Rollo in Scotland. Abbott Jacob

Чтение книги онлайн.

СКАЧАТЬ striking character. When Scotland was an independent kingdom Edinburgh was the capital of it, and thus the old palace of the kings and the royal castle are there, and the town has been the scene of some of the most remarkable events in the Scottish history.

      Glasgow, on the other hand, which is on the Clyde, towards the western side of the island, together with all the country for many miles around it, forms the scene of the mechanical and manufacturing industry of Scotland. The whole district, in fact, is one vast workshop; being full of mines, mills, forges, furnaces, machine shops, ship yards and iron works, with pipes every where puffing out steam, and tall chimneys, higher, some of them, than the Bunker Hill Monument, or the steeple of Trinity Church, in New York. These tall chimneys are seen rising every where, all around the horizon, and sending up volumes of dense black smoke, which comes pouring incessantly from their summits, and thence floating majestically away, mingles itself with the clouds of the sky.

      The reason of this is, that the strata of rocks which lie beneath the ground in all this region consist, in a great measure, of beds of coal and of iron ore. The miners dig down in almost any spot, and find iron ore; and very near it, and sometimes in the same pit, they find plenty of coal. These pits are like monstrous wells; very wide at the mouth, and extending down four or five times as far as the height of the tallest steeples, into the bowels of the earth. Over the mouth of the pit the workmen build a machine, with ropes and a monstrous wheel, to hoist the coal and iron up by, and all around they set up furnaces to smelt the ore and turn it into iron. Then, at suitable places in various parts of the country, they construct great rolling mills and founderies. The rolling mills are to turn the pig iron into wrought iron, and to manufacture it into bars and sheets, and rails for the railroads; and the founderies are to cast it into the form of great wheels, and cylinders, and beams for machinery, or for any other purpose that may be required.

      The mines in the valley of the Clyde were worked first chiefly for the coal, and the coal was used to drive steam machinery for spinning and weaving, and for other manufacturing purposes. The river was in those days a small and insignificant stream. It was only about five feet deep, so that the vessels that came to take away the coal and the manufactured goods had to stop near the mouth of it, and the cargoes were brought down to them in boats and lighters. But in process of time they widened and deepened the river. They dug out the mud from the bottom of it, and built walls along the banks; and in the course of the last hundred years, they have improved it so much that now the largest ships can come quite up to Glasgow. The water is eighteen or twenty feet deep all the way.

      The Clyde is the river on which steamboats were first built in Great Britain. The man who was the first in England or Scotland that found a way of making a steam engine that could be put in a boat and made to turn paddle wheels so as to drive the boat along, was James Watt, who was born on the Clyde; and he is accordingly considered as the author and originator of English steam navigation, just as Fulton is regarded as the originator of the art in America. The Clyde, of course, very naturally became the centre of steamboat and steamship building. The iron for the engines was found close at hand, as well as abundant supplies of coal for the fires. The timber they brought from the Baltic. At length, however, they found that they could build ships of iron instead of wood, using iron beams for the framing, and covering them with plates of iron riveted together instead of planks. These ships were found very superior, in almost all respects, to those built of timber; and as iron in great abundance was found all along the banks of the Clyde, and as the workmen in the region were extremely skilful in working it, the business of building ships and steamers of this material increased wonderfully, until, at length, the banks of the river for miles below Glasgow became lined with ship yards, where countless steamers, of monstrous length and graceful forms, in all the stages of construction, lie; now sloping towards the water and down the stream, ready at the appointed time to glide majestically into the river, and thence to plough their way to every portion of the habitable globe.

      It was into this busy scene of mechanical industry and skill that our party of travellers were now coming. But before I resume the narrative of their adventures, I will say a word about those parts of Scotland which lie to the north and south of these central regions that are occupied by the valleys of the Forth and the Clyde. The region which extends to the southward—that is, which lies between the valleys of the Forth and the Clyde on the one hand, and the English frontier on the other—is called the southern part of the country. It consists, generally, of fertile and gently undulating land, which is employed almost entirely for tillage, and is but little visited by tourists or travellers.

      The northern part of Scotland is, however, of a very different character; being wild, mountainous and waste, and filled every where with the most grand and sublime scenery. The eastern portion of this part of the island is more level, and there are several large and flourishing towns on or near the shores of it, such as Inverness, Aberdeen, Dundee, Perth, and others. But the whole of the western side of it consists of one vast congeries of lakes and mountains, so wild and sombre in their character that they have become celebrated throughout the world for the gloomy grandeur of the scenery which they present to the view.

      These are the famous Scottish Highlands. Mr. George's plan was first to visit the valley of the Clyde, and its various mines and manufactories, and then to take a circuit round among the Highlands, on his way to Edinburgh.

      Chapter III.

      Arrival at Glasgow

      One of the greatest drawbacks to the pleasure of travelling in Scotland, especially among the Highlands, is the rain. It usually rains more in mountainous countries than in those that are level, for the mountains, rising into the higher and colder regions of the atmosphere, chill and condense the vapors that are floating there, on the same principle by which a tumbler or a pitcher, made cold by iced water placed within it, condenses the moisture from the air, upon the outside of it, on a summer's day. It is also probable that the mountain summits produce certain effects in respect to the electrical condition of the atmosphere, on which it is well known that the formation of clouds and the falling of rain greatly depend—though this subject is yet very little understood. At all events, the western part of Scotland is one of the most rainy regions in the world, and travellers who visit it must expect to have their plans and arrangements very often and very seriously interfered with by the state of the weather.

      The changes are quite unexpected too; for sometimes you will see dark masses of watery vapor, coming suddenly into view, and driving swiftly across the sky, where a few moments before every thing had appeared settled and serene. These scuds are soon followed by others, more and more dense and threatening, until, at last, there come drenching showers of rain, which drive every body to the nearest shelter, if there is any shelter at hand.

      Such a change as this came on while Mr. George had been making arrangements with Mr. Kennedy for taking Waldron under his charge; and just as Waldron and Rollo had gone away to see what plan they could devise in respect to the hotel, it began to rain. The clouds and mists, too, concealed the shores almost entirely from view, and the passengers began to go below. Mr. George followed their example. On his way he passed a sheltered place where he saw Waldron and Rollo engaged in conversation, and he told them, as he passed them, that when they were ready to report they would find him below.

      In about fifteen minutes the boys came down to him.

      "Uncle George," said Rollo, "we have found out that there are a good many excellent hotels in Glasgow, but we think we had better go to the Queen's."

      "Yes, sir," said Waldron. "It fronts on a handsome square, where they are going to have an exhibition of flowers to-morrow, with tents and music."

      "And shall you wish to go and see the flowers?" asked Mr. George.

      "No, sir," said Waldron. "I don't care much about the flowers, but I should like to see the tents, and to hear the music."

      "Then, besides, uncle СКАЧАТЬ