The first day we reached Gilroy's and camped by a stream near three or four adobe-huts known as Gilroy's ranch.

The next day we passed Murphy's, San Jose, and Santa Clara Mission, camping some four miles beyond, where a kind of hole had been dug in the ground for water.

The whole of this distance, now so beautifully improved and settled, was then scarcely occupied, except by poor ranches producing horses and cattle.

The pueblo of San Jose was a string of low adobe-houses festooned with red peppers and garlic; and the Mission of Santa Clara was a dilapidated concern, with its church and orchard.

The long line of poplar-trees lining the road from San Jose to Santa Clara bespoke a former period when the priests had ruled the land.