lives there was no record nor current report ; men of tastes and habits the most opposite, such as the phil- osopher and the charlatan, the missionary and mur- derer, the merchant and the highwayman, were forced together in one incono-ruous mass. Nevertheless, there were traits common to all of them, promment among which were extraordinary energy, and acute- ness. It was a land of romance, the natural atmos- phere of youth and inexperience, a land devoid of the dull sameness that overshadowed the lands all had left behind.

It was curious to see how proud were the success- ful Californians of the country. The man who had spent but three months here was entitled to the honor of calling himself a Californian — on returning home. Whatever his opinion of California while there, and howsoever much he had longed for home, once back among his friends and words could not express his admiration for the land and the people. It was the only place fit to live in, the only place where people knew how to do business, the only place where men filled the ideal of manhood, and as a matter of course he was going back. In everything Californian he took a keen interest. First of all he was proud of himself for having gone there, proud of the old clothes and shaggy beard and gold dust which he had brought back, proud that his eyes had been opened so as to take in a view of the world. He regarded with pity his old comrades who still plodded along at the rate of a dollar or two a day.

Never since the great Egyptian exodus have the Hebrew race found a soil and society better suited to their character and taste, better adapted to their pros- perity and propagation than California. All nations having come hither, shades of color, of belief, pecu- liarities of physique, of temper and habit were less distinctly marked. Gold was here, and in common with the gentiles the Jew loved gold. For the rest,