STATISTICAL XV.Intendancy of NewCalifornia.

ANALYSIS.

bage. By imitating the motion of a stag when it feeds, they draw round them the flock, which becomes the victim of the deception. This extraordinary hunt was seen by M. Costanzo on the coast of the channel of Santa Barbara; and it was seen twenty-four years afterwards in the savannas in the neighbourhood of Monterey* by the officers embarked in the galetas Sutil and Mexicana. The enormous stag-branches which Montezuma displayed as objects of curiosity to the companions of Cortez belonged, perhaps, to the venados of New California. I saw two of them, which were found in the old monument of Xoachicalco, still preserved in the palace of the viceroy. Notwithstanding the want of interior communication in the fifteenth century, in the kingdom of Anahuac, it would not have been extraordinary if these stags had come from hand to hand from the 35° to the 20° of latitude, in the same manner as we see the beautiful piedras de Mahagua of Brasil among the Caribs, near the mouth of the Orinoco.

The Spanish and Russian establishments being hitherto the only ones which exist on the northwest coast of America, it may not be useless here to enumerate all the missions of New California which have been founded up to 1803. This

STATISTICAL XV.Intendancy of New California.

ANALYSIS.

detail is more interesting at this period than ever, as the United States have shown a desire to advance towards the west, towards the shores of the Great Ocean, which, opposite to China, abounds with beautiful furs of sea otters.

The missions of New California run from south to north in the order here indicated:

San Diego, a village founded in 1769, fifteen leagues distant from the most northern mission of Old California. Population in 1802, 1560. San Luis Rey de Francia, a village founded in 1798, 600.

San Juan Capistrano, a village founded in 1776, 1000.

San Gabriel, a village founded in 1771, 1050.

San Fernando, a village founded in 1797, 600.

San Buenaventura, a village founded in 1782, 950.

Santa Barbara, a village founded in 1786, 1100.

La Purissima Concepcion, a village founded in 1787, 1000.

San Luis Obisbo, a village founded in 1772, 700.

STATISTICAL

ANALYSIS. XV.Intendancy of New California.

San Miguel, a village founded in 1797,

600.

Soledad, a village founded in 1791, 570.

San Antonio de Padua, a village founded in 1771, 1050.

San Carlos de Monterey, capital of New California, founded in 1770, at the foot of the Cordillera of Santa Lucia, which is covered with oaks, pines (foliis ternis), and rose bushes. The village is two leagues distant from the presidio of the same name. It appears that the bay of Monterey had already been discovered by Cabrillo on the 15th November, 1542, and that he gave it the name of Bahia de los Pinos, on account of the beautiful pines with which the neighbouring mountains are covered. It received its present name sixty years afterwards from Viscaino, in honour of the viceroy of Mexico, Gasparde Zunega Count de Monterey, an active man, to whom we are indebted for considerable maritime expeditions, and who engaged Juan de Oñate in the conquest of New Mexico. The coasts in the vicinity of San Carlos produce the famous aurum merum (ormier) of Monterey, in request by the inhabitants of Nootka, and which is employed in the trade of otter skins. The population of San Carlos is 700.

STATISTICAL XV.Intendancy of New California.

ANALYSIS.

San Juan Bautista, a village founded in 1797, 960.

Santa Cruz, a village founded in 1794, 440. Santa Clara, a village founded in 1777, 1300. San Jose, a village founded in 1797, 630.

San Francisco, a village founded in 1776, with a fine port. This port is frequently confounded by geographers with the port of Drake further north, under the 38° 10′ of latitude, called by the Spaniards the Puerto de Bodega. Population of San Francisco, 820.

We are ignorant of the number of whites, 'mestizoes and mulattoes, who live in New California, either in the presidios or in the service of the monks of St. Francis. I believe their number may be about 1300; for in the two years of 1801 and 1802, there were in the cast of whites and mixed blood 35 marriages, 182 baptisms, and 82 deaths. It is only on this part of the population that the government can reckon for the defence of the coast, in case of any military attack by the maritime powers of Europe!

These numbers are only the result of a calculation by approximation. We have judged it proper to adopt the sum total already mentioned, vol. i. p. 272*.

*The reader will perceive on summing up the above table that the amount is only 4,837,100, consequently there is a million of deficiency somewhere. M. de Humboldt elsewhere states the Indians at two fifths of the whole population of New Spain, so they are not underrated here. In the commencement of the 7th chapter the author observes that the whites would occupy the second place, considered only in the relation of number. In the above table, however, they are inferior in number to the casts of mixed blood. In the second paragraph of the 7th chapter the author states the amount of the whites at 1,200,000. We are tempted to think that the two first figures of this number ought to change place with one another, which would then make 2,100,000. This would give us the additional million wanting in the