TRAVELS IN THE CALIFORNIA S. 
411 
nent of continuous cities, interspersed with groves. The 
general aspect was dreary. 
On the 13th, a light breeze from the south bore us along 
about three knots the hour. The Gulf shores opened wider 
as we advanced. High mountains rose on the main in the NE. 
The coasts of the Gulf are said to be mountainous up to the 
mouth of the Colorado of the West. 
In the evening the mountains on the Mexican side were 
lighted up with immense fires—some of them resembled those 
of volcanoes ; others, the raging flames among the firs and 
pines of the Green Mountains; others, the deep glow of the 
log heaps of the American fallows. 
On the fourteenth we sailed across the mouth of the Cali¬ 
fornian Gulf or sea of Cortes, and at night-fall lay in full view 
of the rocky islands around the anchorage of Mazatlan. Cape 
San Lucas had faded away in the northern horizon near sun¬ 
set, and I confess I regretted to know that I should probably 
see its hills and plains no more; but a reflection upon the des¬ 
tiny of the Californias took the place of such sorrow. That 
country must become a constituent member in the great broth¬ 
erhood of American Nations. As a maritime country it is 
unequalled on the western coast of America ; indeed I should 
say, it is not approached in this respect by any country border¬ 
ing on the Pacific seas. 
The harbors of San Quintin in Latitude 30° 23' N., San 
Diego in Latitude 33° N., and San Francisco in Latitude 37° 
N., afford secure anchorage for the navies of the civilized 
world, and every desirable facility for erecting wharves, docks 
and arsenals. These indenting a country capable of sustain¬ 
ing thirty-five millions of people, with the healthiest climate 
on the continent, affording abundance of live oak and other 
materials, without stint, for the construction and rigging of 
vessels, and a rich soil bearing on the same acre the fruits of 
the tropical and the temperate zones; with the greatest possi¬ 
ble facilities for commercial intercourse with the eastern shores 
of the Russian Empire, China, India, Australia, and the Ha- 
62 
