t day, and
bright days there are the rule, excepting perhaps the Bosphorus as
you near Constantinople, I have seen nothing to equal it. Shortly
before arrival the Brooklyn suspension bridge, the finest structure
of its kind on earth, comes in view. But of this wonderful bridge
presently. We left the good ship _City of Rome_ some three or four
miles down-stream, and after being transferred and closely packed in
an inland boat, we steamed up the Hudson river to New York.

It is only two and a half centuries (1609) since the first European
entered the New York Bay, and yet the _coup d'oeil_ from the water
of the vast city and its surroundings argues many centuries of
existence. America is wonderful in much, but in nothing more than its
growth. I felt this first then, and my after life daily increased my
wonder.

But here we are at the custom-house. My first experience of the
scarcity of labour in the States came that day. There were no porters
of any kind in the searching-room to move the luggage (it is
"baggage" in America), and I had to carry all mine myself. It was
brought in and thrown down anywhere. The examination took place at
the far end of the building, but each and every one had to carry his
own things there. With this exception it was plain sailing, for the
officers did the work quickly, and were not painfully suspicious.

CHAPTER II.

New York--National types--American currency--The States as a cheap
domicile.

As London is the capital of Great Britain, I suppose New York may be
called the first city in the United States, and yet I doubt its right
to be so named. Commercially and in size it may be so, but scarcely
in appearance. As regards buildings, cleanliness, commodious
high-ways, the _tout-ensemble_ which one looks for in a capital, San
Francisco, on the Pacific coast, takes by much the precedence, and I
am not sure that Chicago does not in a measure do the same, though
not in a like degree. As regards the climatic advantages of New York
and the capital of California, there cannot be two opinions. New York
is certainly not a nice climate, while I believe there is none on
this earth to equal in excellence that of San Francisco. Still, the
inhabitants of a city are not answerable for the climate!

There is not a decently paved street in New York. The asphalte and
wooden pavements of London and Paris are unknown there. I was told
both had been tried, but that the climate was against them. I co