in circumference, it is wonderful that accidents are not more frequent.' 99 *

Thus ended the excursion to the famous Halleim mine, where I was occupied for the space of a complete hour in getting thumped and bumped, rubbed and scrubbed, with mind and body more agitated than ever occurred to me, I am happy to say, in any previous hour of my existence.

It has once or twice happened to me, in my various wanderings, owing to what may be termed bad generalship, that I have suddenly fallen short in the pocket. This happened to me when I was in the town of St. Petersburg. At the time that I first ascertained this shortness of the purse, I had two remedies presented to me for choice, viz., to write to England, and wait until a remittance arrived, or start immediately, and take a secondclass berth. Upon reflection, I found that all my money would be expended before the arrival of the ⚫ next mail, a most unpleasant and very objectionable position for any traveller to be placed in. Having paid for a first-class berth in the steamer, I calculated that if the captain would refund me the difference between the first and second cabins, I should manage to arrive in England without borrowing or begging.

I had come to the conclusion of sailing by the steamer, and as my resolution had been formed very suddenly, only a few hours before its departure from Cronstadt, I had no time to lose. I started from St. Petersburg by the tender belonging to the steamer, which, of course, would arrive at the proper time; but, unfortunately in my own case, I was compelled to get the signature of the Governor of Cronstadt previous to my leaving Russia, and as a few minutes only remained to effect this, I had to make the best of my time, • Extract from Murray's " Guide-Book.”

66

and call into operation all the best physical and intellectual powers belonging to me.

When I arrived at Cronstadt, I saw an English sailor, and shouted to him from the steamer at the top of my voice, saying, "Go and tell the British Consul that there is an Englishman in great distress." This had the desired effect. I was soon in the presence of the Consul, and very quickly after that I had the good luck to get my passport properly put en règle.

The next important thing was to get on board the steamer bound for England. I got into a boat, thinking that the fellows had proper instructions to row me to the right steamer, when it struck me all of a sudden that some mistake had occurred. The fellows rowed me to the wrong steamer, When I arrived under her bow, I sang out, in a shrill voice, in both French and English, that I was an Englishman bound for England, and in search of the English steamer, and would be much obliged to any kind soul to give the proper directions to those worthy Russians, who were evidently bent on transporting me, against my wish, to some distant and foreign shore. Finally, proper directions were given, and I at last succeeded in reaching the steamer bound for Old England, and I can say, with the greatest sincerity, that I was never more glad to get out of any country than tyrannical Russia, where true liberty, as we understand it in England, is of exotic growth in its sterile soil.

CHAPTER XII.

United States-Excursion to Saratoga—An extraordinary Poison-Dangers of the Naturalist-Abundance of the Rattle-Snake-Death in attempting to civilise one of those Reptiles-Taking in a Stock of Lake-Ice-A Series of Narrow Escapes-Voyage from New Orleans to the Havannah-A Crowded Craft-An Alarm of Fire-Calms and Impatience—Village of Twining, near Tewkesbury— A Skating Adventure-Narrow Escapes in various Parts of the World.

IN the year 1845, when travelling in the United States, I made an excursion with Professor Hopkins, in the neighbourhood of Saratoga, in search of plants and minerals, upon which occasion we saw a specimen of the rhus vernix, which is a most extraordinary poison. In the spring months, this plant is highly dangerous, even to approach, for the air becomes impregnated with its poisonous properties. Dr. A-m, of Saratoga, informed me, that he had had many cases of poisoning from the wood of this tree being mixed with the common fuel, and that its fumes have affected the lungs in such a powerful manner as to have communicated its poisonous qualities even to those most valuable

organs.

The reader may imagine some of the difficulties and dangers of the foreign naturalist on his first landing in this neighbourhood. The species rhus glabrum is a very beautiful plant, both in leaf and flower, and so attracted me, from its striking features of peculiarity in having a scarlet cone of congloberate berries, that I was induced to taste it, and found it most agreeable. Had this plant,

which is quite harmless, turned out to be the rhus vernix, the latter the most poisonous plant of the country, I need scarcely tell the reader that the chance of his perusing this would have been, in that case, very doubtful, for, in all probability, I should have been poisoned.

In addition to these poisonous and destructive plants, the rattle-snake is to be found abundantly, at the distance of four miles from Saratoga, and perhaps nearer. A German doctor had domes- . ticated some of them, and even lived with them. Some of them escaped the doctor's vigilance, and most likely may turn out to be the source of a numerous race of rattle-snakes quite near to the town. The doctor ultimately lost his life by his rash experiments in attempting his extraordinary feat of civilising a rattle-snake up to the standard of homo sapiens.

I had been botanizing the whole of one day in woods, hills, and valleys, quite up to the knees in grass, when, returning home, I learnt from a workman, and that for the first time, that there were rattle-snakes in the neighbourhood. Thus I had to congratulate myself upon a happy deliverance from the jaws of death, both from poisonous plants and the dreadful bite of the frightful reptile.

The

In the same year, when travelling in the United States, I visited a small lake, very near to the water-works of the city of Philadelphia, where I observed the very singular process of taking in a stock of ice from the lake into an ice-house. process was as follows:-The communication from the lake to the ice-house was maintained by means of a wooden scaffolding, and formed an inclined plane down to the latter, by which means the ice, when once put in motion, glided along the surface. There were placed at intervals two men, whose

office was to give a helping hand to it, if at all inclined to be lazy. The height of the scaffolding, at the extremity of the lake, probably might be sixty feet above the level, which required the use of pulleys, worked by horses, to raise the ice to the top, and then, being on an inclined plane, which was also very slippery, an immediate and gradual travel to the ice-house was the result. The distance from the lake to the house might, probably, be 200 yards. I shall never forget the novelty of large oblong pieces of ice, beautifully transparent, and mountains in miniature, slipping along in a very graceful manner, until they reached their destination, where a number of men, with hooked sticks, were directing each piece as it passed along (without allowing it to stop) to some particular corner of the great reception-room, where its huge masses were as regularly and closely packed as cakes in a confectioner's shop,

The pieces of ice, before arriving at the scaffolding, when it has a thickness of about two inches, is cut by a plough; when thicker than that by an axe; and then it is towed along in an open part of the water, until it reaches the foot of the scaffolding, when it is raised by the method previously described.

I was standing on the lake viewing this very curious scene, not far from a man engaged in the act of ploughing ice, when I heard him mutter something which I could not understand at the time, being somewhat abstracted. I paused for a considerable time without answering him, and afterwards thinking he might have some information to communicate relative to ice-cutting, I said to the individual, "What did you say just now?" to which he replied very coolly, "If you had proceeded to where they are ploughing, you would have been drowned; for, although the ice here is