spirits or have forecast what followed when he saw their XI going in to wipe out 130. Sale began the bowling from the Nursery, and Bere from the other end. Two 2's were hit off the former at once, and Padwick very finely saved a couple more at long slip. This free run-getting was checked by Bere defeating Coles with a good ball. 13-1-9. Then Bere did another good thing by well catching Mott. After a snick for 3 Sheppard missed putting down a third wicket from a ball, however, not well thrown in. Steady play ensued for a time with occasional 2's-Padwick again distinguishing himself at long slip-and then Sale yorked Harrison. Keeling displaced Bere and sent several full pitches which were luckily not hit. Ashfield let one through his legs, and then Sale beat Harrison, following up this by sending Bradby back for 1. Highley cut him for 4, and Barbour snicked a 3, but with two balls Sale morally bowled the former, and did so actually with the third. Such success inspired Sheppard, and he caught Surtees well off Keeling, whom Higginbotham then hit for 4. It was the last flash of a feeble fire. With a bailer Sale settled one man, and after all but bowling another with one ball, bowled him with the one after. The So short an innings needs no comment. Rugby batting was extremely poor and Sale's bowling, coming like Meyrick's batting, just when wanted, was extremely good, as also was our fielding. The air was very hazy when Rugby followed on, Sale and Bere beginning as before. Sheppard evoked applause by a smart bit of wicket-keeping, but we must mention here that, unnoticed by us in the uncertain light, he at one period of the game or other let off two men from Keeling's bowling and one from Sale's. Slow cricket and a 3 to the off from Bere brought on Keeling and Cheales, but at 30 Cheales bowled Coles for a steady 18. Mott, after an on 3 off Cheales, was well caught by Sale. The same fate met Harrison, and then Sale went on again at 40. It was at this time that one of Sheppard's errors occurred, but Sale by bowling Bradby left the match at the end of the day's play in a highly satisfactory state-4 wickets being down for 49. Next morning Keeling and Sale started the bowling. A 2 and 3 sent up 50, but runs came very slowly and Cheales and Bere tried their hands. A fine leg hit by Bowden-Smith was finely saved by Firth, but Bere was then cracked to the boundary by the same bats man. 70 went up, and Barbour cut Keeling well for 3. The batsmen seemed well set, but Sale coming to the rescue again bowled Bowden-Smith for a capital 30. Keeling sent down a long hop which was cat for 3 and Meyrick-Jones was tried. Highley hit Sale to long off for 3 but fell to him soon after. MeyrickJones then missed a chance off the same bowler. Padwick superseded Meyrick-Jones and Buchanan was seen to advantage in the field, but a 3 by Barbour off Sale sent up 100. Numbers of runs were now saved by our smart fielding, and Firth caught Sur tees very finely. Padwick then put Bere on aga'n and as if by prevision took up a fresh place in the field himself whither Higginbotham at once sent him a catch. Barbour and North then got a 4 square from Sale and a 3 from Bere and then North was excellently caught and bowled by Bere, Barbour be ing left not out for a most meritorious 24. We had 37 runs to make. Cheales (who, we may say, was ill on both days) made a fine off 5 and cut a two before his departure, but it was left to Keeling aid ed by Meyrick's steady defence to get the runs. Ho hit a 3, cut a 4, and resenting some very perilous escapes made a good healthy pull for 4 followed by a 2, and the match was over, the Rugby fielding having remained good to the last. Why did we win? Not because we had the best of the light, though if Rugby had had a better light we should have won by fewer wickets. Not wholly because of the admirable exploits of Sale and Meyrick, though to them and especially to Sale the highest praise must be awarded. 1. Our good fielding admirably supplemented the bowling. We have seen some excellent cover points at Marlborough and Keeling ranks with the best of them, while we have never seen so brilliant a performer in Padwick's place. 2. Padwick after taking infinite and incessant pains all the season managed his men excellently, always setting a good example of pluck and vigour and almost invariably changing the bowling with judgment. But above all perhaps we owe our victory to the dissipation of the old myth as to Rugby prowess, which used to paralyse our energies. May it be long before any such absurd legend rises again! Our latter-day representatives have come to recognise that Rugbeians are neither better nor worse than other elevens. As long as we play the game for the sake of the game itself, never thinking that the eyes of Europe are on us if we fail to score, we shall sometimes win, sometimes lose, but we shall never again let Rugby run up a series of victories as in years gone by. What we lacked this year was a good wicket-keeper and a slow bowler, which with proper coaching, Sheppard might easily have become. Verbum sap. for next year's Captain and Potter. We won in spite of those most serious deficiencies this year. We should hardly do so two years running. It should be mentioned as far and away the feature of the match that Sale got 12 wickets at an average cost of 4 runs apiece. H. T. KEELING.-A very fine cover point and steady bat, but lets off too many loose ones. Bowls rather erratically but often gets a good wicket. Has left. L. O. MEYRICK.-Has still a very strong defence though it was not always manifested, and has developed a free hit to leg this year. Improved, but needs more improvement, in the field. J. P. CHEALES.-A thoroughly sound bat, good medium pace bowler, and unerring field. Has left. T. R. SALE.-Hits hard after his own fashion, and on his day a most formidable fast bowler. Improved in the field. Has left. E. C. C. FIRTH.-A very good field, and fair bat. Has left. T. G. BUCHANAN.-A very quick neat point, and pretty bat, but does not punish enough, and should put more confidence in his own powers. E. B. SHEPPARD.-Bats in neat style, but fell off after his promotion into the XI. Too slow to be an effective slow bowler, though he has a considerable break, and is afraid of pitching up the ball. Has left. F. MEYRICK-JONES.-A run-getting bat, and has a quick eye. Has a bad habit of standing out of his ground. May become a good bowler. C. E ASHFIELD.-Bats in nice form and fields well though he rather lacks life in each department. A fair change bowler who should improve. M. A. BERE.—A useful change bowler and can hit a loose ball. An improving field. Has left. 3 O. M. R. W. 170 10 12 ... 14 2 1 1 0 H. T. Keeling 11 100 13 10 5 11 1 M. A. Bere..... 6 6 14 1 E. C. C. Firth 11 Second Innings. O. M. R. W. 29 17 25 5 11 1 27 2 25 15 20 0 Padwick 4160 Cheales 15 4 20 3 M. Jones 40 Bere bowled a wide. T. R. Sale M. A. Bere E. B. Sheppard A TRIP IN CANADA. (From the letter of an O.M.) "Directly after leaving Kingston the boat enters the Thousand Isles, numbering not a thousand but 1600, and for about five hours you are winding in and out among them. They are almost all of them covered with the most beautiful foliage, and on some of them, on the American side, American enterprise has constructed huge hotels capable of holding from 1000 to 2000 people. These are made entirely of wood of all sorts of different colours, and are extremely light looking and picturesque. Their charge is five dollars a day, and yet at this time of year they are crowded, and the number of pretty, beautifully dressed, American girls, who come down to see the boat and its passengers, are not without a good deal of interest to the latter. After leaving the Thousand Isles the river becomes very broad, and one can hardly believe that such a magnificent sheet of water is a river at all. In the afternoon it narrowed again; islands appeared ahead, and suddenly about half-a-mile in front of us we saw the first of the rapids. These are called the Long Sault, and are about a mile and a half in length, they are considered the finest of the nine rapids on the St. Lawrence. As we approach them the steam is shut off, and as the throbbing of the engine and clash of the paddles cease, there is a dead silence and everyone holds his breath, for the masses of white, dashing, foaming water in front look as if they must swamp us. In a minute more we are in; we feel as if we were merely a cork at the mercy of the water; the boat tosses and shakes and the waves dash right on her decks, but on we rush at a terrific pace, and in far less time than it takes to write this we are through in comparatively calm water again. There are eight or nine of these rapids, of which the first are the largest and most impressive, but the last, the Lachine rapids, only four miles from Montreal, are the most dangerous. When we get near them we stop opposite a curious Indian village, and out comes a birch bark canoe paddled by two sturdy Indians. They come alongside, and we are boarded by a very old Indian, who was sitting in the stern of his canoe, and also by his son, a man of about twenty. This old man is the only pilot who descends these rapids, and he has been at it for the last twenty years. The two companies of steamers from Ottawa and Toronto pay him a salary of 2,000 dols. a year, and when he dies, his son, who accompanies him every day, will succeed him. I must confess that when we approached these last rapids I couldn't help feeling a little bit uncomfortable, but one hardly has time to think. Right ahead there is an island with great ugly-looking rocks surrounding it. Apparently we are going to rush right on to them, but suddenly-and this must be done at the exact moment-the wheel is swung round and aided by the current the boat turns at right angles to to her former course. For a few moments we tear along literally at only a few feet from an immense brown slab of rock, and in front of us appears a perfect wall of spray, which it seems quite impossible that we can pass; but there is an 66 We rush opening, and our Indian knows exactly where it is. through this channel which is just twice the width of our steamer, and then we round the island, and the beautiful city of Montreal, with its crowded wharfs and shipping, its many towers and spires, and its fine background of "Montain," comes full into sight. In a few minutes we pass under the famous Victoria bridge and bring up alongside the steamer "Quebec" of the "Montreal and Quebec steamship Co.," out to which go the passengers for Quebec and among them myself. We left Kingston, which is situated at the point where the St. Lawrence runs out of Lake Ontario, at five o'clock i the morning, and here we are at Montreal at 6.30 p.m., having run about 230 miles in the day, not bad for water travelling. The Quebec on which we now find ourselves is a splendid boat, a real floating palace, although I believe that by the side of the boats on the Hudson she is nothing. She has three complete stories of berths for first-class passengers, and each story has cabins two deep, that is to say there is a line of cabins round the outside of the vessel, then a passage, and then another line, so that 500 first-class passengers can have berths and get as good a night's rest as at any first class hotel, for the boats are so well constructed that there is scarcely any jar or shaking from the engines and paddles. The distance from Montreal to Quebec is 180 miles, and a return ticket including supper, breakfast and a berth, costs seven dollars. My fellow passengers on the Quebec were much more varied and interesting than those on the Upper St. Lawrence boat. Amongst them of course was a fair sprinkling of tourist "Yankees," a class of people whose manners and behaviour get them but few friends. There was also a good number of fashionable Montreallers on their way to the watering places below Quebec, and the remainder consisted almost entirely of French Canadians. Two women of these last had fine contralto voices, and for a couple of hours in the evening favoured us with song after song. Quebec was reached at half-past seven the next morning. The scenery for the last forty miles is very fine, steep hills covered with pines and Canadian firs running down to the water's edge. I am sorry to say that I found my berth rather too comfortable, and that I slept too long to see more than the last ten miles. I should think that there are few towns anywhere more beautifully situated than Quebec. The view from the river or from the opposite bank, where I am now sitting, is very fine indeed. It consists of two towns, the basse ville, and the haute ville. In the basse ville, which is inhabited almost entirely by French, the streets are narrow and dirty, and the houses small and insignificant and every. thing is casual and unbusinesslike. The French Canadian, as long as he can just get his living, seems to care for nothing more, and makes no improvements or reforms. If you have luggage you will have to take a calêche and drive up a long and winding road to the upper town, but if you are unencumbered you can ascend the cliffs by means of an elevator which will land you on Dufferin Terrace. Of this well-known terrace I had heard much, but I felt that its beauties had been in no way exaggerated. On your right at the end of the terrace is the frowning citadel, with the Houses of Parliament a little behind it, and the famous plains of Abraham stretching away beyond them. You are standing on historical ground. A few yards below you, in a place where there would seem to be no sort of footing, is a little wooden cross, inscribed "Here Montgomery fell," and a little behind you is a house to which his body was taken. On the left, looking over the town you see the fertile and beautiful Isle of Orleans, which looks like a peninsula of the north shore and beyond it in the distance the blue Lawrentian mountains. Below you flows the broad and busy river, covered with tugs, ferry boats and big timber vessels. On the morning on which I first visited the terrace, two big ocean liners lying in mid stream added to the interest of the scene, the Vancouver, a new boat of the Dominion line, the largest steamship which comes to Quebec, and the Sarmatian, a fine boat of the Allan line. Opposite you on the other bank lies the town of Port Lewis, where passengers are landed from England, and where the Grand Trunk Station is for the direct line to Montreal. Just along the river's edge for miles in either direction are houses and huge timber yards, but immediately behind them the woods begin, and as far as you can see they extend looking almost impenetrable. An immense trade in timber is carried on here, and yet the trees do not seem to have been thinned at all. From Quebec there are many expeditions and excursions to be made, and the King of these is the trip of two days and two nights up the far-famed Saquenay. This trip I did in very pleasant company. I will give you some account of it presently. The sights to be seen within a few miles of Quebec are chiefly waterfalls, and of these the best are the falls of Montmorenci, the Falls of Lorette, and the Chaudière Falls. The first of these are considered second only to Niagara. Mr. W. D. Howells gives a good description of them, of which I will give you an extract: Yet a "The lofty bluff is scooped inward from the Saint Lawrence, in a vast irregular semi-circle with cavernous hollows, one within another, sinking far into its sides, and naked from wood to crest, or meagrely wooded here and there with evergreen. From the central brinks of these gloomy purple chasms, the foaming cataract launches itself and like a cloud'Along the cliff to fall, and pause and fall did seem.' I say a cloud because I find it already said to my hand, as it were, in a pretty verse, and because I must needs liken Mount Morenci to something that is soft and light. cloud does not represent the glinting of the water in its downward swoop; it is like some broad slope of sun-smitten snow; but snow is coldly white and opaque, and this has a creamy warmth in its luminous mass; and so there hangs the cataract unsaid as before. It is a mystery that anything so grand should be so lovely, that anything so tenderly fair should yet be so large, that one glance fails to comprehend it all. The rugged wildness of the cliffs and hollows about it is softened by its gracious beauty." A trip which many of the ordinary run of tourists to Canada do not take, but which for its special beauties is unsurpassed in the country, is that down the St. Lawrence from Quebec to Jadousac and then up the river Saquenay. I had not intended to take this trip because I knew of no one to go with me, and I did not care to run the risk of spending two days and two nights with no nice people to talk to. However on Monday I saw an announcement in the paper that a number of the members of the British Association had arrived from England and that a good party was going up the Saquenay the following day. I at once decided to go, especially as I was particularly pleased at the thought of meeting people fresh from "the old country" and hoped that among them there might be some that I knew. On going on board at seven o'clock on Tuesday morning I was glad to find that our boat, the Saquenay, though not nearly so large as the Quebec, was a fine spacious steamer, with good airy cabins and comfortable berths. Indeed in every respect the management of this excursion leaves nothing to be desired; one is as well fed and cared for as at an hotel, while every opportunity is given to the passengers for seeing all that there is to be seen. In my fellow passengers I was most fortunate. They included a large party of Oxford people, made up by Mr. A. G. Vernon Harcourt, of Oxford, Mr. Watson, a Harrow master, Miss Lydia Becker, the well-known women's rights lady, Professor Hicks, of Owen's College, Manchester, and several other well-known scientists. There was also a large party of really nice Americans, with whom we fraternised, and before the middle of the first day we all knew each other well. Leaving Quebec, the first object of interest after the view of the town itself is the Falls of Mount Morenci in the distance, on our left; then we come to the Isle of Orleans, nearly twenty miles long, a great summer resort for the people of Quebec. After that, keeping along the north shore we soon reach the place where the mountains, which are seen from Quebec in the distance, come down to the water; from this point for a long way they run along the shore, and the scenery is most grand. The first place we stop at is St. Peter's Bay, lying between two lofty capes of precipitous cliffs, while opposite its mouth is the Isle-aux-Condres, which appears flat and uninteresting, but which is famous for some historical event, though what I forget. Our next stopping place is Murray Bay, where there is a dip in the hills which allows a stream to join the river; around its banks and along the foot of the hill, surrounded by the trees, is built a very pretty little town, one of the most popular and fashionable of Canadian watering-places. The great amusement of the residents and visitors seems to be to see the boat come in; on Tuesday they had all turned out in a body, and there must have been several hundred people down at the little wharf. This was the first glimpse for the people who had just arrived from England of Canadian society, for at this time of the year all that class are out of the towns, so that the people on shore attracted much attention. I am glad to say that the first impression of the looks of the girls, &c., was most favourable. Leaving Murray Bay we crossed the river and touched on the north shore at another popular watering place, Riviere-du-Loup, where I landed and walked to the beginning of the long pier to see one of the few real Indian villages that is left in this part of the country. The huts are made of birch bark, with fir branches stretched over the roofs; the poor squaws and curious little red children interested us very much. From Riviere-du-Loup we crossed back again to Jadousac, 165 miles below Quebec, and at the mouth of the Saquenay. The St. Lawrence is here 25 miles broad; as we were crossing it we enjoyed a beautiful sunset, but, as in Canada there is practically no twilight, by the time we reached the other side it was pitch dark, and all we could see of Jadousac were its lights. The moon, which was nearly full, would rise at about eleven o'clock, and meanwhile-as it was really too cold to sit on deck-we passed the evening pleasantly in the saloon, with the aid of music and round games. When we went on deck, at about eleven, the scene was very impressive. The moon was just up, and by its pale light the gigantic cliffs on either side of the deep dark river, here not more than a quarter of a mile broad, looked exceedingly grand; although we were some distance from the bank, yet the enormous cliffs seemed to be right over our heads, and save for the beating of the paddles all was perfectly silent, not a boat or a light to be seen. Getting up at about six o'clock on Wednesday, I found that we were lying alongside the quay at the town of Chicontimi, the highest point on the Saquenay to which steamers go, though the river is navigable as far as the rapids, some miles farther up. Chicontimi is a large straggling village of some 2000 inhabitants, who almost in one form or another get their living from the lumber trade. Its situation is most picturesque; the cliffs-or rather hills-are here drawn back some hundred yards from the river, where they rise up to the height of several hundred feet, and the houses are built along their base, and between the base and the river. We were not to leave till eight o'clock, so some of us landed and climbed the hill at the back of the town. We were rewarded with a lovely view; all around as far as we could see were mountains and hills of various shapes and sizes, while the river-which at our feet was dark and gloomy in the distance wound among the hills like a silver streak wherever it was touched by the rising sun. Far away we could just make out the white foam of the rapids, and some of us fancied that we could hear their sullen roar, or rather, at this distance, murmur. No words can describe the grandeur of the scenery which we saw that day on our descent to Jadousac. Although the boat went at only half speed in order that we might be able to enjoy it, yet every bend of the river, almost every turn of the paddles, brought us in sight of fresh beauties, which we felt that in just passing by we could not possibly take in, and which made us long to anchor at about every fifty yards. After leaving Chicontimi, for a good many miles the river is edged by steep hills, not by cliffs, which are all covered with larches, sapins, and firs, and along the shore are numerous lumbermen's huts, and many timber vessels and rafts are to be seen along the stream. Lower down, however, after we had passed a large and shallow inlet, called Ha-Ha Bay, one of the few places where water is shallow enough for anchorage, the scenery completely changed. The wooded hills disappeared, and precipitous cliffs, rugged and bare, took their place; not a human being or a house to be seen on shore, not a sail on the river. As we drifted down the stream the silence and solitude became oppressive. The climax of the grandeur of the Saquenay is reached in Capes Eternity and Trinity. Although words are powerless, I must attempt to give you some faint idea of these two wonderful giants. They lie perhaps a quarter of a mile apart, with a little bay between them, into which we slowly steamed, almost touching the rocks of Cape Eternity as we rounded it, with, however, more than 1,000 feet of water below us. Cape Trinity, opposite us, is fairly clothed with fir and birch trees and is not quite precipitous, but is 1,700 feet high. Literally above our heads is Cape Eternity, one tremendous cliff of limestone, more than 1,860 feet in height, and inclined forward more than 200 feet. Whilst we were in the bay our powerful steam whistle was repeatedly blown to show us the marvellous echo. Here is an account written of this echo by Mr. Wood, the Times correspondent, who was with the Prince of Wales when he made this excursion : "A safe distance thus gained, the gun was fired. None who were in the Flying Fish that day will ever forget its sound. For the space of half-a-minute or so there was a dead silence, and then, as if the report and concussion were hurled back upon the decks, the echoes came down crash on crash. It seemed as if the rocks and the crags had all sprung into life under the tremendous din, and as if each was firing 68-pounders full upon us in sharp crashing volleys, till at last they grew hoarser and hoarser in their anger and retreated, bellowing slowly, and carrying the tale of invaded solitude from hill to hill till all the distant mountains seemed to roar and groan again at the intrusion." once an We got to the mouth of the Saquenay at four in the afternoon, and spent an hour on shore at Jadousac, now a fashionable and beautiful watering-place, but important and populous town, one of the oldest settlements in Canada, and for a long time the centre of the immense trade in furs. Leaving Jadousac we passed another pleasant evening and enjoyed another sunset on the St. Lawrence, and on waking the next morning found ourselves alongside the quay at Quebec once more. The ticket for this round trip cost 15 dols., including everything. I should think there is no other excursion in the world which can be done so cheaply and comfortably, and where so much is to be seen. I can confidently recommend anyone who is in Canada not to omit it." R.W.T. |
