TRAVELS IN THE CALI FOR NIAS. 
275 
laborers of the cross toil on. Meantime the frigate, which is 
under orders from the Viceroy to explore the northwest coast, 
departs from Monterey on the eleventh of June, proceeds as 
far as Lat. 55° N., and finds an inlet which they name Santa 
Margarita, and returns. In March of the next year, she makes 
another expedition, accompanied by a schooner under the 
command of Bodega, afterwards the friend of Vancouver. 
As these vessels, however, are separated in a gale on the 
thirtieth of July, the frigate proceeds to Lat. 49° N., 
and puts back in search of the lost schooner; arriving 
at Monterey on the twentieth of August, she finds her 
consort riding at anchor in the bay. The failure of these ex¬ 
peditions seems rather to stimulate than cool the enterprise of 
the Viceroy. He orders a new frigate to be built at San Bias, 
and sends a naval officer to Peru to purchase a vessel to ac 
company her over these vexed waters. These vessels sail 
from San Bias on the twelfth of February, 1779, under com¬ 
mand of Don Ignatio Artiago. Two missionaries from the 
Convent of San Fernando accompany the expedition. The 
object of the voyage is to discover a water passage from the 
Pacific to the Atlantic. They reach Lat. 55° N. on the third 
of June, and discover a strait which they call Bucareli. Here 
they look in vain for a passage eastward; and about the first 
of July proceed still farther northward. On the first of Au¬ 
gust, in about Lat. 6(P N., they discover a large and safe 
harbor, with abundance of wood, water, and fish. This they 
name Santiago ; and after spending several days in searching 
an inconsiderable creek for the passage, the prudent com¬ 
mander, finding his crew infected with the scurvy to an alarm¬ 
ing degree, and dreading the rigor of the advancing season, 
resolves to return. Accordingly he sails southward, and on 
the fifteenth of September, 1779, safely moors his little fleet in 
the harbor of San Fernando. The return of this expedition 
is hailed as a momentous event in the progress of the conquest. 
While the civil arm is thus extending itself over the unex 
plored wilderness, the spiritual warriors lose none of theiir 
