" Distance 14 miles.
_January 6_.--The wind has blown a gale in our faces all day, and the
clouds of dust have been almost blinding. The mission of San
Buenaventura does not differ, in its general features, from those of
other establishments of the same kind heretofore described. There is a
large garden, inclosed by a high wall, attached to the mission, in
which I noticed a great variety of fruit-trees and ornamental
shrubbery. There are also numerous inclosures, for cultivation, by
willow hedges. The soil, when properly tilled, appears to be highly
productive. This mission is situated about two miles from the shore of
a small bay or indentation of the coast, on the edge of a plain or
valley watered by the Rio Santa Clara, which empties into the Pacific
at this point. A chain of small islands, from ten to twenty miles from
the shore, commences at Santa Barbara, and extends south along the
coast, to the bay of San Pedro. These islands present to the eye a
barren appearance. At present the only inhabitants of the mission are a
few Indians, the white population having abandoned it on our approach,
with the exception of one man, who met us yesterday and surrendered
himself a prisoner.
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