in districts where there were no large rivers. Then
in course of time various lines converged together, new railways were
constructed, and now the forty-nine States are covered with a connected
network of lines. Moreover, the country roads are so bad that they must
be supplemented by railways."

"A large number of bridges must be necessary across all the large
rivers?"

"Yes, certainly. The Americans are adepts in bridge-building, and the
railway bridges over the Mississippi and Missouri and other rivers are
masterpieces of the boldest art. Where lines cross deeply eroded
valleys, bridges of timber were formerly built, like sky-scraping
parapets with rails laid along the top; but such bridges are now fast
disappearing and iron bridges are built, and the trains run at full
speed over elegant erections which from a distance look just like a
spider's web. Just look to your left. There you have one of the world's
strongest bridges, the suspension bridge between New York and Brooklyn.
It is of colossal dimensions, and yet it looks so fine and delicate as
it hangs between its two mighty piers. You see that vessels with the
tallest masts can pass clear below, for it is poised 135 feet above high
water. The length is nearly a mile and a quarter. It is wonderful that
men have been able to stretch this huge span of iron above the water.
Wait a little and you will see a kind of aerial railway."

Then the Stockholm man takes his new friend to a station to travel on
the elevated railway through New York. Gunnar's astonishment is beyond
bounds as he rushes along on a framework, supported by innumerable iron
pillars, over streets and squares, and sees the seething crowd moving in
carriages and on foot below his feet.

[Illustration: PLATE XXXII. "SKY-SCRAPERS" IN NEW YORK.]

"Here is the Central Park. Is it not delightful with its leafy trees and
cool pools? In summer it is burning hot in the town, and it is
refreshing to rest an hour or two in the shade of the trees. The winters
are equally cold, and raw, biting winds blow from the east coast. Here
is Fifth Avenue, the finest street of New York. In the row of palaces
you see here live millionaires, railway kings, steel kings, petroleum
kings, corn kings, a whole crop of kings. But I would rather we went to
look at the rows of houses facing the Hudson River."

"New York lies, then, on the Hudson River?"

"That is so, but more properly speaking New York stands on the island of