We are astonished at the enormous piles of buildings in this city;
land, one would think, must be cheap. All the shops cover an
equally large area, though, in many, several offices are on one
floor. It is too marvellous to think, when one looks at this
place, that three and a half square miles in the centre of the
town, which is now in regular handsome broad streets, the fire of
eleven years ago should have so completely burnt everything to the
ground, though now not a vestige of the conflagration is left. The
houses have even had time to get quite blackened with the smoke of
the soft coal they use, which is found in great quantities all
through Pennsylvania; the mines and furnaces we passed on our way
up.

The country the whole way was very pretty. We crossed the
Susquehana river, which is grand in width and scenery, and started
the Juanita through a chain of mountains turning in and out with
every bend of the river, so that one felt always on the slant and
could generally see either end of the train. Unfortunately it
poured with rain the whole way, so any distant views or tops of
mountains were invisible. Some of the country is like England,
undulating, rolling, well-cultivated fields, enclosed with
pailings which overlap each other and would be awkwardish
obstacles in a hunting country; but one misses, like abroad, the
cattle--we saw one or two stray cows, but little else. Around
Chicago it is a flat plain, and, as there has been a good deal of
rain lately, water is out everywhere. For the last hour of our
journey we came through the suburbs, and, as there is no
protection whatsoever to the line, we had to come very slowly
(about seven miles an hour), ringing a great bell attached to the