Page 222 - AROUND THE WORLD IN 80 DAYS

Around the World in 80 Days

The lofty tower of its City Hall overlooked the whole
panorama of the streets and avenues, which cut each other
at right-angles, and in the midst of which appeared
pleasant, verdant squares, while beyond appeared the

Chinese quarter, seemingly imported from the Celestial
Empire in a toy-box. Sombreros and red shirts and plumed
Indians were rarely to be seen; but there were silk hats and
black coats everywhere worn by a multitude of nervously
active, gentlemanly-looking men. Some of the streets—
especially Montgomery Street, which is to San Francisco
what Regent Street is to London, the Boulevard des
Italiens to Paris, and Broadway to New York— were lined
with splendid and spacious stores, which exposed in their
windows the products of the entire world.
When Passepartout reached the International Hotel, it
did not seem to him as if he had left England at all.
The ground floor of the hotel was occupied by a large
bar, a sort of restaurant freely open to all passers-by, who
might partake of dried beef, oyster soup, biscuits, and
cheese, without taking out their purses. Payment was
made only for the ale, porter, or sherry which was drunk.
This seemed ‘very American’ to Passepartout. The hotel
refreshment-rooms were comfortable, and Mr. Fogg and

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