56 THE QUICKSILVER MINES 
Santa Clara was but recently occupied by a priest; 
it has now shared the fate of all the other missions of 
the State, which have either been abandoned or have 
fallen into the hands of speculators. 
April 3d. After breakfast, walked about the town, 
but found nothing of interest. The pueblo of San José, 
is an old place; its admirable situation, at the head of 
the rich and beautiful valley I have described, attract- 
ed the attention of the Americans soon after the subju- 
gation of the country, and it was selected as the capitol 
of the State. This gave to it an impetus, and brought 
it at once into notice. Many hotels and other build- 
ings soon sprang up, a large city was laid out, and, as 
is usual in such cases, much money was made and lost. 
Butits growth was as suddenly checked by the subse- 
quent selection of another place for the future capitol. 
It is situated about five miles from the southern extremi- 
ty of the Bay of San Francisco ; and being in the centre 
of one of the most fertile districts in the State, it will 
yet become its first agricultural town. 
On inquiring for Indians here, I learnt that there 
was a woman of the San Luis Obispo tribe, living in 
the place. I lost no time in calling upon her, and found 
she was married to an American. She proved, as I had 
heard, to be quite an intelligent person, about 35 years 
of age, living in a comfortable house with her family 
around her. On my requesting to know the principal 
fully diversified with pleasing eminences and valleys; which, with the 
lofty range of mountains that bounded the prospect, required only to be 
adorned with the neat habitations of an industrious people, to produce 
a scene not inferior to the most studied effect of taste in the disposal of 
grounds.” — Vancouver's Voyages, vol. i. p. 16. 
