PREFACE. ' vii 



ferent race. The tradition that the Aztecs came from this Coast, and the 

 theory that the North American Indians are descendants of Asiatics, 

 are not sustained by any trustworthy proof. The aborigines were not 

 able to adapt themselves to high civilization, and they are not repre- 

 sented among us to-day. They have left no art, no custom, no monu- 

 ment, (except a few mounds, the accumulation of shells, bones, coral, 

 and ashes, around their rancherias) no original thought, no recollection 

 of a noble deed, no tongue, only a few proper names, (such as Sonoma, 

 Napa, Petaluma, Suisun, Tuolumne, Mokelumne, etc.) to remind us 

 of their existence. 



The second era, that of Spanish dominion and ascetic ideas, lasted 

 fifty- three years, beginning on the nth of April, 1769, when the brig 

 San Antonio arrived at San Diego with the first party of white men 

 who came to make a permanent settlement in what was then Upper or 

 New California, and is now simply California. This settlement was 

 under the control of Franciscan friars, whose purpose was to convert 

 the Indians. Some soldiers accompanied the missionaries to protect 

 their persons and property, and soon a white lay population began to 

 grow up ; but the dominant interest was that of the friars, and most of 

 the inhabitants recognizing Spanish authority were Indian converts. 



The Franciscans held that the chief virtues of life were chastity, 

 celibacy, poverty, and abject humility, and the chief duties were fre- 

 quent recitation of prayers, the mortification of the flesh, the sacrifice 

 of the passions, and the renunciation of all social pleasures and secular 

 interests for the sake of beatitude in a future existence. Twenty-one 

 missions were founded, none more than thirty miles from the ocean ; 

 the first and most southern at San IHego, in 1769, the last and most 

 northern at Sonoma, in 1823. 



In July, 1769, a party under the supervision of friar Juan Crespi 

 started by land to examine the coast northward. After journeying for 

 three months among savages who showed no hostility, in October he dis- 

 covered and named our bay, reached the site of our city, and here turned 

 back. Seven years later the Mission of San Francisco was established. 

 Seven years hence in 1876 we shall celebrate the centennial anni- 



