Page:California Inter Pocula.djvu/130



IK THE  JOURNEY  OVERLAND

with the  ill-  covered  graves  of  men  and  women,  ghastly skeletons of  golden  hopes. Some were  overtaken  by the  snow,  and  losing  their  way,  perished ;  some  were shot by  savages;  some  fell  by  disease. In the  words of a  pilgrim,  "the  last  part  of  the  emigration  resembled the  rout  of  an  army,  with  its  distressed  multitudes  of helpless  sufferers,  rather  than  the  voluntary  movement of  a  free  people." On reaching  the  Truckee,  their weary spirits  grew  buoyant  again;  for  now  the  trail was good,  water  and  grass  abundant,  and  the  first  tall trees which  they  had  seen  for  eight  hundred  miles, appear. So on  the  survivors  come,  sometimes  worn out by  famine  and  fatigue,  over  sterile  hills  and  scorch- ing Saharas, through  the  valleys  of  death  and  from the plains  of  desolation,  heedless  if  not  heartless,  up by  the  pathway  through  the  cloven  granite,  through the mountain  pass,  then  zig-zag  down  the  steep  slopes, and beneath  the  shadowy  pines  of  the  Sierra,  empty- ing all that  is  left  of  them  and  their  belongings  into the valley  of  the  Sacramento,  or  into  the  garden  of Los  Angeles,  ready  after  their  toilsome  march  to  reap and riot  with  the  best  of  them.

Fortunate indeed  are  they  if  their  last  flour  be  not cooked, and  the  last  morsel  of  rancid  bacon  be  not  de- voured, before reaching  their  journey's  end. Once among the  settlers,  however,  and  they  are  sure  of  the means of  appeasing  their  hunger ;  for  there  3^et  remains something of  that  substantial  hospitality  which  the poorest western  emigrant  would  think  it  shame  to  re- fuse another.

Now they  may  revel  in  the  realms  of  golden  dreams. Here, indeed,  is  the  promised  land;  and  these  dirt- colored, skin-cracked,  blinded,  and  footsore  travellers, whose stomach  linings  are  worn  and  wasted  from  car- rying foul food  and  fetid  water — let  them  enjoy  it. Stripping off  their  ragged  and  gritty  clothes,  the newly-arrived may  bathe  in  the  inviting  streams, drinking in  the  cool,  refreshing  water  at  every  pore ; they may  put  on  fresh  apparel,   and  fiil  themselves