98 RETURN FROM SAN FRANCISCO 
wooded; a fact not generally known. The earliest 
published account of this harbor, must possess an inter- 
est for all who watch the progress of California. The 
reader, too, will perceive, as in the case of San Fran- 
cisco and Monterey, that the early discoverers saw the 
ereat advantages of the places; although it was left for 
the Americans one hundred and fifty years later to avail 
themselves of them. The United States were in pos- 
session of California before the discovery of its gold 
placers ; and although they have been the means of its 
rapid advancement to the extraordinary rank it has 
now attained, yet it is certain that, even without the 
gold, it would sooner or later have become what it now 
is, from its agricultural resources and great commercial 
advantages. 
Sebastian Viscaino having been employed as early 
as the year 1594 in the “ pacification and conquest of 
California,” was selected as the head of an expedition 
fitted out for further explorations and colonization in 
1602. After touching at various places in Lower Cali- 
fornia, 1t reached the Coronados Islands. ‘To the — 
north of these islands,” says the narrative, “‘on the 
main land, is the famous harbor called San Diego, 
which the squadron entered at seven in the evening, 
on the 10th of December; and the day following, 
the general ordered several persons to survey a forest 
lying on the north-west side of the bay. This expedi- 
tion was undertaken by Ensign Alarcon, Captain Pe- 
guero, Father Antonio de la Ascension, and eight 
soldiers. In this forest they found tall and straight 
oaks and other trees, some shrubs resembling rosemary, 
and a great variety of fragrant and wholesome plants. 
