stream, and then slowly and clumsily made sail.  The town never looked prettier; it is always the way and always will be; towns, like blessings, brighten just as they get out of reach.  Drifting into the west we began to grow thoughtful; what had at first seemed a lark may possibly prove to be a very serious matter.  We have to feed on rough rations, work in a rough locality, among rough people, and our profits, or our share of the profits, will depend entirely upon the fruitfulness of the egg-orchard, and the number of hundred gross that we are able to get safely into the market.  No news from the town, save by the schooner that comes over at intervals to take away our harvest.  No society, save our own, good enough always, provided we are not forcibly confined to it.  No amusements beyond a novel, a pipe, and a pack of cards.  Ah well! it is only an experience after all, and here goes!

“Sea pretty high, as we get outside the Heads, and feel the long roll of the Pacific.  Wind, fresh and cold; we are to be out all night and looking about for bunks, we find the schooner accommodations are limited, and that the captain and his crew monopolize them.  We sleep anywhere, grateful that we are able to sleep at all.

“10 p.m.—­A blustering head wind, and sea increasing.  What little supper we were able to get on board was worse than none at all, for it did not stay with us—­anything but fun, this going to sea in a bowl, to rob gull’s nests, and smuggle eggs into market.

“May 5th.

“Woke in the early dawn, everything moist and sticky, clammy is the better word, and that embraces the whole case; stiff and sore in every joint; bacon for dinner last night, more bacon for breakfast this morning, and only half-cooked at that.  Our delicate town-bred stomachs rebel, and we conclude to fast until we reach the island.  Have sighted the Farallones, but are too miserable to express our gratitude; wind and sea still rising; schooner on beam ends about once in forty seconds, between times standing either on her head or her tail, and shaking herself ‘like a thing of life.’

“At noon off the landing, a buoy bobbing in the billows, to which we are expected to make fast the schooner, and get to shore in the exceedingly small boat; captain fears to tarry on account of heavy weather; concludes to return to the coast and bide his time; consequently makes for Bolinas Bay, which we reach about 9 p.m., and drop anchor in comparatively smooth water; glad enough to sleep on an even keel at last; it seems at least six months since we left the shining shores of San Francisco, yet it is scarce thirty hours—­but such hours, ugh!

“Bolinas Bay, May 6th.