26 RESOURCES OF CALIFORNIA. 



Spanish women, with their amorous eyes and raven hair, have 

 been reproduced at a distance of many thousand miles from 

 Andalusia and Castile. Let the traveler cross the continent 

 till the Pacific slope is reached, and there the soft and delicate 

 beauty of Italy, combined with an intelligence wholly Ameri- 

 can, and a physique wholly English, delights and surprises 

 you. Nor are good looks the sole dower of the American 

 girls. They are more French than English in the acuteness 

 with which they argue. They are passionately fond of the 

 frivolities of existence, yet they follow with interest the course 

 of the graver topics of the day. * * * * * * 



" The children are healthy and robust. Their rosy cheeks are 

 a great contrast to the transparent skins and pale complexions 

 of New England children. If the child be a criterion of the 

 man, the native-born Californians will hereafter be fine speci- 

 mens of humanity. * * The physical conditions under 

 which human beings exist in this favored region, are well 

 adapted for imparting to them the qualities which lead to 

 greatness in all departments of exertion." 



In his book entitled Across the Continent, Samuel Bowles 

 says : 



" The indications are that the human stock will be improved 



both in physical and nervous qualities. The children are stout 



and lusty. The climate invites, and permits with impunity, 



\ such a large open-air life that it could hardly be otherwise." 



I / Another traveler, C. L. Brace, thus records his impressions : 



" The population will be the most industrious working pop- 

 ulation of the world. * * Such is the wonderful quality of 

 nature here, and the selected energy of the Americans, that 

 the five hundred thousand [Californians] are equal to millions 

 elsewhere. * * It is the land of handsome men. * * The 

 young girls of the city [San Francisco] show a great deal of 

 beauty, and such rich bloom of complexion as we seldom see 

 on the Atlantic border. The Coast will no doubt be merely 

 the American type improved. * * I am constantly meeting 



