bject, than a
republican officer of state.

The Presidio was in the same state in which I found it eight years
before; and, except the republican flag, no trace of the important
changes which had taken place was perceptible. Every thing was going on
in the old, easy, careless way.

Sanchez at once promised to provide the ship daily with fresh meat, but
advised me to send a boat to the mission of Santa Clara for a supply of
vegetables, which were there to be had in superfluity. The Presidio had,
with a negligence which would be inconceivable in any other country,
omitted to cultivate even sufficient for their own consumption.

As I had not visited the mission of Santa Clara during my first visit to
California, I now determined to proceed thither on the following day, in
the long-boat. Sanchez provided a good pilot, and sent a courier
overland to announce my arrival at the mission.

The bay of St. Francisco is full ninety miles in circuit: it is divided
by islands into two pretty equally sized basins, a northern and a
southern. On the banks of the southern, which takes an easterly
direction, lie the three missions, St. Francisco, Santa Clara, and St.
Jose. Of the northern half of the bay I will speak hereafter.

On the morning of the 28th of September, the Barcasse was ready, and
equipped with every thing necessary for our little voyage. Favoured both
by wind and tide, we sailed eastward past many charming islands and
promontories, to the mission of Santa Clara, which lay at a distance of
five-and-twenty miles, in a straight line from the ship. The country
presented on all sides a picture of beauty and fertility: the shores are
of a moderate elevation, and covered with a brilliant verdure; the
hills, towards the interior, swell gently into an amphitheatre, and the
background is formed by high thick woods. Groves of oaks are scattered
upon the slopes, separated by lovely meadows, and forming more graceful
and picturesque groups than I have ever seen as the produce of art. With
very little trouble, the most luxuriant harvests might be reaped from
this soil; but a happy and industrious population has not yet been
established here, to profit from the prodigality of Nature. The
death-like stillness of these beautiful fields is broken only by the
wild animals which inhabit them; and as far as the eye can reach, it
perceives no trace of human existence; not even a canoe is to be seen
upon the surrounding waters, which are n