told them to burn all woodwork on the vessel to
save their lives. At dark we reached the point we had in view, and it
was fortunate for us that it was the entrance to the port. As the vessel
turned to enter, you could see, coming over the waters of the ocean, a
tropical storm, accompanied with wind, thunder and lightning. Twenty
minutes later it would have reached us, and we would have been lost. As
soon as we got safely in port (and it was very dark), I can hear now, in
imagination, the sound of the anchor as it was let down in the water,
which assured our entire safety. It thundered and lightninged, and
blowing a high gale, which was music in our ears, as we knew we were out
of danger, and feeling the supreme gratification of knowing what we had
escaped. Blessed to us was the high mountains which surrounded the port.
The entrance to it is narrow, but when you get inside it is one of the
safest harbors in the world, being perfectly land-locked. The next day
opened on a happy lot of passengers. I felt as if I was commencing life
anew. We went ashore expecting to be there several days, as they
proposed to take in a full supply of coal. This place had been once
quite a city, but many years ago had been partly destroyed by an
earthquake. It was said that the water went out of the bay most to the
tops of the mountains, and then reacted to its usual level in the
harbor; that there was a French ship carried up to the sides of the
mountains, and when the water reacted, carried back in safety in the
harbor. Hundreds of buildings were destroyed, the ruins of which are now
visible where the city once extended.

I was introduced to General Alvarado. He was the most prominent man in
Mexico, on the Pacific coast, at that time, and afterward became very
prominent in the public affairs of his country. On our return to the
vessel that evening there was quite an excitement on board. Among the
passengers was a party of three who had been quite successful in
Sacramento in the bottling of soda and summer beer, and peddling it out
through the city. They had picked up by chance an old acquaintance from
Waterford who belonged to an aristocratic family there, and by his
habits of dissipation was a mortification to them. So when the
California excitement broke out, they furnished him the money to go to
the gold regions. It would either reform him or they would get rid of
him. Of course, such men were no good in California, and he had spent
his