Journal of Travel and Natural Hstory 379 



A FORTNIGHTS STAY ON LOS FARALLONES* 



IN the month of May 185 1, when California was still in its in- 

 fancy as a state of the American Union, I was a resident of 

 San Francisco. One morning the captain of a British ship, then 

 in the harbour, with whom I had some acquaintance, came to me 

 with an excited face, and said he wished to propose a specula- 

 tion. 



" Well, Captain, you know we are all ready for anything that 

 will pay ; let us hear what it is." 



" Yes ; but first you must promise that if you do not go in your- 

 self, you will not say anything about it." 



Having given the required assurance, he said, " You know what 

 a price eggs are." 



I laughed, and admitted that I knew what I had to pay for a 

 boiled egg for breakfast. 



The captain nodded, and looked wise, then drew from his pocket 

 a large green egg, beautifully spotted, streaked, and speckled with 

 black. 



" Look at that. I know where we can get a shipload of them 

 for the picking up, and if you will provide a small vessel, I will 

 take her to the spot, and with the assistance of my brother and 

 one or two others, load her in a week." 



" That is all very well, Captain, but when we have got the eggs 

 to San Francisco, what can we do with them — who will buy that 

 kind of egg ? " 



" Oh," laughed the Captain, rubbing his hands in great glee, 

 "never fear but we shall sell them fast enough. I got the infor- 

 mation from a townsman of my own, who owns a whaleboat here. 

 He has already tiied the spec himself, and sold his cargo to the 

 restaurant folks for omelette eggs at a dollar a dozen." 



Omelette eggs were already pretty well known in San Francisco, 

 for, owing to the great scarcity of poultry, eggs had been imported 

 from the coast of Mexico, Peru, and Chili — aye, and even from 

 Boston, packed in various ingenious manners, but, nevertheless, 



* The Farallones are a group of rocks near the mouth of the Bay of San 

 Francisco. 



