344 
SCENES IN THE PACIFIC. 
fi£ Nearly the whole of the Californias is well adapted to the 
cultivation of the vine. I have been assured by Mons. Louis 
Vignes, a native of Bordeaux, France, that the soil and cli¬ 
mate of California are superior to any part of France for this 
kind of culture. The competency of this gentleman to decide 
on the subject is most satisfactorily proven by the large for¬ 
tune he has made at this same business here in the short pe¬ 
riod of six years; although his vineyard has not yet come to 
maturity. The olive-tree also flourishes exceedingly well. 
Figs, lemons, and oranges, are common south of Monterey, 
and produce abundantly all the year. North of that point, 
flgs are very productive and excellent—but we get only one 
crop a year. Cotton and tobacco also thrive finely. 55 
Rice may be raised in untold quantities about the waters 
of the San Joaquim and Sacramento. The immense fresh 
water marshes about the mouths of these streams are capable 
of being turned into fields for the production of this grain, at 
very trifling expense. Indeed, it may be confidently asserted, 
that no country in the world possesses so fine a climate, cou¬ 
pled with so productive a soil, as the sea-board portion of the 
Californias, including the territory on the Bay of San Fran¬ 
cisco, and the Rivers San Joaquim and Sacramento. But its 
miserable people live unconscious of these things. In their 
gardens grow the apple, the pear, the olive, fig, and orange, 
the Irish and sweet potato, the yam and plantain most 
luxuriantly, side by side; and yet they sleep, and smoke, and 
hum some tune of Castilian laziness, while surrounding Na¬ 
ture is thus inviting them to the noblest and richest rewards 
of honorable toil. 
But this idleness notwithstanding, the Californians are rich ; 
rich, in the most luxuriant wild pastures, and the cattle, 
mules, horses, and wild animals that feed upon them. The 
immense number of these animals in the time of prosperity 
among the Missions, may be gathered from another extract 
from Dr. Marsh’s letter: “ Some of the Missions were for¬ 
merly possessed of great wealth. For several years during 
