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Revere / 1849 / (California Gold Rush) A Tour of Duty in California; Including a Description of The Gold Region: And an Account of the Voyage Around Cape Horn; with Notices of Lower California, the Gulf and Pacific Coasts, and the Principal Events Attending the Conquest of the Californias [with map:] Harbour of San Francisco California Sketched from Beechey's Survey (Safe 3, 69360) 12mo. Original blindstamped dark brown cloth, neatly rebacked with original backstrip laid down over new spine. Endpapers renewed, with early bookseller's ticket preserved. Binding edges and corners showing wear. [4],vi,[2],305, [6, ads] pages plus 6 lithograph plates and folding map. Complete. Wood engraving: "Design for the Arms of California." One-inch tear to fore-edge margin of frontispiece plate (image unaffected). Repaired tear to map, (no loss). Usual foxing. Pencil ownership inscription (on original free endpaper, detached, laid in) of California pioneer from Nantucket: "Orestes A. B. Tracy, Nantucket. This is a specimen of my improved penmanship after leaving the grammar school / it is not beautiful." Bookseller ticket on front pastedown: "Sold by Henry Whipple, 190 Essex Street, Salem." One of the Best Descriptions of California During the Gold Rush With Lithograph Plates and Folding Map Revere, a graduate of the U.S. Naval Academy and a grandson of Paul Revere, was an officer of the U.S.S. Portsmouth during the American conquest of California. He eventually acquired a California rancho, near Sonoma. According to J. Gregg Layne's entry for this book in the Zamorano 80, Revere's Tour of Duty offers one of the best descriptions of Gold Rush-era California. Howes goes so far as to call Revere authoritative on particulars of the conquest of California. There are valuable chapters on land law and land titles, as well as Mason's complete report on the gold fields, and even a chapter on the horses of California: "The lineage of the Californian horse is undoubtedly of the purest and highest. those immense herds of wild horses which range the vast plains of the Tulares.all derive their descent from the Andalusian horses." Chapters 11-15 (pages 112-163) are devoted to the Indians of California, with many interesting particulars about their mode of life, ceremonies, wars, and the like. Much of the book is descriptive of the Mexican era, but Revere inserted a concluding chapter on the California gold deposits, containing Colonel R. B. Mason's famous report and extracts of letters from Thomas Larkin, Thomas Ap C. Jones, and William Ritch - Kurutz. Indeed, the book is a veritable treasure trove, with first-hand descriptions of the life and manners of the Californio rancheros. The map, Harbour of San Francisco, California, was made by Revere himself, and is based on Beechey's survey. It presents a detailed view of the Bay Area, noting the locations of various ranchos, including those of Amador, Castro, Martidnez [sic], Vallejo, Sanchez, and Marsh. The detailed lithograph plates, after sketches by Revere, are as follows: Sutter's Fort - New Helvetia Monterey - Capitol of California Quicksilver Mine near Santa Clara Monte Diablo from the Sacramento River A Ranchero Feat A "Pui" Day [Native American feast day with temascal or sweat lodge]: "A remarkable peculiarity of these Indians is their use of the "tamascal" or sweat-house. It is generally used near a pool or a stream, and those who use it rush from the tamascal into the water. These sweat-baths appear to be used as luxuries, are always resorted to on "Pui" or feast days. They are also employed in the celebration of rites of a peculiar nature, analagous to those practised by the ancients in the mysteries of Pan and Apollo in the cave of the Parthenon.".
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