bling for the want of care in protecting
them from the annual rains; and without this care they will soon become
heaps of mud. The fort is erected upon a commanding position, about a
mile and a half from the entrance to the bay. Its walls are
substantially constructed of burnt brick, and are of sufficient
thickness and strength to resist heavy battering. There are nine or ten
embrasures. Like everything else in the country belonging to the
public, the fort is fast falling into ruins. There has been no garrison
here for several years; the guns are dismounted, and half decomposed by
long exposure to the weather, and from want of care. Some of them have
sunk into the ground.

On the 20th I was waited upon by Gen. Kearny, and requested to accept
the office of alcalde, or chief magistrate, of the district of San
Francisco. There being no opportunity of returning to the United States
immediately, I accepted of the proposed appointment, and on the 22d was
sworn into office, my predecessor, Lieut. W.A. Bartlett, of the navy,
being ordered to his ship by the commanding officer of the squadron.

The annual salute in celebration of the birthday of the immortal and
illustrious founder of our republic, required by law from all the ships
of the navy in commission, in whatever part of the world they may be at
the time, strikes us more forcibly when in a far-off country, as being
a beautiful and appropriate tribute to the unapproachable virtues and
heroism of that great benefactor of the human race, than when we are
nearer home, or upon our own soil. The U.S. ships in the harbour, at
twelve o'clock on the 22d, each fired a national salute; and the day
being calm and beautiful, the reports bounded from hill to hill, and
were echoed and re-echoed until the sound died away, apparently in the
distant gorges of the Sierra Nevada. This was a voice from the soul of
WASHINGTON, speaking in majestic and thunder-tones to the green and
flowery valley, the gentle hills and lofty mountains of California, and
consecrating them as the future abode of millions upon millions of the
sons of liberty. The merchant and whale ships lying at anchor, catching
the enthusiasm, joined in the salute; and for a time the harbour and
bay in front of the town were enveloped in clouds of gunpowder smoke.

General Kearny left San Francisco, in the frigate Savannah, Captain
Mervine, on the 23d, for Monterey, and soon after his arrival at that
place issued the followin