God Almighty was personated, and heaven's occupants seemed very human.

Yet the play was pretty, interesting, and elicited universal applause.

All the month of February we were by day preparing for our long stay in the country, and at night making the most of the balls and parties of the most primitive kind, picking up a smattering of Spanish, and extending our acquaintance with the people and the costumbrea del pais.

I can well recall that Ord and I, impatient to look inland, got permission and started for the Mission of San Juan Bautista.
Mounted on horses, and with our carbines, we took the road by El Toro, quite a prominent hill, around which passes the road to the south, following the Saunas or Monterey River.

After about twenty miles over a sandy country covered with oak-bushes and scrub, we entered quite a pretty valley in which there was a ranch at the foot of the Toro.