() VOYAGE TO THE 



CHAP, be required. Our first inrjuiries naturally related to 



■ ; supplies, whieh we were disappointed to find not at all 



Nov. equal to what had been reported ; in short, it seemed 

 that with the exception of flour, fresh beef, vegetables, 

 and salt, which might be procured through the mis- 

 sions, we should have to depend upon the American 

 vessels for whatever else we might want, or upon what 

 might chance to be in store at Monterey, a port of 

 more importance than San Francisco, and from being 

 the residence of a branch of a respectable firm in 

 Lima, better supplied with the means of refitting ves- 

 sels after a long sea voyage. 



It was evident from this report that the supplies 

 were likely to be very inadequate to our wants ; but 

 that no opportunity of obtaining them might be lost, 

 I despatched Mr. Colhe the surgeon, and Mr. Marsh 

 the purser, overland to Monterey with Mr. Evans as 

 interpreter, with orders to procure for the ship what 

 medicines, provisions, and other stores were to be 

 had, and to negotiate government bills, on which the 

 exchange was far more favourable there than at the 

 Sandwich Islands. The governor politely furnished 

 a passport and a guard for this service ; and our hos- 

 pitable friend Tomaso, the padre of the mission, pro- 

 vided horses for them free of any charge. In the 

 mean time we arranged with a relation of the go- 

 vernor for the daily supply of the ship's company, an 

 arrangement which it afterwards appeared increased 

 the jealousy that had long existed between the pre- 

 sidio and the missions, by transferring to the pocket 

 of the commandant the profits that would otherwise 

 have been reaped by the padre. 



We were happy to find the country around our an- 

 chorage abounding in ganie of all kinds, so plentiful. 



