without the loss of a man or having a sick one; but they were on half rations; they had only three sacks of flour left and were issuing two tortillas12 per day to each man. Great was the rejoicing in the camp of the sick over the arrival of Rivera's force. It was now resolved to remove the camp near to the river. This was done, and a new camp established on a hill in what is now known as "Old Town," where a stockade was made and the cannon mounted. The surgeon, Pedro Prat, devoted himself to the sick, but the deaths continued, until of the ninety and more who had sailed from La Paz, two-thirds were laid under the sand of Punta de los Muertos13. It was now thought best to send one of the packets to San Blas to inform the viceroy and the visitador of the state of the expedition, and it was feared that if this were longer delayed, the ship would be unable to put to sea for lack of mariners. The San Antonio was selected for this purpose, and was prepared for sea, but as she was about to sail, the camp was thrown into an ecstasy of joy by the arrival of Portolá and the second division, sound in body, and with 163 mules laden with provisions. The governor promptly informed himself of the condition of affairs, and desirous that the señor visitador's orders concerning the sea expedition should be carried out, offered to Captain Vila of the San Carlos sixteen men of his command to work the ship, that he might pursue the voyage to Monterey. As Vila had lost all his ship's officers, boatswain, storekeeper, coxswain of the launch, and there was not a sailor among the men offered by Portolá, he declined to go to sea under such conditions. All the available sailors were therefore placed on board the San Antonio, and she sailed for San Blas, June 8th, with eight men only for a crew.

The governor now proceeded to organize his force for the march to Monterey. He determined to move at once, lest the advancing season should expose them to the danger of having the passes of the sierra closed by snow, as even at San Diego those who came by sea reported the sierras covered with snow on their arrival in April.

On the 14th of July, Portolá began his march to Monterey, distant one hundred and fifty-nine leagues. His force consisted of Sergeant Ortega, with twenty-seven soldados de cuera under Rivera, Fages with six Catalan volunteers—all that could travel, Ensign Costansó, the priests, Crespi and Gomez, seven muleteers, fifteen Christian Indians from the missions of Lower California, and two servants—sixty-four in all. Both Fages and Costansó were sick with scurvy, but joined the command notwithstanding. The personnel of this expedition contains some of the best known names in California. Portolá, the first governor; Rivera, comandante of California from 1773 to 1777, killed in the Yuma revolt on the Colorado in 1781; Fages, first comandante of California, 1769-1773, governor, 1782-1790; Ortega, pathfinder, explorer, discoverer of the Golden Gate and of Carquines Strait14; lieutenant and brevet captain, comandante of the presidio of San Diego, of Santa Barbara, and of Monterey; founder of the presidio of Santa Barbara and of the missions of San Juan Capistrano and San Buenaventura. Among the rank and file were men whose names are not less known: Pedro Amador, who gave his name to Amador county; Juan Bautista Alvarado, grandfather of Governor Alvarado; José Raimundo Carrillo, later alférez, lieutenant, and captain, comandante of the presidio of Monterey, of Santa Barbara, and of San Diego, and founder of the great Carrillo family; José Antonio Yorba, sergeant of Catalonia volunteers, founder of the family of that name and grantee of the Rancho Santiago de Santa Ana; Pablo de Cota, José Ignacio Oliveras, José Maria Soberanes, and others.

At San Diego, Portolá left the sick under the care of the faithful surgeon, Prat, and a guard of ten cuera soldiers; Captain Vila of the San Carlos, with a few seamen; Frays Junípero Serra, Juan Vizcaino, and Fernando Parron, a carpenter, a blacksmith, and a few Lower California Indians, some forty persons in all. The governor also left with them a sufficient number of horses and mules and about sixty loads15 of provisions. On July 16th, two days after the Portolá expedition started, Junípero founded, with appropriate ceremonies, the mission of San Diego de Alcalá, the first mission established in Alta California. The deaths continued, and before Portolá's return in January, eight soldiers, four sailors, one servant, and eight Indians died, leaving but about twenty persons at the camp.

We will now follow the governor. Relying somewhat on the supply ship, San Jose, which was to meet him at Monterey, but which, as we have seen, was lost at sea, and also on the supplies to be brought by the San Antonio, the governor, knowing the uncertainties of a sea voyage, took with him one hundred mules loaded with provisions, sufficient, he concluded, to last him for six months.

On the march the following order was observed. Sergeant Ortega, with six or eight soldiers, went in advance, laid out the route, selected the camping place, and cleared the way of hostile Indians by whom he was frequently surrounded. At the head of the column rode the comandante, with Fages, Costansó, the two priests, and an escort of six Catalonia volunteers; next came the sappers and miners, composed of Indians, with spades, mattocks, crowbars, axes, and other implements used by pioneers; these were followed by the main body divided into four bands of pack-animals, each with its muleteers and a guard of presidial soldiers. The last was the rear guard, commanded by Captain Rivera, convoying the spare horses and mules (caballada y mulada).

The presidial soldiers were provided with two kinds of arms, offensive and defensive. The defensive consisted of the cuera (leather jacket) and the adarga (shield)16. The first, being made in the form of a coat without sleeves, was composed of six or seven thicknesses of dressed deer skins impervious to the Indian arrows, except at very short range. The adarga was of two thicknesses of raw bulls-hide, borne on the left arm, and so managed by the trooper as to defend himself and his horse against the arrows and spears of the Indians; in addition, they used a species of apron of leather, fastened to the pommel of the saddle, with a fall to each side of the horse down to the stirrup, wide enough to cover the thigh and a leg of the horseman, and protect him when riding through the brush. This apron was called the armas. Their offensive arms were the lance, which they managed with great dexterity on horseback, the broadsword, and a short musket, carried in a case. Costansó, who was an officer of the regular army, bears testimony to the unceasing labor of the presidial soldiers of California on this march, and says they were men capable of enduring much fatigue, obedient, resolute, and active; "and it is not too much to say that they are the best horsemen in the world, and among the best soldiers who gain their bread in the service of the king."public@vhost@g@gutenberg@html@files@4978@[email protected]#linknote-17" id="linknoteref-17"