80 RETURN FROM SAN FRANCISCO 
large, being used as warehouses for merchandise, as 
well as for.dwellings. Vessels stop here for water, 
which has to be carted from a distance of three miles. 
Many also provide themselves here with beef, which 
is furnished at a less rate than at other places. 
I was desirous to visit Los Angeles for the purpose 
of buying mules, which were scarce and high at San 
Diego. Soon after breakfast I went on shore with 
Captain Ottinger, and we both took the stage then 
about to start for Los Angeles. There were twelve 
passengers to go, who filled two ordinary lumber wag- 
ons, each drawn by four mules. On leaving the 
coast, the road was somewhat hilly for a few miles. 
Passed several lagoons about three miles from San 
Pedro, in which were large numbers of ducks, plover, 
curlew, and snipe, embracing varieties which I had 
not before seen; on leaving these, we entered upon a 
broad plain, which extended as far as the eye could 
reach, unbroken by hillortree. This plain, the surface 
of which was slightly undulating, was covered with 
luxuriant grass and clover; and sometimes a patch of 
yellow mustard, growing to the height of five or six 
feet, filled a space of a mile or two. Flowers of bril- 
liant hues were thickly scattered over the plain, giving 
it here and there a tingle of purple, orange, or yellow. 
In every direction, the eye fell upon large herds of 
cattle and horses luxuriating on the rich grass; so 
numerous were they, that at one time there could not 
have been less than ten thousand head in sight. 
__ It was here that askirmish took place between Com- 
modore Stockton,or a party sent by him, and the Cali- 
fornians; but from what I could learn, it was little 
