A Well Man At Sea Has Little Sympathy With One Who Is
Seasick; He Is Too Apt To Be Conscious Of A Comparison Favorable
To His Own Manhood.
After a few days we made the land at Point Pinos,
(pines,) which is the headland at the entrance
Of the bay of Monterey.
As we drew in, and ran down the shore, we could distinguish well the
face of the country, and found it better wooded than that to the
southward of Point Conception. In fact, as I afterwards discovered,
Point Conception may be made the dividing line between two different
faces of the country. As you go to the northward of the point,
the country becomes more wooded, has a richer appearance, and is
better supplied with water. This is the case with Monterey,
and still more so with San Francisco; while to the southward of
the point, as at Santa Barbara, San Pedro, and particularly San Diego,
there is very little wood, and the country has a naked, level
appearance, though it is still very fertile.
The bay of Monterey is very wide at the entrance, being about
twenty-four miles between the two points, Año Nuevo at the north,
and Pinos at the south, but narrows gradually as you approach the
town, which is situated in a bend, or large cove, at the south-eastern
extremity, and about eighteen miles from the points, which makes the
whole depth of the bay. The shores are extremely well wooded,
(the pine abounding upon them,) and as it was now the rainy season,
everything was as green as nature could make it, - the grass,
the leaves, and all; the birds were singing in the woods, and great
numbers of wild-fowl were flying over our heads. Here we could
lie safe from the south-easters. We came to anchor within two
cable lengths of the shore, and the town lay directly before us,
making a very pretty appearance; its houses being plastered, which
gives a much better effect than those of Santa Barbara, which are
of a mud-color. The red tiles, too, on the roofs, contrasted well
with the white plastered sides and with the extreme greenness of
the lawn upon which the houses - about an hundred in number - were
dotted about, here and there, irregularly. There are in this place,
and in every other town which I saw in California, no streets, or
fences, (except here and there a small patch was fenced in for a
garden,) so that the houses are placed at random upon the green,
which, as they are of one story and of the cottage form, gives them
a pretty effect when seen from a little distance.
It was a fine Saturday afternoon when we came to anchor, the sun
about an hour high, and everything looking pleasantly. The Mexican
flag was flying from the little square Presidio, and the drums and
trumpets of the soldiers, who were out on parade, sounded over the
water, and gave great life to the scene.
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