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BRIEF NOTES OF A BRIEF TRIP.

THE OVERLAND PASSAGE FROM ENGLAND TO INDIA. *

May 6, 1845.-Left St. Helier's, Jersey, at to 10 A. M Touched at Guernsey at noon-Arrived in Southampton Docks at to 9 P. M.

The

I made the passage in the Wonder, a beautiful little iron steamer of 140 horse power-her tonnage 400. She can be made to run 19 or 20 knots an hour. She was seldom at much more than half speed on our little trip, because she had met with an accident which had slightly injured the machinery. cabins are very elegantly fitted up, and she is compact and comfortable, with two exceptions-one is that the passenger is obliged, in the roughest weather, to pass up to the deck from the cuddy and dive down again to reach the private berths, which, at night, especially in rain and thick darkness, is no trifling inconvenience; the other, is the extreme vibration, occasioned by her size being too small in proportion to her power. The passengers seem affected with St. Vitus's dance and, when seated at table, look like so many Chinese figures shaking their heads in unison.

• This Journal may be regarded as a sort of supplement to the AngloIndian Passage, published by Messrs. Madden and Malcolm, London.The places described in that book are here either passed over altogether or touched upon very slightly. I make no apology for the extremely superficial character of this journal, for what can be expected from the notes of a traveller whirled over sea and land with an almost breathless rapidity? For advice to overland travellers, and numerous minute but useful details, I venture to refer the reader to the Anglo-Indian Passage.

This

Weary and half dead with sickness and extreme cold, we were all very anxious to get on shore, but the Custom House officers and their Regulations are more rigid and severe at Southampton than at any other English port, and when an officer came on board, though he at once gave us permission to land, he for some time refused to allow any passenger to take a single article on shore, except the clothes upon his back, as it was too late to receive and examine our luggage at the Custom House. officer was a short, thick, grizzle-headed, abrupt, consequential, vulgar fellow. The steward introduced him with "Here's the gentleman who will examine the passengers' luggage." "I'll examine no luggage at this time of night," said the officer; “I only come to see that no passenger lands with contraband goods about him." At last he consented, after numerous and urgent entreaties, to examine carpet bags, that passengers might take their immediate necessities on shore with them. A passenger, enquiringly pointed to his portmanteau, in which were all the articles of his toilet; he had no carpet bag. "I'm d-d if I'll examine that to-night," said the Jack in office; so because the unhappy passenger's traps were enclosed in leather instead of carpet, he was prevented from landing them, though he had wished to start by the first train for London on the following morning. Another passenger was very earnest in calling speedy attention to his carpet bag. The officer plunged a knowing hand into its miscellaneous contents. After diving to the very bottom of the bag, the official digits, so well practised in their duty, brought up severa captures. Inexpressibles, shirts and stockings, each succinctly rolled up, one after the other, were made to unfold a tale of smuggling. In the core of one roll was found a packet of segars, in another a pound of tea, and in a third, a pint of brandy. "You have an elegant little supply of prohibited articles in this bag, Sir," said the officer, "and as the bag is so well stocked, I suppose we shall find your larger luggage turned to still better account. All these little articles already discovered must go to the Custom House, where you can attend and claim them to

morrow. In the meanwhile, you may go on shore with a lightened bag." I never in my life saw a man look so truly foolish and uncomfortable as our petty smuggler. How strange, that for so paltry an advantage or profit a man should risk so mortifying an exposure! I do not believe that our fellow passenger had any exciseable articles in his larger packages; but he calculated that a carpet bag would escape examination. The gentleman who owned the portmanteau again urged the officer to examine it, and enquired whether there was any essential difference between a bag and a portmanteau, that one should be passed and the other stopped. "Don't talk to me, Sir," was the answer, "don't talk to me. I go by the regulations."

I had two favorite English larks with me, and I wished to take them on shore, as I was unwilling to leave them to the tender mercy of the cats on board, and a careless steward. The officer at first refused to pass them, but when it was very respectfully urged that he could see at a glance every corner of their cages, and that their wings were too small to conceal articles of value, and their throats too narrow to swallow pairs of French gloves in walnut shells, he was graciously pleased to put his sign manual on the cages with a piece of chalk. He reminded me that there was a duty on birds, but did not press for payment of it. I landed, and got into an omnibus, which, even at that late hour, was waiting to take passengers from the steamers to the different parts of the town. A curious illustration of the sharp practise of the Custom House myrmidons was presented on this occasion. When I arrived at the hotel to which I had directed the coachman to drive me, and was stepping out of the vehicle, a man demanded the duty for the birds. It was only a few pence.

At 6 o'clock A. M. the following morning (Wednesday, May 7th) I visited the substantial well-built Custom House in the docks, and, I must say, that I found the officers considerate and polite. The examination of my trunks was very superficiallittle more than a mere matter of form. These people seem to

know almost intuitively when it is necessary to be severe and when they may be polite. A few minutes after they had passed my trunks so civilly, they overhauled another passenger's packages with very little ceremony, and their discoveries soon justified their freedom.

Left Southampton by the Fast Train at 11 A. M.-arrived at Nine Elms atto 2 P. M.-in less than 3 hours! This is tra

velling indeed! And yet, though I passed over the ground with such amazing rapidity, there was no sort of discomfort. I could read a newspaper's smallest print, or mark the peculiarities of the scenery, without the least difficulty, What clockwork certainty of time-what magical speed—what perfect ease in this mode of travelling! It is certainly one of the greatest marvels and triumphs of this scientific age; and yet, perhaps, that which now excites our wonder, will in another century be thrown into insignificance by a thousand mightier miracles.*

As thus, after my long absence from England, I smoothly glided, as in a sledge, over the level iron road, with such ease and magical rapidity-from the pretty and cheerful town of Southampton to the greatest city of the civilized world-I gave way to child-like wonder and child-like exultation. What a quick succession of lovely landscapes greeted the eye on either side! What a garden-like air of universal cultivation! beautiful, smooth slopes! What green, quiet meadows! rich round trees brooding over their silent shadows!

What

What

What ex

* Of Rail-Road travelling the reality is quite different from the idea that descriptions of it had left upon my mind. Unpoetical as this sort of transit may seem to some minds, I confess I find it excite and satisfy the imagination. The wondrous speed—the quick change of scene-the perfect comfort the life-like character of the power in motion, the invisible, and mysterious, and mighty steam-horse, urged, and guided, and checked by the hand of science-the cautionary, long, shrill whistle-the beautiful grey vapor, the breath of the great animal, floating over the fields by which we pass, sometimes hanging stationary for a moment in the air, and then melting away like a vision-furnish sufficiently congenial amusement for a poetical minded observer.

What an aspect of

quisite dark nooks and romantic lanes! unpretending happiness in the clean cottages, with their little trim gardens! What an air of tranquil grandeur and rural luxury in the noble mansions and glorious parks of the British aristocracy! How the love of nature thrilled my blood with a gentle and delicious agitation, and how proud I felt of my dear native land! It is, indeed, a fine thing to be an Englishman. Whether at home or abroad, he is made conscious of the claims of his country to respect and admiration. As I fed my eye on the loveliness of Nature, or turned to the miracles of Art and Science on every hand, I had always in my mind a secret reference to the effect which a visit to England must produce upon an intelligent and observant foreigner.*

In the following tribute to the loveliness of my Native land, (see the "Essay on Children,") I referred to my visit to England in the year 1824. Upwards of twenty years ago!) The consciousness of my being equally open to similar impressions in a more advanced period of life, makes me rejoice to think what exquisite feelings and associations may survive the wreck of many hopes, when even youth and health are gone :-" When I revisited my dear native country, after an absence of many weary years, and after a long dull voyage, my heart was filled with unutterable delight and admiration. The land seemed a perfect paradise. It was in the spring of the year. The blue vault of heaven, over which were scattered a few silver clouds-the clear atmosphere-the balmy vernal breeze-the quiet and picturesque cattle browsing on luxuriant verdure, or standing knee-deep in a crystal lake—the blue hills sprinkled with snow-white sheep, and sometime partially shaded with wandering clouds-the meadows glowing with golden buttercups and bedropped with daisies-the trim hedges of crisp and sparkling holly—the sound of near but unseen rivulets—and the songs of foliage-hidden birds-the white cottages almost buried amidst trees, like happy human nests-the ivy-covered church, with its old grey spire, 'pointing up to heaven,' and its gilded vane gleaming in the light-the sturdy peasants with their instruments of healthy toil-the white-capped matrons bleaching their newly-washed garments in the sun, and throwing them like snow-patches on green slopes or glossy garden shrubs-the sun-browned village girls, resting idly on their round elbows at small open casements, their faces in sweet keeping with the trellised flowers-the rosy children loitering about the cottage gates or tumbling gaily on the warm grass ;all formed a combination of enchantments that would mock the happiest imitative efforts of human art."

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