It is by no means easy to enjoy the beauties of American scenery in the west, even when you are in a neighbourhood that affords much to admire; at least, in doing so, you run considerable risk of injuring your health. Nothing is considered more dangerous than exposure to midday heat, except exposure to evening damp; and the twilight1 is so short, that if you set out on an expedition when the fervid2 heat subsides3, you can hardly get half a mile before “sun down,” as they call it, warns you that you must run or drive home again, as fast as possible, for fear you should get “a chill.”
I believe we braved all this more than any one else in the whole country, and if we had not, we should have left Cincinnati without seeing any thing of the country around it.
Though we kept steadily4 to our resolution of passing no more sylvan5 hours in the forests of Ohio, we often spent entire days in Kentucky, tracing the course of a “creek,” or climbing the highest points within our reach, in the hope of catching6 a glimpse of some distant object. A beautiful reach of the Ohio, or the dark windings7 of the pretty Licking, were indeed always the most remarkable8 features in the landscape.
There was one spot, however, so beautiful that we visited it again and again; it was by no means free from mosquitoes; and being on the bank of a stream, with many enormous trees lying on the half-cleared ground around, it was just such a place as we had been told a hundred times was particularly “dangerous;” nevertheless, we dared every thing for the sake of dining beside our beautiful rippling9 stream, and watching the bright sunbeams dancing on the grassy10 bank, at such a distance from our retreat that they could not heat us. A little below the basin that cooled our wine was a cascade11 of sufficient dimensions to give us all the music of a waterfall, and all the sparkling brightness of clear water when it is broken again and again by jutting12 crags.
To sit beside this miniature cascade, and read, or dream away a day, was one of our greatest pleasures.
It was indeed a mortifying13 fact, that whenever we found out a picturesque14 nook, where turf, and moss15, and deep shade, and a crystal stream, and fallen trees, majestic16 in their ruin, tempted17 us to sit down, and be very cool and very happy, we invariably found that that spot lay under the imputation18 of malaria19.
A row upon the Ohio was another of our favourite amusements; but in this, I believe, we were also very singular, for often, when enjoying it, we were shouted at, by the young free-borns on the banks, as if we had been so many monsters.
The only rural amusement in which we ever saw any of the natives engaged was eating strawberries and cream in a pretty garden about three miles from the town; here we actually met three or four carriages; a degree of dissipation that I never witnessed on any other occasion. The strawberries were tolerable strawberries, but the cream was the vilest20 sky-blue, and the charge half a dollar to each person; which being about the price of half a fat sheep, I thought “pretty considerable much,” if I may be permitted to use an expressive21 phrase of the country.
We had repeatedly been told, by those who knew the land, that the second summer was the great trial to the health of Europeans settled in America; but we had now reached the middle of our second August, and with the exception of the fever one of my sons had suffered from, the summer after our arrival, we had all enjoyed perfect health; but I was now doomed22 to feel the truth of the above prediction, for before the end of August I fell low before the monster that is for ever stalking through that land of lakes and rivers, breathing fever and death around. It was nine weeks before I left my room, and when I did, I looked more fit to walk into the Potter’s Field, (as they call the English burying ground) than any where else.
Long after my general health was pretty well restored, I suffered from the effect of the fever in my limbs, and lay in bed reading several weeks after I had been pronounced convalescent. Several American novels were brought me. Mr. Flint’s Francis Berrian is excellent; a little wild and romantic, but containing scenes of first-rate interest and pathos23. Hope Leslie, and Redwood, by Miss Sedgewick, an American lady, have both great merit; and I now first read the whole of Mr. Cooper’s novels. By the time these American studies were completed, I never closed my eyes without seeing myriads24 of bloody25 scalps floating round me; long slender figures of Red Indians crept through my dreams with noiseless tread; panthers flared26; forests blazed; and which ever way I fled, a light foot, a keen eye, and a long rifle were sure to be on my trail. An additional ounce of calomel hardly sufficed to neutralize27 the effect of these raw-head and bloody-bones adventures. I was advised to plunge28 immediately into a course of fashionable novels. It was a great relief to me; but as my head was by no means very clear, I sometimes jumbled30 strangely together the civilized31 rogues32 and assassins of Mr. Bulwer, and the wild men, women, and children slayers of Mr. Cooper; and, truly, between them, I passed my dreams in very bad company.
Still I could not stand, nor even sit upright. What was I to read next? A happy thought struck me. I determined33 upon beginning with Waverley, and reading through (not for the first time certainly) the whole series. And what a world did I enter upon! The wholesome34 vigour35 of every page seemed to communicate itself to my nerves; I ceased to be languid and fretful, and though still a cripple, I certainly enjoyed myself most completely, as long as my treat lasted; but this was a shorter time than any one would believe, who has not found how such volumes melt, before the constant reading of a long idle day. When it was over, however, I had the pleasure of finding that I could walk half a dozen yards at a time, and take short airings in an open carriage; and better still, could sleep quietly.
It was no very agreeable conviction which greeted my recovery, that our Cincinnati speculation36 for my son would in no way answer our expectation; and very soon after, he was again seized with the bilious37 fever of the country, which terminated in that most distressing38 of all maladies, an ague. I never witnessed is effects before, and therefore made my self extremely miserable39 at what those around me considered of no consequence.
I believe this frightful40 complaint is not immediately dangerous; but I never can believe that the violent and sudden prostration41 of strength, the dreadfully convulsive movements which distort the limbs, the livid hue42 that spreads itself over the complexion43, can take place without shaking the seat of health and life. Repeatedly we thought the malady44 cured, and for a few days the poor sufferer believed himself restored to health and strength; but again and again it returned upon him, and he began to give himself up as the victim of ill health. My own health was still very infirm, and it took but little time to decide that we must leave Cincinnati. The only impediment to this was, the fear that Mr. Trollope, who was to join us in the Spring, might have set out, and thus arrive at Cincinnati after we had left it. However, as the time he had talked of leaving England was later in the season, I decided45 upon running the risk; but the winter had set in with great severity, and the river being frozen, the steam-boats could not run; the frost continued unbroken through the whole of February, and we were almost weary of waiting for its departure, which was to be the signal of ours.
The breaking up of the ice, on the Licking and Ohio, formed a most striking spectacle. At night the river presented a solid surface of ice, but in the morning it shewed a collection of floating icebergs46, of every imaginable size and form, whirling against each other with frightful violence, and with a noise unlike any sound I remember.
This sight was a very welcome one, as it gave us hopes of immediate29 departure, but my courage failed, when I heard that one or two steam-boats, weary of waiting, meant to start on the morrow. The idea of running against these floating islands was really alarming, and I was told by many, that my fears were not without foundation, for that repeated accidents had happened from this cause; and then they talked of the little Miami river, whose mouth we were to pass, sending down masses of ice that might stop our progress; in short, we waited patiently and prudently47, till the learned in such matters told us that we might start with safety.
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twilight
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| n.暮光，黄昏；暮年，晚期，衰落时期 | |
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fervid
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| adj.热情的；炽热的 | |
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subsides
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| v.（土地）下陷（因在地下采矿）( subside的第三人称单数 )；减弱；下降至较低或正常水平；一下子坐在椅子等上 | |
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steadily
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| adv.稳定地；不变地；持续地 | |
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sylvan
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| adj.森林的 | |
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catching
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| adj.易传染的，有魅力的，迷人的，接住 | |
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windings
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| （道路、河流等）蜿蜒的，弯曲的( winding的名词复数 )； 缠绕( wind的现在分词 )； 卷绕； 转动（把手） | |
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remarkable
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| adj.显著的，异常的，非凡的，值得注意的 | |
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rippling
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| 起涟漪的，潺潺流水般声音的 | |
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grassy
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| adj.盖满草的；长满草的 | |
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cascade
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| n.小瀑布，喷流；层叠；vi.成瀑布落下 | |
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jutting
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| v.（使）突出( jut的现在分词 )；伸出；（从…）突出；高出 | |
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mortifying
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| adj.抑制的，苦修的v.使受辱( mortify的现在分词 )；伤害（人的感情）；克制；抑制（肉体、情感等） | |
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picturesque
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| adj.美丽如画的，（语言）生动的，绘声绘色的 | |
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moss
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| n.苔，藓，地衣 | |
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majestic
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| adj.雄伟的，壮丽的，庄严的，威严的，崇高的 | |
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tempted
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| v.怂恿（某人）干不正当的事；冒…的险（tempt的过去分词） | |
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imputation
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| n.归罪，责难 | |
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malaria
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| n.疟疾 | |
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vilest
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| adj.卑鄙的( vile的最高级 )；可耻的；极坏的；非常讨厌的 | |
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expressive
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| adj.表现的，表达…的，富于表情的 | |
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doomed
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| 命定的 | |
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pathos
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| n.哀婉，悲怆 | |
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myriads
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| n.无数，极大数量( myriad的名词复数 ) | |
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bloody
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| adj.非常的的；流血的；残忍的；adv.很；vt.血染 | |
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Flared
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| adj. 端部张开的, 爆发的, 加宽的, 漏斗式的 动词flare的过去式和过去分词 | |
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neutralize
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| v.使失效、抵消，使中和 | |
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plunge
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| v.跳入，(使)投入，(使)陷入；猛冲 | |
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immediate
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| adj.立即的；直接的，最接近的；紧靠的 | |
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jumbled
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| adj.混乱的；杂乱的 | |
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civilized
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| a.有教养的，文雅的 | |
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rogues
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| n.流氓( rogue的名词复数 )；无赖；调皮捣蛋的人；离群的野兽 | |
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determined
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| adj.坚定的；有决心的 | |
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wholesome
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| adj.适合；卫生的；有益健康的；显示身心健康的 | |
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vigour
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| （=vigor）n.智力，体力，精力 | |
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speculation
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| n.思索，沉思；猜测；投机 | |
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bilious
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| adj.胆汁过多的；易怒的 | |
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distressing
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| a.使人痛苦的 | |
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miserable
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| adj.悲惨的，痛苦的；可怜的，糟糕的 | |
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frightful
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| adj.可怕的；讨厌的 | |
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prostration
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| n. 平伏, 跪倒, 疲劳 | |
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42
hue
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| n.色度；色调；样子 | |
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complexion
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| n.肤色；情况，局面；气质，性格 | |
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malady
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| n.病，疾病(通常做比喻) | |
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45
decided
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| adj.决定了的，坚决的；明显的，明确的 | |
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icebergs
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| n.冰山，流冰( iceberg的名词复数 ) | |
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prudently
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| adv. 谨慎地，慎重地 | |
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