In The Middle Of This Crescent, Directly Opposite
The Anchoring Ground, Lie The Mission And Town Of Santa Barbara, On
A
low, flat plain, but little above the level of the sea, covered with
grass, though entirely without trees, and
Surrounded on three sides
by an amphitheatre of mountains, which slant off to the distance of
fifteen or twenty miles. The mission stands a little back of the town,
and is a large building, or rather a collection of buildings, in the
centre of which is a high tower, with a belfry of five bells; and the
whole, being plastered, makes quite a show at a distance, and is the
mark by which vessels come to anchor. The town lies a little nearer
to the beach - about half a mile from it - and is composed of one-story
houses built of brown clay - some of them plastered - with red tiles on
the roofs. I should judge that there were about an hundred of them;
and in the midst of them stands the Presidio, or fort, built of the
same materials, and apparently but little stronger. The town is
certainly finely situated, with a bay in front, and an amphitheatre
of hills behind. The only thing which diminishes its beauty is,
that the hills have no large trees upon them, they having been all
burnt by a great fire which swept them off about a dozen years before,
and they had not yet grown up again. The fire was described to me by
an inhabitant, as having been a very terrible and magnificent sight.
The air of the whole valley was so heated that the people were obliged
to leave the town and take up their quarters for several days upon the beach.
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