" SAN FRANCISCO IN RUINS."

BRET HARTE'S FORECAST.

A LITERARY CURIOSITY

The following sketch from Bret Harte's works was probably written thirty years ago, and although the vein of humour running through it may appear a little incongruous at the present time, it seems worth reprinting as a remarkable example of literary prophecy afterwards ; fulfilled, although not quite in the way that the author foreshadowed.

'' Towards the close of the nineteenth century, the city of San Francisco was totally engulfed by an earthquake. Although the whole coastline must have been much shaken, the accident seems to have been purely, local, and even the city of Oakland escaped. Schwappelfurt, the celebrated German geologist, lias endeavoured to explain this singular' fact by suggesting that there are some things the earth cannot swallow,a statement that should be received with some caution as exceeding the latitude of ordinary geological speculation. "Historians disagree in the exact date of the calamity. Tula Krish, the well-known New Zealander, whose admirable speculations on the ruins of St. Paul's as seen from London Bridge, have won for him the attentive consideration of the scientific world, fixes the occurrence in A.D. 1880. This, supposing the city to have been actually founded in 1850, as asserted, would give but thirty years for it to have assumed the size and proportions it Jiad evidently attained at the time^ of its destruction. It is not our purpose, however, to question the' conclusions of the justly-famed Maorian philosopher. Our present business lies with-the excavations that are now being prosecuted by order of the Hawaiian Government upon the site of the lost city.

■ "Everyone is familiar with the story jof .its discovery. For many years the fßay of San Francisco had been famed for the luscious quality of its oysters. It is stated that- a dredger one day raked up a large bell, which proved to belong to the City Hall, and led to the discovery of the cupola of that building. The attention of the Government was at once directed to the spot. The Bay of San Francisco was speedily drained by a system of patent syphons, and the city deeply embedded in mud, brought to light after a burial of many centuries. The City Hall, Post Office, Mint, and Customs House were readily recognised by the large full-fed barjiacjes which adhered to their walls. Short|y afterwards the first skeleton was discoyoi'fed ;that of a broker, whose position in the upper strata of mud nearer the surface was supposed to be owing to the exceeding buoyancy or inflation of scrip which he had secured about his person while endeavouring to escape. Many skeletons, supposed to be those of females, encompassed in that peculiar steel coop or cage, which seems to have been worn by the women of that period, were also found in the upper stratum. Alexis yon Puffer, in his admirable work on San Francisco, accounts for the position of these unfortunate creatures by asserting that the steel cage was'originally the frame of a parashute-like garment, which distended the skirt, and in the submersion of the city prevented them from sinking, "If anything," says Yon Puffer, "could Jiaye been wanting to add intensity to the horrible patastrophe which took .place as the watei-s first entered the city, it would have been furnished in the forcible separation of the sexes at this trying moment. Buoyed up by their peculiar garments,. the female population instantly ascended to the surface. As the drowning husband turned his eyes above, wha-Mjnist have been his agony ,as he saw his wit'o shooting upwards, and knew that lie was debarred the privilege of perishing with her? To the lasting honor of the male inhabitants, be it said, that but few seemed to have availed themselves of their wives' superior levity. Only one skeleton was found still grasping 'the ankles of another in their upward journey. "For many years California has been subject to slight earthquakes, more or less generally felt, but not of sufficient importance to awaken fear. Perhaps the absorbing nature of San Franciscans 3 pursuit's iqf gold-getting, -"which metal seems to have been valuable in those days, and actually used as a medium of currency, rendered the inhabitants reckless of all other matters. Everything tends to show that the calamity was unlooked for. We quote the graphic language of Schwappelfurt:—

The morning of the tremendous catastrophe probably dawned upon the usual.restless crowd of gold-getters intent upon their severa] avocations. The streets were filled with the expanded figures of gaily-dressed women, acknowledging with coy glances the respectful salutations of beaux as they gracefully, raised their remarkable cylindrical head-coverings, a model of which is still preserved in the Honolulu Museum. The brokers hac| gathered at their respective temples. " The shopmen were exhibit-ing thejr goods. The idlers, or 'bummers-—a term applied to designate an aristrocatic privileged class who enjoyed immunities from labour and from whom a majority of the rulers are chosen—wore listlessly regarding the promenaders from the street corners or the doors of their bibulous temples. A slight premonitary thrill runs through the city. The busy life of this restless microcosm is arrested. The shopkeeper pauses as he elevates the goods to bring them into a favorable light, and the glib professional reconinieudatian falters on his tongue. In the drinking saloon the glass is checked half-way to the lips; on the streets the promenaders pause. Another "tJi.nlj, and t]»a gjty begins to g-o dpwu, a few. pf'the'niore persistent "topers tossing off their liquor at the same moment. Beyond a terrible sensation of nausea, the crowd who now throng the streets do not realise the extent of the catastrophe. The waters of the bay recede at first from the depression, assuming a concave shape, the outer edge of the circle towering many thousand feet above the city. Another convulsion, and the water instantly "resumes'its level. The city is smoothly engulfed, 'nine'thousand feet below, and the regular swell of the Pacific oajmjy rplfs over jt. Terrible," .sayV'ScliwapnGlfurt, in conclusion," as the calamity must have been, in direct relation to the individuals immediately concerned therein, we cannot but admire its artistic management; the division of the cjitasir-pphe into throo periods, the- completeness of the cataclysms, and the rare combination of sincerity of intention with felicity or execution. s''