Tarrying a fortnight at Yerbabuena, we then crossed the bay and dropped
anchor beneath the lofty hills of Sousoulito, where we busied ourselves
filling up with fresh water. This anchorage is a great resort for whale
ships, coming from the north-west fishing grounds, for water and
supplies; the procurante of which was an Englishman, for many years a
resident in the country, and possessing myriads of cattle, and a
principality in land and mountains; among other valuables, he was the
sire of the belle of California, in the person of a young girl named
Marianna. Her mother was Spanish, with the remains of great personal
charms; as to the child, I never saw a more patrician style of beauty
and native elegance in any clime where Castillian donas bloom. She was
brunette, with an oval face, magnificent dark grey eyes, with the
corners of her mouth slightly curved downward, so as to give a proud and
haughty expression to the face--in person she was tall, graceful and
well shaped, and although her feet were encased in deer skin shoes, and
hands bare, they still might have vied with any belles of our own. I
believe the lovely Marianna was as amiable as beautiful, and I know her
bright eye glancing along the delicate sights of her rifle, sent the
leaden missive with the deadly aim of a marksman, and that she rode like
an angel, and could strike a bullock dead with one quick blow of a keen
blade, but notwithstanding these domestic accomplishments and
anglo-Saxon lineage, she held the demonios Yankees in mortal abhorrence;
but who could blame her, they had murdered a brace of her handsomest
lovers, and this in California, where lovers were scarce, was a crime
not to be forgiven.
One morning I shouldered a rifle--indebted to Don Ricardo for horses,
and his beautiful daughter for a cup of water, and being attended by a
little truant ship-boy as guide, who had been left to cure hides during
the absence of his vessel, we dashed inland. Crossing a belt of
mountains, we struck the sea shore, and turning to the northward,
ascended a succession of steep hills, until we had gained a rocky
table-land above--there was no timber to be seen, and except the stunted
undergrowth netted together in valleys and ravines, all was one rolling
scene of grass, wild oats and flowers. Near by was a small sheet of
fresh water, caught by the rain and held in by a narrow plateau,
swarming with water fowl, and framed by broken masses of huge rocks. It
was a great resort for deer, and I found them herding in large bands of
thirty and forty together, but from the nature of the country, so open
and free from foliage, it required the utmost caution to approach within
striking distance. However, I managed to pop the death billets into the
hearts of two noble bucks, and while creeping down a gully for a shot at
a third, I was startled by the shouts and gestures of the boy, "Here's a
grizzly a-coming! here's a grizzly." Gott in heimmell, I mentally
ejaculated--there is going to be a race. Away I clambered and ran to the
nearest height--there was a huge black monster, the size of a bullock,
coming from the direction of the lake, and tearing up the opposite ridge
towards where the horses were picketed. The frightened beasts scenting
their enemy, were plunging and snorting terrifically, until at last
they broke their _riatas_, and plunged like mad down the steep--the boy
was making his heels fly as if provided with a steam engine in his
trowsers; then looking upon the mission as fully accomplished, I
tightened my belt, and leaped in the tracks of my companion. I have no
accurate means of determining the rapidity of my flight, but should any
one feel disposed to test the full capacity of his lungs and legs, he
can do so to the utmost, with a grizzly behind him. I little thought,
the last time I saw one at the _Jardin des Plantes_, and took such
interest in watching children feeding him with sweet buns, enclosing
nice bits of tobacco, or a pinch of snuff, that I should encounter one
of his brethren among the wilds of California, with the joke entirely
the other way. We never halted until a good mile lay between Bruin's
paws and our own, then we could see him lazily walking along the crest
of a hill, with a saddle of venison in his dainty jaws. One of the
horses in his anxiety to be foremost in the race, leaped over the boy,
inflicting an unpleasant hoof tap on the ribs--fortunately the injury
was not serious, and we contrived to catch one and lasso the other; but
may the devil catch that bear, I was obliged to leave my strapping bucks
to his tender mercies, and return to the ship, scared and chagrined
beyond measure--laughed at, of course; still I deemed it far preferable
than to be hugged to death, with the only consolation left in knowing
that what part of one is not devoured will be carefully buried,
according to custom, for another meal.
There is scarcely a resident in the mountains of Upper California who
has not, at one time or another, been attacked by these formidable
beasts. I saw the scars, left by the claws of one, on the broad back of
a fine old Irishman; and he informed me, that after being torn from the
saddle, he feigned death, until his friends, who were in sight, came
up, and drove some balls into the beast, who never for a moment before
removed his powerful jaws from within two inches of his victim's face.
They are extremely hard to kill, and unless the bullets take effect in
the head or heart, are only rendered the more infuriated.
Previous to the adventure at Sousoulito, I had been in the habit of
expending all my powder and prowess on Angel Island. It is a very
picturesque little spot, about three miles in circumference, rising to
the height of near eight hundred feet, and radiating in numberless
ridges and ravines down to the water's edge. There are many fertile
slopes luxuriating in fine trees and vegetation, and on all sides pure
rills of water leaping into the bay. Lying in a wide sweep of the San
Francisco, within a mile of the main land, the deer resort there in
great numbers, to feed on the palatable herbs growing on the northern
sides, and also for the close shelter afforded, beneath multitudes of
the densest network of tangled thickets that ever man or quadruped has
explored. Angel Island will for ever be a bright oasis in my hunting
career, as it was the ground of my maiden prowess. Nor shall I soon
forget the day, when, tired as possible after a long unsuccessful tramp,
I happened to glance down a gentle ravine and beheld a sturdy buck
nibbling daintily at the young shoots. Blazes! how the blood and
excitement came dancing back through veins and wearied frame, even to
the extremity of my trigger-joint! Up came the heavy tube! Click!
crack!--and at the instant, the wounded deer sprang convulsively in the
air and fell back dead;--down the gully--heels up;--the edge of a
sheath-knife made a very respectable slip athwart his throat; and the
same evening he was quietly reposing, among less gamey meats, under the
eye of the sentinel, on the frigate's gun-deck. I have killed many a
one since, but I shall never again feel the same thrill of triumph as
that I experienced in this my first effort.
I also had the good fortune to slay an elk on the same island, and I
believe the only one ever found there. On seeing him rush past, I at
first mistook him for a horse, but on perceiving the short cocked-up
tail, small elegant head and branching antlers, I quickly changed my
opinion; and as he paused a second on the brow of a projection below, to
honor me with an inspection, I returned the compliment by laying my
cheek to the rifle. Crack! Away he trotted--none but the does
bound--apparently unhurt, and I followed in the wake; the next bullet
made him squirm, and at the third I noticed a crimson stream pouring
from his mouth; then feeling satisfied there was some essential injury
done to his digestion, and coming again within range, about a mile from
the last shot, I pitched another ball right through the spine: three or
four frightful leaps, and down he went, plunging, groaning, and
bleeding, to the foot of the slope. As I came up, he sprang to his feet,
and with painful meanings attempted to give me a taste of his horns, so
I let him have the _coup de grace_ crashing through the brains. Upon
examination, every shot was within four inches diameter, near the centre
of the back, as I was each time compelled to fire, as he stood or ran,
from below. It required the full strength of six stout men, with ropes,
to drag the carcass to the beach--weighing, when dressed, over six
hundred pounds, and we found him most delicious eating. This was my
crowning achievement, the pleasure enhanced by entertaining no fears
that the bears could rob me of the prize before getting to the boat;
nevertheless, there were many speculations volunteered by malicious
gentry on board, who, from the hair being somewhat rubbed off, in the
transit to the beach, insisted that I had massacred a pack-mule, which
was in itself mendacious slander.