148 
NOTES OF AN AMERICAN TOUR. 
the form of a gigantic elephant, 180ft. length in the body, 
and 170ft. height to the top of the liowdah canopy. It is 
entered by a spiral staircase up one of the legs, and stands 
in a tea garden on the shore (a truly American notion). 
We now start from New York for the far West in the 
Philadelphia express, the quickest train in America, run¬ 
ning the ninety miles from New York to Philadelphia in 
two hours, with one stoppage ; and although this may not 
appear at first any very special speed, the case is mate¬ 
rially altered when it is noticed that for some miles at 
each end of the journey the train has to travel along 
the streets of the two cities, getting along as well as it 
can, just like a steam tramcar in our streets. It is a 
strange sight to see a big express locomotive with a large 
train of the very long bogie carriages wandering along the 
public streets as if it had lost its way ; its approach heralded 
by the clanging of a great bell on the engine, which is kept 
going incessantly whilst running through a town as a warning 
for clearing the way. The engine whistle is never used in 
towns because of its frightening horses, but they take no 
notice of the bell. The general speed of American trains is 
only about two-tliirds that of English railways, and on the 
longest of the railway journeys, the one direct across the 
continent from New York to San Francisco, the average 
speed throughout, including all stoppages, is only twenty-two 
miles an hour. 
The remarkable feature in the American railwavs is the 
extraordinary length of the lines ; there are five separate 
railway companies working each of them more than 4,000 
miles length of line, and one of these as much as G,000 miles 
length ; and a striking illustration is given by a comparison 
of the American monthly “ Bradshaw,” which takes the 
place of our sixpenny Bradshaw, giving the trains of 19,000 
miles of railway in England, Scotland, and Ireland ; and the 
American one is a two-sliilling book, with the trains of no 
less than 148,000 miles of railway in the United States, 
Canada, and Mexico, and actually amounting to about one 
half of the total railway mileage of the world. 
The line from New York and Philadelphia runs mainly 
over level agricultural country, and approaching Philadelphia 
the striking novelty is seen of peach orchards filled with peach 
trees, standing alone, much like apple trees in appearance, 
and bearing abundance of capital fruit. This fruit is served 
plentifully at the stations and also in the trains by lads who 
are frequently passing through the carriages whilst travelling, 
