xxxii] CALIFORNIA TO QUEBEC 191 



and very cold wind ; and at 10 a.m. we started down the St. 

 Lawrence. Fortunately, I had a cabin to myself, as I was 

 very unwell during the whole voyage, with chest oppression, 

 and asthma for the first time in my life. 



Having now left North America, I may say just a few 

 words of my general impressions as to the country and the 

 people. In my journal I find this note : " During more than 

 ten months in America, taking every opportunity of exploring 

 woods and forests, plains and mountains, deserts and gardens, 

 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 look out 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 occupa- 

 tion of the land as it was required to supply food for the 

 inhabitants, together with our mild winters allowing of con- 

 tinuous cultivation, 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 bank and the 



