268 EAST PRUSSIA TO THE GOLDEN GATE 



being dotted with lovely islands, are reflecting their 

 emerald in the crystal flood; and innumerable small 

 boats, spread their white wings to the breeze. Steamers 

 are passing to-and-fro, and every now and then a large 

 clipper ship glides by, her tall, graceful masts swaying 

 under a cloud of canvas, and looming up like a frigate 

 among the smaller craft! The back-ground of this pic- 

 turesque panorama is formed by the Eastern shore of the 

 bay, with its long chain of hills, the beauty of which is 

 enhanced by the constantly changing of light and 

 shadow, as the sun rises, sets or hides himself tempo- 

 rarily behind the clouds, thus presenting a picture of in- 

 describable beauty. Neither painter nor poet can do it 

 justice; one must see it with his own eyes, and feel with 

 his own heart, the power of this grand picture— at once 

 majestic and sweet— as Mother Nature unfolds it before 

 one's delighted senses. 



The place however, which I prefer to all others and 

 which I visit oftenest, is— I am fully aware that you 

 guess it — the harbor. I find that this feeling of admira- 

 tion is shared even by those who do not take as much 

 interest in ship-building and maritime affairs as I do; 

 the harbor attracts everybody. No other port in the 

 world can show such an accumulation of grace and 

 beauty, allied to the most imposing dimensions in mari- 

 time architecture. In one of my former letters, I have 

 already spoken about American clippers, and at that 

 time, I thought it next to an impossibility to improve in 

 any way on what I had seen then. How I mistook Amer- 

 ican possibilities, at least, when it comes to ship-building. 

 Nearly every new clipper that enters this port, surpasses 

 those which have come before in simple elegance as well 

 as beauty and practicability. The "Winged Racer" 

 lately arrived from New York is a good specimen of 

 these giants. Length of keel, one hundred and ninety 

 feet ; length over all : two hundred and thirty-five ; width 

 of beam: forty-eight; main yard: ninety-eight, drawing 

 twenty-eight feet of water when loaded. Though of such 

 uncommon dimensions every line of her body is clean and 



