266 WANDERINGS IN 



FOURTH United States of America may be found grace 



JOURNEY. 



; and beauty and symmetry equal to any thing in 



the old world. 



I now for good and all (and well I might) gave 

 up the idea of finding bugs, bears, brutes, and 

 buffaloes in this country, and was thoroughly 

 satisfied that I had laboured under a great 

 mistake in suspecting that I should ever meet 

 with them. 



I wished to join in the dance where the fair 

 Albanese was " to brisk notes in cadence beating," 

 but the state of my unlucky foot rendered it 

 impossible ; and as I sat with it reclined upon a 

 sofa, full many a passing gentleman stopped to 

 inquire the cause of my misfortune, presuming at 

 the same time that I had got an attack of gout. 

 Now this surmise of theirs always mortified me ; 

 for I never had a fit of gout in my life, and, 

 moreover, never expect to have one. 



In many of the inns in the United States, there 

 is an album on the table, in which travellers 

 insert their arrival and departure, and now and 

 then indulge in a little flash or two of wit. 



I thought, under existing circumstances, that 

 there would be no harm in briefly telling my 

 misadventure; and so taking up the pen, I wrote 

 what follows ; and was never after asked a single 

 question about the gout. 



" C. Waterton, of Walton-hall, in the county 

 of York, England, arrived at the falls of Niagara, 



