fruit‐show she visited:—“What I saw there could only be found in California, for I have never seen anything to equal it, even in the tropics.” She adds, enthusiastically:—“This beautiful city of the golden land I prefer to any other in America. My preference is due to the agreeable kind of life which its people lead, and to the extraordinary salubrity of the climate.” The present writer has preferred to collate from these independent sources rather than from his own long experience; but he can testify to the truth of every one of the above statements. One of the grandest features in San Francisco’s present and assured future success is the fact that the steamship companies of the whole Pacific make it their leading port. From San Francisco the traveller bent on seeing the world can proceed to New Zealand and Australia, calling at Honolulu in the Hawaïan Islands, and Fiji, on the way; _or_ he can make his way to China, calling at Japan, in steamships having perhaps the most roomy accommodation in the world; _or_ he can reach Panama and South American ports, calling at Mexican ports _en route_, by steamships which pass over the most pacific part of the Pacific Ocean; _or_, again, he can make delightful trips northwards to Californian and Oregonian and British Columbian ports; _or_, once again, southwards to ports of Southern California. These lines are running constantly, and the above list is far from complete. Whither away? CHAPTER III. THE PACIFIC FERRY—SAN FRANCISCO TO JAPAN AND CHINA. The American Steamships—A Celestial Company—Leading Cargoes—Corpses and Coffins—Monotony of the Voyage—Emotions Caused by the Sea—Amusements on Board “Chalked”—Cricket at Sea—Balls Overboard—A Six Days’ Walking Match—Theatricals—Waxworks—The Officers on Board—Engineer’s Life—The Chief Waiter—“Inspection”—Meeting the _America_—Excitement—Her Subsequent Fate—A Cyclone—At Yokohama—Fairy Land—The Bazaars—Japanese Houses—A Dinner _Menu_—Music and Dancing—Hongkong, the Gibraltar of China—Charming Victoria—Busy Shanghai—English Enterprise.