To California 
was more delicious and grateful than ever was 
a spring-scented breeze. 
We now had plenty of company; fleets of 
vessels were on the wing from all countries. 
Our taut little racer outwinded without ex- 
ception all who, like her, were going to the port. 
Toward evening we were grinding and wedg- 
ing our way through the ice-field of the river 
delta, which we passed with difficulty. Arrived 
in port at nine o’clock. The ship was deposited, 
like a cart at market, in a proper slip, and next 
morning we and our load of oranges, one 
third rotten, were landed. Thus all the pur- 
poses of our voyage were accomplished. 
On our arrival the captain, knowing some- 
thing of the lightness of my purse, told me 
that I could continue to occupy my bed on 
the ship until I sailed for California, getting 
my meals at a near-by restaurant. “This is 
the way we are all doing,” he said. Consult- 
ing the newspapers, I found that the first ship, 
the Nebraska, sailed for Aspinwall in about 
ten days, and that the steerage passage to 
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