60 RESOURCES OF CALIFORNIA. 



der of Knights. The Catholic Church maintains two Orphan 

 Asylums, a hospital, and a Magdalen Asylum. The Protest- 

 ants have an Orphan Asylum, and an association for the re- 

 lief of destitute women. The German and French Benevo- 

 lent Societies have each a fine hospital. 



San Francisco is, in proportion to its size, the busiest seaport 

 of the world. No other city twice as large has so large a trade. 

 The annual exports are about $70,000,000, the imports nearly 

 as much, the manufactures are worth nearly $20,000,000, the 

 real estate sales amount to about $12,000,000, and the cash 

 value of the land, buildings, and movable property of the city, 

 is about $300,000,000. We send away about forty tons of 

 silver and six tons of gold every month the former metal in 

 bars fifteen inches long and five inches square ; the latter in 

 small bars about six inches long, three inches wide, and two 

 inches thick. Wagons loaded with the precious metals are 

 seen in the streets nearly every day. The profits of mer- 

 chants and the wages of mechanics and laborers are high. 



In the matter of public amusements, the city is destined to 

 become eminent. The mild winters and cool summers are fa- 

 vorable to out-door life. The people spend much of their 

 time in the open air. Processions, picnics, excursions, and 

 public displays are frequent. Dancing is in fashion through- 

 out the year. Two theaters are open almost constantly, and 

 we have an opera season every year, besides numerous con- 

 certs and lectures. Those who wish to go out in a buggy, 

 usually drive to the splendid ocean beach, on a romantic road, 

 over the hills west of the city. The spring and early summer, 

 when the country is green, is the season for leaving the city. 

 The number, however, of those who come to San Francisco for 

 pleasure, is much greater than of those who leave it. Every- 

 body who lives on the Pacific slope wants to make a home in 

 this city, or at least to spend some time here. The miner who 

 has made a successful strike, the farmer who has a good crop, 

 the lawyer who has accumulated a nice property by practice 



