many miles back a man lying by the road had begged a little
water of him, and urged him to hurry on and bring assistance. The next
morning a company of Mexicans came up, and brought word that the man
was dying. But his old companions hesitated to go to his relief. The
negro thereupon retraced his steps over the desert, and reached the
sufferer just as he expired. He lifted him in his arms; the poor
fellow strove to speak to his benefactor, and died in the effort.
His mule, tied to a cactus, was already dead of hunger at his side.
A picture commemorating such a scene, and the heroic humanity of
the negro, would better adorn a panel of the Capitol, than any
battle-piece which was ever painted.

There is a graphic account of the author's first impressions of San
Francisco. "A furious wind was blowing down through a gap in the
hills, filling the streets with dust. On every side stood buildings
of all kinds, began or half-finished, with canvas sheds open in front
and covered with all kinds of signs, in all languages. Great piles of
merchandise were in the open air, for lack of storehouses. The streets
were full of people of as diverse and bizarre a character as their
dwellings: Yankees of every possible variety, native Californians
in serapes and sombreros, Chilians, Sonorians, Kanakas from Hawaii,
Chinese with long tails, Malays armed with everlasting creeses, and
others, in their bearded and embrowned visages, it was impossible to
recognize any especial nationality." "San Francisco by day and night"
is the title of one of the best chapters in the book.

Our author made a foot journey to Monterey during the sitting of the
Convention which formed the State Constitution. He gives a pleasing
account of the refined and polite society of this ancient Californian
town; and makes particular mention of Dona Augusta Ximeno, a sister
of one of the Californian delegates to the Convention, Don Pablo de
la Guerra, as a woman whose nobility of character, native vigor and
activity of intellect, and instinctive refinement and winning grace
of manner, would have given her a complete supremacy in society, had
her lot been cast in Europe or the United States. Her house was the
favorite resort of the leading members of the Convention, American
and Californian. She was thoroughly versed in Spanish literature, and
her remarks on the various authors were just and elegant. She was,
besides, a fine rider, and could throw the lariat with skill, and