MCGEE] SECOND EXPLORATORY PERIOD 57 



peail-gatbering expeditions was that of Admiral Pedro Portel de Cas- 

 sanate, wbicli covered several years; he "took a very careful survey 

 of the eastern coast oC the gulf" in 1648, but was deterred from estab- 

 lishing a garrison by "the dryness and sterility of the country";' yet 

 neither this voyage nor any of the others appears to have resulted in 

 any considerable rectification of tlie maps, or in valuable records relat- 

 iiig to the aboriginal inhabitants. Various records indicate, howevei', 

 that both pearl flshers by sea and gold seekers by laud must have met the 

 warlike Seri — and sometimes survived to enrich the growing lore con- 

 cerning the tribe, and to establish the existenceof their island stronghold. 



New light dawned on Sonoran history with the extension of evangeli- 

 zation by the Order of Jesuits into that territory under the pilotage 

 of Padre Eusebio Francisco Kino (Kaino, Kuino, Kiihn, Kiihne, Quino, 

 Chino,etc.),whosailedfromChacala,Marchl8, 1683, -for California, with 

 the expedition of Admiral Isidro Otondo y Antillon. This expedition 

 failing, the padre returned to the mainland in 1086, and during the 

 same year obtained authority and means for establishing missions in 

 Sonora, of which one was to be "founded among the Seris of the gulf 

 coast ".^ Although the record of the j)adre's movements is hardly com- 

 plete, it would appear that several years elapsed before he actually 

 approached, and also (contrary to the opinion of two centuries) that he 

 never saw, the real Seri habitat. According to the anonymous author of 

 "Apostolicos Afanes" (identified by modern historians as Padre Jos^ 

 Ortega), Padre Kino made many journeys over the inhospitable wastes 

 now known as Papagueria during the years 1686-1701,^ and must have 

 seen nearly the whole of the northern and eastern portions of the ter- 

 ritory ; but only a single journey led him toward Seriland. In February, 

 low, he, with Padre Marcos Antonio Kappus, Ensigu Juan Mateo 

 Mange (chronicler of this expedition), and Captain Aguerra, set out for 

 the coast; and Mange's itinerary is so circumstantial as to locate their 

 route and every stopping place, with a possible error not exceeding 5 

 miles in any case. 



According to Mange's itinerary, the explorers left Santa Magdalena 

 de Buquibava, on the banks of Rio San Ignacio or Santa Magdalena, 

 February 9, traveling northwestward down the valley of that river 

 (for the most part) 12 leagues to San Miguel del Bosna; the original 

 party having been enlarged at Santa Magdalena by the addition of 

 Nicolas Castrijo and Antonio Jlezquita, with two Indians for guides. 

 On February 10 they traveled from Bosna 5 leagues southward (evi- 

 dently in the valley of Kio San Ignacio, which is here 5 to 25 miles in 

 width), to sleep at the watering place of Oacue, or Sau Bartolome. The 



^ Venegas, A Natural antl Civil History of Calil'ornia, vol. i, p. 192. 



8 Yenegas, Xotioia cle la California, vol. I ; Madrid, 1757, p. 219. 



^The Works of Hubert Howe Bancroft, vol. xv (History of tbe North Mexican States, vol. l, 1531- 

 1800), 1884, p. 252. 



^Apostolicos Afanes de la Compafiia de Jesus, escritos por un Padre de la misuia Sagrada Religion 

 de su Proviucia de Mexico; Barcelona, 1754, p. 246 et seq. 



