ded for ease and comfort to the rider. In Chili the
pillion is used--a soft material of rugs, smooth and thick, thrown over
the saddle frame; but it distends the thighs too greatly. The
Californian is both hard and heavy, and murderous to the horse. The
Mexican is best,--less cumbersome, more elegant in construction, and a
great support to the rider. The stirrups of all are similar--weighty
wooden structures--and the feet rest naturally in them.

There is nothing either pleasing or inviting in the landscape in the
vicinity of Yerbabuena. All looks bare and sterile from a distance, and
on closer inspection, the deep sandy soil is covered with impervious
thickets of low thorny undergrowth, with none of the rich green herbage,
forests or timber as in Monterey. The roads were so heavy that the
horses could hardly strain, nearly knee deep, through the sand, and
consequently, our rides were restricted to a league's _pasear_ to the
mission, or across the narrow strip of the peninsular to the old
presidio; but in the town we passed the hours pleasantly, became
conversant with the Mormon bible and doctrine, rolled ten-pins, and
amused ourselves nightly, at the monte in the _casa de bebida de Brown_;
still there was a great stir and bustle going on. A number of large
merchant ships had arrived, bringing the regiment of New York
volunteers, and the beach was strewn with heavy guns, carriages, piles
of shot, ordnance stores, wagons, tents and camp equipage, whilst the
streets were filled with troops, who belonged to the true democracy,
called one another mister, snubbed their officers, and did generally as
they pleased, which was literally nothing. However, in due time, they
were brought into the traces, and properly buckled to their duty, when
their services were exerted in planting a battery of long 24-pounders,
to command the straits, and their excitable spirits kept under control
at their quarters in the presidio.

This was Yerbabuena as we found it on our first coming--rapidly
springing into importance, and bidding fair at some future day, even
without the advantages to be derived from the mines which were then
unknown, to become the greatest commercial port on the Pacific.

Previous to our arrival in the waters of Francisco, a frightful incident
transpired amidst the Californian mountains, which goes far to surpass
any event of the kind heard or seen, from the black hole of Calcutta,
to smoking the Arabs in Algeria. It rela