Being charged with dispatches for San Francisco, an early breakfast and
hasty preparations soon placed me astride a dragoon's saddle. Attended
by an artillery soldier and six horses for escort and cavallada, I drove
a sombrero hard on my head, the spur yet harder in the ribs of my
cavallo, and away we sallied en route. The sun had passed the meridian
when we reached the Salinas plains, and we stopped to change horses at
the Molino--a simple performance for one who can swing the lasso at any
time, but for those unacquainted with the mode, it is requisite to drive
the beasts into the corral, near every rancho, and catch one at leisure.
I found my friend Anderson as hospitable and convivial as ever, and,
after a mutual exchange of greetings and drinks, we galloped off across
the plains. Instead of the smiling grassy deserts, gaudy flowers, and
narrow canals of spring, I beheld parched earth, large patches of wild
mustard, and miles of wild oats. Before accomplishing many leagues, one
of the best little beasts of the cavallada eluded the vigilance of my
body-guard, and we were compelled to abandon him. However, I made a
forcible loan of a black mare brousing by the road-side--according to
the custom of the country--and which, indeed, proved an admirable ally
towards the close of our journey. Before entering the gorge that leads
over the mountains on the opposite side of the Salinas, we halted at a
rancho--and peeping in at the door of an outbuilding, I discovered two
industrious persons playing cards with much interest and
deliberation--there was no cash up, but they assured me that each bean
before them, which marked the game, was a transferable I O U for a
bullock. One of the party was brother to the last Mexican governor of
the territory--who absconded to Mazatlan, after showing a feeble and
futile resistance to Commodore Stockton. He appeared somewhat pleased by
the information I was able to communicate from his relative, Don Jose
Castro, but not sufficiently so to interrupt the constant interchange of
beans between him and his grave companion. We commenced ascending the
pass that bars the road to the valley of St. Johns, and after winding a
couple of hours slowly among the hills, gained the topmost ridge--which
commands a fine triangular view of the rich slopes and plains below--and
then soon accomplished the descent--passing the ruined village and
dilapidated mission of San Juan, we galloped briskly around. On the road
I enticed a mounted Indian into service by a taste from the brandy
bottle, to act as _vacuero_--by no means a sinecure birth with such a
lazy perverse set of brutes as we possessed--but I was grieved to find
the soldier, sent as my guide and defender, had more than he was equal
to in keeping himself and musket in the saddle. Moreover, he was neither
amiable nor companionable--a serious crime for a traveler--and I was
obliged at times, to drive and catch the horses, talk for him, and in
fact, do all but eat and sleep for him--which last accomplishments he
enjoyed in perfection, having a constitution like refined steel. I am
happy to add, out of regard for the army, that he deserted shortly
afterwards; although he forgot in his hurry to return a silver cup of
mine.
Skirting along the banks of a rapid stream, the shades of night began
to fall as we drew bridles at a small rancho of one Don Herman. Our
host, as usual with the race, was making a slight repast on a paper
cigar: he was very cordial, and good-looking, as was also his still
handsome old sposa. Like everybody I encountered before and since in the
interior, they inquired when the United States Government would pay for
horses and cattle taken during the war. _Quien sabe_--who knows--always
came to my aid, and I drawled it out much to the purpose. Indeed, though
our Californian Volunteers be good men and true among their own kith and
kindred, yet their mistaken ideas of what constituted civilized warfare
made them the most unscrupulous of freebooters; and they could be
tracked far and near in their thirst for their enemy's horses and asses.
My host had no children, but, like Spanish padres, lots of nephews and
nieces. Amid a detached group of young people, I observed a pretty
little girl, as I at first supposed a child, nursing an infant, but on
inquiry I learned that she was the mother at fourteen, and had been
married two years and a half; a fact which beats East India jungles for
the precocity of women. Again on the road, with the husband of the
little baby-mother for guide, who, by the way, was a most consummate
scamp, incessantly urging me to make a short detour of five or six
leagues, to dance all night at a fandango; and on taxing him with his
gallivanting, and inconstant disposition among the softer sex, he
replied, with an air of triumph,--_O! yo he enganado muchas!_--Bless
you, I've broken the hearts of dozens--although he did not inspire me
with being so determined a Lothario as he himself believed.
On we spurred, and urged the jaded steeds some leagues further, when we
came upon the rancho of Carlos Castro. I was half famished from a long
day's fast, but there was neither bread nor edible matter in the hut.
At last the buxom mistress asked me, _Quiere huevos?_--have an
egg;--_caramba! si amiga!_--Why did not you tell me of this before? She
was good enough to boil exactly fourteen, hard as bullets, but, what is
equally incredible, I ate them all without salt; and then being in good
humor with all the world, threw a peso in the kind Senora's lap, and
with a lively adios, turned our horses' heads again towards the north
star. The moon was riding high, round, and gleaming as the silver dollar
I had just thrown the good lady, flooding the whole lovely plain, with
its waving fields of yellow oats, and magnificent clusters of oaks, in
one continuous vista of unexampled beauty. Five leagues beyond we struck
off to the right, and after losing our path repeatedly, amid beds of
water-courses, and bolls of trees, and when I was on the point of giving
orders for a night bivouac on the sweet and yielding grain, we became
aware of our proximity to a habitation by the usual barking diapason of
half an hundred dogs and curs, and I was not sorry to swing my weary
limbs from the saddle after a hard ride of eighty miles. In a few
minutes I was stretched beside the proprietor of the rancho, Mr. Murphy,
and as kind a specimen of the true Milesian as ever took leave of the
Hill of Hoath. I knew that by the kindly tone of his voice; but I fell
sound asleep, giving the old gentleman an account of the battle of Cerro
Gordo, and never moved until long after sunrise. On awaking, I found
myself in a dwelling constructed of pickets, driven perpendicularly into
the ground, the apertures filled in with mud, and all covered by a
roughly-thatched roof. The enclosure was rather a primitive, and I
should judge temporary affair, to serve the first year or two of an
emigrant's home. The dwelling was large enough, however, to comprise
capacious beds in three of its angles, a couple of tables, dresser,
chairs, and a variety of useful articles scattered around the earth
floor, but all presenting a far neater appearance than usually
characterised the ranchos of the country. I was not left long to
conjecture the cause of this tidiness, for whilst lacing my moccasins,
preparatory to a yawn and shake, by way of toilette, I was saluted by a
very nice young woman, with the hope that I had slept well, and at the
same time presented with a large bowl of water and clean towel, by the
young lady herself, who was afterwards introduced to me by her good
father, as his daughter Ellen. She was tall and well made, a very
pleasing face, lighted by fine dark grey eyes, black hair, and
beautifully white teeth. I learned from her own rosy lips that she was
the first American girl that ever walked over the mighty barrier of the
Californian sierras, which she accomplished with one of her brothers,
leaving the wagons, and her friends, to follow on a longer route. They
were a large family, and most of the children born in Canada, thence
_locating_ in Missouri, and so on to the farthest West in California.
There were four stalwart sons, who had all more or less been engaged in
the last troubles, and had shown the natives a choice mould of bullets
from their unerring rifles. They treated me with the utmost kindness;
and after partaking of a capital breakfast of new eggs, hot bread, cream
and _lomo_--tenderloin--prepared by their pretty sister, I felt quite
equal to a short tramp among the hills, particularly upon finding the
horses well nigh knocked up, and requiring a few hours more rest.
The rancho was situated on the northern verge of the broad valley, on
the borders of a pure sparkling stream, surrounded in every direction,
far and near, with golden lakes of wild oats, thickly studded and shaded
by the oaks. In company with one of the boys, Dan, we followed up the
course of the stream for a mile or more, and I then had the satisfaction
of sending a ball through and through the shoulders of a large doe.
Dragging the carcass down to the water, and divesting it of its jacket,
we then did the same ourselves, and swam and plashed for an hour in the
little torrent. At the same time, with an extempore rod, twine, hook,
and a "devil's darning-needle" for bait, Dan pulled out from a limpid
pool delightful salmon-trout, full two feet in length; I ate part of
one, and a charming fellow he was. Leaving our deer to the varmints, we
returned to the rancho at noon, dined, and again boot and saddle; struck
the road, and six or eight leisurely leagues brought us to the
settlement of Puebla de San Jose. Here I was most civilly received, and
entertained by an American gentleman, Mr. Ruckle, to whom I bore a
letter. Supper, good old sherry, a cigar, and four hour's sleep; up
betimes, and sent the jaded animals on to the Mission of Santa Clara for
a bite of grass. I remained to break my fast at the house of an
agreeable white-toothed lady named Pico, and then, accompanied by Mr.
Ruckle, we hurried along the road which traverses the plain, shaded by
noble avenues of oaks and willows. The Mission stands but a league from
the Puebla, presents a tolerably flourishing appearance, with a
well-preserved church, clusters of out-buildings, and well-cultivated
gardens. It is by far the most important and respectable settlement of
its kind in this portion of the territory; and since the dispersion of
the priests, and confiscation of church-lands, has still fortunately
retained a mite of its former wealth and influence. The good Padres, a
score or more years ago, were pleased to live well; and their
well-filled granaries, cultivated grounds, and myriads of horses and
cattle--in all praise be it said--were the first to induce the native
Indians, who, in brutish ignorance and social degradation are even now
but a remove from beasts of the field, to devote their time to some
useful employment. By these means the shrewd Fathers never lacked
comfortable houses to shelter them, nor raiment to clothe their sleek
skins.[2]
Tarrying but a few minutes at Santa Clara, and selecting the best horses
of the cavallada, I parted with Mr. Ruckle and continued my journey; the
first fifteen miles was wearisome labor with our worn-out beasts, and we
stopped for breath at a ranchito of a pretty little widow, who did the
amiable most refreshingly by handing me a dish of raspberries and cream.
Seeing a filthy Indian poke them out of a bottle with a stick,
occasionally giving it a suck, did not enhance the flavor of the fruit.
A short league beyond, we came to another mud-built rancho, and our
horses having apparently determined to proceed no farther, accordingly
tumbled down; there were half a dozen women and children about the hut
busily employed in cutting beef in long strips for drying; but they
continued their occupation without deigning to cast even a glance of
sympathy upon our pitiable plight. Indignation getting the better of my
misfortunes, I kicked off the spurs and marched bravely up to the
mansion; then, after dodging about under long fringes of raw beef, I was
suddenly confronted by a stout dame, with a mass of meat clutched in one
hand, and a dripping knife long as her arm in the other; this savage
apparition rather abashed me, and I timidly inquired how she did? She
merely gave a sharp upward jerk to her chin, with an ireful visage--as
much as to say, "I'm in excellent preservation, don't bother
yourself"--pointing to my foundered studs, I politely urged the
necessity of procuring fresh horses! "_No, Senor! no hay!_ the horses
are all mares, the mares are wild--there is no one to catch them"--in
other words--I'll see you in purgatory first. So I called up a little
resolution, though far from feeling it, and letting the butt of my rifle
fall heavily to the ground, I said, "Hark ye, my friend, if you don't
speedily furnish me with beasts I'll make a seizure of that fine animal
I see saddled in the corral; besides, I'm willing to pay liberally." At
the word "money" the patrona's features relaxed, _tu no eres
voluntario_--she remarked!--_por dios! no! mi alma yo soy de la marina,
y Catolico ademas!_--I'm a sailor and a good Catholic to boot. At this
last admission and the sight of a handful of bright pesos, the whole
party surrounded me--_ah! tan malicimos son esos malditos voluntarios!
Ave Maria! El oficial no es herege--es Christiano--y pagara los
caballos_--ah, what light-fingered gentry were the Volunteers; but the
gentleman is a Christian, not a heretic, and going to pay like a
trump--they exclaimed. There was still some doubts as to whether I
intended to pay in _effectos_ or hard tin, and if I could make it
convenient to liquidate a few outstanding claims which some of my
countrymen had forgotten to adjust; but when satisfied on that point a
small boy ran off to drive in the cavallada. Meanwhile the Senora poured
me out a cup of aguadiente, touched her lips to it, and handed it to me
to quaff. The drove of horses was soon brought up, and as a particular
favor, the patrona selected her own nag to bear me--a small mare and
natural pacer that rattled along at a great rate without whip or
spur--embracing the party, we again mounted and started off in fine
style. The country has the same lovely aspect as in the vicinity of San
Jose; great level plains teeming in wild grain, and wide-spreading
foliage of oaks, chesnuts, maple and willows, enclosed between
high-swelling hills. In fact the country for more than forty leagues of
this broad valley is so perfectly level that a coach could be driven in
any direction without serious obstruction; however, there is one
annoyance to which horses are subjected, in the multitudes of holes
burroughed by a species of ground squirrels, very frequently bringing
horse and rider to their faces. A few leagues rapid travelling brought
us in sight of the southern arm of the waters of San Francisco, and
skirting along its shores, by sunset we had left the low country,
traversed the rugged hills of the sea-girt peninsular, floundered knee
deep in the sandy road, and by nightfall I found myself comfortably
housed with a generous batchelor friend, Mr. Frank Ward, in Yerbabuena.
FOOTNOTE:
[2] This Mission, according to Vancouver, was established in 1778, by
Franciscans, which, with one founded three years previously at San
Francisco, were the northernmost settlements of any description formed
by the court of Spain, on the continental shores of north-west America,
exclusive of Nootka. Although the Jesuits had planted the cross on the
lower territory, on the peninsula at Loretto (1697), they had not
explored the west coast. Of all the numerous voyagers of note who have
visited and written upon California--Perouse, Vancouver, Kotzbue,
Belcher, Wilkes, and others--there is not one whose delineations are
characterized with so much truth and simplicity as Vancouver,--not only
in this territory, but in the groups of Polynesia. He must have been
truly a good man. His intercourse with the untutored savages of the
Pacific was ever tempered with justice and humanity. He did more than
any succeeding navigator in stocking the islands with cattle, and his
scientific duties were executed with exceeding accuracy for the means at
his command. The English may well be proud of the renown he has shed
upon the land of his birth; and his name will be for ever cherished in
the Pacific, when the unscrupulous deeds of his great Commander shall
have been forgotten.