to mention?' asked the
officer. 'Why, to an English dockyard-master from Devonport.'

So much for their progress on the eastern coast: now let us turn
westward, ascending the Hudson by one of the river--steamers. Without
doubt, these steam--vessels are the swiftest and best arranged known;
but the speed and size are improving so rapidly, that what is correct
now, may be far behind the mark a year hence. The _Isaac Newton_ is at
present the largest. The saloon, which is gorgeously decorated, is 100
yards long. In this vast, vaulted apartment, the huge mirrors, elegant
carving, and profuse gilding, absolutely dazzle the eye. On first
entering one of these magnificent floating saloons, it is difficult
for the imagination to realise its position. All comparison is at once
defied, as there is nothing like it afloat in the world.

The extent of the lake-trade is prodigious. Its aggregate value for
1850, imports and exports, amounts to 186,484,905 dollars, which is
more by 40,000,000 dollars than the whole foreign export-trade of the
country! The aggregate tonnage employed on the lakes is equal to
203,041 tons, of which 167,137 tons are American, and 35,904 British.
The passenger-trade is not included in the preceding sum; it is valued
at 1,000,000 dollars. 'The mind is lost in astonishment at so
prodigious a commerce. It is not ten years since the first steamer ran
round the chain of lakes. Population, and its commercial concomitants,
are increasing so rapidly, that before twenty years, the lake-trade
alone will be of greater extent and importance than the whole trade of
any other nation on the globe!' The number of emigrants from Europe
and the eastern states annually passing through Buffalo for the Far
West is now one million, and likely, by and by, to increase to two
millions! Cities are consequently rising up with extraordinary
rapidity. The population of Detroit, for example, has increased,
during the last ten years, from 11,000 to 26,000--an advance which is
mainly owing to the facilities afforded by the Michigan Central
Railway, for concentrating on their passage the westward-bound
emigrants. An absurd spirit of speculation has likewise contributed to
the increase. A building and farming mania, similar to the railway
mania in England six years ago, has seized the people. The only
salvation for the speculators is the continued increase of vast swarms
of emigrants from Europe. Chicago is another example of rapid
increa