SAN FRANCISCO 31 



lews, snipe, and avosets ran about on the moist 

 ground. What a chance for a collector! It made 

 my heart ache to leave them behind without a single 

 shot. 



We came into Oakland next morning (Dec. 18), and 

 from the end of a very long pier, built out into the 

 water, took the palatial ferry-boat across the bay to 

 San Francisco. I was well pleased to see some lovely 

 oil-paintings upon the walls of the parlor of the boat, 

 representing California scenery. They were true to 

 nature, and as interesting a collection of paintings as 

 one sees in the best galleries of our Eastern cities. 

 After a delightful sail of six or seven miles across the 

 smooth bay, we came to the " City of all Nations," 

 and the passengers dispersed in all directions. 



San Francisco is very like all other large American 

 cities, and contains palaces and hovels, glitter and 

 decay. The Chinese part of the city is a novelty, and 

 will well repay the time spent in studying the modes 

 of life of those strange people. The dishes displayed 

 in their shops to tempt the Celestial palate have a 

 decidedly foreign look. I went into one of their tem- 

 ples, or churches, where sat a representation of their 

 god, an image superbly decked out, sitting under a 

 gilded canopy. Incense was burning on each side, 

 and throngs of the Chinese were performing their 

 daily devotions. " Idolaters," Christians call them ; 

 but I failed to see that they are any less sincere, or any 



