FERTILITY OF THE SOIL. 57 



In this expedition he was accompanied by a talented and 

 remarkable man, Chevalier d' Asanza, his secretary. This 

 last stated freely what they had seen, and dared to speak of the 

 Viceroy as a visionary, the result of which was his arrest, and 

 his incarceration in the village of Tepozotlan, where thirty 

 years after he made a solemn entry as Viceroy of New Spain. 

 The Jesuits are the first who have thoroughly explored the 

 Gulf of California. Father Kin, in 1701, attained the junction 

 of the large rivers, Gila and Colorado. He fixed its latitude 

 to 35^ 30 ^ In 1769, very little remained of the establish- 

 ments of the Jesuits, and the Franciscans established themselves 

 in the country. Under the direction of Father Junipero 

 Serra, they laid the foundation of the mission of San Diego. 

 One year after, the same missionary took possession of 

 Monterey. During the next three years Father Serra laid 

 the foundations of seven more missions. All of them were 

 successful at the tim.e of his death, which took place in 1784. 

 His successors continued his good work, with the result that 

 in 1822 twenty-one of them had been established, amongst 

 them that of Dolores, established in 1776, close to the actual 

 San Francisco which existed in 1851, but was no longer in- 

 habited by the friars since their secularisation by the Mexican 

 Government in 1831. The buildings were still there, but they 

 will be soon lost to view among the numerous villas and 

 cottages that they are fast building. 



The peninsula of California, which occupies a surface of 

 land of the same size as England, was sparingly populated 

 during the domination of the Spaniards. In fact, the whole 

 population of that country was scarcely that of Ipswich in 

 England. The centre of the peninsula is traversed by a long 

 ridge of mountains, the highest of which is the Cerro de los 

 Gigantes, or Giant's Mountain, about 5,000 feet high. 



The soil is usually sandy and devoid of vegetation. 

 Cactuses and mimosae are conspicuous. Water is scarce. When 

 it is present, the fertility of the soil is prodigious. All the 

 graniferous plants and fruit bearing trees produce abundantly, 

 and give large returns. Onions have attained twenty-one 

 pounds in weight. Cabbages have reached a diameter of 

 thirteen feet. Turnips of one hundred pounds have been 

 raised ; but of course these are exceptions. Vines prosper, 

 and a very good wine is made with them. Everyone is aware 

 of the well-known size of one plant of vine at Sacramento, 

 which gave ten thousand bunches at a time. It is now 

 dead, but is replaced by some of its sprouts, Avhich are 



