Note 2 — Chapter I · New York.—Mr. Grinnell.—Search for Sir John Franklin.—Southern States.—The Negroes and their prospects.—Naval Academy at Annapolis.—Military Academy at West Point.—Shakers.—Boston.—Professor Agassiz.—Prairies and Glacial Action.—Coral Reefs in Florida.—Mr. Ticknor.—Shell Mounds in Florida.—Schools.—Dr. Howe’s Institution for the Blind.—Laura Bridgman.

Mr. Laurence Oliphant, whom I had known in other parts of the world, was then living with his community upon the Southern shores of Lake Erie.

The last time that I saw him was at a Levée, held in St. James’s extreme Palace, in the year 1880, under circumstances which were in contrast with his daily life of labour at Brocton. I understood that he had come over to England to arrange some business matters connected with the affairs of his society.

America is the home of many groups of people endeavouring to carry out their various schemes of communistic life. I visited several of their settlements and found that their methods of management were very different. The prosperity and the harmony of the men and women, evidently depended upon their faith in their own strange forms of religion. It was also observable that, in all cases, the leaders were men of dogmatic character.