534 OCEAN TO OCEAN ON HORSEBACK. 



had broken oat with terrible mab'gnity on the banks 

 of the Chagres. The panic-stricken travellers were 

 fleeing from the disease, some trying to reach the land 

 of their desire by an old trail, others were trying to 

 make some progress in boats called " longos/' poled by 

 naked negroes. The mass of the worn, weary, eager 

 wayfarers, however, were waiting as best they might, 

 for that vision of hope and comfort, the '^ steamer/' At 

 last she reached them, with accommodations for about 

 one hundred. She was mobbed by the frantic men, and 

 at last when she left port, over four hundred of them 

 had embarked upon her, many a man braving that ad- 

 venturous voyage, with only a coil of rope or a plank 

 for a bed. 



Steerage tickets for the trip are said to have cost 

 one thousand dollars, or over. 



After spending four months in her passage, the 

 " California " steamed into the Bay of San Francisco, 

 February 29, 1849, a day never to be forgotten at the 

 Golden Gate! The town was crowded with miners 

 wintering there; the ships in the harbor were gay 

 with bunting; the guns of the Pacific Squadron 

 boomed out a salute to the new-comers. Bands of 

 music played, handkerchiefs waved, and men cheered 

 in their enthusiasm, as the first steamship of a regular 

 line entered the Golden Gate, in pursuit of the treas- 

 ures of the " Golden Age." 



That ship bore to California the new military com- 

 mander. General Persifor F. Smith. 



So hiffh ran the fever for treasure, that before the 

 passengers had fairly left the steamer, she was deserted 

 by all belonging to her, save one engineer, and she 

 was consequently unable to start on her return trip. 



