182 EAST PRUSSIA TO THE GOLDEN GATE 



The People of San Francisco. 



It was in Valparaiso where a young Frenchman— one 

 of the satirical kind, who ridicule everybody and every- 

 thing that does not strike their particular fancy at any 

 particular hour— for the French, as a nation as well as 

 individuals, are very much subject to the impulse of the 

 moment— expressed himself about San Francisco and its 

 inhabitants as follows: 



"Vous n' y trouverez pas des hommes, seulement des 

 sacs a 1 'argent, ou remplis ou vides." "You will not find 

 any human beings there, only money bags, either filled or 

 empty." 



I have not been here sufficiently long to know exactly 

 how far this man's sarcastic saying may be justified but, 

 judging from the kind welcome I have received every- 

 where so far, I am rather* inclined to take his words at 

 a discount as an intended bon-mot rather than as ab- 

 solute truth. 



Variegated as is this metropolis of the West itself, are 

 the many people who crowd the streets, be they afoot, in 

 carriages or on horseback. I do not think that there is a 

 nation, representatives of which are not to be found in 

 every sphere of local society : Yankees, Mexicanos, Peru- 

 vians, Chileans, Firelanders, Italians, Malays, Siamese, 

 Creoles, Mulattoes, Negroes, Chinese, Indians— in short, 

 Jews and Gentiles of all nations people the ever-crowded 

 streets in their respective national costumes. No matter 

 where the stranger may hail from, he is sure to find 

 sooner or later some congenial countryman with whom 

 he can chat in his mother tongue. Of course, English 

 being the language of this country is the most spoken, 

 but German, French and Spanish are heard almost as 

 often, so that one ought to be able to converse fluently in 

 four languages in order to move with ease among all 

 classes of local society, and there is no doubt in my mind 

 that every retail merchant of this city is daily or even 

 hourly called upon to answer in at least three of the above 

 named languages. No wonder therefore that almost 



