TODDY TIME-TABLE.

 6 A.M.  Eye-opener. 3 P.M.  Cobbler.
 7 " Appetizer. 4 " Social Drink.
 8 " Digester. 5 " Invigorator.
 9 " Big Reposer. 6 " Solid Straight.
10 " Refresher. 7 " Chit-chat.
11 " Stimulant. 8 " Fancy Smile.
12 " Ante-lunch. 9 " Entire Acte (sic).
1 P.M.  Settler. 10 " Sparkler.
 2 " A la Smythe. 11 " Rouser.
                12 P.M.  Night-cap. 
                    GOOD-NIGHT.

My impression is that this time-table was not made for the latitude of Covelo, for they began to drink much earlier than 6 A.M. at the bar, near which I slept, and they left off later than midnight.  It would be unjust for me not to add that, for the amount of liquor consumed, it was the soberest and the best-natured crowd I ever saw.  I would like to write “respectable” also, but it would be ridiculous to apply that term to men whose every word almost is an oath, and whose language in many cases corresponds too accurately with their clothes and persons.

From Round Valley there is a “good enough” horseback trail, as they call it, over a steep mountain into the Sacramento Valley; but a pleasanter journey, and one, besides, having more novelty, is by way of Potter Valley to Lakeport, on Clear Lake.  The road is excellent; the scenery is peculiarly Californian.  Potter Valley is one of the richest and also one of the prettiest of the minor valleys of this State, and your way to Lakeport carries you along the shores of two pleasant mountain lakelets—­the Blue Lakes, which are probably ancient craters.

Two days’ easy driving, stopping overnight in Potter Valley, brings you to Lakeport, the capital of Lake County, and the only town I have seen in California where dogs in the square worry strangers as they are entering the place.  As the only hotel in the town occupies one corner of this square, and as in Californian fashion the loungers usually sit in the evening on the sidewalk before the hotel, the combined attack of these dogs occurs in their view, and perhaps affords them a pleasing and beneficial excitement.  The placid and impartial manner with which the landlord himself regards the contest between the stranger and the town dogs will lead you to doubt whether his house is not too full to accommodate another guest, and whether he is not benevolently letting the dogs spare him the pain of refusing you a night’s lodging; but it is gratifying to be assured, when you at last reach the door, that the dogs “scarcely ever bite any body.”

Clear Lake is a large and picturesque sheet of water, twenty-five miles long by about seven wide, surrounded by mountains, which in many places rise from the water’s edge.  At Lakeport you can hire a boat at a very reasonable price, and I advise the traveler to take his blankets on board, and make this boat his home for two or three days.  He will get food at different farm-houses on the shore; and as there are substantial, good-sized sail-boats, he can sleep on board very enjoyably.  Aside from its fine scenery, and one or two good specimens of small Californian farms, the valley is remarkable for two borax lakes and a considerable deposit of sulphur, all of which lie close to the shore.