of its government at Monterey, where is also the custom-house, the only
one on the coast, and at which every vessel intending to trade on the
coast must enter its cargo before it can commence its traffic. We were
to trade upon this coast exclusively, and therefore expected to go to
Monterey at first; but the captain's orders from home were to put in
at Santa Barbara, which is the central port of the coast, and wait
there for the agent who lives there, and transacts all the business
for the firm to which our vessel belonged.

The bay, or, as it was commonly called, the canal of Santa Barbara,
is very large, being formed by the main land on one side, (between
Point Conception on the north and Point St. Buena Ventura on the south,)
which here bends in like a crescent, and three large islands opposite
to it and at the distance of twenty miles. This is just sufficient to
give it the name of a bay, while at the same time it is so large and
so much exposed to the south-east and north-west winds, that it is
little better than an open roadstead; and the whole swell of the
Pacific ocean rolls in here before a southeaster, and breaks with
so heavy a surf in the shallow waters, that it is highly dangerous
to lie near to the shore during the south-easter season; that is,
between the months of November and April.

This wind (the south-easter) is the bane of the coast of California.
Between the months of November and April, (including a part of each,)
which is the rainy season in this latitude, you are never safe from it,
and accordingly, in the ports which are open to it, vessels are obliged,
during these months, to lie at anchor at a distance of three miles from
the shore, with slip-ropes on their cables, ready to slip and go to sea
at a moment's warning. The only ports which are safe from this wind
are San Francisco and Monterey in the north, and San Diego in the south.