After We Had Got Through, The Mate Told Us That
This Was A Small Touch Of California, The Like Of Which We Must
Expect To Have Through The Winter.
After we had furled the sails and got dinner, we saw the Loriotte
nearing, and she had her anchor before night.
At sun-down we went
ashore again, and found the Loriotte's boat waiting on the beach.
The Sandwich Islander who could speak English, told us that he had
been up to the town; that our agent, Mr. R - - -, and some other
passengers, were going to Monterey with us, and that we were to
sail the same night. In a few minutes Captain T - - -, with two
gentlemen and one female, came down, and we got ready to go off.
They had a good deal of baggage, which we put into the bows of
the boat, and then two of us took the señora in our arms, and waded
with her through the water, and put her down safely in the stern.
She appeared much amused with the transaction, and her husband was
perfectly satisfied, thinking any arrangement good which saved his
wetting his feet. I pulled the after oar, so that I heard the
conversation, and learned that one of the men, who, as well as I
could see in the darkness, was a young-looking man, in the European
dress, and covered up in a large cloak, was the agent of the firm
to which our vessel belonged; and the other, who was dressed in the
Spanish dress of the country, was a brother of our captain, who had
been many years a trader on the coast, and had married the lady who
was in the boat. She was a delicate, dark-complexioned young woman,
and of one of the best families in California. I also found that
we were to sail the same night. As soon as we got on board,
the boats were hoisted up, the sails loosed, the windlass manned,
the slip-ropes and gear cast off; and after about twenty minutes
of heaving at the windlass, making sail, and bracing yards, we were
well under weigh, and going with a fair wind up the coast to Monterey.
The Loriotte got under weigh at the same time, and was also bound up
to Monterey, but as she took a different course from us, keeping the
land aboard, while we kept well out to sea, we soon lost sight of her.
We had a fair wind, which is something unusual when going up, as the
prevailing wind is the north, which blows directly down the coast;
whence the northern are called the windward, and the southern the
leeward ports.
CHAPTER XI
PASSAGE UP THE COAST - MONTEREY
We got clear of the islands before sunrise the next morning, and by
twelve o'clock were out of the canal, and off Point Conception, the
place where we first made the land upon our arrival. This is the
largest point on the coast, and is uninhabited headland, stretching
out into the Pacific, and has the reputation of being very windy.
Any vessel does well which gets by it without a gale, especially
in the winter season.
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