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Show 146 PERSONAL ADVENTURES CHAPTER XXII. Our entry into the Bay of San Francisco-The StraitThe Bay-Its beautiful situation-Description of the BayPueblo and Suissoon Bays-Former insignificance of San Francisco-The discovery of the gold mines-The voice of Mammon-The change-The town of San Francisco as it appears from the Bay-The Island of Goats-Sacramento city-The route by water-Some particulars concerning Sacramento city- Ground-rents-The "red woods" of Pueblo-Their peculiarities. From the magnificent descriptions I had heard of the celebrated Bay of San Francisco, I experienced no inconsiderable degree of dis· appointment when we entered the narrow gap in the coast-land which opens into its waters, and \vhich did not appear to me to be more than a hundred feet in width. This opening, as seen from the oceau, presents the complete appearance of a simple mountain-passabruptly cutting in two the continuous line of IN CALIFORNIA. 147 the coast range-and is the only water communication hence to the interior country. The coast itself is of the boldest character, and of singular beauty in respect of distinctness of outline. The mountains bounding it on the south extend in the form of a naiTO\V range of broken hills, terminating in a precipitous hearlland, against which the surges break angrily, casting up millions of briny spangles, which glisten in the sunbeams with all the varied colours of the rainbow. To the north, these mountains rear their huge crests -like so many granitic Titans-in a succession of varying altitudes, until, at the distance of a few miles, they attain an elevation of from two thousand to three thousand feet, the seaward point presenting a bold pron1ontory, between which and the lower headland lies the strait I have already mentioned, and which, although appearing so narrow, on ac· count of the immense bulk of mountain forming its shoulders, is nevertheless one 111 ile broad in the narrowest part. Having passed through this gap, or I might H2 |