-the mountains becoming more rugged and wild,
and the country more broken and barren-looking. Crossing slowly
another trestle-bridge seventy-five feet high, at the upper part of a
valley, we rounded a sharp curve, and found ourselves on a lofty
mountain-side along which the road is cut, with a deep glen lying 2500
feet below us wrapped in the shades of evening. It seems to be quite
night down there, and the trees are so shrouded in gloom that I can
scarcely discern them in the bottom of that awful chasm. I can only
clearly see defined against the sky above me, the rugged masses of
overhanging rock, black-looking and terrible.

I find, on inquiry, that this part of the road is called "Cape Horn,"
The bluffs at this point are so precipitous, that when the railroad
was made, the workmen had to be lowered down the face of the rock by
ropes and held on by men above, until they were enabled to blast for
themselves a foot-hold on the side of the precipice. We have now
ascended to a height of nearly 3200 feet above the level of the sea;
and, as may be inferred, the night air grows sharp and cold. As little
more can be seen for the present, I am under the necessity of taking
shelter in the car.

At half-past six we stopped for tea at Alta, 207 miles from San
Francisco, at an elevation of 3600 feet above the sea. Here I had a
good meal for a dollar--the first since leaving 'Frisco. Had I known
of the short stoppages and the distant refreshing places along the
route, I would certainly have provided myself with a well-stored
luncheon-basket before setting out; but it is now too late.

After a stoppage of twenty minutes, the big bell tolled, and we seated
ourselves in the cars again; and away we went as before, still toiling
up-hill. We are really climbing now. I can hear it by the strong
snorts of the engine, and see it by the steepness of the track. I long
to be able to see around me, for we are passing some of the grandest
scenery of the line. The stars are now shining brightly over head, and
give light enough to show the patches of snow lying along the
mountain-sides as we proceed. The snow becomes more continuous as we
mount the ascent, until only the black rocks and pine-trees stand out
in relief against their white background.

I was contrasting the sharp cold of this mountain region with the
bright summer weather I had left behind me in Australia only a few
weeks ago, and the much more stifling heat of Honolulu only some