On the morning of the 9th day, the captain, discovering that the
barometer had fallen between two and three inches during the night, due
preparations were of course made to meet the storm. It came on in the
afternoon, a hurricane. Then followed the usual havock of boats and
canvass, the surges making a clean breach over the deck; the passengers,
of course, gave themselves up for lost, and even the crew are said to
have been pretty nearly of the same opinion. However, the wind went down
at last, the sea grew comparatively smooth, and in twenty-four hours
more, they found themselves on the banks of Newfoundland. The writer
thinks that it was fortunate for them that the storm had not caught them
in the short swell of these shallow waters, as was probably the case of
the President, whose melancholy fate so long excited, and still excites
a feeling of surprise and sorrow in the public mind.
It was lost in this very storm. Next day came another of the sea
wonders. The cry of land started them all from the dinner table; but the
land happened to be an immense field of ice, which, with the
inequalities of its surface and the effect of refraction, presented some
appearance of a wooded country. On that night the cry of "Light a-head,"
while they were still several hundred miles from land, excited new
astonishment. "All the knowing ones" clearly distinguished a magnificent
revolver. The paddles were accordingly stopped to have a cast of the
lead, but in another half hour it was ascertained that the revolver was
a newly risen star.
At length land was really seen, and after a run of fourteen days, they
cast anchor in the harbour of Halifax. But as Boston was their true
destination they steered for it at once. Their progress had been rapid,
for they entered Boston Bay in thirty-six hours from Halifax, a distance
of 390 miles. Boston is more English looking than New York. The gently
undulating shores of the bay, highly cultivated, bring to memory the
green hills of England, and within the town the buildings and the
inhabitants have a peculiarly English air.
As speed was an object, the party immediately left the town by the
railway, passing through Lowell and reaching Nashua. This is one of the
rapid growths of America. In 1819 this place was a village of but
nineteen houses. It now contains 19,000 inhabitants, with churches,
hotels, prisons, and banks. Here the party went off in two detachments,
one in a sleigh with six horses, and the other rattled along in a
coach-and-four. At the next stage the author exchanged the coach for a
sleigh, a matter of no great importance to the world, but which may be
mentioned as a caution against rash changes. For the first few miles the
new conveyance went on merrily, and the passengers congratulated
themselves on their wisdom. We must now let him speak for himself.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account