CALIFORNIA. 



ricli provincej of Sonora and Cinaloa-, which fee. In 1/184, 

 the marquis de la Lagiiria, \iceroy of Mexico, difpatchcd 

 two fliips with a lenijcr, to m^ke difcovtries of the lake of 

 California, cf which he brought back but an indiflireut ac- 

 count ; lliough he was among the full who afcertained its 

 bL'ing joined to the continent of America, and contiguous 

 to that of Afia. It is faid, .however, that we owe to fa- 

 ther Caino, a German jc-fuilv the abfolate certainty that 

 California is a pcninfula, joining to the continent of New 

 Mexico, and the more northern parts of South America. 

 He hndtd on the former from the ifland of Sumatra, and 

 palled to the latter without crofTmcr any other water than 

 the river Azal, into wliich the Rio Colorado falls, in about 

 the 35th degree of north latitude. Dr. Robert fon obfervcs, 

 tl'iat the uncertainty of geograplicrs with refped to this 

 pijir.t is remarkable, as Cortes feemed to have' furveyed its 

 coall wU!i great accuracy. The archbi(hop of Toledo has 

 publifiii-d from the original, in the polVefiion of the mar- 

 cjuis del Vallc, the defcendant of Cortes, a map drawn in 

 jj-'^i, by tiie pilot Domingo Caflillo, in which California 

 is laid down as a peninfula, llretcliing out nearly in the 

 fame direclion which is now given to it in the bell maps, 

 and the point where Rio Colorado enters the guH is marked 

 with precifion.- Towards the clofe of the ijth century, the 

 jefuits, who had great merit in exploring llie ueglecled 

 province of California, and in civilizing its rude inhabitants, 

 imperceptibly acquired a don>iniop. over it as complete as 

 thar vvluch they pofTcired in their millions in Paraguay, and 

 they laboured to introduce into it the fame policy, and to 

 govern the natives by the fame maxims. In order to pre- 

 vent the court of Spain from conceiving any jdaloufy of 

 their defigns and operations, they feein itudionlly to have 

 depreciated the country, by reprefenting the climate as fo 

 difagreeable and infalubrious, and the foil as fo barren, that 

 nothing but a zealous defire of converting the natives could 

 have induced them to fettle there. Several public-fpirited 

 citizens endeavoured to undeceive their fovereigns, and to 

 give them a better view of California; but without effeiR;. 

 At length, on the expuHlon of the Jefuits from the Spani.1i 

 dominions, the court of Madrid, as prone at that jundnre 

 fo fufped the purity of the order's intentions, as formerly 

 to confide in them with implicit trufl, appointed don Jofeph 

 Galvez, whole abilities afterwards raifcd him to the hiijh 

 rank of miniller for the Indies, to vifit that peninlula. His 

 account of the country was favourable ; he found the pearl- 

 filhery on its coafts to be valuable, and difcovered mines of 

 gold of a very promifing appearance. From its vicinity to 

 Cinaloa and Sonora, it is probable, that if the population 

 of thelc provinces (hould increafe to the degree that may 

 reafonably be expcSed, California may, by degrees, receive 

 from them fuch a recruit of inhabitants, as to be no longer 

 reckoned among the defolate and ufelcfs diftrifts of the Spa- 

 nilh empire. To this intcll'gent miniller, Spain is indebted 

 for a new dillribution of government m its American pro- 

 vinces, and for feveral important alterations in the ftate of 

 their police and revenue, as well as a general reformation of 

 the tribunals of juftice in America. Since the limits of the 

 viceroyalty of New Spain have been confiderably circum- 

 fcnbed, four of its moll remote provinces, viz. Sonora, Ci- 

 naloa, California, and New Navarre, have been formed iuto 

 a feparate government ; and in time, the beneficial eil'cds of 

 this arrangement may be vei^ confiderable. Under the im- 

 mediate infpeftion of a governor, to whom thefe rich pro- 

 vinces are fpecially committed, they mull rife into importance 

 and profpcrity : and in common with many otiier dillric^s of 

 America, long deprelfed by the latigui>r and feeblentfs na- 

 tural to provinces which eompofe the extremities of an 



over-grown empire, they may be animated with vigour and 

 aftivity, wlien brouglit fo near the feat of power as lo feel 

 its invigoratin,: influence. 



It \vas not till the year 1 74 I, that Becring and Tcliirikow, 

 in the lervice of Rulfia, difcovered the nortii-well coall of Ame- 

 rica; the former, towards the ySth parallel ; the latter, towiirdi 

 the j6th. Sir.cethat period, the difcovcries of the Rudhns 

 have extended from the parallel of ';6° to the moll north- 

 ern part of the well coall ; and they have comprifed, in t'le 

 lurveys which they have made of it, the peninfula of Alalka, 

 and tlie long cliain of the Aleutinn illands, both bclongiiig 

 to tlie continent of America. 



After a period of }6^ years of lethargy, the fpirit of dif- 

 covery, and the talle for expeditions to die north, revived 

 among the Spaniards. Accordingly, in l-'t), veflds were 

 dilpatched from tlie port of San Bias, under the command of 

 donVinceiiteVila,in order to cliabliHi a prefidioat the harbour 

 of San Die-go, in N. lat. ,Xj° 40', ofTthe illhmus of California; 

 and another at that of Monterrey in N. lat. ;6^ 3S' 2-^' ; but 

 this expedition r.ffoided no difcovery ; liowcver, after a whole 

 year of refearches and fatigue, theS'paniards fuccctded m lind- 

 ing again tlie harbour of .\Ionterrcy, the latitude of which had 

 been indicated to them by Vifcaino in 1602. Difeoveries iu 

 higher latitudes were fufpended at this time ; bfcav.fe an ob- 

 jeiil of greater importance, and for the accompiifhmcnt of 

 which, Don Joftpli Galvtz had been commiifioned from 

 Spain, occupied the whole attentio-i, and ail the elforls of 

 government. In 1775, a fecond expedition, imdcr the di- 

 redlion of Don Jtnn de Ayala, and of his pilot Don Fran, 

 cifco Antonio Maurelle, 'effe-cled the difcovery of fome 

 cape-s and of fome bays and harbours between the 47th and 

 57tli parallels. This voyage made known the iiarbonr of 

 Trinidad in N. lat. 41° 7' ; Cape Mefari, in 45° 50' ; Cape 

 St. Augullin, in 53°; port Bucarelli, in 5-5° 17'; mount 

 San Jacinto, and Cape del Engano, in 57° 2'; Guadalupa 

 bay. in ';7° 11', in its north part; the harbour of Los Re- 

 nitdioi, in 57° 18'; and fir Francis Drake's harbour of 

 Francifco, in 38° iS'. A third and a fourth voyage i:i 

 1778 and 1779, made no additional difcovcrv ; and the fc- 

 fond merely afforded the alfurance tluu the Ruffians had 

 formed fixed fcttlements on feveral points of the Irgh lati- 

 tudes. But, as far back as ]77y, while the Spaniards wrre 

 employed in a minute furvey of their port Bucarelli (fee Bif- 

 CiRiiiLi), liie firll of navigal^irs, as he is delcrvedly deno- 

 minated by M. Fleurieu, Captain Cook, carried his talent.s, 

 experience, and information, towards tlie r.orth-wefl coa'.l 

 of America; and Europe owes to his laboiious refearches 

 the firll certain knowledge that llie has had of the well pait 

 of the new world. He made the land on the 7ih of M;:.-c!i 

 177S, in the latitude of 44''. Tiiwarted by the winds, he 

 could only diiUnguidi a few capes or points of land, called 

 Cape Gregory, Cape Perpetiia, and Cape FouKveallier : 

 tlie ft. II of the three, or Cape Grejrory, which lie places in 

 43° 10', appears to be Aguila.-'s C.po' Blanco, fo called by 

 him in 160,3. He loll the land again till he reached it ili 

 48°, where he perceived, at a diilancc, in 48° 1 5', a cape 

 which he named Cape Flattery. At length, after long 

 llruggHng with advcrfe winds, he ran in tor the land, in 

 the latitude of 49° j6', and anchored in a bay which he (iril 

 called King George's Sound, and known among the inha- 

 bitants of the country by the name of " Nootka." This 

 Nootka Spain claimed in 1790, as an integial part of her 

 American dominions. Having examined a tew points above 

 the J6lh parallel, he difcovered, in 60°, Prince William's 

 Sound, and Cook's river ; and having rounded the penin- 

 (ula ofAlafica, he vifited fome of the' Aleutian illands (fee 

 Aleutian), and thence advancing to the highell Ijtitndes 



whiuh 



