guished him, at once acceded to my request, and gave me an order on the commanding officers at San Diego and Fort Yuma to furnish me with such a force as they deemed necessary.

It was from Benicia that we were to take the road to Napa Valley. On making known to General Hitchcock my desire to visit the Geysers, he kindly furnished me with horses and a pack-mule for the purpose. To Major Allen, the Quarter-master, I am also indebted for his promptness in facilitating the wishes of myself and party in our proposed trip, and for sending me a trusty man.

March 19th. Our horses, mule, and attendant were promptly at the door by 7 o'clock; and after breakfast we took our departure. Proceeding along the shores of the bay, we passed the great projected city of Vallejo, the once intended capital of the State. It now stands naked and alone, its large houses tenantless. As the capital of California it might have become a place of importance; but without such factitious aid there is nothing to build it.

Here we entered Napa Valley. The hills on both sides as well as the valley were covered with a luxuriant growth of wild oats, and immense herds of cattle were roaming about feasting on them. Wild flowers of varied hues were thickly scattered around, and every thing showed that the heavy and continued rains had given new life to vegetation. Our course was now a northerly one, directly up the valley. Napa Creek, which we saw at a distance, makes up it, and affords sufficient water for small vessels, several of which we saw gliding up. The valley soon became perfectly

level, without a hill or depression. In many places ploughmen were at work turning up the soil, which was of the richest description. Barley appeared to be the principal grain sowed, this being in more general use for horses than oats, and found to give a better yield. In one place I noticed a hill, the whole of which had been sowed with barley, presenting a field of more than a hundred acres. The soil here was loose; and as the water had run off, the ground was in a fit state for cultivation. The valley below was still very wet, and would not be in a fit state to plough for weeks yet. On this account, the declivities possess an advantage for early planting, over the level plains.

At 2 o'clock reached the village of Napa, where we dined. Distance travelled, twenty miles. The road was excellent, except in two places, where the valley was still wet, and where our horses sank deep in the mud. Napa Creek is navigable to this point, even for vessels of a large burden, should it be necessary to bring them here, which will hardly be the case. Near the town is the hulk of a ship. It was bought by a gentleman in San Francisco for a trifle and brought here, where it is used as a storeship, as well as for the residence of the owner and his family. She cost much less than it would have done to erect a small dwelling, and the owner has besides the advantage of a large warehouse. She lay close by the river's bank; and with a doorway cut in her side, the entrance was made quite easy. A steamboat now runs to San Francisco, which will tend to populate rapidly this beautiful valley, and render the town of Napa the centre of one of the richest agricultural districts in the State. After

dinner we rode five miles, to the house of Joseph W. Osborne, Esq., a merchant of San Francisco, who had invited me to make him a visit. Mr. O. had preceded us a couple of days, and met us at his gate, giving us a warm reception.

Mr. Osborne's place was the most beautiful and picturesque I had seen in the valley. In fact, it was the only house wherein there was any attempt at taste and comfort; for the country was too new to expect much in this way yet. But even his was a small and unpretending cottage after the New England fashion. The valley here is about four miles in width. Where it opens on St. Pablo Bay it is about six miles, but it gradually contracts towards the north. At the entrance it is an open plain, destitute of trees, and covered with luxuriant grass; but here it assumes a new aspect, such a one, too, as I had not before seen in the country. It is now studded with gigantic oaks, some of them evergreen, though not so close together as to render it necessary to cut any away to prepare the land for cultivation. These magnificent oaks are found sometimes in long lines, and again in clusters of twenty or thirty, forming beautiful groves; then again a space of ten or twenty acres will occur without a single tree. If this romantic valley were transferred to the older countries of Europe, it would be taken for the domain of a prince or a nobleman. It answers to the idea one has of the old and highly cultivated parks of England, where taste and money have been lavished with au unsparing hand, through many generations. As one emerges from or enters each grove, he involuntarily expects some venerable castle or mansion to appear;

or to find himself among some secluded villages. But in the entire length of the valley there are no houses to be found within a less distance than five miles of each other, and these too of the most humble and unpretending character. What is singular, and to me unaccountable in these groves of large trees is, that there are no young ones, none but the venerable and full-grown oaks, which, doubtless, for centuries have held exclusive sway over this wide-spread and beautiful domain. Nor is there any undergrowth of other trees and shrubs. I can only account for this deficiency by attributing it to fires since the occupation of the country by the Spaniards; or, by supposing that the immense herds of cattle, which for a century past have occupied the valley, have browsed upon the shrubs and young trees, until they destroyed them, and afterwards kept down the shoots as they sprang

ip.

The valley is hemmed in on both sides by ranges of low mountains, running north and south, which are generally covered to their very summits with forest

Here and there bold rocks jut out, presenting the most fantastic outlines; while between the valley and the mountains runs a lower range of rounded hills, dotted with small bushy oaks and pines, which present a fine contrast with the more sombre hues of the mountain foliage. Occasionally the gigantic palo colorado (red wood) raises its tall head far above every other object, making even the huge oaks appear diminutive.

In the midst of the valley winds a small stream,. called Napa Creek, its course marked by the graceful

VOL. II.-2

willows that grow along its margin. This creek is chiefly supplied by springs near the head of the valley; but during the rainy season several mountain torrents empty their waters into it-indeed, some of them I was told contribute a portion during the whole year.

The larger portion of Napa Valley was still in the state in which nature had left it, but had all been taken up by recent settlers, and was fast being brought into cultivation. A road had just been laid out through its centre, and every farmer was occupied in marking out his land and dividing it into lots inclosed by substantial rail fences. Ploughs were cutting up the virgin sward in all directions; and in one place I saw a ditching machine in operation. It answered the double purpose of making a ditch four or five feet wide, with an embankment of sufficient height to answer for a fence or wall. This machine was worked by two or three oxen and a windlass. It is a rapid method of accomplishing two most important objects; and the mound is said to keep the cattle out as well as a high fence.

Mr. Osborne's men were all New England farmers, several of them from Rhode Island; and it is astonishing to see how much more work one of these men will perform than a Mexican or Californian. He pays them seventy-five dollars a month, and finds them, which pays him better than employing ordinary hands at half the price. Mr. O. has owned this property but one year; and a furrow was never turned on it or a seed sown, until he came into possession. He has now more than a hundred acres under cultivation, a considerable portion of which is protected by a post and