servants than the Gentiles have. If a laundress, housemaid, or cook proves herself acceptable, he can marry as many such as he chooses: and the maid being "sealed unto him" is his servant for life, a slavery which seems voluntary; but this also imposes the obligation of care, protection, and support upon the man.

Polygamy cannot last long: all the better instincts as well as the principles of our people are against it.

CHAPTER V.

FROM SALT LAKE CITY TO SAN FRANCISCO.

WONDERFUL is the railroad-train! The first that ever ran over an American road was (in 1831) from Albany to Schenectady, N.Y. Mr. Sidney Dillon, now president of the Union Pacific, is said to have been on that train.

We are now on the Central Pacific Road, one thousand and thirty-two miles from Omaha, and eight hundred and thirty-five miles from San Francisco. Fifty-two miles west of Ogden is Promontory, where the last spike uniting the two roads was driven on the 10th of May, 1869. To accomplish this, ten miles of track were laid in one day on the Central Pacific Road.

Eleven hundred miles from Omaha commences the American Desert; and for a hundred miles it is a desert indeed, in which you swallow alkaline dust at every breath. The dusty desert continues until you reach Wadsworth, 1,587 miles from Omaha, and 555 miles from Ogden. 1,633 miles from Omaha, we

reach California.

Summit is 1,667 miles from Omaha, and the highest point of the Sierra Nevada Mountains passed over by the Central Road. It is at an elevation of 7,017 feet; but granite peaks are near, rising over 10,000 feet. There are many miles of snowsheds, and one tunnel of 1,659 feet, in these mountains.

Near Colfax, 1,722 miles from Omaha, is some grand scenery.

Sacramento is 1,776 miles from Omaha, and ninety-one miles from San Francisco. Until 1870 Sacramento was the end of the Central Pacific Road; but when the road from Sacramento to San Francisco was completed (called the Western Pacific), it was consolidated with the Central Pacific. This is a thriving town, on the east bank of the Sacramento River, of some twenty-eight thousand inhabitants. The country round is exceedingly fertile and beautiful vineyards, fruit-orchards, and immense wheat-fields spread over vast areas. We reached there on the 11th of June, and much wheat was already harvested.

CHAPTER VI.

SAN FRANCISCO. — THE BAY.-THE MARKETS. - THE BUILDINGS.-THE CHINESE QUARTER.

ON Monday, before eleven o'clock on the 11th of June, we reached Oakland Pier; and, sailing five miles by steamer across the bay, we reached the Palace Hotel in San Francisco before twelve o'clock.

A remarkable city it is. It lies on the west side of a bay more than fifty miles long, large enough to float the navies of the world. On the west side of the narrow strip of land at whose north extremity the city stands, are mountains which entirely conceal the ocean and protect the bay. The Golden Gate, very deep and narrow, scarce three-quarters of a mile wide, is the only way to the great ocean.

We went to the Palace Hotel, which no visitor should fail to visit, if only for a few hours. It is the largest hotel in the world, with its seven hundred and fifty rooms, its seven vast stories, dining-rooms, electric bells, and every modern convenience; to say nothing of the an

nouncement that it is earthquake-proof, which means that large iron anchors hold it together, rendering it tolerably secure against an occasional danger. The table d'hôte is poor, each waiter having the air of one who had never been feed and who never expected to be; the restaurant, on the contrary, being excellent.

We visited the jewelry-store of Col. Andrews, where the "last spike" for the Union and Central Railroads was made. This well-known repository of diamonds, gold, and silver, the Tiffany of the West, is situated in Montgomery Street, and bears the enticing name of the "Diamond Palace." They showed us the miniature imitation of the Parthenon in Paris, composed of some twenty native quartz specimens containing gold in its natural state; the model standing some two feet in height, exquisite in point of workmanship, and valued at twenty thousand dollars. Two men were employed for a couple of years in the mines, gathering perfect specimens of gold-quartz for its manufacture. Gen. and Mrs. Grant, among the many courtesies tendered them, had the honor of walking over solid bricks of gold, so that Dick Whittington's London dream was realized in San Francisco.

Our first impression of San Francisco was that of a mushroom city; since every house,