California | Page 3

cheerless as it well could be.
The floor was formed of the soil, beaten down till it was as firm and
hard as a piece of stone. The room set apart for our sleeping
accommodation boasted as its sole ornaments a Dutch clock and a few
gaudily-coloured prints of saints hung round the walls. The beds were
not over comfortable, but we were too tired to be nice. In the morning I
took a survey of the exterior, and saw but few cattle stalled in the sheds
around the house. The greater part, it sterns, after being branded, are
suffered to run loose over the neighbouring pastures. There was a
well-cultivated garden in the rear of the house, with abundance of fruit
trees and vegetables.
While we were at breakfast, Malcolm asked our host several questions
about his crops, and soon found that he was no practical agriculturist.
He had, however, at Bradley's suggestion, discarded the native wooden
plough for the more effective American implement. He told us that he
calculated his crop of wheat this year would yield a hundred fanegas
for every one sown; and, on our expressing our surprise at such a
bountiful return, said that sixty or over was the usual average. If so, the
soil must be somewhat wonderful. After expressing our thanks, for the
hospitality shown us, to the wife of our host, who was a very pretty
little dark-eyed woman, with a most winning way about her, we started
off to resume our journey. For my own part, I felt very loth to proceed,
for I was terribly fatigued by my performance of yesterday, and
suffered not a little from that disagreeable malady called
"saddle-sickness." Our Californian accompanied us some short distance
on our road, which lay for many miles through a wide valley, watered
by a considerable stream, and overgrown with oaks and sycamores.
Low hills rose on either hand, covered with dark ridges of lofty pine
trees, up which herds of elk and deer were every now and then seen
scampering. We at length entered upon a narrow road through a range
of green sheltering hills, and, passing the Mission of San Juan, crossed
a wide plain and ascended the mountain ridge which lay between us

and Monterey, where we arrived late in the day.
Next morning Mr. Bradley accompanied me to the Governor's house,
where we saw Colonel Mason, the new governor of the State. He
received us with great politeness, but said that the war, if war it
deserved to be called, was now at an end, that but a small number of
troops were stationed in the country, and that there was no vacancy for
a surgeon. "Indeed," he said, "considering that we have given up
head-breaking, and the climate is proverbially healthy, California is
hardly the place for doctors to settle in. Besides," said he, "the native
Californians all use the Temescal (a sort of air-bath) as a remedy for
every disorder." Colonel Mason then asked Mr. Bradley if he had heard
the reports of gold having been found on the Sacramento, as Mr.
Fulsom had casually mentioned in a letter to him that such rumours
were prevalent at San Francisco. Bradley replied that he had heard
something about it, but believed that there was no truth in the matter,
although a few fools had indeed rushed off to the reputed gold mines
forthwith. With this our interview terminated.
Monterey seems to be a rising town. The American style of houses is
superseding the old mud structures, and numbers of new huildings are
being run up every month. The hotel we stopped at has only been
recently opened by an American. Monterey is moreover a port of some
importance, if one may judge from the number of vessels lying at
anchor.
May 7th.--On Friday we dined at the house of Don Luis Palo, a
Californian gentleman of agreeable manners, whose father held office
here under the Spanish government previous to the Mexican
Revolution. I believe it is Don Luis's intention shortly to return to Spain.
He is unmarried, and his two sisters are the handsomest women I have
yet seen in this country; their beauty is quite of the Spanish style. A
dinner in California seems to be always the same--first soup and then
beef, dressed in various ways, and seasoned with chillies, fowls, rice,
and beans, with a full allowance of pepper and garlic to each dish.
On Saturday we set out on our return, and after two days' hard riding
reached San Francisco to-day at 4, P.M.

CHAPTER III.
An arrival at San Francisco from the gold district Captain Fulsom
intends visiting the mine The first Alcalde and others examine the gold
Parties made up for the diggings Newspaper reports The Government
officers propose taking possession of