for taking exercise, so essential on board a ship; and
although our pace was not very rapid, we got on
steadily at the rate of nine miles an hour, without
seeing land or sail during the entire journey. The
weather favoured us throughout; besides, the cuisine
being good, and the champagne to my taste,—the latter
I had procured from a thorough connoisseur at Yokohama,—
added considerably to the enjoyment of one of
the finest voyages I have ever made, and any stray
hour of weariness promptly gave way to the strong
interest created by Motley’s or Prescott’s excellent
works.
Nothing worth recording happened during our
passage, excepting perhaps the novelty of having a
double edition of the first of May, on which day we
passed the ante-meridian. I t created much wonder
and amusement to many on board, who had never
contemplated the possibility of such an occurrence,
when on the following day, for the purpose of readjusting
the calendar, the slate journal again was headed
“May 1st.” We had a strong head-wind that day, and
the ship was actually pitching, an unusual sensation in
the Pacific. We now passed shoals of dark blue
molluscs, commonly called “ Portuguese Men-of-war.”
They are very pretty animals of flat oblong shape, an
inch and a half long, indigo blue, almost transparent,
with brownish rays towards the centre, and a semicircular
sail set lengthways upon them at right angles.
Also quantities of mossy-looking masses floated past,
which were supposed to be whale spawn.
The total distance from Yokohama to San Francisco,
according to the ship’s log-book, was 4,763 miles. The
approach of the latter harbour, winding our way
between some hilly islands, was pleasant to the eye
after the monotony of so much sea, and nothing but
sea, for twenty-two days.
America and Canada have been so often discussed
in print that it would be no easy matter to interest my
readers in anything I can say about them; I shall,
therefore, content myself, relating briefly what route I
took and what I did see.
San Francisco, or Frisco, as one often hears it called,
and its leviathan hotels, is not a pleasant place for
people who wish for quiet and rest, everything there
is over-boiling activity and noise. The town covers
several low hills, and is straggling and d u sty ; the
houses are mostly built of wood with mud-brown
plaster facings. In the streets it is a common occurrence
to meet an entire house in the act of changing its
locality, on wooden rollers, whilst the ordinary occupation
of cooking, washing, etc., is going on inside as