, 40 feet +by 480. The system of solitary confinement adopted there, is the same +as that of Auburn in the western part of the state of New York. The +prisoners are confined separately, and are brought out to work together +in the lime-stone quarries immediately adjoining the prison, but are +never allowed to utter a syllable to each other. It would appear that +under all circumstances this system is not more likely to prevent +crime, than that which is pursued in Philadelphia; and on the other +hand, with regard to the reformation of a prisoner in after life, I +should humbly conceive the latter mode to be preferable; because as +one prisoner is never seen by another, it is very clear he cannot be +recognized, but can commence a new life without risking a sneer from a +former companion in confinement. + +I had lately enjoyed the agreeable society of two French gentlemen, +who were travelling for the French government, with instructions to +visit the different prisons in the United States in which the system of +solitary confinement was adopted, with a view of ascertaining whether +it was practicable in France. They informed me, that as far as they +had seen, they were of opinion that the system could be adopted, were +it not for the expense to be incurred in those alterations which would +be necessary. A criminal condemned to imprisonment in France is turned +in amongst a number of other persons, is fed during the period of his +detention, and comes out of the prison just as he entered it. + +We soon came in sight of Westpoint, at the commencement of “the +Highlands,” and the most beautiful part of the river. This spot was +selected in the year 1802, as the site of the military college of the +United States. The buildings connected with the establishment are +situated on a small plain, elevated about 160 feet above the surface +of the river. The venerable ruins of Fort Portnam, are conspicuously +perched upon an eminence 440 feet higher; but the ascent is still +continued behind them. The whole of the ground belongs to government, +the immediate vicinity of the college being within the jurisdiction of +the courts of the United States. + +The dress and appearance of the cadets is extremely neat; consisting +of a slightly braided jacket, and trowsers of grey cloth: their +number is about two hundred and sixty. The academic staff is composed +of thirty-three officers, and gentlemen who act as professors and +assistant professors. The cadets are instructed in almost every +branch of science, but in no language, excepting French. They are +publicly examined every year, in the presence of fifteen visiters, +who are invited to attend, and have an allowance made them for their +travelling expenses. Amongst other places, I visited the drawing +academy, and another apartment, in which were several cadets studying +fortification. When there, I could not avoid remarking that on one of +the tables, by the side of the drawing utensils, lay a half demolished +roll of tobacco. The disgusting habit of chewing tobacco is common +in every part of America; even the men in the upper classes are not +entirely free from it: but it surely might be discontinued (by express +prohibition, if necessary) by the officers and cadets of the most +gentlemanly establishment in the Union, and against which, laughable +as it may appear, objections have been raised on account of the +aristocratical ideas which the young men bring with them into society. + +The annual expenses of each cadet, do not exceed three hundred and +fifty dollars. He is examined at the expiration of four years: if he +does not pass, he is allowed another year of grace. There are usually +on the average about a hundred candidates for admission on the list, +and about thirty are annually accepted: a preference being given to +the sons of revolutionary officers, or of those who served in the last +war. Out of the whole number admitted, I was informed that more than +half of them leave the college from incapacity, disorderly behaviour, +or other reasons, before their time has expired; and that about +one-fourth of them usually take their leave within a year after the +commencement of their studies. Every cadet must have attained the age +of fourteen before admittance, and is originally intended for the army; +but in the event of his not getting a commission, the education he +has received, amidst the present and universal confusion of rail-roads +and water-powers, will ensure him three dollars a day for his services +as a civil engineer. The cadets form on parade every day at one hour +before sunset, and have a very soldier-like appearance, occasionally +practising the guns at a target on the opposite side of the river. +The band, towards the maintenance of which each cadet contributes +twenty-five cents a month, is said to be the best in the States. If a +young man does not distinguish himself, he will probably remain in the +ranks of the cadet corps during the four years of his probation; but if +he display more than ordinary abilities, he may become a corporal after +the first, and a sergeant after the second year; and may subsequently +get his commission as second lieutenant in the army. + +Kosciusko served in the American ranks during the war of Independence. +His cenotaph is a very conspicuous object at Westpoint; and at a +picturesque spot which he is said to have frequented, and is known by +the name of Kosciusko’s Garden: a small fountain, regarded at this time +with peculiar reverence, bubbles up through a plain marble slab, and +trickles over the letters of his name, as if it wept its all to his +memory. + +Cannon are cast at the foundry on the east side of the river, nearly +opposite to Westpoint. On that side also, a mile or two below, is +the house which was occupied by Arnold when he was carrying on his +traitorous correspondence with the British officers. The spot where he +held his conference with Major Andrè, is overshadowed by a small grove +of trees, easily distinguished by their superior height. I understood, +at Westpoint, that General La Fayette during his visit in 1824, had +said he was dining with Arnold, when he received from Major Andrè the +letter which informed him of his capture, and that Arnold immediately +made some excuse for leaving the table, and escaped, as is well known, +by running down a very steep bank, and ordering some boatmen to row him +to the British sloop of war which brought Major Andrè, and was then +lying in the river awaiting his return. + +The American musquet carries but eighteen balls to the pound. The +charge of powder is also proportionably less. A general officer who +served in the last war, informed me that having observed the shoulders +of the British prisoners, he frequently found them black for a month +after their capture; and not being satisfied with the smallness of the +charge of powder which had been already diminished by an order from the +American head-quarters, he himself, then a colonel, went round to every +man in his regiment, previously to an engagement, to see that it was +still further reduced according to his own order. The men were thus +convinced of the necessity of reserving their fire, and of taking a +steady aim, so that, perhaps, one shot in ten took effect, instead of +one in sixty; the number usually allowed in European warfare. He also +informed me, that during the obscurity of the night, and the confusion +which took place at the battle of Lundy’s-lane, he observed a regiment +forming on his flank, and being unable to discern immediately whether +they were British or Americans, he jumped upon the top of a fence for +a better view, and immediately became a mark for a volley of British +musquetry, of which every shot passed over his head. This no doubt was +partly caused by the old method of “making ready;” in consequence of +which the musquet was frequently discharged before it was brought to +the shoulder, from the perpendicular position in which it was held. The +British troops suffered more severely than they otherwise would have +done on account of the colour of their uniforms, the least portion of +which so easily exposed them to the rifle of the back-woods man. + +Soon after quitting Westpoint we passed the town of Newburg, leaving +the Catskill mountains on our left. I did not visit the hotel at the +top of them, as the season was too far advanced, and everybody had left +it. The view from it is said to be, and must be, magnificent. We then +arrived at Albany, which has been for thirty years the capital of the +state of New York; it is a handsome and thriving city, containing about +20,000 inhabitants. + +Every traveller should contrive to be at Albany on Sunday morning, in +order that he may proceed to Shaker’s town, about eight miles distant, +and attend the public worship of the sect. At Lebanon, in the same +state, there is a larger establishment, but it is more out of the way. +Their mode of worship is certainly the most extraordinary that is +adopted in any Christian community. About fifty men and fifty women +were arranged _en masse_ with their faces towards each other, and +with an intervening space of about ten feet. The service commenced by +an elder coming forward between them, and delivering a few words of +exhortation. Several others followed his example at intervals during +the service; one, more eloquent than the rest, who was descanting on +the proper government of the passions and the abuse of talent, thought +fit to illustrate his argument by a quotation from Gay’s fable of +“The Grecian youth of talents rare.” Hymns were then sung by them in +their places, each of them shaking the whole time. They then performed +a regular dance, holding hands, advancing and retiring, to a most +uproarious tune, sung by a few of them formed in a small circle, who +gave the words and the tune to the others as they afterwards paraded +in pairs around the room, singing very loudly the whole time—hopping +heavily, first on one foot, then on the other—flapping their hands +the whole time before them, with their elbows stuck into their sides, +and looking for all the world like so many penguins in procession. +It was not till the end of the service that they all fairly fell on +their knees, and sung a hymn, as if they were asking pardon for their +vagaries. + +I really think I had never seen such a curious collection of heads +and features: the chin and lower part of the face were generally very +small, giving to some an appearance that was perfectly idiotic, whilst +others displayed a more subdued modification of that wildness of gaze +which might have distinguished the fanatic companions of Balfour o’ +Burley: but there was scarcely one among them, either male or female, +whose features were not remarkable on one account or other. + +From Albany I proceeded to Schenectady, in the rail-road carriage, +which whirled me forward with a rapidity very little inferior to +that with which I had been carried between Liverpool and Manchester, +but by no means so silently or so smoothly, as the rattling was very +loud. Thence I went to Utica, a town that at present contains 10,000 +inhabitants, but intends at some future period to be the capital of +the state of New York. Its pretensions are founded on its present +prosperity, arising from the Erie canal, which passes through it in its +way from Albany to lake Erie, its central situation, and the gradual +westward movement of the surplus population of the more eastern cities. + +From Utica I visited the Trenton falls, fifteen miles distant. I was +very much disappointed: there was not much water in them, and they +appeared more like artificial cascades than a natural cataract. The +trout fishing in the West Canada creek, on which they are situated, +is, I conceive, the best recommendation for a visit to the Trenton +falls. Possibly Niagara had spoiled me for every waterfall. It is, I +think, the author of the “Diary of an Invalid,” who remarks that having +seen St. Peter’s, he should be contented with his parish church ever +afterwards. I thence proceeded to Saratoga, the Cheltenham of America: +but the company which throng to it from all parts of the Union, being +its only attraction, and the season being over, I passed through it +without stopping there more than an hour. The vicinity of Ballston +Springs, which are near it, are much prettier. The waters of both are +saline and chalybeate at the same time. The guide books are so filled +with accounts of the marches, counter marches, successes, distresses, +and final surrender of General Burgoyne, that I make no apology for +merely remarking, that he surrendered to the American General Gates +at Schuylersville in the county of Saratoga on the 17th of October, +1777. From Saratoga, I proceeded to Lake George, passing by Glen’s +falls, so admirably described in Mr. Cooper’s novel of the Last of +the Mohicans. Unfortunately for me the steam-boat on the lake was laid +up in ordinary, and I was obliged to content myself with a ride for +a few miles along the banks. As far as I could judge, I thought the +scenery equal to that of the finest of British lakes, generally, with +the exception of Loch-Lomond. It is thirty-six miles long; but it has +no where the majestic breadth of the famed Scottish lake. Its mountains +are not so lofty as Ben Lomond, and it has not the weeping birch of the +highlands of Scotland, or the arbutus of the lakes of Killarney; but it +can boast of an unrivalled clearness of water, a most delicious perfume +from the gum cistus (vulgo, sweet fern) which grows abundantly on its +margin; and the autumnal foliage reflected on its surface is certainly +far more beautiful and brilliant than any thing of the kind that Great +Britain can display. Cultivation was to be seen in many parts; but +there were no splendid country seats, and the majestic beauty of this +lovely lake must be contented to remain destitute of those unrivalled +ornaments, so long as democracy holds sway over the mountains that +surround it. + +At the head of the lake stands the village of Caldwell, and near it +are the ruins of Fort George and Fort William. It would far exceed the +limits of this work, were I to take notice of the numerous battles +that have been fought during the last eighty years in the vicinity of +Lake George; for an account of the massacre that took place after the +surrender of Fort William-Henry, by Major Monroe, to the French troops +under the command of the Marquis of Montcalm in 1757, I will again with +pleasure refer you to the “Last of the Mohicans.” + +I should mention that there is excellent bass fishing in the lake, and +that all necessary information &c. may be obtained at the lake tavern +at Caldwell. The bass is taken with a spinning minnow, and when hooked +affords for a short time, even more sport than a salmon; but is much +sooner exhausted. + +Sandy Hill was my next destination. In my way, I passed over the ground +where General Burgoyne surrendered, and in a few hours again entered a +steam-boat, at Albany, with the intention of returning, for the last +time, to New York. + +Before I went to America, I had no idea in how short a time a meal +could be dispatched; but to see “bolting” in perfection, it is +necessary to go on board an Albany steam-boat. The cabin is cleared as +much as possible, the breakfast is laid, and the free negro stewards +are placed as guards at the top of the stair-case, to prevent any +gentleman from walking in before the bell rings. As the hour draws +near, conversation is gradually suspended, and the company look as if +they were all thinking of the same subject. Groups of lank thin-jawed +personages may be seen “progressing” towards the door, and “locating” +themselves around it, in expectation of the approaching rush, listening +to the repeated assurances of the black stewards within, that no +gentleman can by any possibility be admitted before the time. At length +the bell rings, and the negro guards escape as they can; if they are +not brisk in their motions, they stand a chance of being sent headlong +down stairs, or jammed in between the wall and the opened doors. +In less than a quarter of a minute, 150 or 200 persons have seated +themselves at table, and an excellent breakfast of tea, coffee, eggs, +beefsteaks, hot rolls, corn cakes, salted mackerel, mush, molasses, +&c. is demolished in an incredibly short space of time. The crowd then +slowly re-ascends the staircase—and three-fourths of them are quite +surprised that they should be afflicted with dyspepsia! The music which +usually accompanied the feasts of the ancients, will never be revived +by the Americans who are more likely to exclaim in the beautiful +language of Euripides, + + Σκαιοὺς δε λεγων, κοὺδὲν τι σοφοὺς, + Τοὺς προσθε βροτους, ουκ ἄν ἁμάρτοις, + Οἵτινες ὕμνους επὶ μὲν θαλίαις, + Επὶ τ’ εἰλαπίναις, καὶ παρὰ δείπνοις + Εὕροντο, βίου τερπνὰς ακοάς. + + * * * * * + + ἵνα δ εὔδειπνοι + Δαῖτες, τι μάτην τείνουσι βοάν + Τὸ παρὸν γαρ ἔχει τέρψιν ὰφ’ αυτοῦ + Δαιτὸς πλήρωμα βροτοῖσιν. + + * * * * * + +Whilst I remained at New York, I employed my time in visiting the +dock-yard, the race-ground on Long Island, and other places which I +had left unseen. The race-ground is inclosed with a high paling, and +although well kept, is not on so large a scale as might be expected. + +The Americans believed that their horse, Eclipse, was faster than his +celebrated English ancestor, till a paper appeared in their Sporting +Magazine, proving that had they run together, their horse, which is +undoubtedly a very good one, particularly up hill, would have been +thoroughly beaten. They have a mare, named, I believe, Arietta, which +is said to be exceedingly fast for a mile, and is coming to England, to +try her speed at Newmarket. + +The Americans boast that they are able to raise an army of cavalry +at a moment’s notice; and they refer you to the backwoods, and tell +you that a boy can ride almost as soon as he can walk. This is true +enough of their riding to plough, or to church, or along the road; +but I do not remember to have seen a horse take a leap in the United +States but once,—and he had no rider on his back. It is very rarely +that an American is seen with a good seat on horseback. I should say, +generally, that the Americans were bad riders, excepting the New +Yorkers,—and they are Americans. I think _they_ are the worst I +ever saw. They have neither a military seat nor a fox-hunting seat, nor +a Turkish seat, nor even what Geoffrey Gambado would term “the mistaken +notion;” but they ride up and down the Broadway with the toe almost +invariably very much below the heel; and the back and shoulders, like +the “genteel and agreeable” of the same author, of course inclined +forward: at the same time it must be confessed, that as they have +neither cavalry nor fox-hunting, it is not surprising that they cannot +ride. + +I witnessed an extraordinary exhibition, purporting to be a burlesque +upon the militia system, and got up with no inconsiderable share of +humour. A person on horseback, masked, in the uniform of Napoleon, +wearing a small figure of him on either shoulder, and carrying an +enormous tin sword, headed a band of ragamuffins, habited as their +wit and ingenuity dictated to them. Pasteboard, pumpkins, spits, and +hay-bands, with a hundred other things of the same kind, being put in +requisition to aid the spirit of buffoonery, and assist in ridiculing +the militia. The only motto among the many that was good and pointed, +was “soldiers in peace, citizens in war.” But the whole scene, although +acted on a less serious occasion, was worthy the days of Anacharsis +Klootz. + +I cannot forbear to relate an instance of that mock modesty of which +the Americans are sometimes accused. I was at a ball, and was guilty +of joining in a quadrille. When the time for the “dos a dos” arrived, +I advanced to perform that part of the figure in the same manner as +I should have done at a ball in England; but I found that the lady, +who was dancing opposite to me, receded instead of coming forward, +and my movement had attracted considerable attention. I felt that I +had committed some error, and my partner, who had travelled a great +deal in Europe and had often danced quadrilles in France and England, +kindly hinted to me, with a slight archness of smile, that I had made +a mistake.—“We do not dance the dos a dos here; we have left off that +part of the figure!” + +Two circumstances contributed to render my voyage home agreeable: one +was, that I sailed in the splendid new ship the “North America;” the +other, that she was commanded by Captain Macy. As the steam-boat slowly +towed us from the wharf, I felt gratified and grateful for the kindness +I had met with in America; and I unhesitatingly affirm, that if an +Englishman be treated otherwise it must be his own fault. I looked at +the retiring city: I thought the houses were not so very red, after +all; and I tried to persuade myself that the bay of New York was as +beautiful as the bay of Naples: but I found that I could not show +my gratitude at the expense of what appeared to me to be the truth; +namely, that it is and must ever remain very far inferior. Partiality +is apt to elicit some very contrary opinions. The New Yorkers think +their bay equal in beauty to the bay of Naples: when the Dutch had +possession of the country, they called it the New Netherlands. But +these are trifles, and as such I hope they are pardonable. + +I advise you to go to America: at this period there is no country +equally interesting, nor one so likely to remain so, till it falls to +pieces, probably within less than half a century, by its own weight. +If you are an ultra-tory you will, perhaps, receive a lesson that may +reduce you to reason; if you are a radical, and in your senses, as an +Englishman and a gentleman, you are certain of changing your opinions +before you return; and you may prepare yourself accordingly. You will +be gratified by visiting a land, that come what will, must ever remain +a land of liberty, which the Saxon blood alone is capable of enjoying. +So little, it may be remarked, do the French understand the term, that +it is only since the last revolution that they have acquired the “droit +de l’initiatif,” or the right by which any member of the chamber of +deputies can by himself bring in a bill or “projet de loi,” whenever he +pleases; a right which the members of the house of commons in England +may be said to have enjoyed for two centuries. Previously to the late +changes in France, it was necessary that a number of members who wished +to introduce any measure into the chamber, should petition the king for +leave to do so; otherwise, as is well known, it was brought forward by +the minister alone. You will be gratified by seeing so much of what +may be termed the aristocracy of nature in the primæval forests, the +vast lakes and majestic rivers of North America; and still more so by +having visited a land where man is supposed to be more his own master +than in any other civilised part of the world, and where his energy +meets with co-operation in the natural resources of the country, and +commands success at the hands of his fellow men. You will then be +able to form an opinion whether the state of society be more or less +enviable than that to which you have been accustomed; whether the +fine arts are more likely to flourish; whether men in their public or +private characters as husbands, as fathers, as brothers, as gentlemen, +are better, more honest, or more amiable than among yourselves; or +whether the government under which they live is more calculated for the +encouragement of true religion, the shelter of virtue, the enjoyment +of life and liberty; or, if fair allowance be made for the advantages +incidental to a new country, whether it is better adapted for the +advancement of national prosperity, than the institutions of your +native land.—Go to America, canvass the pretensions of the Americans, +and then judge for yourself. + + +THE END. + + + Manning and Co., Printers, + 4, London House Yard, St. Paul’s. + + + +TRANSCRIBER’S NOTE + +Except for those changes noted below, all misspellings in the text, and +inconsistent or archaic usage, have been retained. + +The city of Pittsburgh is spelled as Pittsburg in some instances. This +inconsistency was left intact. + +Inconsistent hyphenations have been left as is. + + Page 48. “antehamber” replaced by “antechamber”. + Page 64. “distincts pecies” replaced by “distinct species”. + Page 123. “Nigara river” replaced by “Niagara river”. + Page 210. “oxtyx virginianus” replaced by “ortyx virginianus”. + Page 215. “St Lawrence” replaced by “St. Lawrence”. + Page 218. “St Lawrence” replaced by “St. Lawrence”. + Page 259. “Catshill mountains” replaced by “Catskill mountains”. + Page 275. “privmæval” replaced by “primæval”. + +*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 78758 *** |