214 A CALIFORNIA TRAMP. 



and its roofs and spires gleaming in the meridian sun ; before 

 us spread the plains of Contra Costa, and on their margin 

 appeared the pretty vilages of Oakland and San Antonio. 

 On the background arose a range of mountains, whose slopes 

 were green with herbage, with Mount Diablo rising in the 

 distance. Around us was spread an expanse of water, dotted 

 with sailing craft and shining like silver. Everything, 

 around, above, below, was full of beauty, but as I was not in a 

 sentimental mood it went almost unappreciated. The city had 

 absorbed two dollars of my three, the crossing of the beautiful 

 bay had taken twenty-five cents of the remaining dollar, 

 while the plain beyond was simply a hunting ground for work 

 and the mountain an obstacle to surmount in case none was 

 found. We soon reached our landing place at Oakland, but 

 a village at that time, and the home of the artist-traveler 

 J. Ross Browne, a name then spelt without the terminal vowel. 

 Getting ashore we traversed the streets, broad and shaded 

 with the perennial live-oak from which the place takes its 

 name. 



Oakland is now a large place — a sort of a Brooklyn to San 

 Francisco — and noted for its beautiful residences and as the 

 terminus for the principal overland railroad. On account of 

 its situation the main city can only be reached by land from 

 the east in a round-about way ; so an immense ferryboat has 

 been built for carrying several cars at a time across the bay. 

 The town is many times larger now than when I saw it, and 

 much more beautified, but with all its additions it cannot 

 impress modern tourists more than it did me, when, debark- 

 ing from an unpretentious ferryboat, I walked its shaded 

 streets with their bordering of well-kept yards and pretty 

 residences. I was hungry, unkempt and out of conceit with 

 my appearance generally, and with spirits down at the heels ; 

 but for all that I could not help being impressed with the 

 beauties of the place. 



