194 
SCENES IN THE PACIFIC. 
to the mountains, and live on roots and wild fruits; while the 
soldiers of the garrison eat herbs with the self-denying Padres: 
and to complete the misfortunes of this devoted country, two 
barks used in bringing a little food from Senora, are cast 
aw r ay. 
In 1711, Padre Salva Tierra sends Padre Francisco Peralta, 
who arrived in California two years before, to Matanchel to 
repair the old Rosario. But the frauds practised by the work¬ 
men consume many thousands of dollars, and make the bark 
so miserable a thing, that in its first effort at sailing it runs 
ashore in spite of the helm, and is utterly lost. They now 
build a new one, at an expense of $22,000. In this, then, 
laden with supplies, they put to sea. But a storm rising, the 
ill-built craft proves to be unmanageable, the sport of the 
waves and winds. She is driven to Cape San Lucas and 
back again to the isles of Mazatlan. Here some of the sailors 
forsake her ; others remain on board, and after many difficul¬ 
ties, take her in sight of the coast of Loretto. A storm now 
drives her ashore on the opposite coast. It is the eighth of 
December. The night is terribly dark and tempestuous. 
Four seamen clear away the small boat, and regardless of the 
lives of the others, shove off. Those who are left hang to 
the main and mizen masts surging in the seas! Padre Bensto 
Guisi and six seamen are drowned. Padres Guillen and 
Doye, and twenty others, with the greatest difficulty, un¬ 
lash the long-boat, bail out the water with two calabashes, 
and throwing aboard a piece of an old sail and some bits of 
boards for oars, commit themselves to the mercy of the waves. 
In the morning they find themselves several leagues from land. 
They row down the coast a day and a half, and after a bois¬ 
terous night land three hundred miles south of Guaymas. 
Eighteen persons, naked, wet, pierced with cold, exhausted 
with rowing, without food or water, with the single comfort 
of having escaped death in the sea, land on a barren waste 
interspersed with fertile tracts overrun with briars and bram¬ 
bles. They gather oysters, wilks and herbs to eat, and 
