; 
8 SAN DIEGO TO 
intelligent, and answered promptly my questions rela- 
tive to his tribe and country. I could not, however, 
ascertain the precise locality of his people, which he 
called the Lhana tribe—the Ha deep guttural. I got 
from him a complete vocabulary of his language. 
On the 24th of February, I embarked with several 
officers of the Commission in the steamer Sea Bird, for 
San Francisco. The boat stopped on the way at the 
several ports of San Pedro, Santa Barbara, and Mon- 
terey ; but as the weather was boisterous and attended 
with rain, I did not land. On the evening of the 27th 
we reached San Francisco. cal 
To give an account of this wonderful city which 
has sprung into existence in the last four years, and 
whose rapid growth and extraordinary prosperity have 
astonished the world, is not my intention. No city on 
the face of the globe has ever attained the position that 
San Francisco has in the same period; and it is yet 
progressing. It is now almost the first in population 
on the western coast of the American continent; and 
but a few years will elapse before it will surpass all the 
rest. In point of commerce, the great ports of Europe 
and on the Atlantic coast of the United States alone, 
can vie with it. As the outlet of the principal and 
almost only rivers of California, it will continue to 
bear the same relation to the interior as New Orleans 
and New York do to the United States east of the Rocky 
Mountains. The harbor of San Francisco is one of the 
most spacious in the world, easy of access, of a conve- 
nient depth for anchorage, and protected from storms. 
The city itself now presents a strange medley of build- 
ings, from the rudest hovel and canvas tent to the ele- 
