Yale University Library 39002006580212 III! I!I!;S ¦ ' ii; ¦! 'vni iA ^ ¦•¦' ¦ ¦ ¦ • ¦ "¦¦'•=¦¦ ¦•¦¦ ¦•¦ '¦ ¦= ¦ '¦"¦'¦¦• HWPil^Pi''''''^""'. :¦ ¦¦..¦.;.,4;.r.iV, 'f'^iitkeftSpM far^pi^finlpiin^if a. CfUtge, tfOtHit^q&rtyfi BOUGHT WITH THE INCOME OF THE PERKINS FUND 1903~ m FRAY JUNIPERO SEERA CALIFORNIA AN D ITS MISSIONS their history to the treaty of guadalupe hidalgo BY BRYAN J. CLINCH IN TWO VOLUMES WITH ILLUSTRATIONS VOL. IL W^t aMSitafter S. Eag Compan? (Incorporated) PUBLISHERS San Francisco 1904 Copyright igo^ by Bryan J. Clinch CONTENTS CHAPTER I The First Settlement at San Diego 11 CHAPTER II Discovery op San Francisco Bay 28 CHAPTER III The Finding op Monterey 50 CHAPTER IV Friars and Mexican Officials 71 CHAPTER V Spanish Explorations Under Btjcareli 85 CHAPTER VI Foundation of San Francisco Ill CHAPTER VII Governor Neve 125 CHAPTER VIII Officialism and Mission Work 140 CHAPTER IX JxJNiPERO Serra's Death 152 5 6 contents CHAPTER X Fray Firmin Lasuen ?'." 166 CHAPTER XI Governor Borica 182 CHAPTER XII' Franciscan Methods in California. . . .' 201 CHAPTER XIII The Spanish Franciscans ^ 215 CHAPTER XIV Fray Esteban Tapis 223 CHAPTER XV Governor Aeeillaga 240 CHAPTER XVI Senan, Payebas and Sarria 26.3 CHAPTER XVII Sola, the Last Spanish Governor 278 CHAPTER XVIII The Mexican .Empire 294 CHAPTER XIX The First Mexican Goveenor 312 CHAPTER XX Governor Figueroa 332 COI^TENTS 7 CHAPTER XXI Seculaeization Begun 349' CHAPTER XXII -^ Alvabado Goveenoe Theough Revolution 370 • CHAPTER XXIII Results of Seculaeization 387 CHAPTER XXIV Micheltoeena and Restoration 410 CHAPTER XXV The Final Confiscation 428 CHAPTER XXVI The Spanish Califoenians 445 CHAPTER XXVII Fremont and the Bear Flag 466 CHAPTER XXVITI The American Occupation 483 CHAPTER XXIX The Indians After the Conquest 508 CHAPTER XXX The Peanciscans in Ameeican Califobnia 523 ILLUSTRATIONS Frontispiece — Fbay Junipero Serra Landing at San Diego 26 Bay of San Francisco 43 Port of Monterey 53 San Carlos Mission 75 Old Spanish Bells, San Gabriel 98 Colonel Juan Bautista Anza 112 Santa Barbara, Town and Mission 132 ¦ Father Gaeces in Arizona 143 The Last Resting Place, Caemel Chubch 163 San Luis Rey in Old Times 179 Pueblo of Monterey 189 Santa Barbara Cloistee 209 Fray Boscana 219 Ruined Church of Capistbano 232 Santa Inez Mission 261 Fray Antonio Peyri 269 San Francisco Old Mission 285 Church of San Carlos, Monterey 299 Mission San Gabriel 327 College of Zacatecas, Mexico 339 9 10 illustbations Santa Baebaea Mission 360 Mission San Luis Rey 377 Mission San Diego 392 The Fiest Bishop of Califobnia 413 In the Cloistees of Capistbano 431 Santa Clara in 1850 449 Sonoma Mission 474 Archbishop Alemany 507 The Asistencia at Pala 514 Santa Claba Mission Chubch Restored 529 CALIFORNIA AND ITS MISSIONS CHAPTER I The First Settlement at San Diego Upper California was the last colonial expansion of Spain in America. Unlike most Spanish settlements, it was formed directly by the government, and on a well- defined plan, which was substantially continued until the close of Spanish rule on the American Continent, It was occupied both as a missionary enterprise, approved by the Spanish administration, and as a military colony, directed and supported by it. The first was conducted on the methods established in most Spanish colonies since the middle of the sixteenth century, and by similar agencies. The military colony was planned on new ad ministrative ideas, lately brought into Spain by the third Bourbon King, Charles the Third, To occupy the Pacific Coast north of Mexico had been desired by all the rulers of Spain from the close of the sixteenth century, but the practical obstacles from the difficulties of navigation were so great that it was never practically attempted before the time of Charles. His ministry took it up seriously, after the war forced on Spain by England, in 1760, at the beginning of the new reign, A minister of the Crown, Don Jose Galvez, was sent to Mexico in 1765 with extensive powers as Visitor General, He was.sp£cially charged tojfgrmjnilitaxy posts in Upper California, and, if possible, to .settlejthejwhole territory.- Galvez began his task with energy and intelligence. He established a naval station and dock yard at San Bias, the first on the Pacific shores of Mexico, He also organ- 11 12 CALIFORNIA AND ITS MISSIONS VOL. 2 ized the detached companies of the frontiers into a regu lar militia, under command of General Hugh O'Connor, a veteran soldier of the regular army, who was stationed at Chihuahua. The new force received the name of "Soldados de Cuera," or leather jackets, from the uni form introduced as protection against arrows. These measures had been completed when Galvez first visited Lower California, after the banishment of the Jesuits. He began preparations for the actual expedition im mediately after his arrival and pushed them with much ability. The difficulties of the enterprise were well known to him and he spared no pains to overcome them. He formed a naval station at La Paz to lessen the distance to be traversed by sea, which had been hitherto the most serious objection to attempting an expedition like Vis- caino's. He decided also that a land force should start at the same time with the ships, and in the direction of both he called in the aid of men familiar with the country, as well as the training of experienced military and naval officers of the regular forces. The old guards of the Jesuit missions were enrolled in the force of "leather- jackets," and the former Governor, with a party of them, sent as pioneers of the land expedition under the orders of Captain Portola, who followed with a company of regu lar Spanish soldiers. Captain Vila was named naval commander, having been brought for that purpose from the Atlantic service. His second in command, Juan Perez, was an experienced navigator who had served some years on the Philippine packets as pilot and was familiar with the California coast. Constructors were brought from Europe and Mexico to build the vessels needed for the voyage at San Bias. Three ships of about two hundred tons each had been built at San Bias by the middle of 1768, Galvez had them sent on trial trips through the Gulf, and then examined the first two personally at La Paz. He had them over hauled, recaulked and loaded under his own supervision, the first settlement AT SAN DIEGO 13 which was so close that he often took a hand in the work among the Indian stevedores. Galvez, though a Crown minister, was the son of a Spanish farmer and had been used in his boyhood to hard work. His brother, when at a later date Viceroy of Mexico, was fond of referring to his humble origin, and once surprised the dignitaries of his court by explaining how he had learned to trim fences in his early years. There was less of aristocratic pretence among the Spanish high officials than those of England or France at the time. It would be hard to imagine a British Lord of the Admiralty acting a part at Green wich like that of the Spanish Visitor General of MexicO' at La Paz, He organized the department at San Bias with equal diligence. The salaries and supplies, and the sources from which the necessary funds were to be drawn, were personally arranged by G,alvez- with all the exactness of \ a modem municipal budget. His methods were new in Mexico, but the despotic energy of the Visitor made them be observed punctually. He made no scruple about using the capital of the Pious Fund for the expenses of the first expedition. The surplus in the hands of the last Jesuit procurator and the stores in the magazine at Loretto amounted to nearly two hundred thousand dollars, and were all employed in building the ships and furnishing supplies for the royal expedition. Galvez was strict in the matter of economy. He reduced the pay hitherto al lowed by the treasury to soldiers on California service, and he made up the church furniture and altar linen for the new missions by borrowing from those already founded on the peninsula. Father Palou incidentally mentions that many of the latter were almost worn out when sent. In vindication of his colleagues against the insinuations of Sergeant Barri on this head, the worthy Franciscan appealed to the wife of a Spanish sergeant, who had to "mend, wash and iron the albs and altar linen" before they could be shipped to Monterey, 14 CALIFORNIA AND ITS MISSIONS VOL. 2 The San Carlos, under command of Don Vicente Vila, sailed first in January, 1769. The San Antonio, under charge of Perez, followed the next month. Galvez showed a homely kindness to the parting sailors at La Paz, ac cording to Palou. "All being ready. His Excellency appointed the ninth of January for sailing, on which day all prepared them selves with confession and communion. When mass was over, he gathered them all together and made them a thoughtful and kindly speech. He laid their duties on them in the name of God and of the King and his Viceroy, and told them they were going to plant the Standard of the Holy Cross among the heathens of San Diego and Monterey. He urged peace and union among themselves and due respect to their superior officers, and especially towards the missionary, Fray Hernando Parron, who was going for the equal benefit of all on board. Then they parted, Fray Parron getting a special blessing from the Rev. Father President, who was there present, and so all went on board. The Honorable Visitor went in La Conception (his own vessel) with the first ship as far as Cape San Lucas, since he could not go to Monterey, as in deed he wished much to go." The Visitor's attitude towards the Franciscans was marked by cordiality and easy familiarity. He took coun sel with Father Serra on the location of the mission set tlements, and showed his interest in them by packing the vestments intended for San Buenaventura with his own hands. He challenged the Franciscan President to do the same for another mission, and claimed to have proved himself a better sacristan than the priest, as he had finished his packing first. Three missions were to be founded by the expedition, and that of Monterey was to be dedicated under the name of San Carlos Borromeo, the patron saint of the reigning monarch, San Diego was to retain its old title, and the intermediate establishment, to be founded at some point on the Santa Barbara channel, THE FIRST SETTLEMENT AT SAN DIEGO 15 was tg be named-a£ter..J3uenaventura. the distinguished Franciscan author and saint. Father Serra bethought of the claims of the Patriarch of the Order and asked that his name should be given to some mission. Galvez laughingly replied that if St. Francis wanted one he had only to guide the explorers to a new port. His answer was recalled with simple delight by the Franciscans on the discovery of the bay now known by the name of the Saint of Assisi. Whatever the sentiments of the other ministers of Charles, there seems no reason to doubt the sin cerity of Galvez in his expressions of good will towards the Franciscans and their missions. He had already restored control of the Lower California estab lishments to the priests after Portola 's attempt at secular izing them. The new foundations ^eyond San Diego he desired to be on the same footing, and the military officers were not to interfere in their management or harass the natives in any way. There was small expectation of col- onists" f rom~Europe or Mexico to claim a share of the new lands, and Galvez only desired that their actual natives should be made Christians, without expecting any profit from their conversion beyond the occupation of the land by loyal subjects of Spain. The project excited considerable enthusiasm among all concerned, Portola, the Governor, and Serra, the Franciscan President both volunteered to take part in the expedition to the north of their own free will, Galvez supervised the fitting out of the San Antonio and her sailing with the same care as the first vessel. She carried two priests and a quantity of fruit seeds, vege tables and grain for plantation purposes. Twenty-five Catalan soldiers under Lieutenant Pages went in the San Carlos, Both vessels were carefully provisioned, and their commanders received strict orders for their courses from the Visitor, The exactness with which the latter 16 CALIFORNIA AND ITS MISSIONS VOL. 2 were given proved, in fact, one of the most serious dan gers encountered on the voyage. Rivera with twenty-five soldiers of the frontier militia had started northwards from Loretto before the sailing of the ships. He drew supplies and mules to transport them from the different missions, and also cattle to be driven across the desert to San Diego. About forty Christian natives accompanied as settlers and to care for the cattle on the way. Father Crespi joined Rivera at Velicata, eighteen leagues north of Santa Maria Mission. The party started on Good Friday, the 24th of March. The whole number had confessed and received communion the day before. Father Lasuen having come from Santa Maria for that end. For a week the route taken by Father Link on his last visit to the Colorado was followed. The company then turned west and had to trust for directions towards San Diego to the observations of the naval officer, Canizares. Crespi kept daily note of events. One of the Californian Indians died on the second day, and four others during the rest of the journey. On the fifth day another died, and Rivera ordered a third to be put on a stretcher and car ried. He also sent five, who seemed ailing, to their homes with two or three others to take care of them. The whole body came back the next day, having been scared by a hostile party of gentiles, and preferring to take chances with the main body. This did not prevent nine others quitting during the night and five more a few days after wards. No attempt was made to follow the runaways, ' ' May God guide them and pay the services they have ren dered, though their loss will be felt," is Crespi 's entry. The season was exceptionally rainy, and no difficulty was found in getting water through the desert. It rained all night on the fourth day, and Rivera allowed "to put the poor tent I have within his own good one, which saved me from further soaking." It rained again all day on the 25th of April and the following night, and even on the THE FIEST SETTLEMENT AT SAN DIEGO 17 13th of May, when close to San Diego, "Evening closed with rain, and soaked us well and enough." The next day, Whit-Sunday, "the morning opened cloudy, and at break of day a great cloudburst lasted an hour and a half. The Captain thought it best to have no mass, as we were all soaked, so we all remained without it, which I regretted on so great a day." Rain at San Diego in the middle of May is certainly unusual. The rains must have helped materially in making the passage of the desert easy for the expedition. Very few natives came near the first expedition until it was near San Diego, On the ninth of May a large body came to the camp and offered baskets of fish in exchange for beads. On the thirteenth of May the travelers saw from a hill the masts of the ships at anchor in the port, and a crowd of natives came in as soon as camp was made. They were "over lively and wide awake, very ready to trade and greedy after anything they took a lik ing to. They were great thieves and talked in screams like angry people. They brought mussels, but if they did not get what they wanted, they would not give even a sin gle one," The first party reached San Diego on the eve ning of Whit-Sunday, the fourteenth of May, after fifty daysjjnarch from Velicata, The travelers fired a salute, which was answered by the guns of the two ships. The first had been a month in the port, the San Carlos, only fifteen days. Seven crosses on the beach were a sugges tion of the mortality among the two crews in the mean time. The supplies collected by Rivera from the peninsular missions give an idea of the development attained at each under the Jesuit management. San Francisco Xavier gave ninety arrobas of jerked beef, twenty of flour, four of cornmeal, twenty of figs, and a muleload of sugar. La Purissima gave nearly as much flour, sugar and meal, but no beef. It added eight packs of rawhide, four muleloads of biscuit and twenty bushels seed wheat. Guadalupe had 18 CALIFORNIA AND ITS MISSIONS VOL. 2 no grain, but furnished two hundred and twenty arrobas of beef and ten of lard, San Ignacio and Santa Ger- trudis had neither grain nor cattle to spare, but the first gave four barrels of wine and two of brandy, and the second four hogsheads of each, San Francisco Borgia gave two hundred cattle and all the northern missions contributed pack animals, the mules being three times the number of the horses. The mulewas to^the Spanish frontiersmen as indispensable as the camel to the Arabian and African desert travelers, TEegovernor himself was the last to start. He left Lor etto on the ninth of March, and reached Santa Maria, the most northern mission at the beginning of May with ten soldiers of the leather jackets. About forty-four Cali fornian Indians were collected to go to San Diego, The President of the Franciscans stayed at Loretto till Easter, the twenty-eighth of March, and then followed, making an inspection of the northern missions on his road. He had just been one year in California at the time. There was no ceremony about his final leavetaking. He started after mass, and walked unattended the same day to Father Ugarte's old mission, wihere Palou, his old friend and appointed successor, was stationed. Three days were spent there in arranging the various mission affairs to be managed by Palou, and also in making preparations for Serra's long journey. None had been made for him by the officials at Loretto, as he noted in his diary quaintly : "From my Mission of Loretto I only took one loaf of bread and a piece of cheese, as all the year I passed there I was only a guest of the Royal Commissary, whose lib erality at my parting only extended to the aforesaid bread and cheese; but Father Palou made up the lack with such provision of food, clothing and comforts for the journey as not even myself could have thought of, though I con fess to being much attached to my own comfort, sinner that I am." From San Xavier Serra traveled to the next Mission THE FIRST SETTLEMENT AT SAN DIEGO 19 San Jose de Comondu on the first of April, He started so early that he made the journey of twelve leagues before midday, and spent four days at Comondu, hearing con fessions and at other duties among the natives in the absence of the regular administrator, who was absent at Purissima, as he had charge of it in addition to his own since the departure of Father Crespi with Rivera, Father Martinez, the President's "old comrade since we came together from Cadiz to the college," returned as soon as he heard of his arrival, and went with him to Puris sima, where two more days were spent, Crespi had pro vided four loads of biscuit and other provisions, which had to be packed in this time. There was much trouble in finding mules to carry these supplies, Rivera on his passage had requisitioned nearly all the available pack animals, with little care for how the missions were to support themselves without them. The stores taken at the same time left many of the mission Indians vsdthout means of support, and obliged the priests in charge to let their converts go away to seek mescals and pitahayas in the hills to avoid starvation. At the frontier mission of Santa Maria Fray Juan Leon was so ' ' discouraged on account of the want of food for so many dwellers there and the gentiles who came to look for baptism that he absented himself and begged to be changed to some other mission." The energy of Galvez entailed much suffering on the mis sion Indians of the peninsula. The lonely Franciscans in charge felt the full burden of the official program. After bidding farewell to Fray Martinez, Serra started on foot at daybreak for Guadalupe. He walked all day without reaching it, and slept in the open at night among a party of Indians from that mission. "They told me with sorrow that the Father had been forced for lack of provisions to send them to look for food in the moun tains, and they found it hard, as they were not used to such tasks, especially to see the children suffer and hear them cry. I felt sorry enough for them, and as the pack train 20 CALIFORNIA AND ITS MISSIONS VOL. 2 could not come up that night they made a jar of good atole, from a wallet of cornmeal I had along, for the women and children, and then another for the men, wherewith they were all well pleased. I had them pray together, and they ended by chanting a very affecting hymn in praise of God. I took my sleep with much consolation in hearing them, for those of that mission have with justice the name of singing especially well. ' ' It took Serra the whole of the next two days to reach Guadalupe on foot, as it was nearly thirty leagues from the last mission. The pack mules took three days longer to make the journey. Father Gaston came from Mulege to bid good-by. "So between the three of us we consoled one another for our parting, which might likely be till the morrow of death (or even after), with the reflection that it was for the greater honor and glory of God. This Father Gaston was one of those that came with me from Spain, and after worked with me in the Sierra Gorda. Father Sancho of Guadalupe gave me a Spanish-speaking boy, who used to serve mass for him and knows how to read and the duties of a sacristan. He dressed him with new clothes, leather jacket and boots, and gave him a saddle mule. So not only he, but his parents, too, took it for good luck, and all were pleased." San Ignacio was the next mission. Father Serra walked all day, but had to sleep at night on the ground. He was up "good and early, and reached San Ignacio a little after three in tbe morning, ' ' He spent the next two days writing letters and at other works, and then traveled on to Santa Gertrudis. The first day, "as I failed to waken early and the sun was very hot, I could not make a regular day's journey. I passed the noon in a cave, and in the evening reached the place called Santa Marta, where I slept on the ground." The same happened the following day, but on the third, by "very early rising," he reached Santa Gtertrudis, The Indians came to meet him with dancing and signs of joy. The Father Minister THE FIRST SETTLEMENT AT SAN DIEGO 21 awaited at the church door with a cross, candles and asperges, and the two entered the church to thank God for all his favors. What followed is best told in Serra's own words. When the Father had "taken off the vest ments and we embraced one another, the eyes of both filled (as mine do even now when I think of it), and we could not say a word till we had paid this not sinful tribute to nature for a good while. The Father, for many days, had been in deep melancholy for being all alone among the Indians, without soldier attendant, or even an interpreter to talk to the natives. He had written to me of his dejec tion, asking relief, which I could not give him. All this, together with my affection for this young friar as my com panion in long journeys on the coast of Oaxaca, the River Miges, the City of Antequera and the road from thence to Mexico, caused that tenderness of feeling at meeting, now a year since our arrival and parting at Loretto. ' ' Father Serra stayed five days at Santa Gertrudis, then traveled in his usual fashion to San Francisco Borgia, which was in charge of Father Lasuen. It took four days' march thence to reach Santa Maria, where he found Por tola and his party on the fifth of May. The deep loneli ness of the scattered missionaries of California is strik ingly shown by the meeting between Serra and Father Bastierra at Santa Gertrudis. It was the heaviest trial they had to contend with. Many years afterwards the energetic Lasuen declared when Superior of the Cali fornian missions that nothing would induce him to send solitary priests on mission work. The trial seemed too much for ordinary human endurance. Santa Maria was in an especially barren district, though its population was numerous. Galvez had tried to get them to remove to other localities, but Serra, after close examination, decided that it "was not so bad as they had described it," and wrote so to both Galvez and Father Palou. Father Campa, who had been named to begin a new mission at Velicata, was at Santa Maria. 22 CALIFORNIA AND ITS MISSIONS VOL. 2 The two Franciscans and Portola started on horseback for it on the eleventh and reached it after two days. The country "was even less furnished for the poor support of its people than the rest of California," and not even a pitahaya bush was seen by the travelers. At Velicata, however, there was a creek and some pasture, so a mission was founded. It was the only foundation of the Francis cans in the peninsula. Mass was said in a brush hut, erected by the soldiers, as not a native appeared. ' ' Then we erected the standard of the Holy Cross, and I named as first administrator of that mission Fray Miguel de la Campa, who was right glad of the work in view of the many gentiles that dwelt around it, and that the location offers all conveniences of land and water to feed such as may come to the mission, ' ' In the meantime Serra left him one of the muleloads of biscuit given to himself and a tercio (about 160 pounds) of flour and some soap. The Governor added forty bushels of maize and some chocolate, raisins and figs, and so he was left to get on as he could and treat the gentiles until he should get further help. The mission was founded at Velicata on Whit-Sunday, the same day that Rivera reached San Diego. The party started onwards on the following Tuesday, but meantime Serra had his first opportunity to make acquaintance with Californian "gentiles" in their native state. "Soon after the masses, while I was in the hut, they came to tell me that gentiles were coming I kissed the earth, giving thanks to His Majesty, that, after so many years' prayers. He had granted me to be among them in their own land. I went then out, and found twelve around me, all men, I saw, what I had hardly believed when I used to read it, that they were all naked, as Adam in Paradise before his sin, I laid my hands on the head of each, in token of good will, and filled their hands with dried figs, which they at once began to eat. Father THE FIRST SETTLEMENT AT SAN DIEGO lo Campa gave them raisins, and his honor, the Governor, tobacco, and all the soldiers treated them likewise. Then, through the interpreter, I gave them to understand that right here this Father would stay, and I pointed him out and told them his name was Father Michael, I told them that they and their acquaintances should come to see him, and that they should tell them not to be afraid or suspi cious, for that the Father would be their true friend, and the gentlemen soldiers, who were staying there, would do them good and no harm, I told them they must not steal the cattle, but if they wanted anything to come and tell the Father, and he would always give them whatever he could. To this discourse they attended well, and gave signs of agreement to it all. To him that passed as cap tain the Governor said that if he had been so before by the say of his own people only, from henceforward he made him captain in the name of our Lord the King, ' ' The mission President had been for some time suffer ing from an ulcerated leg, Which had been aggravated by the journey from Loretto, Portola advised him to remain at Velicata, but he would not hear of it, and started the Tuesday following with the party. The next day he nearly broke down. "On the seventeenth I said mass at San Juan, though it pained me much to stand, as my left foot was inflamed. I have felt it for a year or more, but now it is swollen up to the knee, I had to pass the last few days at Velicata lying down, and fear that soon they will have to carry me on a stretcher (tepestle). Next day I could not say mass for this cause, but I had great consolation in a letter from Velicata, in which the Father there told that the gentile captain I talked with had gone there with men, women, boys and girls, forty-four in all, and asked for holy baptism, and that they had all begun instruction for it that day, I was deeply glad, and wrote a thousand con gratulations to Father Campa. I asked that so honest a captain should be the first baptized, and that he should 24 CALIFORNIA AND ITS MISSIONS VOL. 2 be called Francisco, after our own Father St. Francis. And it seems to me but right that this captain, when he is baptized, should be held in high esteem and treated with special attention always, since, when Spaniards first entered his land, he visited, feasted and served them. May God make him a saint. ' ' The enthusiasm of Serra in the midst of his pains is quite Franciscan. The feast provided by the "captain" had already been noted in the diary as " a bag of roasted mescals and four good sized fish, which, as the poor fel lows had not thought to clean, much less salt, the cook said were good for nothing." The incident is an illus tration of the early mission methods of the Spanish friars. Serra's sore leg underwent a strange change for the better after this news. His diary the following day only records that the writer was "much improved and able to say mass." Palou, in his biography, tells how Serra got one of the muleteers to poultice the swollen limb with the preparation he was accustomed to use for the chafed backs of his mules, and the remedy brought about the ' ' improvement ' ' mentioned in Serra 's diary. The inflam mation gradually disappeared, but was not enough to keep Serra from continuing his journey to San Diego. The party followed Rivera's trail with few incidents by the way. The howling of California lions kept the camp awake three or four nights. Indians appeared in greater numbers than were seen by Rivera, but there were no hostilities anywhere. Some rancherias made threatening demonstrations, but no more. Cottonwoods and other trees unknown in the peninsula began to appear as they moved northward. On the first of June Serra chronicled an abundance of grape vines loaded with fruit, and the next day "many flowers and beautiful, and today we have met the queen of them all, the rose of Castile. As I write, I have a branch before me with three fuli blown roses and others in bud, ' ' He also noted several localities THE FIRST SETTLEMENT AT SAN DIEGO 25 well fitted for future missions. The natives in several places came in friendly fashion and were treated with figs, raisins and beads. Once or twice they gave trouble by crowding around the mules on steep trails, and Portola had to order them off, and fire muskets in the air to enforce his wishes. A comic incident of military justice on the part of Portola was chronicled a month after leaving Velicata. Its victim was the cook, who pronounced the fish offered by Serra's Indian friend valueless. "On the nineteenth day of June the servant of his Honor, who filled the position of cook, a Genoese by birth, showed the might of his sword by running it through a she ass, for getting in front of him and stopping his own beast. He laid her dead at his feet, and the Senor Gover nor, being assured of the burricide by witness of the deed and the confession of the culprit, straight commanded that his arms should be taken from him and he removed from his office. Moreover, he sentenced him to make the rest of the journey on foot, and he amerced him for the burra four times her value ; that is, fifty dollars. ' ' Near San Diego the Indians came in considerable num bers to sell fish and roots for beads and cloth. They were more lively and also more thievish than those met on the first part of the expedition. One worthy stole the altar bell and another Father Serra's spectacles. "If we seated ourselves, they would come and sit by us, always craving us to give them everything they saw. They asked me for my habit, the Governor for his leather jacket, waistcoat and breeches. They troubled me much for my spec tacles. I took them off for one whose actions made me think he only wanted to examine them, and God knows the trouble I had to get them back, for he ran off with them. Only food they don 't care for. ' ' The party finally reached San Diego on the first of July. There had been no sickness among the Spaniards, but some of the native 26 CALIFORNIA AND ITS MISSIONS VOL, 2 Calif ornians died on the road, and the majority deserted. Only twelve remained at the end of the journey. The condition in which Portola found those before him at San Diego was very bad. The ships' crews had been decimated by scurvy and it spread among the Catalan sol diers also, A strange fatality seemed to mock the pro visions taken by Galvez to insure the success of the expe dition by sea. The San Carlos had been ordered to keep out well from the coast till she reached the latitude of San Diego, Contrary winds and an error in the reckoning LANDING AT SAN DIEGO given her captain made her voyage take a hundred and ten days. Scurvy broke out and caused several deaths. When the vessel reached San Diego there were not enough of sailors fit for duty to launch a boat, and if the San Antonio had not been there all on the San Carlos must have perished. It was a mere chance that she was still in port at the time. Galvez had given strict orders that whichever packet first reached San Diego should only remain there twenty days, and then sail for Monterey. The San Antonio left Cape San Lucas a month after the San THE FIEST SETTLEMENT AT SAN DIEGO 27 Carlos, but she made the passage in fifty-five days. She had been nineteen in port before her fever-stricken consort arrived, and would have left it the following day. The contagion spread after the landing of the sick from the San Carlos, When Portola reached San Diego only five of the crew of the San Carlos were living and seven of the San Antonio 's sailors. Thirteen of the Catalan infan try had also died. The sick were brought ashore and shel tered under tents, where they were attended carefully by the surgeon and the Franciscans, but nineteen died within the two weeks after Portola 's arrival, Vila attributed the origin of the disease to the alkaline water which he had to use from Cerros Island, It may have been that germs of the epidemic, which this same year ravaged Lower Cali fornia, may have been carried from San Lucas and developed on the voyage. Whatever the nature of the epi demic, it caused the loss of over a third of the whole force engaged in the pioneer settlement of California. The condition of the sailors made it impossible to carry out the orders of Galvez for reaching Monterey, as far as the ships were concerned. After consultation with Vila, the Governor decided to try and reach the port by land with his ovm men. The San Antonio was sent back to San Bias for further help, leaving only five sailors with Vila to guard the San Carlos. The San Antonio's voyage to San Bias was made in twenty days, but it was almost a race against death. Nine of the crew died during the run, and the survivors were too weak even to drop anchor when she reached the home port. Captain Perez there reported to the Viceroy without delay, and was ordered to load as soon as possible and sail to Monterey, while another vessel was sent to San Diego, Portola detailed eight of the "leather-jackets" as guards for the sick, with eight Californian Christians and Vila's five men. Father Serra and two other friars also remained. Father Crespi and Gomez were sent along to Monterey. CHAPTER II The Discovery of San Francisco Bay Portola started on his search for Monterey Bay on the fourteenth of July, with nearly all the soldiers fit for duty. The sick were left a guard of eight "leather- jack ets, ' ' and as many Indians under comrhand of a corporal. The naval officers, including the pilot, Canizares, and the doctor also remained with Father Serra and two other friars. Portola 's party numbered sixty-two, including fifteen Indians and three Mexican muleteers. All the mili tary officers. Captain Rivera, Lieutenant Pages and the engineer, Costanso, went on the expedition, though the latter two were suffering from malaria. Fathers Crespi and Gomez represented the Franciscans, and the first kept the journal of the expedition. Portola, Pages and Cos tanso also kept notes of the journey, and the chief of scouts. Sergeant Ortega, There is abundant detail of the first Spanish exploration of Upper California, The party advanced at a slow rate, as it had to carry all its supplies on pack-mules. Three or four leagues a day was the usual distance traveled, and four or five hours spent on each march. Sergeant Ortega, with a squad of pioneers from the frontiersmen, went usually ahead and found the roads for the main body and pack animals to follow. Pages and Costanso had already been up the coast as far as the Santa Barbara islands, and were able to point out the chief landmarks along the first part of the route. For other guidance they had to depend on the Manual of Navigation published by Cabrera Bueno at Manila in 1734 for the use of the Philippine galleons on the American coasts. There was no serious difficulty in the first three hun dred miles from San Diego north. The route lay along the 28 THE DISCOVEBY OF SAN FRANCISCO BAY 29 seacoast, and had few natural obstacles, and the natives were nowhere hostile. Father Crespi noted with benevo lent and keen interest the numbers and customs of the Indians whom he hoped soon to enroll as converts to the Faith. On the second day from San Diego his diary describes the meeting with ' ' a large rancheria of well-built huts, roofed with brush, from which eighteen men, besides women and children came to visit us, all very affable and no way rough. ' ' Two pots of clay, well made, caught his eye at a spring, and at the next village he noted that many of the women had similar pots. The men smoked clay pipes, and were presented with Mexican tobacco as a treat. The women were "decently dressed with skirts of reeds, sewn together, and cloaks of rabbit skins." The men, Crespi had to record, were "naked as Adam in Paradise before the fall," but he added they showed no sense of immodesty, but acted as if "the garb of nature were a rich dress. Moreover, ' ' they were very kindly and made us gifts of their poor seeds." A few days later an incident occurred which excited the keenest joy to the two friars. They found two infants in a dying condition at a rancheria, and their parents consented that they should be baptized. * ' We doubt not, ' ' the diary added, "that both will die and go to enjoy the vision of God, and for this we priests hold our long jour ney with its fatigues, past and 'coming, as well spent."' Crespi named the rancheria where this occurred San Apolinario, but the soldiers called it "the Christians or Valley of Baptisms." Two days later he had another joyful incident to record. Some natives were anxious to imitate the language of the strangers, and the Franciscans taught them to repeat acts of faith, hope and charity. "Though they knew not the meaning of the words, they repeated them with devotion and affection, or at least their voices stirred such in my heart. We gave the place the name of St. Francis Solano, that by his intercession the conversion of these docile gentiles may be gained." 30 CALIFORNIA AND ITS MISSIONS VOL, 2 The Mission of San Juan Capistrano was later established at the site in question. The conduct of the soldiers was quite satisfactory all through the journey. Camp was pitched each day after four or five hours' march, and the men not detailed as guards or scouts allowed to hunt or explore at will. No instance of quarrel, either with the natives or among themselves is recorded. The priests said mass on Sun days and holidays, at which all assisted, and the rest of the day was generally given to rest. On the first of August, Portola gave a halt on the banks of a clear stream, "chiefly to let every one gain the indulgence of the Porti- uncula. Both priests said mass and most of the men communicated. There was an earthquake at ten o'clock and a stronger shock at one o'clock, followed by a third an hour later. ' ' The soldiers, however, went to hunt and brought in an antelope, Crespi tried its meat and declared it not bad. The stream got the name of Portiuncula. The earthquakes continued to recur during two weeks, and made the travelers think there must be a volcano somewhere near in the mountains. The deposits of asphalt and bitumen found by the way strengthened this belief, but Portola did not think fit to waste time in search ing its location. The first shocks were experienced at the Santa Ana River five days before the Portiuncula holiday. Four violent ones occurred during the afternoon, A party of natives were at the Spanish camp at the time and showed great alarm. One whO' seemed a priest or medicine man set to utter loud cries, turning himself to the four points of the compass. Crespi gave the stream the name of ' ' Jesus, Lord of Earthquakes, ' ' but that of Santa Ana has remained with it. The earthquakes did not dis tract Crespi 's attention from noting the quality of the soil at the Portiuncula stream. It was "black and friable and well fitted for grain and fruit of every kind, ' ' The keen eye of the Franciscans for the qualities of soil and irrigation facilities are very noticeable in Crespi 's THE DISCOVERY OF SAN FRANCISCO BAY ol diary. He and Serra were both from the island of Mal- lorca, and familiar with farming life there. The diary carefully records the soil of the different localities passed under homely but intelligible farm terms. It was "em- plastado, prieta or migajon," heavy, dark or friable, and the amount of water supply was carefully estimated, as a Mallorca farmer would count it by inches, yards or ' ' oxwork, ' ' The friars showed real enthusiasm over the agricultural advantages of certain localities. Crespi described one as "looking just like a cultivated field," and another as "a wide flat of beautiful black soil, with a good stream of fully three-fourths of a yard width, run ning through reeds, with which it would be easy to irrigate all the ground," He also showed keen delight at finding plants like those of his native land. The wild vines and roses of Castile are mentioned at nearly every page. Neither Crespi nor Serra showed any special knowl edge of modem sciences beyond that of practical farm ing, Crespi, indeed, learned the use of surveying instru ments from the engineer officer on his journey to San Diego, and took the sun regularly each day during Por tola 's expedition, but no attempts were made at regular surveys or map making like the work of Ugarte or Con- sag in the peninsula. The Franciscan limited his work in that direction to selecting the best sites for future mis sions and in that he showed good judgment as well as care. Those later occupied by San Luis Rey, San Juan Capistrano and San Fernando were recommended by him on his first journey. His earliest selection was near San Diego. Though Crespi made himself no map of the land, the names suggested by him have many of them remained permanently fixed in modern California. The three mis sions last alluded to were indeed differently named after wards. He had proposed San Juan Capistrano as patron for the first, and San Francisco Solano and Santa Cater- ina for the other two. In other localities, however, like the 32 CALIFORNIA AND ITS MISSIONS VOL. 2 Portiuncula and Las Llagas Creek, near Monterey, Crespi 's names remained. The latter was so called in honor of the stigmata of St. Francis, as the party reached its banks on the anniversary of their reception by the Patriarch of the Franciscans. The soldiers also took a hand in giving names to places in the new land. Their designations are in quaint contrast to the religious fervor of the friars. Point Buchon (big craw) preserves the memory of an Indian affiicted with goitre near San Luis Obispo. The lameness of another is recorded in the name El Cojo. A seagull shot by one of the soldiers stamped its name on Gaviota Pass; a stuffed condor on the Pajaro River; a slain grizzly on Oso Flaco. Graciosa was stamped on a lagoon by the ridicule with which his comrades received the eloquence of a sol dier who qualified it as an "elegant" sheet of water. Las Pulgas commemorates the visit of some soldiers to a des erted Indian hut, where they were welcomed by a horde of exceptionally active fieas. Portola 's party crossed the Santa Clara stream on the tenth of August, and reached the locality of San Buena ventura on the fourteenth, a month after its start from San Diego. A marked increase in the density of the popu lation was noted along the shores of the Santa Barbara channel. At the Santa Clara River five hundred natives came in a body and brought a large supply of seeds, nuts and acorns, and also collars of shells and coral as gifts, Portola gave them glass beads in return, and both sides parted in friendship. The natives showed more intelli gence than the southern tribes. Some of them even traced maps of the channel, coasts and islands on the sands with considerable accuracy. At San Fernando the friars had counted over two hundred visitors five days before, and from Santa Clara north the rancherias were more numer ous and larger. The native huts were better built, and some of them large enough to accommodate several fam ilies. They were mostly round, vnth thatched roofs, hav- THE DISCOVERY OF SAN FRANCISCO BAY 33 ing smoke holes in the center of each. The channel Indians were all friendly, and Crespi noted with satis faction that they seemed to have no quarrels among them selves. The sea gave them abundant food in the shape of fish, and they were generous in offering what they had as gifts. The whole of the pack mules might have been loaded vnth fish free of cost if Portola desired. Two burned rancherias on the line of march, however, indicated that even here all was not peace. The natives made signs that these had been destroyed and their people killed by a recent raid of some mountain tribes. In what are now Ventura and Santa Barbara Counties Crespi found sev eral villages of four or five hundred inhabitants, and in one he reckoned over a thousand. At the modern San Buenaventura the village was the largest and best arranged yet seen in the country, and had at least four hundred inhabitants. The natives were of "good stature and dispositions, active, laborious and skilful in work." Their skill showed in the construction of their canoes, made of good pine boards, well bound together and of handsome form, with two sharp ends. They handled them as skillfully as they made them, with long oars, and went far out to sea to fish. "All their works," Father Crespi benevolently added, "were hand some and well executed, though they had nothing but flints to work the wood or stone. ' ' At this place several parties came in canoes from the islands to visit the strangers. Crespi noted the existence of cemeteries attached to the villages, the sexes being separated. The graves of the men w^re marked by poles, to which the hair of the dead below was attached; the graves of the women by grass baskets. He also remarked cleared spaces for games and dances near each village. Though the men wore no more clothing than other Califomians, a notable improvement was marked in the dress of the women, in which skirts and cloaks of deerskin took the place of the reed garments of the southern squaws. 34 CALIFORNIA AND ITS MISSIONS VOL, 2 Father Crespi 's readiness to find good in the traits of Indian life is shown amusingly in his description of their music. At San Buenaventura he admits "they kept the Spaniards awake through the night with their flutes or pipes which were very dismal to hear," but near Santa Barbara, where the different rancherias came in suc cession to give the strangers an entertainment with their reed whistles, "they kept the pitch of their chants and the motions of their dances so well in time to the sound and motion of the reeds that it produced a certain harmony. ' ' The soldiers apparently did not share Crespi 's appreci ation of the harmony in the Indian music. ' ' The dances were kept up all evening. They made signs to them to go away, but to no purpose, and when night came there was fear the horses might be stampeded by the earpierc- ing noise. The commander with his officers went out and gave them some beads on condition of their departing. He made signs that if they came to interrupt our sleep, we would receive them badly. That was enough, and they left us in peace the rest of the night. ' ' The remarks on native delicacies were equally sympa thetic. At San Fernando they "had a great repast to receive us. It consisted of good baskets of pinenut flour, chia and other berries, with other baskets full of water to Wash them down. They gave us also nuts and acorns, and we enjoyed the repast heartily." A little after the natives brought a sweet jam, which seemed made from small peas, and a kind of honey-cakes, very sweet and pur gative, which they make from the manna that forms on certain reeds. ' ' Elsewhere they offered ' ' tamales of seeds that were equal to corn tamales," and others of black seeds, "not so bad to make porridge of as the soldiers said." On Christmas Day the native provisions excited Crespi 's enthusiasm. That day they traveled three and a half leagues, and halted near a fishing camp, from which plenty of fish was bought for beads. "We celebrated Christmas vnth this feast, which tasted better to all of THE DISCOVERY OF SAN FRANCISCO BAY 35 US than capons or chickens could at another time, thanks to the fine sauce of St. Bernard that every man had in plenty. And we had a dessert of fine baskets full of nut and acorn flour, which last being made of white acorns, tastes and looks like a blanc mange." Crespi 's judgment would hardly satisfy Brillat Savarin, though the bill of fare of the first Christmas dinner in California seems worth recording. Fish and acorn pudding seasoned with St. Bernard's sauce will hardly be often copied for Christ mas fare. The population was denser around Santa Barbara than even at Ventura. One village there had more than a hun dred houses, and there were four other settlements near it. The population grew thinner after the party passed Point Conception. Crespi reckoned with apparent accuracy the Indian population between that point and San Fernando at not less than twenty thousand. The road of the explorers still lay close to the shore. After Point Conception the mouths of the Santa Inez and Santa Maria streams were crossed. After passing the last the Spaniards met the first grizzly and killed it. Crespi was astonished at its size, ' ' It was fourteen palms from the sole of the feet to the top of its back, and weighed fifteen arrobas," about eight hundred and fifty pounds, though it was in poor condition of flesh, ' ' We all tried the meat and found it very good," Pour or five days later in a Canada near the present San Luis Obispo, grizzlies were found in droves of fifteen or twenty each. The ground in places looked as if plowed for grain by their scratching for roots. Some soldiers who went hunting got experience of the qualities of the Californian grizzly. Two had their horses lamed and escaped themselves with difficulty. "When wounded they charge the hunter at full speed, and he can only escape by the legs of his horse, ' ' was Crespi 's description. The Spanish soldiers, it may be said, showed less taste for hunting in any form than either English or French settlers in other parts of 36 CALIFOBNIA AND ITS MISSIONS VOL, 2 America, The military muskets of the soldiers were not well suited for game, and neither they nor their descend ants ever showed a desire to shine as Nimrods. Twelve leagues north of the Morro Rock at San Luis Obispo the headland of the Santa Lucia stopped further progress along the coast. Portola thought they were within thirty leagues of the Bay of Monterey, and sent Rivera to find a pass through which the journey could be continued northward, Rivera found one, and the explorers began its ascent on the tenth of September, In three days they reached its summit only to find themselves faced on all sides by a sea of mountains. It was ' ' a dismal view for poor travelers tired and worn with so long a journey and with cutting trails and making passage through woods, hills and swamps," was the impression recorded in the Franciscan's diary. The autumn cold on the mountains, too, began to make itself felt after the heat of the journey through the southern districts. Scurvy attacked some of the soldiers, and the recollection of the epidemic at San Diego was revived. Father Crespi noted in his diary, "These things tended to make our hearts sink, but when we recalled that the object of our toils was the glory of God in the salvation of souls and the service of the King by extending his dominions by this exploration, we all braced ourselves to work with good will. ' ' They moved on through the Santa Lucia peaks for three or four days, meeting on the way a small stream, down which they shaped their course a little vaguely. The seventeenth of September came while they were still pushing on. It was the day on which the Catholic Church commemorates the impression of the signs of the Passion on Francis of Assisi at Mount Alvemia, and the Fran ciscans desired to celebrate the festival with a solemn mass, but Portola could not allow any halt in the uncertain conditions of the road to Monterey, Father Crespi indem nified his devotion by giving the name of Las Llagas, the THE DISCOVERY OF SAN FRANCISCO BAY 37 Stigmata, to the creek on whose banks they were travel ing. He thought it hard that the Seraphic Father of all the Franciscans should not yet be definitely connected with any mission site in California. Accordingly, "though the name of St. Francis had been reserved for his famous town, as Father President had agreed with the honorable Visitor-general at Santa Ana, yet since this stream was not to be despised as the place for a fair little mission, I consecrated its name with that of his Stigmata. ' ' The title thus given has held its place on the map of modern California as well as that of its capital, "agreed on" between Galvez and Father Serra. The explorers had been nine days working northerly through the mountains when the scouts reported the dis covery of a large river, which from its direction seemed to lead to the Monterey of Cabrera Buenos' description. They took it for the Carmel River, so named at its mouth by the Carmelite chaplains of Viscaino. In point of fact it was the yet unnamed stream described by him as enter ing the sea to the north of Point Pinos, and which is since known as the Salinas. The party traveled down its course for four days, making about fifteen leagues by Crespi 's reckoning. Mass was duly said on Michaelmas Day, and the next evening, when camp was pitched, the waves of the ocean could be heard. Nothing had occurred worth no ting beyond meeting a couple of parties of Indian hunters and seeing some bands of antelope. The first day of Octo ber they came out on the shore in sight of the Point of Pines and the ' ' famous harbor of Monterey. ' ' They failed to recognize the harbor from the descrip tion of Cabrera Bueno. That told how "there was a low promontory, called Ano Nuevo, in latitude 37° 30', from which the land swept eastward to another point called of Pines, in latitude 37° 0'. This Point of Pines was a low hill running about two leagues from northeast to southwest. It was well wooded with pine trees down to the water, and had on the south side scars of valleys, by 38 CALIFORNIA AND ITS MISSIONS VOL. 2 which it could be easily recognized. ' ' This Point of Pines, ' ' Cabrera Bruno vn"ote, "made a famous harbor on the northeast side, into which a vessel could sail direct and anchor within six fathom lengths from shore." The directions were fully intelligible to a sailor, but unluckily there was no sailor in Portola 's party. The Point of Pines was recognized at once, but the landsmen could see no sign of a harbor in the open beach on which the Octo ber winds drove the waves fiercely. Portola, Rivera, Cos tanso, Pages and the friars all agreed there was no har bor there, whatever other natural features existed. They wondered whether the desired port had been passed dur ing their journey through the Sierra or lay further ahead. It was even suggested that the harbor might have been filled up by the sands, but this seemed most unlikely. The latitude given by the Manila pilot, moreover, was thirty- seven degrees for Point Pinos, while Costanso only made the place they found themselves thirty-six forty. Though there was not implicit confidence in the accuracy of the old records, it was enough to puzzle soldiers without any naval experience. Portola went round Carmel Bay, but found the coast to the south shut off by other headlands, and besides that the Carmel River was a mere brook, instead of the broad shallow stream described by Vizcaino. Portola called officers and friars to a council on the fourth of October, It was the festival of Francis of Assisi, and the friars celebrated it vnth a solemn mass of the Holy Ghost to obtain guidance from above on the course to be followed. When mass was over, Portola gathered his officers and asked their opinions in "God's name." He told for himself that the River Carmel was only a little creek, and the port at its mouth a little road stead; so the place they were then in could hardly be Monterey. It would take time to go on and find another. There were eleven men on the sick list, and they had only fifty costales of flour and cornmeal, but still something had to be done. Costanso advised to push on to latitude THE DISCOVERY OF SAN FEANCISCO BAY 39 37° 30', to learn whether the famous port had any real existence. Pages thought they ought at least to go as far as the latitude given by the pilot book, as he was sure they had not passed any port. Captain Rivera doubted that there was any port like that described, but thought they ought to make a settlement somewhere in the country, though not where they were. Portola gave his decision to rest a few days and then go on north as far as possible, after which he would select the most eligible place found for a post. Officers and priests approved this decision in writing. They hoped. Father Crespi wrote, "to run across the desired port, with the help of God, and to find the San Jose there to help out their need. If God willed we had all to perish in the search for Monterey, we would have done our duty to God and man by striving till death in the task laid on us. ' ' With this stout-hearted resolution, the party moved for ward on the seventh of October from Monterey. Sergeant Ortega and some scouts had meantime explored as far as Point Ano Nuevo and found a large stream, which they thought might be the real Rio Carmel of Vizcaino. A ran cheria of five hundred Indians was living there, and showed at first much distrust of the white strangers. The women screamed and the men took up their bows, Ortega dismounted and walked towards the excited crowd alone, making signs of peace. They finally quieted down and even gave food to the soldiers, but when the main party came up later the rancheria had been abandoned. When Ortega returned, the sick men were put in chairs on their mules and the party went slowly forward. They found the river, but it was evidently not the Carmel when ex amined. A large condor stuffed with brush was found in the rancheria on the bank of the stream, and the soldiers named it the Bird River, a title it since keeps as the Pajaro. The San Lorenzo was next met, and got its name from the friars' devotion, as did the Santa Cruz. The giant redwoods were noted for the first time by 40 CALIFOBNIA AND ITS MISSIONS VOL. 2 Father Crespi, after this was crossed, as well as the madrone and buckeyes. Elk were seen, but not killed. The sick grew worse. Two were anointed before reaching the Pajaro, and three more before crossing the San Lorenzo. They improved a little after the sacraments were administered and none died. Provisions ran short, and the meat remaining was reserved for the sick ex clusively. A heavy rain came down on the twenty-second, and was followed by a marked improvement in the scurvy-stricken men, who rapidly recovered from that time. Violent diarrhoeas attacked many, however, including the Gover nor and Captain Rivera. The party stopped a day on this account, but on the thirtieth of October the journey was resumed along the shore, and on the next day the party mounted the steep ridge of Point San Pedro. The outer harbor of San Francisco and the island-like mass of Point Reyes to the northwest appeared in view. ' ' When we reached the top of the ridge we saw a great bay formed by a headland running out so far as to seem an island. Northwest of us we saw six or seven white faral- lones of varying size. On the coast of the bay, towards the north, are seen some white ravines, and the entrance of an inlet towards the northeast. In view of these signs and of what the pilot Cabrera Bueno sets dovni, we recog nized this port. It is that of our father St. Francis, and we have left that of Monterey behind us." So runs the entry made by Crespi on the day itself. They descended the hill and fixed their camp about two miles north of the point in a little valley with two streams, which joined before reaching the sea. It had plenty of bushes and vnld roses and a few willows, but no trees. There were none on the hills near, and ' ' only on the mountains that circle this bay could any be seen." The location and conditions point out San Pedro Rancho as the site of the camp. Father Crespi evidently regarded the stretch of coast from Point San Pedro to Point Reyes as the Bay of San THE DISCOVERY OF SAN FRANCISCO BAY 41 Francisco, so named by Ceremon in 1595. Some of the soldiers, however, were still doubtful whether they were past Monterey, and to settle the point the Governor sent the unwearied Sergeant Ortega with a party to examine the country towards Point Reyes. The name of San Francisco, it may be seen from the foregoing, was not given by the first Franciscan visitors. Captain Rivera, in a certificate still preserved, says sim ply of this : ' ' We went by land to San Diego and Mon terey, and having failed to find the latter, we went on in search of it till we came to San Francisco, whence we turned back for want of provisions." Cabrera Bueno 's Navegacion, printed in Manila in 1734, which was the text-book used by Costanso and Crespi through the ex pedition, began the topography of the coast as far north as Cape Mendocino. It goes on to state that "at 38° 30' the land, forms a moderately high headland so far out as to seem an island from a distance, and named Punta de los Reyes. It forms a detached hill or morro and makes on the northwest a good shelter against all winds, which is called San Francisco. In southerly winds the anchorage is at the end of the beach, where it makes an angle on the northwest, and on the northeast are three white rocks near the sea, with an inlet opposite the middle one with smooth water and no breakers at the entrance. ' ' It cannot be determined what extent the Spanish navigators gave to the port of San Francisco so described. In their minds it may have been limited to Drake's or Baker's Bay to the south of the headland, and the "inlet" merely the entrance to the inner harbor there. Crespi certainly regarded the whole coast from Point Reyes to Point San Pedro as included in the "Port called San Francisco." He iden tified the Golden Gate when seen on the thirty-first of October with the inlet described in the pilot book, vnth- out more critical examination than a landsman would ordinarily give to such a point. The name of San Fran cisco attached to a bay in this locality was certainly as old 42 CALIFORNIA AND ITS MISSIONS VOL. 2 as the year 1595, when the Manila galleon San Augustin ran ashore near Point Reyes. The great inland bay which now bears the name was the real discovery of Portola. It is a curious irony of exploration that the greatest har bor of America should have been first found by a dragoon captain who had no idea of its importance, and who only got to it because he was incapable of knowing the harbor of Monterey when under his eyes. The discovery was made on the Feast of All Saints. On that day, after mass, Sergeant Ortega with some scouts and three days' rations left the party to find a route to Point Reyes. Some other soldiers also got leave to hunt, as many deer had been seen around. The hunters re turned at night and reported that from the hills behind the camp they had seen an "immense inlet or arm of the sea, which ran towards the southeast as far as the eye could reach. This story confirmed us in the opinion- that we were at the port of our father, St. Francis, and that what they told of was surely the inlet of which Cabrera Bueno speaks, and which we had not seen the entrance to as we came down." The explorers with Ortega came back the next night with great discharges of fire arms in sign of good news, and told the same story. They added that they had gathered from signs made by the natives that the head of the inlet was at two days' journey away, and that a ship was there. Prom that some thought ' ' that we were indeed at Monterey, and the San Jose or San Carlos wait ing for us. Assuredly our needs made us wish, though not believe, we were in Monterey, and not in San Fran cisco. The Governor decided to go on and seek the port and ship the gentiles spoke of to the scouts." They left the camp on San Pedro creek on the fourth of November, the feast of San Carlos Borromeo, as Crespi notes, and crossed the hills in a northeasterly direction. Prom the top of a hill near the north of the Spring Valley reservoirs the whole party had their first view of the bay, the great Mediterranean sea, as Palou enthusiast!- THE DISCOVERY OF SAN FRANCISCO BAY 43 cally called it. They did not go to the Golden Gate, but turned southward, hoping to get around the bay to Point Reyes, the stopping point now desired by Portola. They followed the valley now occupied by the artificial lakes down to San Mateo creek and the site of Searsville, where camp was made on the seventh. Ortega and his scouts went again to examine the shores of the bay and came back on the tenth much discouraged. To the north and east there was no feed, and the natives were hostile. The bay stretched to north and south equally, and it was a journey round of many leagues, with no sign to tell how BAY OF SAN FRANCISCO many. Portola again took council with officers and padres, and all gave written opinions that it was necessary to return. Portola was inclined to keep on around the bay, but submitted with good grace to the unanimous judgment of his subordinates. They traveled over the hills to their first camp near Point San Pedro, and after a day's rest and a feast on the "excellent mussels there," the back journey was made to Point Pinos. Father Crespi satisfied his zeal by giving the name of St. Francis to the valley down which the expedition traveled from San Bruno. 44 CALIFORNIA AND ITS MISSIONS VOL. 2 No incident of importance marked the return journey. The soldiers made up their scanty rations of tortillas with wild geese and mussels. When these grew scarce, they "passed hungry times, which they diverted with some gulls and pelicans they killed, and whose flesh their need did not let them object to." The party reached Point Pinos after sixteen days' march, and the leaders again explored it on both sides to find a port if one existed. Rivera tried to get down the coast southwards to see if the famous harbor might not be somewhere along the Santa Lucia range, but he found the way impassable for horses. Crespi 's diary tells the feelings of the whole party with pathetic earnestness. "Since there is no doubt about the Sierra de San Lucia that we have south of this camp, and yet we cannot see the harbor of Mon terey so amply described before this by practical naviga tors, able and intelligent men of good character, who came expressly to explore these coasts, all there is for us to say is that we have not found it by our keenest searching. It may be that it has been filled up and destroyed in the course of time, yet we have no reasons to assert that such is the case. All that can fairly be stated is that Governor, officers and soldiers have all tried their best to find this harbor, and have not found it. Indeed God has let us get to the harbor of San Francisco, which all of us recognize, and we recognize, too, landmarks, like the mountain range of Santa Lucia, which are said to be on the south of the port of Monterey. For myself, I have nothing to say, but leave time to tell and take us all out of our bewilderment, ' ' The childlike honesty of Crespi 's statement is repeated in the document drawn up by Governor Portola and buried at the foot of a wooden cross, which he left at Point Pinos before turning back to San Diego, Portola called a council to discuss whether it was advisable to stay where they were, as long as they could hold out, or turn back to San Diego and report their failure to find the "famous harbor of Monterey." Portola 's own inclination was to THE DISCOVERY OF SAN FRANCISCO BAY 45 send back most of the men and stay himself with whatever number were willing to bear him company. He thought it possible, in view of the orders of Galvez, that a vessel might yet come to this point, and perhaps its sailors might find the port which baffled his own recognition. The two friars declared their readiness to stay with Portola, The other officers thought it vnsest to return before the snows that had already begun to fall should make travel impossi ble. The Governor yielded to the unanimous opinion of his subordinates, and began his return march on the ninth of December. It took forty-four days to reach San Diego from Mon terey. Cold, rain and short rations were the chief hard ships of the back trip. There were only fourteen quarters of flour left when the party turned south, and Portola thought it best to divide forty tortillas to each man with a recommendation to consume no more than five a day. Crespi declares candidly that the appetites of all were so keen that twenty a day would not be gluttony. They got some supplies from the Indians along the channel when they reached its coasts, but still there was much privation to be borne by all during the return journey. It is creditable to the Spanish common soldiers that no disorders were recorded against them during the dreary return march. Two Mexican mule drivers got leave to go hunting at Monterey, and did not return, and three of the Indians absented themselves without leave, but there were no desertions among the Spanish soldiers, either of the regulars or the frontier militia. Their con duct in this point was in strong contrast with the English sailors of Cook and Bligh in the same century. It was the more so, as the Indians along the route urged the strangers to stay with them, and promised them lives of plenty, without the need of work. The whole party reached San Diego on the twenty-fourth of January, and saluted the stockade with a fusilade. The remnant of their comrades came joyfully out to welcome them. 46 CALIFORNIA AND ITS MISSIONS VOL. 2 Things had fared even worse with those left behind than with the unsuccessful explorers. The latter had not lost a man, but nineteen had died at San Diego during their absence. Among them were six of the eight natives of the peninsula. Crespi tells the story of the meeting briefly. "We found our President, Pray Junipero Serra, recovering from the sickness, and likewise our Prior, Fray Hernando Parron. The Father Preacher, Juan Viscaino, had been wounded by an arrow in an attack made by the Indians on the fifteenth of August. A good many of the soldiers, both the Catalan Volunteers and those from Loretto, were still ill with scurvy, and they told us how many had died. The learned doctor had done all he could, but though he saved many, nineteen had died. They were eight Spanish soldiers, four sailors, six Christians from Loretto and a workman." Fifty-seven deaths among a body of less than two hundred in the space of three months was a heavy mortality indeed. To it must be added nine of the crew of the San Antonio who died on the home voyage, and the crew of the San Jose, who were never heard of after their departure from Cape San Lucas. It is remarkable that no signs of panic are spoken of amongst the first settlers of California. Portola 's position was very trying. He had not found Monterey, though he had gone beyond its supposed lati tude, and he had received no answer to the demand for succor consequent on the disability of the naval branch of the expedition under his charge. He had but twelve men left alive of his own company which had started from Cape San Lucas twenty-five strong a year before. His associate. Captain Vila, had only five sailors and two boys left alive, and no tidings had come back of the San Antonio after seven months' waiting. The sickness had prevented any attempt to plant crops at San Diego, and the supplies for both that mission and Monterey had been all consumed. Nothing remained but the stores des tined to found the mission at San Buenaventura. The THE DISCOVERY OF SAN FRANCISCO BAY 47 third ship, the San Jose, which had been promised by the Visitor General to arrive in a few months, had not been heard of during the year since the San Carlos sailed. Famine threatened to finish the work of pestilence in the first Californian settlement. There was also danger from the Indians. Those around San Diego had shown themselves very different in tem per from the friendly tribes met elsewhere. During Por tola 's absence they had taken advantage of the reduced condition of the Spaniards, and after various attempts at pilfering from both the ship and the hospital tents, had made an armed attack on the latter and their guards. One man was killed and another and Fray Viscaino wounded before the assailants retreated under the fire of the hospital guards. They came back afterwards to promise peace and get their wounded treated by the Span ish surgeon, but their temper continued surly, and there was no telling when another attack might be made. They showed no willingness to hold intercourse, even with the Franciscans, and Father Serra, during six months' resi dence, had only been able to win the confidence of a sin gle boy. The prospect of future hostilities was consider able. Portola concluded, with reason, that it would be a use less waste of life to continue the post at San Diego, unless speedy help came. He sent Captain Rivera with the twenty "leather- jackets" and most of the Christian Indians to Lower California in search of possible supplies. The wounded friar Viscaino was sent with them. The Governor declared he would wait till the twentieth of March for either Rivera 's return or a vessel from Mexico. If neither reached San Diego by that day he would march the remaining soldiers under his command back to the peninsula. His determination was fully justified by the circumstances. The naval officer Vila took another view of his duty, and decided to stay with his ship and seven sailors at all 48 CALIFORNIA AND ITS MISSIONS VOL. 2 risks. He could not sail her with such a crew, so he determined to stay with her till either help or death came. The Franciscans also took an independent course. Father Serra and Crespi decided to remain, and try to win over the Indians alone. They would live on the vessel and make excursions among the savages, whose language they were now acquainted with to some extent. The other two Franciscans were to return with Portola. There was no clash between the Governor and the Fran ciscans or Vila on their decisions. Each followed his own judgment without criticism of the others. Father Serra took the course meanwhile to offer a novena to St. Joseph, as the best means in his power to hasten the coming of the help so much desired by all. The church festival of the saint fell on the day immediately before the date fixed for departure by Portola, and the novena finished then. In the evening a sail appeared far out at sea. It disappeared at nightfall, and was not seen the next day, but it was enough to make Portola suspend his march. Five days later she appeared again, and this time entered the harbor. She proved to be the San Antonio, which had been sent back to seek aid eight months before, but by a singular combination her arrival in San Diego was contrary to the express orders given by Galvez. When she returned to San Bias with news of the straits to which the post there was reduced, the Visitor sent her at once to Monterey to meet Portola there and help in the immediate occupation of its port. The third packet, the San Jose, was ordered to sail at once for San Diego vnth supplies, and an extra crew for Vila's ship. The wellmeant instructions of the Visitor were baffled in the case of both ships by a series of unlooked-for accidents, which nearly entailed the aban donment of the Californian settlements in spite of his anxiety to maintain them. The San Jose sailed as soon as ready from Cape San Lucas, but after three months' struggle with head winds had to return there without reaching San Diego. Father THE DISCOVERY OF SAN FEANCISCO BAY 49 Murguia was to go on her, but at. her return he was laid up with an attack of fever, and could not embark. The San Jose sailed again in June, but was never heard of more. Whether she foundered at sea or her crew perished by scurvy, as that of the first vessel had so nearly done, was never known. Her commander had the Celtic name of Callegan. Had the garrison at San Diego been left to the aid sent in the San Jose alone, the post would certainly have been abandoned. The San Antonio, after losing nine men on her return voyage, sailed for Monterey in the beginning of the year. She had no intention of touching at San Diego when first seen off that port, but at Point Conception a couple of days later an accident to her rudder obliged Captain Perez to return there for repairs. Her arrival changed the plans of Portola, and enabled him at length to accom plish the task of occupying Monterey. The Franciscan chronicler had no hesitation in ascribing this strange combination of events to the protection of their heavenly patron, St. Joseph, and it would seem their sentiments were shared by the military and naval officers. CHAPTER III The Finding or Monterey With the San Antonio to help his search, Portola started again to seek the elusive port of Monterey. He did not wait the return of Rivera's party from Lower California, but set out with the force available. It was less than half what had gone the year before. Portola and Pages were the only officers, and Crespi the only priest. Ortega was left with eight leather-jackets to pro tect the two friars who remained to win over the San Diego natives. Ten Californian Christians were left with them to begin cultivation, and five with two Mexicans went with Portola. One of these had remained in the Santa Lucia mountains the winter before. He came into San Diego in April with no costume but a breech clout and musket, having traveled without molestation the whole distance alone, and everywhere getting food from the Indians. Twelve Catalan regulars and seven militiamen made up the expedition which started in the middle of April on the same day with the packet which carried Father Serra. Before leaving, Portola sent dispatches to Velicata for the Viceroy. Two Califomians carried them there safely in nine days, though the march originally had consumed forty-six. The San Antonio landed some provisions for San Diego, and carried the rest of her cargo on to Monterey. The party at San Diego was left to await further supplies from the San Jose, which never came, or the return of Rivera with the cattle from Lower California. The packet had a weary struggle with baffling winds. She was driven nearly half way back to Cape San Lucas on getting out of San Diego, and then was carried up to San Francisco Bay, which she did not examine, for want of orders, as 50 THE FINDING OF MONTEEEY 51 Crespi adds. It was not till the last of May that her captain reached Point Pinos, which he had no difficulty in recognizing from Cabrera Bueno 's description. Por tola 's party was there a week before, and lighted fires as a signal, which were answered by artillery from the packet. Captain Perez followed the directions of the Directory like a good sailor, and dropped anchor a couple of hundred yards from the point without trouble, the launch sounding before him and six fathoms of water be ing found. The "famous port of Monterey" was as easily recognized by the sailors as San Diego had been. Portola had already recognized it himself, without the vessel's help. As soon as his party reached their old camping grounds, after thirty-eight days' journey, Por tola, Crespi and Pages went to look for the cross which had been set up the year before. Crespi conscientiously tells how neither the Governor nor himself had been before at its site. It was set up by Captain Rivera with a party of soldiers, who had borne witness that they had seen no more sign of a port at the Point of Pines than Portola had on his trip along the shore between it and Ano Nuevo. Crespi and Portola found the cross and were agreeably surprised to find it surrounded vnth Indians' arrows and feathered rods. There were also offerings of mussels and fish, some quite fresh, which evidently had been placed there as a mark of homage of soirie kind. "Our hearts were touched, seeing that, in a way, the gentiles offered some homage to the sacred wood, though without knowledge of what it represented. One could hope from that act of religion (though only a material one) that they would not refuse the sign of salvation on their foreheads and in their hearts, when their minds should be enlightened by the teachings of the Gospel," Having gratified their curiosity and the good friars ' devo tion with the examination of the cross, the Spaniards turned their eyes towards the sea, where they had all so vainly looked for sign of a harbor on their former visit. 52 CALIFOBNIA AND ITS MISSIONS VOL, 2 They now looked only for the expected vessel, but what met their eyes was an unexpected revelation, "As the day was very clear, we saw the long sweep of coast formed by this Point of Pines, and the other we supposed to be Point Ano Nuevo, and we remarked that the sea through all this great sweep was as smooth as milk, so that it looked like a great lagoon. Countless sea wolves were swimming and crying on its surface, and two great whales were blowing within fifty yards of the land. ' ' This last was an evident sign of deep water, even to landsmen. They walked a few paces on the sands and noted that the unruffled stretch of sea was marked and bounded by the Point of Pines and that of Ano Nuevo, so that ' ' it looked like a lake, as round as an 0." Then Crespi and Pages "together broke out and said, Why, this is the Port of Monterey that we are in search of, for it is as Sebastian Vizcaino tells, to the very letter." Then the friar took out a compass to note the direction of its entrance, and ' ' saw that for a northwest wind it had the entrance open for this great sweep, and so they believed beyond doubt that it was the Port of Monterey, but to be more sure they waited for the bark to come and clear up every thing. ' ' This explanation of Crespi accounts for the failure to identify the port on the first expedition. To landsmen the space between the distant headlands, when roughened by the winds showed no difference from the body of ocean waters beyond. It was only when a change of winds showed the protected water "as smooth as milk" that its true form was recognized. The whales sporting near the shore gave a farther indication of deep water there, which otherwise the soldiers had no means of knowing in the absence of boats. The simplicity of the puzzle which sent Portola back from a six months ' expedition without find ing a harbor when beside it, is amusing; but one must appreciate the candor with which its history is told. Crespi makes no attempt to explain away or excuse his THE FINDING OF MONTEEEY 53 obtuseness ; he merely tells how it happened. With all his delight at the finding of San Francisco Bay, as a result of the error, he makes no suggestion of preternatural causes for it. The old Franciscans had full confidence in the efficacy of prayer as an agency in temporal, no less than spiritual, concerns, but they did not suggest miracles where natural causes sufficed. The opportune arrival of the San Antonio on the day before the proposed abandon ment of the colony, might be regarded as a miracle by some of the Spanish soldiers, but Father Crespi carefully PORT OF MONTEREY guards himself against such an assertion. "The colony would have been abandoned, ' ' he writes, ' ' if God had not ordered that a sail was seen on St, Joseph's own day, to whose protection the occurrence may be attributed, as he is the patron of the expedition." With all their piety, neither Serra nor Crespi forgot the lessons of Catholic theology they had learned in the old university of Palma. The San Antonio arrived a week later, and Serra and her captain landed on the first of June. The companies ex pressed their joy with numerous salvos for having found the long-sought harbor. The third of that month was 54 CALIFORNIA AND ITS MISSIONS VOL, 2 chosen to take formal possession of the land in the name of the King of Spain, It was the usual custom of the time, and Captain Cook was almost simultaneously building a mon ument and drinking wine to claim possession of New Zealand for His Majesty George the Third of England. In California the ceremony was invested with a religious character. The soldiers had found the very oak under which the Carmelite friars who accompanied Vizcaino had celebrated the first mass in California, a hundred and sixty-eight years before. The giant tree, vnth its branches wetted by the spray of the high tides, was recognized more easily than the anchorage had been, and near it a rustic chapel was built of branches and reeds. The third of June that year was Whit-Sunday. A huge cross was raised, and Father Serra, in alb and stole, blessed it and the land. The soldiers and sailors knelt around, and joined in the hymn "Veni Creator Spiritus." The next function was of a more solemn nature. One of the petty officers had died at sea, and his body was duly given Christian burial. Father Serra then sang high mass, while the bells which had been hung on trees were rung, and the soldiers discharged their guns at intervals. A pic ture of our Lady of Gtuadalupe, given by the Archbishop of Mexico, was hung behind the rude altar, and when mass was ended a Te Deum was sung by all. The religious service ended, the commandant proceeded to take formal possession of the land in the name of the King, Charles the Third. The royal standard was run up again on its flagstaff, having already been hoisted when the mission cross was raised. ' ' The usual forms of pulling grass, casting stones and taking record of the same were added, ' ' as Crespi conscientiously notes, ' ' and thus from that day God's worship began, and the famous port of Monterey passed under the authority of the King of Spain, ' ' The functions closed with a modest feast on the shore, in which officers, friars and all the people, both THE FINDING OF MONTEREY 55 sailors and landsmen, shared, and the artillery celebrated the event vnth repeated volleys. The next day the engineer officer laid out a stockade at the distance of a gunshot from the shore and within three of the anchorage of the San Antonio. The stakes were cut, and work commenced, sailors and soldiers joining. A few cabins were built within the enclosure for the garrison and the friars, and all finished in less than a couple of weeks. Another function, the procession of the Holy Sacrament on Corpus Christi, celebrated the completion of the stock ade. No natives appeared during all this time, in spite of their offerings at the old cross and the friendly relations which had existed between them and Portola 's men on the first expedition. Father Serra had taken possession of his spiritual jurisdiction as formally as Portola had announced the claims of the King, and on the same day. He gave the mission its name of San Carlos, and its patron St. Joseph, "in virtue of powers granted himself by the King and the Guardian and council of the apostolic Col lege of San Fernando in Mexico, and he named Father Crespi as his fellow minister for the same." The dis tinction between the powers of church and state was care fuUy noted in the first settlement of Spanish California, The authority of the King of Spain could convey priests to California, but it was only their religious superior that could give them the right to act as priests there. Portola had now fulfilled his mission in California, and in obedience to orders he placed Lieutenant Pages in com mand at Monterey and sailed for San Bias to render an account to Galvez and the Viceroy. Before his departure he sent letters by land, telling of the establishment of the post. A soldier and one of the sailors volunteered to carry the dispatches, and traveled vnth them to San Diego without mishap. Rivera had not yet returned, and they traveled on to the south of the peninsula, where they delivered the dispatches to the Lieutenant-Governor, Armona, on the second of August, having spent less than 56 CALIFORNIA AND ITS MISSIONS VOL. 2 two months on the whole trip. Portola himself, however, reached San Bias on the same day, and thus won the ' ' al- bricias" of the good news. He had been just one year in Upper California, most of which was spent in the saddle. The honor of discover ing San Francisco Bay is fairly due to the Catalan captain of dragoons. The lack of nautical knowledge which pre vented him from knowing the port of Monterey when under his eyes, is redeemed by the fidelity to duty and dogged perseverance, which carried him on to the greater bay. His treatment of the natives throughout was marked with kindly humanity, and the same appeared in the treat ment of his own men. The straightforward character of his dispatches to the Viceroy and Galvez is remarkable in a subordinate officer. From Loretto, when he landed there to arrest the Jesuits under orders from the King himself, Portola did not hesitate to write to the royal Visitor in favor of his prisoners and to declare that there had been no need of force to secure their submis sion. His whole term of office lasted only two years, and the fourteen months he spent in Upper California were little more than continuous journeying, but he merits hon orable mention as the first European ruler of the land and the discoverer of San Francisco Bay. His naval colleague. Captain Vila, also deserves a share of credit. The destruction of his crews by the scurvy excluded him from further part in the exploration after reaching San Diego, but his determination to die rather than abandon his fever-stricken vessel showed the spirit of a brave sailor. He lived only to guide the San Carlos back to her harbor. When the San Jose failed to appear in San Diego at the promised time and the San Antonio passed it on her return trip from Monterey without touch ing at the port, Vila would wait no longer. He took the San Carlos to sea with only his five sailors and three landsmen. He made the voyage safely to San Bias, but died in a few days after entering its harbor. THE FINDING OF MONTEREY 01 The news of the occupation of Monterey was received with great satisfaction by Galvez and the Viceroy in Mexico, All the bells of the city were rung, and a high mass of thanksgiving chanted in the cathedral. The Gov ernment published a full account of the settlement and circulated it through all the cities of the Viceroyalty. Special note was made of the number of times that the occupation of California had been attempted before with out success. The national domain had been extended three hundred leagues, and the dispositions of its people made it likely they would readily become brothers in faith with the Spaniards. It was likewise announced as a matter of grave public interest that thirty Franciscans would be sent without delay to California to work for this desired result. To secure these missionaries the Viceroy applied to the College of San Fernando. He specified the localities for which they were needed, ten for the peninsular existing missions, ten for the new territory and ten for establish ments between Santa Maria and San Diego. The Govern ment promised three hundred dollars annually for each priest and a thousand for the expenses of each new foun dation. These payments, it should be said, were drawn from the Pious Fund, and in no sense a burthen on the taxes. As the college had difficulty in furnishing so many priests, its superiors asked that the missions in their charge in the Sierra Gorda should be secularized. The change was made by agreement between the College on the one hand and the Viceroy and Bishop on the other, as had been done twenty years earlier in the Jesuit establish ments in Durango. Parish priests were named by the Bishop for the Indian villages, and native alcaldes ap pointed to manage their temporal affairs, as the friars had done. The possession of their lands or the community system of work was not affected by this form of secular ization, the only one recognized by Spanish law. It was a process wholly different from the secularization applied 58 CALIFOBNIA AND ITS MISSIONS VOL, 2 to the Californian missions under Mexican rule at a later time. It may be of interest to describe here the forms with which a colony, similar in many respects to that founded by Galvez in California, was inaugurated eighteen years later by the British Government. A settlement in New South Wales was ordered by the English ministry in 1786. It was to be a military post, like Monterey, with the addition, not of a mission, but a settlement of convicts. The expedition sailed the foUovnng year and included somewhat over two hundred soldiers and seven hundred convicts. A chaplain, the Rev. Mr. Johnson, was sent as representative of the Church, which was then regarded in Great Britain as more intimately connected with the State than in any Catholic country. A naval officer. Captain Philips, was named Governor, and given powers more extensive than those of Galvez in Mexico. Captain Philips selected a site for his colony at Sydney Cove, and landed his people on the twenty-eighth of January, 1788. The Royal Standard was run up that day, and with his officers assembled round it, he "drank the Health of the King and success to the Settlement with much emotion. ' ' The formal establishment, corresponding to Portola 's at Monterey, was celebrated on the seventh of February. ' ' The Royal Standard was raised in presence of the whole population. The military were drawn up under arms, the Governor surrounded by his officers, the prisoners placed on one side." The Royal Commission was read first by the Judge Advocate ; then the Act of Parliament authorizing the establishment of civil and criminal courts in the colony, and lastly the Letters Patent under the Great Seal, which empowered the proper officers to summon and hold such courts. By the letters patent the Governor was clothed vnth extraordinary powers. "He could sentence without appeal to five hundred lashes and impose fines of five hundred pounds, and was empowered, at his discre tion, to regulate customs and trade, fix prices of articles THE FINDING OF MONTEEEY 59 for sale and wages, create monopolies of any salable article, grant the public lands in unlimited quantities, and remit any punishments ordered by the courts, even in capital cases." The enumeration of these powers fur nished the most interesting part of the inauguration cere monial. The address of Governor Philips, which followed the reading, was the principal religious feature. His lan guage in part of it was not unlike that of Galvez to the sailors of the San Carlos. He assured the soldiers and convicts that "they would have the surpassing honor of having introduced the Christian religion and European civilization into the southern hemisphere. It would be their honor to plant the standard of the cross and the flag of their country among populous nations, to whom both were little known. Their energies would be directed towards the extension of commerce, spread of the English language, and the extension of the true faith. ' ' The Gover nor further assured his hearers "that a Special Provi dence had watched over them, and directed their course, made the winds and sea propitious, and brought them safe to their destination." This address took the place of the Te Deum chanted at the foundation of Monterey. The Governor, however, did not show the same disposi tion as Galvez to provide teachers for the nations among whom the faith was to be extended. No church was built for five years, and then only a cabin costing two hundred dollars, and no clergymen appeared in the colony for a much longer time, except the first chaplain. The Gover nor required attendance at the English Church service on Sundays from all convicts, under penalty of reduced rations. For five years this service was held only by the convict overseers, and in the open air. The Governor himself, however, did not attend any public worship. The story of the Australian settlement is told by Samuel Sid ney in his ' ' Three Colonies of Australia, ' ' with the same simplicity as Palou tells that of California, 60 CALIFOBNIA AND ITS MISSIONS VOL. 2 The council of Charles III, gave no such authority to its officials as that conferred on Captain Philips, The Span ish Governor received the ordinary military authority over his own men and the right to administer the laws of Mexico through his jurisdiction. The points impressed on him by the first instructions of Galvez were chiefly to make the natives understand that their visitors were friends, and to guard against treacherous attacks from the former. The garrison left with Pages at Monterey was only twenty men, and there was no hope of communication with the outer world until the return of the packet the fol lowing year. Seven Californian Indians remained to help the friars in cultivating the ground and other works. The soldiers were employed in strengthening the stockade and building their houses. The friars and their Indians began planting grain when their church was finished in. a simple way. The natives kept away during the presence of the vessel, and after it departed they only appeared by one or two at the settlement. The friars did what they could to remove their fears and learn their dialect. One of the Christian Indians picked up the latter easily and was of use as an interpreter, but on the whole there was little communication between the races. It was not till the close of the year that Father Serra could baptize any one, and then it was only a child of five years. The loneliness of life under these conditions is well ex pressed in tlie Mission President's letters to Palou. Prom San Diego, while Portola was preparing to abandon it, he wrote: "It is nearly a year since I have heard from either you or our College, Our chief trial is lack of inter course with you and news. We have good health, so a tor tilla a day, with the wild fruits of the country, are enough for our support, " A letter written later on the eve of his departure for Monterey adds : " I had no letter by this vessel. The death of Pope Clement XIII, and the election of one of our religious, Ganganelli, have reached us as THE FINDING OF MONTEEEY 61 rumors. If such be the case, tell us the name of the new Pope, that we may use it in our daily prayers. Tell us, too, if St. Joseph of Cupertino has been canonized, and anything else of importance to us poor solitaries, shut out from all the world." At San Diego conditions were still more gloomy. The natives were not only indifferent, but insolent and threat ening. When Serra once tried to baptize a dying infant, it was rudely snatched from his arms. The natives threw the gifts of food offered them away with contempt. Even after three years, Palou wrote of the San Diego Indians : ' ' They all showed much ill-temper and dislike of us, and only came near us to steal what they could, and spy on our actions, mocking us openly all the time. ' ' The friars left by Serra, Fathers Gomez and Parron, were both attacked by scurvy, and had to return to Mexico after little over a year. Of the five pioneer missionaries chosen for the Monterey settlement, only Father Crespi remained with the President at the end of two years' hardships. Famine was also experienced at San Diego a second time in the first months of 1771. When Portola went the second time to Monterey, he only left twenty-five bushels of flour for the support of soldiers, friars and Indians, until the expected coming of the San Jose, The loss of that vessel left them destitute till the middle of the next year. The priests and Indians planted a grain field, but it failed for lack of moisture. The next season a lower site was selected, and it was ruined by a flood, Rivera came back vnth two hundred cattle and fourteen soldiers from Lower California, and by this alone the settlement was saved from starvation. Rivera's return increased the military force in the col ony to forty, but unfortunately dissensions followed between Portola 's regulars and the frontier militiamen. The latter were dissatisfied with seeing their captain out ranked by an officer of lower grade, and the rough man ners of Pages made the breach wider. He was hot tem- 62 CALIFOBNIA AND ITS MISSIONS VOL. 2 pered and arbitrary, and the isolation of his position did not improve his temper. Several soldiers deserted and went to live among the savages. Pages further showed an inclination to domineer the work of the priests. He refused food to the Califomians engaged in the mission as workmen. An order from the Viceroy was sent on the next trip of the San Antonio, requiring the Governor not to interfere in any way in the mission work. The packet also brought twelve Catalan infantrymen to supply the losses in the company of Pages, and ten Franciscans from the College of San Fernando in May, 1771. There were now fourteen priests and about fifty soldiers in the colony. With eight or ten Mexican vaqueros and twenty Christian Indians from the peninsula, they formed the whole civil ized population. The soldiers received three hundred and seventy-five dollars annual pay from the Treasury in consideration of the hardships of the service in California, The Franciscans were allowed four hundred each from the Pious Fund, The latter stipends were chiefly em ployed in buying goods for the use of the native converts. Viceroy de la Croix, in his letters by the packet, desired the establishment of six new missions away from the mili tary posts. Two of the priests still in California were, however, broken down in health and had to return to Mexico, and two others had already returned under like conditions. Father Serra wrote to Palou for four more colleagues, and meantime divided those already in the country for four of the projected missions. Fathers Jayme and Dumetz were sent to San Diego to relieve the invalids there. Somera and Cambon were appointed to begin a mission at San Gabriel, Juncosa and Cavalier one at San Luis Obispo, and Fathers Patema and Cruzado a third at San Buenaventura. All these had been recom mended by the Viceroy. Serra planned a fourth at San Antonio in the Santa Lucia district nearer Monterey. He named Fathers Sitjar and Pieras, both Mallorcans like himself, for this last. The missions recommended THE FINDING OF MONTEEEY 63 by de la Croix at San Francisco and near San Diego were postponed for the time. Governor Pages readily furnished guards and went himself to San Diego to take part in beginning the mis sions on the Santa Barbara channel. Serra went himself to found that of San Antonio. Palou tells the rest : " He took Fray Miguel Pieras and Fray Buenaventura Sitjar as administrators, with six soldiers of the guard and three sailors and some Califomians to build the houses. They traveled twenty-five leagues from the post and came to a wide valley, full of oak trees. The reverend President made search and found a very good site near a stream with plenty of water, which they saw could easily be taken to water the land near by, which was of good quality and large quantity. They called the place San Antonio. A cross was then made for the mission and blessed and set up, hard by a brush hut that served as a chapel. The Father President said mass there, so giving the mis sion its beginning on the feast of the seraphic doctor St. Buenaventura. On that same day many gentiles came from their rancherias for the strange sight, and when they learned by signs why the strangers had come, they showed much joy. They showed it by coming in numbers and by the great gifts of pine nuts and seeds they brought us. ' ' Serra next built a chapel and a dwelling of poles, sur rounded with a fence for safety. They also built cottages for the guards, workmen and Californian Indians. The natives showed increased good will, bringing their seeds to eat and telling them to keep some of them for the vnn- ter's use. After fifteen days the President left, saying he was sure it would be a great mission, through the many gentiles there and their goodwill. When San Antonio Was thus started. Father Serra returned to Monterey to change the site of the mission there from its first location beside the fort to the little valley of Carmel, five miles off. He attributed the fewness of the natives who came to visit them to their fear of the 64 CALIFORNIA AND ITS MISSIONS VOL. 2 soldiers, and wished to keep the mission a good distance from the latter. The change had been sanctioned by the Viceroy, and Pages had detailed five soldiers as a separate guard for it. Father Serra began work there in the begin ning of August with four Californian laborers and three sailors, the soldiers likewise taking a hand. ' ' They built a chapel and a dwelling of four rooms and a larger apart ment for a storeroom. They built likewise a house and kitchen for the boys, all of wood, with a good palisade around them," In a corner was a guard house for the soldiers and hard by corrals for the cattle and horses. As the workmen were few, the works went slow and were not finished till the last day of December, when they all moved in, according to Palou 's detailed story. His description of the site itself is worth translation, as point ing out the motives which guided the old friars in their choice of mission sites, "Mission San Carlos with this change was in a pleas ant situation, being on a rising ground with a wide plain in view, very fit for cultivation. It is the valley of the Carmel River, which runs all the year, and the valley is well covered with trees, willows and other bushes, with plenty of roses of Castile. It has a good pond on the left with plenty of water, especially in the rainy season, and even in the summer it keeps supplied by wells within it. In flood time it would be easy with a levee of a hundred yards long to keep enough water to irrigate all that is needed of the plain. The mission is enclosed by hills, with good feed on them for cattle, and it has plenty of firewood and also of timber to work, such as pines, white oak and redwood. Round it are several rancherias of gentiles, who quickly visited us and became converts not much later, ' ' The foundation of the missions along the channel was not effected as easily as that of San Antonio, The want of discipline of the soldiers under Pages' command and that officer's desire to show his authority over the mis- THE FINDING OF MONTEREY 65 sions were the causes of the trouble. The Governor went with the six Franciscans on the packet to San Diego with the design of taking a part personally in the new foundations. He was kept from it by the desertion of ten of the San Diego garrison a week after his arrival there. The militiamen of Rivera's company resented the rough manners and military autocracy of the new commander. He had to temporize and induced the deserters to return by the persuasion of Father Patema and a free pardon. Five others deserted after the return of the first, and when overtaken by Pages entrenched themselves and declared they would fight to the death rather than return. They were finally won back by the efforts of Father Dumetz, but the occurrences both irritated and alarmed the Gov ernor and had a serious effect on his subsequent conduct towards the missions. Fathers Cambon and Somera set out to begin the mis sion of San Gabriel, immediately after the return of the first deserters. Pages could not go with them;, but he thought it good to send a large military party of fourteen under orders of a corporal with the priests. The number of the strangers alarmed the natives, who came to meet them in a large body, armed and with threats of hostilities. Father Somera went to meet the warriors and unrolled before their eyes a picture of Our Lady of Bethlehem on a large banner. The Indians were astonished, and laid their bows on the ground in sign of peace, while two brought their shell necklaces and laid them before the picture as gifts. Confidence being thus restored, the mission buildings were begun on the eighth of September, and quickly fin ished for occupation. The "gentiles" helped readily in the work, and brought wild flowers to decorate the church when finished. Four of the soldiers were then sent back to San Diego with the packmules, as the friars felt full con fidence in the goodwill of the natives and disliked the need less guards. The corporal in command, however, was of 66 CALIFORNIA AND ITS MISSIONS VOL. 2 a different mind, and called two more soldiers in con sequence of the crowds of visitors to the mission. One of his men meanwhile offered violence to an Indian woman, and a party in revenge attacked the two newcomers. One of them killed the chief among his assailants, and the others fled. The corporal had the body beheaded and fixed the head on a stake in front of the guardhouse. He then made a military promenade among the rancherias and threatened severe punishments in case of further attacks. The Franciscans had much difficulty in restoring confi dence enough to let them go on with their work. They had the head of the slain warrior returned to his friends and obtained the removal of the soldier who had caused the first trouble. Peace was thus restored after some time, but Pages thought it needful to increase the guard to sixteen men, in consequence of the incident. This body paid no attention to the remonstrances of the priests, but treated the natives with contempt and declined to work in any way themselves. The soldiers were allowed to ramble at will among the rancherias, and committed several outrages and homicides there in the usual fashion of reckless frontiersmen. Both Cambon and Somera broke down in health and had to be sent to Lower Califor nia within a year. Pages at last removed the corporal in command from his post, and better discipline was kept, but the progress of conversion and settlement had been materially impeded meanwhile. The Governor further refused to allow the friars to begin the proposed mission at San Buenaventura. He gave the occurrences at San Giabriel as a reason for not carrying out the orders of the Viceroy. Serra urged that the mission should be begun with only five or six guards, as at San Antonio, but Pages declined to separate his soldiers into such squads, and as his authority was abso lute, the mission remained unfounded several years. The Governor meantime employed himself in exploring the eastern shores of San Francisco Bay. Crespi accom- THE FINDING OF MONTEREY 67 panied and kept diary of the journey. They left Mon terey in March, and crossed the Salinas and San Benito creeks, the last near the present site of HoUister, which Crespi thought suitable for a mission. They traveled thence through the San Bernardino Valley into that of Santa Clara, which is called by Father Crespi "the oak plain of San Francisco port. ' ' The camp was made at the mouth of the Penitencia creek on the fourth day, and on the Alameda creek the next. Several large animals were seen here, which some thought buffaloes, and others mule deer, but were in reality elk. The Indians along the route were friendly, though not as numerous as on the Santa Barbara channel. A rancheria of thirty huts was the largest noticed. The next day they camped at Alameda, and the next at Cerrito creek, north of Berkeley. They took the latitude of the Golden Gate from the Berkeley shore, and killed a grizzly shortly afterwards, which gave fresh meat for dinner. In Pinole Valley a "good sized rancheria of fair and bearded Indians" was found. They gave the strangers seeds and roots to eat, and also two stuffed geese, which they used as decoys. Four whales were noticed blowing in San Pablo Bay. Crespi 's experience at Monterey sug gested this to be a sure sign of deep water, and made him add, all the fleets of Spain could find shelter there. Five villages of the same "fair and bearded natives" were found east of Carquinez. That strait barred their pas sage to Point Reyes, which had been the point aimed at when setting out. Pages traveled on, and from some hills beyond the present town of Pacheco the party looked down on the valleys and rivers now called the Sacramento and San Joaquin. They camped on the banks near Antioch. Father Crespi described the water system as one great river, splitting into various channels and named it Rio de San Francisco. It was ' ' the largest river in New Spain ' ' in his belief. It was impossible to reach Point Reyes with out boats to cross the rivers, and the party returned to bo CALIFORNIA AND ITS MISSIONS VOL. / Monterey. Their return was through San Ramon and Sufiol valleys to the shore of the bay near where Mission San Jose afterwards stood. They reached Monterey after fourteen days' absence, and Crespi reported the journey to his superior. That the establishment of a mission at San Francisco must be deferred was the common consent of both Pages and Father Crespi. The port of San Francisco was believed by both to be at the south of Point Reyes, and could not be reached vnthout vessels. Father Serra urged that the other missions, especially San Buenaventura, should be begun at once, as ordered by the Viceroy, The commander refused on the ground of insufficient soldiers, and he grew surly towards the Franciscan President in consequence of the latter's urgency on this point. Sup plies, too, were running short, and the frequent desertions among his men aggravated the naturally hot temper of Pages, and made his treatment of the friars exceptionally arrogant. Crespi, on returning from the San Joaquin, was sent to San Diego to replace Father Dumetz, who was invalided there. The transports came in sight of Monterey in Au gust, but were driven back by head winds, and finally had to anchor in San Diego, Meanwhile the distress in every mission was severe. Father Serra wrote to Palou in August that at Monterey they had depended chiefly on seeds and pine nuts, of which Pieras had sent four mule loads from San Antonio, At San Diego they had whale to eat, but none at Monterey. The milk of the cows and vegetables from the mission garden were the only food there. Still Serra did not regret having founded the mis sions. "Some souls had already gone to heaven from Monterey, San Antonio and San Diego. There was a great number of Christians living to praise God, In San' Diego many adults had been baptized, and similar results would soon be had elsewhere. The children were already beginning to speak Spanish, If Fathers Lasuen and Mur- THE FINDING OF MONTEREY 69 guia come to this desert, let them bring courage and patience. No doubt Father Palou needed the same where he was. ' ' Pages at the end of May took a party of soldiers south to the "Valley of Bears," and slaughtered grizzlies for a supply of meat to all the posts and missions. The meat was jerked like venison and much relished by all. The Governor supplemented it with seeds and nuts bought from the Indians with whom he kept friendly relations. With all his hot temper, Pages was by no means cruel or bloodthirsty. His action towards the mutinous deserters indicates as much, as well as his general good treatment of the Indians, Towards most of the friars, especially Crespi, he was personally friendly, but the isolation of his position as Governor gave him an undue opinion of his own authority, which irritated most of those under his rule. When the supply ships reached Monterey in 1772, the Governor consented to the foundation of the mission at San Luis Obispo. He had spent several months bear hunting near its site the year before, and was well satisfied with the temper of the natives. Serra had only one priest available at the time, owing to the numerous cases of sickness among the pioneer missionaries. He thought it better to suspend the rule which required the presence of two Franciscans at each station rather than Wait. The mission was founded on the first of September, 1772, in much the same form as San Antonio. Serra in person celebrated the foundation, and Fray Cavalier was left as sole administrator, with five soldiers as companions. Fifty pounds of flour and three bushels of wheat were all the supplies that could be left, and priest and soldiers had to live for several months chiefly on Indian nuts and roots. The patron of the mission was St. Louis of Toulouse, the nephew of St. Louis, King of Prance, whose name was preserved in San Luis Rey, Both King and Bishop were members of the Franciscan order. 70 CALIFORNIA AND ITS MISSIONS VOL. 2 After the foundation of San Luis, Father Serra again urged on Pages that of San Buenaventura, but to no pur pose. The Governor grew more and more despotic, and he ordered his soldiers to pay no attention to any orders but his own in their duties at the missions. Complaints of outrages on the natives were disregarded. Pages went so far as to open the letters between the Franciscans and their college in Mexico and to forward or retain them at his own will. Father Serra, at sixty years, decided to visit Mexico and lay the state of mission affairs in California before the new Viceroy, Bucareli. He sailed in the packet to San Bias and traveled on foot to Guadalajara. A vio lent attack of fever nearly ended his days there, but he recovered and finally reached the capital, where he was received cordially by his countryman Verger, then Presi dent of San Fernando College. It took five months to make the journey from San Bias. It was a remarkable effort for one of Serra's years, but it was a matter of necessity for the preservation of the California missions. The petulant arrogance of the mili tary officer at Monterey made the work desired equally by the Franciscans and the general Government impossi ble. Pages' action in tampering vnth the letters of the Franciscans made the personal appearance of Serra needed in the capital. His journey, it may be said, was fully successful. The Quaker-like simplicity of the coun try friar at the Mexican court was well received. It throws a new light, too, on the methods and men of Span ish administration in America at the time. CHAPTER IV Friars and Mexican Officials Father Serra reached the Mexican capital in February, 1773. The moment was favorable for the consideration of subjects connected with California. Galvez had returned to Spain in 1771, and the same year a new Viceroy, Fray Antonio Bucareli, arrived in Mexico. He had been Gov ernor of Cuba, and was a man of high intelligence and higher personal character. He was deeply interested in the future of the new settlements in California, and the fact that Galvez was now President of the Council of the Indies, the colonial department of Spain, gave additional weight to any recommendations he might make on Cali fornia, The missions in the peninsula had been trans ferred to the Dominicans after Bucareli 's arrival, but he had little knowledge of the northern settlements. The arrival of the Franciscan President was welcomed by the Viceroy and high officials as an excellent chance for obtaining the desired information. Through Father Ver ger, Serra was requested to furnish a full report on the Californian missions to the Council of War and Finances, and to add any recommendations he thought good. Palou gives the memorial, which was sent in a month after Serra 's arrival in Mexico. It is a curious blending of practical knowledge and shrewd common-sense, with childlike simplicity of language, Serra went seriously into small details at times in nearly the language of Sancho Panza : "I think it would be well if your Excel lency would caution the storekeeper at San Bias to pay more heed to his packing of provisions. No meat at all came last year, and what came this year, besides being little in quantity was so dry and wormy that the people said it was the remnant of the year before. ' ' This is one of the quaint remarks of the memorial. 72 CALIFORNIA AND ITS MISSIONS VOL. 2 Its main points, however, were so clearly put that they were nearly all adopted by the Viceroy's council. It had been proposed to suppress the packet station at San Bias and send the supplies needed for Monterey overland. Serra showed plainly the greater cost of such a transport and urged the maintenance and increase of the packet service. At the same time he advised opening roads to California both from Sonora and New Mexico, and sug gested the exploration of the northern coasts by the packets. He dwelt, too, on the importance of sending colonists and advised that only married men should be enlisted, and the soldiers allowed to bring their families to California at Government expense. He also gave his opinion on the number of soldiers needed at each mission and recommended that the garrison of California should be taken from the frontier militia and not from the regu; lar regiments "whose officers and men had no experience of life in a new country." His requests in favor of the missions were numerous but modest in actual cost. He asked that his Excellency should give the commandant and soldiers to understand that the management, rule and education of the baptized natives rested with the missionaries, except in cases of bloodshed. "The soldiers should be forbidden to punish or ill-treat such Christians without the consent of the mis sionary, as had been the immemorial custom of Mexico since its conquest by the Spaniards. ' ' It had also been or dered by Senor Galvez before leaving California, and was according to the principles of the natural right of parents over children, Serra regretted to say that in California this order of Galvez had been little attended to, and much ill had been the result. He asked that the commandant should be instructed to remove any soldier complained of by the missionaries without their having to give a speci fied reason for such removal. Immorality among the sol diers was a very serious matter in the eyes of the priests charged with the conversion of the natives, but hardly so FRIARS AND MEXICAN OFFICIALS 73 regarded by the average military officer. He also asked the privilege for each mission of selecting one soldier as a permanent official who was not to be removed without cause by the Governor, and who should take his orders from the Administrator. The material help asked was small. Father Serra 's own allowance ought, he thought, be paid while he was in Mexico, as it was not right that the College should have to board him while his time was given to the public ser vice. Bells and vestments were asked for the new mis sions, and some workmen to be employed at each and paid sailor's wages by the San Bias establishment. Two carpenters and two smiths were also asked for. The mo tive for one of these requests was quaintly told. ' ' Since your Excellency sent a forge on the last ships to San Diego, which with much ado I got the officer to turn over, it only remains that you should send a smith to use it. It is badly needed there, for when a spade or axe is damaged there is nothing to do, but throw it away, since it is a year's job to send it to Monterey where the only smith is to be found. Even in my own place, which is next door, I may say it is a common thing to have an axe that could be fixed in fifteen minutes, kept several weeks, and our work delayed in consequence of the same. ' ' A like tone of simplicity runs through his remarks con cerning the military element. Pages, he thought, unfit for the duties of a commander. "In my opinion, since it is asked, the only cure for trouble is to remove the offi cer, Don Pedro Pages, from the Government at Monte rey. If it is not done, squabbles will never end among the soldiers, not so much, as I have often heard them say, on account of overwork and short rations, as for the bad temper and worse manners of that same officer, which I know myself by long experience. I am just after get ting letters from soldiers both of the regulars and the militiamen to officers of their own here in Mexico, beg ging to be got out of the subjection and tyranny they have 74 CALIFORNIA AND ITS MISSIONS VOL. 2 to face in that garrison. It would be too long to tell of all the mischief his behavior has done to the missions, but if the particulars are needed they will be forthcom ing at the least hint from your Excellency. Meantime if what has been said and what your Excellency has learned already is enough, I will only beg your Excellency to let him go with credit and without disgrace, and may God bless him." Some quaint particulars of the officer's bad temper and manners appear in other parts of the memorial, A request that mission supplies should be distinctly ad dressed to their administrators was made, "because when bells had been sent from San Bias the year before Pages told the friars that they were sent to him and that he would do as he pleased with them. When I asked him last year to include the rations for the only two Califom ians that I have in Carmel in the mission supply he told me he would give nothing for Indians, and that if I did not like it I might turn them adrift. Our letters, too, come in the packages consigned to the officer, so that we can only get them when and where he likes as I could explain to your Excellency by word of mouth. ' ' Finally the request for a smith at Carmel Mission is backed by telling how "the fathers in their last letters are very anxious for this petition's success, for they are tired of fighting at the presidio, where, though the officer does not absolutely re fuse the work they want done the same work goes very slow." Father Serra's unfavorable judgment on Lieutenant Pages did not come from any antipathy to soldiers as a class. He stood up for them and their rights as warmly as for his Indians. "It would be right to have a full hundred of the leather jackets stationed in California and they should have their commissary store at Monterey with a list of prices and regular payments vnthout need of long accounts at Loretto so far away. And I think they ought to get a little more pay, since the last regulations FRIAES AND MEXICAN OFFICIALS 75 cut it dovm considerably while they gave them more work. With that little increase the men now there will be satis fied and others with families will ask to go there, as in other times men used to beg for a soldier's job, when it could keep the family comfortably in his house, but now adays no one either looks for such a job or likes it." Even the deserters received attention in the thirty-first clause of the memorial. "I beg your Excellency to let the commander in Monterey proclaim a general pardon for the deserters if any there are off among the heathens. :"m -