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CHAPTER IV. 



1769 to 1779. 



First Establishments on the West Coast of California founded by the Spaniards — 

 Dispute between Spain and Great Britain respecting the Falkland Islands — 

 Exploring Voyages of the Spaniards under Perez, Heceta and Bodega, and Arteaga 

 and Bodega — Discovery of Nootka Sound, Norfolk Sound, and the Mouth of the 

 Columbia River — Importance of these Discoveries. 



Immediately after the expulsion of the Jesuits from Mexico, the 

 viceroy of Mexico, De Croix, and the visitador, Galvez, directed 

 their attention to the establishment of colonies and garrisons on the 

 western side of California, agreeably to the system adopted for the 

 restauration of the Spanish dominions in the New World. 



At that time, little was known, with certainty, of any part of the 

 west coast of America north of the 43d parallel, to which latitude 

 it had been explored by Sebastian Vizcaino, in 1603. The voyage 

 of Juan de Fuca was generally considered as apocryphal, and 

 nothing of an exact nature could be learned from the accounts of 

 the Russian expeditions in that quarter. Upon examining the 

 charts and journals of Vizcaino, descriptions were found of several 

 places surveyed by him, which he strongly recommended as suitable 

 for settlements or naval stations ; and, agreeably to his views, it was 

 determined in Mexico that the first establishments should be formed 

 on the harbors which had received from that navigator the names 

 of Port San Diego and Port Monterey. Accordingly, after much 

 difficulty, a small number of settlers, with some soldiers and Fran- 

 ciscan friars, were assembled at La Paz, on the western shore of the 

 Californian Gulf, which had been selected as the place of rendez- 

 vous ; and thence, in the spring of 1769,* they began their march 



* This account of the establishment of the first Spanish colonies on the west coast 

 of California is derived from — the narrative of Miguel Costanso, the engineer of the 

 expedition, which was published at Mexico in 1771, and immediately suppressed by 

 the government; a copy, however, escaped to England, from which a translation was 

 published at London, in 1790, by A. Dalrymple — and from the biography of Friar 

 Junipero Serra, the principal of the Franciscans who accompanied the expedition, 

 written by Friar Francisco Palou, and published at Mexico in 1787. 



