408 RESOURCES OF CALIFORNIA. 
has mail communication with San Francisco twice a month 
by steamer, and twice a week by stage. It is also con- 
nected with the main towns of the state by a line of telegraph. 
The general impression upon my mind, after spending the last 
week in September in the place, is that it is one of the most 
pleasant places in the world, known to me, to visit, The lux- 
uriant vegetation, with its semi-tropical character, is peculiarly 
agreeable to the sons of the North. The “clime of the sun,” 
“the land of the cypress and myrtle,” “‘where the citron 
blooms and the golden oranges glow amidst the dark-green 
leaves, have ever been with the poets of the colder lands the 
symbols of a terrestrial paradise, and some of the most bril- 
liant verses of Goethe and Byron have been inspired by ad- 
miration of them. The song of Mignon came vividly before 
me as I walked through the gardens of the City of the Angels. 
Luscious fruits, of many species and unnumbered varieties, 
loaded the trees. Gentle breezes came through the bowers. 
The water rippled musically through the zanjas. Delicious 
odors came from all the most fragrant flowers of the temper- 
ate zone. Julius Froebel speaks thus of Los Angeles in his 
book Aus Amerika: “I could wish no better home for my- 
self and my friends than such a one as noble, sensible men 
could here make for themselves. Nature has preserved here, 
in its workings and phenomena, that medium between too 
much and too little, which was one of the great conditions of 
high civilization in the classic regions of ancient times. Indeed, 
when we seek in other lands for places like Los Angeles and 
Southern California generally, we must turn our eyes to the 
Levant. In the United States there are no kindred spots.” 
The town is situated on the banks of the Los Angeles 
River, twenty-five miles from the ocean. The population 
numbers about 3,500. The port of Los Angeles is San Pedro, 
twenty-five miles southward, where there are only a couple of 
houses, 
§ 279. Petaluma.—Petaluma, situated on the flat bank of 
the navigable creek of the same name, ten miles from San 
