The Vincennes arrives at San Francisco. 

 Yerba Buena. 



CALIFORNIA. 



General appearance of California. 

 Climate of California. 



301 



CHAPTER XXXIV. 



CALIFORNIA. 



THE VINCENNES ARRIVES AT SAN FRANCISCO YEIIBA BUENA GENERAL APPEARANCE OF CALIFORNIA CLIMATE 

 VALLEY OF THE SACRAMENTO THE SIERRA THE SAN JOACHIM HARBOUR OF SAN FRANCISCO IMPORTS AND 

 EXPORTS THE GRAPE IN CALIFORNIA SALMON FISHERY WATER MILLS SHEEP AND HOGS EXCURSION INTO 

 THE INTERIOR CAPTAIN SUTER's SETTLEMENT N.EW HELVETIA ROUTE TO THE UNITED STATES MOUTH OF 

 THE FEATHER RIVER ELK HERDS SU 11VEY OF THE SACRAMENTO RETURN OF THE PARTY COUNTRY ROUND 

 THE BAY OF SAN PABLO CITY OF ZONOMA GENERAL VALLEJO. 



THE Vincennes arrived at San Francisco on the 

 14th of August, 1841, and anchored off Yerba 

 Buena. As soon as the ship anchored, an officer 

 was despatched on shore to call upon the authori- 

 ties; but none of any description were to be found. 

 The only magistrate, an alcalde, was absent. The 

 frequency of revolutions in this country had 

 caused a great change since the visit of Captain 

 Beechey. 



On the 17th, after consultation with the cap- 

 tain of the port, a Mr. Richardson, the ship was 

 moved to the north shore, at Sausalito, or Whalei w 's 

 Harbour. Water, which it was impossible to 

 obtain at Yerba Buena, on account of the drought 

 that had prevailed for several months, is here 

 to be had from a small spring. After the ship 

 was moored, the boats were hoisted out, and 

 fitted for surveying duties up the river Sacra- 

 mento. 



On approaching the coast in the neighbour- 

 hood of San Francisco, the country has by no 

 means an inviting aspect. To the north, it rises 

 in a lofty range, whose highest point is known 

 as the Table Hill, and forms an iron-bound coast 

 from Punto de los Reyes to the mouth of the 

 harbour. 



To the south, there is an extended sandy beach, 

 behind which rise the sand-hills of San Bruno, to 

 a moderate height. There are no symptoms of 

 cultivation, nor is the land on either side fit for it ; 

 for in the former direction it is mountainous, in 

 the latter sandy, and in both barren. The entrance 

 to the harbour is striking : bold and rocky shores 

 confine the rush of the tide, which bore us on and 

 through a narrow passage into a large estuary : in 

 this, several islands and rocks lie scattered around : 

 some of the islands are clothed with vegetation to 

 their very tops ; others ai'e barren and covered 

 with guano, having an immense number of sea- 

 fowls hovering over, around, and alighting upon 

 them. The distant shores of the bay extend north 

 and south far beyond the visible horizon, exhibit- 

 ing one of the most spacious, and at the same time 

 safest ports in the world. To the east rises a lofty 

 inland range, known by the name of La Sierra, 

 brilliant with all the beautiful tints that the atmo- 

 sphere in this climate produces. 



Yerba Buena is the usual though by no means 

 the best anchorage. The town, as is stated, is not 

 calculated to produce a favourable impression on a 

 stranger. Its buildings may be counted, and con- 

 sists of a large frame building, occupied by the 

 agent of the Hudson Bay Company, a store, kept 

 by Mr. Spears, an American, a billiard-room and 



bar, a poop cabin of a ship, occupied as a dwelling 

 by Captain Hinckley, a blacksmith's shop, and 

 some out buildings. These, though few in number, 

 are also far between. With these, I must not for- 

 get to enumerate an old dilapidated adobe building, 

 which has a conspicuous position on the top of the 

 hill overlooking the anchorage. When to this 

 we add a sterile soil and hills of bare rock, it 

 will be seen that Yerba Buena and the country 

 around it are any thing but beautiful. This de- 

 scription holds good when the tide is high, but at 

 low water it has for a foreground an extensive 

 mud-flat, which does not add to the beauty of 

 the view. 



After passing through the entrance, we were 

 scarcely able to distinguish the presidio ; and had 

 it not been for its solitary flag-staff, we could not 

 have ascertained its situation. From this staff no 

 flag floated ; the building was deserted, the walls 

 had fallen to decay, the guns were dismounted, and 

 every thing around it lay in quiet. We were not 

 even saluted by the stentorian lungs of some 

 soldier, so customary in Spanish places, even after 

 all political power as well as military and civil rule 

 has fled. I afterwards learned that the presidio 

 was still a garrison in name, and that it had not 

 been wholly abandoned : but the remnant of the 

 troops stationed there consisted of no more than 

 an officer and one soldier. At Yerba Buena there 

 was a similar absence of all authority. 



At the time of our visit, the country altogether 

 presented rather a singular appearance. Instead of 

 a lively green hue, it had generally a tint of a light 

 straw-colour, showing an extreme want of moisture. 

 The drought had continued for eleven months ; 

 the cattle were dying in the fields ; and the first 

 view of California was not calculated to make a 

 favourable impression either of its beauty or fer- 

 tility. 



There is, perhaps, no other country where there 

 is such a diversity of features, soil, and climate, as 

 California. The surface exhibits the varieties of 

 lofty ranges of mountains, confined valleys, and 

 extensive plains. On the coast, a range of high 

 land extends in length from Cape Mendocino to 

 latitude 32 N., and in breadth into the interior 

 from ten to twenty miles. 



The valley of San Juan, of no great extent, lies 

 between these hills and the Sierra, which is a low 

 range of mountains. East of the Sierra is the 

 broad valley of the Sacramento, which is prolonged 

 to the south in that of Buena Ventura, as far as 

 Mount San Bernardino, under the thirty-fourth 

 parallel. Beyond this valley is the Californian 



