Diary of Captain Gaspar de Portolá

Portola Expedition, 1769-1770

11/4/1769 -- The 4th of November, we travelled for three hours; the entire road was bad. We halted without water.

11/5/1769 -- The 5th, we travelled for four hours [part of the way] on a bad road and the remainder through a level canyon. [Before us] extended a great arm of the sea, sixteen to twenty leagues [in extent], which the pioneers said formed a sheltered port with two islands in the middle. We halted without water.

11/6/1769 -- The 6th, we travelled, skirting the shore of this arm of the sea or port and halted in a level place, thickly grown with oak trees, [having] many lagoons and swamps, and surrounded by many villages from which there came out [to meet us] one hundred and twenty natives. Here we had much water and pasture.

11/7/1769 -- The 7th, Captain Fernando de Rivera commanded the sergeant and eight soldiers to go out and explore. All the time [they were gone] they skirted the shore of this arm of the sea or port; they returned after four days and [reported] that they had found nothing, leaving us in doubt as to whether we could find anything farther on. For this reason, seeing that we were in too high a latitude and without any of the indications of the Port of Monterey as given by Cabrera Bueno, we halted . . . the council decided that the expedition should return and that the port should be sought for with greater care. This [decision] was acted upon and [the report of] the council is enclosed.

11/11/1769 -- The expedition turned back on the 11th of November [making its way] partly by the same marches, [but] endeavoring always to find another road to see if it would be shorter. On this day we proceeded for five hours over the road by which we had come.

11/12/1769 -- The 12th, we proceeded for five hours over the road by which we had come and [made]the same distance [as on the outward journey].

11/13/1769 -- The 13th, we proceeded for two hours and a half over the road by which we had come.

11/14/1769 -- The 14th, we proceeded for two hours and a half over the road by which we had come and [made] the same distance [as on the outward journey].

11/15/1769 -- The 15th, we proceeded for three hours over the road by which we had come and [made] the same distance [as on the outward journey].

11/16/1769 -- The 16th, we proceeded for three hours and a half having made [the same distance as in] a march and a half [on the outward journey].

11/17/1769 -- The 17th, we proceeded [as far as in] a march and a half [on the outward journey] which was four hours [travel] over the road by which we had come.

11/18/1769 -- The 18th, we proceeded [as far as in] a march and a half [on the outward journey] which was four hours [travel] over the road by which we had come.

11/19/1769 -- The 19th, [we made] the same distance [as on the outward journey] over the road by which we had come, which was three hours [travel].

11/20/1769 -- The 20th, we proceeded for four hours and a half making [the same distance as in] two marches [on the outward journey], over the road by which we had come.

11/21/1769 -- The 21st, we proceeded [as far as in] two marches [on the outward journey] which was three and a half hours [travel].

11/22/1769 -- The 22nd, we proceeded [as far as in] a march and a half [on the outward journey] which was three and a half hours [travel]. The 23rd we rested.

11/24/1769 -- The 24th, we proceeded for two marches [of the outward journey, which took] four hours over the road by which we had come.

11/25/1769 -- The 25th, we proceeded to the Punta de Pinos, which took four hours.

11/26/1769 -- The 26th, we proceeded for two hours and a half to the foot of the Sierra de Santa Lucía. We halted, as the council had decided. Here Captain Fernando de Rivera set out to explore this range again; he penetrated it as much further [than on the outward journey] as he was able, and reported that he had not found the Port of Monterey. Since turning back from the neighborhood of the Port of San Francisco, we traversed again in eighteen days the [distance] that required forty-three on the outward journey because of the great number of sick.