DEXTEROUS FEAT OF A GRIZZLY BEAR. 
137 
were out of the question. The lodging apartments were gen¬ 
erally fitted up like state-rooms on a ship, with two berths, i. e. 
a little pen or box with two shelves, for each of which shelf, 
with board, the charge was $25 per week, occupant permitted 
to furnish his own bedding. 
Dear reader, having a pressing business engagement at San 
Juan de Nicaragua, I will presume upon your leisure so far as 
to ask you to accompany me. I will give you a free passage, 
and return with you in thirty days, claiming your indulgence 
for the want of interest in the trip. You undoubtedly remem¬ 
ber the excitement attending your advent on board the steamer, 
your last trip to sea—mine was similar. At 12 o’clock, M., we 
had the “heave ahead !” clanking of the cable, firing of cannon, 
and at half-past 12 passed through the “ Golden Gate.” Now 
our steamer makes her obeisance to Neptune, who steps aside 
to let her pass. On leaving the outer bay, we put our wheel 
“hard down,” and stood away to the south, the coast range, 
as well as the Sierra Nevada, seeming in tears at our departure. 
We steam along, now raising a peak of the mountain, and now 
sinking it below the horizon, until the second day, when we stand 
in toward shore, and soon arrive in full view of Santa Barbara, 
presenting a fertile plain near the coast, with mountains in the 
background. 
This is the point at which Col. Stevenson’s regiment was dis¬ 
banded. It is a small town hardly deserving the name, and has 
acquired its name and importance from its mission, the mission- 
house being a building of great capacity, containing a collec¬ 
tion of valuable paintings. The front makes some pretensions 
to architectural beauty, with two towers, each containing two 
bells; between the towers, is a representation of the sun, the disc 
being the dial of a clock. (See Plate.) There is a fountain near 
the church, the water being brought from the mountain in a 
trench, and thrown from the mouths of grizzly b v ears. Why the 
grizzly bear was chosen by the worthy “Padre” to do the orna¬ 
mental part, I was unable to learn, perhaps owing to feats of 
dexterity performed by his bearship on certain occasions. 
At the time of the arrival of the California regiment, one of 
the Bruin family had taken up his residence on a rancho, not 
far distant. The natives, wishing to exhibit their dexterity, 
