| 186 "A boom, and its echo filled the air; it was a salute from the cannon of the fort, ordered by the United States commander. The 'Brooklyn' responded, and all hearts felt more cheerful and secure. Look! in the dim distance a dark body gliding on the water towards us, while the familiar strokes of the oars brought it swiftly and steadily to our ship's side. It was a sturdy rowboat, that seemed a familiar friend. In a few moments uniformed men trod the deck; we knew they were friends-Americans, not Mexicans. In our sweet native tongue the officer in command, with head uncovered, courteously and confidentially said in a loud tone: 'Ladies and gentlemen, I have the honor to inform you that you are in the United States of America.' Three hearty cheers were given in reply from faint and weary lips, but rising from hearts strong, brave, hopeful, and loyal still.
"They crowded upon the deck, women and children, questioning husbands and fathers, and studied the picture before them-they would never see it just the same again- as the foggy curtains furled towards the azure ceiling. How it imprinted itself upon their minds! A long, sandy beach strewn with hides and skeletons of slaughtered cattle, a few scrubby oaks, farther back low sandhills rising behind each other as a background to a few old shanties that leaned away from the wind, an old adobe barracks, a few donkeys plodding dejectedly along beneath towering bundles of wood, a few loungers stretched lazily upon the beach as though nothing could astonish them; and between the picture and the emigrants still loomed up here and there, at the first sight more distinctly, the black vessels,-whaling ships and sloops of war,-that was all, and that was Yerba Buena, now San Francisco, the landing place for the pilgrims of faith.
"Soon came the order for unloading, and all was activity, all being glad to stand once more on solid ground. A few tents were erected, and these were soon filled. Into the old barracks sixteen families were crowded, their apartments being divided by quilts, or other accommodating partitions. The cooking was to be done out of doors. The orders were passed around that all must stay within certain limits; the war with Mexico was virtually ended, but the vindictive
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