hard, and over a comparatively level country. We passed the mission of
San Miguel about three o'clock, and encamped in a grove of large oak
timber, three or four miles south of it. This mission is situated on
the upper waters of the Salinas, in an extensive plain. Under the
administration of the _padres_ it was a wealthy establishment, and
manufactures of various kinds were carried on. They raised immense
numbers of sheep, the fleeces of which were manufactured by the Indians
into blankets and coarse cloths. Their granaries were filled with an
abundance of maize and frijoles, and their store-rooms with other
necessaries of life, from the ranchos belonging to the mission lands in
the vicinity. Now all the buildings, except the church and the
principal range of houses contiguous, have fallen into ruins, and an
Englishman, his wife, and one small child, with two or three Indian
servants, are the sole inhabitants. The church is the largest I have
seen in the country, and its interior is in good repair, although it
has not probably been used for the purpose of public worship for many
years. The Englishman professes to have purchased the mission and all
the lands belonging to it for 300 dollars.

Our stock of cattle being exhausted, we feasted on Californian mutton,
sheep being more abundant than cattle at this mission. The wool, I
noticed, was coarse, but the mutton was of an excellent quality. The
country over which we have travelled to-day shows the marks of long
drought previous to the recent rains. The soil is sandy and gravelly,
and the dead vegetation upon it is thin and stunted. About eighty of
our horses are reported to have given out and been left behind.
Distance 20 miles.

_December 12_.--To relieve our horses, which are constantly giving out
from exhaustion, the grass being insufficient for their sustenance
while performing labour, the entire battalion, officers and men, were
ordered to march on foot, turning their horses, with the saddles and
bridles upon them, into the general _caballada_, to be driven along by
the horse-guard. The day has been drizzly, cold, and disagreeable. The
country has a barren and naked appearance; but this, I believe, is
attributable to the extreme drought that has prevailed in this region
for one or two years past. We encamped near the rancho of a friendly
Californian--the man who was taken prisoner the other day and set at
large. An Indian, said to be the servant of Tortoria Pico,