Our host, Mr. Schwartz, is one of those eccentric human phenomena rarely met with, who, wandering from their own nation into foreign countries, forget their own language without acquiring any other. He speaks a tongue (language it cannot be called) peculiar to himself, and scarcely intelligible. It is a mixture, in about equal parts, of German, English, French, Spanish, and _rancheria_ Indian, a compounded polyglot or lingual _pi_--each syllable of a word sometimes being derived from a different language. Stretching ourselves on the benches surrounding the fire, so as to avoid the drippings from the pendent salmon, we slept until morning. _October 26_.--Mr. Schwartz provided us with a breakfast of fried salmon and some fresh milk. Coffee, sugar, and bread we brought with us, so that we enjoyed a luxurious repast. Near the house was a shed containing some forty or fifty barrels of pickled salmon, but the fish, from their having been badly put up, were spoiled. Mr. Schwartz attempted to explain the particular causes of this, but I could not understand him. The salmon are taken with seines dragged across the channel of the river by Indians in canoes. On the bank of the river the Indians were eating their breakfast, which consisted of a large fresh salmon, roasted in the ashes or embers, and a kettle of _atole_, made of acorn-meal. The salmon was four or five feet in length, and, when taken out of the fire and cut open, presented a most tempting appearance. The Indians were all nearly naked, and most of them, having been wading in the water at daylight to set their seines, were shivering with the cold whilst greedily devouring their morning meal. We reached the _embarcadero_ of New Helvetia about eleven o'clock, A.M., and, finding there a wagon, we placed our baggage in it, and walked to the fort, about two and a half miles. CHAPTER VII. Disastrous news from the south Return of Colonel Fremont to Monterey Call for volunteers Volunteer our services Leave New Helvetia Swimming the Sacramento First fall of rain Beautiful and romantic valley Precipitous mountains Deserted house Arable land of California Fattening qualities of the acorn Lost in the Coast Mountains Strange Indians Indian women gathering grass-seed for bread Indian guide Laguna Rough dialogue Hunters' camp "Old Greenwood" Grisly bear meat Greenwood's account of himself His opinion of the Indians and Spaniards Retrace our steps Severe storm Nappa valley Arrive at Sonoma More rain Arrive at San Francisco Return to New Helvetia.