that enables the largest ships to ride against the shore, and ample room for them to lie stem and stern for a mile and a half. It is just at the inlet of the San Joaquim and Sacramento rivers has a ferry over the straits, leading to the rich valley of San José or San Juan, for they form one valleyhas an open connection with all the country north of the bay, and will hold tributary to it the important valleys of Nappa and Sonoma, besides the great valley. It is 35 miles north of the town of San Francisco, and so much nearer to the gold mines-to the timber region, and to the agricultural resources of the country. Its healthiness is undoubted. Its name was given to it by a Spaniard (Vallijo) who owned the land, and is probably the same as Venicia or Venice. From present prospects, it will, in no long period, rival the wealth, if it does not attain the splendor, of the "City of Palaces" in her palmiest days.

Sacramento city above, and near the junction of, the rivers; and new Helvetia, at Sutters, 80 miles from the coast, are both flourishing island places, and will advance regularly with the prosperous progress of the country. Other towns will spring up in the great valley and elsewhere. At the falls of the Sacramento, where the advantages of erecting factories are unsurpassed, and the surrounding country capable of supporting them, may be created the Lowell of Western America.

Having now presented, we hope, an intelligible account of the face of the country of California, and of its climate, and alluded to some of the elements upon which its prosperity must depend, we shall proceed next, as briefly as the nature of the subject will permit, to discuss some of its re

sources.

The Great Basin and the section south-east of the Colorado river, constituting territorially nearly three-fourths of California, have been disposed of. All that can well be said in reference to them, at this juncture, has already been advanced. Of the former, little may be expected, until experiment determines its value. Of the latter, nothing is known absolutely, that can raise it beyond a mineral region; and conjecture would place it in the lowest scale for farming purposes. Our remarks will, therefore, be confined to maritime California, of which ample data are ascertained, to justify us in speaking positively upon certain poinst, and in advancing reasonable speculations upon others. And

first of its agriculture, as it is one of the important bases upon which rests necessarily the fabric of a nation's greatness. With a healthful and improving agricultural condition, is possessed the solid substratum of the arts of peace and war: and, while it gives rise to sturdy citizens, to vigorous frames and bold hearts, it likewise expands in man the more elevated sentiments, and inspires independence of action, and freedom of thought. The mother of riches, it tends also to foster a nursery of freemen. Without it, no people will grow in the elements of comfort or power, or experience a continued or lasting civilization. The agricultural wealth of a country, however, does not depend entirely on the quantity of its arable lands. The fertility of the lands, the benignity of the climate, the productions adapted to the two, the certainty of markets, and the facility of reaching them are important considerations. In sone of these respects maritime California has been underrated. Captain Wilkes* estimates all her cultivable land to be comprised within about 12,000 square miles, scattered over the entire province. And he speaks rather slightingly of her productions. From a careful investigation of authorities, we are inclined to treble his calculation of the amount of land that may be profitably cultivated. The great valley alone contains about 2500 square miles, of which one half at least may be brought into immediate culture. And, by a system of irrigation on a large scale, which the industry and enterprize of our people will certainly establish in time, more than half of the remainder can be converted into productive farms. Besides, all the other valleys among, the Coast and other mountains, north and south of the bay of San Francisco, and a large share of Southern California, containing full as much more land, are susceptible of agricultural uses, and still ample territory be left among the mountains and their slopes for the purposes of pasturage and timber. The fertility of the soils is various, but they are all more or less productive. Under judicious management, 15 to 20 bushels of wheat per acre, may be grown in the greater part of it, and on much of it from 60 to 100 bushels may be averaged one year with another. What country can exceed this? The product of the old States does not average 20 bushels per acre.

Here

is an ample compensation for any deficiency of land. If one acre yields the ordinary growth of five or six, and one acre in a hundred should do it, California will support easily the population we would allot to her capacity. The climate is favorable generally to all the products of the temperate zone. Indian corn may be raised in most of the northern sections and in places elsewhere, and sugar cane in the south. Oats flourish without cultivation, and rye would grow as well. But we presume that wheat will be the staple of all middle and northern California, and that the product of the grape will best reward labor and skill in the southern; though all the fruits, a substitute for meat to some extent in hot climates, will pay for their culture. Yet all the other great staples, that successively rewarded the industry of the planter in the Southern States, and were instrumental at an early period in building up agricultural principalities here, may be cultivated with more or less success in California. Indigo flourishes in the southern part, and will eventually meet with a market among the factories, that must naturally, at some period, spring up in that country. Rice will find many fields, already pointed out, for its profitable production, and Col. Frémont asserts that cotton may be grown in certain parts of the territory. Amid the variety of climates, all genial to vegetation, it is probable that locations may be found suitable for its cultivation to a moderate extent. It may be raised in ample quantity to supply the infant manufacturers until they could be furnished with direct and easy communication from the cotton growing States. The pasturage of California, intimately allied with agriculture in its enlarged sense, will, however, yield wool in great abundance, an article of equal and prime necessity with cotton. No country offers better ranges for sheep, and, with proper attention no country could afford finer wool. The woollen factories will no doubt be the first to be erected.

The pasturage region is also adapted to the raising of horses and cattle, and the main articles of export there, have, until now, been tallow and hides. The last, until within a few years past, constituted the currency of the country. The horses are very numerous, and, until recently, sold for $5 and $10 a head. They are descended from the Andalusian breed, released on this continent by the first conquerors. They have degenerated in size, but they are the

hardiest animal in the world. Col. Frémont's famous ride from Los Angelos to Monterey and back, 800 miles in less than eight days, (125 miles a day) with only a few delays, demonstrates the fact. By judicious crossing with our larger stock, a breed would arise equal in endurance to the Arab barb, and superior to it in the uses of war and agriculture. The cattle are prolific and large;-and it is a fact, singular though perhaps to be accounted for, that, in rich natural pastures-and Western Texas is a noted example-the horses are small, though tough, while the cattle attain to great bulk. All California, save the southern deserts, is a rich range for every kind of stock; and beef and pork, particularly, will soon become articles of extensive export. They will, at all events, supply the inhabitants forever with the best and cheapest necessaries of subsis

tance.

The markets for the varied productions of the country are already at hand, and they will enlarge and multiply with the increase of population. The diversity of pursuits among the people, the mining, boating, mercantile, and manufacturing operations will provide many consumers. Our whalers in the Pacific, numbering 600 or 700 vessels, will occasionally add to the number. A brisk trade will be opened inevitably with the Pacific coasts and islands, and the foreign demand will sweep away all the surplus productions.

The communications to market will at first perhaps prove a slight impediment. There is but one great outlet to the coast, which is the San Francisco Bay. The San Joaquim and its larger tributaries are only navigable in the wet season; and south of the great valley there must be land transportation to the coast exclusively. But the Sacramento is always open to boats of moderate size, drawing 6 or 7 feet water. The others must be resorted to in the favorable seasons. Delay is favored by the pure atmosphere, in which produce suffers little deterioration. for long periods. The level character of most of the agricultural parts of the country, with the abundance of timber, rock and iron, renders the interior channels of commerce susceptible of an indefinite and not costly improvement, by systems of rail-roads. Wagon transportation would be easy in the dry season, when the earth is hard and firm; but, in the period of rains, the roads would soon become impracticable.

We conclude, therefore, that California cóntains from 30,000 to 40,000 square miles of cultivable territory, or more than 20,000,000 of acres; that the climate and soil are adapted to a greater variety of products than those of any country of the same extent on the globe, and wil! yield some of the more important of them in large quantities; that all the fruits of her fields and her pastures will find a prompt and reasonably convenient market; and that, employing the advantages of modern improvements and science, her lands are competent to maintain several millions of inhabitants, and to constitute the agricultural basis of a great and thriving State.

The geographical situation of California offers eminent advantages for commercial progress and employment. Lying on the Pacific ocean, it is opposite to, and within striking distance of, China, Japan and the East Indies, and, with its agricultural products, its capabilities of varied manufacturing and its immense deposits of the precious, and nearly all the less valuable metals, it must, in the lapse of time, when the above elements are developed, draw within its embrace a due proportion of that oriental commerce which nations have ardently striven to monopolize since an early period in the history of the race. The riches of that commerce, fostered by six hundred millions of people, are incalculably great. In ancient times they gave splendor to Phenicia, after enlarging the wealth of Egypt. More recently they adorned and beautified Venice on her hundred isles. They enhanced the power of Genoa and gratified the avarice of the enterprising Portuguese. They added solid wealth to the Hollanders, amid their marshes and canals, and finally proved the grand element in founding the supremacy of the British Empire. Each nation has successively felt their impress in the increased comforts, the improved manners, the cherished arts, the advanced civilization, the wide-spread blessings, which it has imparted to its people. In the order of events, directed by a kind Providence, it appears now to be destined that they shall promote the ascendancy of the United States. California, as a favored portion of these States, must enjoy her full share of these manifold benefits. If "commerce is king," as Carlyle remarks, when nourished by the fruits of the earth, stimulated by the industry and enterprise of man, and expanded by the arts, some of its