When a cow is destroyed by the "cow-catcher" the owner can claim from the railway company half its value; and it is said that in bad times when cattle are low in the market, or worse still, unsaleable, they are driven on to the line with a view to destruction. I have often in a day's journey perceived hundreds of the bleached skeletons of the animals killed outright by the "cow-catcher," or maimed and left to die. An inspector, appointed by the railway company, passes from time to time along the line and, after settling up, marks in the left ear and at the tip of the tail the dead beasts for which the company has paid. The former owner disposes of the carcasses and hides; the latter alone possessing appreciable value. The former are left on the ground to become food for the crows; though the Indians will sometimes cut away portions of the meat when they come upon a beast which is still fresh. During our eight days' journey I acted not only as cook, but also as butler; and our various wines, all of Californian growth, were excellent. They cost from 8d to 10d a bottle, and I was not alone in regarding them as of excellent quality. Singers are not great wine drinkers, but they are accustomed to wines of the first quality; and I may say in favour of the wines of California that they were appreciated and bought for conveyance to Europe by artists of such indubitable taste as Patti, Nilsson, and Gerster. The cost of carriage renders it impossible to send the wines of California to Europe for sale. But someday, when, for instance, the Panama Canal has been cut, there will be a market for them both in England and on the Continent. They are, of course, of different qualities. But the finest Californian vintages may be pronounced incomparable. I remember once being entertained in company with some of my leading artists by Surgeon-General Hammond, at his house in Fifty-eighth Street, New York, when some Californian champagne was served which we all thought admirable. Our facetious host disguised it under labels bearing the familiar names of "Heidsieck" and "Pommery-Greno;" and we all thought we were drinking the finest vintages of Epernay and of Rheims. Then under the guise of Californian champagne he gave us genuine Pommery and genuine Heidsieck; the result being that we were all deceived. The wine labelled as French, but which was in fact Californian, was pronounced excellent, while the genuine French wines described as of Californian origin seemed of inferior quality.