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Show 176 PERSONAL ADVENTURES times-is almost certain to reap a harvest. Far differently will you fare, and far preferable, too, will be your lot, in regions where privation is the rule, to that of many amongst your nurnerous fellow-travellers, unaccustomed as they are to laborious occupations-with frames uninured to fatigue, and constitutions unhabituated to scanty fare, to exposure to heat and cold, and wet and sudden changes! Whilst you are succeeding in your object, they will gro'v wearied, disappointed, and home-sick and Ion cr to be back again on the ' 0 theatre of their former struggles. The human stream ceases not to flow from the vessels in the harbour; no sooner is one boat-load disposed of than another arrives, and so on, until the town is gorged with new· cotners, who, after a fe'v days' sojourn, to re· cruit their strength, after the fatigues of a long and irksotne voyage, depart, and are seen no Inore for months; many, perhaps, never to return. Very few of this vast multitude de· serve the epithet of poor. To get here at all requires money; and to maintain one's-self, IN CALIFORNIA. 177 after getting here, the emigrant must have some little means. The majority of the emigrants are men occupying a respectable station in society ; some are even distinguished in their calling: but the eager desire of making a fortune in a hurry has induced them to throw up good ernployments and comfortable ho~es; to leave friends, relatives, connexions, wife, children, and familiar associations, to embark their strength, intelligence, and activity, in this venture. All is bustle where they have landed: boats going to and fro ; rafts slowly discharging their cumbrous loads; porters anxiously and interestedly civil; all excited ; . all bent en gain : ships innumerable in the bay; mountains around; a clear, blue sky above; and the bright waters dancing in the sun, until they touch the horizon in the distance, blending their brightness 'vith his golden track. I walked on until I came up to a group of men, who, like myself, were looking on the busy scene before us with no small degree of interest. I recognised amongst them two of I 5 |