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straggling here and there around it. We learned on meeting that they had just recovered their feet after an upset, and the mud on their clothes sufficiently corroborated the statement; happily no one was hurt, the stage having opportunely turned over against a steep bank by the side of the road. They told us that our turn was coming, but we thought that the roads before us could hardly be worse than those behind, and that with patience and caution we might manage to get through.

About seven in the evening we reached Chittinengo, where we got tea. Off we again started, and while struggling up a very steep hill, our carriage descended into a gap with so violent a shock, that the bolt or pivot on which the front axle turned snapped in two, and the horses had nearly dragged the front wheels from under the body of the waggon. Our driver however was happily provided with a spare bolt, the passengers got out, a stout rail from the nearest fence was thrust under the carriage, and up to the ancles in mud, part on each side, we managed by dint of strength to sustain the waggon till the axle was replaced in its proper position, and the new bolt inserted. At nine o'clock we reached Manlius, but were compelled to jolt on for three hours longer; exactly at midnight we reached Onondago Hollow, and had the comfort to find that our twenty hours' work amounted to no more than fifty miles.

Before our weary frames were half refreshed the

AUBURN-PLEASURES OF A WOODEN BRIDGE. 15 periodical time of starting had come round, and at four o'clock in the morning we resumed our uncomfortable seats. No improvement had taken place in the roads, but the rain had ceased, and of course travelling was somewhat less disagreeable. At ten o'clock we reached Skeneateles, at the upper end of a lake of the same name, a distance of sixteen miles. About two o'clock we passed through the village of Auburn, which has every external appearance of prosperity, but in present circumstances it by no means appeared to us the 'loveliest village of the plain." About five in the afternoon we reached the Cayuga lake, which is here very nearly a mile in width, and is crossed by a wooden bridge supported upon piles. The wheels of our chariot rolled along the level platform, with a smoothness to which we had long been strangers; and so luxuriant seemed the contrast, that on getting to the farther end, some of the passengers proposed that we should turn the horses and enjoy it a second time!

Ascending the hill from the lake, the bolt in the front axle again gave way; but we had learned the remedy for such mishaps, and soon applied ourselves to the work with energy and success. A few miles farther we passed through the flourishing settlement of Waterloo, built upon the

1 A new penitentiary has been built here, for the State of New York; and a theological academy has been established, in connexion with the Presbyterian church.

bank of a creek which flows between the Cayuga and Seneca lakes. The situation is most romantic, but the stranger's astonishment is chiefly excited, by the rapidity with which this and many other settlements on this road have started into maturity. The first building was erected only three years ago, and already it possesses a Court House, hotel, and stores in abundance.

A new variety of American roads now commended itself to our attention. A wearisome swamp intervenes between Waterloo and the Seneca lake, and a yet more wearisome log causeway, affords the means of crossing it. This substitute for a road is composed entirely of the trunks of trees, laid down layer above layer, till a solid but rugged platform is elevated above the level of the marsh. The logs are piled upon each other without any kind of squaring or adjustment, and the jolting of the wheels from one to another is perfectly horrible. Bad however in the superlative degree as such riding is, it was connected in the present instance with additional circumstances of annoyance, not usually attendant. By the heavy and long continued rains the swamp had been converted into a lake, which gradually rising in height had at last completely covered the wooden road. Night had sunk down upon us, and though there was a glimmering of moonlight, it had to struggle through a dense atmosphere of clouds; our charioteer, however, feeling secure in his knowledge of the chan

SENECA LAKE-GENEVA.

17

nel, drove dauntlessly forward, the horses dashed into the water, and very soon our bones bore testimony to the correctness of his pilotage. Well was it for us that the driver's skill was not inferior to his daring, for had he gone to either side of the proper line, horses and waggon, with all that it contained, would probably have found in the marsh their last earthly resting place.

Two or three

times it seemed as if such a consummation was approaching :-several logs had floated out of their places and left yawning gaps in the causeway, across which our horses might be said to swim rather than walk, and the wheels followed them with a plunge, so sudden and so deep, that it felt as if the bottom of the road had literally fallen out, and our whole establishment were going after it.

About ten o'clock we reached the Seneca lake, and were in hopes that Geneva, the village on its bank, was to terminate our day's toils. In this however we were disappointed. The innkeeper averred that it was absolutely necessary that the mail should go forward to Canandaigua, sixteen miles farther; he assured us that the road was much better than those we had travelled, promised us a comfortable carriage, good horses, and an excellent driver, and said that we should certainly accomplish it in less than four hours.

Persuaded against our own judgment to rely on these promises, we consented to go forward; and a young man with a bugle horn was put into the

carriage beside us, to cheer us forward with its courage-stirring notes. I did not at first suspect the object of this accompaniment, but it soon became obvious that it was intended to prevent our falling asleep. I already mentioned that the stage waggon was open all round, and you would of course attribute the necessity of this to the heat of the climate. It was subservient, however, to another important purpose as well as that of keeping us cool. When the wheels on one side descended into a rut, the passengers immediately threw themselves by a simultaneous motion towards the opposite, and those who were close by the side thrust their heads and shoulders through the opening; this sudden shifting of the centre of gravity counterpoised the waggon's tendency to upset, and we had become by practice so expert in the manœuvre, that often, when the vehicle seemed to tremble on the very turn, the weight of our heads turned the scale in our favour. The prudent landlord at Geneva however knew well, that if we fell asleep, as our long continued fatigues would strongly dispose us to do, our heavy heads in place of being thrust out of the carriage would necessarily make a great addition to the leeward weight within, and to a certainty capsize the machine. He therefore very thoughtfully provided us with a trumpeter, who by singing songs, relating his marvellous adventures, and ever and anon wakening the warlike energies of his instrument, managed

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