Page:California Inter Pocula.djvu/139

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California, which  made  her  appearance  twenty-five days after  the  Falcons  passengers  had  reached  Pan- auid, and  with  500  of  the  more  highly  favored,  the first steamship  sailed  majestically  up  the  coast,  entered the bay  of  San  Francisco,  and  came  to  anchor  between Yerba Buena  island  and  the  Cove,  on  the  28th  of February,  1849.

What an  awakening  was  here  along  these  hitherto slumbering shores ;  steam,  gold,  and  Anglo-American occupation, all  in  a  breath  I  And  let  it  be  borne  in mind  that  neitlier  of  these  events  grew  out  of  the other ; each  was  independent,  though  all  simultaneous - -as  if  this  fair  land,  ripening  for  untold  ages  in  the womb of  time,  had  with  the  throes  of  progress  now been born  to  the  sphere,  and  made  ready  for  the  use of civilized  man.

Then followed  a  series  of  the  vilest  impositions  ever practised upon  a  travelling  public. An opposition line by  way  of  Nicaragua  was  early  established,  but this tended  rather  to  increase  than  to  diminish  the discomforts of  passengers;  for  the  fare  was  at  times reduced so  low  that  it  would  scarcely  pay  for  the  food consumed, to  say  nothing  of  compensation  for  passage. Then combinations  would  be  entered  into,  and  Cali- fornia made ^  to  bleed  for  the  shipowner's  former losses. Subsequently the  Nicaragua  company  ob- tained control of  the  Panamd  line  on  the  Atlantic side, and  the  Nicaragua  line  was  discontinued. This made matters  worse  than  ever;  for  so  powerful  had this monopoly  now  become,  that  it  could  safely  defy opposition from  any  source,  and  these  heartless  and unscrupulous steamship  magnates,  called  by  the  much abused Californians  the  scourges  of  the  ocean,  were determined to  wring  from  their  traffic  the  last  possible dollar, at  whatever  cost  of  comfort,  health,  property, or even  life  to  those  who  were  obliged  to  commit themselves hito  their  hands.

The service  on  the  Atlantic  at  this  time  would have better  befitted  the  African  slave  trade  than  the