European
vessels were more homogeneous, more alike one an- other, each ship carrying a fraternizing cargo what- ever the caste, a cargo of nearer kinship in origin and desthiation, while on the Californian steamers all was babel-tongued discordant conglomeration. In scenery the California trip, as compared to the European, is as kaleidoscope to spy-glass; there are seas that lash themselves into angry foam, seas that race their blue billows alonof, swirling^ and shaking; their crests in careless wantonness, and seas glassy as mountain lakes, mirroring the luxuriant green of tropical isles and mainland. Within the three weeks allotted to the trip the voyager passes under the influence of the four seasons, is introduced to wonderful lands, and made acquainted with strange peoples. Nature and human nature assumes phases altogether new ; unique experiences and wide prospects sharpen the faculties and enlarge ideas. A sort of inspiration follows ; the windows of the mind are opened and immensity rushes in, even sea-sickness is an inspiration, or is followed by keener thoughts and an inspiriting frame of mhid.
The reasons why there never again can be such sea- voyagings are obvious. This planet lias no other Cali- fornia left, no other Pacific coast, no further stretch of gold-besprinkled unoccupied temperate zone. Gold discoveries there may be, and possible uprisings and rushes, but the earth is now belted by railways and telegraphs, and all parts of it worth rushing to, all parts of it possible to seize, pleasant to live in, or profitable to subdue are now occupied and guarded by civilized or semi -civilized nations. There never will be another crusade for the recovery of the holy sep- ulchre, nor another ten centuries of religious wars, nor another Bartholomew massacre, nor any more old-fashioned voyages of discovery, nor any more California gold-hunter's voyages of adventure. His- tory may repeat itself; so may nature, progressional phenomena, and fundamental social laws, but mon-
