and Captain Fulsom speak
very favourably of the climate and soil of California, and say that an
enterprising agriculturist is sure to make a speedy fortune. Mr.
Bradley, who has agreed to accompany us on our trip, strongly advises
Malcolm to shift his quarters from Oregon, and settle here, saying
that he is sure my friend will do so when he has once seen the farms
in the Sacramento valley, whither we are to start early next week.
McPhail left us to-day, to make a trip to Sonoma.

San Francisco, although as yet but a poor place, will no doubt become
a great emporium of commerce. The population may be about a couple of
thousands; of these two-thirds are Americans. The houses, with the
exception of some few wooden ones which have been shipped over here by
the Americans, are nearly all built of unburnt bricks. The appearance
of the native Californian is quite Spanish. The men wear high
steeple-like hats, jackets of gaudy colours, and breeches of velvet,
generally cotton. They are a handsome swarthy race. The best part in
the faces of the women are their eyes, which are black and very
lustrous. The Californian belles, I am sorry to say, spoil their teeth
by smoking cigarettos.

CHAPTER II.

Start for Monterey
Horse equipments in California
The advantages of them
Rifles and Ruffians
Californian Scenery
Immense herds of cattle
Mission of Santa Clara
Pueblo of San Jose
A Californian farm-house
What it is like inside and out
Prolific crops of wheat
Saddle-sickness
The journey is resumed
Mission of San Jose
Arrival at Monterey
The Author's visit to Colonel Mason
Surgeons not wanted in California
Rumours of gold being found on the Sacramento
Characteristics of Monterey
Don Luis Palo and his sisters
What all Californian dinners consist of
The party return to San Francisco.

Monterey.--_May 4th_.--Started off early on the morning of the 2nd on
our journey to Monterey. We found our horses in readiness in the hotel
yard, in charge of a servant (here called a vaquero) of Mr. Bradley's.
The latter, having business to transact at Monterey, accompanied
us. My horse was equipped after the Spanish fashion, with the usual
high-pommelled cumbrous saddle, with a great show of useless trappings,
and clumsy wooden stirrups, and for a long time I found the riding
sufficiently disagreeable, though, doubtless, far more pleasant than
a coast journey would have been, with a repetiti