I noticed one gentleman with a packet of letters, I should think considerably over a hundred, every now and then slip one into his breast pocket and give a furtive glance, which did not inspire confidence, but probably this is a well accustomed habit of the people, and the letters, perhaps, are as safe as the newspapers I frequently saw deposited on the tops of the street letter boxes (outside the boxes), because they were too large to be put inside; of course anyone could have taken them, but the custom not to touch them is probably honourably recognized.  The street letter boxes are quite small square boxes, not large pillar boxes as are ours in this country.

I should like to have remarked more generally on America, but both time and space fail me.  Of course, as most people know, the (to us) disgusting practice of spitting is common in America; spittoons are universally provided in public and private places.  At Merced Court House is this notice:  “Gentlemen will not, and others should not spit upon the floors.”  Huge spittoons are provided there.

The awful guttural which precedes the constant expectoration of Americans is most trying.  It excites in persons near them and who are unaccustomed to it, a sensation of necessity to vomit, as it conveys a fear that your neighbour is about to vomit over you.  It is not the excusable expectoration arising from an accumalation in the air passages, but a continuous fusilade of saliva.  It is a disgusting practice, and I believe will die out in America as its citizens travel more in the old countries and become used to manners more refined than such a one as this.  I observed that my clients in California, who have travelled in Europe, and other travelled Americans, are not guilty of this odious practice.

I would say to Englishmen travelling in America, don’t condescend to the “guessing” and other loose styles of expression, and don’t affect the nasal twang.  Americans, with all their boast of one man being as good as another, are greatly pleased to entertain or travel with Englishmen having a title, and they pay a marked respect to Britishers who speak in a classical style, and who, while being devoid of foppishness, bounce, or vulgarity, conduct themselves with a genial dignity.

=California.=

I will now say something about California, and then proceed to describe the lands for sale, and the prospects of those who will settle upon them.

California lies on the genial coast of the Pacific Ocean, midway between the too cold regions of the North and the too hot regions of the South.  To be exact, the mean temperature in San Francisco in the month of January, averages about 49 deg..  It has varied from 53 deg. to 39 deg..  The record of 32 years shows that between sunrise and sunset it has not been so low as 32 deg. on more than 10 days.  Snow is sometimes seen to fall, but it melts immediately.

California has a bright, genial climate, and is described as “pre-eminently a sunny land.”  The early spring, commencing about the middle of February and lasting about six weeks, is a very pleasant part of the year, but April is described as the “cheeriest.”  December and January are the least pleasant, because it is the rainy and winter season.