26 VOYAGE TO THE 



converted Indians in a determination to chastise and 

 strike terror into the victorious tribe, and in concert 

 with the governor planned an expedition against them. 

 The mission furnished money, arms, Indians, and 

 horses, and the presidio provided troops, headed by 

 the alferez, Sanchez, a veteran who had been fre- 

 quently engaged with the Indians, and was acquainted 

 with every part of the country. The troops carried 

 with them their armour and shields, as a defence 

 against the arrows of the Indians : the armour con- 

 sisted of a helmet and jerkin made of stout skins, 

 quite impenetrable to an arrow, and the shield might 

 almost vie with that of Ajax in the number of its 

 folds. 



The expedition set out on the 19th of November, 

 and we heard nothing of it until the 27th ; but two 

 days after the troops had taken the field, some im- 

 mense columns of smoke rising above the mountains 

 in the direction of the Cosemenes, bespoke the con- 

 flagration of the village of the persecuted Gentiles. 

 And on the dav above-mentioned, the veteran San- 

 chez made a triumphant entry into the mission of 

 San Jos6, escorting forty miserable women and child- 

 ren, the gun that had been taken in the first battle, 

 and other trophies of the field. This victory, so glo- 

 rious, according to the ideas of the conqueror, was 

 achieved with the loss of only one man on the part of 

 the Christians, who was mortally wounded by the 

 bursting of his own gun ; but on the part of the 

 enemy it was considerable, as Sanchez the morning 

 after the battle counted forty-one men, women, and 

 children, dead. It is remarkable that none of the 

 prisoners were wounded, and it is greatly to be feared 

 that the Christians, who could scarcely be prevented 



