afterwards occurred; and among those who survived there was much
suffering before they could get away.

The vessel that conveyed us, and by "us" I mean the passengers of
the "Crescent City," and as many others as could by any possibility
procure passage from Panama to San Francisco was the old steamer
"California." She was about one thousand tons burden; but probably no
ship of two thousand ever carried a greater number of passengers on a
long voyage. When we came to get under way, there did not seem to be
any spare space from stem to stern. There were over twelve hundred
persons on board, as I was informed.[2] Unfortunately many of them
carried with them the seeds of disease. The infection contracted under
a tropical sun, being aggravated by hardships, insufficient food,
and the crowded condition of the steamer, developed as the voyage
proceeded. Panama fever in its worst form broke out; and it was not
long before the main deck was literally covered with the sick. There
was a physician attached to the ship; but unfortunately he was also
prostrated. The condition of things was very sad and painful.

Among the passengers taken sick were two by the name of Gregory Yale
and Stephen Smith; and I turned myself into a nurse and took care of
them. Mr. Yale, a gentleman of high attainments, and who afterwards
occupied a prominent place at the bar of the State, was for a portion
of the time dangerously ill, and I believe that but for my attentions
he would have died. He himself was of this opinion, and afterwards
expressed his appreciation of my attention in every way he could. In
the many years I knew him he never failed to do me a kindness whenever
an opportunity presented. Finally, on the evening of December 28,
1849, after a passage of twenty-two days from Panama, we reached San
Francisco, and landed between eight and nine o'clock that night.