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72 Historical Society of Southern California

with its long slender leaves glimmering in the sun (it was
the species of which white sugar is made). Nearer to
the bluff were the orchards with a great variety of fruit
trees, too many to enumerate. But though these trees were
too numerous to specify, I will not forget to identify my fa-
vorite trees, the ones that bore my best liked fruits. These
were visited more frequently by me than the rest, when in
season, and sometimes before—then hard punishment was
administered, invariably accompanied with the unsavory cas-
tor oil. I can see the immense apricot trees—thickly cov-
ered with their glossy verdure, sprinkled over, as it seemed,
with round, mellow, golden fruit, they made an admirably
beautiful sight to rest one’s eyes upon as they stood to the
left of the principal avenue that led into the orchard, while
numbers of mocking birds filled the air with their wondrous
songs. Then the delicious aroma of the peaches would
draw me on—they were not large, nor attractive, but oh,
how sweet, as were all the fruits the missionaries brought
with them to Alta California! There were rosy-cheeked
pears, de San Juan (St. John), so called as they ripen about
the 24th of June, St. John’s day. There were oranges,
lemons, sweet limes, citrons, walnuts, pomegranates, al-
monds, apples, mulberry trees, plums! The Mission figs
when so ripe that their skins crack, are rich, but have never
seemed as good to me as when I ate them sitting on a high,
stout branch of the tree hidden by the huge protecting
leaves. There were long rows of these trees along the bor-
der of the zanja (water ditch) that ran along the foot of
the bluff. Nearby was the flower garden, where the white
and pink moss roses, lilacs, snowballs and hollyhocks tow-
ered above the lilies, verbenas, marigolds, violets and
daisies. In some parts along the zanja there were real thickets
of sweet-scented Rosas de Castilla and other kinds of roses.
Here and there a bed of azafran (saffron), another of anis
(anise) and flax.
There were two baths by the side of the zanja, one,
near the house, and the other in la huerta de medio (the
middle orchard) . The baths were made of wood lined with
tin. The water from the zanja filled the baths by means