CALIFORNIA AFTER THE DISCOVERY OF GOLD. 303 



Such was San Francisco at the time of our visit ; since 

 then the whole of California has undergone surprising changes, 

 which cannot be better described than in the words of Mr. 

 Walter Colton, author of " Deck and Port,' 5 and " Three 

 Years in California." 



" The Bay of San Francisco resembles a broad inland lake, 

 communicating by a narrow channel with the ocean. This 

 channel, as the tradition of the Aborigines .runs, was opened 

 by an earthquake, which a few centuries since convulsed the 

 continent. The town is built on the south bend of the bay, 

 near its communication with the sea. Its site is a succession 

 of barren sand-hills, tumbled up into every variety of shape. 

 No leveling process, on a scale of any magnitude, has been 

 attempted. The buildings roll up and over these sand-ridges 

 like a shoal of porpoises over the swell of a wave, only the fish 

 has much the most order in the disposal of his head and tail. 

 More incongruous combinations in architecture never danced 

 in the dreams of men brick warehouses, wooden shanties, 

 sheet-iron huts, and shaking-tents, are blended in admirable 

 confusion. 



" But these grotesque habitations have as much uniformity 

 and sobriety as the habits of those who occupy them. Hazards 

 are made in commercial transactions, and projects of specula- 

 tion that would throw Wall Street into spasms. I have seen 

 merchants purchase cargoes without having even glanced into 

 the invoice. The conditions of the sale were a hundred per 

 cent, profits to the owner, and costs. In one cargo; when 

 tumbled out, were found twenty thousand dollars in the single 

 article of red cotton handkerchiefs ! 'I'll get rid of these 

 among the wild Indians,' said the purchaser, with a shrug of 

 the shoulders. ' Pve a water lot which I will sell,' cries 

 another. * Which way does it stretch?' inquire half-a-dozen. 



