426 CALIFORNIA. [1811. 



are. annually taken in the rivers discharging their waters into 

 Puget's Sound. All the birds commonly found on the, At- 

 lantic coasts in about the same latitude are seeu here, and on 

 the ocean shores there are an abundance of gulls, frigate-birds, 

 villula, and other aquatic fowl. 



(-3.) California, formerly designated as Upper California, 

 was first discovered by Cobrillo, a Spanish navigator, who 

 visited the lower portion of the country in 1542. Sir Francis 

 Drake discovered the upper part in 1578, and called it New 

 Albion. It was colonized, however, by the Spaniards, in 

 1/67, and formed a part of the territory of New Spain — sub- 

 sequently the Mexican Republic — till the year 1848. By the 

 treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo, concluded on the 2d day of 

 February of that year, it was ceded, by Mexico to the United 

 States. But little importance was then attached to it, ex- 

 cept for the line harbors it contained ; but. within a few months 

 after the cession, the whole American Union, and a great, part 

 of the world, were electrified by the unexpected discovery of 

 vast stores of mineral wealth in this new acquisition. As the 

 circumstances attending this discovery have been described 

 by me in detail, in another work ;* and as I do not know that 

 I should desire to change anything there written, in any 

 particular, I transcribe it here : 



Vague rumors in regard to the mineral treasures locked up 

 in the volcanic mountain ranges of California — at certain 

 times attracting greater attention than at others, but never 

 receiving much credit — have been circulating throughout the, 

 world for centuries. Among the first trophies brought to Cortes, 

 after the conquest of Mexico, in 1521, were samples of Cali- 

 fornian pearls; and it was then reported, that gold and gems 

 were to bo found in the regions at the north, which had not 

 yet been visited by the Europeans. Two expeditions were 

 fitted out by Cortes, in 1532 and 1533, and sent on voyages 

 of discovery to the north-west. The latter crossed the Gulf 

 of California, called by the Spaniards, in honor of the illus- 



• History of (lie War uiih Mexico (sup. nota.). p, 507, et seq. 



