ithout any luggage sat on
the seat behind the driver, so that the huge thing bounced and swung
upon the straps on which it was hung so as to recall the worst horrors
of New Zealand staging. The driver never spoke without an oath, and
though two ladies were passengers, cursed his splendid horses the whole
time. Formerly, even the most profane men intermitted their profanity
in the presence of women, but they "have changed all that." Every one
I saw up there seemed in a bad temper. I suspect that all their "smart
tricks" in mining shares had gone wrong.

The road pursued the canyon to Idaho Springs, a fashionable mountain
resort in the summer, but deserted now, where we took a superb team of
six horses, with which we attained a height of 10,000 feet, and then a
descent of 1,000 took us into Georgetown, crowded into as remarkable a
gorge as was ever selected for the site of a town, the canyon beyond
APPARENTLY terminating in precipitous and inaccessible mountains,
sprinkled with pines up to the timber line, and thinly covered with
snow. The area on which it is possible to build is so circumcised and
steep, and the unpainted gable-ended houses are so perched here and
there, and the water rushes so impetuously among them, that it reminded
me slightly of a Swiss town. All the smaller houses are shored up with
young pines on one side, to prevent them from being blown away by the
fierce gusts which sweep the canyon. It is the only town I have seen
in America to which the epithet picturesque could be applied. But
truly, seated in that deep hollow in the cold and darkness, it is in a
terrible situation, with the alpine heights towering round it. I
arrived at three, but its sun had set, and it lay in deep shadow. In
fact, twilight seemed coming on, and as I had been unable to get my
circular notes cashed at Denver, I had no money to stay over the next
day, and much feared that I should lose Green Lake, the goal of my
journey. We drove through the narrow, piled-up, irregular street,
crowded with miners standing in groups, or drinking and gaming under
the verandas, to a good hotel declivitously situated, where I at once
inquired if I could get to Green Lake. The landlord said he thought
not; the snow was very deep, and no one had been up for five weeks, but
for my satisfaction he would send to a stable and inquire. The amusing
answer came back, "If it's the English lady traveling in the mountains,
she can have a horse,