Page:Scented isles and coral gardens- Torres Straits, German New Guinea and the Dutch East Indies, by C.D. Mackellar, 1912.pdf/426

334 everywhere as we went on descending, and the monotony was most boring.

Do not let it be supposed I did not realise the grandeur of this human work and all it means, but scenery viewed from an incessantly moving train—scenery advancing on you and then receding—leaves no clear impression on the mind, I was very tired of it, and there were few passengers to vary the monotony. When we got to Brandon (1150 feet) at 8 a.m. on the morning of the 1oth, and I learnt we had done 1349 miles of the journey, I rejoiced so much at least was over.

At Winnipeg we made a stop of some time. The minute I alighted from the train I was greeted by name by a stranger, who handed me an envelope with a ticket, informed me my berth on the Majestic, leaving New York on such a date, was No. So-and-so, that I would find my baggage there "all right," and vanished at once. I had not asked any one to get a berth on the Majestic, and was perfectly blank as to what unseen person or persons were doing everything for me. Then a newspaper interviewer addressed me as Captain Farquhar, I referred him to that gentleman's valet, who was standing by, and he gave the interview!

It was Sunday. Snow and slush were every where as I walked the melancholy-looking streets: the church bells ringing and crowds of Scottish people in their Sunday best going to church with just the same dismal Sabbath face they assume in Scotland. I was depressed to the ground. I have not the slightest idea what Winnipeg is really like— I saw only snow, slush, and dismal Sabbath faces, so boarded the train and looked no more. As it has 50,000 people, is the capital of Manitoba, a chief port of the Hudson's Bay Company, and is at the junction of the Red and Assiniboine rivers, both navigable for steamboats, it an be imagined