Page:History of California (Bancroft) volume 6.djvu/31



of eight  or  ten  acres  was  attached  to  the  fort,  laid out with  taste  and  skill,  where  flourished  all  kinds  of vegetables,  grapes,  apples,  peaches,  pears,  olives,  figs, and almonds. Horses, cattle,  and  sheep  cover  the surrounding plains;  boats  lie  at  the  embarcadero.

The fort  is  a  parallelogram  of  adobe  walls,  500  feet long by  150  in  breadth,  with  loop-holes  and  bastions at the  angles,  mounted  with  a  dozen  cannon  that sweep the  curtains. Within is  a  collection  of  gran- aries and warehouses,  shops  and  stores,  dwellings and outhouses,  extending  near  and  along  the  walls round the  central  buildmg  occupied  by  the  Swiss potentate, who  holds  sway  as  patriarch  and  priest, judge and  father. The interior  of  the  houses  is  rough, with rafters  and  unpanelled  walls,  with  benches  and deal tables,  the  exception  being  the  audience-room and private  apartments  of  the  owner,  who  has  ob- tained from the  Russians  a  clumsy  set  of  California laurel furniture.^  In  front  of  the  main  building,  on the  small  square,  is  a  brass  gun,  guarded  by  the sentinel, whose  measured  tramp,  lost  in  the  hum  of day,  marks  the  stillness  of  the  night,  and  stops  alone beneath the  belfry-post  to  chime  the  passing  hour.

Throughout the  day  the  enclosure  presents  an animated  scene  of  work  and  trafficking,  by  bustling laborers, diligent  mechanics,  and  eager  traders,  all  to the  chorus  clang  of  the  smithy  and  reverberating strokes of  the  carpenters. Horsemen dash  to  and  fro at the  bidding  of  duty  and  pleasure,  and  an  occasional wagon creaks  along  upon  the  gravelly  road-bed,  sure to pause  for  recuperating  purposes  oefore  the  trad- ing store,^^ where  confused  voices  mingle  with  laugh- ter and the  sometimes  discordant  strains  of  drunken

cmde furniture  of  the  Calif omians,  with  rawhide  and  bullock -head  chairs  and bed -stretchers. SuUer^a Pers. Bem,^ MS.,  164,  et  seq. Bryant describes  the dining-room as  having  merely  benches  and  dc^l  table,  yet  displaying  silver spoons and  China  bowU,  the  latter  serving  for  dishes  as  well  as  cups. What I Saw,  26ft-70.
 * The first  made  in  the  country,  he  says,  and  ptrikingly  superior  to  the

'^ One  kept  by  Smith  and  Brannan. Prices at  this  time  were  $1  a  foot  for bone-shoeing, $1  a  bushel  for  wheat,  peas  $1.50,  unbolted  flour  $8  a  100  lbs.