cisco commerce had been chiefly aflTected; here it was
government that was stricken. Mason's small force
was quickly thinned ; and by the middle of July, if we
may believe the Reverend Colton, who never was.
guilty of spoiling a story by too strict adherence to
truth, the governor and general-in-chief of California
was cooking his own dinner.®
In a proclamation of July 25th, Colonel Mason called on the people to assist in apprehending deserters. He threatened the foothills with a dragoon force; but whence were to come the dragoons? The officers were as eager to be off as the men ; many of them obtained leave to go, and liberal furloughs were granted to the soldiers, for those who could not obtain leave went without leave. As the officers who re- mained could no longer afford to live in their accus- tomed w^ay, a cook's wages being $300 a month, they were allowed to draw rations in kind, which they ex- changed for board in private families.^ But even
black, and his buckskins reached to his knees. ' The man had a bag of gold on his back. The sight of its contents started Gcu'son on his way at once. In May Larkin had prophesiecl that by June the town would be M'ithout inhabi- tants. June Ist Mason at Monterey wrote Larkin at S. F. : *The golden-yel- low fever has not yet, I believe, assumed here its worst type, though the premonitory symptoms are beginning to exhibit themselves, and doubtless the epidemic will pass over Monterey, leaving the marks of its ravages, as it has done at S. F. and elsewhere. Take care you don't become so charged with its malaria as to inoculate and infect us all when you return.' Jackson McDuffoe, addressing Larkin on the same date, says: 'Monterey is very dull, nothing doing, the gold fever is beginning to take a decided effect here, and a large party will leave for the Sacramento the last of the week. Shovels, spades, picks, and other articles wanted by these wild aclventurers are in great demand.' Schallenberger on the 8th of June tells Larkin that *a great many are leaving Monterey. Times duller than when you left.* In Sept. there was not a doctor in the town, and Mrs Larkin who was lying ill with fever had to do without medical attendance.
^'Oen. Mason, Lieut Lannian, and myself form a mess. . .This morning for the fortieth time we had to take to the kitchen and cook our own break- fast. A general of the U. S. army, the commander of a man-of-war, and the alcalde of Monterey in a smoking kitchen grinding coffee, toasting a herring, and peelins onions ! ' Three Years in Vol,, 247-8. *R6duit k faire lui-mdnie sa cuisine, as one says of this incident in the Revue des Deux Mondea^ Feb. 1849.
'^'I of course could not escape the infection,' says Sherman, Mem., i. 46,
- and at last convinced Colonel Mason that it was our duty to go up and see
with our own eyes, that we might report the tnith to our government. ' Swan relates an anecdote of a party of sailors, including the master-at-arms, belong- ing to the Warretif who deserted in a boat. They hid themselves in th
