FROM LOS ANGELES TO SAN FRANCISCO. 109 



little wood-laden " burros " from thjB streets, and steam washers 

 have driven the swarthy Naiads, who then vexed the clear 

 waters of the Los Angeles with their paddles, to other means of 

 livelihood. I prefer speaking of the town in its quieter days, 

 w^hen the influence of the old Spanish fathers at the Mission 

 Church near by had i;iot lost its sedative restraint, and before 

 all were rushing to get at the head of the financial ladder. 



In imagination Los Angeles had been a city of my love. I 

 had read of its beautiful women, its gallant men and its pious 

 priests, who had sacrificed so much for the salvation of the 

 Indians, and a visit to the town made a great impression on 

 me. If I could have shut the innovation of the Yankee 

 quarter from my sight, I might have imagined myself in a 

 town of La Mancha, the tropical courtyards, the horsemen, 

 barbaric in their costume, the water nymphs in the river, and 

 strings of donkeys with their wild drivers to keep up the 

 illusion. 



I would have seen more of Los Angeles, its old Mission and 

 other points of interest, but I was so tired and footsore that I 

 was satisfied to rest and prepare for my seaward tramp. So 

 the rest of the day I sat at the corners of the streets, in the 

 old part of the town, and watched the passers-by. Much of 

 the " shopping" here was done on horseback. Buyers from 

 neighboring ranches would gallop in, and suddenly halting be- 

 fore a tienda barata, or "cheap store" — as elsewhere, the 

 stores here were all tiendas baratas — call for their wants, 

 remaining mounted while the merchant made ready the 

 goods, and after being waited on gallop away with clatter of 

 spur and swish of leather accoutrements. 



Throughout the day scattered parties of the adventurers 

 who had started from Salt Lake with such high hopes of the 

 future came straggling into the town, hungry, tired and out 

 of spirits. The first comers got all the situations procurable, 

 while the main part of the adventurers met with disappoint- 



