CHAPTER III.

First settlement of New or Upper California by Franciscan Monks.-Supposed earliest discovery of San Francisco Bay.-Origin of the name.-Establishment of a Mission and Presidio there, and ceremonies on the occasion. -Gradual establishment of Missions and Presidios over the country.-List of these, and population of same at various dates.-The gente de razon and the bestias, or the rational creatures and beasts of the country.-Causes why free white settlers few in number.Character of the natives as given by Venegas, and other writers.-Progress and apparent destiny of the Anglo-Saxons in the Pacific.

STILL later than Old California, and upwards of two hundred years after its first discovery, New or Upper California, was first settled. The Spanish Court, afraid, as of old, lest some of the other maritime nations of Europe should settle on the north-west coasts of America, and induced by other political reasons, alluded to in the previous chapters, sent instructions to the Marquis de Croix, then viceroy of New Spain, to found missions, and presidios for their military protection, in the ports of San Diego and Monterey, and at various other parts of the country. This was accordingly done, with the aid of the church, in 1769, and following years; and immediately, in gratitude or in terms of special agreement, both the spiritual and temporal government of the country were put under the control of certain monks of the Order of St. Francis, two being placed at the head of each mission established. Presidios, in addition to those at San Diego and Monterey, were subsequently formed at Santa Barbara and San Francisco. Father Junipero Serra,-a man of the SalvaTierra and Kino stamp,-was the first presiding missionary; and under his immediate auspices the mission of San Diego was founded in 1769, being the earliest.

Without dwelling on the successive establishment of the other missions, let us say a few words upon that of San Francisco. The missionaries, in proceeding northwards, with the intention

of reaching Monterey, happened to take the eastern side of the range of mountains which borders the coast north of San Diego, which place they had just left, after establishing its mission. They undesignedly passed by Monterey, and journeyed on till they reached the magnificent bay and harbor which are now called San Francisco; and which are said to be so named from the following circumstance:-Father Junipero, on leaving Lower California, had received instructions from the visitador, or inspectorgeneral of the Spanish Government, respecting the names of the proposed missions, and the saints carefully selected from the calendar, to whose special patronage they should be entrusted; but among them the name of St. Francis did not happen to occur. "What!" exclaimed the good missionary, surprised and shocked at such an insulting neglect, "is not our own dear Father, St. Francis, to have a mission assigned to him?" To this remonstrance, the visitador calmly replied, "If Saint Francis wish a mission, let him show you a good port, and then it will bear his name." When accordingly the missionaries, in their progress northwards, discovered the spacious bay mentioned, they cried out, “This then is the port to which the visitador referred, and to which the saint has led us-blessed be his name!" And forthwith they named it San Francisco Bay, in compliment to their patron and guide. They next set up the usual cross, took formal possession, and returned to San Diego, where they arrived on the 24th January, 1770. From any thing that can be certainly learned of the proceedings of previous travellers and voyagers, this seems the true and first discovery of that great baynearly two hundred years after Sir Francis Drake was reputed to have visited it.

The mission itself of San Francisco was only founded in 1776, though it had been projected ever since the discovery of the bay, about the end of October, 1769. On the 27th June of the first mentioned year, an expedition which had started by land from Monterey, arrived on the borders of a small lake,-the same which is now called "Washerwoman's Lagoon," the sea-shore, from which it is separated by a low sand-hill. This is situated towards the northern extremity of the Peninsula of San Francisco, and the surplus waters of which discharge themselves

into the strait that connects the bay with the ocean, and which was afterwards called the "Golden Gate." The neighborhood of this lake promised to be the best spot for establishing the mission; though it was subsequently planted about two miles to the south. A store-ship had previously left Monterey with the necessary supplies for the wants of the missionary band. Some soldiers, and a few families from Sonora, as intending settlers, had accompanied the expedition. They carried with them a number of black cattle and sheep, horses, mules, field and garden seeds, and other necessary means of stocking and making the settlements a profitable investment. While waiting the arrival of the store-ship from Monterey, which, owing to foul winds, did not take place till the 18th August following, the expedition began to make preparations for their permanent abode by cutting down timber, and selecting what appeared to be the most eligible site for a settlement. On the 17th day of September, solemn possession was taken of the presidio-" the day," according to Father Palou, the historian of the achievements of Father Junipero, "being the festival of the impression of the sores of Saint Francis, the patron of the port. After blessing, adoring, and planting the holy cross, the first mass was chaunted, and the ceremony concluded by a Te Deum; the act of possession in the name of our sovereign being accompanied with many discharges of artillery and musketry by sea and land."

After these ceremonies, the harbor was surveyed, both from the shore and by means of a launch, from the water; when it was ascertained that there was only one outlet to the sea, that by which the store-ship had entered. On the 9th day of November -being the day of Saint Francis-a similar ceremony was performed on taking possession of the mission; when, as Father Palou remarks of the establishment and consecration of the mission and church of San Fernando, "the want of an organ and other musical instruments was supplied by the continual discharge of the fire-arms during the ceremony, and the want of incense, of which they had none, by the smoke of the muskets." No doubt the pious priests thought this was a pretty way of pleasing the Omnipotent. Certainly it was one admirably suited to enchain the minds of the scared natives. The white "sorcerers" were clearly more clever than the brown ones. This mission sub

sequently bore the name Dolores, in commemoration of the sufferings of the Virgin.

The Fathers showed much good taste in selecting the site of the mission buildings, which was a small fertile plain, embosomed among gentle, green-clad hills, little more than a mile from the shore and about two miles from the centre of the present city of San Francisco. Several tiny rivulets of clear, sweet water, met about the spot, whose united streams were conducted to the bay by one larger creek, known by the name of Mission Creek. Farther north the land was one continued succession of bleak sandhills, among which the present city is situated. An exception, however, must be made of the spot where the presidio was established, which indeed was very prettily and agreeably situated small cove lay to the eastward of the presidio, within the narrow entrance to the bay, where good anchorage ground and shelter could be had. This was the original port of the mission, though latterly the cove of Yerba Buena, a few miles distant, and within the bay itself, was more frequently adopted as a harbor.

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On the arrival of this expedition at the bay, many of the natives had affectionately approached the missionaries with de

monstrations of peace, and all the signs of extreme pleasure at their appearance; but before the ceremonies alluded to-the imposing chanted masses and Te Deums, and still more wonderful salvos of artillery and musketry-had been played, the whole of the natives who had inhabited the place, having been surprised by an unfriendly tribe, suddenly disappeared. This untoward circumstance somewhat delayed the conversions, the first baptism having taken place only on Saint John's Day, December 27th, of the same year.

The names and foundations of the various missions, up to 1803, according to the authority of Humboldt, taking them in their order from south to north, with their respective Indian populations at the close of 1802, are as follows:

NOTE.-Forbes gives this table as taken from Humboldt; but there is a slight discrepancy in the two sets of figures. It is possible that the English translation is incorrect. Forbes' table distinguishes the males and females which Humboldt's does not. Forbes' table is therefore adopted with some verbal corrections from Humboldt direct. This translation, or the original work itself, has various discrepancies in its figures. For instance, it talks of the population being 15,562, at one place, while in its table, for the same year. the figures summed up, make 15,630.

These populations include only the converted Indians, who were attached to the missions. There are no statistics which can