"We had no escort; and therefore, after walking all day, we were obliged to take our turns at standing guard at night. Our provisions became so diminished in quantity as to compel me to put the whole party on short allowance. We lived principally on meat, mush, and mutton, without any vegetables. But one sheep (long, lank, raw-boned animals) was allowed to twelve men for four days, and even then our last meat was consumed a week before our arrival; and we were forced to deprive ourselves of a portion of our mush to furnish food to our animals, owing to the entire absence, for several days on our route, of all grass, shrubs, and trees.

"Much is said by travellers respecting the desert of Sahara; but, in barrenness of verdure, destitution of water, tremendous storms of sand, etc., etc., it is doubtful if any tract of land can surpass the jornada which we crossed. Indeed much of this country, that by those residing at a distance is imagined to be a perfect paradise, is a sterile waste, utterly worthless for any purpose than to constitute a barrier or natural line of demarcation between two neighboring nations.

"Notwithstanding our many perils, privations, and suffering, mostly attributable, when traced to the true source, to our imperfect outfit at the Copper Mines, from the negligence, wilfulness, or some other unjustifiable cause on the part of those whose duty it was to attend to the business; notwithstanding the many additional obstacles thrown in the way; notwithstanding the continued succession of disappointments which we encountered in numerous shapes, and of varied hue, where the doing or neglecting to do, depended

upon the will of man; thanks to the protecting care of a divine and overruling Providence, we escaped unharmed from the many dangers with which we were surrounded, and the difficulties in which we were involved, and have brought in our little party in the enjoyment, as already observed, of good health and spirits.

"I remain, sir, very respectfully, yours,

(Signed)

THOMAS H. WEBB, Secretary to Boundary Commission.

"HON. J. R. Bartlett,

Commissioner, etc."

The animals brought in by the several parties were greatly reduced by their long and painful journey, owing chiefly to their poor and scanty food along the Gila, and from that river to the coast. They were now placed in a grassy valley near the mission, some five or six miles distant, where the feed was pretty good; but they were so completely broken down, that many weeks would be necessary to recruit them. The surveying parties during this time were engaged in reducing their observations and in plotting their maps.

Although the entire boundary along the river Gila was not completed, it was a source of peculiar satisfaction to me that we had accomplished so much. It is more than the most sanguine in the Commission expected to perform in so short a space of time, surrounded, as the operating parties were, with so many serious impediments. To cross a wilderness, such as it may in truth be called, from the Rio Grande to the

Pacific Ocean, a distance of more than eight hundred miles, would at any time be a labor of difficulty. But when this whole line is through a desolate region, with a scanty supply of grass for the animals; with large tracts destitute of water, and no means of procuring provisions; and furthermore, when nearly the entire distance is invested by hostile Indians, the work is one for the near completion of which we could not be too thankful. The whole came through in good health, and with the loss of but one man, Thomas Harper, an attendant on instruments in Lieutenant Whipple's party, who was unfortunately drowned whilst bathing in the Colorado. The amount of public property lost or abandoned on the journey was not large, and could easily be replaced in this country.

During my short stay at San Diego, I was busily occupied in paying off and reducing the Commission. Several of the assistants desired to leave here, and the larger portion of the mechanics and laborers. In fact, I found it difficult to keep such as were necessary to take care of the animals and other property, as well as the cooks and servants needed to attend the several messes. Wages were exceedingly high, and I was compelled to advance the pay of all that remained to the California rates, which were from fifty to eighty dollars a month for servants, cooks, teamsters, and herdsmen. After reducing the parties, and placing those who remained in comfortable quarters (for the weather was cold and wet), I made my arrangements to go to San Francisco, in order to procure a new outfit of tents and camp equipage; to have the instruments repaired and put in order; to lay in provisions for our

return; and to negotiate my drafts on the government to meet these several expenditures, as well as to pay the officers and men attached to the Commission.

No event that is worthy of mention occurred here, except a visit from a band of Diegeno Indians. A chief and several of his tribe were sent to me at my request by a Californian gentleman. They were a miserable, ill-looking set, with dark brown complexions and emaciated bodies; and though the weather was cold, they were but slightly clad. Articles of old and cast-off clothing, such as a tattered shirt and pantaloons, were all that the best could boast of. One, I think the chief, had a piece of a horse blanket around his cadaverous-looking body. I managed to get from them a vocabulary of their language; though I must confess that, with the exception of the Apache, I never found one so difficult to express, in consequence of the gutturals and nasals with which it abounded. I finally got the words so correct, that the Indians could recognise them, and give me the Spanish equivalents. I tried to write down some short sentences, but was obliged to give up the attempt as unsuccessful. I could not combine the words so as to be understood, in a single instance. These Indians occupy the coast for some fifty miles above, and about the same distance below, San Diego, and extend about a hundred miles into the interior. They are the same who were known to the first settlers as the Comeya tribe.

I also found an Indian here from the Upper Sacramento River. He had been taken prisoner by the American troops about three years before, and was now living with some of the officers. He was quick and

intelligent, and answered promptly my questions relative to his tribe and country. I could not, however, ascertain the precise locality of his people, which he called the 'hana tribe-the H a deep guttural. I got from him a complete vocabulary of his language.

On the 24th of February, I embarked with several officers of the Commission in the steamer Sea Bird, for San Francisco. The boat stopped on the way at the several ports of San Pedro, Santa Barbara, and Monterey; but as the weather was boisterous and attended with rain, I did not land. On the evening of the 27th we reached San Francisco.

To give an account of this wonderful city which has sprung into existence in the last four years, and whose rapid growth and extraordinary prosperity have astonished the world, is not my intention. No city on the face of the globe has ever attained the position that San Francisco has in the same period; and it is yet progressing. It is now almost the first in population on the western coast of the American continent; and but a few years will elapse before it will surpass all the rest. In point of commerce, the great ports of Europe and on the Atlantic coast of the United States alone, can vie with it. As the outlet of the principal and almost only rivers of California, it will continue to bear the same relation to the interior as New Orleans and New York do to the United States east of the Rocky Mountains. The harbor of San Francisco is one of the most spacious in the world, easy of access, of a convenient depth for anchorage, and protected from storms. The city itself now presents a strange medley of buildings, from the rudest hovel and canvas tent to the ele