27S FROM OONALASIIKA 



with fresh provisions for my whole crew. They 

 found my request extremely moderate, renewed their 

 promise of supplying us with all the refreshments 

 the country produced, and already on the same 

 afternoon sent us a fat ox, two sheep, cabbage, 

 gourds, and a great quantity of fi uit. After long 

 abstinence we now enjoyed superfluity, and I con- 

 gratulated myself on the wholsome diet which 

 would give my crew new vigour for the long voyage 

 they were i bout to undertake. It is true, that they 

 all appeared to enjoy the most robust health, yet 

 the germ of the scurvy might be already in some 

 of them, because the hardships which they had en- 

 dured in Beering's Straits, the total want of fresh 

 provision, and the damp weather, were well cal- 

 culated to lay the foundation of that disorder. To 

 guard as far as possible against this evil, I caused 

 water-melons, and apples, which were here remark- 

 ably excellent, to be distributed to them every day 

 in large quantities. 



The following day the festival of St. Francisco 

 was to be celebrated in the mission, and the priest 

 invited us all to dinner. This afternoon, accom- 

 panied by all our gentlemen, I took a walk into- 

 the Presidio, where we were received at the gate 

 by the commandant, Don Louis d'Arguello, and 

 saluted with eight guns, and then conducted to his 

 residence. I found the Presidio as described by 

 Vancouver ; the garrison consists of a company of 

 cavalrv, of which the commandant is chief, and 



