Other rocks are covered by birds like the dodo, whose eggs are considered delicious, and excursions are made to procure them.

The bay

is alive with animal life; every variety of waterfowl, as well as fish of all descriptions. The Californian salmon is, I think, equal to the English, and is the cheapest thing to be had in San Francisco. There is also an oyster-bay; but the oysters are not indigenous, but transplanted from Oregon. They are small, like our natives, and are, to my taste, the best oysters in America. The large ones, of a size capable of choking a man, are generally preferred, and brought in ice or cans from Baltimore-the most celebrated place in America for oysters. So immense is the trade of canning oysters in Baltimore, that the railroad runs through a deep cutting in mountains of oyster-shells, the accumulation of years.

CHAPTER V.

THE YO SEMITE VALLEY, THE HOME OF THE MONSTER TREES, AND THE HIGHEST WATER

FALL IN THE WORLD.

NE of the most stupendous marvels of the North American continent is the valley of the Yo Semite; attractive alike to the geologist, the naturalist, the artist, and the wonder-loving tourist; in a word, to mankind generally, both civilized and savage. So widely has its fame gone forth, that it has recently become quite the fashion to visit this grand workshop of Nature, where she has been secretly labouring for thousands of years, unknown, unsuspected by what we are apt to consider the towering wisdom of man.

Only twelve or fourteen years ago, and then only by accident, did this said wisdom penetrate to this mysterious laboratory, where the glaciers and the winds and the waters had wrought their magical effects.

The wild Indian, it is true, had lived amongst these mighty crags and fastnesses, regarding them as impersonations of the Great Spirit whom he worshipped, and utilising them as impregnable fortresses, to which he believed that his foe, the white man, would never be able to pursue him.

Time after time the United States troops had followed the Indian, as they thought, to his lair, when suddenly he disappeared amid the ravines and boulders, and huge pinnacles of rock and morain. But, on one occasion, the snow, which usually sets in suddenly in the last week of October, fell thick and fast on the retreating steps of the Indian, and thus were his pursuers enabled to discover his retreat, if not absolutely to follow him in his perilous descent into the valley. They marked well the spot, and, when in the spring the blood-flower emerged from its downy bed of snow, heralding the advent of vernal breezes, they traced with much difficulty a path to the wigwams embosomed below. It is needless to say that the white man, having once got possession, has retained it, and the valley now is the property of the State of California.

"Have you been to the Yo Semite?" is the first question addressed to any stranger arriving at San Francisco, no matter whether from the

east, west, north, or south. "Well, you have to go. It is the big thing of the world just now. You ain't got no rocks in Europe near so tall nor so straight. You are bound to go, I tell you." And the traveller accordingly does go, under a sort of moral compulsion, which he cannot resist, but never regrets it, unless, indeed, he be a bad rider, in which event it is just possible that he may experience some of the ills that flesh is heir to, in respect of imperfect equitation.

We left San Francisco by rail for Stockton, whence we departed by stage-coach at five in the morning, to drive eighty miles before we should be permitted to stop; at least, we had to pay our fare as far, and, if we did not keep our seats, the stage would assuredly go on without us, and the fare would have to be paid over again. To an European traveller it would seem that, instead of convenience being studied, there was a special faculty for creating discomfort in these stages, facetiously called "superior accommodation."

Gold, I need hardly say, is the God of California. There is neither king nor kaiser, nor prince nor empire, nor pope nor parliament; it is a "free" country. The man with the most money rules supreme. Every man in America begins by thinking himself as good as his

neighbour, and, following out the Irish version of this social fact, he adds, "half a million of dollars better." He will tread on your toes, because he is as good as you, and he won't apologise, because he is a "free citizen," and has a right to place his feet where he pleases. Still, on complaint being made of his sprawling, "Sir, you are hurting me!" he will graciously reply, "Wall, I didn't mean that! Put your feet on mine! they'll be out of the way."

Thus, our stage-driver invests his capital in cattle. "Got as good a team, sir, as any on the Pacific coast, I guess." And that is quite true; he drives four fine, well-bred horses, and changes. every ten miles. Eight ostlers effect the transfer in about three minutes; at all events, there is no time lost. He fixes his own price, according to the exorbitancy of his fancy, and treats his passengers as a drover treats his cattle, any thought for their pleasure or comfort being out of the question. He adopts everything to his own interest and convenience, as though there were no other party to the

contract.

The coach is constructed to carry four inside, but nine are unceremoniously thrust into it. Three are wedged on each seat, and then a narrow plank is placed between the two doors—which has to be taken up when the doors are opened