CONTENTS:

DEDICATION.--AUTHOR'S PREFACE.--INTRODUCTION.

CHAPTER I. MY FIRST PASEAR. 
The Sierra Morena, and the Redwood Forest of San Mateo and Santa Cruz.--
The Sportsman's Paradise.--Looking back at the Golden City.--Yesterday and 
To-day.--Along the Bay of San Francisco.--The Valley of San Andreas.--
Harry Linden's Speculation in Oats.--Good Resolutions and what came of 
them.--A Dream of Tropic Life.--An Evening in the Mountains.--A Scene of 
Wonderful Beauty.--The AvalanChe from the Pacific.--Descending the 
Mountain by Moonlight.--The End of my Pasear. 

CHAPTER II. IN THE MISTS OF THE PACIFIC. 
The Crystal Springs.--The Music of the Night.--The California Night Singer 
and the Legend of the Easter Eggs.--The Caada del Reymundo.--Over the 
Sierra Morena.--Down the Coast.--Pescadero and its Surroundings.--Pigeon 
Point and the Wrecks.--A Shipwrecked Ghost.--The Coast Whalers and their 
Superstitions.--An Embarcadero on the San Mateo Coast.--Ride to Point Ao 
Nuevo. 

CHAPTER III. IN THE MISTS OF THE PACIFIC. 
Steele's Ranch.--The Model Dairy of California.--Captain Graham.--A Semi-
Tropical Garden.--Frightful Contest with a Grizzly.--Bear and for-Bear.The 
True King of Beasts.--The Model of Conservatism.--How the Hunters lay for 
Bruin.--A Foolhardy Feat.--An Adventure on the San Joaquin.--A Bear on a 
Spree.--Don't stand on ceremony with a Bear.--How a Californian Bear 
entertained a Mexican Bull.--How Native Californians Lasso the Bear.--How 
a Yankee did it.--The Bear Ahead.--Pebble Beach of Pescadero.--Cona.--The 
oldest Inhabitant.--Don Felipe Armas.--Don Salvador Mosquito.--The Man who 
was a Soldier.--A Hundred Years Ago.--Catching Salmon Trout.--Shooting Sea-
Lions.--Wild Scene on the Sea-Shore. 

CHAPTER IV. PESCADERO TO SANTA CRUZ. 
Down the Coast toward Santa Cruz.--The Moss and Shell Beaches of 
Pescadero.--A Disgusted Hunter.--A Grizzly Bear Procession.--A Mutual 
Surprise and Double Stampede.--The Bear Fever.--The Buck Fever and the 
Prairie-Hen Fever.--How Jim Wheeler killed the Buck.--How Old S. killed 
three at one shot.--A Spanish-American Gentleman of Scientific Attainments 
and Undoubted Veracity.--View of the Bay of Monterey and the valley and 
Mountains of Santa Cruz. 

CHAPTER V. SANTA CRUZ AND ITS SURROUNDINGS. 
The Bay of Santa Cruz and its Surroundings.--The Natural Bridge.--Mussel 
men, their Dangers and Delight.--Adventure with a Sea-Lion.-Uninvited 
Guest at a Pic-nic.--An Embarcadero.--Sea Bathing.--Big Trees of Santa 
Cruz.--Caves.--Mountain Rides.--Supposed Ruins.--Up the Valley of the San 
Lorenzo.--The Mountain Honeysuckle and Madroo.--Over the Mountains again.--
The Redwood.--And what a Fall was there my Countrymen!--How they broke 
Jail.--Down the Valley of Los Gatos.--Strange Rise and Fall of the Streams 
of the Coast Range,--Out of the Wilderness. 

CHAPTER VI. IN THE STREETS OF SAN FRANCISCO. 
Cosmopolitanism of San Francisco.--Its Street Panoramas and Pictures and 
Sounds.--An Autumn Morning.--The "Barbary Coast."--The Chinese Missionary.-
Factory Hands on Holiday.--Funeral of Ah Sam.--A Chinese Faction-fight.--
An Equestrian Outfit.--The Poundmaster's Van. General Stampede, its Cause 
and its Course.--The Pine-apple Plant.--The Passers-by. 

CHAPTER VII. TAMALPAIS. 
Where it is Situated.--Some Speculation as to the Signification of the 
name and its Possible Origin.--Our Start for the Mountains.--The Trip to 
San Rafael and Adventures by the Way.--Ascending the Mountain.--First 
Blood.--The View of the Bay and City of San Francisco.--Mount Diablo puts 
in an Appearance.--At the Summit.--A Bear-faced Fraud.--Fine Study of a 
Fog-Bank.--A Faithless Guide.--Wandering in the Mist.--Out of the Woods.-
An Afternoon's Sport.--A Painful Subject.--Adios, Tamalpais. 

CHAPTER VIII. NAPA VALLEY AND MT. ST. HELENA. 
From San Francisco to Vallejo.--What we saw while crossing the Bay of San 
Pablo.-The Valley of Napa.--A Moonlight Evening in the Mountains.--
Calistoga by Moonlight and Sunlight.--The Baths.--Hot Chicken Soup 
Spring.--The Petrified Forest of Calistoga.--The Great Ranch and 
Vineyards.--Ascent of Mount St. Helena.--What we saw from the Summit.--
Reminiscences of the Flood.--Story of the Judge and the Stranger.--
Presently, sir! Presently!--Good Joke on the Robbers.--What happened to me 
in Arizona.--A Good Story, but too appreciative audience. 

CHAPTER IX. WAITING UNDER THE MADRONO. 
Dreaming of the Tropics Again.--The Honey Bee.--In California.--A Good 
Joke on the Bear.--On the Red Desert.--In the Valley of Shadow.--Fair 
Alfaretto.--Burning of the Mezquites.--The Curse of the White Man.--A Wild 
Night's Ride in the Sierra. 

CHAPTER X. AROUND THE MOUNTAIN CAMP FIRE. 
The Fountain of Youth.--Hunting for Trouble.--Mike Durfee's Snake.--The 
Dogs of '49.-A Tragedy in the Redwoods.--When shall we three meet again?--
Story of the Champion Mule of El Dorado.--How a Green Down-Easter struck 
it rich.--Result of Misplaced Confidence.--Sensational Reports 
Depreciated.--Out-door amusements in Arizona.--An Album in Camp.--The 
Mountains by Moonlight.--Parting under the Madroo.--Adios! 

CHAPTER XI. THE CHINESE FEAST OF THE DEAD. 
Weird and Ghastly Scene in a Chinese Temple at Midnight.--The Story of 
Concatenation Bill.--The True History of the Great Indian Fight on the 
Gila. 

CHAPTER XII. A CRUISE ON THE BARBARY COAST. 
Night Scenes in San Francisco.--Low Life.--Scene in a Recently Suppressed 
Gambling House.--Visit to the Chinese Quarter.--How John Chinaman loses 
his Money.--The Thieves and Rounders of San Francisco.--How they Live and 
where they Lodge.--The Dance-Cellars.--Opium Dens and Thieves' Ordinaries 
of the Barbary Coast.--How the San Francisco Police treat old offenders, 
etc., etc. 

CHAPTER XIII. FROM THE ORIENT DIRECT. 
Arrival of a China Steamer at San Francisco.--Her Passengers and Cargo.--A 
Horseback Trip to Mount Diablo.--Ascending the Mountain.--The Magnificent 
View from the Summit. 

CHAPTER XIV. EARLY TIMES. 
The Days of '49 and '52.--How they administered the Law in Tuolumne 
County, and Justice in Sierra.--Old Put and Judge Hollowbarn.--Pike's 
"Sasherarer."--Peart Times on Rabbit Creek.--.A Game that was Spoiled.--An 
Appeal that wouldn't hold, and Prediction that wouldn't do to bet upon.--
Stories of Wagers.--Insulted Dignity Avenged.--Base Ingratitude.--Dead Or 
Alive?--Drowned or Not?--A Glass-eye Bet. 



AUTHOR'S PREFACE. 

SOME years since my deeply lamented friend, the late Albert D. Richardson, 
who keenly appreciated Western character, called my attention to the fact 
that the first chapter in the history of California, following the 
American occupation of the country, and the discovery of gold, was drawing 
rapidly to a close; and, under the influence of railroads and the 
telegraph, and the influx of a different class of immigrants from the 
older Atlantic States, society would soon lose its distinctive character. 
He suggested that I should collect and prepare for publication a portion 
of the fund of anecdotes illustrative of the reckless, adventurous, 
stirring life of the generation now passing away, which he knew I had 
accumulated personal observation, believing that the material was worth 
perserving, and that the reading public would appreciate the labor and 
enjoy perusal of the book. The suggestion struck me favorably; and I 
commenced the work immediately, following it until the volume was more 
than half completed, when I was called away to the tropics, and the 
project was for the time abandoned. It is only recently that I have been 
able to resume the work and push it to completion. I have not endeavored 
to produce a statistical work upon California, and do not think it would 
have paid me if I had, but to give a vivid and truthful picture of scenes 
for the most part unfamiliar to the residents of the older States of the 
Union, avoiding, so far as might be, traveling in the beaten track of 
tourists, and the discussion of subjects already grown hackneyed and 
tiresome to the general reader. 

The book, I think, will repay perusal, and if it does not, the reader will 
at least have the consolation of knowing that the author is after all the 
greatest loser in the operation. 



INTRODUCTION. 

MY lamented friend, Col. Albert S. Evans, was engaged upon this book for 
some time prior to his death. Of its success he entertained confident 
expectations, and had spared no pains to render it attractive in every 
respect. 

He perished in the unfortunate disaster by which the steamship "Missouri" 
was burned at sea in October, 1872, while on her passage from New York 
towards Havana; and his work has thus unexpectedly fallen on those who had 
no other thought than one of sympathy with him in his hopes of its 
success, financially as well as in a literary point of view. 

The author was quite widely and favorably known from his long connection 
with journalism and previous literary efforts. To a large circle of 
friends he was endeared by admirable social qualities and a career of 
unswerving integrity. Whatever may be the judgment of careful critics as 
to the merits of this posthumous publication, to those who knew him it 
will have a value beyond the reach of any standard of letters. It is the 
final and unfinished work of his day of life, and for that reason, if no 
other, they will cherish it. It is, alas! one of the few presently 
available resources of a desolated family; and for that reason, if no 
other, they will cheerfully, I am sure, contribute towards its pecuniary 
success. 

That it has high literary merit, will not be doubted. To other than 
Californian readers it will commend itself by the freshness and vitality 
of its style, and the charming though rather strongly localized character 
of its descriptions and incidents. Doubtless there is somewhat of 
incompleteness in the detail and final arrangement of its parts, which 
would have been remedied, and perhaps remodeled, had Col. Evans' life been 
spared. Still his friends have not thought it advisable to attempt to 
revise or change it for better or worse. It goes to the press and the 
reading public just as his own hand left it--a literary orphan. 

To those who may have to deal with it in the way of book notices, may be 
suggested the propriety of distinguishing between what are or might have 
been remediable faults, and those which are inherent in the nature of the 
undertaking. 

To the public of our own city and State it commends itself as a work of 
strong local interest, embodying, in a permanent and attractive form, much 
that otherwise would have early perished from sight and memory; as the 
production of one of our own citizens; as the resource of an interesting 
family, which has been doubly bereaved in the sudden death of husband and 
father; and it appeals forcibly to that sentiment of generous sympathy for 
the living and regret for the dead, which is so singularly characteristic 
of Californian social life. 

WM. H. L. BARNES.
SAN FRANCISCO, May, 1873.