The only thing which
diminishes its beauty is, that the hills have no large trees upon
them, they having been all burnt by a great fire which swept them off
about a dozen years before, and they had not yet grown up again. The
fire was described to me by an inhabitant, as having been a very
terrible and magnificent sight. The air of the whole valley was so
heated that the people were obliged to leave the town and take up
their quarters for several days upon the beach.
Just before sundown the mate ordered a boat's crew ashore, and I
went as one of the number. We passed under the stern of the English
brig, and had a long pull ashore. I shall never forget the
impression which our first landing on the beach of California made
upon me. The sun had just gone down; it was getting dusky; the damp
night wind was beginning to blow, and the heavy swell of the Pacific
was setting in, and breaking in loud and high "combers" upon the
beach. We lay on our oars in the swell, just outside of the surf,
waiting for a good chance to run in, when a boat, which had put off
from the Ayacucho just after us, came alongside of us, with a crew
of dusky Sandwich Islanders, talking and hallooing in their outlandish
tongue.
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