r
ship-building. In a word, this favored port combines advantages which
not only fit it for a grand naval depot, but almost render it capable of
being made the dominant military post of these seas.

Such is a feeble outline of the Californian coast and country, the value
of which is more and more attracting the attention of naval powers. The
Russians have always a ship of war upon this station, and have already
encroached upon the Californian boundaries, by taking possession of the
port of Bondago, and fortifying it with several guns. Recent surveys
have likewise been made, both by the Russians and the English; and we
have little doubt, that, at no very distant day, this neglected, and,
until recently, almost unknown region, will be found to possess sources
of wealth sufficient to sustain a powerful and prosperous empire. Its
inhabitants, themselves, are but little aware of its real riches;
they have not enterprise sufficient to acquaint themselves with a vast
interior that lies almost a terra incognita; nor have they the skill and
industry to cultivate properly the fertile tracts along the coast; nor
to prosecute that foreign commerce which brings all the resources of a
country into profitable action.

39.

Gay life at Monterey--Mexican horsemen--A bold dragoon--Use
of the lasso--Vaqueros--Noosing a bear--Fight between a bull
and a bear--Departure from Monterey--Indian horse stealers--
Outrages committed by the travellers--Indignation of Captain
Bonneville

THE WANDERING BAND of trappers was well received at Monterey, the
inhabitants were desirous of retaining them among them, and offered
extravagant wages to such as were acquainted with any mechanic art. When
they went into the country, too, they were kindly treated by the priests
at the missions; who are always hospitable to strangers, whatever may be
their rank or religion. They had no lack of provisions; being permitted
to kill as many as they pleased of the vast herds of cattle that graze
the country, on condition, merely, of rendering the hides to the owners.
They attended bull-fights and horseraces; forgot all the purposes of
their expedition; squandered away freely the property that did not
belong to them; and, in a word, revelled in a perfect fool's paradise.

What especially delighted them was the equestrian skill of the
Californians. The vast number and the cheapness of the horses in this
country makes every one a cavalie