fifty
tents. Opposite the telegraph lay the first anchorage.* Here out in the
open air was a lazar-house where quarantine inspection was held.
Inasmuch as our ship had not touched at any country under suspicion,
once having passed quarantine, permission was received to disembark.
Several members of our society at once took advantage of this to land
and locate a place suitable to erect tents. These tents had to be made
of sheets. The promised houses failed to materalize; they were ordered
but remained no doubt merely on order, for we never even heard of them
again. The members of the company led by Mirandole and Gauthier, after
going ashore went out to locate what is called French Camp, where
French emigrants who had recently come to California usually
congregate.
This
locality, which was soon discovered, proved ideal. At dawn the
following morning, acting on the advice given by our friends, we took
pick-axes and shovels, went ashore, and prepared immediately to locate.
It was on January eighth, at eight o'clock in the morning, that we
first alighted in California, having landed in a sloop belonging to one
of our fellow-countrymen who had placed it at the disposal of our
company. We deposited our effects at the base of French Camp. In my
purse I had one sou, and one centime; and I was in debt ten francs to
one of my comrades. This was my entire fortune—but I had finally
reached California. A word now about this land which had in store for
us so many disillusionizing experiences.
There
are two Californias, the old and the new California. The old, which
still belongs to Mexico, is bathed on the east by the Vermillion Sea,
which derives its name from the exquisite shades of its waters at
sunrise and sunset, and on the west and south by the Pacific Ocean. On
the north, by an isthmus some twenty-two leagues broad, it joins New
California. Cort6s was its discoverer. Not far from the Mexican capital
which, on August 13, 1521, the Spaniards had recently conquered, the
adventuresome captain, who had had two caravels constructed, took
command of the expedition and, on May 1, 1535, reached the west coast
of the great penninsule. On the third, he anchored in the bay of La
Paz, in 24° 10' n. lat and 112° 207 w. long., taking possession in the name of Charles V, King of Spain and Emperor of Germany.
What
is the derivation of the name California, that has endured since the
day of its discovery? Does it come from the word of Bernal
* Yerba Buena anchorage off the foot of Market Street.
