imitating the motion of a stag when it feeds, they draw round them the flock, which become the victims of the deception. This extraordinary hunt was seen by M. Costanzo on the coast of the channel of Santa Barbara; and it was seen twenty-four years afterwards, in the savannas in the neighbourhood of Monterey, by the officers embarked in the galetas Sutil and Mexicana. The enormous stag-branches which Montezuma displayed as objects of curiosity to the companions of Cortes, belonged, perhaps, to the venados of New California. I saw two of them, which were found in the old monument of Xoachicalco, and which are still preserved in the palace of the viceroy. Notwithstanding the want of interior communication in the fifteenth century, in the kingdom of Anahuac, it would not have been extraordinary if these stags had come from hand to hand from the 35° to the 20° of latitude; in the same manner as we see the beautiful piedras de Mahagua of Brazil, among the Caribs, near the mouth of the Orinoco."

The peninsula which forms the province of

OLD CALIFORNIA,

While it equals England in extent of territory, "does not contain a population equal to Ipswich or Deptford." The number of square leagues is stated by Humboldt at 7,295; the population in 1803, at 9,000. Extending from lat 22° 48′ 10′′,* to lat 31°, it lies under the same parallel as Bengal and the Canary islands. "The sky is constantly serene and of a deep blue, without a cloud; or, should any clouds appear at the setting of the sun, they display the most beautiful shades of violet, purple, and green. All persons who have ever been in California, preserve a recollection of the extraordinary beauty of this

* The latitude of Cape San Lucas,

phenomenon, which depends on a particular state of the vesicular vapour and the purity of the air in these climates. No where could an astronomer find a more delightful abode, than at Cumana, Coro, the island of Margarita, and the coast of California. But, unfortunately, in this peninsula, the sky is more beautiful than the earth. The soil is sandy and arid, like the shores of Provence: vegetation is at a stand, and rain is very unfrequent."

A chain of mountains runs through the centre of the peninsula, the most elevated of which, the Cerro de la Giganta, is between 4,500 and 5,000 feet high, and appears to be of volcanic origin. This cordillera is inhabited by a breed of wild sheep (carneros cimarones), resembling in their form and habits, the mouflon of Sardinia: they leap, like the ibex, with their head downwards, and their horns are curved back in a spiral form. They are supposed to differ, however, specifically, from the berendos of New California. At the foot of this cordillera is found, for the most part, a sandy or a stony stratum, from which a species of cactus of a cylindrical form (organos del tunal) shoots up to an extraordinary height. There are but few springs; and where water is found, the rock is often bare of vegetable earth. In those few points where there are both water and earth, the fertility of the soil is immense. In these places, where the Jesuits established their first missions, maize, the -manioc, and the igname, vegetate vigorously, and the vine yields an excellent grape. In general, however, the arid nature of the soil and the want of water preclude all cultivation; and Old California will never be able to maintain a great population, any more than the northern part of Sonora, which is almost equally dry and sandy.

Old California was first colonised by the Jesuits, not without opposition on the part of the Franciscans, their rivals, who endeavoured, from time to time,

to introduce themselves among the Indians, as well as from the soldiers of the presidios. The village of Loreto, the principal place of all the missions, was founded in 1697, by Father Kühn, the astronomer of Ingolstadt, under the name of the presidio of San Dionisio. It was not till subsequently to the year 1744, that the Spanish establishments in California became considerable, owing to the successful exertions of the Jesuits.* In a very few years, they built sixteen villages in the interior. Since their expulsion in 1767, California has been confided to the Dominican monks of the city of Mexico, who have not been so fortunate in their missions as the Franciscans in New California. The population of the villages has ever since been on the decline, and the number of the missions was reduced in 1803 to sixteen. The principal are, Loreto, above referred to; Santa Ana, a mission and real; and San Joseph. The missions of Santiago and Guadalupe remain without inhabitants. The small-pox and syphilis are stated to have been the chief causes of the depopulation; but M. Humboldt reasonably conjectures that there are other causes, connected with the political administration, which have retarded the prosperity of the

Since the first discovery of California, there have been various wandering missionaries who have visited it at different times, though to little purpose; but of late years, the Jesuits, encouraged and supported by a large donation from the Marquis de Valero, a most munificent bigot, have fixed themselves upon the place, and have there established a very considerable mission. Their principal settlement lies just within Cape St Lucas, where they have collected a great number of savages, and have endeavoured to inure them to agriculture and other mechanic arts. Nor have their efforts been altogether ineffectual, for they have planted vines at their settlements with very good success, so that they already make a considerable quantity of wine, resembling in flavour the inferior sorts of Madeira,"-ANSON's voyage round the World, 1740-4, chap. x,

settlements. The number of the savages is supposed to be under 4,000.

The chief attraction which has led navigators to visit the coast of this desert country, is, the pearls which abound in the southern part. "Since the cessation of the pearl-fishery near the island of Margarita, opposite the coast of Araya, the Gulfs of Panama and California are the only quarters in the Spanish colonies which supply pearls for the European market. Those of California are of a very beautiful water, and large, but they are frequently of an irregular and unpleasing figure. The shell which produces the pearl, is particularly to be found in the Bay of Ceralvo, and round the islands of Santa Cruz and San José. In 1768-1769 a private soldier of Loreto, Juan Ocio, became rich in a short time, by pearl-fishing on the coast of Ceralvo. Since that period, the number of pearls annually brought to market, has been reduced almost to nothing. The Indians and negroes who follow the laborious occupation of divers, are so poorly paid by the whites, that the fishery is considered as abandoned." In 1803, a Spanish ecclesiastic, resident at Mexico, proposed to the Government to employ a diving-bell in the pearlfishery; and M. Humboldt witnessed a series of experiments made in a small pond near the castle of Chapoltepec, with a view to carry this project into effect; but it does not appear that they were ever repeated in the Gulf of California. Hitherto, he says, almost all the pearls supplied by the colonies, have come from the Gulf of Panama. The western coast of Mexico, "especially that part of the Great Ocean situated between the Gulf of Bayonna, the three Mary islands, and Cape St Lucas," abounds also in cachalots, or spermaceti whales. This fishery is an important object of mercantile speculation, and has long been pursued by both English and Anglo-American traders. Yet "the Spanish Mexicans," remarks

the learned Traveller, see the cachalot fishers arrive on their coast after a navigation of more than 5,000 marine leagues, without ever endeavouring to share in the pursuit. In the present state of the colonies, the sloth of the inhabitants is inimical to the execution of such projects; and it would be impossible to procure sailors willing to embrace so rude a business, and so miserable a life, as that of a cachalot-fisher How could they be found in a country where, according to the ideas of the common people, all that is necessary to happiness, is, bananas, salted flesh, a hammock, and a guitar? The hope of gain is too weak a stimulus under a zone where beneficent Nature provides man with a thousand means of procuring an easy and peaceful existence, without quitting his country, and without struggling with the monsters of the

ocean.

FROM SANTA FE TO NATCHITOCHES.

Here

Major Pike, to whom repeated reference has been made in the preceding account of the interior provinces, arrived at the Rio del Norte, in an exploratory journey through the interior of Louisiana. He supposed it at first to be the Red River. they were discovered by the Spaniards, and a detachment was sent out to bring the whole party to Santa Fe. The American Major, finding that he had unwittingly committed himself by entering the Spanish territory, and having no orders to engage in hostilities, had no alternative but to comply with the requisition. On the 27th of February, 1807, the party set out in a southerly direction, and on the third day reached the village of Agua Caliente (warm

See, for further information relative to the pearl and cachalot fisheries, Pol. Essay, vol. iii. pp. 79-94.