214: RURAL CALIFORNIA 



of the expedition. Captain Eivera seems also to have 

 been the first to enter the new country, for he started 

 northward from Lower California in March 1769 

 with his cowboys and 200 head of cattle, sheep and 

 goats, arriving in San Diego in May. 



Probably neither Eivera nor any of his cowboys 

 of 1769 had even the faintest dream of the outcome 

 of the enterprise which was in part entrusted to 

 him. Even the lush meadows and hillsides of San 

 Diego in May probably did not suggest the full 

 capacity for the animal industry of the new country 

 to which he had driven his flocks and herds. Even 

 if he had seen but a little way into the future, he 

 would have beheld his 200 animals of 1769 multi- 

 plied to 424,000 horned cattle, 62,500 horses, mules 

 and asses, 321,500 sheep, goats and swine, as shown 

 by the mission inventories at the time of the dispos- 

 session of the padres in 1834. 



If Captain Eivera never saw the great multiplica- 

 tion of the live-stock he introduced, he was also 

 spared the sight of the most wanton but still unavoid- 

 able waste which attended the use made of them. 

 For nearly half a century the natural increase of 

 the little bunch he had convoyed to such rich pastur- 

 age and favoring salubrity was slain for hides, pelts 

 and tallow to be traded with visiting ships. He 

 also lost the farther sight which would have revealed 

 his effort as a providential provision for the devel- 

 opment of California as it has since been achieved. 

 The services of the padres in the preparation for 

 American occupation is inestimable. Suppose they 



