Erik Hougen, from Thiin, stated that he took a ride on a steam car from Albany, a distance upward which hauled 18 cars full of people; but when they came to such a hill he said, the engine let go of them and the other cars went down the hill by themselves; in the middle of the hill they met a car with an awfully large load of stones which went up on the other track. I did not see any engine that pulled but by the side of the load was a big iron beam which went on cushions. This was probably the machine. Perhaps this was in the same hill on which we saw the cars go. In Rochester we had heard it said that there were Norwegians there; thither we came one morning early and went ashore and looked about in the city. Ansteen now met a man that had arrived a year before; this man was going to work so he did not get to talk much with him; he directed us to where we might meet one who had been there a few years but him we did not meet. While we went there and waited we met a man by a bridge who was from Faaloino in Stavanger County and had come over the year before. He told us where the Norwegians had located in the west, namely, in the State of Illinois, which was over 1000 miles from Buffalo. He told us that the Norwegians who had come to Illinois had written to them how it was there, that a plain laborer could get from 1 to 1½ dollars per day and afterwards about the tradesmen, how much they could get according to their kind; he said, “if you have so much money that you can get there, you should not stop before you get there; if I had so much money I would go tomorrow,” said he. He went with us into a merchant he was acquainted with and asked if our money was good enough; but he said that it did not pass in Illinois and if they desired would exchange it without any per cent. That was very good for there we got Illinois money; yes, we got some silver too in place of paper.--The above mentioned man told us that the canal was damaged and that we must not make contract with the captain farther than there for the time being. Now, we parted with pleasure from this man and betook us on the journey to Buffalo, which is 100 miles from Rochester.