190 Audubon's Western Journal 



and mechanics (of which our company has sev- 

 eral) [getting] from $10.00 to $16.00, these men 

 stand by their contract. 



\_No date.'] We none of us regret leaving Stock- 

 ton, where we have been for four days delayed by 

 the steamer, our ill-luck as regards waitings still 

 follows us. We are going in the steamer Captain 

 Southern. [?] 



San Francisco. December 2jd. The day we 

 left Stockton we had one of the most violent gales 

 I had seen for many a week, and our boat, a little 

 steam side-wheeler, was so flat and so light that 

 the strong wind from the south-east had us ashore 

 twenty times in the first hour, on the banks of the 

 slough which leads to the San Joaquin, the main 

 stream leading to the upper bay, Suisun; finally 

 anchors and all were dragged high on the bul- 

 rushes, and we were delayed two days more. 



We reached San Francisco on Saturday night 

 December 21st, and stayed in our blankets on the 

 floor of the steamer until morning when we went 

 off, on what is called "the long dock" into mud 

 half-leg deep. We paid fifty cents for a cup of 

 cofifee and a bit of bread, and I went for my letters, 

 but found none, so went off to hunt up my men, 

 found them all right, and returned to Henry Mal- 

 lory, who having received letters was able to set 

 my anxieties about my family at rest; but I alone 

 of all the company had no home news. I sat on 



