56 VOYAGE TO THE 



not improbable that the practice appeared so singular 

 to Cortes that he applied the name of California to the 

 country, as being one in which hot ovens were used 

 for such singular purposes. Padre Arroyo, how- 

 ever, maintained that it was a corruption of colofon, 

 which, in the Spanish language, signifies resin, in con- 

 sequence of the pine trees which yield that material 

 being so numerous. The first settlers, he said, at the 

 sight of these trees would naturally exclaim, " Colo- 

 fon," which, by its similarity to Californo, (in the Ca- 

 talonian dialect, hot oven,) a more familiar expression, 

 would soon become changed. 



Our travellers, after taking leave of the hospitable 

 and amusing priest the preceding evening, with the 

 intention of proceeding early in the morning, experi- 

 enced much delay in consequence of the refusal of the 

 guard to start without hearing mass and receiving the 

 benediction of the priest ; but at length they quitted 

 the plain of San Juan, and ascended with difficulty 

 some steep hills commanding a view of the spacious 

 bay of Monterey. Then winding among valleys, one 

 of which was well wooded and watered, they entered 

 an extensive plain called " Llano del Rey," which, 

 until their arrival, was in the quiet possession of nu- 

 merous herds of deer and jackals. This tract of land 

 is bounded on the north, east, and south-east, by 

 mountains which extend with a semicircular sweep 

 from the sea at Santa Cruz, and unite with the coast 

 line again at Point Pinos. It is covered with a rank 

 grass, and has very few shrubs. In traversing this 

 plain, before they could arrive at some ranchos, named 

 Las Salinas, where they proposed to dine, the party 

 had to wade through several deep ditches and the 

 Rio del Rey, both of which were covered with wild 



