210 



PORT ST. FRANCISCO. 



[1825, 



purposes of laying and incubation ; but the Russians seldom give 

 them a chance for the latter process, generally securing the eggs as 

 fast as they are deposited. 



May 12th. — After carefully examining this island, without finding a 

 single fur-seal, we bore away for Port St. Francisco, where we ar- 

 rived on the 12th of May ; and at six, P. M., came to anchor on the 

 south-west side of the bay, in four fathoms of water, with the mission 

 of St. Clara bearing south-west, and the nearest land to the westward 

 distant one-fourth of a mile from the vessel. 



This magnificent harbour, the entrance to which lies in lat. 37° 48' 

 N., long. 122° 16' W., possesses almost all the requisites for a great 

 naval establishment, and is better calculated for such a depot than any 

 other port between the island of Chiloe, on the south coast of Chili, 

 and the Columbia River, on the coast of our Oregon territory. It is 

 easy of access, the entrance being about two miles wide, between two 

 bluff points ; and there is sufficient water for a line-of-battle ship, 

 within a cable's length of the shore, until she is six miles within the 

 bay, where a flat puts off from the south shore, about one hundred 

 fathoms. 



After steering in east for eight miles, you will come to a low point 

 of land, on the south side of the bay, to which a good berth must be 

 given, say half a mile. Having passed this point, the south arm of 

 the bay opens to view, extending south a few degrees easterly, for 

 more than twenty miles. At the head of this is a river which extends 

 far into the country. This southern arm is about five miles wide for 

 a considerable distance to the south, with a moderate depth of water, 

 varying from twenty to five fathoms ; thus affording a water communi- 

 cation between the missions of San Jose, Santa Clara, and the presidio. 

 The best anchorage is on the west side of the bay, in from ten to four 

 fathoms, near the shore, and nearly abreast of the mission, which is in 

 full view, about two miles from the shore of the bay, and five miles 

 within the entrance of the port. 



There is also another arm of the bay, which extends to the north 

 and north-east about twenty -five miles, where it becomes contracted to 

 a strait, communicating with a basin more than ten miles in width. 

 This basin has a water communication on the north-west side with 

 the new mission of San Francisco Solano. This northern arm of the 

 bay is sprinkled with a number of small green islands, between which 

 there are good passages for ships of any size, for about fifteen miles 

 to the north, and good anchorage all over the bay, in from twenty to 

 five fathoms of water, mud and clay bottom. 



Three rivers empty their waters into this arm of St. Francisco Bay ; 

 one of which, called El Sacramento, has its rise among the Rocky 

 Mountains near the sources of the Columbia, Colorada, Rio del Norte, 

 Arkansas, and La Platte. Thus the water on which the Tartar now 

 reposed was partly supplied from the mountain springs of our native 

 country. Any thought like this, however trifling in itself, is interest- 

 ing to those who are far from home. Any thing that reminds one of his 

 native land is dear to the heart of the wanderer. 



The bay of St. Francisco, connected with the surrounding scenery, 



