and which will have a special interest for travellers, whether
they wish to study the botany or geology of the district described, are
lovers of sport, or are intent on the more practical object of money- making. The account of the Salmonithe which haunt these Western waters is very attractive,—perhaps we should say tantalising, for who of ordinary mortals can hope to make acquaintance with them P But it is not only to the sportsman that they promise success. The fisheries of the West coast are of enormous extent, and at present but little developed. The herring fishery, for in- stance, is almost entirely neglected ; and yet this fish is so abundant, that an eye-witness speaks of having seen the sea, near the mouth of the Columbia River, "literally black with herrings." Nor would there be any want of a market, with the vast populations of India, China, and Japan within a few days' sail. To those who look to the land rather than the sea, the prospect is not less encouraging. British California contains some of the best pastures in the world. The "bunch grass" is quite without a rival as a food for horses and cattle. Animals turned out in the spring siok and sorry, aud looking more like skeletons than living creatures, will be so changed by a month among this grass that they defy recognition. Cattle can be fattened on it all the year round ; only they must have a herdsman to take care of them. Horses and sheep are able to shift for themselves, pawing away the snow, where it is not too deep. The book contains also some sketches of sooial life; at Cheyenne, for instance, where women act as magistrates (one fined her husband five dollars for being drunk and incapable), and sit on juries. Mr. Murphy seems not unfriendly to the system, but feels constrained to allow that "the enfranchisement of women has had little if any effect in changing the political current of thought, in checking intemperance or other vices, in elevating the tone of politicians, or in improving the morals of the people at large."
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