ELDORADO 205 



stores, and dwelling houses, all under the control of 

 the resident Jesuit father. None of that religious or- 

 der visited the west coast except on one occasion in 

 1716. All the labors of the Jesuits were l)rought to an 

 end in 1767. In that year Charles ITT of Spain issued 

 a decree banishing members of that order from all 

 Spanish territories ; and a strong military force, un- 

 der command of Don Gasper de Portala, was dis- 

 patched to California, and soon put an end to the rule 

 of the Jesuits by forcing them from their converts. 

 The Spanish government did not abandon California, 

 and the peninsula soon became a part of Mexico, and 

 was provided with a civil and military government. 

 The missions fell under the rule of the Dominicans 

 whose treatment of the natives was less humane than 

 that of the Jesuits and many of them returned to their 

 former state of barbarism. The Spaniards soon 

 formed establishments on the western side of the 

 peninsula. 



In the spring of 1769 a number of settlers, with 

 s(Miie soldiers and Franciscan friars, marched across 

 Lower California towards San Diego. They reached 

 the bay of that name after enduring much hardship 

 and began a settlement on the shore of the bay during 

 the month of May, 1769. rVn effort was made soon 

 after to establish another colony at Monterey, but the 

 ]>arty under Portala that went in search of the place, 

 l>assed further on to the bay of San Francisco, when 

 they soon after returned to San Diego. The people 

 left at that settlement had nearly perished for want of 

 food and were greatly harassed by the Indians. A sup- 



