California represented as an Island. 213 
ignored them when in June they sailed along the coast and 
entered the bay? On the theory that they stopped in Drakes 
bay near point: Reyes, they were in sight of the Farallones. If 
they had sailed into San Francisco harbor on June 17, 1579, 
they passed between Drakes bay and the Farallones and could 
not fail to see or notice them. 
A discussion on the values of the latitudes given in the course 
of the desultory navigation of Drake along the coast of Califor- 
nia will not be made here. We leave it to the eminent hydrog- 
rapher, Professor George Davidson, who has most clearly and 
sagaciously worked out the devious and puzzling questions in- 
volved, from the explorations of Cabrillo and Ferrelo, and he 
alone is competent to sit in judgment over the positive value of 
Drake’s nautical astronomy. 
We have elaborated our theory as founded on conditions and 
physical facts given by the authorities consulted, while we have 
accepted the latitudes as closely correct when they are applied 
to the point discussed, when it can be shown they agree with the 
landmarks described. 
From the survey of Viscaino in 1601-1603 until late in the 
eighteenth century, the coasts of upper and lower California and 
Oregon were little known or studied. Serious changes took place 
after 1620, when map-makers began to consider California an 
island, an error perpetuated to the middle of the eighteenth 
century. On Duval’s map of 1682, California is represented, and 
Canada is shown as bordering on California, port San Francisco 
is in about 40° north latitude, and the Rio del Norte is empty- 
ing into the Vermillion—most fanciful and unreal cartography 
founded on the worst errors of former explorers. 
Engel, and others quoted by him, suggested in the last century 
that the discrepancies between the sixteenth century Spanish 
explorations and those brought out in the eighteenth century 
might be ascribed to changes in coast configuration. The shal- 
lowing of the sea along the coast, the formation of islands and 
reefs, were sufficient to account for changes in topographic and 
hydrographic features. 
We are unable to either affirm or deny the possibility of such 
changes in the 350 years since Cabrillo’s exploration, yet we 
cannot forget that California and the region around San Francisco 
has been subjected to violent and oft-recurring seismic convul- 
sions, which have elevated the region around San Francisco 
