Expanded Diary of Father Pedro Font
Colonizing Expedition, 1775-1776
Friday, December 1 SP -- We remained here for the purpose of building a cabin at the village of Captain Palma, as a habitation for Fathers Garcés and Eixarch, where was to remain at this river. The commander went to the site with the fathers and returned at sunset, and the muleteers worked all the day on the building. The village was distant from the campsite about a league. Today we had a very hard time, because as soon as day dawned a northwest wind arose which was so strong that we could hardly keep the tents up, and wherever we walked a cloud of dust blew into the air. And, since, it was very fine, dirty, and sticky sand, from the fine powder of dry silt which the river leaves, it made it impossible for us to breathe or to see, our clothing and everything becoming soiled with it. This trouble continued until sunset.
In the afternoon some Jalchedunes came to see us in friendly mood. The commander announced that if the Indians would assemble at the house of Palma he would regale them with beads and tobacco, but since they live so scattered about he concluded that only a small portion of them had come together, and for this reason he suspended the distribution of presents.
Captain Palma donned the suit which was delivered to him in the name of his Excellency the Viceroy. It consisted of a shirt, trousers, a jacket with a yellow front and some decorations, a cape or cabriole of blue cloth decorated with gold braid, and a cap of black velvet adorned with imitation jewels and a crest like a palm. This captain is called Palma because of his friendship in times past with a mayor domo of the mission of Caborca called Palma, whose name he took; and he is called Salvador because this name was given to him by the Indian Sebastián Tarabal when he came out from California to Sonora and stopped at the house of this captain for several days.
The commander brought the suit in the name of the viceroy. At night he gave it to him and had him put it on there in his tent alone, without assembling us or letting us know about it, because he is so given to appropriating to himself all his functions and to being thought important, that he does not wish anyone else to share this esteem, or to admit to his company any one who may in any way attract the attention of the people, for he wishes all the glory to himself. Therefore, although it was more natural that the presents of glass beads and tobacco which he brought for the heathen in the name of his Majesty should be distributed amongst the Indians by the hands of the three fathers, who went on the expedition in order to win their good will, for in the end the friars have to be their ministers and the Indians are inclined toward and recognize those who give them favors, nevertheless, the commander always made these distributions with his own hand, and never permitted us to make them; and never during the whole journey did he give me as much as a string of beads that I might present them to some Indian if I greatly desired it, except when on the return we were at the mission of San Luís, where he gave me some strings of beads because I asked for them.
I suggested to the commander that it would be very appropriate to observe the latitude at this place, but since he did not wish to have the observations made in my name, nor even to have me suggest that I make them, he had been present at all that I had made up to this point, as if he himself made them. For this reason he did not even wish to deliver to me the astronomical quadrant which the viceroy sent me, nor do any thing else to enable me to discharge my obligation. And since today he was unable to be present at the observation, because he was occupied in building the cabin, he replied that tomorrow an observation should be made at the Puerto de la Concepción, and so I was not able to make one here as I wished.
Ever since he passed through my mission of San Joseph de Pimas he had insisted that I should carry the musical instrument, trying to persuade me that the psalterio would be very useful for attracting the Indians, and especially the Yumas, who are very festive; and although I objected strongly be because I ran the risk of losing it on so long a journey, nevertheless I was forced to yield to his urgings. But since I have come carrying it, with great inconvenience, he has said no more to me about it, and has not even suggested that I should play it, or that he wished to hear it, or that the people should be assembled at my tent, I carrying this joke without its having benefited the Yumas or any one else.
The commander wished to finish the cabin in one day, but was unable to do so, and at night after supper I asked him if we were going to start tomorrow, as he had told me in the morning; and he said "no." I then said to him that since we were to be delayed, I wished that he would order the camp moved to the place where they were making the cabin, to free us from the inconvenience which we had suffered today in the camp with so much dirt and wind, which was so bad that it was not possible to even cook. But he did not wish to yield to my request, although in the end this that I asked him to do he did next day without my repeating the request, thus wearying us by one day more of mortification.
I asked him in what condition he was going to leave Fathers Garcés and Eixarch at this river, for he was leaving them among the heathen without any guard; and I asked him other questions as to the circumstances under which the fathers were remaining, because I desired to know about them. By this he was very much hurt, and asked me why I was quizzing him that way, saying that he did not have to report to me what he was deciding to do; that he was doing even more than his duty, for he was making the cabin for them although he was not obliged to do so, and had no orders to make it; that he had been given no orders to give attention to the circumstances under which the two fathers should remain there, for they had come voluntarily, without the viceroy ordering it; and he assumed that since they had wished to come in this way they could shift for themselves. He said this on the ground that the viceroy, having decided that Father Garcés should go to the Colorado River, as is shown by his decree issued in Mexico, November 28,1774, Father Garcés raised some objections, wherefore the viceroy replied that if Father Garcés did not wish to go, and considered that it would be very difficult for him to remain at the Colorado River, he was not obliged to do so. However, his Excellency greatly manifested his desire that the father should go, as he signified in the letter which he wrote him on the 20th of March, 1776, with which he transmitted a copy of the letter of the Reverend Father Fray Silvestre Vélez de Escalante, written from New Mexico, thinking that perhaps the reports which this father gave might be of some use to Father Garcés in his journeys and explorations. The commander finally said that with the two fathers there should remain three interpreters, two muleteers, and their two servants.
The three interpreters were three Indians, who were so useless that they served no purpose, not even as interpreters, for they were very poor Castilians. One of the two muleteers was the Indian Sebastián Tarabal, the person who served and accompanied Father Garcés in his journeys, as he says in his diary. The other was a young fellow who came attached to a soldier, and remained here because he had no horse or any other way by which to continue; and although he served Father Thomás well and was the only one who really gave him any aid, he was not paid for his service and labor, being given nothing because the commander said that he had not come on his account and he was under no obligation to pay him. One of the two servants was a useless young fellow who volunteered to accompany Father Garcés. Not a thing was given to him either, and from the Colorado River he returned to Sonora. The other was a small boy who came voluntarily with Father Thomas's horses that he might serve him as a page.
I am noting as this down in order to make known what usually takes place on such expeditions with the commanders, and that it may serve to show that one ought to make sure at the beginning what is to be done, without trusting to promises and fine phrases, as happened to Father Garcés. Because he trusted in the general promises made him by the commander, he afterward experienced that in the details he did not comply with them. For, since these gentlemen who command on such expeditions, and even those who rule in these remote lands, have no one above them to restrain them, they are so arbitrary in their dealings that it is necessary to have great patience with them, and no matter how good they may be they usually give a great deal of trouble. And so, in one way or another there is generally cause for that prayer which, because of his great experience, the Venerable Father Fray Antonio Margil de Jesús was accustomed to utter, A militibus libera nos Domine. However, there is no rule without its exception.
Saturday, December 2 SP -- They continued to work on the cabin, and for this reason we remained here, the muleteers and the lieutenant going to assist in that task. After noon my tertian fever came on, but it was the last one. In the afternoon also about three hundred Indians of both sexes assembled and tobacco and beads were distributed among them by the hand of the commander. Today was very troublesome on account of the wind and the dust which blew about. but not so bad as yesterday. Father Garcés went to the building of the cabin, and when he returned he and Father Thomás spoke to me about the meager provisions which it was being arranged to leave them; and I counseled them to talk plainly and without fear in regard to what they needed.
Sunday, December 3 SP -- The commander now decided to do what I asked him to do on the 1st, although not because of my petition or because he was moved by my request. Father Thomás said Mass and the rest of us attended it. After Mass we set out from the bank of the Colorado River, at half past ten in the morning, and at noon we reached the village of Captain Palma, having traveled about a league west by south. One league.
The rest of the day was spent trying to finish the cabin which, although it was not completed, was well along, and also the fathers were well satisfied with what was being left for the two of them and the seven persons who remained with them. It was as follows: A tierce of tobacco; two boxes of glass beads; an arroba of chocolate; an arroba of sugar; an arroba of tallow; five beeves; three tierces of dried meat; a pack load of beans; a pack load of fine flour; a little superfine flour; an almud of chickpeas; a box of biscuits; three hams; six cheeses; one frying pan; one griddle; one ax; two cakes of soap; twelve wax candles; a bottle of wine, with which it was not possible to say Mass because it was so bad that it did not resemble wine either in color or in taste so that it was necessary to go to Caborca to get some. All this was something, but not much in view of the nine mouths to feed and the time they were to remain and during which the provisions had to last them, which was until our return.
At night I called Captain Palma to my tent and also Captain Pablo, who I understood was some relation to him, and through the interpreter I made them a talk, impressing on them the care and esteem which they must show for the fathers who were remaining there, and that if they comported themselves well with them, when I returned I would go to the king to tell him about everything, in order that he might esteem them, and then we Spaniards would come at once to live with them. To all this Palma replied that I might go without any fear; that ever since he had the cane, and now the suit which they gave him, he understood that he was remaining in place of Captain Don Juan; that he would care for the fathers as well as I myself, and if any one undertook to do any damage he would punish the disorders, etc. Captain Pablo added that if any one attempted to injure them or steal anything he would kill them. To this I replied that I did not like this matter of killing, nor did God, because it was not good; and that if any one did anything bad he should bind him and give him a beating. This pleased him so much that he threw himself full length on the ground, extended his arms and legs, and said very boisterously, "Ajót, ajót" which means "Good, good!"
While I was engaged in this talk the commander sent for Captain Palma, with no other purpose than to get him out of my tent, because he did not like to have anybody push in to talk with the Indians, especially with the captains, or to give them instructions. Afterward, in order to entertain them, he arranged that by the light of the fire the Indians should dance for a while in front of his tent, and so I had no opportunity to talk with them any more.
Monday, December 4 SP -- I said Mass in the arbor and habitation of the fathers, this being the first time that Mass was said in it. Things having been arranged, we said goodbye to Fathers Fray Francisco Garcés and Fray Thomás Eixarch, who remained here, as has been said above. We set out from the village of Captain Palma at half past nine in the morning, and at half past two in the afternoon halted near a lagoon of the villages of Captain Pablo, a league after passing the Cerro de San Pablo, having traveled some five leagues west by south. Five leagues.
Captain Pablo went to live with Captain Palma in order to be with the fathers. As soon as we left camp we forded a branch of the Colorado which we still had to cross, and which separates far above and here rejoins the river. About a league from camp we came to the Puerto de la Concepción. This is a passage formed by two hills through which the Colorado River, now having been joined by the Gila, runs in a very narrow channel. Here we stopped a short time to view the great expanse of country which is seen from it and through which the river flows, its current here appearing to me to be from east-northeast to west-southwest. To the northeast about ten leagues away one sees the Cabeza del Gigante, which the Indians call Banquíburi. This is a great round rock which is at the top of a rough sierra situated between the Gila and Colorado rivers. To the north about three or four leagues is another peak which they called La Campana, on top of another sierra that is likewise rough. The Gerro de San Pablo, at whose foot the river flows, is also very pleasing to the view. although it is so small in extent that it is all barrancas, and I did not see in it a level place in which even a church might be built. The road, although nearly all level, was very difficult, because it was so thick with brush that in many places not more than a little trail was to be seen, the rest being densely grown with mesquite, tornillo, and thickets of a shrub which they call cachanilla. For these reasons the pack trains, the saddle animals, and the cattle arrived only after great delays and with some animals missing.
Father Garcés had some moderate talks with the commander because he did not leave him the saddle animals which he promised him for his journeys. He had agreed to come with us, but instead he remained to arrange things and to equip himself to go as far as the mouth of the river. The explorations of Father Garcés in this and other journeys that he made as far as San Gabriel and Moqui will be found in his own diary.
Thursday, December 5 SP -- In the morning a mule and a horse were found dead from the cold, which, I noticed, was so severe that even the slop had frozen in the close-stool inside the tent. We set out from the villages of Captain Pablo at ten o'clock in the morning, and about two in the afternoon, having traveled some four leagues to the southwest with much winding around, we halted near a lagoon of the villages of the Cojats, who also are Yumas. Four leagues.
The river at the Cerro de San Pablo makes a turn almost to the south, and thereafter it is not seen any more because it runs very far apart from the road, which continues through its bottom lands leaving on the right a ridge of sand dunes, as far as which the river apparently spreads when it rises. The road has thick groves of cachanilla, tornillo, and mesquite, but it was not half so difficult as yesterday. We went through some villages of Yumas, who came out on the road to welcome us and were very joyful at seeing us, all wishing to conduct us to their houses. Large pieces of land very good for fields are seen.
Among these Indians who accompanied us for stretches today one insisted on going ahead on foot to guide us. He is half Pima and half Yuma, being the son of a Yuma chief of great authority who ruled all of the tribe, and on whose death Captain Palma rose to the command. Palma's predecessor had been married to a Pima Indian woman whom the Yumas even yet recognized. For this reason the commander during the first expedition, as he told me, himself gave the Pima woman the name of Queen and the boy who, because he knew how to speak the Pima language, served them as interpreter, he called the Prince. At present this Indian is still known as the Prince, and so now the commander and the rest call him. Last night this Indian came to the tent of the commander, who did not recognize him at first sight, because he was very much painted. He began to speak and then a servant named Manuel Barragán, who understood the Pima language, said to him, "Sir, this is the Prince." Hearing him given this name, I asked why they called him the Prince.
The commander replied, "Father, since the Jesuits were so fond of exaggerating their deeds, after they came to explore this Colorado River, in their accounts they greatly exaggerated the size of this Yuma nation. And in order that the report might be more impressive, they said that the Yumas had a way of governing themselves in a somewhat civilized manner, and that they recognized one person as king and superior over all. But this king was no other than the father of this boy, the chief who is now dead, and who was married to a Pima Indian woman from whom the boy learned this language, and I, in allusion to this story, on the former expedition conceived the idea of jokingly calling this fellow the Prince, and his mother the Queen."
We halted in a plain with plenty of pasturage near one of the many lagoons in the bottom lands which are left full by the river when it goes down. Many Indians came to the camp, bringing calabashes, beans, and other crops of the kinds which they raise, and making their trades with the soldiers for beads, which the commander gave to the people for that purpose. Near the tent of the commander a beef was killed for today, to give rations to the people, as was done every six days. I was seated with the commander near the beef, taking chocolate. The Indians became such a mob and were so filthy, because of their vile habits, that we could not breathe, and there was no way by which to get away from them. So I stood up and, asking an Indian for a long stick, some ten palms long, with which they are accustomed to go about playing the wheel, I took hold of it at the bottom and with it gently and in good nature, as if I were laughing, made them get away from me and behind me. Thereupon an Indian immediately appeared offended, and, taking hold of the stick at the top, he again pushed in and others followed his example. Then the owner of the stick took it from my hands, and the one who was offended assumed a haughty air, and kept his eyes on me until I went into my tent. From this I inferred that all their affability, which is more due to the gifts of beads than to their gentleness, might easily be converted to arrogance whenever an attempt is made to reduce them to the catechism and to obedience, especially if we take into account their mode of living, of which I shall speak later on.
Wednesday, December 6 SP -- Last night the Indians were somewhat turbulent and showed themselves to me more like thieves than anything else, stealing a sword, a griddle, which was afterward restored, and some clothing with respect to which the people had been careless. We set out from the villages of the Cojats at ten o'clock in the morning, and at two in the afternoon halted at the Laguna de Santa Olalla, the name given to it by the first expedition, having traveled some five leagues to the southwest but winding about in almost every direction between south and west. Five leagues.
After we stopped Father Fray Francisco Garcés arrived, having come to continue his journey downstream as far as the mouth, to visit the tribes who live in its bottom lands. Today I was threatened a little by the tertian ague and was very much troubled with flux. The road is very thickly grown with trees, although it has a great deal of chamiso, while in places it is barren country. In the distance one sees the edge of the sand dunes, and farther away, all on the right, a rough sierra of which the Cerro de San Pablo is a spur. It seems that this sierra or cordillera begins at the sierra in which is the peak of La Campana and even at the Sierra del Banquíburi or the Giant's Head, and goes to join the range which in the last expedition they called San Sebastián. This last is a sierra which is seen very far in the distance. It comes from California Baxa and is the main range which, running the whole length of California, bends about to the northwest and west-northwest.
The Laguna de Santa Olalla is narrow like a ditch and more than a league long, running almost in the same direction as the river, but apart from it about two leagues or somewhat more. From this may be inferred how many leagues of country are flooded by the river when it rises, for it fills this lake, and the water rises more than two varas, according to the debris which we saw high up in the trunks of the willows which are on its banks, this refuse being left by the river when in high water it runs through these lands. For this reason it is a moist country with plenty of grass. Likewise, in the brush there are plenty of quails, and in the lake there are some fish, including the matalote, some of which the Indians caught. They also caught a skate. On the way we were accompanied by the Pima Indian whom we called the Prince, and by another Indian who lives here, he being the one who first came out on the road to welcome us, as I noted on the 25th of November.
Thursday, December 7 SP -- Today I was very much troubled with flux. In order that the horses and mules, which were now in a very bad condition, might recuperate with the good grass of this lake, it was decided to stop here. Many Indians of the Cajuenche tribe, who live from here down the river, assembled, very happy and making a great hullabaloo, as if they were glad to see us. They brought to the camp great quantities of watermelons, calabashes, and other provisions, which they bartered for glass beads. The soldiers provided themselves plentifully with these things, and also with some black blankets from El Moqui, etc. These Cajuenches are no different in their customs from the Yumas, and their idiom is almost the same, or at least so it appears from their sing-song pronunciation which I heard; and the same is true of the Jalchedunes from up the river.
Because of the pleasure at arriving at this place, yesterday afternoon the people of the expedition were given a treat, which consisted in supplying them with aguardiente, as a result of which there was a great carousing and noise-making among the rabble last night. In the morning, although I was ill, I forced myself to say Mass, and afterward I went to see the commander in his tent, and I said to him:
Sir, it appears that some men were drunk last night.
He replied that some of them were. And since this disorder, which was such that even his cook left us without supper, because he was in no condition to cook, appeared to me so unseemly, I said to him:
Well, why did you give them aguardiente if they must get drunk?
He replied that he did not give it to them with that intention. I said to him: "It is fortunate that such is the case, for if it had been with such an intention it would have been doubly evil, because drunkenness is always bad. Anyone who gets drunk sins, and anyone who contributes to the drunkenness of others also sins. Only ignorance can absolve him of guilt, and you are not ignorant of the intemperance of these people when they have aguardiente."
He replied to me with some moderation, although somewhat offended, and without any signs of repentance. Afterward he said to me:
Does not your Reverence wish that we should make an observation today?
I replied that he would do as he pleased, for I had no authority to make an observation except when he wished it; that I had desired to observe at the junction of the rivers, which was a better place, as I had proposed to him on the 1st of the month; but since he did not wish to do it there, he could do it whenever he pleased. He said that on our return he would arrange to make an observation there. Thereupon I went to my tent, but at eleven o'clock he came to it and said to me:
Where does your Reverence wish to set up the instrument?
I replied to him, "Sir, wherever you wish."
Then he said to me, "Your Reverence must decide, because you understand it better than I, and it is your Reverence who has to make the observation."
This was the first time that I had heard him say such a thing, and so I arranged the instrument to make the observation, at which the commander was present and obliging, although somewhat serious, no doubt because I was in the same mood, for he saw that I was not very talkative and did not dispense compliments or complaisance in matters of my incumbency. I note this down not through ill will, nor to perpetuate the memory of injuries, but merely in order that it may be inferred from this what caution and patience it is necessary to show with these absolute lords. Well, then, I observed the latitude of this place, and found it without correction to be 32° 37' and with correction 32° 33', and so I say: at the Laguna de Santa Olalla, December 7, 1775, meridian altitude of the lower limb of the sun, 34° 28'.
And since the Yuma tribe ends here and the Cajuenche I will note down what I have learned of this tribe in the course of passing through, and of the land which they inhabit, remarking that what I say of the Yumas may be applied almost in the same terms to the Cajuenches and the tribes farther down the river, and likewise to the Jalchedunes, and even the Jamajabas or Soyopas upstream; for all these Indians, in customs and in everything, are almost the same.
The Yumas dwell on the bottom lands of the Colorado River and on both of its banks. Its waters, although always more or less turbid, are fresh and good, and are not salty like those of the Gila River. but this stream, on account of the Rio de la Assumpción, has muddy waters, and this makes the Colorado River somewhat impure after the Gila joins it. The bottom lands extend on one side of the river and the other for about two leagues, and in some places more. In them there are many cottonwoods, and also mesquites and other scrubby trees; and the cottonwoods, although very tall, are usually very slender because they grow so close together. Of these and of the willows there are many that are dry, for they die because the Indians strip off the bark and use it to make the little skirts of the women, as I said.
The river appears to have only a small amount of fish, and these are bony. Each year the river spreads out for a long distance through the bottom lands in the season of the floods, which come from the melting of the snow in summer in the mountains to the north and far in the interior. For this reason it does not rise suddenly but gradually. Indeed it rises and falls nearly all the year, for it begins to rise in March and April and from that time each day it gets larger until July, when it begins to go down, and then every day it gets smaller until the end of the year. The lands which it waters are generally good, and since the water spreads over them so gently it does not injure them. On the contrary, from this irrigation they are greatly fertilized and have moisture for the crops which the Indians plant in them when the water recedes, and for the abundant harvests which they get. In a word, this Colorado River appears to me very much like the Yaqui, both in its floods and in other circumstances, as well as in the nature of the Indians who inhabit it, although in everything this river excels the other, especially in the cottonwood groves, which the Yaqui River Lacks.
The climate in winter is very cold, and in the mornings there are ice and very heavy frosts, this weather lasting three or four months, from November to February inclusive. The rest of the year the climate is very hot, with excessive heat in the height of the summer, when it is usually rains a little, as it also does in the winter. The crops raised by the Indians are wheat, maize, which they call Apache maize and which matures in a very short time, orimuni beans, tepari beans, cantaloupes, watermelons, and very large calabashes, of which they make dried strips, which in Sinaloa they call bichicore, and seeds of grasses. With these things they have plenty to eat. They likewise gather a great quantity of tornillo and péchita, although this is more for variety than for necessity.
The territory which the Yumas occupy must be about twenty leagues long. Its center is the Puerto de la Concepción, which is the best place that I saw, and near which Captain Palma has his dwelling and his village. This captain, as I said, is at present the one of greatest authority amongst the Yumas; and although Captain Pablo is chief of more people and of a larger village, he also recognizes Captain Palma, doubtless because he sees that he is so much favored by the Spaniards, by Captain Urrea, by Captain Ansa, and even by the viceroy. Captain Palma succeeded to the command through the death of another chief whom they formerly acknowledged, and of whom the Indian called by us the Prince was the son, as I said above. According to what I was able to ascertain, his dominion was not acquired through descent (for he is not the son, nor, as I believe, is he even a relative of the former captain). but through aggressiveness, valor, and eloquence, for it usually happens among the Indians that the one who talks and boasts most makes himself captain or ruler and is recognized by the rest. Proof of this is the fact that the lands which Captain Palma formerly had inherited from his ancestors are on this side of the river and near the Gila before it joins the Colorado (Palma himself pointed them out to us when with us as we passed through them on the 28th of November, and they are not very good), whereas those which he at present possesses on the other side of the river in his village, and which are better, were ceded by the Indians just a few years ago.
Palma's rule and authority should not be understood as very rigorous; for since the Indians are so free and live so like animals and without civilization, sometimes they pay no attention to their chief, even though he may give them orders, as I noticed on several occasions. Indeed, I think they recognize him principally in order that he may avenge any injury or lead them to war on other tribes, their neighbors, the Jalehedunes, the Cajuenches and others, who are in no manner subject to Captain Palma, and do not recognize him, for they regard themselves as quite as valiant as the Yumas.
These Yumas, and likewise the Cajuenches and the rest, are well formed, tall, robust, not very ugly, and have good bodies. Generally they are nearly eight spans high and even more, and many are nine and some even above nine, according to our measurements. The women are not so tall, but they also are quite corpulent and of very good stature.
Their customs, according to what I was able to learn, are the following: In religion they recognize no special idolatrous cult, Although it appears that there are some wizards, or humbugs, and doctors among them, who exercise their offices by yelling, blowing, and gestures. They say that there is a god, and that they know this because the Pimas have told them so; and that these, Pimas and the Pápagos, with whom they maintain peace and have some commerce, have told them that above, in the heavens, there are good people, and that under the ground there are dogs, and other animals that are very fierce. They say they do not know anything else because they are ignorant, and for this reason they will gladly learn what we may teach them, in order that they may be intelligent. And since the basis of a well-ordered monarchy, government, or republic is religion, even though it may be false, and since none is found among these Indians, they consequently live very disorderly and beastlike, without any civilization and with such slight discipline as I have previously said, each one governing himself according to his whim, like a vagabond people.
Their wars and campaigns usually last for only a few days, and they reduce themselves to this: Many of them assemble with the captain or some one who commands them; they go to a village of their enemies; they give the yell or war-cry, in order that their opponents may flee or become terrified if taken by surprise. They usually kill some woman, or someone who has been careless, and try to capture a few children in order to take them out to sell in the lands of the Spaniards. These captives are called Nixoras by us in Sonora, no matter where they come from, and this commerce in Nixoras, so unjust, is the reason why they have been so bloody in their wars. Their arms are a bow, taller than themselves, badly tempered, and a few arrows, of which generally they carry only two or three, as I saw, and these somewhat long, bad, and weak. Very few carry quivers, if indeed they carry any at all, for I did not see a single one.
Their houses are huts of rather long poles, covered with earth on the roofs and on the sides, and somewhat excavated in the ground like a rabbit burrow; and in each one twenty or thirty or more live like hogs. These houses are not close together in the form of towns, but are scattered about the bottom lands, forming rancherías of three or four, or more, or less.
The clothing of the men is nothing, although as a result of the peace treaties which they have been able to establish since the first expedition, it is noticed that they have had some commerce with the other tribes, so that now we saw some Indians wearing blankets of cotton, and black ones of wool which come from El Moqui, which they have been able to acquire through the Cocomaricopas and Jalchedunes. These they wear around their bodies from the middle up, leaving the rest of the body uncovered, y las partes mas indecentes, porque dicen que á las mugeres no les quadra que las tapen. But as a rule they go about totally naked, and they are so shameless that they are always con las manos en las partes vergonzosas, jugandose y alternadose la naturaleza. And they are so brutal that if they are reprimanded they make it worse and laugh about it, as I experienced. And if les viene gana de orinar, whether standing still or walking about they do so like beasts, and even worse, que estas se paran para mear. Asimismo quando les vienen sus flatos, los echan delante de todos con mucha frescura, and since they eat so many beans and other seeds they are very offensive with their flatulency. And if they are seated on the ground they do no more than levantar un poco la nalga por un lado, y como echan los cuescos tan largos, redondos, y recios, con el soplo levantan el polvo de la tierra. On one occasion the commander asked an Indian to bring him a brand with which to light his cigarette, and the Indian, very serious, with the lighted stick in his hand, standing in front of him echose un pedo formidable, and although the commander told him that such a thing was improper, the Indian laughed quite undisturbed. Captain Palma by now had reformed, though he used to be just like the rest, and at first when he was told that this was not propor delante de la gente, he replied that he could not do otherwise porque si no hacía assi, rebentaría. I do not know whether this freedom is to be attributed to their ignorance, innocence, and candor, or is the result of great brutality.
In the matter of incontinence they are so shameless and excessive that I do not believe that in all the world there is another tribe that is worse. The women, it might almost be said, are common, and the hospitality which they show their guests is to provide them with companions. And although among the old people there seems to be a sort of natural matrimony, recognizing as legitimate some one of the many women they have or had in their youth, yet among the young men I believe there is no such thing as matrimony, because they live with anyone they desire and leave them whenever they please?or at least polygamy is very common among them.
All the females, even though they may be small, and even infants at the breast, wear little skirts made from the inner bark of the willow and the cottonwood. This they soften a little, tear it into strips, enlace or interweave them, and make a sort of apron of them which they tie around the waist with a hair rope, one piece in front and the other behind, the one behind being somewhat longer than the one in front and reaching clear to the knees. Since they are made of so many strips or narrow ribbons the thickness of a finger, and hang loose, with the shaking which they are given on walking they make quite a noise. Among the women I saw some men dressed like women, with whom they go about regularly, never joining the men. The commander called them amaricados, perhaps because the Yumas call effeminate men maricas. I asked who these men were, and they replied that they were not men like the rest, and for this reason they went around covered this way. From this I inferred they must be hermaphrodites, but from what I learned later I understood that they were sodomites, dedicated to nefarious practices. From all the foregoing I conclude that in this matter of incontinence there will be much to do when the Holy Faith and the Christian religion are established among them. Likewise, some women, although not many, are accustomed to cover the back with a kind of cape or capotillo which they make from the skins of rabbits or of beaver, cutting the skin into strips and weaving it with threads of bark; but generally they go around with all the body uncovered except for what the skirts conceal
On cold nights, and especially in the winter, they make a fire and crouch round it, lying down huddled together and even buried in the sand like hogs. In the daytime they are accustomed to go around with a burning brand or tizón in the hand, bringing it close to the part of the body where they feel the coldest, now behind, now in front, now at the breast, now at the shoulders, and now at the stomach. These are their blankets, and when the fire goes out they throw the brand away, and seek another one that is burning.
The men are much given to painting themselves red with hematite, and black with shiny black lead colored earth, whereby they make themselves look like something infernal, especially at night. They use also white and others colors, and they daub not only the face but all the body as well, rubbing it in with marrow fat or other substances, in such a way that even though they jump into the river and bathe themselves frequently, as they are accustomed to do, they cannot remove the paint easily. And those who have nothing else, stain themselves with charcoal from the top down with various stripes and figures, making themselves look like the Devil; and this is their gala dress. The women use only red paint, which is very common among them, for I saw only one large girl who, in addition to the red hematite, had some white round spots in two rows up and down the face.
The men have their ears pierced with three or four large holes (the women not so many), in which they hang strings of wool or chomite and other pendants. Likewise they wear around the neck good-sized strings of the dried heads of animals that look like tumble bugs, which are found here. They are very fond of cuentas or glass beads, for which they bartered their few blankets, with which some members of the expedition provided themselves. They likewise traded their grain and other things which they brought, so that yesterday about five hundred watermelons and great quantities of calabashes, maize, beans, etc. were sold at the camp, and today more than twice as much. Besides this, nearly all the men have the middle cartilage of the nose pierced (I did not notice this among the women), from which the richest men, such as Captain Palma, hang a little blue-green stone, others a little white stone; half round, like ivory or bone, such as Captain Pablo wore. Others wear beads or other gewgaws in the nose, and although I saw several with nothing, on the other hand I saw some who were contented to wear a little stick thrust through the cartilage.')
The coiffure of the men is unique. Most of them wear the hair banged in front at the eyes, and some have it cut at the neck, others wearing it quite long. They are accustomed to make their coiffure or dress their hair by daubing it with white mud and other paints, in order that it may be stiff. They usually do this on the banks of the water and with great care. They raise the front hair up and fix it like a crown, or like horns, and the rest they make very slick with the paints and mud, and they are accustomed also to decorate it with figures in other colors. The women do not make use of all this, their ordinary coiffure being to press the hair together and fix it with mud as in Europe the women use flour paste. Their usual custom is to wear the front hair cut off even with the eyebrows, wearing the rest somewhat long, hanging down the shoulders and back.
They are very fond of smoking, and are very lazy, and if this were not so they would reap much larger harvests; but they are content with what is sufficient to provide themselves with plenty to eat, which, since the soil is so fertile from the watering by the river, they obtain with little trouble. This consists solely in the following: before the river rises they clear a piece of land which they wish to plant, leaving the rubbish there. The river rises and carries off the rubbish, and as soon as the water goes down and recedes, with a stick they make holes in the earth, plant their seeds, and do nothing else to it. They are likewise very thievish, a quality common to all Indians. Their language is not so harsh as that of the Pimas, and to me it appeared to be less difficult to pronounce; for there is a pause like an interrogation at the end of each clause or thing which is said.
As a result of our persuasion the Yuma tribe at present is at peace with all of its neighbors, except the Indians at the mouth of the river, who are still hostile because of a war which Palma made on them a short time ago, in which he killed about twenty of their people. But this breach has now been composed by Father Garcés during his journey there, as he says in his diary. In virtue of this peace some Jalchedunes came down to the junction of the rivers, bringing their Moqui blankets and other things to barter with the people of the expedition. They did not find us there, but Father Thomás, who remained there, received them well and gave them presents.
Finally, these people as a rule are gentle, gay, and happy. Like simpletons who have never seen anything, they marveled as if everything they saw was a wonder to them, and with their impertinent curiosity they made themselves troublesome and tiresome, and even nuisances, for they wearied us by coming to the tents and examining everything. They liked to hear the mules bray, and especially some burros which came in the expedition, for before the other expedition they had never seen any of these animals. Since the burros sing and bray longer and harder than the mules, when they heard them they imitated them in their way with great noise and hullabaloo.
As a conclusion to all that I have said, since I have been somewhat prolix in speaking of the Yumas and their customs, I wish to note down a question or redection which many times came to me in this journey, in view of the ignorance, infelicity, and misery in which live the Indians whom I saw on all the journey as far as the port of San Francisco. For it is true that the Yumas undoubtedly maybe reputed as the most fortunate, rich, and prosperous of them all, since at least they have plenty to eat, and live on their lands, and suffer fewer inconveniences. But the rest, whom I saw farther inland, are in constant warfare between the different villages, as a consequence of which they live in continual alarm, and go about like Cain, fugitive and wandering, possessed by fear and in dread at every step. Moreover, it seems as if they have hanging over them the curse which God put upon Nebuchadnezzar, like beasts eating the grass of the fields, and living on herbs and grass seeds, with a little game from deer, hare, ground squirrels, mice, and other vermin. On this assumption, and since the Apostles asked Christ that question concerning the man who was blind from his birth: Rabbi quis peccavit, hic aut parentes ejus, ut caecus nasceretur? (Joan, cap. 9.), I might inquire what sin was committed by these Indians and their ancestors that they should grow up in those remote lands of the north with such infelicity and unhappiness, in such nakedness and misery, and above all with such blind ignorance of everything that they do not even know the transitory conveniences of the earth in order to obtain them; nor much less, as it appeared to me from what I was able to learn from them, do they have any knowledge of the existence of God, but live like beasts, without making use of reason or discourse, and being distinguished from beasts only by possessing the bodily or human form, but not by their deeds.
And this same question, and all the rest which I have said, is applicable to many other tribes who inhabit the unknown lands of the Arctic and Antarctic regions and other parts of the earth. But I know that the answer is, Neque hic peccavit, neque parentes ejus, sed ut manifestentur opera dei in illo. And so, since God created them, His Divine Majesty knows the high purpose for which He wished them to be born to such misery, or that they should live so blind, and it does not belong to us to try to inquire into such high secrets, for Judicia Dei abyssus multa.
But, considering that the mercy of God is infinite, and that so far as it is His part, He wishes that all men should be saved, and should come to the knowledge of the eternal truths, as says the Apostle St. Paul, Qui omnes homines vult salvos fieri, et ad agnitionem veritatis venire (Ep. I ad Timoth, cap. 2) therefore, I cannot do less than piously surmise, in favor of those poor Indians, that God must have some special providence hidden from our curiosity, to the end that they may be saved, and that not all of them shall be damned. For, as the theologians say, if there should be a man in the forest without knowledge of God and entirely remote from possibility of acquiring the necessary instruction, God would make use of His angels to give him the necessary knowledge for eternal salvation. And that man in sylvis whom the theologians assume as an hypothesis, is typified without doubt by some of the Indians whom I saw, and by others who must be farther inland and whom I have not seen. For if God has permitted those people to live for so many hundreds and even thousands of years in such ignorance and blindness that they hardly know themselves, or, as I believe, that they are rational beings, what can we infer, especially in view of a God so merciful that Misericordia ejus superexaltat judicium?
Shall we think that God created these men merely to condemn them to Inferno, after passing in this world a life so miserable as that which they live? By no means! Shall we say that the Devil is more powerful than God, and rules so many souls who live in the shades of a negative infidelity, and that God shall not communicate to them some light, in order that they may be freed from his tyrannical and eternal powers? Even less. Well, then, we must believe that God has some hidden means for saving those souls whom at such cost He redeemed by His most precious blood, an opinion which can be supported by the text of the prophet Joel, chap. 2, verse 32: Et erit omnis qui invocaverit nomen domini salvus erit quia in monte Sion et in Jerusalem erit salvatio, sicut dixit dominus. The . . . of the holy Church . . . for in Mount Zion and in Jerusalem there shall be salvation. And what is done to this end follows: Et in residuis, quos Dominus vocaverit. This means to say that the rest of the fold of the holy Church shall be saved, God calling them by some other hidden means.
Moreover, if what is said by the enlightened and venerable Fray Joseph de San Benito is true, then those who are saved are more than those who are damned, and in the day of judgment we shall see many whom we had thought condemned but who entered heaven by a secret door, since this is more in keeping with the purpose of the creation of man. It is true that Sine fide impossible est placere Deo (Ep. ad. Hebr. 11), and that Nisi quis renatus fuerit ex aqua et spiritu sancto, non potest introire in regnum Dei (Joan, cap. 3); but it is also true that the law unavoidably unknown does not involve an obligation. The Apostle St. Paul says that whoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. Omnis enim, quicumque invocaverit nomen Domini salvus erit (Ep. Rom. cap. 10). Then the contrary proposition is true, assuming the knowledge of God, for now I say with the same Apostle, Quamodo ergo invocabunt, in quem non crediderunt? Aut quomodo credent ei quem non audierunt? Quomodo autem audient sine praedicante? Quomodo vero praedicabunt nisi mittantur?
Then, if they lack knowledge of God, it appears they have some excuse for remaining in their negative infidelity, concerning which they have been given no reason to doubt, because in order that they may be obliged to accept holy baptism and to believe in the principal mysteries of our Holy Faith, it is necessary first to give them some light or knowledge of this obligation, by means of the preaching of the gospel. Ergo fides ex auditu, auditus autem per verbum Christi. And shall we be able to say perhaps that they have lacked this light and knowledge? Sed dico: Numquid non audierunt? It is true that the preaching of the gospel was extended to all the world by means of the Apostles, whereby the cause was justified on the part of God. Et quidem in omnem terram exivit sonus eorum, et in fines orbis terrae verba corum. But it is also true that when the Apostles divided the earth amongst themselves to preach the gospel to all the world, it does not appear that they took America into account, because it was then a region totally unknown and unheard of by anybody, even perhaps by the Apostles themselves, notwithstanding that they were so enlightened by the Holy Spirit. And although it is surmised by way of conjecture, and is held as certain, that the holy Apostle Thomas preached in the two Americas, it is not known that since that time there have been any other preachers except in the regions subdued since the time of the conquest; and in so many hundreds of years it is natural that the preaching of the doctrine by the holy Apostle should be entirely unknown and forgotten.
And now then, we may argue as follows. Total and unavoidable ignorance absolves one from guilt. Those Indians live in total ignorance even of God. Then it is not their fault that they should live submerged in the shades of their negative infidelity. That they should live in total ignorance it is not difficult to believe, if we bear in mind the dense ignorance seen among converted and old Christians of this America, even with the instruction which they have had, for their ignorance is such, not only of positive but likewise of the natural law, that it is not possible that the theologians of Europe could imagine that there should be such ignorance and so common. And since those Indians have such limited understandings and are entirely without instruction, it is a natural consequence that their ignorance should be incomparably greater.
And what shall we say in view of all this? Shall we say that God condemns them without guilt? This cannot be, because that would be contrary to His justice, and it is certain that Perditio tua ex te. Shall we say that God saves them without merit? This appears to be repugnant, because Hominis est praeparare anima. Well, then, what shall we say? We may exclaim with the Apostle St. Paul: O altitudo divitiarum sapientiae et scientiae Dei: quam incomprehensibilia sunt judicia ejus et investigabiles viae ejus! Footnote 106] (Ep. Rom. cap. 11). Indeed, this secret of predestination is so recondite that it would be temerity for man to try with his limited understanding to penetrate this sovereign arcanum. Quls enlm cognovit sensum Domini? Aut quis oonsiliaris ejus fuit? I only say with David, Homines et jubmenta salvabis Domine: quemadmodum multlplicasti misericordiam tuam Deus (Ps. 35). And I piously believe that those beasts whom God will save are these ignorant Indians and helpless heathen, who are without doubt the beasts of human kind, of whom God only knows how many will be saved, and how and when; Cui soli cognitus est numerus electorum in superna felicitate locandus.
Friday, December 8 SP -- I said Mass. It was decided to divide the people and the pack trains of the expedition into three divisions, in order to make the bad and long marches which followed. The first division, in which I went, and which consisted of the baggage of the commander, a pack train, twelve soldiers with their families, and some saddle animals, was led by the commander. The second, which consisted of twelve other soldiers and another pack train and some saddle animals, was commanded by the sergeant; and the third, which consisted of twelve more soldiers, another pack train, and the rest of the saddle animals, was commanded by the lieutenant in the rear guard. They were to set out from the camp a day apart; and the cattle, with the cowboys and the remaining soldiers, were to start on the 10th and go straight to the watering place of San Sebastian, crossing through the middle of the sand dunes.
A great mob of Indians came to camp with their watermelons, etc., and although it was impossible to see the whole body of the people together, I estimated from what I saw that the Yumas must comprise about three thousand souls and the Cajuenches somewhat more. In the afternoon Father Garcés assembled the people and distributed among them a few beads and a little tobacco. Then he showed them the large painting of the Most Holy Virgin with the Child Jesus in her arms. They manifested great and noisy delight on seeing the image, saying, according to the interpreters, that it was good, and that they wished to be Christians in order to be white and beautiful like the Virgin, and that they would gladly be baptized. To this it was replied that for the present it could not be, but that it would be done at another time. The painting, on the reverse of which was pictured a condemned soul, was now turned around, whereupon they raised a great outcry, saying that they did not like that. The same was done with the Gileños, the Opas, and the Yumas, and all replied in the same way, without manifesting any repugnance to Christianity. On the contrary. they greatly desire it. and have asked to be baptized; but no one has been baptized because they have not been catechized.
Thus, it is seen that these people are greatly disposed to enter the Holy Church as soon as provision may be made for it, and that they are not repugnant to subjection to the law of God and of our sovereign, for they say they will be glad when Spaniards and fathers come to live with them. It seems to me that a great Christendom may be won among these tribes. However, in view of the inconstancy of the Indians I think that it will always be necessary to have a rather large presidio, in order that respect for our arms may restrain any outrage which they might attempt while we are establishing control over them. Since last year they have known how to say "Jesús" and "María," and the salutation of many is "Queyé, Jessús Marría," and they repeat it often, although noisily and with little reverence.
Father Garcés was now frustrated in his plan for going to the mouth of the river, for the interpreters did not wish to accompany him. Some Indians told them not to go down there because the people would kill them, for although they would not injure the father, they would harm them, and so, being afraid, they did not wish to go forward. Father Garcés told me this story and I counseled him not to go alone in case the interpreters would not go, since just to see the tribes which he had already seen was of no use, for the purpose of his journey was to go with the interpreters to ascertain their wishes in the matter of catechism and Christianity. I said that since this was the present aim, and it could not be accomplished without interpreters, it would be better to return to Father Fray Thomás and after Christmas go to the Jalchedunes to ascertain their wishes, and to get notices of the adjoining tribes and other lands, for the tribes down the river could always be reached and seen when missions and a presidio should be established at the junction of the rivers.
Father Garcés was just about to act on this advise when the same night an Indian came saying that Palma and Pablo wished to go down the river on the other side, to watch secretly how the Indians received the father, and that they were going with some of their people on horseback, others on foot. I said that this was not good, because if Palma went in that fashion the people downstream would think that he was going as an enemy, and they might do the father some harm; and I told him that he should say to the Indian that he must go to Palma and tell him not to go, or if he wished to go he must accompany the father in the open, because any one who has a good heart does not need to hide.
While the interpreters were engaged in this talk the Indian relative of Palma who went out to welcome us on the 25th of November arrived. After having agreed with Father Garcés to send to Palma a message by another relative of his, to tell him not to leave his village, he said that what he would do was to send ahead of Father Garcés two women, either two of the slaves who were amongst the Cajuenches, or two of that tribe who were married there, and that they should take a message saying that the father who formerly came to visit them was coming to see them again, bringing things to give them as presents, and that he was going to establish peace with the Yumas. This plan was so agreeable to the interpreters that they immediately decided to go, wherefore Father Garcés consented to their plans.
Father Garcés is so well fitted to get along with the Indians and to go among them that he appears to be but an Indian himself. Like the Indians he is phlegmatic in everything. He sits with them in the circle, or at night around the fire, with his legs crossed, and there he will sit musing two or three hours or more, oblivious to everything else, talking with them with much serenity and deliberation. And although the foods of the Indians are as nasty and dirty as those outlandish people themselves, the father eats them with great gusto and says that they are good for the stomach and very fine. In short God has created him, as I see it, solely for the purpose of seeking out these unhappy, ignorant, and rustic people.
This night the Indians were having a merry-making, with their dances and hullabaloo, which sounded like a chant or some infernal thing. And the result was that they stole the clothing and whatever else they could from the soldiers who were careless.
Saturday, December 9 SP -- We set out from the Laguna de Santa Olalla at half past nine in the morning, and at half past three in the afternoon arrived at Pozo Salobre del Carrizal, having traveled some seven leagues to the west-northwest. Seven leagues.
This is a deadly place, with no pasturage except a little carrizo, and with extremely bad water, which appears to be permanent but very salty. For this reason a well was opened nearby and by means of it fairly good water was obtained. Father Fray Francisco Garcés went down the river by another road with the intention of going clear to the mouth. From this place, at a distance of some fifteen leagues to the south, is seen a very long and rough sierra which Father Garcés called San Gerónimo. In front of it is the Cerro de San Jacome, and behind it, much farther away, one sees the very high Sierra Madre de California, which runs about from southeast to northwest. To the northwest and very far away rises the Sierra de San Sebastián, and to the north on the other side of the sand dunes, and likewise very far away, appears the rough range which comes from the Sierra de la Campana and goes to join the Sierra Madre.
On the road about a league after starting there is a salty lagoon without pasturage, and at about four leagues a little well of salty water which Father Garcés called El Rosario. The road is level, but over bad, saline, and sterile country which grows only chamiso, hediondilla and another shrub which they call parrilla, and other salty bushes. On account of the unfruitfulness of these lands, so level, and of the aspect of the sand dunes, and especially of the abundance of shells of mussels and sea snails which I saw today in piles in some places, and which are so old and ancient that they easily crumble on pressing them with the fingers, I have come to surmise that in the olden time the sea spread over all this land, and that in some of the great recessions which the histories tell us about it left these salty and sandy wastes uncovered. This view is supported by the signs of such a recession seen at the Rio Yaqui more than ten leagues from the sea, whose coast, with that of Pimería Alta and that of the Pápagos, also barren for many leagues, is the same as this country as far as the mouth of the Colorado. Indeed, going from the Real de San Marcial to Yaqui one finds on the way many piles of oyster shells, mixed with the earth and half buried, and other shells and maritime signs. It is not possible that people should have made such mountains of shells by carrying them from the sea so great a distance merely to bury them in piles. All of which, although merely conjecture, has a high degree of probability.
Sunday, December 10 SP -- I said Mass. We set out from the Pozo Salobre del Carrizal at half past eleven in the morning, and at half past five in the afternoon halted at a dry barranca without pasturage or water, having traveled some seven leagues to the west-northwest. In the barranca there were only a few dry mesquites, but with them we made a fire. Seven leagues.
The commander, being forewarned by what he learned on his first journey, had ordered at Laguna de Santa Olalla that everybody should provide themselves with water in their bags, and that they should bring maize, and that each one should bring a little grass. We all did this, including the commander and myself, and with this grass and maize the animals had some supper. On the road, which is very level and without sand dunes, because we went around them on one side and the other, several gullies are encountered and crossed which apparently are formed by floods of water when it rains, although on the other hand it appears that it rains very little, for on the way we found remains left by the cattle and horses of the past expedition.
From this I infer either that the land, because it is so dry and soft, immediately absorbs the water when it rains, or that it rains very little, or that the gullies are caused by the water when it rains in the rugged and rocky mountain ranges which at a distance surround all this great plain and the sand dunes, the water finding its current through here and down as far as the sea toward which it runs; or, finally, that there is only now and then a very violent cloudburst, as in California. The road is seen scattered with small sea snails and mussel shells, which confirm the conjecture which I wrote down yesterday. Half way down on the road in a gully we found the little well of Las Angustias more than a vara deep and with very little and bad water, although not so bad as that of El Carrizal. All this land is difficult to cross because of the great scarcity of pasturage and water and because nearly all of it is very sandy.
Monday, December 11 SP -- We set out from the Barranca Seca at seven o'clock in the morning, and at six in the afternoon arrived at the wells of SantaRosa de las Laxas, having traveled some fourteen leagues, about ten to the west-northwest, and the rest a little to the west, but mainly to the west-southwest. Fourteen leagues.
These wells have good but scanty water, and to water the animals we worked at them from the time we arrived until the next day at noon. Six wells were opened and the horses were watered with coritas as is done in such places. At first we were worried because the water did not flow, but we labored hard to deepen the wells somewhat, and the Most Holy Virgin of Guadalupe, our patroness, was pleased that the water should run, but if it had not been thus there was great risk that the expedition would perish for lack of water on the day of her feast, which was the next day. This place of Santa Rosa is an arroyo which appears to run under the sands, coming out from some low hills, which are spurs from the Sierra Madre which ascends from California Baxa. In the neighborhood there is some grass of the kind which they call galleta.
Far in the distance, about to the east-northeast, one sees a hill with a large head on it. The commander thought it was Banquíburi, but to me this did not seem to be the case, for I doubted whether it would be possible to see Bauquíburi because it was now very distant. On the way, at the left and near here, is the Cerro del Impossible, which is a very high and rough peak, separated from the Sierra de San Gerónimo, behind which is the shoal of fish that was seen on the first expedition. The road would not be very bad if it were not so long, but for this reason we arrived very tired out. One sees along the way many piles of mussels and an infinity of sea snails, very small and spiral shaped, and in places as white as flour. This confirms my opinion that this is a sea beach, and although the sea has reached here sometime, yet no barrancas are found like yesterday. Only in the afternoon, when we came opposite the Cerro del Imposible (so-called since the last expedition, because the soldiers found it impossible to reach it) and which we passed at our left, did we enter a very difficult terrain, where all the country is full of little mounds of hard earth which they call almondigones, very apt for tiring the riding animals; after which we crossed a sand dune for about a league. This road from El Carrizal to Santa Rosa was discovered by some soldiers who were sent ahead by the commander for this purpose from the Gila River, on the 16th of November. By it the sand dunes are circumvented, leaving them on one side or the other, for only a small piece now and then is crossed.
It is very cold in these plains at this season, and we had a cloudy sky. On the 9th the clouds were like cobwebs; on the 10th they were somewhat heavier; on the 11th the sky was covered all day with thicker clouds; on the 12th, day dawned with thick and low clouds touching the sierra, and I thought perhaps this was an indication that we were approaching a country where the rains come in the winter.
Tuesday, December 12 SP -- I said Mass. We set out from the wells of Santa Rosa at a quarter to two in the afternoon, and at a quarter to five we halted at a dry arroyo, having traveled three leagues to the north. Three leagues.
At Santa Rosa we left the six wells opened and with water for those who were coming behind. This dry arroyo comes from a range not very far distant, which appears to be a spur of the Sierra Madre, and runs through the plains and sand dunes, which we had on the right, the range being on the left. It has no water, but there is some galleta grass, some of which also is encountered on the way; and it has also some firewood with which to warm us, which was lacking at Santa Rosa. The road is fairly good, having only some ups and downs over some hills on leaving Santa Rosa, ridges of sandy and hard earth, with many black, flat stones that are not very large. After noon a west wind blew up very strong and cold, coming from the Sierra Madre de California, where apparently it was raining, for it was all covered with thick clouds, and the wind continued stiffer in the afternoon and almost in the same way all night until daybreak. This strong wind, which perhaps is usual in these plains, is what forms the sand dunes, with their various shapes. They are mountains of fine. sand which the wind moves from one side to another, as I observed today; for with the wind they looked in the distance like clouds of very thick dust, low and even touching the earth.
Wednesday, December 13 SP -- In the morning it was cold, as if it were going to snow, and it continued so and got even colder until afternoon, there being a light sharp wind which cut our faces. We set out from the Arroyo Seco at nine in the morning, and having traveled some seven long leagues to the north-northwest, with some inclination to the north. at half past three in the afternoon reached San Sebastián, which is a small village of mountain Cajuenches, or more properly, of Indians of the Jecuiche tribe. Seven leagues.
The road is level and without sand dunes, but the footing in places is treacherous, for on traveling across it the animals in some places suddenly buried all four feet. This place of San Sebastián is a spring of water that is rather hot or warm when it emerges, deep and permanent, like a marsh, and flowing very little. It has its carrizo and some grass, although it is not very good, because the soil is so saline in all this flat that in places the salt whitens it like flour. But the water does not appear to be very bad, although near the spring there is a ditch which is very miry, with the worst kind of water and very injurious. There is also some firewood of scrubby mesquite.
Here live a few mountain Indians called Jecuiches, who, I should judge from what I saw, must be about twenty or thirty souls. They are very miserable, hungry, weak, emaciated, and of degenerate bodies. They came out to see us when we arrived, although when they saw the soldier who went ahead of us as guide they started to run; but they stopped when they saw that the soldier was calling them. With the cold which is experienced here, it is a surprising thing to see these Indians naked, and so hardy that in the morning the first thing they do is to go and bathe at the spring, as we have seen. They use bow and arrows, although the latter are few and inferior. They have another weapon, a sort of macana, which is made of hard wood, thin, about three inches wide, shaped like a crescent or a sickle, and about two-thirds of a vara long. With this stick they hunt hares and rabbits, throwing it in a certain way and breaking the animals' legs. They are accustomed to hunt them also with nets which they have, made of a thread very well spun and so soft that it appears like hemp; but I was not able to learn or understand how they make it, for lack of an interpreter, for their language is different from that of the Yumas, although somewhat similar to that of the Cajuenches, as it seems to me.
For food they have now and then a jack rabbit, when they catch one, for they are not plentiful, and sometimes mescal, which they go to hunt far away in the sierra; but regularly they live on the beans of the mesquite, and the tule which grows in the lagoon of the spring, for which reason their teeth are very black and rotten. They are so hungry that, with the dirt and everything, they gathered up in a hurry some grains of maize which remained on the ground from that which was given to some mules. These Indians, who I think must be of the Qúemeya tribe, according to what Father Garcés said, and those which I afterward saw at the Pass of San Carlos, appeared to me the most unhappy and unfortunate of all the people that I have seen. At nightfall there were clouds and it was very cold and threatened to rain.
Thursday, December 14 SP -- In the morning the weather was very cold, and the sierra was covered with clouds. There was a very strong wind, and in the middle of the forenoon it snowed. While it was snowing arrived the cattle which set out on the 10th from the Laguna de Santa Olalla directly for this place, and since they had not drunk in all these days they made for the water like a streak of lightning. On the way eleven beeves had been lost. With them arrived the cowboys and soldiers who drove them, half dead with cold and hunger, for by now their provisions had become exhausted. It snowed for about an hour, the wind slackened, and then it rained all day until late at night. The second division of people under the sergeant ought to have reached here today, and seeing that it did not come we surmised that perhaps yesterday the rain had caught them at Santa Rosa, judging from the clouds which we saw in that direction while on the way, and that therefore they had not left that place.
When the cattle arrived I was in the tent of the commander, where I spent most of the day because it was more sheltered and had a fire in it. Seeing the severity of the weather I said to him that since the grass of this place did not appear to be very bad, and the water was abundant, it seemed to me better to wait here for the two divisions of people who were behind and all reassemble here, than to go to wait at the arroyo of Santa Catharina three days farther on, as formerly had been planned; because in case of some necessity or delay it would be easier to aid them from here than from farther on. The commander replied that he had already planned to do this, and so it was decided to wait here until all the people of the expedition who remained behind in the two divisions should join us.
Friday, December 15 SP -- In the morning the weather was good, although there were a few clouds. The Sierra Madre de California showed itself white with snow, the Sierra de San Sebastián which we had in front of us was all snow-covered from top to bottom, and the rough range which we had on our right on the other side of the sand dunes and plains, which above here joins with the Sierra Madre, was likewise snow-covered, so that we found ourselves in this Plain surrounded by snow, and the weather quite cold.
In the morning we found eight beeves and one of the vaqueros' mules frozen to death, for since they came so thirsty, and gorged themselves with water, the bitter cold of the night killed them. At noon the sergeant arrived with the second division of the people of the expedition and the second pack train. They came half dead with cold from the cruel weather which caught them yesterday on the way, several saddle animals remaining behind, used up, and out of commission. After noon the whole horizon was covered with the fog which came from the Sierra Nevada de California, and the day remained dark with threats of a bad night and of a repetition of the snow or rain.
Saturday, December 16 SP -- In the morning the cold had abated somewhat, but all the sky was cloudy, and although it did not rain it continued dark all day. We expected that the third division would arrive today, but it did not get here because it was delayed by the snow. At noon the sergeant came and said that at least two horses were lacking from the horse herd, and that from the tracks it appeared that they had been stolen by some mountain Indians who came to see us yesterday afternoon, and drove them to the rough sierra which on the way we had on our right. He added that the man who was in charge of the herd followed the trail for a good stretch, but the mule on which he was riding became tired out and he had to return. The commander at once ordered the sergeant to go with four soldiers to overtake them, with instructions that if he should not catch them today he should continue the effort until morning; that he should give the Indians to understand that they had done wrong, and be bold with them in order to instill in them fear and respect, but that he must not resort to arms except to defend himself in ease the Indians should make some resistance.
These Indians are in every respect in worse condition than those of the Colorado River. They were accomplices in the uprisings at San Diego, of which I shall speak at the proper place; and for this reason, and on account of what they did during the last expedition, the commander called them the Apaches of this region. The soldiers did not return until nightfall, when they brought three horses which they took away from the Indians, whose villages are in the rough sierra already mentioned and to which the soldiers went, the distance being some four leagues from this place of San Sebastián.
On this occasion the soldiers saw that this sierra is somewhat separate from the snow-covered one which we had in front of us, and that between the two there is a pass which perhaps will afford an opportunity to open a road, making it possible to come out at the valley of San Joseph by way of the Cañada del Paraiso, and thereby to go around the bad stretches which followed in crossing the Sierra Madre, leaving at the left the Puerto de San Carlos. This could be ascertained by some men going in light order of marching, and then it would be possible to shorten the road, or at least to improve it. They saw also that at the foot of the sierra, by the villages of the thievish Indians, there is a marsh with some carrizo, and farther down an arroyo, although its water is bad and salty. They said that as soon as they saw the soldiers the Indians fled and hid, and they were able to catch only one Indian and three women, whom they threatened to punish if they should steal again. They asked them where the horses were; and although at first they denied complicity, the soldiers, following the tracks, came up with them and found two horses hobbled and one tied to a mesquite, all being somewhat distant from each other. Thereupon the Indians, seeing themselves discovered, made excuses for themselves, saying that the horses had come alone. They were very polite and obsequious, and said that if any horse should run away they would drive him to the camp. Sorry examples these Indians have given of themselves!
Sunday, December 17 SP -- I said Mass, and afterward the commander sent some twenty mounts to meet the lieutenant and his people, persuaded that he had suffered some delay, since he did not arrive yesterday. I observed the latitude of this place and found it to be without correction in 33° 10 1/2' and with correction in 33° 8', and so I say: at the Ranchería de San Sebastían, December 17, 1775, meridian altitude of the lower limb of the sun, 33° 10'.
In the afternoon the lieutenant arrived with the third division of the people of the expedition, having had some delays on the way. These were due to the fact that the cold weather obliged them to spend three days going from El Carrizal to Santa Rosa, where they arrived on the 14th half dead from thirst and cold, because of the snow which caught them on the road. This, together with the cold, had such a disastrous effect on the mules and horses that fifteen remained on the road lost or dead. And may God be thanked that the people escaped with their lives, without anyone dying or becoming ill, for this was no small marvel. On the 15th they remained at Santa Rosa, whence they set out yesterday. and it has been a great pleasure to all that they should arrive today, whereby we have succeeded in being reunited to continue the journey, with the favor of God.
Perhaps these setbacks would not have been so great if we had remained some fifteen days to pasture at the Laguna de Santa Olalla, as the lieutenant and the soldiers had suggested, for there was plentiful and good pasturage and water there. I proposed this to the commander on the 1st of December, but he replied that in Mexico he had allowed only seventy days for the completion of the journey (which I found it difficult to believe), and so he did not wish to stop, in order that he might arrive quickly at Monterey. But in the end he did not succeed, because haste is never good in such cases. And it is not surprising that there should have been so many disasters among the animals, because, since the commander did not go to Tubac in August as he should have done, and as he formerly had planned to do, in his absence there was some disorder there, during which the Apaches fell upon the presidio and carried off all the horse herd, comprising some five hundred animals. With this and with the animals which he lost at San Miguel in a stampede which took place there, he remained with too few mounts for so long a journey, with such shortage of pasturage. But he did not wish to purchase any more, saying that those which he had were enough, and that if all could not go on horseback they might go on foot. As a consequence most of the people have come from San Miguel to here on one horse only, without relay, and with a thousand hardships.
At night, with the joy at the arrival of all the people, they held a fandango here. It was somewhat discordant, and a very bold widow who came with the expedition sang some verses which were not at all nice, applauded and cheered by all the crowd. For this reason the man to whom she came attached became angry and punished her. The commander, hearing of this, sallied forth from his tent and reprimanded the man because he was chastising her. I said to him, "Leave him alone, Sir, he is doing just right," but he replied, "No, Father, I can not permit such excesses when I am present." He guarded against this excess, indeed, but not against the scandal of the fandango, which lasted until very late.
Monday, December 18 SP -- I said Mass and in it spoke a few words about the fandango of last night, censuring the performance, saying that instead of thanking God for having arrived with their lives, and not having died from such hardship, as the animals did, it appeared that they were making such festivities in honor of the Devil I do not think that the commander liked this very well, for he did not speak to me once during the whole morning. I suppose he was offended at me a good many times. for I spent most of the journey in this way; because, since he has a sensitive and proud spirit, he took offense at every little thing, appearing very much hurt and bearing an air of great seriousness. Sometimes he even went two or three or more days without speaking to me, or passing very few remarks with me, and sometimes he spoke somewhat gruffly without listening to what I said, even though he might have asked me a question. This, together with the illness which I suffered from flux, and which kept me very much prostrated, served me as a quite sufficient cross, thank God.
After Mass preparation for the march was begun. Because many of the mounts were tired out, the grass was removed from the pack saddles which were now unused, and with the mules of the pack trains which now came without loads, some twenty in all, the people were supplied, although not all of them, for from today some began to go on foot. Two or three children, and even two children and a soldier, had come thus far on one horse, as a consequence of which the animals were used up and many horses and mules remained behind tired out, or died on the way.
We set out from San Sebastián at one o'clock in the afternoon, and at half past four halted at a flat with some galleta grass but without water, having traveled some four leagues west by north. The road is level, with sandy but firm soil, having some mussel shells and sea snails. Only on leaving San Sebastián are there some barrancas and some miry places, but all the flat is of soil so salty that it is as white as if flour had been scattered over it. After going about two leagues we came to a very small abandoned village, and on the whole march there is nothing more than now and then a scrubby mesquite and the hediondilla. The road runs near some hills in order to get to a valley through which to cross the Sierra Madre. Four leagues.
Tuesday, December 19 SP -- I said Mass. We set out from the flat at nine in the morning, and at half past one in the afternoon we reached the well of San Gregorio, a place with little grass and less water, having traveled some five leagues to the west by north. The road is very level over sandy land like sand dunes, but firm and a little heavier. On the right run the high hills or range of San Sebastián, and on the left some hills and medium-sized sierras, both of which now belong to the Sierra Madre de California. They are so dry that not a little tree or even brush is seen on them, and only in the flats is there a little hediondilla. The camp site has little grass, although it is good, and a well of good water, although scanty, which runs out from the foot of some small peaks which are on the left and form a little valley. The water of the little well quickly played out, and therefore the commander ordered other wells opened so that the saddle animals and the cattle might drink. But, although they worked at this task all the afternoon until night, it was not possible to obtain any water from the wells, and as a consequence the greater part of the animals went without drinking, and some from necessity drank some water found farther down that was salty or bitter and caused them great injury. Five leagues.
Wednesday, December 20 SP -- I wished to say Mass but I could not do so on account of the intense cold, and more especially on account of the bad night which I had experienced with my flux. We set out from the well of San Gregorio at nine o'clock in the morning, and at half past one in the afternoon we halted on the bank of the arroyo of Santa Catharina at the place where it is lost and disappears, having traveled very slowly because the horses and mules were now in very bad shape, and having come some four leagues to the northwest by west. Four leagues.
The road is level, although somewhat sandy, and in the whole distance there is nothing but chamizo and hediondilla, and in this place a little galleta grass and choya, with which the cattle entertained themselves. From San Gregorio the valley, which is formed by the dry sierras which I mentioned yesterday, gets narrower, but it continues forward until it reaches the top of the Sierra Madre. Last night part of the cattle stampeded for lack of water and went back to San Sebastián. In the morning the sergeant went with the cowboys and some men to recover them, and did not return during the whole day. The rest of the cattle arrived here at nightfall, all tired out, eight beeves and some other animals remaining on the way exhausted and abandoned.
At this place there were three mountain Indian women of the Jecuiche tribe, which lives around here. They were gathering a little seed like spangles which grows on a scrubby shrub and is somewhat fragrant. But as soon as they saw us, leaving their guaris and baskets, which were rather well made, they fled in a hurry, and although a soldier pursued them on horseback to bring them back, he was not able to overtake them for since they have never seen soldiers they hide in the canyons, climbing like deer, and during the whole day not one appeared. The commander ordered that nobody should touch their things and that they should be left as they were. Afterward he assembled them near his tent so that if the Indians should come he could return them uninjured. They are people with degenerate bodies, and are very miserable and timid. Four leagues.
Thursday, December 21 SP -- I said Mass. We remained here because those left behind gathering up the cattle which had become scattered had not arrived. Two soldiers were sent with a relay of saddle animals to meet them, but they did not arrive during the whole day. This caused us some uneasiness. Since the pack trains left San Miguel so heavily laden and so large?for each one had forty loads, and the muleteers who managed them were so inexperienced that only one understood his business well, the rest learning it on the way-many of the mules were now badly used up. And so in order to save salaries for good muleteers, the whole train now consisted of mules and horses played out or about to die, and because we had not stopped at a place where the horses and mules might recuperate and rest, we now had to stop in these bad places.
Perhaps these delays and losses irritated the commander. At any rate, today he stayed in his tent and I in mine, without talking together or seeing each other except at the dinner hour. Today I was a little relieved from my illness and likewise yesterday; and today the weather was a little milder and after noon the whole horizon became overeast with clouds as if the weather were preparing for another snowstorm.')
Friday, December 22 SP -- The day continued very cloudy, although not very cold. I arose and was all day somewhat troubled with my flux, which got much worse. After noon three very timid, lean and dirty mountain Indians came, perhaps drawn by hunger and need. They were given something to eat, and one of them took the guari of little seeds which the women left as they fled when we arrived, and the other things belonging to them and darted. A short time after this some other Indians permitted themselves to be seen at the tents of the camp, for perhaps they had now begun to lose their fear, seeing that we did them no harm.
In my opinion these are among the most unhappy people in all the world. Their habitation is among the arid and bleak rocks of these sierras. The clothing of the men is nothing at all, and the women wear some tattered capes made of mescal fiber. Their food consists of tasteless roots, grass seeds, and scrubby mescal, of all of which there is very little, and so their dinner is a fast. Their arms are a bow and a few bad arrows. In fine, they are so savage, wild, and dirty, disheveled, ugly, small, and timid, that only because they have the human form is it possible to believe that they belong to mankind. A little before night the sergeant arrived with the men who remained behind gathering up the cattle, of which some were lost and one died.
Saturday, December 23 SP -- Since last night a very fine rain had been falling at times. In the morning it was very cloudy and the clouds were close to the hills, but it was raining less, and so the commander decided to continue the march. We set out from the arroyo of Santa Catharina at one o'clock in the afternoon, and a little before three, having traveled a long league northwest by west, we halted near the source of this stream, at the foot of the willow on whose trunk Father Garcés wrote during the last expedition, telling of the attempt of the mountain Indians to wound the animals. One league.
This place is in a canyon which continues to ascend, and along which runs the road that crosses the Sierra Madre de California. The canyon is formed by various high and very rocky hills, or better, by great mountains of rocks, boulders, and smaller stones which look as if they had been brought and piled up there, like the sweepings of the world. Consequently it is arid, fruitless, and without trees or any green thing. Of grass in this place there is none, and on the way there are only a few small willows on the banks of the arroyo. The road in places is somewhat broken and grown with shrubs or brush and a little hediondilla, for since this is a shrub of evil augury, it is not lacking in these salty and worthless lands.
We saw several Indians on the top of the hills, hiding among the rocks, totally naked, and so wild that they appeared like fauns. But since they saw that yesterday we did not do them any harm, and since today the commander, as soon as we arrived, went to a village to see them, two came, bringing a little firewood. To the commander, whom they and the Jeniguechis, who are farther ahead, call Tomiár they gave as a present a piece of mescal head, which I tasted and thought very good. Since this is the time for gathering mescal, perhaps this is the reason why more Indians were seen here now than formerly; but they were so distrustful that they did not come from behind their high, rocky fastnesses, and no woman permitted herself to be seen.
As soon as we entered the narrow part of the canyon a fine rain began to fall, and continued until we nearly reached the halting place. The rest of the day continued to be very cloudy, and at night fall it again began to rain, and continued raining harder most of the night. The Indians who permitted themselves to be seen were unarmed, although they use their bow and worthless arrows, and their stick like a sickle, as I said at San Sebastián; and they are malevolent, bad-hearted, and evil intentioned, although very cowardly.
Sunday, December 24 SP -- I said Mass. We set out from the foot of the willow at half past nine in the morning, and halted at about two in the afternoon in the same canyon, at a dry arroyo not far from a small spring of water, having traveled some four short leagues to the west-northwest. Four leagues.
This place is short of water, has a little galleta grass, and less firewood. About halfway on the road there is a fair-sized spring of water which runs down the canyon and is lost among the sands before it joins the arroyo of Santa Catharina. The canyon continues up the slope with a gentle incline, and during all the day's march it was quite wide. In it there is some mescal and in places some hediondilla and galleta grass. We also saw some horns of wild sheep, but all the country is sandy and stony. The hills which form the canyon come to be like mountains of rocks, or boulders of all sizes, like stones which are found in the rivers, with some sand or dry earth, and so no one sees in them neither trees nor anything of value.
Near the spring by the road we saw a village of Indians perched in the crags, from which they watched us pass. The commander called them and showed them glass beads but only one woman had the courage to come near. The commander gave her a string of beads. Shortly before halting near the little spring of water we saw another village whose houses were some half subterranean grottoes formed among the rocks and partly covered with branches and earth, like rabbit warrens. The Indians came out of their grottoes as if they were angry, motioning to us with the hand that we must not go forward, talking in jargon with great rapidity, slapping their thighs, jumping like wild goats and with similar movements, for which reason since the other expedition they have been called the Dancers. One especially, who must have been some little chief, as soon as he saw us, began to talk with great rapidity, shouting and agitated as if angry, and as if he did not wish us to pass through his lands, and jerking himself to pieces with blows on his thighs, and with jumps, leaps, and gestures. The women did not show themselves, but the men were unarmed, ugly, emaciated, disheveled, and dirty like all those who live in this sierra. Their language is entirely distinct from that of the Cajuenches, but is as ugly, precipitate, and ridiculous as theirs. The clothing of the men is nakedness; the women wear little skirts made of mescal or from the skins of deer.
The cattle were so used up with the snow that yesterday in so short a journey three beeves became tired out and today another one. They brought them dead to the camp and distributed them among the soldiers. Today it has not rained on us at all, but it has been so cloudy, and the fog so low and thick that it was not possible to see the hills of the canyon which were right at hand, or the road a short distance away. The cold has not been very severe, but there has been a great deal of humidity.
I learned at night that because it was Christmas Eve refreshments were being given to the soldiers; and in order if possible to prevent a drunken carousal, after dinner I said to the commander:
Sir, although my opinion is of no value and I do not cut any figure here, I can do no less than to tell you that I have learned that there is drinking today.
Yes, there is, he replied.
Well, Sir, I continued, "I wish to say that it does not seem to me right that we should celebrate the birth of the Infant Jesus with drunkenness."
Father, he said, "I do not give it to them in order that they may get drunk."
Clearly this would be the case, I said to him, "because then the sin would be even greater, but if you know that they are sure to get drunk you should not give it to them."
He said to me then. "The king sends it for me and they deliver it to me in order that I may give it to the soldiers."
This would be all right at the proper time, I replied. "But I understand that to be in ease of necessity."
Well, Father, he said, "it is better that they should get drunk than to do some other things."
But, Sir, I replied, "drunkenness is a sin, and one who coöperates also sins, and so if you know that a person will get drunk on so much you should give him less, or none at all."
He did not say any more and I went to my tent without being able to prevent this disorder, because the commander had already made up his mind to distribute the liquor. And so he immediately gave it to the people, a pint to each one, saying in a loud voice:
Be careful that you don't get drunk, because if any one is found drunk outside of his tent I'll punish him.
With this he satisfied his conscience, and the people that night were very noisy, singing and dancing from the effects of the liquor, not caring that we were in so bad a mountain in the rain, and so delayed with the saddle animals and the tired and dead cattle. Such is the rule of those absolute lords, in evidence of which I have related this incident.
In the afternoon they called me to confess the wife of a soldier who since yesterday had been suffering childbirth pains, the one of the delicacy which I mentioned on November 24. She was very fearful of dying, but having consoled her and encouraged her as best I could I returned to my tent, and at half past eleven at night she very happily and quickly gave birth to a boy.
Monday, December 25 SP -- Because a little before midnight on this holy night of the Nativity, the wife of a soldier, the one whom I mentioned yesterday happily gave birth to a boy, and because the day was very raw and foggy, it was decided that we should remain here today. I therefore had an opportunity to say three Masses, and after them I solemnly baptized the boy, naming him Salvador Ygnacio. The day continued foggy until afternoon, when the sun shone a little, and the night began somewhat fair. Because the place is very short of water and pasturage the cattle went ahead on the trail. Today I was slightly relieved of my ills.
So savage and wild are the Indians of these sierras that last night they left their huts and climbed up in the rocks, perhaps fearful at seeing that we had stopped and did not go forward as they signaled us to do. Although they have seen that nobody has done them the least harm, yet very rarely have they come down to the floor of the canyon; but some have permitted themselves to be seen on the tops of the hills among the rocks. From this I infer that although an attempt might be made to found in this neighborhood a mission for the Jecuiche tribe, in case it were possible it would be as difficult to reduce these Indians to a settlement as to confine wild sheep to a domestic fold; for it will not be easy to get them out from among the rocks, unless God does it all, for they climb with the ease and speed of deer.
Since this was so important a day, in the first Mass I gave a talk concerning the Mystery. And because of the drunkenness which had occurred I could not do less than say something, reprimanding such noise and disorders, especially in the circumstances in which we found ourselves. Apparently this did not sit well with the commander, judging from the asperity and ungraciousness which he manifested, for he continued angry with me all day. In order that it might be on record in case of need, I afterward made a few notes of what I said in my sermon, which in substance was as follows:
I well know the little profit which I shall get from talking, because I play no role here, and the little attention which will be paid; and I may be able to say with St. John, Vox clamanti, for the Holy Spirit tells me Ubi non est auditus non effundas sermonem. But St. Paul also tells me, Ministerium tuum imple. And there are days which, as San Gregorio says, although they may be occupied, because of their solemnity may not be passed without saying something. What day is this? You say, 'Christmas Eve.' And why is it so called? Was not Christmas Eve the night of the Supper, the Resurrection? Why do they say Christmas Eve? Is it because this is a night for much eating and drinking, and fandangos and drunkenness, and noise and lewdness? Oh, earth, earth, how you change everything! The most sacred days are turned into days of greatest profanity.
No, my faithful, it is called Christmas Eve because this is the night when Christ, so much desired by the Ancients was born in order to free us from slavery, and to open heaven to us. We became slaves because of the original sin, and in order to show that He came to free us all and to save us, you see the circumstances of the time when he is born. He is born at the time of the edict of Caesar (the exposition of San Gregorio concerning the gospel of the first Mass). But just as the emperor wished to make a census of all the world, and many remained uncounted, so God Omnes homines vult salvos fieri, nevertheless there remain so many heathen as we see outside of the church and so many Christians. He is born in Bethlehem, Domus panis; and being born like bread there are few who like it, for they are content to confess once a year and even less if they can (I said this to suggest that the people should confess, which I had not been able to induce them to do during the whole journey, having urged them ever since before starting out, and some had not complied with the church on account of the little regard which they showed for me and what I said).
He was born not in His house, nor in His fatherland, in order that we may understand that all the world is His fatherland; or better, He was born in exile. Non habemus hic maneentem civitatem. How many of you who have come sigh for your fatherland, for Sinaloa, for Culiacán, and do not sigh for your true fatherland, Heaven? Says St. Leo: Agamus ergo gratias Deo patri per Jesum Christum in Spiritu Sancto. And I concluded with the same St. Leo: Agnosce o Christiane dignitatem tuam et divinae factus consors naturae noli in veterem vilitatem degeneri conversatione redire (Explain and apply). With this I promise a happy Christmas for everybody, and that God may grant us grace in this world, in order that we may praise Him throughout eternity in the fatherland of glory. Ad quam, etc.
Since I was so ill, I was not able to conform to the regimen which the commander followed in the meals, which was chocolate in the morning, and then during the whole day nothing to eat until the day's march was ended, and at times not until night. I therefore many times asked for something to carry with me to eat during the day, although I might be traveling, and ordinarily I obtained it with a great deal of difficulty. Many times I went without supper because it consisted only of Chile and beans and I was better off without it, going to bed early without waiting for such supper and so late.
When I was about to retire the commissary came to my tent with a message from the commander, as follows:
His lordship wants to know if your Reverence has anything for San Gabriel.
I replied, "For San Gabriel? Why?"
He answered, "Yes, because tomorrow, as soon as we reach camp he is going to send mail by some soldiers for that mission."
Yes, I would like to write, I replied. "But why must I write now, when it is so late? The fact is that he must have decided to do this several days ago. As far back as at the Colorado River he decided to send that mail on our arrival at the Pass of San Carlos, but he did not tell me so, and now he lets me know about it at the last minute. Well, tell him that I will write when we reach camp tomorrow if there is time, and if not I'll have patience."
I note these things down in order that they may serve as light by which it may be seen that in such journeys and with such lords it is necessary to arm oneself with patience.
Tuesday, December 26 SP -- I said Mass. We set out from the dry arroyo at a quarter past nine in the morning, and about two in the afternoon halted at a flat close to the rocks which form the pass of the Sierra Madre de California, called the Puerto de San Carlos, having traveled some three long leagues to the north-northwest, and having wound about on the slope for a distance of about a league until we reached the top of the sierra. The road follows the principal arroyo of the dry canyon, which gets rapidly narrower until one arrives at the foot of the ridge, on which there are now some small bad spots. The ascent divides itself into two parts. The first is somewhat bad and long, the second less so, and between the two there is a piece of fairly level ground. From the highest point one follows a dry arroyo for a short stretch, and on coming to some large round rocks one descends a gentle slope for a short distance to the flat where we halted. Three leagues.
A little before we entered the narrow part of the canyon a fine sleet began to fall, and lasted until after we had halted. The day and the night continued very wet and cold, but the mother recently delivered had the spirit to continue the journey. The hediondilla, shrub of evil augury, for it can live only in such bad country, which is appropriate to it, lasted to the top of the ridge. Then at once I noted the change in the landscape, for now we saw some scrub live oaks and other small trees; and they said that in the sierra in this vicinity there were pines with pinenuts, though I did not see any.
This place has a spring of water and a small arroyo nearby, with plentiful and good grass; and the sierra hereabout appears to be very fertile and moist, quite in contrast with the former, which appeared to be rather mountains of boulders and rocks than a sierra. In this flat we found an abandoned Indian village, and from the signs it was evident that as soon as they sensed our coming they left their huts or warrens and fled, judging from their fresh tracks. Being so savage and wild, when they saw the cattle which went ahead, God knows what they thought they were. And so we were not able to see a single Indian. It must have been about five in the afternoon when we felt a tremor of very short duration that appeared to be an earthquake, accompanied by a short, sharp rumbling. After a short time it was repeated very indistinctly.
Late at night when I was preparing to retire, the commissary came to my tent and said:
Father, the letter.
What letter? I replied.
For San Gabriel, he said. I answered him:
Come in and listen. Was I given to understand that there would be time to write? You told me last night that today as soon as we arrived at camp the commander would send mail. To this I replied that if on arriving there were time I would write, and if not I would let it go and have patience. You have not told me whether there would be time or not, nor has the commander given me this information, nor has he spoken to me a word during the whole journey regarding it. Since two in the afternoon, when we arrived here, the courier could by now have traveled four or five leagues. I did not write because it would not be much satisfaction to me to think that the courier would wait a short time for my letter, seeing that I have not merited any more attention than that from the commander. Therefore, as he did not say anything to me concerning such a delay?because he never tells me anything, for his decisions are known by the servants and even the children of the expedition before I know about them?I supposed that the mail had already gone.
No, Sir, he replied. "The courier will go in the morning at daylight."
Well, I will write a few lines to the fathers, I said, "although it is so late and it will be so much trouble."
I wrote my letter and went to deliver it to the commander. Because he heard what I said to the commissary he was more vexed with me than before, and so, having given it to him I went to my retreat without any words with him whatever.
Wednesday, December 27 SP -- I said Mass. Very early in the morning the courier was dispatched to the mission of San Gabriel to give notice of our coming and to ask for saddle animals from there to relieve ours. We set out from the flat and pass of San Carlos at a quarter to ten in the morning, and at half past two in the afternoon we halted at the beginning of the valley of San Patricio near the source of its arroyo, having traveled some six leagues, about three to the northwest, and the rest to the west-northwest. Six leagues.
Here the country is better than the foregoing, for after leaving the Pass of San Carlos this country completely changes its aspect, in contrast with that left behind on the other side. From a height near the place whence we set out, formed by large stones, rocks, and boulders, through which the road runs and which form the Pass of San Carlos, as if the scenery of the theater were changed, one beholds the Sierra Madre de California now totally different ?green and leafy, with good grass and trees, in the distance looking toward the South Sea, whereas in the distance looking toward the California Sea it is dry, unfruitful and arid, as I have said.
As soon as we reached the top of the rocky pass of San Carlos we entered level and good country, from which one sees to the north-northwest and northwest the same Sierra Madre, very high and white with snow; and this Sierra Nevada continues beyond the mission of San Gabriel. After going a league we entered a valley, which the last time they called Valley del Príncipe, formed on the right by the Sierra Nevada which I have mentioned, with others, and on the left by another spur of mountains, very high and full of pines, which appears to run toward San Diego. All the valley has plentiful and good grass, with shrubs and fragrant herbs.
After leaving this valley we entered a growth of low brush and then we came to the canyon, which is very narrow and is formed by the same hills and branches of the Sierra Madre. Near the camp site we found three small huts of Indians with many shucks of acorns, which constitute their food, but we did not see a single Indian. In the canyon we saw many pretty and fragrant plants, and at the camp site there were many rose bushes, the first ones which I have seen in those lands. Their roses are small and have only five petals, but they are very fragrant, although at this season they were withered, and they had only the red seed pods. I ate some of them and they had a rather agreeable taste. There are also live oaks and other trees. Today the weather was fairly good.
Thursday, December 28 SP -- I said Mass. Perhaps because of the severe cold of last night and the shaking caused by the journey, the woman recently delivered was somewhat ill, and for this reason we remained here today. A soldier brought some rooks which showed signs of minerals, and some persons were inclined to say that in these sierras and lower down there were mines, since the soil indicated it. I observed the latitude of this place at the spring or source of the arroyo of the Cañada de San Patricio, finding it to be without correction in 33° 37 1/2', and with correction in 33° 37', and so I say: at the Cañada de San Patricio and the head of its arroyo, December 28, 1775, meridian altitude of the lower limb of the sun, 32° 48'.
Friday, December 29 SP -- We set out from the camp at the Cañada de San Patricio at half past nine in the morning, and at half past four in the afternoon we halted on the banks of the arroyo of San Joseph at the end of the canyon which we had followed, having traveled seven long leagues to the northwest by west, winding about with some turns to the north. The canyon, or more correctly speaking, the ravine, is very narrow and quite rocky and grown with trees, in some places more and others less; and through it runs the little water which flows from the various little springs which are in some ravines or canyons nearby. After about four leagues the canyon becomes wider and the water of the arroyo, which at the end divides into two branches to open out into the Valley of San Joseph, is lost in the sand. The canyon is formed by hills which run out from the sierras which I mentioned yesterday, on the right side from the Sierra Nevada and on the left from the high sierra, both ranges having many pines and live oaks, which are also found in the canyon, together with the cottonwoods and sycamores. The canyon is very moist, fertile, and shady, and I saw in it many plants which I recognized as similar to those of Spain, many rose bushes, and many fragrant herbs which appear to be useful, among which I saw and gathered lavender. We saw in the canyon some abandoned little huts. Before we halted a few Indians who were camped on the banks of the river, armed with their bows and arrows, permitted themselves to be seen at a distance, but they did not wish to come near us although we called them. These Indians are of the Jeniguechi tribe and are very similar in all respects to the Jequiches of the sierras.
Saturday, December 30 SP -- In the morning the weather was fair and not so cold as we had expected, being so near the Sierra Nevada. And I was greatly relieved of my ills, for the very moment that I left the Pass of San Carlos I felt better; and I was very well pleased by the crystalline and beautiful water of this Arroyo de San Joseph, which runs from the Sierra Nevada and comes through a valley so leafy that because of its beauty and attractiveness we called it Paradise Valley Emerging from that valley it flows through the valley of San Joseph for a few leagues quite close to the low mountain or range of hills which is in front of the Sierra Nevada. According to the experts all this soil contains minerals. The arroyo has on its banks thick groves of cottonwoods until it is lost in a large lake which is formed in the valley. The camp site appeared to me to be very good for a settlement.
We set out then from the Arroyo de San Joseph at a quarter past nine in the morning, and at a quarter past two in the afternoon we halted in the valley of San Joseph at the foot of a hill, having traveled five leagues to the west-northwest. Five leagues.
The valley of San Joseph is very large and beautiful. Its lands are very good and moist, so that although this was winter time we saw the grass sprouting almost everywhere in the valley. The land is very soft and when it rains it is somewhat miry. Here and there in the valley there are some hills with rocks and shrubby growths but without any trees, though the soil of the hills is soft like that of the valley. In all the valley there are no other trees than the cottonwoods of the river bottoms. In the high and snow-covered sierras one sees pines and live oaks, and it may be that on their skirts and in their canyons they may have other trees, because they are very moist.
In the valley there is a large lake formed by the San Joseph River, and by other arroyos which come from various springs and brooks in the sierras roundabout and which have no other outlet. Therefore, according to the signs, this lake rises very greatly during the rainy season. In it there are vast numbers of geese which at a distance are seen in large white flocks. The valley is found on the east by the sierras of the Cañada de San Patricio, on the west by a range of low hills that are not very close together, on the south by a sierra of medium height called the Sierra del Trabuco, which runs along the road to San Diego, and on the north by a low range which runs at a distance in front of the Sierra Nevada. Finally, it has a very clear sky and a very delightful view. And it seemed to me that on the other side of the lake and of the river there might be an excellent site for a large settlement, with good opportunities for large grain fields, and for the raising of horses, cattle, sheep and goats, which would be very advantageous in this place because it is in the midst of such desert country.
When we set out from camp a few Indians permitted themselves to be seen at a distance, but as soon as one of our Indians went toward them and called them they fled like deer. On the road we saw some ten who, although armed, were fleeing. The commander and I called to them and went toward them. They came near us and he gave them a few cigarettes, and told them by signs that they should come with us to the place where we were to camp, in order that he might give them glass beads, but they immediately withdrew and did not permit themselves to be seen any more. Their bows were very large and their arrows of medium length, although poor, and without flint heads. This place has no firewood whatever, nor is there any in the vicinity to make fire with, but it was our good fortune that the cold was not very severe, although we were in sight of the Sierra Nevada.
Today I was on rather good terms with the commander, and we talked a little on the way, whereas it was customary for us to pass entire days without speaking except when it was very necessary. However, in the conversation which now arose he became somewhat miffed, because he maintained that the Sierra Nevada which we saw far away to the west was the same snow-covered mountain which we descried from the pass of San Carlos, while I made it plain to him that this could not be. For, although the Sierra Nevada which continues at a distance is the same as far as San Gabriel and beyond, the first snow-covered peak of it which we saw from the pass, we saw today at our right as we passed along. This was like another conversation which we had previously had, in which he told me that during the first expedition, when at the Pozo Salobre del Carrizal, he discovered this Sierra Nevada. I told him that this would be very difficult, for it could not be that he saw it from there, not only because of the great distance, but especially because the great and high Sierra Madre which we crossed as far as the Pass of San Carlos intervened. He replied somewhat offended, saying: "You may have it as you wish, your Reverence, but I do not think so, and I know very well what I am talking about." I note this down in order that one may know the confidence with which such persons and lords are in the habit of speaking, who wish everybody to believe everything that they say and not contradict them.
Sunday, December 31 SP -- I said Mass. We set out from the foot of the hill at a quarter past nine in the morning, and at a quarter to five in the afternoon we arrived at the banks of the Santa Ana River, having traveled some eight leagues to the west-northwest. with some short turns to the west. Eight leagues.
As soon as we started we left the road of the first expedition to avoid a detour and some bad places, crossing through a range of hills which here close in the valley of San Joseph, and going through a small pass. We traveled about a league over level country and then continued for about three more leagues in a valley which communicates with this one of San Joseph and is very extended and of good land. We soon came to some hills and ascended an easy pass, and then descended to a somewhat narrow canyon which gets wider until it comes out into the valley of Santa Ana, being about a league long. Afterward we traveled about three leagues, crossing this valley until we arrived at the banks of the river.
In the first and second range of hills and their canyons, which are of moist earth, I saw a great abundance of rosemary and other fragrant plants, and in the second long canyon many sunflowers in bloom, and grapevines and wild grapes of such good stock that it looked like a vineyard; and perhaps with a little cultivation they would yield good grapes. In short, all that country appears to be good, and if the small hills which are in these valleys only had some trees there would be nothing more to desire. On the road yesterday and today we found no water, although there is some on one side or the other, but somewhat distant.
Yesterday, right close by the road, I saw a very deep round hole full of water, and as it was in the middle of the plain I suspected that perhaps it might be the result of some earthquake by which that piece of earth was swallowed up, the water apparently having been left at the level of the water of the lagoon. Today I found on the road and gathered a few snail shells like those which grow in the woods of Spain, things which do not exist in the interior of this America and are unknown. On all the day's march we had on our right the snow-covered Sierra Madre and on the left the long and lower Sierra which runs along the road to San Diego. This is the one which in the expedition of Commander Portolá, who a few years ago entered by land from California to these new discoveries, they called the Sierra del Trabuco.
The Santa Ana River is a stream with plentiful water and a very deep channel, being only some four or five varas wide, or six at the most, in all this vicinity; but it is so deep that it has very few and difficult fords because of the rapidity with which the water runs. For this reason the cattle which arrived at the camp at midnight crossed over to the other side next morning with some difficulty, and one bull was drowned in the ford. Likewise, a horse which entered to drink was overpowered by the water, and he too was unable to get out and was drowned. The waters of the river are very crystalline and beautiful. It arises in the Sierra Nevada, and runs from northeast to southwest with some variation and declination to the west, until it reaches the sea, and most of the way it runs boxed in between hills. Some cottonwoods grow upon its banks, but they are the only trees in all these plains, for only in the Sierra Nevada are some pines seen. It may be that there are other trees in their canyons which, being somewhat distant, are not visible. During all this day we did not see a single Indian.