e of squash rackets, and the Prince left,
undaunted by the snow, for week-end shooting. On Tuesday, October
14th, he was in the train again, travelling East, in the direction of
the Cobalt mining country, buoyed up by the prophecy of the local
weather-wise that the cold snap would not endure, but would be followed
by the delightfully keen yet warm weather of the "Indian Summer." The
local weather-wise were right, but it took time.

CHAPTER XX

SILVER, GOLD AND COMMERCE

I

Cobalt is a fantasy town. It is a Rackham
drawing with all its little grey houses
perched up on queer shelves and masses of
greeny-grey rock. Its streets are whimsical. They
wander up and down levels, and in and out of houses,
and sometimes they are roads and sometimes they
are stairs. One glance at them and I began to
repeat, "There was a crooked man, who walked a
crooked mile." A delightful genius had done the
town to illustrate that rhyme.

And the rope railways that sent a procession of
emotionless buckets across the train when we pulled
in, the greeny-grey lake that presently (inside the
town) ceased being a lake and became a big lake
basin of smooth, greeny-grey mine slime, the vast
greeny-grey mounds of mill refuse, the fantastic
spideriness of the lattice mill workings, and humped
corrugated iron sheds, all of them slightly
greeny-grey in the prevailing fashion--the whole picture
was fantastic; indeed, Cobalt appears a city of gnomes.

We had travelled all Tuesday and Wednesday,
striking east from Winnipeg, only stopping occasionally
for the Prince to return the courtesies of the
CHAPTER XXI

NIAGARA AND THE TOWNS OF WESTERN ONTARIO

I

The best first impression of Niagara Falls is, I think, the one the
Prince of Wales obtained.

Those who really wish to experience the thrills of grandeur and poetry
of this marvel had better delay their visit until a night in summer,
and make arrangements with the railway time-table to get there
somewhere after dark. Upon arriving they must hire a car, and drive
down to the splendid boulevard on the Canadian side. They will then
see the great mass of water under the shine of lights, falling
eternally, eternally presenting a picture of almost cruel beauty. They
will then know an experience that transcends all other experiences as
well as all attempts at description.

The curious feeling of disappointment which comes to many in daylight
will have been guarded against, and, s