PREFACE. Vll 



dozen species grow to be more than two hundred and fifty 

 feet high, and one species has reached a height of four hun- 

 dred and fifty feet, and a diameter of forty feet in the trunk ; 

 by a peculiar zoology, composed almost of animals found 

 only on this coast, and including the largest bird north of 

 the equator, and the largest and most formidable quadiTiped 

 of the continent ; by the importation in early years of all 

 articles of food, and then by the speedy development of 

 agriculture, until her wheat and wine have gone to the 

 furthest cities in search of buyers, and until her markets 

 are unrivalled in the variety and magnificence of home- 

 grown fruits ; by the largest crop of grain, and the largest 

 specimens of fruits and vegetables on record ; by a society 

 where for years there was not one woman to a score of men, 

 and where all the men were in the bloom of manhood ; by 

 the first large migration of eastern Asiatics from their own 

 continent; by the first settlement of Chinamen among 

 white men ; by the entire lack of mendicants, paupers, and 

 alms-houses ; by the rapid fluctuations of trade ; by the ac- 

 cumulation of wealth in the hands of men, most of whom 

 came to the country poor ; by the practice, universal m 

 early years, of going armed ; by the multitude of deadly 

 affrays, and by extra-constitutional courts, which sometimes 

 punished villains with immediate execution, and sometimes 

 proceeded with a gravity and slow moderation that might 

 become the most august tribunals. I write of California 

 while she is still youthful, and full of marvels ; while her 

 population is still unsettled ; while her business is still 

 fluctuating, her wages high, her gold abu?ndant, and her 

 birth still fresh in the memory of men and women who 

 have scarcely reached their majority ; and I write of her 

 while she still offers a wide field for the adventurous, the 

 enterprising, and the young, who have life before them, and 

 wish to commence it where they may have the freest career, 



