eir heads above the highest
tides to warn the mariner of his danger. At length a gigantic cone of
rock rises out of the water on the right of the channel to a height of
fifty or sixty feet, resembling some vast old cathedral: this is
Dumbarton Castle, with the anciently famous but now decaying town of
Dumbarton lying at the head of a small bay behind it. A little lower on
the left is Port Glasgow, the head of navigation for very large
vessels; and three miles lower still is Greenock, quite a stirring
seaport, somewhat addicted to ship-building. Here our boat, which had
left Glasgow (22 miles above) at 4 P. M. held on till 8 for the train
which left the same port at 7 with the mail and additional passengers;
and then laid her course directly across the channel to Belfast, 138
miles from Glasgow, where she is due at 5 to-morrow morning.

GLASGOW.

Looks more American than any other city I have seen in Europe. Half of
Pittsburgh spliced on to half of Philadelphia would make a city very
like Glasgow. Iron is said to be made cheaper here than elsewhere in the
world, the ore being alloyed with a carbonaceous substance which
facilitates the process and reduces the cost of melting. Tall chimneys
and black columns of smoke are abundant in the vicinity. The city is
about twice the size of Edinburgh, with more than double the trade of
that capital, and has risen rapidly from relative insignificance. New
rows of stately houses have recently been built, and the "court end" of
the city is extending rapidly toward the West. A brown or dark gray
stone, as in Edinburgh, is the principal material used, and gives the
city a very substantial appearance. Most of the town, being new, has
wide and straight streets; in the older part, they are perverse and
irrational, as old concerns are apt obstinately to be. They have an old
Cathedral here (now Presbyterian) of which the citizens seem quite
proud, I can't perceive why. Architecturally, it seems to me a sad waste
of stone and labor. The other churches are also mainly Presbyterian,
and, while making less pretensions, are far more creditable to the taste
of their designers. The town is built on both sides of the Clyde, which
is crossed by fine stone bridges, but seven-eighths of it lie on the
north. Ancient Glasgow, embracing the narrow and crooked streets, lies
nearly in the center, and is crowded with a squalid and miserable
population, at least half the women and children, including mothe