a to San Francisco was the old steamer
"California." She was about one thousand tons burden; but probably no
ship of two thousand ever carried a greater number of passengers on a
long voyage. When we came to get under way, there did not seem to be
any spare space from stem to stern. There were over twelve hundred
persons on board, as I was informed.[2] Unfortunately many of them
carried with them the seeds of disease. The infection contracted under
a tropical sun, being aggravated by hardships, insufficient food,
and the crowded condition of the steamer, developed as the voyage
proceeded. Panama fever in its worst form broke out; and it was not
long before the main deck was literally covered with the sick. There
was a physician attached to the ship; but unfortunately he was also
prostrated. The condition of things was very sad and painful.

Among the passengers taken sick were two by the name of Gregory Yale
and Stephen Smith; and I turned myself into a nurse and took care of
them. Mr. Yale, a gentleman of high attainments, and who afterwards
occupied a prominent place at the bar of the State, was for a portion
of the time dangerously ill, and I believe that but for my attentions
he would have died. He himself was of this opinion, and afterwards
expressed his appreciation of my attention in every way he could. In
the many years I knew him he never failed to do me a kindness whenever
an opportunity presented. Finally, on the evening of December 28,
1849, after a passage of twenty-two days from Panama, we reached San
Francisco, and landed between eight and nine o'clock that night.

[1] The first article was entitled "The Oregon Question," and the
second "The Edinburgh and Foreign Quarterly on the Oregon
Question."

[2] NOTE.--The number of passengers reported to the journals of
San Francisco on the arrival of the steamer was much less
than this, probably to avoid drawing attention to the
violation of the statute which restricted the number.

FIRST EXPERIENCES IN SAN FRANCISCO.

Upon landing from the steamer, my baggage consisted of two trunks, and
I had only the sum of ten dollars in my pocket. I might, perhaps, have
carried one trunk, but I could not manage two; so I was compelled to
pay out seven of my ten dollars to have them taken to a room in an
old adobe building on the west side of what is now known as Portsmouth
Square. This room was about ten feet long by eight feet wide, and ha