CALIFORNIA AFTER THE DISCOVERY OF GOLD. 303 



Such was San Francisco at the time of our visit; since 

 then the whole of California has undergone surprising changes, 

 which cannot be better described than in the words of Mr. 

 Walter Colton, author of " Deck and Port," and " Three 

 Years in California." 



" The Bay of San Francisco resembles a broad inland lake, 

 communicating by a narrow channel with the ocean. This 

 channel, as the tradition of the Aborigines runs, was opened 

 by an earthquake, which a few centui'ies since convulsed the 

 continent. The town is built on the south bend of the bay, 

 near its communication with the sea. Its site is a succession 

 of barren sand-hills, tumbled up into every variety of shape. 

 No leveling process, on a scale of any magnitude, has been 

 attempted. The buildings roll up and over these sand-ridges 

 like a shoal of porpoises over the swell of a wave, only the fish 

 has much the most order in the disposal of his head and tail. 

 More incongruous combinations in architecture never danced 

 in the dreams of men — brick warehouses, wooden shanties, 

 sheet-iron huts, and shaking-tents, are blended in admirable 

 confusion. 



" But these grotesque habitations have as much uniformity 

 and sobriety as the habits of those who occupy them. Hazards 

 are made in commercial transactions, and projects of specula- 

 tion that would throw Wall Street into spasms. I have seen 

 merchants purchase cargoes without having even glanced into 

 the invoice. The conditions of the sale were a hundred per 

 cent, profits to the owner, and costs. In one cargo, when 

 tumbled out, were found twenty thousand dollars in the single 

 article of red cotton handkerchiefs ! ' I'll get rid of these 

 among the wild Indians,' said the purchaser, with a shrug of 

 the shoulders. — 'I've a water lot which I will sell,' cries 

 another. * Which way does it stretch 7' inquire half-a-dozen. 



