SOCIETY. 401 
diers, another to mining, and the last fills its columns with 
police reports. Of the monthly magazines, three devote them- 
selves to general reading matter, one is medical, and the last 
Presbyterian. There have been Italian and Chinese newspa- 
pers in San Francisco, but there are none here now. 
The Germans, French, Italians, Swiss, Scandinavians, Chi- 
nese, Illyrians, German Jews, Polish Jews, and Irish, have 
each a benevolent ‘society, organized mainly for the purpose 
of rendering mutual assistance in case of illness. There is a 
Protestant and a Catholic Orphan Asylum, a House of Refuge, 
and an Asylum for the Deaf, Dumb, and Blind. The Masons, 
Odd Fellows, and Independent Order of Knights, are other 
benevolent associations established in our city. 
§ 274. Sacramento.—Sacramento City, the political capital 
and second town of California, is situated near the centre of the 
Sacramento basin and of the state—is one hundred and twenty- 
five miles by the course of navigation, and seventy-five miles in 
a direct line, distant from the ocean, on the southéastern corner 
of land formed by the junction of the Sacramento and Ameri- 
can Rivers, at an elevation of thirty feet above the sea, and in 
latisude 38° 33’ and longitude 121° 20’. The business part of 
the city is about twenty feet above low-water mark in the 
Sacramento River, which, in front of the town, during the dry 
season, rises and falls about a foot with the tide. (The figures 
in the preceding sentence were correct previous to the flood 
of 1861-"62 ; whether they will be after it has passed away is 
questionable. I write this while it still prevails; and it is said 
that, during the flood, gravel to the depth of twelve feet has 
been deposited in the river-bed in front of Sacramento.) The 
site is level, and in the midst of a wide plain, most of which is 
bare of trees, and much of which is not cultivated. The 
streets are wide and straight, run with the cardinal points of 
the compass, and are designated only by numbers and letters. 
Those parallel with the Sacramento are first, second, third, 
and so forth; those parallel with the American are A, B, C, 
and so ons The main business part of the city is near the 
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