Its Climate Though Cold, Is
Healthful And Free From Those Troublesome Fogs Which We Had Daily In
Monterey, Because The Fogs Here Hardly Reach The Entrance Of The Port,
And Once Inside The Harbor, The Weather Is Very Clear.
To these many
advantages is to be added the best:
And this is that the heathen Indians
around this port are so constant in their good friendship and so gentle
in their manners, that I received them with pleasure on board several
times, and I had the sailors frequently visit with them on land; so that
from the first to the last day, they remained the same in their
behavior. This made me present them with trinkets, beads, and biscuit;
the last they learned to ask for clearly in our language.
There is no doubt that this good friendship was a great comfort to us,
enabling us to make with less fear the reconnaissance that was ordered
of me. Although in a letter written by Your Excellency to my
predecessor, Don Miguel Manrique, dated January 2d, I read that it was
possible we might find in San Francisco the land expedition undertaken
by Captain Don Juan de Anza; I did not on that account refuse the offer
of another small land expedition which the Captain of Monterey, Don
Fernando de Rivera, made me. I did not see either of them while I
remained in that port, but I did not, on that account, postpone the
reconnaissance. I could not do all of this in person, because I was
convalescing from a serious wound in my right foot, received April 3d by
the accidental discharge of a double-barrel pistol, which Don Miguel
Manrique had left loaded in the cabin. Notwithstanding this, I am
satisfied that Don Jose Canizares executed with his usual ability
everything I entrusted to his care. I therefore state to Your Excellency
(in order that the merit of his work may not be ignored), that as long
as he was with me, he acted not only with his usual honesty, but showed
such great talent in his profession that in the midst of my troubles I
found him one to entrust with the more delicate points of my duty.
On September 7th, I decided to leave the Port of San Francisco, as I
considered the reconnaissance completed, and in doing this, having no
wind, I was carried by the strong current against some rocks, injuring
the rudder and breaking two female and one male bolts. This obliged me
to enter a cove, where I repaired as well as possible the accident, and
again tried to sail forth, a light breeze from the north (the only one I
noticed in the forty-four days) aiding the sailing. On the 18th, because
the rudder was injured, and those who had been on this coast before had
warned me that at this time of year the weather was very severe, I
determined to pass the Equinox at Monterey, and arrived there on the
19th.
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