Remaining but a few days in Yerbabuena, and when on the point of taking
leave, I met with a brace of navy men, who were about to sail up the Bay
for a hunt among the hills; so giving orders to the brave courier to
join me at Puebla, I embarked with my friends one day at noon in a small
launch, and a stiff sea-breeze soon wafted us forty miles; then entering
a narrow creek, formed by high sedgy reeds that sprang from the shallow
water, we performed a tortuous serpentine track, in a labyrinth that
fairly required Ariadne's clue to thread its mazy windings; actually
sailing sixteen miles to gain three, as the bird flies; at last we
arrived at the _embarcadera_ of San Jose; and after a fatiguing walk, at
dark we came upon a tenement. The house was filled with women and dogs,
who chattered and cheated, dinned and dunned us to such a pitch that we
were obliged to seek shelter elsewhere; and accordingly we _packed_ our
saddles, blankets and rifles, and at about nine o'clock reached the
estate of one Don Ignacio de Sylva. Our host received us with open arms,
prepared a supper of beef and _tortillas_, and in return, we
complimented him with strong rummers of punch; his fat spouse joined in
the festivities, and when the evening was somewhat advanced, a
shake-down was arranged for us on the floor of the _sala_, which,
fortunately for fleas and ourselves, chanced to be laid with a floor of
boards. My slumbers were greatly disturbed by being placed in full view
of a pretty young brunette, whose light from an adjoining apartment
threw her form in most distinct rays of animated beauty, amusing herself
the while playing with a baby, whilst her filthy villain of a husband
regaled himself for an hour or more with a _cigarrito_. My dreams were
none of the pleasantest, and I was glad when day dawned to light me out
of the dwelling, and breathe the pure morning air. _Como les gusta a los
Americanos el fresco_, said our lazy host, as he sat wrapped in a
blanket on a hide, observing me take a bath in a little rivulet near by;
_se hace dano_--be the death of him--as he blew the cigar smoke from his
lungs with a deep sigh! Notwithstanding his indolence we found him a
most consummate extortioner, and after throwing every impediment in our
way, he hired us miserable horses at an extravagant rate; and then
mounting, we took the road over a dry, salt, marshy country. Passing the
mission of St. Josephs, we never halted until reaching Puebla, where we
were most kindly welcomed by Mr. Ruckle. The town is planted in the
midst of the great plain, with small streams of water, which is much
needed elsewhere, coursing on either side. The place contained some five
hundred inhabitants, the dwellings all of the adobie mud-built order of
architecture, with but one road between them: for ten leagues around the
land is most fertile, and the country in many respects appears to
possess great advantages, and has the reputation of being the garden of
Upper California. We saw quantities of fruits, peas, peaches, and
grapes, very unripe, but the natives like them the better green.
Under no contingency does the natural face of Upper California appear
susceptible of supporting a very large population; the country is hilly
and mountainous; great dryness prevails during the summers, and
occasionally excessive droughts parch up the soil for periods of twelve
or eighteen months. Only in the plains and valleys where streams are to
be found, and even those will have to be watered by artificial
irrigation, does there seem the hope of being sufficient tillable land
to repay the husbandman and afford subsistence to the inhabitants. Sheep
and cattle may be raised to any extent; as the gentle slopes, clothed in
rich wild grasses, afford excellent districts for grazing.
We breakfasted at the residence of a plain, sensible and industrious
family of emigrants from Virginia, named Campbell; then strolling to the
banks of a little rivulet, we took siesta beneath the shade of drooping
willows, surrounded by groups of brunettas washing in the pools near by.
In the afternoon my fellow travellers left me for their hunt among the
mountains; and upon learning that Commodore Stockton was in the village,
I immediately made my homage. He was by long odds the most popular
person in California, and by his enthusiasm, energy, and determination,
accomplished more, even with the limited means at his command, in the
acquisition of this valuable territory, than any other man before or
since, who has planted his foot on the soil.
The following day was Sunday, the Fourth of July, and moreover the fast
day of the Patron Saint of California--_Nuestra Senora del Refugio_.
Meeting Miss Ellen Murphy and brother on the road bound to high mass at
the mission, I agreed to accompany them and return to their rancho in
the evening. There was a large assemblage in Santa Clara, and we
attended church. The building was oblong, painted roughly in fresco, and
decorated with a number of coarse paintings, and lots of swallow-tailed,
green and yellow satin pennants dangling from the ceiling. During
service an indefatigable cannonier, outside, gave frequent _feux de
joie_, from a graduated scale of diminutive culverins--made of brass in
shape of pewter porter pots, half filled with powder, and the charge
rammed down with pounded bricks--this with music of kettle-drums,
cymbals and fiddles made a very respectable din; there were two
gentlemanly priests of the order of Saint Francisco, whose acquaintance
I afterwards made, who preached each a brief sermon with eloquence and
force. Among the congregation were all the belles and dandies of the
valley; the former kneeled demurely on little rugs or bits of carpet in
the nave of the church; but the latter were lounging near the
doors--their gala costume is quite in keeping with Andalusia--and one
handsome fellow at my side took my eye, as I have no doubt he did that
of many a brighter. He was dressed in a close-fitting blue cloth jacket;
sky-blue velvet trowsers, slashed from the thigh down, and jingling with
small filagree silver buttons; snow-white laced _calconcillos_,
terminated by nicely stamped and embroidered _botas_; around the waist
was passed a heavy crimson silk sash; a gay woollen serapa hung
gracefully over the shoulder; in one hand a sugar-loafed, glazed
sombrero, bound with thick silver cords; and in the other, silver spurs
of an enormous size, each spike of the rowels two inches long: all these
bright colors--set off by dark, brilliant eyes, jetty black locks, and
pliant figure--would have made him irresistible anywhere. Turning
towards me, he asked, smilingly, _Porque no se arrodilla, vd en
Misa?_--Why don't you kneel at the Mass?--_Tengo pierna de palo_, quoth
I, quite gravely: glancing at my pins with much interest, to discover if
they were of timber, he seemed to relish the joke, and we then sidled
out of the church, and became firm friends on the spot.
After service, I was introduced to many American emigrants, mostly
Mormons, who, in a free and easy style, had taken possession of the
outbuildings and tenements belonging to the Mission; and who, in their
contempt for the kind and good Padres, and rightful proprietors of the
domain, were not only averse to request permission to remain for a
season, but were hugely indignant at the military Governor of
California, Colonel Mason, for having issued a decree, requiring these
lazy gentlemen to leave the lands of the Church. Notwithstanding their
mutterings, a few weeks later they were summarily forced out by the
bayonet.
Whilst we were at mass, a serious mishap occurred to young Murphy. A
juvenile damsel, whose cognomen was "sugar-plumb," and being the only
eligible maiden for matrimony, I was assured by a hospitable dame, one
Mrs. Bennett, "that she was the forwardest gall in the Mission," through
some silly, childish freak, frightened my friend's horse, so that the
restive animal broke the halter, and made long strides over the plain. A
couple of drunken Indians started in pursuit, but having a quarrel on
the way, one plunged his cuchillo up to the haft in his companion's
thigh, which brought him, deluged in blood, from the saddle. We found
this poor devil and conveyed him to town; but of the runaway horse and
saddle, which was worth half-a-dozen Indian lives, or horses, we could
learn nor see nothing. We made but a short stay in Puebla, and an hour
before the sun sank for the day, we put foot in stirrup, and a long
swinging gallop of seven leagues soon carried us to good Mr. Murphy, and
a good supper.
The following morning I arose with the lark, took a long pull at the
milk-pail, volunteered a little surgical advice to an Indian _vacuero_
who being thrown from his horse, was suffering under a badly-contused
thigh; he had bound the limb tightly with strands of hide, and was doing
a new principle of local bleeding by puncturing the flesh with sharp
stones--a mode of treatment very much in vogue with the natives. Under
guidance of Dan, we mounted capital horses, and sallied out for a
bear-hunt. Entering a gentle rise of the hill sides to the southward, we
wound around the grain-covered slopes for two hours, seeing but a few
stray deer, and a herd of wild horses; and although the traces of Bruin
were everywhere visible, we were on the point of turning our steps
homeward, when my companion grasped me by the shoulder, pulled me back
to the horse's flanks, and whispered, "Thar's one! lie low, Captin! lie
low!" It was a large he bear, walking about a little bowl of a valley
below us, in the laziest, hoggish manner possible, going from side to
side, rooting and tearing up the earth by wagon loads, in his search for
ground-rats--his course being directly towards us. We dismounted,
hitched horses to the lower branches of an oak, a few yards in our rear,
divested ourselves of all but knives and rifles, taking the precaution
to keep a bullet in our mouths, that they might slip easily down the
guns in case of emergency, then crossing to the edge of the hill, we
awaited the grizzly. He came nearly within point-blank range, when
changing his track, he passed over to the other side of the slope. We
tightened girths, mounted again, and rode around to head him off; when
going through the same operations as before, we ensconced ourselves
behind a giant tree, and remained perfectly silent; presently the
monster entered a knoll of bushes, within forty yards of us. "Captin,"
said Dan, with his mouth close to my ear, "when I whistle, plug him in
the head." I brought my rifle down, but at the moment of springing the
trigger, I must confess feeling some inward quakings, from all I had
heard of their ferocity when wounded, and accordingly I intimated a
request to Dan that he would open the ball. Giving a low whistle, to
attract Bruin's attention, the long barrel rested motionless for a
second against the tree, and as the beast raised his head to listen, Dan
let the hammer fall. _Maldito!_ the cap only exploded; but it startled
Bruin, who leaped from the shrubbery, and took to his heels. My turn
came, and I sent him a bullet out of twenty to the pound; wheeling on
his haunches, he showed a range of glittering jaws, and not seeing us,
made off again. We once more got in the saddle, and rushed in pursuit.
Dan had another glimpse--snapped again--I took a long range, and blazed
away. Nothing done. On we galloped up the hills, and skirting around the
summits, we began slowly to descend along the brow of a ravine, in which
we anticipated finding the chase. We had nearly reached the base without
perceiving him, when Dan, who was behind, shouted, "Mind your eye,
Captin!" I heard a sharp, rattling growl, and within thirty feet below
me was Bruin, licking a stream of blood flowing from his rump. He raised
up, snarling with rage, with huge paws and claws distended; and when
about making for me I fired right between the shoulders, and heard the
lead strike _chug_. The moment after my horse plunged, took the bit in
his teeth, and dashed across the valley. After getting him again under
control, we tracked the bear over the crest of the hill to a small dense
thicket, where we heard him groaning, and angrily snapping his jaws. Dan
swore it would be "rank pison" to venture after him, and we both thought
him hit too hard to crawl out alive. I was extremely disappointed in not
beholding the last of him, but Dan consoled me by promising to pay him a
visit with the dogs the following day; which he did, but the beast was
half devoured by coyotes and gallinazos, so that it was impossible to
save the skin. It was of a verity the most formidable beast I ever saw
outside the bars of a cage: covered with long grizzly hair, dark upon
the spine, and inclining to a yellowish tinge along the shoulders. He
must have weighed fourteen hundred pounds.
At noon, my escort and cavallada having come up, and all ready for the
road, fully appreciating the honest kindness of the Murphys, I threw
myself in the saddle, and departed for Monterey. We had but four
horses--miserable beasts they were--one gave up the ghost before the
spur had made a hole in his hide, and another was brutally murdered by
my illustrious soldier, who being unable, in his stupidity, to noose
him, brought the poor animal lifeless to the ground with two ounces of
buck-shot from the musket. Apart from these annoyances, we had the
utmost difficulty in urging those we rode into the settlement of San
Juan. On the road I was favored by a specimen of native rusticity. A
youthful vacuero accosted me, and walked his cavallo at my side;
familiarly placing his hand on the barrel of my rifle, he frankly opened
a discourse by asking if I had any tobacco; not fancying his
impertinence, and thinking I detected a mischievous expression in his
visage, I quickly replied, with my rifle at half-cock, _No tengo. Que
tienes pues?_ he added, with a sneer. _Dinero_, I responded, chinking
the coin in my pocket, upon which he made a jocose grasp at that
receptacle of my treasure, whereupon the solid tube of the rifle came in
forcible contact with his nose, with such a violent collision that the
claret spirted over the mane of his steed. He reined quickly back--the
water standing in his eyes--made a demonstration of taking a whirl at me
with his lasso, but observing the dark hole of my rifle staring him in
the face, he contented himself by yelling _punetero!_ and galloped away.
I found St. Johns a detestable spot--half a score dwellings--the
church, and long ranges of buildings of the Mission, more than half in
ruins, and rapidly crumbling to the ground. Thirty years before, this
abode of the Frayles possessed twenty thousand head of horses, three
times that number of horned cattle, and a thousand Indian serfs to till
their broad acres. Meeting the intelligent priests who had officiated in
Santa Clara, they directed me to a house where a lodging was procurable.
Crossing the deserted plaza, I entered a large ill-constructed adobie
dwelling, where I was received by a filthy young Gascon, who appeared to
be mayor domo, in the midst of a houseful of girls and women. I lost no
time in doing the amiable to my agreeable hostesses, who in turn
prepared a supper of dirty junks of beef, and still worse _tortillas_.
_Bifstek a la god dem_--fingers before forks--_comme l'usage en
Californie_, said the Frenchman, as he vigorously commenced operations.
But the supper was so unpalatable and unclean a meal, that hungry as I
was, I fain amused myself the while, puffing cigarillos, catching fleas,
and drinking execrably sour country wine. The feast was barely ended,
when a loud screeching, and violent commotion among the women attracted
attention; and presently there came running towards me an old beldame
with, _Dios de mi alma, es rd medico?_--the Lord preserve us, are you a
doctor. _Si! si! amiga! Medico y cirujano bueno_--Yes, Jack of all
trades--I replied, deeming it a fair chance of exhibiting a little
irresponsible empirical practice. Upon inquiring the necessity for my
professional abilities being called into play, I learned that the entire
household had been exerting themselves the day and night previous
dancing at a fandango, and that one of the _jovencitas_ was attacked
with fits, consequent upon her exertions. The poor girl was lying on
the the tiled floor, her head propped up by pillows, with loose
dishevelled dress, and rich masses of dark hair strewn over her bosom
and shoulders, like serpents in Eden. She was moaning piteously between
the convulsions, and one old Hecate was striving to pry her mouth open
with an iron spoon, whilst another was slapping her hands and yelling
all the while, _Crescencia! Crescencia!_ Kneeling beside the pretty
suffering patient, and finding her pulse throbbing like a steam-engine,
in my ignorance I advised bleeding; but this was out of the question, as
nothing sharper than a hatchet, jack-knife, or old steel-pen, was to be
had in the place; consequently, all left to be done was the application
of hot vinegar and blankets. While superintending this process, and
bathing her forehead, she went off again into spasms, clasped her arms
around me, and for the space of five minutes I was favored with a
succession of the warmest embraces; and, although it may not be
generally credited, yet I'll venture to assert, that one may be seldom
placed in a more trying situation, even if a charming girl has fits.
_Crescencia_ became calmer after this trifling ebullition, and was put
to bed. I was anxious to sit up with the party during the night, but the
_rieja_ declined my services, and I retired to another dormitory, where
I slept tolerably well on a table, wrapped in a blanket, with holsters
for pillow. Arising at daybreak, I was concerned to find my horses had
disappeared from the corral, which I had reason to attribute to the kind
offices of the Gascon. However, I paid him a dollar to have them caught,
and upon bidding adios I gave him a _souvenir_ from the thick lash of my
riding-whip, which was no doubt serviceable to other travellers who have
succeeded me.
We reached the Salinas Plains at noon; half way across my horse dropped
with me into a ditch, so I scrambled out, packed saddle and duds on my
own back, gained the molino, procured a Spanish brute from the
proprietor thereof, and the same night arrived in Monterey. I regret to
add, this was my last interview with Anderson--he was assassinated a few
months later, by a person named Callagan.