The lure of San Francisco; a romance amid old landmarks . benches and studythe wrecked and drifting lives of the men wholounged in the square. And the gilded ship on top with its fullblown sails—that must suggest his TreasureIsland, doesnt it? Yes, and also the Manila Galleon, thatsplendid treasure-ship ladened with silk, waxand spices from the Philippines and China,which once each year made its landfall nearCape Mendocino and followed the line of thecoast down to Mexico. He leaned with arm outstretched alongthe back of the bench and surveyed the park. This, you said, was the old Spanish Plaza
The lure of San Francisco; a romance amid old landmarks . benches and studythe wrecked and drifting lives of the men wholounged in the square. And the gilded ship on top with its fullblown sails—that must suggest his TreasureIsland, doesnt it? Yes, and also the Manila Galleon, thatsplendid treasure-ship ladened with silk, waxand spices from the Philippines and China,which once each year made its landfall nearCape Mendocino and followed the line of thecoast down to Mexico. He leaned with arm outstretched alongthe back of the bench and surveyed the park. This, you said, was the old Spanish was here then? At first just a sweep of tawny sand-dunes,surrounded by scrub oak and chaparral. Idropped my eyes to the gravel walk, that Imight shut out the emerald green lawns, andflowering shrubs. Over the shifting hillockswandered a little minty vine bearing a deli-cate white and lavender flower not unlikeyour trailing arbutus. It was from the medic-inal qualities of this plant that the little set-tlement was named Yerba Buena, the good [64]. PORTSMOUTH SQUAREMuch of the history of San Francisco was made around this Plaza. THE PLAZA and ITS ECHOESherb. Over there on the northwest cornerwhere that dingy Chinese restaurant nowfloats the flag of Chop Suey stood the oldadobe Custom House, the first building erectedon the Plaza, and it was in front of this thatthe Stars and Stripes were run up when Gen-eral Montgomery, who had arrived in thesloop-of-war Portsmouth, took possession inthe name of the United States. So that is where the square got its name—from the ship Portsmouth? His voice rangwith the joy of discovery. Yes, but the new name never completelyreplaced the old. We love the terms whichcome to us from Spanish days, and so, tomany of us, this is still the Plaza. I presume there was a great outcry whenMontgomery pulled down the Mexican flagand ran up the American. But I understandthe country was helpless. Yes, it was poorly fortified, and the Cali-fornians had
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