CHAPTER XVII.

About this time, in company with my brother, I took a journey a distance of eighty miles up the Sacramento River. The whole distance, the route lay through the most beautiful valley of which imagination can conceive. It was the season for flowers, and in every direction the most beautiful floral blossoms met the eye. Oh, the beautiful ranches (farms we should call them) that were situated on the banks of this magnificent stream! We passed some fields of wheat, containing five hundred acres in one inclosure. We forded numerous streams which intercepted our course. We saw herds of antelope bounding gracefully from our path. To some we got sufficiently near to see their clear, bright, shining eyes. Their graceful symmetry of form, their agile, sylph-like motions, all combine to render them one of the most beautiful animals in the country. The fawn of the American deer, if captured before the pretty white spots upon its sides have disappeared, will follow its captor anywhere, if he will first carry it a little while in his arms. They are the perfection of grace, innocence, and confidence. Probably there is no wild animal more susceptible of domestication, when taken young, than the American deer.

We saw, too, the elk, in large numbers. Once, as we were approaching a stream, there were several drinking therefrom. As soon as they perceived us, they reared aloft their heads, surmounted by huge and stately antlers, and dashed away with the velocity of the wind. As we neared a ranch belonging to Mr. N----, everything bespoke the wealth and prosperity of the ranchholder. He possessed a herd of one thousand horses. That day they were corralled, for the purpose of branding those not already bearing the owner’s mark. This seems to me a cruel process, yet an unavoidable one there, where so many different people’s stock are running together over the plains. They blindfold the beast, and chain it to a post deeply imbedded in the earth. Then the blacksmith takes the branding-iron, bearing the owner’s stamp, heats it red hot, and applies it quickly to the shoulder or haunch of the animal. How the seared hair and hide smoke! and how the poor creature plunges and rears with fright and pain! I have too much sympathy for the poor brutes ever to be a ranchholder, or the wife of one. We dined at the ranch of Mr. L----, whose waving fields of grain, with other appurtenances, revealed in a measure the extent of his wealth.

We travelled on through elysian valleys, until we reached our destination. The only objection a person could have to a residence in these sunny vales is the annoyance one is subjected to from myriads of musquetoes, which, at certain seasons, swarm the country. I have seen laborers at work in the fields with green veils tied to their hats, and drawn down over their faces, and fastened about their necks. When we reached our destination (the ranch of Mr. S----), I was very much fatigued; but that, in a measure, was dispelled by the hearty welcome I received from Mrs. B---- (Mr. S----’s daughter), an interesting lady from New York, who arrived in the country at the time I did. Her father was a very wealthy ranchholder.

Their dwelling-house was constructed of adobe brick. It was only one story high, but more than sixty feet long. Mr. S---- employed a host of Indians upon his ranch. The beautiful gardens and extensive fields of grain furnished convincing proofs of the enterprise, industry, and energy of the proprietor. Nineteen years’ salutary training had, in a measure, eradicated the indolent propensities inherent to the Digger race. Mr. S---- had been a resident in California, and on that ranch, for nineteen long years. What caused him to leave his family and native land, to seek a home in the wilds of California, is unknown to me. But so he did. When he left his home, Mrs. B----, the daughter then with him, was a babe scarcely six months old. During those long years of separation, the wife knew not the whereabouts of her husband, or of his existence even. His little children grew to man’s and woman’s estate in the interim, never dreaming they had a father in California. Some were old enough to recollect him before his self-banishment from their presence; but they soon learned to speak of him as one gone to the spirit-land.

One chill autumn eve in 1850, might have been seen a man a little past the meridian of life, whose silvered locks and furrowed cheeks gave evidence of past griefs, of sufferings that had roughly stirred the deep fountains within,--else the surface would not have been so deeply channelled,--standing irresolutely before the door of a neat mansion in New York city. Conflicting emotions of pleasure and of pain were rapidly crossing each other upon his countenance; and well they might, for he was standing, after an absence of nineteen years, at the door of his own house, desiring, yet scarcely daring, to enter. He summoned courage to ring; the door opened, and he crossed the threshold of his home,--confronted his wife--how changed from the young and blooming woman he left so long ago! yet, the instant their eyes met, the recognition was mutual. The little Bessy he left a babe, was all the child remaining at home. He remained with his wife and child that winter; but there existed a yearning for his home in California, that he vainly endeavored to conquer. He must return. Would his wife and child go with him? The daughter would, for she manifested unusual affection for her father, so recently found. The wife preferred to remain behind. In the spring, father and daughter left New York for the home in California. They were unavoidably detained at Panama. While there, the daughter became acquainted with a young gentleman from her native city. He proposed, was accepted, and they were united at Panama, before proceeding on their voyage. And here they were domesticated, away in the interior of California. They appeared to be enjoying as much happiness as ever falls to the lot of mortals. How pleasant it seemed to enter that adobe building, and find everything arranged with a neatness and regularity eliciting admiration. Mrs. B---- performed no household duties herself. She had five or six well-trained Indian women for house servants, who labored hard for no other remuneration than their food and raiment. The last-mentioned stipulation, however, was easily complied with, as they require but very little clothing--just as much as decency requires, and no more.

Mrs. B---- is a lovely woman, well qualified to grace the most refined and intelligent society. There was a novelty and charm connected with their residence in that remote place, which rendered life peculiarly pleasant. The extensive tract of land which Mr. S. possessed (since the confirmation of the ranch titles) has rendered him immensely wealthy. Immediately upon our arrival, our horses were allowed to revel in the luxuries of wild oats. They were actually up to their eyes in acres of the nutritious grain. After the business which had led us to that remote place had been ratified; we started on our homeward journey, with much more extended views of the agricultural resources of California than we had hitherto enjoyed. Soon after this, my brother left for distant mines.