CAPTAIN SUITER'S PLACE, OR NEW HELVATIA. 301 



its volume of water is considerably less. Its banks are from 

 ten to fifteen feet high, and fringed with the sycamore and 

 cot ton- wood trees. It is navigable for boats* 



The 18th brought us to Captain Sutter's place, or New 

 Helvatia, where we found the " Vincennes 5 " launch, in which 

 Messrs* Emmons, Dana, Agate, Dr. Whittle and myself 

 embarked, and proceeded down to San Francisco. The rest 

 of the party set out to reach San Francisco by land. 



Captain Sutter* is a native of Switzerland, and has lived a 

 most eventful life. He was a lieutenant in the Swiss Guards 

 in the time of Charles X. Soon after the abdication of that 

 monarch, he resigned his commission, and came over to the 

 United States, and resided several years in St. Charles, Mis- 

 souri. 



We were most hospitably and kindly received by him ; there 

 was no ostentatious display, no pomp nor ceremony, but an 

 easy and polite demeanor on the part of our host, that made 

 us feel perfectly at home. He has been two years in Califor- 

 nia, and he informed us that he has obtained from the Govern- 

 ment a conditional grant of ninety miles square in the Valley 

 of the Sacramento. The location he has chosen for the erection 

 of his dwelling and fort he has called New Helvatia. It is 

 situated on the east bank of the Sacramento river, and about 

 sixty miles from its mouth ; his buildings are constructed of 

 adobes, and cover a large extent of ground. He has com- 

 menced extensive operations in farming, and the extent of his 

 stock amounts to two thousand sheep, three thousand cattle, 

 and about one thousand horses. 



As we approached the settlement, we passed the village of 

 Indians who live on the farm and work it, with whose appear- 



* It is well known that to his enterprise in erecting a mill, the first gold discovery 

 in California was attributed. 



