as I have shown elsewhere, a proposition was again made for the
abandonment of San Francisco; so it is apparent that Fate herself was
protecting it for its future great and wonderful history.

In 1790 San Francisco reported 551 baptisms and 205 deaths, with a
present neophyte population of 438. Large stock had increased to 2000
head and small to 1700.

Three years later, on November 14, the celebrated English navigator,
George Vancouver, in his vessel "Discovery," sailed into San Francisco
Bay. His arrival caused quite a flutter of excitement both at the
presidio and Mission, where he was kindly entertained. The governor was
afraid of this elaborate hospitality to the hated and feared English,
and issued orders to the commandant providing for a more frigid
reception in the future, so, on Vancouver's second visit, he did not
find matters so agreeable, and grumbled accordingly.

Tiles were made and put on the church roofs in 1795; more houses were
built for the neophytes, and all roofed with tiles. Half a league of
ditch was also dug around the potrero (pasture ground) and fields.

In 1806 San Francisco was enlivened by the presence of the Russian
chamberlain, Rezanof, who had been on a special voyage around the world,
and was driven by scurvy and want of provisions to the California
settlements. He was accompanied by Dr. G.H. von Langsdorff. Langsdorff's
account of the visit and reception at several points in California is
interesting. He gives a full description of the Indians and their method
of life at the Mission; commends the zeal and self-sacrifice of the
padres; speaks of the ingenuity shown by the women in making baskets;
the system of allowing the cattle and horses to run wild, etc. Visiting
the Mission of San Jose by boat, he and his companions had quite an
adventurous time getting back, owing to the contrary winds.

Rezanof's visit and its consequences have been made the subject of much
and romantic writing. Gertrude Atherton's novel, _Rezanof_, is devoted
to this episode in his life. The burden of the story is possibly true,
viz., that the Russians in their settlements to the north were suffering
for want of the food that California was producing in abundance. Yet,
owing to the absurd Spanish laws governing California, she was forbidden
to sell to or trade with any foreign peoples or powers. Rezanof, who was
well acquainted with this prohibitory law, determined upon trying to
overcome it for the immediat