A General History and Collection of Voyages and Travels, Vol. 11 | Page 4

were coming off to the ship; and many of the

men remained till we were under sail, and then leapt into the sea with
sorrowful countenances.
Having made some stay in California, some account of that country and
its inhabitants may be expected; though I believe a complete discovery
of its extent and boundaries would produce few real advantages, except
satisfying the curious. That part of California which I saw, being the
southern extremity of its western coast, appears mountainous, barren,
and sandy, much like some parts of Peru: yet the soil about Porto
Leguro, and most likely in the other vallies, is a rich black mould, and
when turned up fresh to the sun, appears as if intermingled with
gold-dust. We endeavoured to wash and purify some of this, and the
more this was done, the more it appeared like gold. In order to be
farther satisfied, I brought away some of this earth, but it was
afterwards lost in our confusions in China. However this may be,
California probably abounds in metals of all sorts, though the natives
had no ornaments or utensils of any metal, which is not to be wondered
at, as they are perfectly ignorant of all arts.
The country has plenty of wood, but the trees are very small, hardly
better than bushes. But woods, which are an ornament to most other
countries, serve only to make this appear the more desolate; for locusts
swarm here in such numbers, that they do not leave a green leaf on the
trees. In the day, these destructive insects are continually on the wing in
clouds, and are extremely troublesome by flying in, one's face. In shape
and size they greatly resemble our green grasshoppers, but are of a
yellow colour. Immediately after we cast anchor, they came off in such
numbers, that the sea around the ship was covered with their dead
bodies. By their incessant ravages, the whole country round Porto
Leguro was stripped totally naked, notwithstanding the warmth of the
climate and the richness of the soil. Believing that the natives are only
visited with this plague at this season of the year, I gave them a large
quantity of calavances, and shewed them how they were sown. The
harbour of Porto Leguro is about two leagues to the N.E. of Cape St
Lucas, being a good and safe port, and very convenient for privateers
when cruizing for the Manilla ship. The watering-place is on the north
side of the bay or harbour, being a small river which there flows into

the sea, and may easily be known by the appearance of a great quantity
of green canes growing in it, which always retain their verdure, not
being touched by the locusts, as these canes probably contain,
something noxious to that voracious insect.
The men of this country are tall, straight, and well set, having large
limbs, with coarse black hair, hardly reaching to their shoulders. The
women are of much smaller size, having much longer hair than the men,
with which some of them almost cover their faces. Some of both sexes
have good countenances; but all are much darker-complexioned than
any of the other Indians I saw in the South Seas, being a very deep
copper-colour. The men go quite naked, wearing only a few trifles by
way of ornament, such as a band or wreath of red and white silk-grass
round their heads, adorned on each side with a tuft of hawk's feathers.
Others have pieces of mother-of-pearl and small shells fastened among
their hair, and tied round their necks; and some had large necklaces of
six or seven strings, composed of small red and black berries. Some are
scarified all over their bodies; others use paint, some smearing their
faces and breasts with black, while others were painted black down to
the navel, and from thence to the feet with red.
The women wear a thick fringe or petticoat of silk-grass, reaching from
their middle to their heels, and have a deer-skin carelessly thrown over
their shoulders. Some of the better sort have a cloak of the skin of some
large bird, instead of the bear-skins. Though the appearance of the
Californians is exceedingly savage, yet, from what I could observe of
their behaviour to each other, and their deportment towards us, they
seem to possess all imaginable humanity. All the time we were there,
and constantly among many hundreds of them, there was nothing to be
seen but the most agreeable harmony, and most affectionate behaviour
to each other. When any of us gave any thing eatable to one person, he
always divided it among all who were around him, reserving the
smallest share to himself. They seldom walked singly, but mostly in
pairs, hand in hand. They seemed of meek