We remained two months at Monterey; and then upon the assembling of the
squadron, and the arrival of a new Commodore, rather than play segundo
violo, and have the blue pennant of a Commander-in-Chief flaunting its
folds in face of our red, we were glad to lift the anchors, and sail for
the waters of San Francisco. Steering too far from the land, a northerly
gale arose, and although the distance is but eighty miles, we were a
week in gaining our destination, on the 29th of March.
The face of the coast presents the same general aspect as that to the
southward of Monterey--one great sea-wall of mountains, split into deep
ravines, and tufted with towering pines. Many of these trees that fringe
what Humboldt terms the maritime Alps of California, are of enormous
magnitude. A German naturalist, employed in scientific pursuits in the
country, assured me that he had measured pines in the Santa Cruz
mountains fifty-seven feet in girth at the base, and carrying the lofty
tops upon a clear shaft for two hundred and seventy feet without a
branch!
I have also seen, in my Californian rambles, pines of immense growth,
taking root in the wild glens of rich and sheltered mountain gorges,
shooting up straight and clear as javelins, with symmetrical columns
that would make too taunt masts for the tallest "amiral" that ever
floated.
Near to the mouth of San Francisco the land recedes, and passing through
the narrow jaws of the Straits, which are framed in by bold,
precipitous, and rocky cliffs, where violent currents are sweeping and
foaming in eddying whirls around their base, you soon debouch into the
outer bay. It is like a great lake, stretching away right and left, far
into the heart of California. To the north another aperture, and still
another, leads into the Bays of San Pablo and Sosun, washing the valleys
of Sinoma and Tulares, and fed by the rivers Sacramento and San Joaquin,
after passing over the golden sands of the rich mines beyond. To the
southward the waters are not so extended, and the bay laves the garden
of California in the beautiful vale of Santa Clara. Green islands adorn
the bosom of these vast estuaries, and everywhere are found safe and
commodious harbors.
Our anchorage was near the little village of Yerbabuena, five miles from
the ocean, and within a short distance from the Franciscan Mission and
Presidio of the old royalists. The site seems badly chosen, for although
it reposes in partial shelter, beneath the high bluffs of the coast, yet
a great portion of the year it is enveloped in chilling fogs; and
invariably, during the afternoon, strong sea breezes are drawn through
the straits like a funnel, and playing with fitful violence around the
hills, the sand is swept in blinding clouds over the town and the
adjacent shores of the bay. Yet with all these drawbacks the place was
rapidly thriving under the indomitable energy of our countrymen.
Tenements, large and small, were running up, like card-built houses, in
all directions. The population was composed of Mormons, backwoodsmen,
and a few very respectable traders from the eastern cities of the
United States. Very rare it was to see a native: our brethren had played
the porcupine so sharply as to oblige them to seek their homes among
more congenial kindred. On Sunday, however, it was not uncommon to
encounter gay cavalcades of young paisanos, jingling in silver chains
and finery, dashing into town, half-a-dozen abreast; having left their
sweethearts at the Mission, or some neighboring rancho, for the evening
fandango. Towards afternoon, when these frolicsome _caballeros_ became a
trifle elevated with their potations, they were wont to indulge in a
variety of capricious feats on horseback--leaping and wheeling--throwing
the lasso over each other;--or if by chance a bullock appeared, they
took delight while at full speed in the _carrara_, in catching the
beasts by a dextrous twist in the tail; and the performance was never
satisfactorily concluded until the bullock was thrown a complete
summerset over his horns. These paisanos of California, like the guachos
of Buenos Ayres, and guaso of Chili, pass most of their existence on
horseback; there the natural vigor of manhood seems all at once called
into play, and horse and backer appear of the same piece. The lasso is
their plaything, either for service or pastime; with it, the unruly wild
horse, or bullock, is brought within reach of the knife. Ferocious Bruin
himself gets his throat twisted and choked, and with heavy paws spread
wide apart, is dragged for miles, perhaps to the bear-bait,
notwithstanding his glittering jaws, and giant efforts to escape.
Without the horse and lasso, these gentry are helpless as infants; their
horses are admirably trained, and sometimes perform under a skilful hand
pranks that always cause surprise to strangers. I once saw a band of
horses, at General Rosa's quinta, near Buenos Ayres, trained to run like
hares, with fore and hind legs lashed together by thongs of hide; it
was undertaken to preserve the animals from being thrown by the Indian
bolas, and the riders, as a consequence, lanced to death. But I was far
more amused one afternoon while passing a fandango, near Monterey, to
see a drunken _vaquero_--cattle-driver--mounted on a restive, plunging
beast, hold at arms length a tray of glasses, brimming with aguadiente,
which he politely offered to everybody within reach of his curvettings,
without ever once spilling a drop. I thought this better than Camille
Leroux, in the polka, or a guacho picking up a cigarritto with his
teeth, at a hand gallop! It is remarkable, too, how very long the
Californian can urge a horse, and how lightly he rides, even when the
beast appears thoroughly exhausted, tottering at every pace under a
strange rider; yet the native will lift him to renewed struggles, and
hold him up for leagues further. Nor is it by the aid of his enormous
spurs, for the punishment is by no means so severe as the sharp rowels
with us; but accustomed to the horse from infancy, he appears to divine
his powers, and thus a mutual and instinctive bond is established
between them. The saddles here, as well as those along the southern
coasts, partake in build of the old Spanish high peak and croupe, and
are really intended for ease and comfort to the rider. In Chili the
pillion is used--a soft material of rugs, smooth and thick, thrown over
the saddle frame; but it distends the thighs too greatly. The
Californian is both hard and heavy, and murderous to the horse. The
Mexican is best,--less cumbersome, more elegant in construction, and a
great support to the rider. The stirrups of all are similar--weighty
wooden structures--and the feet rest naturally in them.
There is nothing either pleasing or inviting in the landscape in the
vicinity of Yerbabuena. All looks bare and sterile from a distance, and
on closer inspection, the deep sandy soil is covered with impervious
thickets of low thorny undergrowth, with none of the rich green herbage,
forests or timber as in Monterey. The roads were so heavy that the
horses could hardly strain, nearly knee deep, through the sand, and
consequently, our rides were restricted to a league's _pasear_ to the
mission, or across the narrow strip of the peninsular to the old
presidio; but in the town we passed the hours pleasantly, became
conversant with the Mormon bible and doctrine, rolled ten-pins, and
amused ourselves nightly, at the monte in the _casa de bebida de Brown_;
still there was a great stir and bustle going on. A number of large
merchant ships had arrived, bringing the regiment of New York
volunteers, and the beach was strewn with heavy guns, carriages, piles
of shot, ordnance stores, wagons, tents and camp equipage, whilst the
streets were filled with troops, who belonged to the true democracy,
called one another mister, snubbed their officers, and did generally as
they pleased, which was literally nothing. However, in due time, they
were brought into the traces, and properly buckled to their duty, when
their services were exerted in planting a battery of long 24-pounders,
to command the straits, and their excitable spirits kept under control
at their quarters in the presidio.
This was Yerbabuena as we found it on our first coming--rapidly
springing into importance, and bidding fair at some future day, even
without the advantages to be derived from the mines which were then
unknown, to become the greatest commercial port on the Pacific.
Previous to our arrival in the waters of Francisco, a frightful incident
transpired amidst the Californian mountains, which goes far to surpass
any event of the kind heard or seen, from the black hole of Calcutta,
to smoking the Arabs in Algeria. It relates to a party of emigrants,
whose shocking inhuman cannibalisms and sufferings exceeded all belief.
The news first reached us in Monterey, and also that a party had been
despatched to succor them. From an officer of the navy in charge of the
expedition, and from one of the survivors, a Spanish boy, named
Baptiste, I learned the following particulars: The number of emigrants
were originally eighty; through a culpable combination of ignorance and
folly, they loitered many weeks on the route, when, upon gaining the
sierra, the snows set in, the trails became blocked up and impassable,
and they were obliged to encamp for the winter; their provisions were
shortly exhausted, their cattle were devoured to the last horse's hide,
hunger came upon them, gaunt and terrible, starvation at last--men,
women and children starved to death, and were eaten by their
fellows--insanity followed. When relief arrived, the survivors were
found rolling in filth, parents eating their own offspring, denizens of
different cabins exchanging limbs and meat--little children tearing and
devouring the livers and hearts of the dead, and a general apathy and
mania pervaded all alike, so as to make them scout the idea of leaving
their property in the mountains before the spring, even to save their
miserable lives; and on separating those who were able to bear the
fatigue of travelling, the cursings and ravings of the remainder were
monstrous. One Dutchman actually ate a full-grown body in thirty-six
hours! another boiled and devoured a girl nine years old, in a single
night. The women held on to life with greater tenacity than the men--in
fact, the first intelligence was brought to Sutter's fort, on the
Sacramento, by two young girls. One of them feasted on her good papa,
but on making soup of her lover's head, she confessed to some inward
qualms of conscience. The young Spaniard, Baptiste, was hero of the
party, performing all labor and drudgery in getting fuel and water,
until his strength became exhausted; he told me that he ate Jake Donner
and the baby, "eat baby raw, stewed some of Jake, and roasted his head,
not good meat, taste like sheep with the rot; but, sir, very hungry, eat
anything,"--these were his very words. There were thirty survivors, and
a number of them without feet, either frozen or burnt off, who were
placed under the care of our surgeons on shore. Although nothing has
ever happened more truly dreadful, and in many respects ludicrously so,
yet what was surprising, the emigrants themselves perceived nothing very
extraordinary in all these cannibalisms, but seemed to regard it as an
every day occurrence--surely they were deranged. The party who went to
their relief deserved all praise, for they, too, endured every hardship,
and many were badly frostbitten. The cause of all this suffering was
mainly attributable to the unmeaning delay and indolence attending their
early progress on the route, but with every advantage in favor of
emigration, the journey in itself must be attended with immense
privation and toil. The mere fact, that by the upper route there is one
vast desert to be travelled over, many hundred miles in width, affording
very little vegetation or sustenance, and to crown the difficulty,
terminated by the rugged chain of Californian mountains, is almost
sufficient in itself to deter many a good man and strong, from exposing
his life and property, for an unknown home on the shores of the Pacific.