rty deck; scooping up the icy water, plunging
one's head into it, and drawing it out, all fresh and glowing with
the cold; was a good thing. The fast, brisk walk upon the towing-path,
between that time and breakfast, when every vein and artery seemed to
tingle with health; the exquisite beauty of the opening day, when light
came gleaming off from everything; the lazy motion of the boat, when
one lay idly on the deck, looking through, rather than at, the deep
blue sky; the gliding on, at night, so noiselessly, past frowning hills,
sullen with dark trees, and sometimes angry in one red burning spot high
up, where unseen men lay crouching round a fire; the shining out of
the bright stars, undisturbed by noise of wheels or steam, or any other
sound than the liquid rippling of the water as the boat went on; all
these were pure delights." *

* "American Notes" (Gadshill Edition), pp. 180-181.

Dickens also thus graphically depicts the unique experience of being
carried over the mountain peaks on the aerial railway:

"There are ten inclined planes; five ascending and five descending; the
carriages are dragged up the former, and let slowly down the latter,
by means of stationary engines; the comparatively level spaces between
being traversed, sometimes by horse, and sometimes by engine power, as
the case demands. Occasionally the rails are laid upon the extreme verge
of a giddy precipice; and looking from the carriage window, the traveler
gazes sheer down, without a stone or scrap of fence between, into the
mountain depths below. The journey is very carefully made, however;
only two carriages traveling together; and while proper precautions are
taken, is not to be dreaded for its dangers.

"It was very pretty traveling thus, at a rapid pace along the heights
of the mountain in a keen wind, to look down into a valley full of light
and softness; catching glimpses, through the tree-tops, of scattered
cabins; children running to the doors; dogs bursting out to bark, whom
we could see without hearing; terrified pigs scampering homewards;
families sitting out in their rude gardens; cows gazing upward with
a stupid indifference; men in their shirt-sleeves looking on at their
unfinished houses, planning out tomorrow's work; and we riding onward,
high abode them, like a whirl-wind. It was amusing, too, when we had
dined, and rattled down a steep pass, having no other motive power than
the weight of the carriages themselves,