277 
TRAVELS IN THE CALIFORNIAS. 
pass, and they arrive near the proposed site of their future 
home on the banks of a beautiful lake near one of the arms 
of the bay, select a situation for the Presidio, and cut the tim¬ 
ber to erect it. The natives, meanwhile, throng around to 
witness their labors and make demonstrations of friendship. 
The vessel arrives on the eighteenth of August. The work 
progresses, and on the seventeenth of September, they take 
solemn possession of the new garrison. The holy cross is 
planted above the peaceful waters of the bay, and the silent 
hills re-echo the chanting of the Mass, the sublime Te Deum 
and the roar of artillery and musketry, announcing to the 
untamed tenants of the wilderness, the dominion at once of 
the cross and the sword. The same ceremonies attend the tak¬ 
ing possession of the mission on the ninth of the following 
November. These objects accomplished, the vessel returns 
to San Bias. 
The faithful Padre Junipero continues his labors without 
ceasing, founding in addition to the missions already named, 
those of Santa Clara, Santa Barbara, and San Buenaventura. 
But his efforts draw to a close. He has thrown the gushing 
energies of a warm and kind heart upon the arid wilderness. 
Solitude, famine, heat and cold, thirst and hunger, have been 
welcome as the sole conditions under which he could perform 
his errand of mercy and love to the red man. And now that 
the holy cross which his hands have planted, gleams heaven¬ 
ward from the dark bosom of these wastes, and devotion 
blends its gentle tones with the harsher poeans of the winds 
and waves, and the voices of human industry, the good Padre, 
worn out with the fatigues and anxieties of his arduous post, 
must prepare to rest from his labors. The hand of age is 
upon him; his head whitens ; his frame bends and trembles; 
his steps falter ; he leans upon his younger and more vigor¬ 
ous brethren for support; and at last his grateful and beloved 
spiritual children, the sons of the forest, see him no more. He 
retires to die. His heart clings to those who have so long 
lived under the protection of his fostering hand, and the last 
