CALIFORNIA. 191 



as are wanted are readily obtained. These chiefs have far more 

 authority over their tribes than those we had seen to the north ; and 

 in the opinion of an intelligent American, they have more power over 

 and are more respected by their tribes than those of any other North 

 American Indians. Connected with the establishment, Captain Suter 

 has erected a distillery, in which he makes a kind of pisco from the 

 wild grape of the country. 



The duties I have already named might be thought enough for the 

 supervision of one person ; but to these must be added the direction 

 of a large party of trappers and hunters, mostly American, who enter 

 here into competition with those of the Hudson Bay Company; and 

 attention to the property of the Russian establishment at Ross and 

 Bodega, which had just been transferred to him for the consideration 

 of thirty thousand dollars. In the purchase were included all the 

 stock, houses, arms, utensils, and cattle, belonging to the establish- 

 ment. It was understood that this post was abandoned, by orders 

 of the Russian government, the Russian Company no longer having 

 any necessity to hold it to procure supplies, as they are now to be 

 furnished under a contract with the Hudson Bay Company; and by 

 giving it up, they avoid many heavy expenses. 



Bodega was first established by the Russians in 1812, under a 

 permission of the then governor of Monterey, to erect a few small 

 huts for salting their beef. A small number of men were left to 

 superintend this business, which in a few years increased, until 

 the place became of such importance in the eyes of the Spanish 

 authorities, that on the Russians attempting to establish themselves 

 at San Francisco,* they were ordered to leave the country. This 

 they refused to do, and having become too strong to be removed 

 by the Spanish force, they had been suffered to remain undis- 

 turbed until the time of our visit. 



The port of Bodega is situated about ninety miles to the north of 

 that of San Francisco, and being both inconvenient and small, cannot 

 be entered except by vessels of a small draft of water. From what I 

 understood from the officers who had been in charge of it, it had been 

 a very considerable expense to the Russian American Company to 

 fortify it ; and the disposal of the whole, on almost any terms, must 



* On the island of Yerba Buena, and to employ their men in trapping during the 

 season. 



