CHAPTER VIII.
THE VOYAGE TO CALIFORNIA— PANAMi TO SAN FRANCISCO.
We have had enough of action, and of motion we,
Rolled to starboard, rolled to larboard, when the surge was seething free, Where the wallowing monster spouted his foam-fountains in the sea.
— The Lotos-Eaters.
While here upon the Isthmus, and before proceed- ing on our journey to San Francisco, let us glance at the route round the continent, that we may be better able to make comparisons as we go along.
There have been many remarkable voyages to Cal- ifornia by sailing vessels, as well from Panama to San Francisco as round Cape Horn; there have been many adventures connected with them far more thrill- ing than any that occurred in the voyages by steamer. The voyage round the Horn, as it was called, did not differ materially from sea voyages elsewhere; that from Panama to San Francisco had at this time a marked individuality, a few examples of which I will give.
The rickety schooner Dolphim, of 100 tons, left Pa- nama in January 1849, with forty-five persons. After putting into several ports for supplies, the passengers had to abandon the craft at Mazatlan and transfer themselves to the bark Matilda. They finally reached San Francisp.o on the 6th of May, having spent 110 days on the voyage from Panamd.
But the career of the Dolphin was not yet at an end. Certain gold-seeking waifs then in Mazatlan, anxious to reach California, bought and refitted her.
