Sunday, November 1st.  Sailed this day (Sunday again) for Santa Barbara, where we arrived on the 5th.  Coming round Santa Buenaventura, and nearing the anchorage, we saw two vessels in port, a large full-rigged, and a small, hermaphrodite brig.  The former, the crew said, must be the Pilgrim; but I had been too long in the Pilgrim to be mistaken in her, and I was right in differing from them, for, upon nearer approach, her long, low, shear, sharp bows, and raking masts, told quite another story. ``Man-of-war brig,’’ said some of them; ``Baltimore clipper,’’ said others; the Ayacucho, thought I; and soon the broad folds of the beautiful banner of St. George—­ white field with blood-red border and cross—­ were displayed from her peak.  A few minutes put it beyond a doubt, and we were lying by the side of the Ayacucho, which had sailed from San Diego about nine months before, while we were lying there in the Pilgrim.  She had since been to Valparaiso, Callao, and the Sandwich Islands, and had just come upon the coast.  Her boat came on board, bringing Captain Wilson; and in half an hour the news was all over the ship that there was a war between the United States and France.  Exaggerated accounts reached the forecastle.  Battles had been fought, a large French fleet was in the Pacific, &c., &c.; and one of the boat’s crew of the Ayacucho said that, when they left Callao, a large French frigate and the American frigate Brandywine, which were lying there, were going outside to have a battle, and that the English frigate Blonde was to be umpire, and see fair play.  Here was important news for us.  Alone, on an unprotected coast, without an American man-of-war within some thousands of miles, and the prospect of a voyage home through the whole length of the Pacific and Atlantic Oceans!  A French prison seemed a much more probable place of destination than the good port of Boston.  However, we were too salt to believe every yarn that comes into the forecastle, and waited to hear the truth of the matter from higher authority.  By means of the supercargo’s clerk I got the amount of the matter, which was, that the governments had had a difficulty about the payment of a debt; that war had been threatened and prepared for, but not actually declared, although it was pretty generally anticipated.  This was not quite so bad, yet was no small cause of anxiety.  But we cared very little about the matter ourselves. ``Happy go lucky’’ with Jack!  We did not believe that a French prison would be much worse than ``hide droghing’’ on the coast of California; and no one who has not been a long, dull voyage, shut up in one ship, can conceive of the effect of monotony upon one’s thoughts and wishes.  The prospect of a change is a green spot in the desert, and the probability of great events and exciting scenes creates a feeling of delight, and sets life in motion, so as to give a pleasure which any one not in the same state would be unable to explain.  In fact, a more jovial night we had