The Bennington banner. [volume] (Bennington, Vt.) 1858-1894, 1889-01-17
rHRoUcH DAYLIGHTL LAND.

THROUGH DAYLIGHT LAND.
Mr.. w. H. H. Murray is a writer who
needs no introduction to the readers OF
this journal. His powers ofdescription,
his command of language, his fund OF
anecdote are known and appreciated so
as to ensure for whatever comes from
his pen ready reception. When it is
announced that he has made the trans
continental journey over the Canadian
Pacific and that he has written an ac-
count thereof, something very pleasant
will be looked for and in looking the
reader will not be disappointed. Day
light Land the title he has chosen for
his book, abounds in vivid word pic
lures as the route they describe does in
pleasant and striking scenes. The man
and the work were congenial. The re-
suit is book entertaining to read, pless-
ant to look upon and illustrated with
artistic taste. The author had as his
companion Judge Doe, on his way to
his home by the Golden Gate over the
Canadian line, Man from New Hamp-
shire, and Jack Osgoode," and their
conversations add an element Of quaint
humor to the whole that will be duly
appreciated, Travelling towards Port
Arthur, along the north shore of Super
ior, here is one Of the scenes that present
themselves
cat this moment we went roaring
over a bridge whose mighty span
stretched in majesty a hundred feet
above the mad water that poured whirl-
ing downward below us. We glanced
from the window as the rumbling gave
us its signal, and our mind received this
Photographic impression ; a mountain
to the right, mounted like loaf and
wooded perfectly from base to dome ;
to the left precipice, lifting sheer half
thousand feet from the dark pool ly ing
sullen and black in its shadow through
this gorge, and beyond in the distance,
a space of sky shone like mirror, and
under US, the white angry water,-a
picture flashed on us in a second and in
delibly impressed on the memory ; q
picture which keep to this day, and
shall keep till the gallery in which it
hangs, with thousand others, cSumbles
to the foundations.
THE history of bridges is the history
of civilization" remarked the Judge.
But the necessity of demonstrating
with the waiter-it was breakfast time
on the underdoneness of a steak inter-
rupted forever the Judges disquisilion
on the connection between civilization
and cantilever, and led him off into
monologue on the advantages of an cpl
curean taste to traveller, the end and
substance of which was 1.-The equities of
the stomach should not be tr fled with,
SIR"
Again he says, of the same section of
country 'Whirling round the cliff
which brought us in sight of the blue
waters of Lake Superior, as they spark
led and flashed brightly under the lig t
Of the morning. He who has rolled for
fifty miles along the shore of this majes-
tic body of inland water, who has seen
the summer sky arching the blue dome
above 1t, its forest-covered islands, the
hundreds of lnlets that dot its surface,
its curving beaches of brown and yellow
sand, its deep secluded bays and rocky
promontories, has looked upon one Of
the most entertaining and charming pic.
lures of the continent.
Where civilization is impinging on the
wilderness this is the picture that pre-
sents itself /: I'VE are running between
some lofty hills. Here and there we
passed small clearing, with its little
log houses in the center. Each narrow
field was a mass of woodland flowers,
scarlet, purple and white, standing as if
planted in separate beds, characterIzng
the field with color. Outside the world
was warm and odorous. The wild flow
ers sweeIened it, and the wind which
blew the scented air through our open
windows and into our nostrils brought
from the lofty hills wild gamy scents
and pungencies of fir and pine"
A paradise for the sportsman in the
farther west is told of in this way eff
there are prettier bits of water anywhere
than can be found in these western
prairles, they have not been discovered
A few are alkaline, but many are fresh,
and the prairies roll down in pillows of
grass to their beaches or flatten to the
water through acres of sedge. canvas.
backs, mallards, teal, black ducks, wood
ducks, curlew, the big plover, and those
wonders of the western land, the huge
snow white pelicans, whose wings have
the stretch of the white-headed eagles,
and which float on the water with the
slow stately movement of swans-all
were here, and in numbers beyond count
ing. On the prairie were coyotes, gray
wolves and antelopes. What more could
a sportsman desire than such a camp
and such game
Bauff, it's fine hotel, scenic situation
and its pleasant drives call for glow
ing eulogy. Standing by the Sulphur
springs /: "This water smells bad enough
to cure man, if he was very sick, said
the New Hampshire man quietly, as be
lifted cup of the heavily tinctured wat
or to his nose.
81 know a man who left his lamene5s
in that spring." said the Judge refec-
lively.
ut may be that is what SMELL" ad-
ded the Man from New Hampshire.
1T Doesn't smell like rose," laugh
ingly returned the Judge. but man
will stand sulphur pretty strong to get
rid of rheumatism.
The rugged grandeur of the mountains
gives occasion for many brilliant word |
pictures that would recall with vivid |
LOlOC TUG tApcEleuCeS VI LUD lucky ITdV- |
eler who has with his own eyes looked |
upon it, and awake 10 the breast of the |
homekeeper feeling of unrest that he |
too is not an eye witness of scenes that
no pen can hope to detail and the paint |
er's brush can hardly convey concep
ton of. Here is one "Below the |
Fraser canon the savage sublimity can
not, perhaps, be equalled on the cont |
nent the Fraser curves to the right, |
and sends its deep, strong, down-rushing
current with a sullen roar against the |
base of mountain. And he who stands
in the curve below Yale and looks up
that wild reach of water to where it |
rushes out of the gloomy pass, from be-
tween walls of rock that rise 5000 feet
above it, sees as grand spectacle and as
sublime vision of river and mountains
as he may find on the continent"
And here another From the Gap
but a little way beyond the beautiful
Kananaskis Falls to Yale, at the outlet
of the celebrated Fraser canon is nearly
500 miles and it is moderate statement
to say that no where else on this cont
nent or in Europe can the tourist see
from the parlor car such a magnificent
exhibition Of mountain scenery. Here
is section OF the transcontinental jour