158 THE SEA. 



cigars; native wine on the table; California cognac on demand; service excellent napkins, 

 hot plates, flowers on the table; price moderate for the luxuries obtained, and no waiter's 

 fees. The visitor will mentally forgive the boatman of the morning. Has he arrived in 

 the Promised Land, in the Paradise of bon vivants ? It seems so. In the evening, he may 

 take a stroll up Montgomery Street, and a good seat at a creditably performed opera may be 

 obtained. Nobody knows better than the sailor and the traveller the splendid luxury of 

 such moments, after a two or three months' monotonous voyage. And, in good sooth, 

 he generally abandons himself to it. He has earned it, and who shall say him nay? 

 The same evening may be, he will go to a 300-roomed hotel they have now one of 

 750 rooms where, for three dollars (12s. 6d.), he can sup, sleep, breakfast, and dine 

 sumptuously. He will be answered twenty questions for nothing by a civil clerk in the 

 office of the hotel, read the papers for nothing in the reading-room, have a bath for 

 nothing and find that it is not the thing to give fees to the waiters. It is a new 

 revelation to many who have stopped before in dozens of first-class English and Continental 

 houses. 



" Seen," says Mr. W. F. Rae,* " as I saw it for the first time, the appearance of 

 San Francisco is enchanting. Built on a hill -slope, up which many streets run to 

 the top, and illumined as many of these streets were with innumerable gas-lamps, the 

 effect was that of a huge dome ablaze with lamps arranged in lines and circles. Those 

 who have stood in Princes Street at night, and gazed upon the Old Town and Castle of 

 Edinburgh, can form a very correct notion of the fairy-like spectacle. Expecting to find 

 San Francisco a city of wonders, I was not disappointed when it seemed to my eyes a 

 city of magic such a city as Aladdin might have ordered the genii to create in order to 

 astonish and dazzle the spectator. I was warned by those whom personal experience of 

 the city had taught to distinguish glitter from substance, not to expect that the reality 

 of the morrow would fulfil the promise of the evening. Some of the parts which now 

 appeared the most fascinating were said to be the least attractive when viewed by day. 

 Still, the panorama was deprived of none of its glories by these whispers of well-meant 

 warning." The present writer has crossed the Bay in the ferry and other boats a hundred 

 times, and on a fine night and they have about nine months of fine nights in California 

 he never missed the opportunity of going forward towards the bows of the boat when 

 it approached San Francisco. As Mr. Rae writes, " The full-orbed stars twinkling overhead 

 are almost rivalled by the myriads of gas-lights illuminating the land/' Less than thirty 

 years ago this city of 300,000 souls was but a mission -village, and the few inhabitants 

 of California were mostly demoralised Mexicans, lazy half-breeds, and wretched Indians, 

 who could almost live without work, and, as a rule, did so. Wild cattle roamed at will, 

 and meat was to be had for the asking. The only ships which arrived were like the brig 

 Pilgrim, described by Dana in " Two Years before the Mast," bound to California for hides 

 and tallow. Now, the tonnage of the shipping of all nations which enters the port of 

 San Francisco is enormous. The discovery made by Marshall, in 1847, first brought 

 about the revolution. "Such is the power of gold." Now, California depends far 



* In his work " Westward by Rail," which contains a most reliable account of Calif ornia, its history and progress. 



