History of the State of California. Frost John

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СКАЧАТЬ by north-western storms, and often landed and fought with the natives. In January, 1540, Ulloa reached the island under the 28th parallel of latitude, near the coast, which they named the Isle of Cedars. There he remained till April, when one of the ships, bearing the sick and accounts of the discoveries, was sent back to Mexico. The returning vessel was seized at Santiago by the officers of the viceroy. The fate of the remaining vessel is uncertain. Some of the writers of that day asserting that he continued his voyage as far north as the 30° of latitude, and returned safely to Mexico; while one asserts that nothing more was heard of him after the return of the vessel he sent back.

      In the mean time, the two friars and the Moor penetrated a considerable distance into the interior of the continent, and sent home glowing accounts of rich and delightful countries which they said they had discovered. The inhabitants had, at first, been hostile, and had killed the Moor; but in the end submitted to the authority of the King of Spain. Mendoza, believing the accounts of the friars to be strictly true, prepared an expedition for the conquest of the countries they described. Disputes with the different Spanish chieftains occupied some months, at the end of which Cortes returned to Spain, in disgust. Mendoza despatched two bodies of troops, one by land, the other by sea, to reconnoitre the newly discovered land, and clear the way for conquest. The marine expedition was undertaken by two ships, under the command of Fernando de Alarcon, who sailed from Santiago on the 9th of May, 1540, and proceeding north-west along the coast, he reached the head of the California Gulf, in August of the same year. There he discovered the river now called the Colorado. The stream was ascended to the distance of eighty leagues, by Alarcon and some of his men, in boats; but all their inquiries were unsatisfactorily answered, and it was determined to return to Mexico. The vessels returned safely before the end of the year.

      The land forces sent, at the same time, to the north-west, were composed of infantry and cavalry, and commanded by Francisco Vasquez de Coronado, who had been appointed governor of New Gallicia, in place of Nuno de Guzman. The party left Culiacan on the 22d of April, 1540, and took their way north, following the course described by the friars. They found the route which had been represented as easy, almost impassable. They made their way over mountains, and deserts, and rivers, and, in July, they reached the country called Cibola by the natives, but found it a half cultivated region, thinly inhabited by a people destitute of the wealth and civilization they had been represented as possessing. What had been represented as seven great cities, were seven small towns, rudely built. A few turquoises and some gold and silver supposed to be good, constituted the amount of what had been termed immense quantities of jewels, gold and silver. The Spaniards took possession of the country and wanted to remain and settle there. But Vasquez refused to acquiesce; and after naming one of the towns he visited, Granada, he started for the north-west, in search of other countries. The region called Cibola by the inhabitants, which Vasquez visited, is the territory now called Sonora, and is situated about the head waters of the Rivers Yaqui and Gila, east of the upper portion of the Gulf of California. The movements of the Spaniards after leaving Cibola, in August, 1540, have been the subject of very vague and contradictory accounts. All that is certain is, that the greater part of the force soon returned to Mexico, and that Vasquez, with the remainder, wandered through the interior for nearly two years longer, when, being disappointed in his expectations, he returned to Mexico in 1542.

      In the spring of 1542, two vessels were placed under the command of Juan Roderiguez Cabrillo, a Portuguese navigator of great reputation. The two vessels sailed from Navidad, a small port in Xalisco, in June, 1542. They rounded Cape San Lucas, and proceeded north-west, along the coast, as far as the 88th degree of latitude, when he was driven back, and took refuge in a harbor of one of the San Barbara islands. There Cabrillo died and the command devolved on Bartolome Ferrelo. Ferrelo was a zealous and determined man, and he resolved to proceed with the expedition. He sailed towards the north, and on the 26th of February, reached a promontory near the 41st parallel of latitude, which he named Stormy Cape. On the 1st of March, the ships reached the 44th parallel, but they were again driven south; and the men being almost worn out, Ferrelo resolved to go back to Mexico. He arrived at Navidad on the 14th of April, 1543. The promontory called Stormy Cape by Ferrelo, was the most northern portion of California visited by that navigator, and it is probably the same which is now called Cape Mendocino.

      From all accounts that they had been able to collect, the Spaniards concluded that neither rich and populous countries existed beneath the 40th parallel of latitude, nor was there any navigable passage between the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans to be found in the same region. They, therefore, ceased to explore the north-western territory for some time after the return of Ferrelo in 1543.

      Having thus given a somewhat detailed account of the discovery and explorations of the territory now called California, it will be sufficient to merely mention the various expeditions that visited it prior to the first regular settlement. In the spring of 1579, California was visited by Sir Francis Drake, the English navigator, who landed on the shores of a bay supposed to be that of San Francisco. He formally took possession of the country in the name of Queen Elizabeth, and called it New Albion. He left California on the 22d of July, 1579. In the spring of 1596, Sebastian Viscaino, under orders from the viceroy of Mexico, attempted to plant colonies on the peninsula of California, but the country was soon abandoned on account of the barrenness of the soil and the ferocity of the natives. Viscaino visited the coast of Upper California in 1602, and discovered and named some of the places Cabrillo had discovered and named long before. The Port San Miguel of Cabrillo was named Port San Diego; Cape Galera was named Cape Conception, the name now borne by it; the Port of Pines was named Port Monterey. This was the last expedition made by the Spaniards along the coast of California for more than a hundred and sixty years.

      Various attempts were made to establish colonies, garrisons, and fishing or trading ports, on the eastern side of the peninsula of California, during the seventeenth century, but all failed, either from the want of funds, the sterility of the country, or the hostility of the natives. The pearl fishery in the gulf was the principal bait that attracted the Spaniards, and they succeeded in obtaining a considerable quantity, some of which were very valuable.

CHAPTER III.

       Table of Contents

      FROM THE FIRST SETTLEMENT TO THE REVOLUTION IN MEXICO.

      The first establishment of the Spaniards in California, was made by the Jesuits, in November, 1697. The settlement was called Loreto, and founded on the eastern side of the peninsula, about two hundred miles from the Pacific. On entering California, the Jesuits encountered the same obstacles which had before prevented a settlement of the country. The land was so sterile, that it scarcely yielded sustenance to the most industrious tiller, and as the settlements were all located near the sea, fishing was the resource of the settlers to make up the deficiency of food. The natives continued hostile, and killed several of the Jesuit fathers. By perseverance and kindness, the Jesuits overcame all the obstacles with which they met, and within sixty years after their entrance into California, they had established sixteen missions, extending along the eastern side of the peninsula, from Cape San Lucas to the head of the gulf. Each of these establishments consisted of a church, a fort, garrisoned by a few soldiers, and some stores and dwelling-houses, all under the control of the resident Jesuit father. Each of the missions formed the centre of a district containing several villages of converted Indians. None of the Jesuits visited the western coast of the peninsula except on one occasion, in 1716.

      Great exertions were made by the settlers to acquire a knowledge of the geography, natural history and languages of the peninsula, and they appear to have been generally successful. The result of their researches were published in Madrid, in 1757, and the work was entitled a "History of California." They surveyed the whole coast of the Gulf of California, and, in 1709, Father Kuhn, one of the Jesuit fathers, ascertained beyond doubt the connection of the peninsula with the continent, which had been denied for a century. But all the labors of the Jesuits were brought to an end in 1767. In that year, Charles III. of СКАЧАТЬ