The March of Portola and the Discovery of the Bay of San Francisco | Page 2

Zoeth S. Eldredge and E.J. Molera
be loosened, the standard of individual heroism was not lowered, and the achievements of Portol�� and of Anza rank with those of De Soto and Coronado. The California explorer did not, it is true, have to fight his way through hordes of fierce natives. The California Indians, as a rule, received the white adventurers gladly, and entertained them with such hospitality as they had to offer, but the Indians north of the Santa Barbara Channel were but a poor lot. In a country abounding in game of all kinds, a sea swarming with fish, a soil capable of growing every character of foodstuff, these miserable natives lived in a chronic state of starvation.
As in heroic qualities, so also in skill and judgment, Portol�� upholds the best traditions of Spain. The success of an expedition depends upon the character of the leader. P��nfilo de Narv��ez landed on the coast of Florida in April, 1528, with a well-equipped army of three hundred men and forty horses, just half the force he sailed with from Spain the previous June, and of the three hundred men whom he led into Florida, only four lived to reach civilization - the rest perished. That is but one example of incompetent leadership. When Portol�� organized his expedition for the march from San Diego Bay to Monterey, many of his soldiers were ill from scurvy, and at one time on the march the sick list numbered nineteen men, including the governor and Rivera, his chief officer. Sixteen men had to be carried, and to three, in extremis, the viaticum was administered; but he brought them all through, and returned to San Diego without the loss of a man.
There are two full diaries of this expedition, one by Father Crespi and the other by Alf��rez Costans��. There is, besides, a diary of Jun��pero Serra of the march from Velicat�� to San Diego Bay, a translation of which is printed in Out West magazine (Los Angeles), March-July, 1902. It is of small value to the student of history. There is a diary by Portol��, quoted by Bancroft, and a Fragmento by Ortega, also used by Bancroft. These we have not seen. There are letters from Francisco Palou, Juan Crespi and Miguel Costans��, printed in Out West for January 1902. The diary of Father Crespi is printed in Palou's Noticias de la Nueva California. Documentos para la Historia de Mexico, re-printed San Francisco, 1874. The diary of Miguel Costans�� is in the Sutro library. It has never been printed. It is prefaced by an historical narrative, a poor translation of which was published by Dalrymple, London, 1790, and a better one by Chas. F. Lummis in Out West, June-July, 1901. In Publications of the Historical Society of Southern California, Vol. II, Part 1, Los Angeles, 1891, a number of documents of the Sutro collection are printed, with translations by George Butler Griffin. These relate to the explorations of the California coast by ships from the Philippines, the two voyages of Vizcaino, with some letters of Jun��pero Serra, and diaries of the voyage of the Santiago to the northern coast in 1774.
The sketch here submitted is the result of much study of original documents, and the route of the expedition is laid down after careful survey of the physical geography where possible, and in other cases, by the contoured maps of the Geological Survey, following the directions and language as given by the diarists. Among the printed books consulted are Palou's Vida del Padre Junipero Serra and his Noticias de la Nueva California, above noted. The Conquest of the Great Northwest, Agnes C. Laut, New York, 1908; History of California by H. H. Bancroft; Treaties of Navigation, Cabrera Bueno, Translation, Dalrymple, London, 1790; The Discovery of San Francisco Bay, George Davidson, and Francis Drake on the Northwest Coast of America in 1579, the same author; Proceedings of the Geographical Society of the Pacific.
In view of the forthcoming Portol�� Festival, The California Promotion Committee, through its Reception Committee, appointed three of its members to compile a history of the first expedition for the settlement of California. In the endeavor to obtain further knowledge of the life and character of Portol��, the committee has been enabled, through the efforts of one of its members, to have careful search made among the archives of Madrid, of the India Office at Saville, of the City of Mexico, and of Puebla, and while we have little to show, as yet, concerning Portol��, we have received other documents of the utmost importance to the history of San Francisco: a chronicle of the events following the discovery of the Bay.
By royal edict, a maritime expedition for the exploration of the northwestern coasts of America sailed from San Blas early in the year 1775. This consisted of the frigate Santiago,
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