car. Fortunately we were not very full
of passengers; and by making use of four seats, or two benches,
turning one of the seat-backs round, and placing the seat-bottoms
lengthwise, I arranged a tolerably good sleeping-place for the night.
But had the carriage been full, and the occupants been under the
necessity of sitting up during the six days the journey lasted, I
should imagine that it must have become almost intolerable by the time
we reached Omaha.

There were some rather unpleasant fellow-travellers in my
compartment--several unsavoury Chinamen, smoking very bad tobacco; and
other smoking gentlemen, who make the second-class compartments their
rendezvous. But for the thorough draught we obtained from time to time
on the passage of the conductor, the atmosphere would be, as indeed it
often was, of a very disagreeable character.

About forty-two miles from San Francisco, I find we are already in
amongst the hills of a range, and winding in and out through pretty
valleys, where all available land is used for farming purposes. We
round some curves that look almost impossible, and I begin to feel the
oscillation of the carriages, by no means unlike the rolling of a ship
at sea. I often wished that it had been summer instead of winter, that
I might better have enjoyed the beauty of the scenery as we sped
along. As it was, I could see that the country must be very fine under
a summer sky. We have met with no snow at present, being still on the
sunny slopes of the Pacific; nor have we as yet mounted up to any very
high elevation.

We were not long in passing through the range of hills of which I have
spoken, and then we emerged upon the plains, which continued until we
reached Sacramento, the capital of the State. The only town of any
importance that we have yet passed was Stockton, a place about midway
between San Francisco and Sacramento, where we now are. Down by the
riverside I see some large lumber-yards, indicative of a considerable
timber trade. The wharves were dirty, as wharves generally are; but
they were busy with traffic. The town seemed well laid out, in broad
streets; the houses being built widely apart, each with its garden
about it; while long lines of trees run along most of the streets.
Prominent amongst the buildings is the large new Senate House or
Capitol, a really grand feature of the city. The place having been
originally built of wood, it has been liable to conflagrations, which
have more tha