The First Thing To
Be Done Was To Find Good Water And To Minister To The Sick.
For this
purpose there landed, on May 1st, Don Pedro Fages, Don Miguel Costanso,
and Don Jorge Estorace, with
Twenty-five men-soldiers, sailors, etc.,
all who were able to do duty, and, proceeding up the shore, found, by
direction of some Indians, a river of good mountain water at a distance
of three leagues to the northeast. Moving their ships as near as they
could, they prepared on the beach a camp, which they surrounded with a
parapet of earth and fascines, and mounted two cannon. Within they made
two large hospital tents from the sails and awnings of the ships, and
set up the tents of the officers and priests. Then they transferred the
sick. The labor was immense, for all were sick, and the list of those
able to perform duty daily grew smaller. The difficulties of their
situation were very great. Nearly all the medicines and food had been
consumed during the long voyage, and Don Pedro Prat, the surgeon,
himself sick with scurvy, sought in the fields with a thousand anxieties
some healing herbs, of which he himself was in as sore need as the
others. The cold made itself felt with vigor at night and the sun burned
them by day - alternations which made the sick suffer cruelly, two or
three of them dying every day, until the whole sea expedition which had
been composed of more than ninety men, found itself reduced to eight
soldiers and as many sailors in a state to attend to the safeguarding of
the ships, the working of the launches, the custody of the camp, and the
care of the sick.
There was no news whatever of the land divisions. The neighborhood of
the fort was diligently searched for tracks of a horse herd, but none
were discovered. They did not know what to think of this delay. At
length, on the 14th of May, the Indians gave notice to some soldiers on
the beach that from the direction of the south men mounted on horses and
armed as they, were coming. It was the first land division under Rivera,
fifty days from Velicata, without the loss of a man or having a sick
one; but they were on half rations; they had only three sacks of flour
left and were issuing two tortillas[12] per day to each man. Great was
the rejoicing in the camp of the sick over the arrival of Rivera's
force. It was now resolved to remove the camp near to the river. This
was done, and a new camp established on a hill in what is now known as
"Old Town," where a stockade was made and the cannon mounted. The
surgeon, Pedro Prat, devoted himself to the sick, but the deaths
continued, until of the ninety and more who had sailed from La Paz,
two-thirds were laid under the sand of Punta de los Muertos[13]. It was
now thought best to send one of the packets to San Blas to inform the
viceroy and the visitador of the state of the expedition, and it was
feared that if this were longer delayed, the ship would be unable to put
to sea for lack of mariners. The San Antonio was selected for this
purpose, and was prepared for sea, but as she was about to sail, the
camp was thrown into an ecstasy of joy by the arrival of Portola and the
second division, sound in body, and with 163 mules laden with
provisions. The governor promptly informed himself of the condition of
affairs, and desirous that the senor visitador's orders concerning the
sea expedition should be carried out, offered to Captain Vila of the San
Carlos sixteen men of his command to work the ship, that he might pursue
the voyage to Monterey. As Vila had lost all his ship's officers,
boatswain, storekeeper, coxswain of the launch, and there was not a
sailor among the men offered by Portola, he declined to go to sea under
such conditions. All the available sailors were therefore placed on
board the San Antonio, and she sailed for San Blas, June 8th, with eight
men only for a crew.
The governor now proceeded to organize his force for the march to
Monterey. He determined to move at once, lest the advancing season
should expose them to the danger of having the passes of the sierra
closed by snow, as even at San Diego those who came by sea reported the
sierras covered with snow on their arrival in April.
On the 14th of July, Portola began his march to Monterey, distant one
hundred and fifty-nine leagues. His force consisted of Sergeant Ortega,
with twenty-seven soldados de cuera under Rivera, Fages with six Catalan
volunteers - all that could travel, Ensign Costanso, the priests, Crespi
and Gomez, seven muleteers, fifteen Christian Indians from the missions
of Lower California, and two servants - sixty-four in all. Both Fages
and Costanso were sick with scurvy, but joined the command
notwithstanding. The personnel of this expedition contains some of the
best known names in California. Portola, the first governor; Rivera,
comandante of California from 1773 to 1777, killed in the Yuma revolt on
the Colorado in 1781; Fages, first comandante of California, 1769-1773,
governor, 1782-1790; Ortega, pathfinder, explorer, discoverer of the
Golden Gate and of Carquines Strait[14]; lieutenant and brevet captain,
comandante of the presidio of San Diego, of Santa Barbara, and of
Monterey; founder of the presidio of Santa Barbara and of the missions
of San Juan Capistrano and San Buenaventura. Among the rank and file
were men whose names are not less known: Pedro Amador, who gave his name
to Amador county; Juan Bautista Alvarado, grandfather of Governor
Alvarado; Jose Raimundo Carrillo, later alferez, lieutenant, and
captain, comandante of the presidio of Monterey, of Santa Barbara, and
of San Diego, and founder of the great Carrillo family; Jose Antonio
Yorba, sergeant of Catalonia volunteers, founder of the family of that
name and grantee of the Rancho Santiago de Santa Ana; Pablo de Cota,
Jose Ignacio Oliveras, Jose Maria Soberanes, and others.
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