212 



CAPE BLANCO. 



[1825 



the troops might easily be derived from this soil if the proper means 

 were duly applied, as their whole military force does not exceed one 

 hundred, including officers. 



The mission of St. Clara is situated on a delightful plain, surrounded 

 by beautiful groves of oak, and other hard wood of a durable nature, 

 one of which is much like lignumvitae. This mission, which was 

 founded in 1777, contains about twelve hundred native Indians, and is 

 governed in the same humane manner as that of St. Antonio, before 

 mentioned. No person of an unprejudiced mind could witness the 

 labours of these Catholic missionaries, and contemplate the happy re- 

 sults of their philanthropic exertions, without confessing that they are 

 unwearied in well-doing. The lives of these simple-hearted, benevo- 

 lent men are solely devoted to the temporal and (as they think) eternal 

 welfare of a race of savages, apparently abandoned by Providence to 

 the lowest state of human degradation. Surely such disinterested be- 

 ings, whatever may be their errors of opinion, will meet a rich reward 

 from Him who hath said, " Love one another." 



These converted Indians have a very smart, active, friendly, and 

 good-natured demeanour. Their features are handsome and well-pro- 

 portioned ; their countenances are cheerful and interesting ; and they 

 are generally a very industrious, ingenious, and cleanly people. The 

 sins of lying and stealing are held by them in the utmost abhorrence, 

 and they look upon them as two of the most heinous crimes of which 

 a man can be guilty, murder alone excepted. They evince the most 

 tender affection for their wives and children, which is abundantly re- 

 ciprocated by the females and their offspring. 



May With. — On Monday, the seventeenth of May, at one, P. M., we 

 again got under way, and put to sea, and continued examining the coast 

 to the north-west, taking advantage of the land and sea-breezes as 

 much as possible. 



May 20th. — On Friday, the twentieth, we arrived at Cape Blanco, 

 situated in latitude 42° 49' N., long. 124° 13' W. Between this cape 

 and that of Mendocino, which is in latitude 40° 17' N., long. 123° 12' 

 W., there are many small islands and rocks, some of which lie three 

 miles from the main. On these islands or keys I expected to find fur- 

 seals ; whereas I found them all manned with Russians, standing ready 

 with their rifles to shoot every seal or sea-otter that showed his head 

 above water. 



This part of the coast is very dangerous to approach in the night, 

 there being many sunken rocks lying from two to three miles off-shore. 

 Cape Blanco, being about fifty miles north of the division line which 

 separates the Mexican possessions from those of the United States, be- 

 longs of course to our own country, being a point of the Oregon terri- 

 tory. Between this cape and the mouth of Columbia River, a distance 

 of seventy leagues, the coast, I believe, has never been closely ex- 

 amined, and of course I cannot pretend to give any description of it. 

 The Russians make no ceremony of hunting and even of forming settle- 

 ments on any part, of the coast that suits their convenience ; and unless 

 our government plant a colony there, under the protection of the national 



