366 VOYAGE TO HALIFAX. [CHAP. XL. 



faces towards the horse s or ass s tail, others with 

 banners, calling out, &quot; Hurrah for Texas,&quot; for they 

 styled themselves &quot; the Texas volunteers.&quot; This I 

 found was an anti-war demonstration, and shows 

 that there is a portion even of the humblest class 

 here, who are inclined to turn the aggressive spirit 

 and thirst for conquest of the Washington Cabinet 

 into ridicule. 



June 1. Sailed for England in the Britannia, one 

 of the Cunard line of steamers, the same in which 

 we had made our outward voyage. For several days 

 a white fog had been setting in from the sea at Bos 

 ton, and we were therefore not surprised to find the 

 mist so dense off the harbour of Halifax that the 

 lighthouse was invisible. By a continual discharge 

 of guns, which were answered by the firing of cannon 

 at the lighthouse, our captain was able safely to steer 

 his ship into the harbour. In the post-office w r e 

 found letters from England, left by a steamer which 

 had touched there two days before, and had come from 

 Liverpool in nine days. 



June 7. When we had quitted Halifax five days, 

 and were on the wide ocean, the monotony of the 

 scene was suddenly broken by the approach of a 

 group of icebergs, several hundred in number, vary 

 ing in height from 100 to 250 feet, all of the purest 

 white, except such portions as, being in shade, as 

 sumed a greenish hue, or such as acquired a delicate 

 rose-colour tint from the rays of the evening sun. 

 These splendid bergs were supposed to have floated 

 from Placentia Bay, in Newfoundland, where a great 

 many merchantmen had been imprisoned for several 



