1602.] SECOND VOYAGE OF VIZCAINO. 91 



historian Torquemada, " the most enlightened corps ever raised in 

 New Spain." The direction of the whole expedition was intrusted 

 to Sebastian Vizcaino, as captain-general, who sailed in the largest 

 ship ; the other being commanded by Toribio Gomez de Corvan, 

 as admiral — an office equivalent in rank to that of vice-admiral in 

 the British service : the fragata was under ensign Martin de 

 Aguilar.* 



All things being prepared, the vessels took their departure from 

 Acapulco on the 5th of May, 1602, and, after many troubles and 

 delays at various places on the Mexican coast, they were assembled 

 in the small Bay of San Bernabe, now called Port San Jose, imme- 

 diately east of Cape San Lucas, the southern extremity of the 

 Californian peninsula. There they remained until the 5th of July, 

 when they rounded the cape, and the survey of the west coast was 

 commenced from that point. The prosecution of the enterprise 

 was thenceforward attended by constant difficulties : the scurvy, 

 as usual, soon broke out among the crews ; and the Spaniards had 

 their courage and perseverance severely tried by their " chief 

 enemy, the north-west wind," which was raised up, says Torque- 

 mada, "by the foe of the human race, in order to prevent the 

 advance of the ships, and to delay the discovery of those countries, 

 and the conversion of their inhabitants to the Catholic faith." 



Vizcaino and his followers, however, bore up nobly against all 

 these obstacles, and executed the duty confided to them most 

 faithfully. Proceeding slowly northward, they reached the exten- 

 sive Bay of La Magdalena, between the 24th and 25th parallels of 

 latitude, of which Vizcaino's survey was, until recently, the only 

 one upon record ; and before the end of August, the vessels which 

 had been separated almost ever since quitting Cape San Lucas, 

 were again united in a harbor in the island called Ma de Cedros, 

 or Isle of Cedars, by Cabrillo, but now generally known as Ma de 

 Cerros, or Isle of Mountains. Continuing their examination, they 

 found a bay near the 31st degree of latitude, which they named the 

 Port of the Eleven Thousand Virgins, now called Port San Quintin, 

 and said to be an excellent harbor ; and farther north they entered 

 the Port San Miguel of Cabrillo, to which they assigned the appella- 



* Torquemada, vol. i. p. 694. — Introduction to the Journal of Galiano and Valdes, 

 p. 60. — Torquemada's accounts are derived chiefly from the Journal of Fray An- 

 tonio de la Asencion, the chaplain of one of the ships. The author of the Introduc- 

 tion, &c, had recourse to the original notes of the expedition, from which he con 

 structed a chart of the coast surveyed. 



