The Englishman in the West 185 



almost but not quite inaccessible, lay to the north 

 and south ; to the east was a summer sea ; to the 

 north, running the length of the road, a number of 

 gay booths flanked a huge hotel. You could not 

 wish for a brighter, more mirthful, fresher scene 

 than this road presents in the middle of July ; for 

 it is Pleasure's Eialto, where the weary workers of 

 Southern California come for a too brief holiday. 

 It is, in effect, all that is left of the lotos land. 

 And here the busy bodies of the Pacific Slope find, 

 what they so sorely need, rest and recreation. But 

 we never saw the three remittance men strolling 

 leisurely from booth to booth, turning and return- 

 ing, inhaling and exhaling the essence of the place, 

 inspecting its simple wares, tasting and savouring 

 its cakes and ales, without reflecting that they were 

 not visitors but prisoners in this pleasance : hug- 

 ging their chains it is true, but none the less — 

 captives. Did they, I wonder, turn sometimes a 

 wistful glance to the cliffs ? Who can tell ? They 

 had their share of brains ; they had been educated 

 at famous schools ; they came of good stock. And 

 not one of them was fit to black the boots of an 

 honest ploughboy. 



Perhaps the Sportsman is the best type of Eng- 

 lishman who comes to the East, always excepting 

 those distinguished travellers — diplomats, officers 

 of the Army and Navy, and the like — who merely 

 flit through the country on their way to Australia 

 and the Far East. He belongs to the upper and 

 upper-middle classes ; and as a rule has the tall, 

 slender, wiry figure of the man inured to hardships, 

 the man who can ride, or shoot, or fish, all day and 



