In the Santa Clara. 281 



which 1 saw in the Golden State was in the south-eastern suburbs of Oak- 

 land. I regret to say that the malicious and unprecedented winter, which 

 the Californians had just been visited withal, had nipped many of the flowers 

 with its frosty teeth and blackened others with its breath. It was a piece of 

 business of which any decent and well-regulated winter would be ashamed 

 for a hundred years. 



One feature of our Oakland excursion was the visit to the University of 

 California, situated at the town of Berkeley, about seven miles away. The 

 location is one of the most picturesque imaginable. Some goodly mount- 

 ains rise from the very skirt of the campus — and apropos of them several 

 of the heights have their traditions and history. The buildings of the uni- 

 versity are not especially imposing, but inside there is every evidence of 

 efficient work and rapid development. At the time of our visit to the insti- 

 tution the Regents were wrestling with the question of a new President, 

 the issue being, before our departure from the State, the election of Hon. 

 Noah Davis as Chancellor. The peculiar nature of the resources and prod- 

 ucts of California has impressed itself upon the university. It has a certain 

 industrial and agricultural aspect and tendency as yet. This feature of the 

 institution, upon which I found no criticism, has been emphasized, I believe, 

 by the great talents and reputation of Professor E. W. Hilgard, by whom 

 this department of the university work is inspired and directed. There is 

 an art gallery here of much promise, and a library already well developed. 

 In fact, I was much impressed with the extent and variety of the works and 

 the skill with which they were arranged for consultation and reference. 



Another feature of note is the establishment specially devoted to what 

 may be called the analysis of products. California is rich in what our friend 

 Tacitus would call "the things sown." It is important that these things 

 sown should bring forth something of value for the sower. That this value 

 may be of the highest degree it is requisite that the fruit and grain products 

 of the earth shall be perfect, each in its kind. Now Professor Hilgard has- 

 an elaborate establishment for determining the qualities of fruits and other 

 products of the soil. Take, for instance, the question of wine. He and his 

 well educated assistants, whose acquaintance I was glad to make, receive the 

 products of the various wineries of the State and pass upon the quality 

 thereof as it respects their purity and other elements of excellence. This 

 work, I perceived, is doing a vast deal of good in the way of establishing a 

 high standard of merit, not only as it respects the uses and abuses of juices, 

 but also for the perfection and value of all manner of fruits. 



With the oncoming of evening the various sections of our party returned 

 to the city, and thence across the bay to the metropolis. Again we found 

 ourselves ensconced at the Palace — rightly so named. Be it said that Cali- 

 fornia is the land of hotels. To a stranger coming into these regions for the 

 first time it seems almost absurd to witness the rising in the midst of some 

 village town, which as yet exists only by hypothesis, of a vast hotel. In the 

 towns of the older States the hotel has an importance directly in proportion 



