Then we walked under long Gothic arches, cool and fragrant.
Here is every arrangement conceivable for entertainment; on one side
the Pacific ocean; on the other the Coast Range Mountains, a very
pleasant resort for the very rich; but we found there at this time
more servants than guests.
The town of Monterey is interesting only for its ruins of ancient
monasteries and convents, where a few lazy half-breeds alone remain
to tell the tale of multitudes over whom the Catholic priests reigned
supreme, reducing their dupes to beggary by their extortions. Once
these mountains were covered with vast flocks of sheep, but the
foolish reduction of the tariff on wool by the Wilson bill, destroyed
all profits, and the flocks disappeared into the hungry mouths of the
people.
Thence the iron horse took us back to 'Frisco, and we sailed all day
and all night to Sacramento. The scenery was grand, but the cold
weather chilled us to the very bones. Islands of old red sandstone
loom like sentinels along the coast, covered with lighthouses to warn
the mariners. The twin peaks of Montepueblo covered with perpetual
snow, seemed to support the heavens as do the pillars the dome of the
capitol.
Swarms of screaming sea gulls fill the air, some of which, benumbed by
cold alighted on the steamer's deck. Lonely ranches are seen, hemmed
in by the everlasting hills.
Our great, lazy boat, propelled by a stern wheel as big as a barn,
paddled slowly over the muddy waters of the great Sacramento River,
made yellow by the turbid waters sent to it from scores of hydraulic
mines on the mountains.
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