The Cambria freeman. [volume] (Ebensburg, Pa.) 1867-1938, 1874-05-22
California Correspoadenee.
SAN FRANCISCO. CAL. May S. 1874.

BAN FRANCISCO, CAL, May 5, 1874
DRAR FRKEAAN-On Sunday, the lth day of
April, myself and two daughters Annie and
Ida, aged respectively 10 and IA, bid adisu to
sided there for y years The parting was a hard
70 me- put much more SO TO my children,
mia. We stopped At Lewistown a few days to
take parting leave OF my eldest daughter,
family: Here bAde good bye to my little grand
sen; Philip, only three weeks old and here
well to friends. On Thursday, the 9th, we left
for New York, taking sleeping cars. and ar
one day at the Merchants Hotel, where we
round every charge very reasonable, except
geous. On Saturday We boarded the steamship
acapulco" which deserves a notice.
$40 feet, width 20 feet, depth 30 feet, and draws
Ii feet OF water. She had on board 100 ca bin
Guiding oficers and men, 5000 tons g. rso.eish
boats, two RATS and number OF cork fife pre-
was commanded by Capt il. Ca1eriy I; Cha..
Z; Limar' nrst mate Geo. d. CEaPo, second
steward W. N Connery, purser, and DR.. Will
Hanson. sprGeon Making duo allowance for
captain particularly, who resides in San Fran
cisco: The cooks and walters are all "Amert-
can citizens OF African scent" A splendid pi-
ano was on board, said to have cost o. 500. The
engines on the ship, two in number, are each
twelve sails. The table was supplied with ev-
cry thing the market could afford. At dinner
there were nine changes of dishes.
VOYAGE.
On Saturday, April l1th, at p. NJ, as have
already informed you, We left the pier at New
after which the ship steered due south. The
sea was rough. with north wind, and as the
hundred and ffty people became sea-sick in
three hours That night was such q night the
snip shonIo nave been called Aes-pihe-o. For
pie remained sick. ! escaped with little
n. st 4Eht ao5s than
wall. 1t Ia not easy to describe the sea, especi-
ally in its boisterous moods. 1t is composed of
with an eyer-varyinR surface ef white caps
aud jets of spray, which often fly clear over
deep ravinss turn TO high hills in a moment of
time. The ship sinks down into = deep abyss,
and before you can realize IT you will find ii
rolling on the top of a great wave. The At
lantic is rough sea, at any rate, compared
with the Pacific; The first night there
snow. frost and sest, but from then until this
time OF writing the weather has been warm O
hot.
THE ISLANDS.
The nrft Island we saw was Venting Wat
ling island, the one discovered by Columbus.
These islands do not rise high above the water
We passed the east end OF Cuba at night, but
could see that it doomed up about 5000 feet In
some places But the most magnificent island 10
Jamaica. whose mountains peer up 1900 feet,
Kingston. the ca pitai Of Jamaica, is a wretched
town with 1,6Co souls as miserable the town,
berry transcend1ntly glorious The inhabitants
are negroes and the language English. The
died away. orm of Jews called Nunes
Brothers act as such and draw the salary
and immense piles Of Ioawood. A monument
<rac6S the plaza erected to the memory of Ba-
nUr dTst o;cer on the Sce nnIco Iss sIn @ 0l
ernor of that island in lS4I. His name was
Charles Liner. We left Kingston on Saturday
at o clock A. N, seven days after we had
steamed out of New York harbor, and ar
rived at Aspinwsll on Tuesday following at
dition of things. The negroes here are the
gentlemen. and thirty coolies, brought here by
he narfn oil
the labor at the wharf AspnwaIl has about
l.0O0 popul lation,Ia deserted church that cost
$4,000, and a monument erected to the mem
ory OF H'ary Chauncy, VIM. F. Aspinwall and
John S. stephens also a hronze statue of Co
side. The steamships warehouse is four hum
dred feet long and forty wide. The p. r. II.
y warehouse about the same size, built of
stone. There were twelve steamers in the har-
PhiladeIphia barque was unloadinQI coal
here. The garden of the Steamship Compa ny
GUS flowers in full bloom.
CROSSING THE IsTHAUs-
We LEFT the Isthmus, or Aspin wall, which is
conspicuous for nothing but ants higEtcaHs at
1880 r. M. "Wednesday. in train or sevc n cars,
over a distance of A. mics, covered with tho
most exuberant foliage imaginable and but
little fruit. There seemed to be a strange waste
of growth hero. Millions description OF Para
disc, though grand, would fail to show up this
aud plant, tree and root, which abOunds here.
The mind could not form a conception OF the
shape OF leaf that cannot be found here.
can only describe it by say ng that II is eter-
nal growth, an eternal change and an eternal
quantities. but, except the palm-date, there is
no fruit growth commensurate with the luxu-
the peopIe-most miserable natives, ing in
huts made o: bamboo wood, tina stched with
people talking Spanish. Where are your mis-
sfonRry societies that spend millions OF dollars
away, with worse h-athen only one thousa nd
miles from us? This people subsist on the ma
tive fruits, and sell them ani parrots and mon
keys to travellers in tTdn'ttu Cocoa, bananas
oranges and such like fruits can be bought for
quets cost Hfty cents and a monkey will bring
. dollar We followed the Chagres river TWEEN
ty miles up and the Rio Grande seventeen
miles down, and my impression is that a ship
canal could be easily made here by bringing
overcome by about three locks on either side.
The railroad is good, but there 10 only one
ton houses. Ali the dwellings here, except ns-
tive huts, are covered with iron, painted red.
Taking the Isthmus all in ali il is dreary place
l could not locate the ountain that BALBOA
and his men stood upon when they raised the
it is here. Ny wonder is how they ever got
through the network of woven branch and
vine that covers the Isthmus. Panama the
Pacific SIDE was burned down some time ago,
but still enough of it stands to show that it
Kingston has an English paper, the GIeaner,
while Panama has Spanish paper, both dai-
hut rather peacefuI shore. The ships anchor
about six miles out and boat took us out
lust after we landed. A ule or negro SOLDIERS,
splendidy uniformed, guarded the cars on
both sides.
THE PACIFIC SIDE.
All glorious and sublime is tbs Pa ci1coean
all calm and peaceful are its waves, all pictur-
esque its mountain scenery, and traDScendent-
ly magnificent its whales and wateTspouts its
islands aud shores, its stars and sunsets. - Roll
on, thou dark and deep blue ocean, roll" is
what Byron said OF All ocean, and all that San
say of this is, that it is too grand for descTip-
ton. With a ship canal across the Isthmus,
what a vast trade would be carried on across
its blue waters! Even asi is look ut the trade
with China and Japan utG San Francisco.
MARKING BAGGAGE.
A hint to travellers in regard to baggage
might be dpropUS here. Take little luggage
as possible and divide that little into W hat you
absolutely need and what you do not need. Do
not putany marksion your baggage. Leave that
to the of1cerS. Use the strongest kinds of
trunks and lash them well With strong ropes,
or, II possible, cushion them, for they are
roughly used in loading and unloading /
have seen two stout men stand on one trunk
and lift another heavy trunk up have seen
them Jump down ten feet on a trunk. L have
seen six trunks laEned toR Rether and dropped
twenty feet till the splinters would fly all
ronnd. and I saw one tumbIed into the briny
deep from the platform and then hooked up
again. l have seen a dozen hauled out or the
ship with 4 cable drawn by donkey steam en-
gine and tumbled out on a platform where
thsy would turn over and over again. 90,
saw, look out for your baggage when you
travel. / had q violin smashed into smlther-
Gems though it was well packed Our bag
gage has been changed seven times already
and may be changed three or four times more
before we reach our destination,
THE SHIP NEVADA
On the Pacific side a large steamer TOOK us