CHAP. XIV.

THE CHINESE QUESTION.

233

anomalous labourers level our roads, build our railways, cultivate and can our fruits, catch and can our salmon, raise and peddle our vegetables, make our brooms, boots, and cigars, harvest our grain, work in our mines and vineyards, manufacture our woollens, compete for housework, sew and wash our linen, and make embroideries, ruches, and many of the fine rufflings which are worn by our women. Step by step they are crowding into every possible industry. We have become used to their presence, and have grown dependent upon them, in the same way that our own people in the Southern States became dependent upon their slaves. Labour there became discrowned; and soon it will cease to be honourable here, if there be no change. The Chinese hold to their creeds, to their degrading customs, their national prejudices, and their anti-American civilisation to the destruction of our own "-is the testimony given by one who speaks with authority on this subject. On the other hand, some of the fruit-growers I talked to in Southern California described the legislation on the Chinese question as a "mistaken political despotism." They complained that European labour is more expensive and cannot be relied on, and that boys obtained from the purlieus of great cities are worse than useless. Emigrants hitherto have been families seeking homes of their own, whereas day labourers are required, and some are bold enough to say that the day is not far distant when Californian fruit-growers and San Francisco merchants alike will clamour for a repeal of the Chinese Restriction Act.

CHAPTER XV.

Strawberries in February; roses and geraniums growing in the open air -New Orleans and Colorado and California contrasted-Oakland and the Ebell Society-Fresno-An exciting drive through the colonies-Miss Austin's vineyard-Mr. Miller of the Fresno Republican -Mr. A. B. Butler-Raisin-making-The Eisen vineyard-Sampling Californian wines-Family Emigration and the kind of people wanted -Bee culture-An ostrich ranche.

I HARDLY know whether I felt more amazed to see on all sides of me in February, strawberries, on the dinner-table, lilies, roses, and geraniums in full bloom in the open air, and the houses covered with honeysuckle, jasmine, and passion-flowers, or to find myself, in spite of asthmatic tendencies, daily able to drive for hours in an open carriage with impunity. Nothing to compare with this climate and temperature had I ever before experienced during an American winter save in Colorado and in New Orleans; here, and in Colorado, there is a buoyancy and freshness that is quite invigorating; whereas in New Orleans most people find the air too close and exhausting even in January. I am glad, however, that I had an opportunity of seeing the "sunny south" with its cotton-fields and sugar plantations, in spite of the many disadvantageous circumstances connected with my visit. I was not particularly happy in my surroundings during the time I spent there last winter, but

CHAP. XV.

OAKLAND.

235

the days were so exquisite that the mere enjoyment of living seemed to suffice. Here in California, before the rainy season thoroughly set in, I had sunshine within and without, and kind friends seemed to rise up on all sides who could not do enough to make my residence among them thoroughly enjoyable. I had some pleasant trips across the bay to Alameda and Oakland, to the State University, open to both sexes, which flourishes at Berkeley; and, thanks to Mr. and Mrs. F. Smith's hospitality, I spent some pleasant hours in driving through perfect avenues of villa residences, round which fuchsias, verbenas, roses, geraniums, and tropical plants were growing luxuriantly, and also to other picturesque places which greet you at every turn in this attractive neighbourhood. Oakland is naturally very proud of its ladies' club, known as the Ebell Society, formed for the advancement of art, science, and literature, and to promote successful organised work for women. It accorded me a very kind afternoon reception, at which I was able to meet ladies well known for their good works in divers directions. The president is very active in the temperance cause, and, as a sister of one of my most valued Canadian friends, now living in Montreal, we did not meet as mere strangers, but a cordial understanding from the first moment subsisted between us.

At last the time arrived for me to proceed on my journey, for I had an engagement which obliged me to be in St. Louis at a certain date. With great reluctance I bade farewell to San Francisco early one morning, and reached Fresno city after a long day's journey by the Southern Pacific Railroad, which ran sometimes by the banks of the river, where proud herons stalked about with upraised heads, perfectly

.AM.

indifferent to the approach of the noisy locomotive; sometimes by wheat ranches, and then for many miles over wild tracks, where the ground-squirrels, jack rabbits, gophers, and owls reigned supreme. Fresno county is one of the largest in the State of California, and the central portion comprises a large part of the San Joaquin Valley. On one side is the coast range of mountains, on the other the farfamed Sierra-Nevadas enclose the Yosemite with its gigantic trees. The snows shut the traveller out of this enchanted region till April or May, and I could therefore only gaze with wonder on the various peaks from 13,000 to 15,000 feet high, crowned with eternal ice and snow, and imagine the wonders enshrined within the unapproachable gorges and caverns within. Merced and Madera are at present the principal points of departure for the Yosemite; but the energetic city of Fresno, which undoubtedly has a great future before it, hopes to make a railroad ere long to the entrance of the valley, and by this means to bring all the tourists into her midst, to the benefit of the entire community.

The day after I arrived, I started early in the morning on an expedition to the various vineyards and colonies, for the fame of the Fresno colony, American colony, Washington colony, Temperance colony, and Scandinavian colony, had already reached me. "We will drive first to Miss Austin's," said my host, Mr. Miller, proprietor of the Fresno Republican, as soon as I had accomplished the difficult feat of getting into the most extraordinary vehicle I ever saw in my life. The driver at once gave a flick with his long whip to our team of four horses, and in another moment we were rapidly -far too rapidly for my peace of mind-jolting over what must, I suppose, by courtesy be styled a road.

CHAP. XV.

CALIFORNIAN DRIVING.

237

I use that word jolting advisedly, for road-making is an undiscovered science in America. There are ways to a place, but no roads, in our English acceptation of the term. Even in some of the large cities in the East this is a noticeable feature. I was told by a friend in Cincinnati, of the fate that awaited the London-built carriages that a rich citizen in a weak moment had been tempted to bring over from England. In one month he was mourning over their broken springs and general wreckage! Out in the wilds of California I had perhaps no right to expect a smooth highway, and ought not to have been as surprised as I was at the various ways in which our progress that day was arrested. In the first place, the so-called road abounded in pitfalls, and owing to some recent rains these were filled with mud. By way of reassuring me, I suppose, one gentleman of the party began to describe how the horses sometimes disappeared to their ears in these holes, and the occupants of the machine behind them had to escape from the situation as they best could, while some valiant spirit cut the traces and released the animals, and left the vehicle for future ministrations! In order to escape so lively an experience, it was deemed prudent to make tracks of our own across the fields. This proved to be by no means so easy as it at first appeared, for the ground is undermined by various animals ; the grey squirrels speeding from under the horses' feet with flying leaps, while the jack rabbits indulged in long kangaroolike bounds, turning round when they had put a sufficient distance between us, to contemplate the unwelcome intruders on their domains.

At first sight the soil seemed unfruitful to the last degree, but it has really marvellous capabilities; and after five