ich in grand possibilities defies
calculation; it has passed through its baptism of fire, and, let it be
hoped, has burned out the dross which is incident to the too rapid
growth of large communities.

The territorial importance of California will be most readily presented
by a statement of the facts that, if it lay on the Atlantic shore, it
would extend from Massachusetts to South Carolina; that it is about five
times as large as the combined New England States; and that it
absolutely teems with gardens, vineyards, orange, apple, pear, and peach
orchards, and vast grain fields. The climate presents most of the
advantages of the tropics, with few of the drawbacks. Hot-houses for
delicate plants are hardly needed in winter, and the fan-palm flourishes
as it does at Singapore.

A visit to that part of San Francisco known as China Town revealed the
fact that twenty thousand Chinese were here living in tenements which
would be insufficient for three or four thousand Americans. They are
clearly actuated by the same purpose as that indicated by the motto of
the home Spaniard who leaves Madrid for Cuba: "Seven years of starvation
and a fortune." The Chinaman hoards nearly all he receives, and in four
or five years can return to his native land with a sum of money which,
to him, is an assured independence. They are extremely unpopular with
the citizens of all classes, and not without some good reasons, being
naturally a filthy race, and in many ways specially offensive. It must
not be understood that there are only Chinese washermen, laborers, and
artisans in the city; there are also responsible merchants, brokers, and
manufacturers belonging to that nationality, wielding considerable
influence, both among their own people and the citizens at large. Every
street in China Town has its joss-house or temple, and however low these
Mongols are as a race, they never fail to give heed to their professed
religion and its various forms. It is also a fact that crime is less
frequent in China Town than it is in other parts of the city; and
drunkenness, except insensibility from opium, is scarcely known among
the Chinese in California.

Driving in and about the city, one is impressed by the manifest love of
flowers exhibited in the front yards of the dwelling-houses, and in the
pleasant gardens attached to suburban villas, as well as by the blooming
plants displayed on the window-sills of the homes of all classes. The
admirably chosen s