4 CALIFOaXIA JUST PRIOR TO THE GOLD DISCOVERY.
mind. Intermediate between these races and the native Californian stands the pure-blooded Spaniard^ wrapped in the reflection of ancestral preeminence, and using his superior excellence as a means to aflirin ]iis foothold among humbler race connections. An approximate affinity of blood and language here paves tlio way for the imaginative though superficial French- man and Italian, no less polite than insincere, yet cheerful and aesthetic. A few Hawaiian Islanders have been brought over, and are tolerated until prouder people press them back and under.
Even now events are giving a decisive predomi- nance to the lately inflowing migration, by reason of tlio energy displayed in the rapid extension of iudus* trial arts, notably agriculture, with improved methods and ]riacliinery, and growing traffic with such standard- bearers of civilization as the public press and a steam- boat. So far this influx has confined itself to the (MMitral part of the state, round San Francisco Bay and northward, because the gateway for the immigration across the |)lains opens into this section, which more- over presents equal if not superior agricultural features, an<l greater commercial prospects. The occupation of ilio south by a different race serves naturally to point out and affirm the limits.
San Jose, founded as a pueblo within the first dec- ade of S])anish occupation, and now grown into a lespe/tabfc town of about TOO inhabitants, is the most prominent of the northern settlements wherein the His{)ano-Californian element still predominates. Notwithstanding the incipient greatness of the city at the (jate, San Jose holds hi^h pretensions as a central inland town, on the border line between the settled south and the growing north, with aspirations to sup- plant Monterey as the capital. This accounts in a measure for the large inflowing of foreigners, who have lately acquired sufficient influence to elect the alcalde from among themselves, the present incumbent being James W. Weeks. The fertile valley around counts
