drove, nevertheless, from 7 A.M. until 6 P.M. (only stopping for our
meals), over barren, sandy, and desolate country. We saw whole flocks
of sheep dead and dying by thousands from want of care and drought. We
(seven and the driver) were packed away in an open three-seated wagon
with four horses, and drove over the dreariest road one can imagine. We
passed continually places where the ground was all upturned, evidently
either worked-out or abandoned gold-diggings. It was very pathetic when
one thought of the work, time, and hopes wasted there. At twelve
o'clock we reached Hunter's (the name of the hotel), and then we drove
over more dismal plains still to a hotel called Clark's. It must
originally have been a lovely place, but now it is spoiled by the
gold-diggings. Here we stayed all night in a very rough kind of tavern.
During the night we heard the howls of wolves and jackals very near the
hotel, which was not pleasant. We started at five o'clock the next
morning in a big, open _char-à-bancs_, and went through the most
beautiful forest. The trees are all from one hundred and fifty to two
hundred feet high, and from six to seven feet in diameter; hardly any
smaller trees among them. And such wonderful ferns! And the ice-plants!
This has a brilliant red stalk and flowers coming from under the snow.
We were so high up that there was snow on the ground all about us. The
trees are perfectly beautiful. The mansanilla, the branches of which
are like red coral, and the leaves the lightest of greens, the
California laurel, and many others of which I do not know the names,
were too beautiful. The white pine has cones one and a half feet long.

We drove up for four hours through the forest, until we reached the
height of five thousand feet. Here was a magnificent view, as you may
imagine. Then we began going down. That was something dreadful! The
driver, with his six horses, drove at a diabolical rate, one foot on
the brake, the other planted against the dashboard to keep his balance,