which is constantly sending forth swarms to establish other hives elsewhere, but does not itself admit of extension; whereas the Americans are already upwards of 40,000,000, perhaps nearly 45,000,000 of people who are continually extending themselves every day; they have not one hive but forty hives, and these only very partially occupied; and not only do they send their swarms into their own hives, but they are continually receiving new swarms from us and from others. It follows, as a matter of course, that under such circumstances the forty hives must surpass the one hive in population and production, if only they keep together. And we may be very comfortable at home without grudging them their extension.

In truth, what the Americans suffer from at present is too much land. They would have better settled what they have if they had less of it. At one time it was supposed that soon after passing the Missouri they had reached the natural limit in that direction, and that the country was then bounded by a great rainless tract, marked in the map as the great American desert; but it has been discovered that this is quite a mistake, that the country called desert is not desert at all, but very capable of excellent cultivation, and especially good for raising wheat and cattle. The most rapidly developing States in the west are those situated in that tract marked as desert in the map. In fact, that is the great feature of recent American extension, and from these there comes a large portion of the wheat and the beef which to-day renders your food so much cheaper

than it has been. Wheat is a plant which thrives in a dry climate, and great tracts in the far west are now found to be suitable to it, while even where the land is too dry or steep for wheat, good grazing is still found on the slopes and in the valleys of the Rocky Mountains.

THE CLIMATE.

The Americans are accustomed rather to boast of their climate, and to compare the brightness of their skies with our foggy atmosphere; but on the other hand there is no doubt of this, that they suffer from extremes of heat and cold more than we do. The heat in summer is excessive in New York. For a few weeks in the height of summer I am told that it is not an uncommon thing for the thermometer to stand at 110°, and to be almost as high at night as in the daytime. And then the cold in winter is very severe, and though kept out of houses by stoves -not the most wholesome things in the world— much interferes with agricultural and other opera tions. It is generally believed that the effect of this climate has been to make the American race perhaps keener and brighter, but not so healthy and rosy as our people are. The difference in the women especially has long been noticed. Still I am bound to say I saw a great many men in America who looked very robust and well, and might have passed for Scotchmen; and that even some of the ladies are now becoming pretty beefy, as it has been irreverently

expressed. I say this without detracting from the reputation for a somewhat delicate-looking beauty which is well deserved by so many of them. The great advantage for practical purposes of the American climate is the favourable distribution of the rainfall. The rain seems never to fail, and it generally comes just when it is most wanted. I believe it is almost entirely due to the fortunate distribution of the rainfall that the Southern States so completely beat countries where labour is infinitely cheaper in the production of cotton. The valley of the Mississippi has throughout a very full and good supply of rain at the right season, and throughout the Union there seems to be less trouble from bad weather at harvest time than with us. Many crops, maize especially, stand out for long till it is convenient to reap them. In California I believe the wheat is left standing for weeks without injury. I should tell you here that in what I say of America, I usually do not refer to the Californian countries beyond the mountains. I did not go there; but I found that if I remarked anything that was wanting in America they always said, 'Ah, you would get that in California.' I have no doubt from what I learned that California really has a different climate-not so hot in summer, nor so cold in winter, but more like that of Southern Europe, as shown by its fruits and other productions. I think one of the most extraordinary things I know, as showing the difference between the energies of different races, is that the Spaniards were actually possessed of California for hundreds of years, and

never discovered that it was worth anything at all, whereas the Americans no sooner got it than they made it one of the finest countries in the world. At the same time I should say this by way of caution, that under the old Spanish grants of land all California has been monopolised, and it is not owned by settlers, as the other parts of the States. The man who goes there must expect to be a labourer rather than an owner of land.

THE RACES COMPOSING THE POPULATION.

And now I will tell you something about the origin and breed, if I may use the expression, of the people of America. The foundation of the people— that upon which their language and manners are based-is almost entirely English, derived in fact from the southern counties of England, from which the early settlers came. Indeed, I am inclined to think that many of the peculiarities in language and other respects, which we now call American, are really old English, or rather old south of England peculiarities. We Scotch have not put a special Scotch impress on any part of the United States, as we have in Ireland and other parts of the world. In Canada only does one hear very largely the Scottish tongue and find especially Scottish settlements. But although none of the United States are specially Scotch there is a very large and very valuable infusion of Scotch blood throughout all of them. I found that an immense number of the best and most prominent men

wherever I went claimed Scotch descent, or at least a share of Scottish blood. Then there is another allied breed which is very prominent in almost every part of the United States-one of the finest races of the world-of which we have reason to be proud and may well think second only to ourselves. I mean the Northern Irish, universally called in America Scotch-Irish, expressing by that term people of Scotch origin who had settled in Ireland. They have emigrated to America in large numbers, and are among the best farmers and the best men in every way. There is, as you know, a very large SouthernIrish element in the States, mostly comparatively recent emigrants, of the Catholic religion. A very great deal has been said against these Irish in the States. I confess I had rather been led to believe that they were a rowdy and not very prosperous set. I have been agreeably surprised by what I learned of them in America. It is true they have not very much risen to the higher places, in fact seem comparatively seldom to rise as compared with Scotch or Scotch-Irish, except as politicians; but they are admirable labourers, and it is almost a proverb in the States to say that a good workman does as much as an Irishman. The railways and other great works of the States are almost dependent upon Irish labour. And in the cotton mills of the Northern States, which now so severely rival Lancashire, I am told that the Irish girls work better and are generally preferred to Americans and Canadians who work with them in the mills. Although the Irish have not shown that