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William Henry Hudson - The Famous Missions of California
the padre, filled with unutterable joy, at once threw a piece of cloth over it, and called upon one of the
soldiers to stand godfather to this first infant of Christ. But, alas! just as he was preparing to sprinkle the
holy water, the natives snatched the child from him, and made off with it (and the cloth) to their own
ranchería. The soldiers who stood round as witnesses were furious at this insult, and, left to themselves,
would have inflicted summary punishment upon the offenders. But the good father pacified them,
attributing his failure - of which he was wont to speak tearfully to the end of his life - to his own sins and
unworthiness. However, this first experience in convert-making was fortunately not prophetic, for though
it is true that many months elapsed before a single neophyte was gained for the mission, and though more
serious troubles were still to come, in the course of the next few years a number of the aborigines, both
children and adults, were baptized.
[2] The mission was transferred in 1874 from the location selected by Junipero to a site some two miles
distant, up the river.
IV.
While Junipero and his companions were thus engaged in planting the faith among the Indians of San
Diego, Portolà's expedition was meeting with unexpected trials and disappointments. The harbour of
Monterey had been discovered and described by Viscaino at the beginning of the seventeenth century,
and it seemed no very difficult matter to reach it by way of the coast. But either the charts misled them,
or their own calculations erred, or the appearance of the landscape was strangely deceptive - at any rate,
for whatever reason or combination of reasons, the exploring party passed the harbour without
recognizing it, though actually lingering awhile on the sand hills overlooking the bay. Half persuaded in
their bewilderment that some great catastrophe must, since Viscaino's observations, have obliterated the
port altogether, they pressed northward another forty leagues, and little dreaming of the importance
attaching to their wanderings, crossed the Coast range, and looked down thence over the Santa Clara
valley and the "immense arm" of San Francisco Bay. By this time the rainy season had set in, and
convinced as they now were that they must, through some oversight or ill-chance, have missed the object
of their quest, they determined to retrace their steps, and institute another and more thorough search. On
again reaching the neighborhood of Monterey, they spent a whole fortnight in systematic exploration, but
still, strangely enough, without discovering "any indication or landmark" of the harbour. Baffled and
disheartened, therefore, the leaders resolved to abandon the enterprise. They then erected two large
wooden crosses as memorials of their visit, and cutting on one of these the words - "Dig at the foot of
this and you will find a writing" - buried there a brief narrative of their experiences. This is reproduced in
the diary of Father Crespé[3]; and its closing words have a touch of simple pathos: "At last, undeceived,
and despairing of finding it [the harbour] after so many efforts, sufferings and labours, and having left of
all our provisions but fourteen small sacks of flour, our expedition leaves this place to-day for San Diego;
I beg of Almighty God to guide it, and for thee, voyager, that His divine providence may lead thee to the
harbour of salvation. Done in this Bay of Pinos, the 9th of December, 1769." On the cross on the other
side of Point Pinos was cut with a razor this legend: - "The land expedition returned to San Diego for
want of provisions, this 9th day of December, 1769."
The little party - or more correctly speaking - what was left of it, did not reach San Diego till the 25th of
the following month, having in their march down suffered terribly from hunger, exposure, wet, fatigue
and sickness. Depressed themselves, they found nothing to encourage them in the mission and camp,
where death had played havoc among those they had left behind them six months before, and where the
provisions were so fast running low that only the timely reappearance of the San Antonio, long overdue,
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