TRAVELS IN THE CALIFORNIA S. 
51 
from the Californian mountains! A morning of the blooming 
spring poured down from Heaven on this Italy of America ! 
A sunrise on the land; and the conquered night where it 
very properly may be, running wild over the seas! 
A breeze from the west drove us slowly down the bay, so 
near the shore that we had a clear view of it. At the 
northeast corner of the bay is a green gorge, down which 
flows a small stream of pure water. Near its mouth, on a 
snug little plain, stands the mission of Santa Cruz, with its 
chapel and adobie Indian huts. Around it are some fields, 
on which the Indians raise grains, vegetables and grapes. 
Beyond this, to the northward, the country swells away 
into lofty hills, covered with grass and sprinkled with copses 
of pine and oak. 
From Santa Cruz down to Monterey, the land is broken 
by low hills, too rough for general cultivation, upon which 
grow a few trees of a soft and worthless character. But the 
greenness of the whole surface in the spring of the year, and 
the absence of any abode of man, make it very appropriate 
pasture-ground for the wild horses, cattle, mules, and the 
grisly bears, lions and elk, that herd upon it. 
About five o’clock we round to, under the Castle of Mon¬ 
terey. The boat is lowered, the captain and part of the pas¬ 
sengers get aboard of her, and shove off for the landing. 
The ship meanwhile lies off and on within hail. When a 
hundred fathoms from the shore we are hailed by the cus¬ 
tom-house barge, and ordered back to the ship! Whereupon 
a parley takes place, during which we are informed that 
California is in a state of revolution, and that no foreigners 
can enter the country. 
I was emaciated with sea-sickness, enfeebled for want of 
fresh food, and altogether so miserable at the idea of not 
dining that day upon Californian beans and beef, that I made 
a desperate effort to express in Spanish the honest rage of my 
heart at such treatment. But having uttered French instead 
of Spanish wrath, I was about correcting myself, when a 
