PROCEEDINGS OF THE FARMERS' CLUB. 123 



I have said that our passage on the Atlantic was all any one 

 familiar with sea life could desire ; but our trip on the Pacific 

 excelled it in tranquility by all odds. There was, for most of 

 the distance up from Panama, scarce a ripple on this placid ocean 

 to disturb the digestive organs of the most delicate female. This 

 sudden change for the better brought to light many ladies who 

 had not before been seen at table, and thereby filled up spaces 

 long vacant, callirjg out from among them many who were vota- 

 ries of both Apollo and Terpsichore, thereby enlivening our even- 

 ings for the balance of our trip with singing and dancing to a 

 late hour. We stopped at Acapulco to coal on our way up, where 

 many of the passengers went on shore and indulged in fruit eat- 

 ing, some contracting sickness therefrom, while those remaining 

 on board were amused by the natives, who surrounded the ship 

 in boats, selling fruit, shells, coral, squirrels, monkeys and par- 

 rots, a portion of each being purchased by the passengers; while 

 others were amused by throwing overboard pieces of money to 

 divers, who displayed great agility in that art, by catching each 

 piece before it reached half way to the bottom, although sharks 

 were visible all around the ship. On leaving Acapulco we met 

 in the night a ship, that our captain mistook for one of Jeff 

 Davis's cruisers, and instantly ordered all our lights extinguished. 

 He at last came to the conclusion it was the downward steamer 

 of our line. This sudden freak created no slight sensation among 

 the female passengers. We at last reached San Francisco, this 

 wonder of the world, which, like ancient Rome, stands on seven 

 hills, and not low hills either, covered with houses to their sum- 

 mits. No other nation in the world could believe it possible to 

 construct a city of such magnitude, and, I may with propriety 

 add, magnificence, in the short period of a dozen years. What 

 would this State have been if given over to slavery, as at first 

 attempted ? Little better than a wilderness ! I remained three 

 days in San Francisco, and took a good look around ; then took 

 steamboat for Stockton at 4. p. m., and arrived there at 2 a. m. ; 

 staid on board till daylight, when I went to a hotel with my 

 daughter, intending to take a view of the place. We walked 

 around, and were particularly struck by the beauty of the place 

 and its surroundings. The outskirts are altogether composed of 

 handsome white cottages, each having a fine garden, and attached 

 to each house a small windmill, employed in pumping up water 

 into a reservoir. This water, by the aid of hose, is used to irri- 



