THE NEW MAIL ROUTE. CHICAGO TO NEW YORK. (FROM OUR SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT.) New York, June 20. THE NEW MAIL ROUTE. CHICAGO TO NEW YORK. (FROM OUR SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT.) New York, June 20.

Daily Southern Cross, Volume XXVI, Issue 4061, 27 August 1870, Page 5

THE NEW MAIL ROUTE. CHICAGO TO NEW YORK. (FROM OUR SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT.) New York, June 20.

-MY Last letter was dated from .Chicago. I add a short one now, just to conclude the journey up to New York. After this there will bo nothing further to write about, inasmuch as sea voyages are all much of a piece. I ought to have mentioned in my last that after Omaha the traveller can choose any lino he likes best. There are several opposition lines, each of which leaves the other lines unmarked upon its own railroad map. So again after Chicago there arc several routes. I should therefore advise future passengers not to take through tickets from .San Francisco, hut tt> see about their future route at Omaha. Ido not know what route those who get through tickets in New will hare to foil .w after Omaha. As to expense, I should have been a gainer aiad L not taken a through ticket ; for on (reaching Omaha the great competition on to New York had caused a reduction of price. I he papers stated that two rival lines were carrying aheep at one cent, per head, or one dollar per car. As to the loute I myself chose 011 taking the through ticket, I have oec.t well satisfied— from Omaha to Chicago, tl\rough lowa per Burlington and Missouri railroad, which I have described, thence to Niagara by Michigan Ceotral, and on to New York by the Great Western ; which takes one through the very charming scenery of the River Hudson. But the traveller cannot long remain in ignorance of the different routes, as he is pestered, from San Fran^co to New York, by agents, touters, and boys in the cars; and if he takes half the maps offered him he will almost have to pay for extra luggage. Phftre ia some very pretty wooded ccmntry ootween Chicago and Niagara, which is very lefreshing to those who have been over sea ; and desert. About 60 miles from Detroit, the sleeping-car caught fire, and had to be i left behind, and the luckless passengers were told they would get another at Detroit. Oa arriving there, there was but one on, and that was full ; some therefore stayed behind, others took ordinary seats. For myself, I got nothing, and pissed half the nigbt in the baggage-car, half on a huge wooden coal-box —for each car is provided with a large stove for winter. -\t Niagara, one can stay on either side of the falls. I chosts the Canadian and enjoyed a lnajrnificeafc view of the falls ! from the Clifton Houso Hotel. Most- of tbe j little walks about the. falls arc on the American side, but z^ eVB fa e uOtels are not so pleasantly situ-^ed However, it is only a matter of af , w mimites to cros3 over th J suspension b/ri(lge>b /ri(lge> which is ft Very el t structure, ftnfl flddg mnch to t, eaaty o f tJie plP^e. Beneath the bridge, the water rusnr q a ] on g looking deep and treacherous, aiK .t on either side rise walls of rck, beauti1 ally topped by trees. It is in fact through a deep chasm cut in the rock that the water below the falls lushes. Above the falls aie broad, magnificent rapids, which seem to hasten proudly to their doom, and to which one might well apply the saying, "Pride goeth before a fall." The falls themselves require a day or so before they are thoroughly grasped ; but J cannot, with the stick-like halting pen which I am at present using, attempt to describe the rush, the roar, the foam of dazzling white below, and the clouds of spray thai arise aa the water dashes ceaselessly down ou to the rocks. With a free and flowing quill alone would it be possible. If Southey could have spent in Niagara some of the energy which he displayed on puny Lodore, where the clerk of the weather does always turn on the tajj, he might perhaps have made something of it. Tnen again, there are the different colours of the waters : sometimes a dark green, sometimes a deep blue — but I must leave others to see it all for themselves. I do not understand why so many go away disappointed — perhaps they give the place only a few hours when they are wearied with railway travelling, Perhaps they expected greater Jheighc. — but we cannot always have volume, breadth, and height as well. The worst of the place is that you are not allowed to enjoy yourself } n peace —you arc hounded to death fey hack-drivers, boys, guides, photographs, and souvenirs of Niagara in general. Never go ia one of the carriages without being certain of your bargain, or yon will find the driver trying to evade it ; and, on your refusing to be imposed upon, he will perhaps try to drive you of!" forcibly with oaths to the police station. Such was my case, on the only occasion I got into a carriage ; but, not seeing exactly why I should give the driver a ohanee of telling a successful lie at the police station, I refused the polite offer. H.e then tried to seize my umbrella, as a vt hostage," but; the attempt was unsuccessful — and so we parted. Not content ' with fleecing strangers, the guides seemed ' to be at war with one another, and one evening, having heard a pistol shot, I wa3 told Soon after that a long-standing feud had ended in murder — a white man having shoe a negro, who died at once. I believe the slaughtered man was nob the ouo shot at, but as there was intent to slay some one the general opinion was that the guilty man would "be stretched." Before leaving Niagara I must mention the terms in which '"in American on the spot expressed his admiration to me: " There ain't no discount to be got on that view, I reckon." At Niagara one commences the last stage to New York ; . but, unless one wishes (which many do) to take the steamer at Albany to go down the Hudson, instead of sticking to the cars, it is as well to consult the "Railway Guide" as to a through train. For it ia not a pleasant place in which to be turned out at 8 a.m., with a prospect of waiting till nearly 11 a.m. I happened to leave Niagara on Saturday, hoping to be in New York by 11 a.m. on Sunday; but being Sunday the train stopped till U at Albany, and, being Sunday, there were no refresh ments to be had at the station; and again being Sunday, the town was dead until 8 or 9, instead of providing breakfast at 6, for the weary travellers, as on other days. To console myself I went on to New York in the "drawing-room car," which provides arm-chairs and sofas, and, by doing so, enjoyed each phase of American' travellings from the baggage-van to the " drawingroom palace car." The rail runs along the bank of the Hudson, with the Catakill mountains in front, and the views are excessively agreeable. I reached New York towards evening, not sorry to have reached the last stage but one of my journey, for the heat had been for several days tremendous. The day of arrival in New Y ork the thermometer marked 105 degrees in the shade : it is, in fact, too hot to attempt to run about very much. I was disappointed with the celebrated Fifth Avenue. It is narrow; and the houses, with afewexcep. tions, not striking. Still, it is a pleasant shady street. The o^her objects heard of at present are—Broadway, Brooklyn, and Central Park. Broadway is the business street, and of immense length. Bankers, of course, live at the far end of it from the j "aristocratic" hotels. I reached Central I Park this evening, but was at once driven I home by a pelting thunderstorm ; I could, therefore, scarcely judge of it. There are still stray Australian and New Zealand' passengers hovering about j but I think the generality of them have had enough of the rail and the heat, and have left for England, scarcely hoping to get , cool, sleep, and rested, until the next steamer stage is over. Notwithstanding some discomforts, I shonld think there will be no one who will regret having ohosen this route ; for, by keeping one's eyes open, if only in rapidly passing through, a great country like America, one cannot fail to learn a great deal, and see a great deal which will prove of future interest. But the through-passenger must beware of generalising too rapidly from his limited expe- 1 rience, as we are all apt to do. - This is the , last letter I shall write on my route, and, if | I have written anything of use or interest to anyone else, , shall be rery i glad that I have made time to write at all; and if I have myself expressed fcMty fofcrntnto they must only be token

for about what they are worth, as written in haste, and with, some difficulty, and to be corrected by each traveller for fiimself. pp t S, — in coming over the prairies one of ; my friends saw the baggage man shoot an antelope as the train was in motion, at a considerable distance. It was a splendid shot. The train stopped to fetch in the spoil. [We regret that the letter dated from Chicago, to which our correspondent alludes, has not come to hand.— Ed.]