California | Page 2

afraid there is little chance of my meeting with
success, as nearly all the volunteer corps have been, or are about to be,
disbanded. Both Mr. Bradley and Captain Fulsom speak very
favourably of the climate and soil of California, and say that an
enterprising agriculturist is sure to make a speedy fortune. Mr. Bradley,
who has agreed to accompany us on our trip, strongly advises Malcolm
to shift his quarters from Oregon, and settle here, saying that he is sure
my friend will do so when he has once seen the farms in the
Sacramento valley, whither we are to start early next week. McPhail
left us to-day, to make a trip to Sonoma.
San Francisco, although as yet but a poor place, will no doubt become a
great emporium of commerce. The population may be about a couple of
thousands; of these two-thirds are Americans. The houses, with the
exception of some few wooden ones which have been shipped over
here by the Americans, are nearly all built of unburnt bricks. The
appearance of the native Californian is quite Spanish. The men wear
high steeple-like hats, jackets of gaudy colours, and breeches of velvet,
generally cotton. They are a handsome swarthy race. The best part in
the faces of the women are their eyes, which are black and very
lustrous. The Californian belles, I am sorry to say, spoil their teeth by
smoking cigarettos.
CHAPTER II.
Start for Monterey Horse equipments in California The advantages of
them Rifles and Ruffians Californian Scenery Immense herds of cattle
Mission of Santa Clara Pueblo of San José A Californian farm-house
What it is like inside and out Prolific crops of wheat Saddle-sickness
The journey is resumed Mission of San José Arrival at Monterey The
Author's visit to Colonel Mason Surgeons not wanted in California
Rumours of gold being found on the Sacramento Characteristics of
Monterey Don Luis Palo and his sisters What all Californian dinners
consist of The party return to San Francisco.

Monterey.--May 4th.--Started off early on the morning of the 2nd on
our journey to Monterey. We found our horses in readiness in the hotel
yard, in charge of a servant (here called a vaquero) of Mr. Bradley's.
The latter, having business to transact at Monterey, accompanied us.
My horse was equipped after the Spanish fashion, with the usual
high-pommelled cumbrous saddle, with a great show of useless
trappings, and clumsy wooden stirrups, and for a long time I found the
riding sufficiently disagreeable, though, doubtless, far more pleasant
than a coast journey would have been, with a repetition of the deadly
sea-sickness from which I had already suffered so much. I soon found
out, too, the advantages of the Spanish saddle, as enabling one to keep
one's seat when travelling over thorough broken country through which
our road ran. Bradley had told us to have our rifles in readiness, as no
one travels any distance here without that very necessary protection, the
mountains near the coast being infested with lawless gangs of ruffians,
who lie in wait for solitary travellers.
The first part of our ride lay through a dense thicket of underwood, and
afterwards across parched up valleys, and over low sandy hills; then
past large grazing grounds--where cattle might be counted by the
thousand--and numerous ranchos or farms, the white farm buildings,
surrounded by little garden patches, scattered over the hill sides. We at
length came to an extensive plain, with groups of oaks spread over its
surface, and soon afterwards reached the neglected Mission of Santa
Clara, where we halted for a few hours. On leaving here our road was
over a raised causeway some two or three miles in length, beneath an
avenue of shady trees, which extended as far as the outskirts of the
town of St. José. This town, or pueblo as it is called, is nothing more
than a mass of ill-arranged and ill built houses, with an ugly church and
a broad plaza, peopled by three or four hundred inhabitants. Not being
used to long journeys on horseback, I felt disposed to stop here for the
night, but Bradley urged us to proceed a few miles farther, where we
could take up our quarters at a rancho belonging to a friend of his.
Accordingly we pushed on, and, after a ride of about seven miles,
diverged from the main road, and soon reached the farm-house, where
we were well entertained, and had a good night's rest.

Like the generality of houses in California, this was only one story high,
and was built of piles driven into the ground, interlaced with boughs
and sticks, and then plastered over with mud and whitewashed. The
better class of farm-houses are built of adobes, or unburnt bricks, and
tiled over. The interior was as plain and