There Are Several Excellent Ports Along This Coast.
San Diego,
San Barbara, Monterey, the bay of San Francisco, and the northern
port of Bondago; all afford anchorage for ships of the largest
class.
The port of San Francisco is too well known to require
much notice in this place. The entrance from the sea is
sixty-seven fathoms deep, and within, whole navies might ride
with perfect safety. Two large rivers, which take their rise in
mountains two or three hundred miles to the east, and run through
a country unsurpassed for soil and climate, empty themselves into
the harbor. The country around affords admirable timber for
ship-building. In a word, this favored port combines advantages
which not only fit it for a grand naval depot, but almost render
it capable of being made the dominant military post of these
seas.
Such is a feeble outline of the Californian coast and country,
the value of which is more and more attracting the attention of
naval powers. The Russians have always a ship of war upon this
station, and have already encroached upon the Californian
boundaries, by taking possession of the port of Bondago, and
fortifying it with several guns. Recent surveys have likewise
been made, both by the Russians and the English; and we have
little doubt, that, at no very distant day, this neglected, and,
until recently, almost unknown region, will be found to possess
sources of wealth sufficient to sustain a powerful and prosperous
empire. Its inhabitants, themselves, are but little aware of its
real riches; they have not enterprise sufficient to acquaint
themselves with a vast interior that lies almost a terra
incognita; nor have they the skill and industry to cultivate
properly the fertile tracts along the coast; nor to prosecute
that foreign commerce which brings all the resources of a country
into profitable action.
39.
Gay life at Monterey Mexican horsemen A bold dragoon Use of the
lasso Vaqueros Noosing a bear Fight between a bull and a
bear Departure from Monterey Indian horse stealers Outrages
committed by the travellers Indignation of Captain Bonneville
THE WANDERING BAND of trappers was well received at Monterey, the
inhabitants were desirous of retaining them among them, and
offered extravagant wages to such as were acquainted with any
mechanic art. When they went into the country, too, they were
kindly treated by the priests at the missions; who are always
hospitable to strangers, whatever may be their rank or religion.
They had no lack of provisions; being permitted to kill as many
as they pleased of the vast herds of cattle that graze the
country, on condition, merely, of rendering the hides to the
owners. They attended bull-fights and horseraces; forgot all the
purposes of their expedition; squandered away, freely, the
property that did not belong to them; and, in a word, revelled in
a perfect fool's paradise.
What especially delighted them was the equestrian skill of the
Californians. The vast number and the cheapness of the horses in
this country makes every one a cavalier.
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