Читать книгу Spanish America (Vol.1&2) - Sir Richard Henry Bonnycastle - Страница 18

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California is divided into two intendancies. New and Old California.

Old California consists of the peninsula bearing that name. New California reaches from Port San Francisco to the isthmus, or down to the Colorado, and comprises a strip of land along the coast; as, however, neither of these countries are at present of any great importance, we shall not divide them in our account, but describe them both together under the general head of California.

The boundaries of this country are an imaginary line, in the 39th degree of north latitude; on the north, the river Colorado and Indian tribes; and the Vermillion Sea, or Californian Gulf on the east; the Pacific Ocean on the west and south.

The bay of Sir Francis Drake, which runs some distance into the country, is the limit placed by nature between the claims of the British government and that of Spain in North America; and on the south-side of this bay is another, called the bay of St. Francisco, where the Spaniards have a small town and fort; this settlement is in 37° 48ʹ north latitude according to the latest authorities, but some have made it near 39°. The length of California, may be however computed from Sir Francis Drakeʼs harbour, in 39° north latitude, to Cape Lucas, in 22° 55ʹ north latitude, and 109° 52ʹ west longitude; the breadth varies so much, that a reference to the map will give a better idea of it than words.

Fernando Cortez seems to have been the discoverer of this country; he had sent several vessels in pursuit of the desirable object of making the coast of the Pacific known, when Hernando de Grijalva discovered the coast in February 1534; but they were so unsuccessful, that Cortez determined to undertake a voyage himself, which accordingly performing, he discovered the Gulf of California, in the year 1536, after encountering all sorts of misfortunes and perils; it was however neglected, and the form of it remained unknown till long after. In 1540, the viceroy of Mexico sent a vessel to explore it, but nothing was done of consequence; the same attempt was again made, but with like success. In 1578, the English navigator, Sir Francis Drake, explored the western coast of America, from 48° of north latitude, to 37° north latitude, and gave his name to the harbour, in 39° north latitude, which is the boundary of Californian lands. He called the country New Albion, and took possession of it in the name of Queen Elizabeth. In 1595, the Spaniards sent another vessel to explore the coast of California, but this vessel perished in Puerto de los Reyes. They were however determined to prosecute this object, on account of their wish to obtain a harbour for the Manilla galleons on their homeward voyage; the viceroy therefore dispatched Admiral Biscaino, who discovered and explored the harbour and land, to which he gave the name of the Viceroy. This place, Monterey, is in 36° 36ʹ north latitude, and has since become the chief settlement of the Spaniards in California. After a long interval, Spanish missions were sent to this country, and inland discoveries consequently made. In 1684, Father Caino, a Jesuit, discovered that California was actually a peninsula; he came from the east, and crossed the country in the 35th degree of north latitude.

The Jesuits made many exploratory journeys in the latter part of the seventeenth century, and having converted many of the natives, they ruled with absolute sway, and continued in possession of what they gave out as a barren country, till their final expulsion from the territories of Spain. Some doubts having arisen as to their representations of the unfavourable nature of the country, the viceroy appointed Galvez, afterwards the minister of the Indies, to explore it, and from his accounts of the value of its productions, new regulations were ordered; but it has not yet been colonized to any extent. In 1769, ships were sent to build forts at St. Diego harbour, in 32° 39ʹ 30ʺ, on the west coast of California, and one at Monterey. This research occupied a whole year, and still nothing of consequence was achieved on the coast, and it was not till 1786, when that unfortunate but great navigator La Perouse, visited the west coast of America, that the whole of the coasts of California were made known.

The inhabitants of the Old and New Californias, are chiefly the native Indians, the Spanish settlers not forming any considerable body. There are twenty-five missions or subdivisions of these countries, the principal of which are Loretto, St. Domingo, St. Josef of Cape Lucas, and All Saints, El Rosario, St. Fernandez, St. Francisco de Borgia, St. Gertrude, St. Ignacio, La Guadalupe, Santa Rosalia, La Conception, St. Josef, and St. Francisco Xavier. Monterey is the capital and place where the governor lives.

The natives of Old California are computed at about 6000 who live in the villages of the missions; those who live a wandering life are not enumerated, but are supposed not to exceed 4000; of these the greater part are Roman Catholics, having been converted by the missionaries. The natives of New California are computed at 15,600; they are a small race of people, and of an indolent character. Their complexions are dark, and they wear their hair long; the custom of eradicating the beard is prevalent amongst them, though not universally adopted. They are very expert at catching their game, and their principal weapon is the bow. Loretto is the chief town on the east coast. Old California appears not to be so estimable a province as New California, the climate not being so good or the land so fruitful; it abounds, however, with fish and game. The habitations of the natives are as miserable as the wigwams of Northern America, and in some measure resemble them, being constructed of boughs; they however will not alter them, preferring a life of independence to a settled state; they are much attached to the priests, who rule them with the authority of fathers over their children. The women manufacture coarse stuffs, and prepare the food, which is generally the objects of the chase, and corn or maize with pease and beans. They have caciques or chiefs of their own, but their power is very limited; they wear skins made in the forms of cloaks, and the women and men dress nearly alike; the boys go naked, but the young women have girdles round their loins; they all paint their bodies, and scalp their enemies, as the Canadians do, and they sometimes burn their dead with many ceremonies; the priests who settle amongst them are Europeans, who are sent from Mexico.

The women are the best looking, but in general, are not handsome; they are mostly taller than the men, who have low foreheads, projecting cheekbones and hollow eyes, with a large mouth, thick lips, and strong teeth, with bushy, eyebrows; the women are particularly careful to eradicate the hair from their bodies, and pierce their ears for ear-rings; the age of puberty in the women is as early as eleven and twelve, in the boys about thirteen; they are rapid and violent in the expressions of the passions of anger and joy; like other savage nations, they are divided into tribes, which move together from one place to another as fancy or necessity dictate. Their chiefs are chosen from the tallest, the strongest and the most warlike amongst them, and are distinguished by their head-dress. Such as are not under the immediate influence of the missionaries, practise polygamy; but the men hold their women in servitude.

Sore throats, colds, pleurisies and disorders, attendant on a variable climate, are their complaints in the severe seasons; they make use of vegetable decoctions for the cure of these disorders; fevers prevail in summer. The women suffer very little in child-birth, and the attendant in those cases, plunges the new born infant into cold water, the mother bathing soon after, and is then covered up warm near a fire: she performs these ablutions and heatings successively for some time, and the infants are bandaged up in furs and pieces of bark, nearly in the same manner as in Canada. Their religion, previous to the priests coming amongst them, was very similar to that of most savage people, having a faint, idea of the Creator. A chain of mountains runs through the peninsula, the highest of which, called Cerro de la Giganta, is 4920 feet above the level of the sea.

The peninsula, or Old California, is, as we before observed, more barren than the northern province; it is mostly a rocky soil, and seems as if some concussion of nature had disjoined it from Sonora; the climate is hot in the summer, but it is moderated by the sea breezes. Few trees of any consequence are found except on the south; there are some small volcanoes in it, with a ridge of mountains; vines and the Indian fig grow wild; the coast of the gulf is low and marshy, and the pearl fishery is very valuable; the gulf produces all sorts of shell-fish, turtles, oysters, lobsters, &c. Peacocks, bustards, geese, ducks, cranes, vultures, and sea-fowls, are plenty on the coasts; horses, asses, sheep, and goats, have been introduced and thrive very well. In New California the climate is nearly the same as in New Mexico, the western side being superior to the other parts, on account of the neighbourhood of the Pacific; the soil of this province is very prolific. The harvests of maize, barley, wheat, pease, and beans, are comparable to those of Mexico and Chili, corn produces in a seventy-fold proportion, and the soil is favourable for nearly all sorts of fruit trees. The climate is compared by late travellers, to that of the south of France; the forests, that great feature of American scenery, are extensive, and contain cypresses, pine-apple-firs, evergreen oaks, and the western planes and rose trees; on which a singular kind of dew falling in the morning, and covering the leaves, candies, and has the appearance of manna, being as sweet as white sugar. Immense bodies, or plains of salt, are found in the interior, and there are some gold mines.

The animals of the two provinces resemble each other, chiefly consisting of wolves, bears, wild sheep, bisons, buffaloes, rabbits, foxes, wild goats, and an animal peculiar to the country, called taye, as large as a young ox, and resembles the ox in its body, having a head like a deer, with horns as a ram. The great article of Californian commerce consists in the furs of the northern and pearls of the southern province, the pearls equalling in size and beauty those of Ormuz or Ceylon. The languages of the natives are too numerous for description, each tribe having a peculiar one of its own.

The mission of St. Domingo is the most northerly of the New Californian settlements, and borders upon New Albion. This and the other northern missions of California were hastily settled, on account of the Russians having advanced their colonies considerably to the southward, on the north-west coast of America.

The other missions or settlements, which are twenty-five in number, are divided into four districts, the whole under the directions of the governor of Monterey, the captain-general of the province, and of the father president of the Franciscan order of missionaries. In each of these divisions, is a presidio or fort under the command of a lieutenant, with an ensign, serjeant, &c. The most northern fort is St. Francisco, which has under it, the missions of St. Francisco and Santa Clara; the town of St. Josef, and a settlement in the southern part of the bay, or Port Juan Francisco, or Bodega.

The next division is that of Monterey, the capital of the province, under which is the mission of Santa Cruz, at Point Aña Nueva, established in 1789, and some others; southerly, and easterly from this, are the missions of St. Carlos, St. Antonio, St. Louis, Santa Rosa, and La Purissima.

The ensuing division is that of Santa Barbara, established in 1786, which governs that of Buena Ventura, founded in 1784; south of which is the town of Los Angelos, founded in 1781; this last is under the government of the fort of St. Diego, which is the southernmost of the new settlements.

The climate of the country from Port St. Francisco, in the thirty-eighth degree of north latitude, to the thirtieth, is subject to great drought; the season of the rains is from December to March, after which the summer and autumn is dry; however the dews are heavy, and in some measure supply this want. The air is on the whole healthy, the soil sandy, very capable of improvement, and generally fertile, except in the upper and rocky country; in these, the soil is of course naturally very barren. The Spanish settlers have large flocks of sheep, and much poultry near Santa Barbara. Buena Ventura is abundant in fruit, viz. apples, oranges, peaches, pomegranates, pears, plums, figs, grapes, the plantain, cocoa-nut, banana, sugar-cane and indigo, with the kitchen-garden produce. The towns are in general no larger or better than villages; they contain from 500 to 1000 Spaniards and creoles; some late accounts say, that 20,000 natives have embraced the Catholic religion, but half that number may be judged as the fair proportion in both Californias. Their principal and best fur is the sea-otters, which abound on the northern coast. Many of the natives cultivate corn under the direction of the missionaries, but they refuse to become stationary. The trade in the above-mentioned skins has been monopolized by the Spanish government, and these settlements furnish a yearly supply of about 10,000.

The presidio or fort of St. Francisco was founded in 1776, and has a fine harbour, with a population of 820 souls; it is the most northern fort of the Spanish American dominions, and as such, is worthy or note. M. de Humboldt, gives the population of the villages of the missions of New California, but they are of course liable to constant changes. The missions of Old California are not so thickly inhabited, and several of them are deserted.

The presidio of Monterey, or San Carlos de Monterey, has a population of 700 souls, and was founded in June 1770. This town is in latitude 36° 36ʹ, and west longitude 121° 50ʹ 43ʺ, at the foot of the chain of Santa Lucia. Monterey is the capital of the Californias, and in it resides the governor. In this settlement the soil is productive, but generally not very good, and the climate fine, though troubled with fogs. Unfortunately, the rains in the rainy season are excessive, and they have dreadful hurricanes and water spouts on the coast. Peltry it the principal article that is sought after.

The European and American fruits have been propagated here by the missionaries, and yield very well; the mezcala is the chief plant, and like the maguay of the south, is the principal article of food of the natives, and at the same time supplies them with drink and raiment. Northward from this settlement there are immense forests of pines and firs. Their trade is with Manilla, in furs, chiefly of the sea-otter, which is of a fine glossy black. The manner of catching this animal is peculiar to the Indians; they pursue it in small canoes, capable of holding one man, in which they go to sea, with a long rope in them, with two hooks; when they see the otters and their young, the Indian advances towards them, the old ones immediately dive, and the Indian catches a young one by the foot; he then paddles off, and the young one, struggling with the pain, soon brings the dam its assistance, who in her turn becomes entangled with the hook, and is killed by blows from the hunter.

The natives massacred some of the settlers at the missionary district of Todos los Santos, at the station of St. Ann. This must have arisen from some oppression, as the Californians, in general, are very submissive and indolent. They are very dexterous at the chase and in fishing; their wigwams are generally two or three together, and the women wear a head dress of rushes, whilst that of their chiefs have feathers; the women have necklaces of little shells in the north, and pearls in the south. The furniture of their hovels consists of a quiver for arrows, two pieces of wood to light their fires, a pipe of clay, a net for seeds, tobacco, a bow and arrows, their lines and hooks for fishing, and a club to kill rabbits. They often pierce the nostril, and wear ornaments in it; seaming their flesh, and painting horribly to inspire their enemies with fear. The women carry all the household goods when they move, and the men the weapons. They have magicians, who act as priests and physicians, and these magi are the great obstacles in the way of converting the natives.

The bay of Monterey is formed by Point Año Nueva on the north, and Point Pinos on the south; it is twenty-four miles wide at its entrance, and six in length to the east; the east shore is low and sandy, and the sea runs into the beach with a tremendous noise, that may be heard three miles off.

The Spanish ships which stay at Monterey, anchor in six fathoms water, at two cables length from the shore, and moor to the beach; ships putting in, keep the south shore aboard, and after doubling the south point, or Fir Point (Point Pinos) which stretches to the north, they see the fort, and drop anchor in ten fathoms behind the point, where they are sheltered from the west winds—the south winds blow here very strong off shore. At full and change of the moon it is high water here at half-past one; the tide rises seven feet.

The whales, a species of finner, are numerous in the bay, and La Perouse says, that they came within half pistol-shot of the ship, and occasioned a disagreeable smell. The coasts of this bay are generally covered with fogs, which render it dangerous to approach, otherwise it is not at all hard to enter. Pelicans frequent the sea at a small distance from land, and are a good sign for seamen, never going more than six leagues from shore; pelicans are very common on the coast of California; where they are called Alcatras by the Spaniards. Late travellers who have visited Port Monterey, say, that a better harbour could not be found for ships coming from the west, and that the soil in its neighbourhood is good, though dry; all sorts of grain succeed very well, and the cattle are very fine. The Manilla ships find this a good harbour to recruit in, when driven to the north by contrary winds.