every afternoon that it was not a safe place for vessels, and the
property would never have any value for that purpose, and I do not think
it has ever been used since for that.

In the winter months, which is generally the rainy season, the wind
blows from the south for five months, and the other seven months it
blows from the north-west over six thousand miles of ocean, and,
consequently, is not impregnated with any decayed vegetable matter, and
is as pure as air can be. In San Francisco the sun would rise in a clear
sky every morning and there would be a perfect calm; by 11 A.M. there
would be a little breeze; by 2 or 3 o'clock, a gale. When the sun set
the wind would subside and there would be a perfect calm again. Every
day would be the same, month after month. What was almost a gale on the
coast would be a gentle breeze up in the mining district, in the
interior. The next day that air would be displaced by another gale from
over the thousand miles of ocean, for it is impossible to imagine any
other country with purer air.

During that time there were various visionary reports of new discoveries
of gold regions, one of a lake that the sands of its banks were rich
with gold. All you had to do, to make your fortune, was to wash it out,
which produced quite a sensation, and parties were organized to go
there, but they never found it. The next year after the purchase of my
brig, there were small steamers constructed to run to Stockton, and they
had already some sailing vessels put on, built there, and the price of
freight had commenced falling, and I thought I had better sell my vessel
while I could get a good price for it. There was a man who came to me
and said he wanted to buy it; that he had been a captain of a boat on
Lake Erie. I stated to him my price for it. He said that was not out of
the way, but he would like to try it one trip before closing the