And they told weird Indian legends,
Tales of Cortes, too, they told,
And of peaceful reign of Incas,
And of Montezuma's gold;
And they sang, as weary exiles
Sing of home and vanished years,
Sweet, heart-treasured songs that always
Bring the dumb applause of tears.
When the day was sunk in ocean,
And the land around was dim,
On the tranquil air of midnight
Rose the sweet Franciscan hymn;
And when bugle told the dawning,
And the matin prayers were done,
On his journey went Portala,
And his army northward on.
Far away they saw sierras,
Clothed with an eternal spring,
While at times the mighty ocean
In their path her spray would fling;
On amid such scenes they journeyed,
Through the dreary wastes of sand,
Through ravines dark, deep, and narrow,
And through cañons wild and grand.
And with what a thrill of pleasure,
All their toils and dangers through,
Gazed they on this scene of beauty
When it burst upon their view,
As Portala and his army,
Standing where I stand to-day,
Saw before them spread in beauty
Green-clad hills and noble bay.
Then the Governor Portala
Broke the spell of silence thus:
"To this place, through Padre Serra,
Hath Saint Francis guided us;
So the bay and all around it
For the Spanish King I claim,
And forever, in the future,
Let it bear Saint Francis' name."
Thus he spoke, and I am standing
On the self-same spot to-day,
And my eyes rest on the landscape,
And the green hills, and the bay,
And upon Saint Francis' city,
As, with youth and hope elate,
She is gazing toward the ocean,
Sitting by the Golden Gate.
Needless were such gifts as heaven
Gave to holy seers of yore,
To foretell the meed of glory,
Fairest town, for thee in store!
To foretell the seat of empire
Here will be, nor for a day,
Where Balboa's sea doth mingle
With the waters of thy bay!
Richard Edward White.
In 1822 California became a province of Mexico, and in 1844 Colonel John Charles Frémont reached Sutter's Fort with an exploring expedition. Two years later, during the war with Mexico, he assumed command of the American forces in the country, and established the authority of the United States there.