them we turn and enter and come to anchor in the
bay of San Diego at 9 o'clock in the morning of the
27th, Next to San Francisco bay this is the best
harbor on the coast, and the chmate is unsurpassed
by any spot upon the globe. With an even tempera-
ture throughout the year, and its soft seductive atmos-
phere tinctured with animating ocean oxygen, it offers
all the charms of south and north combined. On the
northern shore of the bay near the entrance sits the
old town, its tiled adobes sprinkled with more mod-
ern wooden houses, behind which are some bluff
heights, and on one of them, overlooking the town,
was formerly planted the presidio, while the mission
was placed some five miles distant up the river. The
opposite shore of the bay is a low narrow sandy
strip, forming a natural and effectual breakwater.
Our purpose in stopping here was to obtain coals, but
as none were to be had our captain was obliged to
content himself with wood.
About noon the steamer Fremont, with 230 passen- gers, likewise northward bound, entered San Diego bay. At half-past seven that evening the Panama weiofhed anchor and steamed out to sea, the Fremont following shortly after. A very heavy gale from the westward had been brewing for us, and that night we sailed into it. For the season, the locality, and with the steamer's lack of fuel, it was a terrific affair.
I may safely say it was one of the severest storms I ever encountered. By it was clearly evidenced that though our ocean is called pacific, and usually wears a serene and smiling face, if thwarted, it can rage right royally. Most of the passengers had retired f )r the night, but as the wind rose into a gale a few of us dressed and went out. It was thoroughly what the sailors call a nasty night, — black as pitch, and the excited sea luminous with angry fire, like the accursed lake of apocalyptic vision Its torn surface was laid out in furrows, and clouds of foam were driven by the wind across the deck. Rearing and plunging like
