132 TRUE BEAR STORIES. 



To the south, several hundred miles dis- 

 tant, stretches the long Sea of Cortez, as 

 the conquerors of ancient Mexico once 

 called the Gulf of California. Beyond the 

 Sea of Cortez is the long and rock-bound 

 reach of the west coast of Mexico. Then a 

 group of little Central American republics; 

 then Colombia, Peru and so on, till at last 

 Patagonia points away like a huge giant's 

 finger straight toward the South Pole. 



But I must bear in mind that I set out 

 in this story to tell you about "The Bear 

 Slayer of Sa.n Diego," and the South Pole 

 i a long way from the subject in hand. 



I have spoken of San Diego as one of the 

 great new cities, and great it is, but al- 

 together new it certainly is not, for it was 

 founded by a Spanish missionary, known 

 as Father Junipero, more than one hun- 

 dred years ago. 



These old Spanish missionaries were 

 great men in their day; brave, patient and 

 very self-sacrificing in their attempts to 



