116 HISTORY OF CALIFORNIA. 



steeps, rocks, and hillocks, necessarily irrespective of 

 order ; so that, even in the most densely populated 

 districts, barren hills, as yet unoccupied by dwellings, 

 are frequently to be met with, with deep hollows in 

 every part, converting mere visits into positive enter- 

 prises, in most instances both tedious and disagreeable. 

 To these great natural disadvantages, the indolence 

 of the inhabitants has added others, their common 

 practice being to dig for adobe clay at the nearest 

 convenient spot, namely, for the most part, opposite 

 their own doors ; thus, one would imagine that the 

 site of the whole town had been visited and disturbed 

 by a succession of miniature earthquakes, which, whilst 

 they had left the houses themselves unshaken, had 

 heaved and perched them up in the most uncomfort- 

 able positions, and in the most inaccessible places. In 

 the very centre of the principal street, which appears 

 to have once upon a time been level, are three or four 

 immense clay-pits, serving as a receptacle for dead 

 dogs, cats, bones, vegetable refuse, and, in a word, 

 every description of rubbish and nuisance a very dirty 

 population can convey to or discharge in them. 



But a description of the town would be incomplete 

 without adding that it is dotted about in these hollows, 

 and in the sand-holes in the rocks, with patches of 

 thorn, brush, and cacti, forming a singular yet refresh- 

 ing contrast with the general barrenness of the region 

 itself, the whole being smTOunded by a bleak moun- 

 tainous range, which increases in elevation until it 

 blends with the clear sky, far in the distance. 



The principal, indeed the only regular street in 

 the town, is wide and long, the houses being con- 

 structed of adobes and cane, thatched with palm leaves. 

 It is blocked up at the remoter end by the fort, which 



