Diary of Captain Gaspar de Portolá

Portola Expedition, 1769-1770


12/10/1769 -- The 10th of December, 1769, it having been decided that the expedition should return to San Diego as appears from [the report of] the third conference which is enclosed, we travelled by the path over which we had come and [covered the same] distance that we had on the outward journey, which was two hours and a half [travel]. We halted at a swamp near the Punta de Pinos and the bay which, it was thought, might have been the Port of Monterey.

12/11/1769 -- The 11th, we travelled the same distance [as on the outward journey] over the road by which we had come, which was six hours [travel].

12/12/1769 -- The 12th, we travelled for five hours over the road by which we had come, and halted at the same place [as before] where there was a village of forty natives.

12/13/1769 -- The 13th, we travelled for six hours over the road by which we had come and [made] the same distance [as on the outward journey].

12/14/1769 -- The 14th, we travelled for five hours over the road by which we had come and [made the same] distance [as on the outward journey].

12/15/1769 -- The 15th, we travelled for five hours over the country through which we had come and [made the same] distance [as on the outward journey]; here we come upon a village of about fifty persons.

12/16/1769 -- The 16th, we travelled for five hours and a half over the road by which we had come and [made the same] distance [as on the outward journey].

12/17/1769 -- The 17th, we proceeded for four and a half hours [making] two marches [which were] the same that we had made on the outward journey.

12/18/1769 -- The 18th, we travelled for two hours and a half [making] the same distance [as on the outward journey], and ascending the range [by] the road [over which we had come].

12/19/1769 -- The 19th, we travelled for three hours, passing the most difficult part of the range on which there was not a little snow; we made the same distance [as on the outward journey]. Here we rested one day.

12/21/1769 -- The 21st, we made [the same distance as on] two of the marches that we had made on the previous journey and got out of these mountains. Here one of the two muleteers, that had deserted at the Punta de Pinos, presented himself [and] informed us that the other was still in the mountains with three of our Indians who were with him. He declared that this range was the most rugged that he had seen in his life, [and] that, [only] with the greatest labor, he had been able to make his way along the coast

12/23/1769 -- The 23rd, we travelled [as far as in] a march and a half of those made in coming, which was four and a half hours [travel]. In this place we came upon a village of fifty natives and, on the same march, we saw another of forty.

12/24/1769 -- The 24th, we proceeded for five hours and we made [a distance equal to] a march and a half on the previous journey. Here we came upon a village of sixty inhabitants which we did not see on the outward journey.

12/25/1769 -- The 25th, we travelled for four hours and a half over the road by which we had come. Here we saw thirty natives that had not been seen on the outward journey.

12/26/1769 -- The 26th, we travelled for six hours and made [the same distance as in] two of the marches on the outward journey. Here we saw sixty natives that we had not previously seen.

12/27/1769 -- The, 27th, we proceeded for four hours [making] the same distance [as on the outward journey]. We halted in a canyon called the Cañada de los Osos on account of the number [of bears] that it had. Here it rained and for this reason we rested on the 28th.

12/29/1769 -- The 29th, we travelled for three hours by a route different from that we had taken on the outward journey. We halted, in the plain which is named the Plan de los Berros. Here a most obsequious native came up and, being apprehensive among [us] all . . . a present of a fabric interwoven with beautiful feathers which in its arrangement looked like plush [covered with] countless little seeds.

12/30/1769 -- The 30th, we travelled for four hours [and made] the same distance [as on the outward journey over the] road [by which we had come].

12/31/1769 -- The 31st, we proceeded for five hours [and made] the same distance [as on the outward journey over the] road [by which we had come].