i88 



MY LIFE 



[Chap. 



visitors, and the conversation was chiefly about Ireland. 

 Here, as elsewhere in America, our conduct in persistently 

 refusing self-government to Ireland is hardly intelligible, 

 and is almost universally condemned. 



On Sunday morning, August 7, I took leave of my very 

 kind hosts, and went by a small steamer through the Thousand 

 Islands to Alexandria Bay on the American shore, and stayed 

 the night at the Thousand Islands Hotel. The trip of about 

 thirty-five miles was most interesting among the countless 

 islands, varying from mere granite rocks to others several 

 miles long. The hotel has a broad verandah out of the 

 dining-room on the first floor, affording a magnificent view 

 up the river, of varied and beautiful combinations of rock, 

 wood, and water hardly to be surpassed. After dinner at 

 3 p.m., I walked a few miles into the country, consisting of 

 cultivated fields alternating with rock-masses or ridges. 

 These were all rounded, furrowed, and smoothed by ice, 

 and on some of them, where hard quartzose sandstones 

 occurred, the striae, furrows, and deep scooping were perfectly 

 developed, all following the general direction of the St. Law- 

 rence valley, whatever their shape or aspect. This is the most 

 conclusive indication of ice-action as opposed to other causes. 

 In the evening the scene from the hotel was charming. In 

 addition to the natural beauties of the surface, there were 

 many pretty or elegant villas on the larger islands, with fine 

 lawns and masses of bright flowers, while many pretty yachts 

 were sailing about or lying at anchor. American wealth 

 had here displayed itself to some advantage in a tract of 

 country of such a nature as hardly to admit of any serious 

 deterioration of its natural beauty. 



The next morning at seven I went on by steamer to 

 Montreal, passing many picturesque islands, and with 

 occasional distant views of the Adirondacks. We also passed 

 down the whole series of rapids, not very remarkable as com- 

 pared with those of the Rio Negro, except the two named 

 the " Coteau " and the " Lachine." These rush and boil, and 

 form waves as in a chopping sea, with occasional eddies 

 and whirls where the vessel had to pass between reefs and 



