mean artifice conceivable was resorted to for extort-
ing money ; when the steamers were not half filled,
full fare would be exacted for an empty berth, under
threat of separating man and wife, or of assigning it
to some unwelcome companion. Ice was the greatest
luxury on board; but after receiving $300 or $600
passage money, it was sold to the passenger nominally
at twenty-five cents a pound, but the pounds were in
reality but a half or quarter of a pound, and many
with parched tongues felt they could not afford to
pay the price. The voyage was looked forward to
with dread, and undertaken with abhorrence. No
one, at least at that time, selected this journey as a
pleasure trip. It was the one dark spot in many a
Californian's experience, remembered to this day as a
nightmare. If such prayers be answered,— for curses
are but left-handed prayers — then are the steamer
potentates of those days roasting in regions hotter
than any through which their ships ever sailed, for
never since the world was were men so cursed. In
justice to carriers and caterers, however > it must be
admitted that travellers with their silly questions and
frivolous complaints, often severely tax their patience;
but this does not warrant curt replies and continued
and systematic insults, such as were heaped upon
helpless California passengers. Such conduct is cow-
ardly, and in every way contemptible. Travellers
will grumble and be unreasonable ; carriers and hotel-
keepers must expect this. It must be admitted, more-
over, that as a rule those complain most, who, as a
right, should expect least. He who has the fewest
comforts at home finds the most fault with the discom-
forts of travel. In such cases the lowest class usually
make the loudest noise with their cries of hardship
and imposition. To-day, quiet, well-behaved passen-
gers are almost always treated well, no matter how
ill-organized and appointed the conveyance may be..
There are standard maxims of travel, however^ which,
it would be well to remember. Would you have
