DEXTEROUS FEAT OF A GRIZZLY BEAR.

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were out of the question. The lodging apartments were gen erally fitted up like state-rooms on a ship, with two berths, i. e. a little pen or box with two shelves, for each of which shelf, with board, the charge was $25 per week, occupant permitted to furnish his own bedding.

Dear reader, having a pressing business engagement at San Juan de Nicaragua, I will presume upon your leisure so far as to ask you to accompany me. I will give you a free passage, and return with you in thirty days, claiming your indulgence for the want of interest in the trip. You undoubtedly remember the excitement attending your advent on board the steamer, your last trip to sea-mine was similar. At 12 o'clock, M., we had the "heave ahead!" clanking of the cable, firing of cannon, and at half-past 12 passed through the "Golden Gate." Now our steamer makes her obeisance to Neptune, who steps aside to let her pass. On leaving the outer bay, we put our wheel "hard down," and stood away to the south, the coast range, as well as the Sierra Nevada, seeming in tears at our departure. We steam along, now raising a peak of the mountain, and now sinking it below the horizon, until the second day, when we stand in toward shore, and soon arrive in full view of Santa Barbara, presenting a fertile plain near the coast, with mountains in the background.

This is the point at which Col. Stevenson's regiment was disbanded. It is a small town hardly deserving the name, and has acquired its name and importance from its mission, the missionhouse being a building of great capacity, containing a collection of valuable paintings. The front makes some pretensions to architectural beauty, with two towers, each containing two bells; between the towers, is a representation of the sun, the disc being the dial of a clock. (See Plate.) There is a fountain near the church, the water being brought from the mountain in a trench, and thrown from the mouths of grizzly bears. Why the grizzly bear was chosen by the worthy "Padre" to do the ornamental part, I was unable to learn, perhaps owing to feats of dexterity performed by his bearship on certain occasions.

At the time of the arrival of the California regiment, one of the Bruin family had taken up his residence on a rancho, not far distant. The natives, wishing to exhibit their dexterity,