208 SPORTING ADVENTURES 



Europe. The appearance of San Francisco from 

 the anchorage is rather disappointing, and it is 

 not until one has landed and traversed some of 

 the principal streets that one can realize the 

 wonderful energy by which a city, second only 

 to New York or Chicago, has been raised in the 

 short space of twenty-five years. A consider- 

 able part of the town is built on land reclaimed 

 from the sea ; many of the finest houses are 

 built of stone faced with iron, which gives them 

 a handsome and substantial appearance. There 

 are many first-class hotels ; perhaps about the 

 best is the " Grand," where the charge for board 

 and lodging is only three dollars a day, or five 

 if a sitting-room is required. In this respect 

 the Americans are far ahead of us ; there is not, 

 to my knowledge, any hc-tel in England which 

 can compare with a first-rate house in New 

 York or San Francisco. Owing to the extra- 

 ordinary temptations offered to seamen to 

 desert, it is quite out of the question to give 

 leave to the men to go on shore at San Fran- 

 cisco. There are hundreds of crimps and land- 



