Spanish America (Vol.1&2). Sir Richard Henry Bonnycastle
neglected, and the form of it remained unknown till long after. In 1540, the viceroy of Mexico sent a vessel to explore it, but nothing was done of consequence; the same attempt was again made, but with like success. In 1578, the English navigator, Sir Francis Drake, explored the western coast of America, from 48° of north latitude, to 37° north latitude, and gave his name to the harbour, in 39° north latitude, which is the boundary of Californian lands. He called the country New Albion, and took possession of it in the name of Queen Elizabeth. In 1595, the Spaniards sent another vessel to explore the coast of California, but this vessel perished in Puerto de los Reyes. They were however determined to prosecute this object, on account of their wish to obtain a harbour for the Manilla galleons on their homeward voyage; the viceroy therefore dispatched Admiral Biscaino, who discovered and explored the harbour and land, to which he gave the name of the Viceroy. This place, Monterey, is in 36° 36ʹ north latitude, and has since become the chief settlement of the Spaniards in California. After a long interval, Spanish missions were sent to this country, and inland discoveries consequently made. In 1684, Father Caino, a Jesuit, discovered that California was actually a peninsula; he came from the east, and crossed the country in the 35th degree of north latitude.
The Jesuits made many exploratory journeys in the latter part of the seventeenth century, and having converted many of the natives, they ruled with absolute sway, and continued in possession of what they gave out as a barren country, till their final expulsion from the territories of Spain. Some doubts having arisen as to their representations of the unfavourable nature of the country, the viceroy appointed Galvez, afterwards the minister of the Indies, to explore it, and from his accounts of the value of its productions, new regulations were ordered; but it has not yet been colonized to any extent. In 1769, ships were sent to build forts at St. Diego harbour, in 32° 39ʹ 30ʺ, on the west coast of California, and one at Monterey. This research occupied a whole year, and still nothing of consequence was achieved on the coast, and it was not till 1786, when that unfortunate but great navigator La Perouse, visited the west coast of America, that the whole of the coasts of California were made known.
The inhabitants of the Old and New Californias, are chiefly the native Indians, the Spanish settlers not forming any considerable body. There are twenty-five missions or subdivisions of these countries, the principal of which are Loretto, St. Domingo, St. Josef of Cape Lucas, and All Saints, El Rosario, St. Fernandez, St. Francisco de Borgia, St. Gertrude, St. Ignacio, La Guadalupe, Santa Rosalia, La Conception, St. Josef, and St. Francisco Xavier. Monterey is the capital and place where the governor lives.
The natives of Old California are computed at about 6000 who live in the villages of the missions; those who live a wandering life are not enumerated, but are supposed not to exceed 4000; of these the greater part are Roman Catholics, having been converted by the missionaries. The natives of New California are computed at 15,600; they are a small race of people, and of an indolent character. Their complexions are dark, and they wear their hair long; the custom of eradicating the beard is prevalent amongst them, though not universally adopted. They are very expert at catching their game, and their principal weapon is the bow. Loretto is the chief town on the east coast. Old California appears not to be so estimable a province as New California, the climate not being so good or the land so fruitful; it abounds, however, with fish and game. The habitations of the natives are as miserable as the wigwams of Northern America, and in some measure resemble them, being constructed of boughs; they however will not alter them, preferring a life of independence to a settled state; they are much attached to the priests, who rule them with the authority of fathers over their children. The women manufacture coarse stuffs, and prepare the food, which is generally the objects of the chase, and corn or maize with pease and beans. They have caciques or chiefs of their own, but their power is very limited; they wear skins made in the forms of cloaks, and the women and men dress nearly alike; the boys go naked, but the young women have girdles round their loins; they all paint their bodies, and scalp their enemies, as the Canadians do, and they sometimes burn their dead with many ceremonies; the priests who settle amongst them are Europeans, who are sent from Mexico.
The women are the best looking, but in general, are not handsome; they are mostly taller than the men, who have low foreheads, projecting cheekbones and hollow eyes, with a large mouth, thick lips, and strong teeth, with bushy, eyebrows; the women are particularly careful to eradicate the hair from their bodies, and pierce their ears for ear-rings; the age of puberty in the women is as early as eleven and twelve, in the boys about thirteen; they are rapid and violent in the expressions of the passions of anger and joy; like other savage nations, they are divided into tribes, which move together from one place to another as fancy or necessity dictate. Their chiefs are chosen from the tallest, the strongest and the most warlike amongst them, and are distinguished by their head-dress. Such as are not under the immediate influence of the missionaries, practise polygamy; but the men hold their women in servitude.
Sore throats, colds, pleurisies and disorders, attendant on a variable climate, are their complaints in the severe seasons; they make use of vegetable decoctions for the cure of these disorders; fevers prevail in summer. The women suffer very little in child-birth, and the attendant in those cases, plunges the new born infant into cold water, the mother bathing soon after, and is then covered up warm near a fire: she performs these ablutions and heatings successively for some time, and the infants are bandaged up in furs and pieces of bark, nearly in the same manner as in Canada. Their religion, previous to the priests coming amongst them, was very similar to that of most savage people, having a faint, idea of the Creator. A chain of mountains runs through the peninsula, the highest of which, called Cerro de la Giganta, is 4920 feet above the level of the sea.
The peninsula, or Old California, is, as we before observed, more barren than the northern province; it is mostly a rocky soil, and seems as if some concussion of nature had disjoined it from Sonora; the climate is hot in the summer, but it is moderated by the sea breezes. Few trees of any consequence are found except on the south; there are some small volcanoes in it, with a ridge of mountains; vines and the Indian fig grow wild; the coast of the gulf is low and marshy, and the pearl fishery is very valuable; the gulf produces all sorts of shell-fish, turtles, oysters, lobsters, &c. Peacocks, bustards, geese, ducks, cranes, vultures, and sea-fowls, are plenty on the coasts; horses, asses, sheep, and goats, have been introduced and thrive very well. In New California the climate is nearly the same as in New Mexico, the western side being superior to the other parts, on account of the neighbourhood of the Pacific; the soil of this province is very prolific. The harvests of maize, barley, wheat, pease, and beans, are comparable to those of Mexico and Chili, corn produces in a seventy-fold proportion, and the soil is favourable for nearly all sorts of fruit trees. The climate is compared by late travellers, to that of the south of France; the forests, that great feature of American scenery, are extensive, and contain cypresses, pine-apple-firs, evergreen oaks, and the western planes and rose trees; on which a singular kind of dew falling in the morning, and covering the leaves, candies, and has the appearance of manna, being as sweet as white sugar. Immense bodies, or plains of salt, are found in the interior, and there are some gold mines.
The animals of the two provinces resemble each other, chiefly consisting of wolves, bears, wild sheep, bisons, buffaloes, rabbits, foxes, wild goats, and an animal peculiar to the country, called taye, as large as a young ox, and resembles the ox in its body, having a head like a deer, with horns as a ram. The great article of Californian commerce consists in the furs of the northern and pearls of the southern province, the pearls equalling in size and beauty those of Ormuz or Ceylon. The languages of the natives are too numerous for description, each tribe having a peculiar one of its own.
The mission of St. Domingo is the most northerly of the New Californian settlements, and borders upon New Albion. This and the other northern missions of California were hastily settled, on account of the Russians having advanced their colonies considerably to the southward, on the north-west coast of America.
The other missions or settlements, which are twenty-five in number, are divided into four districts, the whole under the directions of the governor of Monterey, the captain-general of the province, and of the father president of the Franciscan order of missionaries. In each of these divisions, is a presidio or fort under the command of a lieutenant, with an ensign, serjeant, &c. The most northern fort is St. Francisco, which has under it, the missions of St. Francisco