GEOGRAPHY OF CALIFORNIA. 



15 



abortive; until, at length, in 1699, the Jesuits, by permission of the king 

 of Spain, undertook to convert the natives to Christianity, and to initiate 

 them into the usages and arts of civilized life. With this view, they 

 formed a number of missions, near the east coasts of the peninsula, and, 

 by untiring assiduity, they had succeeded partly in their objects before 

 1768, when the Jesuits were, in execution of a decree issued at Madrid, 

 expelled from the Spanish dominions ; their establishments were then 

 confided to the Dominicans, under whose charge they have since re- 

 mained with little advantage in any way. 



The number of persons in the peninsula at present has been variously 

 estimated; from the best accounts, it does not exceed five thousand, of 

 whom a small proportion only are Mexicans, and very few are of European 

 origin. The principal places now occupied by the Mexicans are — Loreto, 

 formerly the principal mission of the Jesuits, and now the capital of Old 

 California, a miserable village of about two hundred persons, situated 

 near the gulf, opposite the Island of Carmen, in latitude of 25 degrees 14 

 minutes — La Paz, on the Bay of Pichilingue, a little farther south, the 

 port of communication with Mexico — and Port San Jose, near Cape San 

 Lucas, where an establishment has been recently formed in a plain, watered 

 by a slender rill. From these places, small quantities of tortoise shells, dried 

 meat, cheese, and dried fruits, the latter said to be excellent, are sent to 

 San Bias, in Mexico, or sold to trading vessels which occasionally enter 

 the gulf during their tour along the coasts. There are several other 

 spots on the gulf offering good harbors for vessels, though they present no 

 facilities for settlements ; among which the principal is the Bay of Mulege, 

 near the latitude of 27^ degrees. 



On the west, or Pacific, side of the peninsula no settlement has ever 

 been formed or attempted by a civilized nation. This coast offers many 

 excellent harbors, but the want of fresh water in their vicinity must ever 

 prove an effectual obstacle to their occupation. The principal harbors 

 are, the Bay of La Magdalena, in latitude of 25 degrees, which is separated 

 from the ocean by the long island of Santa Margarita, and appears to 

 stretch much farther inland than had been supposed ; the Bay of Sebas- 

 tian Vizcaino, under the 28th parallel, east of the Isle of Cedars; Port 

 San Bartolome, called Turtle Bay by the British and American traders , 

 and Port San Ouintin, an excellent harbor, with fresh water near it, in lat- 

 itude of 30 degrees 20 minutes, called by the old Spanish navigators the 

 Port of the Eleven Thousand Virgins, which was rediscovered in 1800 by 

 Captain O'Kean, a fur-trader from Boston. At the distance of a hundred 

 and twenty miles from this coast, under the parallel of 28 degrees 45 

 minutes, is the small, rocky island of Guadelupe, the existence of which, 

 after it had been denied by many navigators, has been ascertained. 



Northward from the peninsula, the great westernmost chain of moun- 

 tains continues nearly parallel with the Pacific coast, to the 34th degree 

 of latitude, under which rises Mount San Bernardin, one of the highest 

 peaks in California, about forty miles from the ocean. Farther north, 

 the coast turns more to the west, and the space between it and the sum- 

 mit line of the mountains becomes wider, so as to. exceed eighty miles in 

 some places; the intermediate region being traversed by lines of hills, or 

 smaller mountains, connected with the main range. The principal of 

 these inferior ridges extends from Mount San Bernardin north-westward 

 to its termination on the south side of the entrance of the great Bay of 



