198 



OLD CALIFORNIA. 



[1825. 



decides the preference in favour of the southern route. In this great 

 line of civilized intercourse, St. Louis, in the United States, will, we 

 may suppose, assume the rank of an immense entrepot, while another 

 must arise on the side of the Pacific." 



The name of California has been given to so much of the western 

 coast of North America as lies between lat. 22° 52' to 42° N., or 

 through nearly twenty degrees of latitude, although no one can tell 

 from what source the word has been derived ; its origin and etymology 

 having never been accurately ascertained. This country received the 

 appellation of California when first visited by Hernando de Grixalvo, 

 who was acting under the direction of Hernan Cortes, in 1 534, and 

 has retained it ever since. In all the various dialects of the natives, 

 no trace of such a name has ever been discovered ; and though some 

 writers have had recourse to conjecture, and suppose that the term 

 California is compounded of calida and fornax, a hot furnace, and was 

 derived from the sultriness of its climate, yet it does not appear that 

 any of the Spanish captains ever took this method of giving names to 

 their conquests. Father Venegas is rather inclined to think that it 

 owed its origin to some accident ; possibly to some words spoken by 

 the natives, and misunderstood by the Spaniards, as happened, accord- 

 ing to a very learned American, in the naming of Peru. 



Be this as it may, the natives of the country distinguish it by 

 no general denomination ; although each tribe has a name and lan- 

 guage peculiar to itself. The Californians of the peninsula (which 

 is called Old California) are divided into three distinct nations, whose 

 languages are entirely different from each other. The Pericues occupy 

 the south end of the peninsula ; the Menquis inhabit the centre ; and 

 the Cochimies are on the north part, where it joins to the main. 

 Each of these nations is subdivided into several tribes or branches, 

 distinguished by considerable variations in their dialect. In New 

 California, which is north of the peninsula, the distinctions are still 

 more numerous ; and it has been asserted by one of the Catholic mis- 

 sionaries, who laboured hard and zealously in converting these natives 

 to the Christian religion, that on an extent of one hundred and eighty 

 leagues, from San Diego to the Bay of St. Francisco, no fewer than 

 seventeen languages are spoken ! 



The condition, character, manners, habits, and customs of the native 

 Californians have been all much improved since a knowledge of Chris- 

 tianity was introduced among them by the Spanish Jesuits, and espe- 

 cially since the whole country has been annexed to the Mexican nation. 

 The arts of civilization have been introduced among them with the 

 most salutary effects. Their manners have become softened, many 

 of their superstitious ceremonies have been abolished, and agriculture 

 has rapidly increased. White settlements are now springing up m 

 both Californias, and the day is not far distant when this long-neglected 

 and much-depreciated region of America will become the envy of its 

 neighbours. As soon as its resources and advantages become better 

 known, and more justly estimated, its increase and prosperity may 

 challenge a competitor in the same parallel of latitude on the western 

 continent. But this anticipated state of renovation and prosperity 



