History of California, Volume I, Part 17

Author: Bancroft, Hubert Howe
Publication date: 1885
Publisher: San Francisco, Calif. : The History Company, publishers
Number of Pages: 852

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USA > California > History of California, Volume I > Part 17

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JUAN RODRIGUEZ AT SAN PEDRO.

were timid in their intercourse with the strangers, whom they called Guacamal; but they wounded with their arrows three of a party that landed at night to fish. Interviews, voluntary and enforced, were held with a few individuals both on shore and on the ships; and the Spaniards understood by their signs that the natives had seen or heard of men like themselves, bearded, mounted, and armed, somewhere in the in- terior. 11

Leaving San Miguel October 3d, they sail three days or about eighteen leagues, along a coast of val- leys and plains and smokes, with high mountains in the interior, to the islands some seven leagues from the main, which they name from their vessels San Sal- vador and Vitoria. They land on one of the islands, after the inhabitants, timid and even hostile at first, have been appeased by signs and have come off in a canoe to receive gifts. They too tell of white men on the main. On Sunday the Spaniards go over to tierra firme to a large bay which they call Bahía de los Fumos, or Fuegos, from the smoke of fires seen there. It is described as a good port with good lands, valleys, plains, and groves, lying in 35°. I suppose the island visited to have been Santa Catalina, and the port to have been San Pedro.12

Sailing six leagues farther on October 9th, Cabrillo anchors in a large ensenada, or bight, which is doubt- less Santa Mónica.13 Thence they go on the next day

11 It is not impossible, though not probable, that the natives had heard of Diaz, Alarcon, and Ulloa, at the head of the gulf. The Indians of San Diego are described as well formed, of large size, clothed in skins.

12 Henshaw, as we have seen, makes this Bahía de Fumos Bahía Ona (or Santa Mónica), identifying San Pedro with San Miguel, and the island with Santa Cruz. The name San Salvador as mentioned later seems his strongest reason, though he does not say so. He admits the difficulty of identifying Santa Catalina with the Islas Desiertas, hinting that other smaller islands may have disappeared; but a more serious objection still-conclusive to me- is the fact that San Pedro would never have been called a puerto cerrado, or landlocked port; nor would it have afforded protection from a south-west gale. 13 Certainly not the laguna near Pt Mugu as Henshaw says. Santa Mónica was exactly what the Spaniards would have called an ensenada; indeed, they did often so call it in later years as they did also Monterey Bay, and San Francisco outside the heads from Pt Reyes to Pigeon Point, always the En- senada de los Farallones. Like the navigators of other nations, they were

THE DISCOVERY OF CALIFORNIA.

some eight leagues to an Indian town, anchoring opposite a great valley. The town, called Pueblo de las Canoas and located in 35° 20', is doubtless in the vicinity of San Buenaventura, the valley being that of the Santa Clara.14 The Spaniards take formal possession and remain here four days. The natives come to the ships in fine canoes, each carrying twelve or thirteen men, and they report other Christians seven days' journey distant, for whom they take a letter, also indicating the existence of a great river. They say there is maize in the valley, which assertion is confirmed later by natives who talk also of cae which the voyagers understand to be cows, calling the maize oep. The natives are fishermen; they dress in skins, and live on raw fish and maguey. Their name for the town is Xucu, and they call the Christians Taquimine.

Six or seven leagues bring them on the 13th past two islands each four leagues long and four leagues from the coast, uninhabited for lack of water, but with good ports.15 The next anchorage is two leagues farther, opposite a fine valley, perhaps Santa Bár- bara, where the natives are friendly and bring fish in canoes for barter. The ten leagues of October 15th carry them past an island fifteen leagues in length, which they name San Lucas, apparently Santa Rosa. 16

not very strict in their use of geographical terms; but to suppose that the little laguna would have been called by them an 'ensenada grande' is too absurd for even refutation; 'inlet' is not a correct rendering of ensenada. Taylor identifies the ensenada with the cove or roadstead of Santa Bárbara. First Voyage to the Coast of California. He points out the glaring deficiencies in all that had been written on the subject, and flatters himself that by the aid of men familiar with the coast he has followed the route of the navigators very closely; and so he has, just as far as he copies Navarrete, blundering fearfully in most besides.

14 Navarrete says in the ensenada of San Juan Capistrano, which is unin- telligible.

15 Anacapa and the eastern part of Santa Cruz as seen from a distance and as explained by the natives' signs, which were not understood.

16 Six leagues from the main, and eighteen leagues from Pueblo de Canoas. It was said to have the following pueblos: Niquipos, Maxul, Xugua, Nitel, Macamo, Nimitopal. Later it is stated that San Lucas was the middle island, having three pueblos whose names do not agree with those here given. There is a hopeless confusion in the accounts of these islands, but no doubt that this was the group visited.

CABRILLO IN THE SANTA BÁRBARA CHANNEL.

Monday the 16th they sail four leagues to two towns, in a region where there is a place still called Dos Pueblos; and three leagues more on Tuesday. The natives wear their hair long, and intertwined with strings of flint, bone, and wooden daggers. Next day they come to a point in latitude 36°, which they name Cape Galera, now Point Concepcion in latitude 34° 26'. The distance from Pueblo de Canoas is thirty leagues, Xexu being the general name of the province, which has more than forty towns.17

The narrative of what Cabrillo saw on the shores and islands of the Santa Bárbara Channel, except a uniform exaggeration in the size of the islands, confu- sion in locating them, and perhaps the casas grandes of Canoas town, agrees very well with the truth as revealed by later mission annals and by the relics exhumed in late years by antiquarians. The region was certainly inhabited in early times by people who used canoes, lived mainly by fishing, and were much superior in many respects to most other natives of California. There was a tendency at first, as is usual in such cases, to ascribe the Channel relics to a pre- historic race;18 but nothing indicating such an origin

17 The pueblos, beginning with Canoas, were, Xucn, Bis, Sopono, Alloc, Xabaagua, Xocotoc, Potoltuc, Nacbuc, Quelqueme, Misinagua, Misesopano, Elquis, Coloc, Mugu, Xagua, Anacbuc, Partocac, Susuquey, Quanmu, Gua (or Quanmngua), Asimu, Aguin, Casalic, Tucumu, Incpupu, Cicacut (Sardi- nas), Ciucut, Anacot, Maquinanoa, Paltatre, Anacoat (or Anacoac), Olesino, Caacat (or Caacac), Paltocac, Tocane, Opia, Opistopia, Nocos, Yutum, Qui- man, Nicoma, Garomisopona, and Xexo; and on the islands. On Ziqui- muymu, or Juan Rodriguez, or Posesion (San Miguel), Xaco (or Caco) and Nimollollo. On Nicalque, or San Lúcas (Santa Rosa), Nichochi, Coycoy, and Estocoloco (or Coloco). On the other San Lucas. See note 16. On Limu (or Limun) or San Salvador (Santa Cruz), Niquesesquelua, Pocle, Pisqueno, Pualnacatup, Patiquin, Patiquilid, Ninumu, Muoc, Pilidquay, Lilebeque. These names were those which the Indian natives were understood to apply to towns not visited, and very little accuracy is to be expected. Taylor, Dis- coverers and Founders, i. No. 1, claims to have identified Cabrillo's names in several instances with those found in the mission registers. This is not un- likely, though the authority is not a safe one. He also says that the Indians in 1863 recognized the native names of San Miguel and its towns as given by Cabrillo. None of the many rancheria names which I have met and which will be given in later mission annals show any marked resemblance to the old names.

18 On the Indians of this region see Native Races, i. 402-22; iv. 687-97. See also on archeological researches U. S. Geog. Survey, Wheeler, vol. vii. Archa- ology, Washington, 1879, passim.

THE DISCOVERY OF CALIFORNIA.

has ever been found there. Rumors, like those of the cows and maize, were far from accurate.

From Cape Galera they go October 18th to dis- cover two islands ten leagues from the main, and they spend a week of stormy weather in a good harbor in the smaller one which they name La Posesion, prob- ably Cuyler's Harbor in San Miguel. The two are called San Lúcas.19 Leaving the port Wednesday the 25th the ships are beaten about by adverse winds for another week, making little progress, barely reach- ing a point ten leagues beyond Cape Galera in 36° 30'. They do not anchor, nor can they find a great river said to be there, though there are signs of rivers, but on the Ist of November they return to the anchorage under Cape Galera, by them named Todos Santos, now Coxo, where is the town of Xexo. They have probably gone as far as the mouth of the Santa María in latitude 35°.20 Next day they proceed down the coast to the town of Cicacut, or Sardinas, in 35° 45', where wood and water are more accessible than at the cape. This seems a head town of the province, ruled by an old woman who passes two nights on one of the vessels.21 Starting the 6th, it takes them till the 10th to get back to the cape anchorage of Todos Santos.

Perhaps they pass the cape on the 10th. At all events on the morning of the 11th they are near the place reached before, twelve leagues beyond the cape; and that day with a fair wind they sail twenty leagues north-west, along a wild coast without shelter, and with a lofty sierra rising abruptly from the shore. The mountains in 37° 30' are named Sierra de San Martin, forming a cape at their end in 38°, or as is

19 The islands are said to be 8 and 4 leagues respectively from east to west, twice their real size. Navarrete calls the island San Bernardo, a name that seems to have been applied to San Miguel in later years.

20 Perhaps not so far, as the point named is nearer 15 than 10 leagues from Point Concepcion. I find no good reason to suppose it was off San Luis Obispo, as Henshaw thinks, which is over 24 leagues.

21 Sardinas is identified by Henshaw with the present Goleta, which is not unlikely. Taylor loses his head completely, making Todos Santos the mod- ern San Luis Obispo, and identifying Sardinas with San Simeon.

DISCOVERY OF POINT PINOS.

stated later in 37° 30'. The sierra is that now called Santa Lucía, and I suppose the cape to have been that still called San Martin, or Punta Gorda in 35° 54', though this is not quite certain.22 In the night being six leagues off the coast they are struck by a storm which separates the ships and lasts all day Sun- day and until Monday noon. Under a small fore- staysail Cabrillo's ships drift slowly and laboriously north-westward with the wind. Monday evening, the weather clearing somewhat and the wind shifting to the westward, the flag-ship turns toward the land,23 in search of the consort. At dawn she sights land, and all day in a high sea labors slowly to the north-west along a rough coast without harbors, where are many trees and lofty mountains covered with snow. They sight a point covered with trees in 40°; and at night heave to.

Of their course and progress next day, the 15th, nothing is said, but probably advancing somewhat farther north-westward they see the consort and join her at nightfall, when they take in sail and heave to. At dawn next morning they have drifted back to a large ensenada in 39° or a little more, the shores of which are covered with pines, and which is therefore named Bahía de los Pinos, and one of its points Cabo de Pinos. They hope to find a port and river, but after working against the wind for two days and a night, they are unable to discover either. They

22 Henshaw makes it Pt Sur in 36° 20'; and it is true that the coast of the day's sailing corresponds better in some respects with that up to Pt Sur than to Pt Gorda. However, the latitude 37° 30' with allowance for Cabrillo's average excess, applies better to Pt Gorda; that point also, according to the U. S. Coast Survey charts, corresponds much better, from a southern stand- point, to the remate of the sierra as described; the distance from Pt Concep- cion, 32 leagues, has to be considerably exaggerated even to reach Pt Gorda; on the return it is noted that about 15 leagues south of the cape the character of the coast changed and settlements began, which agrees better with Gorda than Sur, and does not agree with the statement that all of the voyage of the 11th was along a coast where the mountains rise abruptly from the water. I think the coast from San Luis to Pt Gorda agrees well enough with the description ; and this supposition throws some light on proceedings farther north.

23 ' Á la vuelta de la tierra.' Not 'at the turn of the land' as Evans trans- lates it.

THE DISCOVERY OF CALIFORNIA.

anchor in forty-five fathoms to take possession, but dare not land on account of the high sea. Lying to for the night, on the 18th they descend the coast, under lofty snow-capped mountains so near that they seem about to fall on them. The Sierras Nevadas, they are called, and a point passed in 38° 45' Cabo de Nieve. Then they proceed to Cape San Martin, and on the 23d arrive at the old harbor on Posesion, or San Miguel Island.

Cabrillo had run along the coast, point by point, from Cape Pinos to the island; from Pinos to San Martin the coast was wild, rough, without shelter, and with no signs of inhabitants; but below San Mar- tin fifteen leagues-possibly for a distance of fifteen leagues-the country became better and inhabited. Many difficulties present themselves in connection with this northern navigation; but I am convinced that the Bahía de Pinos was Monterey Bay; Cabo de Pinos the cape still so called at the southern end of that bay; Cabo de Nieve, or Snowy Cape, the present Point Sur; and the point in 40°, Point Año Nuevo, Pigeon Point, Pillar Point, or at most not above Point Reyes in 38°.24

24 Navarrete agrees with this view, except that he does not identify the cape in 40°, and makes Cape Nieve the same as Año Nuevo, which last of course is a blunder. Taylor also identifies Monterey Bay, makes Point Reyes the cape in 40°, but falls into great confusion, especially in locating Point Martin above Monterey. Herrera makes Point Pinos the cape in 40°. Hum- holdt, Essai Pol., 329, thinks the cape was Año Nuevo. Venegas, Lorenzana, and Cavo imply that the cape was Mendocino; and it is probable indeed that that name was given later to a cape supposed to be this one, as we shall see. Finally Evans and Henshaw identify the cape in 40° with Point Arenas (3Sº 57'), the Bay of Pinos with Bodega Bay, Point Pinos presumably the south- ern point of that bay, and Cape Nieve they pronounce unidentifiable. I find very little, except the latitudes cited, to justify the conclusions last given, and I find much against them. Point Arenas is not a wooded point in any sense not quite as applicable to any of the points further south. Bodega Bay might possibly be called an ensenada, incorrectly translated inlet, but not a large one; if entered its peculiar ramifications would have called for other remark than that no port or river could be found; its shores were never covered with pines; and Point Tomales in no way corresponds to Cabrillo's Point Pinos. In coasting southward from Bodega, Point Reyes would certainly have been noted; and assuredly that coast has no mountains overhanging the water. Evans and Henshaw have to avoid this difficulty by mistranslating costa deste dlia the 'coast they passed from this day ;' but even that does not suffice, for there is no such coast for a long distance. Again, Cabrillo claims to have followed the coast 'point by point,' from Pinos to the islands, finding no

DEATH OF CABRILLO.

At La Posesion the voyagers remained for nearly two months, and they renamed the island Juan Rodri- guez from their brave commander Cabrillo, who died there January 3, 1543. He had had a fall on the island in October, had made the northern trip suffer- ing from a broken arm, and from exposure the injury became fatal. His dying orders were to push the exploration northward at every hazard. He was a Portuguese navigator in the Spanish service, of whom nothing is known beyond the skill and bravery dis- played on this expedition, and the fact that his repu- tation was believed to justify his appointment as commander. No traces of his last resting-place, almost certainly on San Miguel near Cuyler's harbor, have been found; and the drifting sands have perhaps made such a discovery doubtful. To this bold mariner, the first to discover her coasts, if to any one, California may with propriety erect a monument.25

On Cabrillo's death Bartolomé Ferrelo, the Levan- tine piloto mayor, assumes command; but the weather does not permit departure till the 19th. Even then when they start for the main they are driven to the island of San Salvador, or Santa Cruz,26 and finding no harbor are forced to beat about the islands in veering winds for eight days, until on the 27th they

anchorage and no good inhabited country until past San Martin. This is very absurd when applied to Bodega, but true enough from Monterey. The trans- lators are indeed struck with this absurdity, which they very weakly explain by supposing that Cabrillo trusted to his observations in the storm and fog of the trip northward. There seems never to have been much doubt among the Spaniards about the identity of Cabrillo's Pinos; and I deem it very unwise to plunge into such difficulties as those just mentioned for the purpose of con- firming Cabrillo's observations of latitude, which are known to have been very faulty at best.

25 Taylor, Discov. and Founders, i. No. 1, mentions unsuccessful researches by himself, Admiral Alden, and Nidever. In 1875, however, he found two pits on a level near Cuyler's Harbor, about 10 feet in diameter, which he doubts not will prove to be the grave of Cabrillo and his men. At any rate they 'had a very peculiar look !' And an old sailor of Santa Barbara told this author that in 1872 he opened a Spanish grave on Santa Cruz Island, which had a wooden head-board on which could be deciphered the date of about 1660!

26 I suppose this was not the San Salvador first named, which was probably San Clemente. That there was confusion in the statements respecting these islands is certain ; but in my opinion it is not lessened by Henshaw's theory that San Clemente and Santa Catalina were the islas desiertas, or by Navar- rete's that Ferrelo at this time went to San Clemente.

THE DISCOVERY OF CALIFORNIA.

return to the old harbor. Two days later they start again, first for San Lúcas, the middle isle, to recover anchors left there and obtain water, then to Port Sar- dinas for other supplies, and back to San Salvador, whence they finally sail the 18th of February. With a north-east wind they follow a south-west course in quest of certain islands, which they see at nightfall, six in number,27 having sailed about twelve leagues. At dawn they are ten leagues to windward of these islands. With a wind from the w. N. w., they stand off south-westward for five days,28 making a distance of about one hundred leagues. Then they turn their course landward on the 22d with a south-west wind which blows with increasing violence for three days until at dawn on Sunday, the 25th, they sight Cape Pinos, and anchor at night on a bleak coast twenty leagues to windward near a point where the coast turns from N. w. to N. N. W.29-that is at Pigeon Point, or thereabout in 37° 12'. Herrera names it Cabo de Fortunas, or Cape Adventure.30

From this point the narrative furnishes but little ground for anything but conjecture. There are no longer recognizable landmarks but only courses and winds with one solar observation. The latitude on Wednesday the 28th is 43°. If we go by this alone, deducting the two degrees of excess that pertain to all of this navigator's more northern latitudes, we have 41°, or the region between Humboldt and Trinidad bays, as Ferrelo's position; but if we judge by his starting-point, and probable progress as compared with other parts of the voyage, it is more probable

27 Of course the islands could have been no others than San Clemente, Santa Catalina, Santa Bárbara, San Nicolás, and Beggs Rock, with Catalina appearing as two to make six; though these are not south-west of the northern group.

28 By the dates it could not have been quite 4 days.

29 Evans incorrectly says to the N.w .; and though the point is not identi- fied, it must be the Pt Cabrillo of modern maps just above Pt Arenas accord- ing to Henshaw.

30 Herrera, dec. vii. lib. v. cap. iv. He puts it in 41°, that is 1° beyond C. Pinos, which he identifies with the cape in 40°. He gives the date as Feb. 26th. In other respects Herrera's account contains nothing that might not have been taken from the original narative.

FERRELO IN THE NORTH.

that he is still far below Cape Mendocino, a conclusion that has slight confirmation in the fact that the nar- rative indicates no change in the general north-west trend of the coast. I append an abridged statement.31 During the night of February 28th, and most of the next day, they are driven by a south-west gale towards the land, and as they estimate to latitude 44°.32 They recognize their imminent peril, and appeal to our Lady of Guadalupe. In answer to their cries, a norther comes which sends them far southward and saves their lives. They imagine they see signs of the inevitable 'great river' between 41° and 43°; they see Cape Pinos March 3d; and on the 5th are off the island of Juan Rodriguez, their northern wanderings being at an end.

Of course there is no possibility of determining definitely Ferrelo's northern limit. He thought that he reached 44°, being driven by the gale sixty miles beyond the highest observation in 43°; and there is no reason to suspect any intentional misrepresentation in the narrative, written either by Ferrelo or by one of his associates.33 But in southern California the latitudes of this voyage are about 1° 30' too high, increasing apparently to about 2° farther north; thus Ferrelo's northern limit was at most 42° or 42° 30', just beyond the present boundary of California. This is substan- tially the conclusion of both Navarrete and Henshaw.4

31 Feb. 25th, midnight to dawn, course w. N. w., wind s. s. w; Feb. 26th, course N. w., wind w. s. w. very strong; Feb. 27th, course w. N. w., with lowered foresail, wind s. s. w. All night ran s. with w. wind and rough sea; Feb. 28th, wind s. w. and moderate; latitude 43°. In the right course N. W. with much labor. March 1, a furious gale from the s. s. w., with a high sea breaking over the ship; course N. E. towards the land. The fog thick, but signs of land in the shape of birds, floating wood, etc., also indication of rivers. At 3 P. M. a N. wind came to save them, and carried them s. all night. March 2d, course s. with rongh sea; in the night a N. W. and N. N. W. gale, course s. E. and E. S. E. March 3, cleared up at noon; wind N. w .; sighted C. Pinos.

32 Herrera says they took an observation in 44° on March Ist. Venegas follows him, but makes the date March 10th.

33 Perhaps Juan Paez as already explained. Herrera calls Ferrelo Ferrer. The original uses both the forms Ferrelo and Ferrer.

34 Navarrete puts it ' 43° con corta diferencia segun el error de exceso que generalmente se notó en sus latitudes;' but he himself makes the average excess 1° 30', so that the limit was 41° 30'. Henshaw was not, as he implies, the first to note the uniform excess. He thinks the southern boundary of Oregon 'not far out of the way.'

THE DISCOVERY OF CALIFORNIA.

But if we disregard Ferrelo's solar observations all other evidence to be drawn from the original nar- rative points to a latitude much lower even than 42°, particularly if, as I think I have shown beyond much doubt in the preceding pages, the bay and point of Pinos are to be identified with Monterey. It is my opinion that the Spaniards in this voyage did not pass far, if at all, beyond Cape Mendocino in 40° 26'; and there is nothing to support the belief of later years that Ferrelo discovered that cape. It may however have been named indirectly from Cabrillo's supposed discovery; that is, the name may have been given after the return to the cape in 40° which Ca- brillo discovered and did not name, though Torque- mada says the discovery was made by vessels coming from Manila. Nor is it unlikely that Manila vessels noting the cape in later years may have identified it with Cabrillo's cape and given the name accordingly in honor of the viceroy Mendoza.35

Unable by reason of rough weather to enter the old port in the island of Juan Rodriguez, on March 5th Ferrelo runs over to San Salvador where he loses sight of the consort. On the 8th he proceeds to the Pueblo de Canoas, obtaining four natives and return- ing next day. Two days later he goes down to San Miguel, or San Diego, where he waits six days for the missing vessel, taking two boys to be carried to Mex- ico as interpreters. On the 17th they are at San Mateo, or Todos Santos; and on the 26th join the Vitoria at Cedros Island. They have been in great peril on some shoals at Cabrillo's island; but by

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History of California, Volume I, Part 17

Author: Bancroft, Hubert Howe Publication date: 1885 Publisher: San Francisco, Calif. : The History Company, publishers Number of Pages: 852

Author: Bancroft, Hubert Howe
Publication date: 1885
Publisher: San Francisco, Calif. : The History Company, publishers
Number of Pages: 852