Diary of Captain Gaspar de Portolá

Portola Expedition, 1769-1770

8/2/1769 -- The 2nd, we proceeded for three hours on a good road, and halted near a river about fourteen yards wide. On this day we felt four or five earthquakes.

8/3/1769 -- The 3rd, we proceeded for three hours on a good road; to the right of it were extensive swamps of bitumen which is called chapapote. We debated whether this substance, which flows melted from underneath the earth, could occasion so many earthquakes. We had much pasture, water, and an abundance of antelope and deer. Here [the inhabitants of] a village of about thirty natives appeared [at our camp]; they gave us presents and we made them a suitable return.

8/4/1769 -- The 4th, we proceeded for two hours and a half on a good road. Sufficient water and pasture. [We halted at a place] occupied by a village of thirty natives; they made us a present of nuts and acorns and we made them a suitable return.

8/5/1769 -- The 5th, we proceeded for four hours over hills, as the mountain range obstructed our progress by the sea. In this place we found an Indian village of about sixty inhabitants; they made us a present of much grain. Here we rested [for one day] and over two hundred natives came [to our camp] with much grain; they are very docile and generous and we made them a suitable return.

8/7/1769 -- The 7th, we proceeded for three hours, crossing a canyon. We halted at the foot of some hills where there was sufficient water and pasture.

8/8/1769 -- The 8th, we proceeded for six hours over one of the highest and steepest mountains and halted in a gully where there was much water and pasture. Some natives appeared and begged us to go to their village which was near; there we found eight villages together — which must have numbered more than three hundred inhabitants — with a great supply of grain. We rested [for one day] where there was a village of about fifty natives.

8/10/1769 -- The 10th, undeceived in regard to the possibility of following the route to the northwest on account of the endless number of high and rugged mountains through which it was impossible to discover a pass, we resolved to descend to the shore which here runs to the west, and see if it was possible, as all of them ended at the shore, to avoid such great obstacles as were presented by these mountains. We have come three leagues through a gully which has sufficient pasture and water.

8/11/1769 -- The 11th, we proceeded for three hours through the same gully which runs into the sea. Much pasture and water. Here about five hundred natives came [to our camp and] made us a present of many . . .

8/12/1769 -- The 12th, we proceeded for three hours through a canyon where there was a large gully of water and much pasture, and a village of forty inhabitants.

8/13/1769 -- The 13th, we proceeded for three hours through the same canyon, endeavoring to reach the sea, and halted in a gully where there was sufficient water and much pasture. Here we came upon a village of forty inhabitants.

8/14/1769 -- The 14th, we proceeded for three hours and came out on the Santa Bárbara channel where we found a town of thirty or more houses and about three hundred natives. Immediately upon seeing us they sent out three canoes to fish and made us a present of many fish. These canoes, though narrow, are eight yards in length, well made, and constructed of boards.

8/15/1769 -- The 15th, we proceeded for two hours along the seashore. We halted near a town of eight houses. No water or pasture.

8/16/1769 -- The 16th, we proceeded for three hours, the whole time along the beach, and have halted in a place where there is little pasture. In this place there is a town which has thirty or more houses made of rushes; the town has more than three hundred inhabitants. There have come [to our camp] some natives from the islands off the coast. In the town there are seven canoes, well built, eight yards in length and one in width and, in lieu of nails, they fasten the boards with cords and pay them well with tar. They made us a present of many fish.

8/17/1769 -- The 17th, we proceeded for two hours; a good road. We halted on the beach. [Here] there was a town which had thirty-eight houses and about three hundred inhabitants with seven very fine canoes of wood. Much pasture and water.

8/18/1769 -- The 18th of August, we proceeded for five hours along the seashore. We halted in a town which had forty or more houses inhabited by over five hundred natives; they made us a present of many fish and we made them a suitable return. This town had ten canoes. Besides this [one] there were in the vicinity two [other] towns, ruined and deserted, [the inhabitants] having mutually exterminated each other.

8/19/1769 -- The 19th of August, we proceeded for one hour. Pasture and water. Here about twenty or more natives came [to our camp]; we made them presents of glass beads.

8/20/1769 -- The 20th of August, we proceeded for four hours. During this day's march we have come upon seven towns—the smallest having twenty, the largest, more than eighty houses—in which we have seen about eight hundred natives. Much pasture and, water, and many trees. They made us a present of much food, and entertained us greatly with music and dancing.

8/21/1769 -- The 21st of August, we proceeded for three hours, the whole time beside the ocean, and halted opposite two towns of about sixty houses each inhabited by about eight hundred natives They came to the camp with their chiefs and made us a present of many fish. Much pasture and water, with very many trees. These two places also have very many canoes. These towns, we saw, were not in a flourishing condition; although [the inhabitants] appeared to be docile, they did not wish us to pass through their towns, which we attributed to the fact that we gave them no glass beads. These natives live in a more civilized manner than the others as many of them sleep in bedsteads. In all these towns they have cemeteries, [in which poles are raised over the graves] with the distinction that for the chiefs they raise a higher pole, and, if it is [the grave of] a woman, they hang baskets or wooden bowls on the pole, if that of a man, the hair [sacrificed by his relatives]. All these towns are ruled over by three or four chiefs and one [chief] rules over them all. Every chief has two wives while other men have one. Here we rested [for one day].

8/23/1769 -- The 23rd of August, we proceeded for four hours and a half, part of the way along the beach. We halted in a town of eighty houses and the number of natives that we saw was about four hundred. Much running water and pasture. They made us a present of great quantities of fish, and the first thing they entreat, all along this channel, is that they be permitted to dance; this we conceded so as not to displease them.

8/24/1769 -- The 24th of August, we proceeded for three hours and a half; although the road was fairly level, there were many gorges made by the flow of the water from the mountains. We have halted in a town which is composed of fifty houses inhabited by more than three hundred natives. They made us a present of many fish. We had much pasture and water.

8/25/1769 -- The 25th, we marched for three hours. We had to open a road on a very high hill, and all the way it was necessary [to do this] in order to cross the dry gullies, so great was their depth. We have halted in a town which has twenty-five houses inhabited by one hundred and thirty natives. Much water, but little pasture. This town had several canoes. We find the natives more docile every day.

8/26/1769 -- The 26th of August, we proceeded for three hours . . . of the ocean. [During] the whole day's march it was necessary to work with crowbars and pickaxes. We halted in a town of fifty houses inhabited by about one hundred and fifty natives; the place has sufficient pasture and water.

8/27/1769 -- The 27th, we proceeded for three hours; a fairly good road, with the exception of several gorges which had to be crossed. We halted in a town of thirty houses inhabited by two hundred natives. The place had a very large gully with much pasture and water. It was here that we found the Punta de la Concepción—according to the indications given by Cabrera Bueno—in 35? 30´ [north latitude].

8/28/1769 -- The 28th, we marched for three hours on a good road, with the exception of some gullies which had to be crossed. We halted in a town near the sea inhabited by sixty natives, where there was much pasture and water.

8/29/1769 -- The 29th of August, we proceeded for about three hours and a half; part of the road was good, but the remainder was over very large sand dunes. We halted in a canyon which was out of our way in order to find water, [but] there was hardly enough for the men.

8/30/1769 -- The 30th, we proceeded for one hour and a half, part of the way along the seashore. This was made a short day's march in order that the animals might recover from their sufferings on account of the lack of water. Here [the inhabitants of] a village of about; fifty persons came [to our camp].