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women, as  Dibdin,  in  his  bibliographical  tour,  pictures it all  in  the  stieets  of  Caen. The few  women  there were in  those  days  were  used  to  blacken  characters, not boots.

Much has  been  said  by  a  class  of  persons  whose  en- thusiasm overshadows their  judgment,  of  the  breadth and bigness  of  everything  Californian,  "as  if  size  were worth,  and  bigness,  greatness.  1  take  no  special  pride in  the  size  of  California's  turnips,  nor  in  the  amount of  gold  riddled  from  the  placers ;  I  rejoice  in  Califor- nia's beauties,  for  beauty  is  a  thing  to  rejoice  in ;  I bathe  in  her  mellow,  misty  light,  and  drink  her  spark- ling air,  and  rejoice  in  her  capabilities,  in  the  intelligence of  her  men  and  women — all  that  is  good  in  them  ;  her frailties  have  no  attractions  for  me,  her  sins  are  hate- ful to  me.

By midsummer,  1850,  fifty  ships  were  in  port,  upon whose cargoes  the  owners  could  not  pay  freight,  and  put up at  auction  the  ship's  consignees  would  buy  them  in.

Traffic as  liere  displayed,  so  loud,  so  large,  so  errat- ic, was the  very  irony  of  speculation;  and  for  long afterward California  was  famous  for  wild  ventures, and liigh  rates  of  labor  and  interest ;  yet  it  was  clear- ly enough demonstrated  that  such  speculation  may prevail unattended  by  general  financial  convulsions  in a  community  whose  circulation  is  purely  gold  and  sil- ver. The recuperative  powers  of  the  people  after  a  fire, flood, or  drought,  were  marvellous. An isolated  com- munity with a  metallic  currency  tends  to  the  originating and building  up  of  private  banks,  and  though  a  specu- lative inflated condition  of  things  appears  at  intervals in a  rapid  spasmodic  prog^ress,  the  failure  of  any  local or incidental  element  of  prosperity,  though  affecting in some  degree  every  member  of  society,  involved  in ruin  comparatively  few. Nevertheless, the  country, and all  about  it  was  old  and  extravagant,  the  people and their  doings  being  no  less  whimsical  and  bizarre than the  streets  and  the  houses  of  the  towns. Over the   sudden  and  wonderful   development  of  wealth,