y into public notice. Girls and boys are not only afforded the
most excellent educational advantages, but a spirit of emulation is
successfully fostered among them, especially encouraging to the
observant visitor. There is a high school for boys and one for girls,
also a Normal school for the education of teachers. San Francisco has
from the outset established a fixed reputation, by employing and
liberally compensating the best pulpit talent to be had in the country.

Finding that the steamship in which we were to sail for Japan would be
detained for the period of ten days, it was resolved to improve the time
by a visit to the Yosemite Valley, involving a journey, in the round
trip, of over six hundred miles, a large portion of which is performed
by coach. The time, trouble, and expense were, however, abundantly
repaid by the experience gained among the wonderful developments of
nature, as exhibited in Alpine scenery and the grandeur of forests which
produce giant trees over three hundred feet in height and forty in
diameter, and which are proven to be over thirteen centuries old. The
cars took us to Madeira, a frontier station to which the broad grain
fields of California already extend. From here, early next morning, we
took a four-horse covered wagon to Coarse Gold Gulch to dine, and here
we passed the night on our return, it being a ranch kept by a worthy
German family. Though the accommodations were rather crude, ample
satisfaction was assured by the cheerful service rendered and the
cleanliness which characterized everything.

We reached Clark's Hotel, located at the foot of the mountains where the
abrupt ascent begins, on the evening of the second day after leaving San
Francisco. Early the next morning the journey was renewed, six horses
now taking the place of four, which number, with frequent changes, had
been quite sufficient on the previous day. The driver who now took us in
charge was a large, fine specimen of the mulatto race, and certainly a
very excellent whip, steady, and as strong as a Hercules. There are few
positions which require more skill and vigilance than to safely drive a
team of six horses and a coach full of passengers by the precipitous,
winding road over the mountains intervening between Clark's and the
level of the valley, to enter which a rise of over seven thousand feet
must be achieved. Scarcely had we fairly commenced the upward climb,
when it was observed that we had left all signs of