Europe -- Description and travel; United States -- Description and travel
We lay-to all last night, the jolly Captain up on the bridge, to watch
for any lifting of the fog, so that he might go ahead at once; but the
fog wouldn’t lift, and so we lay until eight this morning. Just before
breakfast it cleared, and away we went, and soon entered the strait
between Newfoundland and Labrador. By the time we had done breakfast
we were running close by a huge iceberg, like a great irregular wedding
cake, except near the water, where the colour changed from sugary white
into the most delicious green. There were nine other icebergs in sight
to the north, and a number of others round us, just showing above the
water, one like a great ichthyosaurus creeping along the waves, or a
white bear with a very long neck. Had we gone on last night it would
have been a perilous adventure. Soon afterwards we sighted the _North
American_, a companion ship belonging to the same Company, running some
miles in front of us to the north. We had a most exciting race, coming
abreast of her about twelve, and communicating by signals. Then we drew
ahead, and shall be in Quebec nearly a day before her. Then we played
shovel-board on deck, the air getting more balmy every minute as we drew
out of the ice region. We had a grand gathering of emigrants amidships,
and sung hymns, “Jesus, lover of my soul,” and others, with a few
words from G------, the busy parson, who has recovered from his long
sea-sickness at last, and is a famous fellow. The concert of the
Peruvians came off with a great _eclat_ after dinner. They put me in the
chair, and I introduced the performers with a slight discourse about the
Smith family (the Captain’s name is Smith), and at the end they voted
thanks to me, imparting the great success of the voyage to my remarkable
talent for making folk agree and pull together--very flattering, but
scarcely accurate. Then somebody discovered that it was a glorious
moonlight, so up we all went, and very soon there was a fiddler and a
dance on deck, which is only just over. We are well in the Gulf of St.
Lawrence, and all going as well as possible.
Mouth of the St. Lawrence.
I am much pleased with the specimens of Canadians whom we have on
board. There are some twenty of them, with their wives, daughters, and
small boys. They are a quiet, well-informed, pleasant set of men,
and ready and pleased to talk of their country and her prospects. My
conversation runs to a great extent, as you may suppose, on the chances
of farming in Canada West, which is the part of the colony with the
greatest future, and I am much pleased with what I hear. Any man with a
capital of from £2000 to £3000 may do very well, and make money quite as
fast as is good for him, if he will only keep steady and work; and the
life is exceedingly fascinating for youngsters.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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