CALIFORNIA TO QUEBEC 191 



between the Atlantic and Pacific coasts, and extending over 

 ten degrees of latitude, I never once saw either a humming- 

 bird or a rattlesnake, or even any living snake of any kind. 

 In many places I was told that humming-birds were usually 

 common in their gardens, but they hadn't seen any this year! 

 This was my luck. And as to the rattlesnakes, I was always 

 on the lookout in likely places, and there are plenty still, but 

 they are local. I was told of a considerable tract of land 

 not far from Niagara which is so infested with them that it is 

 absolutely useless. The reason is that it is very rocky, with 

 so many large masses lying about overgrown with shrubs and 

 briars as to afford them unlimited hiding-places, and the 

 labour of thoroughly clearing it would be more costly than 

 the land would be worth. 



The general impression left upon my mind as to the country 

 itself is the almost total absence of that simple rural beauty 

 which has resulted, in our own country and in some other 

 parts of Europe, from the very gradual occupation of the 

 land as it was required to supply food for the inhabitants, 

 together with our mild winters allowing of continuous culti- 

 vation, and the use in building of local materials adapted to 

 the purposes required by handwork, instead of those fashioned 

 by machinery. This slow development of agriculture and of 

 settlement has produced almost every feature which renders 

 our country picturesque or beautiful : the narrow winding 

 lanes, following the contours of the ground ; the ever-varying 

 size of the enclosures, and their naturally curved boundaries; 

 the ditch and the bank and the surmounting hedgerow, with 

 its rows of elm, ash, or oak, giving variety and sylvan beauty 

 to the surroundings of almost every village or hamlet, most 

 of which go back to Saxon times ; the farms or cottages built 

 of brick or stone, or clay, or of rude but strong oak frame- 

 work filled in with clay or lath and roughcast, and with thatch 

 or tiled roofs, varying according to the natural conditions, 

 and in all showing the slight curves and irregularities due to 

 the materials used and the hand of the worker ; — the whole, 

 worn and coloured by age and surrounded by nature's grand- 

 est adornment of self-sown trees in hedgerow or pasture, 



