The Famous Missions of California Part 1

The Famous Missions of California.

by William Henry Hudson.

I.

On the 1st of July, 1769--a day forever memorable in the annals of California--a small party of men, worn out by the fatigues and hards.h.i.+ps of their long and perilous journey from San Fernandez de Villicata, came in sight of the beautiful Bay of San Diego. They formed the last division of a tripart.i.te expedition which had for its object the political and spiritual conquest of the great Northwest coast of the Pacific; and among their number were Gaspar de Portola, the colonial governor and military commander of the enterprise; and Father Junipero Serra, with whose name and achievements the early history of California is indissolubly bound up.

This expedition was the outcome of a determination on the part of Spain to occupy and settle the upper of its California provinces, or Alta California, as it was then called, and thus effectively prevent the more than possible encroachments of the Russians and the English. Fully alive to the necessity of immediate and decisive action, Carlos III. had sent Jose de Galvez out to New Spain, giving him at once large powers as visitador general of the provinces, and special instructions to establish military posts at San Diego and Monterey. Galvez was a man of remarkable zeal, energy, and organizing ability, and after the manner of his age and church he regarded his undertaking as equally important from the religious and from the political side. The twofold purpose of his expedition was, as he himself stated it, "to establish the Catholic faith among a numerous heathen people, submerged in the obscure darkness of paganism, and to extend the dominion of the King, our Lord, and protect this peninsula from the ambitious views of foreign nations."

From the first it was his intention that the Cross and the flag of Spain should be carried side by side in the task of dominating and colonizing the new country. Having, therefore, gathered his forces together at Santa Ana, near La Paz, he sent thence to Loreto, inviting Junipero Serra, the recently appointed President of the California Missions, to visit him in his camp. Loreto was a hundred leagues distant; but this was no obstacle to the religious enthusiast, whose lifelong dream it had been to bear the faith far and wide among the barbarian peoples of the Spanish world. He hastened to La Paz, and in the course of a long interview with Galvez not only promised his hearty co-operation, but also gave great help in the arrangement of the preliminary details of the expedition.

In the opportunity thus offered him for the missionary labour in hitherto unbroken fields, Father Junipero saw a special manifestation both of the will and of the favour of G.o.d. He threw himself into the work with characteristic ardour and determination, and Galvez quickly realized that his own efforts were now to be ably seconded by a man who, by reason of his devotion, courage, and personal magnetism, might well seem to have been providentially designated for the task which had been put into his hands.

Miguel Joseph Serra, now known only by his adopted name of Junipero, which he took out of reverence for the chosen companion of St. Francis, was a native of the Island of Majorca, where he was born, of humble folk, in 1713. According to the testimony of his intimate friend and biographer, Father Francesco Palou, his desires, even during boyhood, were turned towards the religious life. Before he was seventeen he entered the Franciscan Order, a regular member of which he became a year or so later. His favorite reading during his novitiate, Palou tells us, was in the Lives of the Saints, over which he would pore day after day with pa.s.sionate and ever-growing enthusiasm; and from these devout studies sprang an intense ambition to "imitate the holy and venerable men" who had given themselves up to the grand work of carrying the Gospel among gentiles and savages. The missionary idea thus implanted became the dominant purpose of his life, and neither the astonis.h.i.+ng success of his sermons, nor the applause with which his lectures were received when he was made professor of theology, sufficed to dampen his apostolic zeal. Whatever work was given him to do, he did with all his heart, and with all his might, for such was the man's nature; but everywhere and always he looked forward to the mission field as his ultimate career. He was destined, however, to wait many years before his chance came. At length, in 1749, after making many vain pet.i.tions to be set apart for foreign service, he and Palou were offered places in a body of priests who, at the urgent request of the College of San Fernando, in Mexico, were then being sent out as recruits to various parts of the New World. The hour had come; and in a spirit of grat.i.tude and joy too deep for words, Junipero Serra set his face towards the far lands which were henceforth to be his home.

The voyage out was long and trying. In the first stage of it--from Majorca to Malaga--the dangers and difficulties of seafaring were varied, if not relieved by strange experiences, of which Palou has left us a quaint and graphic account. Their vessel was a small English coaster, in command of a stubborn cross-patch of a captain, who combined navigation with theology, and whose violent protestations and fondness for doctrinal dispute allowed his Catholic pa.s.sengers, during the fifteen days of their pa.s.sage, scarcely a minute's peace. His habit was to declaim chosen texts out of his "greasy old" English Bible, putting his own interpretation upon them; then, if when challenged by Father Junipero, who "was well trained in dogmatic theology," he could find no verse to fit his argument, he would roundly declare that the leaf he wanted happened to be torn. Such methods are hardly praiseworthy. But this was not the worst. Sometimes the heat of argument would prove too much for him, and then, I grieve to say, he would even threaten to pitch his antagonists overboard, and shape his course for London. However, despite this unlooked-for danger, Junipero and his companions finally reached Malaga, whence they proceeded first to Cadiz, and then, after some delay, to Vera Cruz. The voyage across from Cadiz alone occupied ninety-nine days, though of these, fifteen were spent at Porto Rico, where Father Junipero improved the time by establis.h.i.+ng a mission.

Hards.h.i.+ps were not lacking; for water and food ran short, and the vessel encountered terrific storms. But "remembering the end for which they had come," the father "felt no fear", and his own buoyancy did much to keep up the flagging spirits of those about him. Even when Vera Cruz was reached, the terrible journey was by no means over, for a hundred Spanish leagues lay between that port and the City of Mexico. Too impatient to wait for the animals and wagons which had been promised for transportation, but which, through some oversight or blunder, had not yet arrived in Vera Cruz, Junipero set out to cover the distance on foot. The strain brought on an ulcer in one of his legs, from which he suffered all the rest of his life; and it is highly probable that he would have died on the road but for the quite unexpected succor which came to him more than once in the critical hour. This, according to his wont, he did not fail to refer directly to the special favour of the Virgin and St. Joseph.

For nearly nineteen years after his arrival in Mexico, Junipero was engaged in active missionary work, mainly among the Indians of the Sierra Gorda, whom he successfully instructed in the first principles of the Catholic faith and in the simpler arts of peace. Then came his selection as general head, or president, of the Missions of California, the charge of which, on the expulsion of the Jesuits, in 1768, had pa.s.sed over to the Franciscans. These, thirteen in number, were all in Lower California, for no attempt had as yet been made to evangelize the upper province. This, however, the indefatigable apostle was now to undertake by co-operating with Jose de Galvez in his proposed northwest expedition [1]. Junipero was now fifty-five years of age, and could look back upon a career of effort and accomplishment which to any less active man might well seem to have earned repose for body and mind. Yet great as his services to church and civilization had been in the past, by far the most important part of his life-work still lay before him.

II.

As a result of the conference between Galvez and Father Junipero, it was decided that their joint expedition should be sent out in two portions--one by sea and one by land; the land portion being again sub-divided into two, in imitation, Palou informs us, of the policy of the patriarch Joseph, "so that if one came to misfortune, the other might still be saved." It was arranged that four missionaries should go into the s.h.i.+ps, and one with the advance-detachment of the land-force, the second part of which was to include the president himself. So far as the work of the missionaries was concerned their immediate purpose was to establish three settlements--one at San Diego, a second at Monterey, and a third on a site to be selected, about midway between the two, which was to be called San Buenaventura. The two divisions of the land-force were under the leaders.h.i.+p of Captain Fernando Rivera y Moncada and Governor Portola respectively. The s.h.i.+ps were to carry all the heavier portions of the camp equipage, provisions, household goods, vestments and sacred vessels; the land-parties were to take with them herds and flocks from Loreto. The understanding was that whichever party first reached San Diego was to wait there twenty days for the rest, and in the event of their failure to arrive within that time, to push on to Monterey.

The sea-detachment of the general expedition--the "Seraphic and Apostolic Squadron," as Palou calls it, was composed of three s.h.i.+ps--the San Carlos, the San Antonio, and the San Joseph. A list, fortunately preserved, gives all the persons on board the San Carlos, a vessel of about 200 tons only, and the flags.h.i.+p of Don Vicente Vila, the commander of the marine division. They were as follows:--the commander himself; a lieutenant in charge of a company of soldiers; a missionary; the captain, pilot and surgeon; twenty-five soldiers; the officers and crew of the s.h.i.+p, twenty-five in all; the baker, the cook and two a.s.sistants; and two blacksmiths: total, sixty-two souls. An inventory shows that the vessel was provisioned for eight months.

The San Carlos left La Paz on the 9th of January; the San Antonio on the 15th of February; the San Joseph on the 16th of June. All the vessels met with heavy storms, and the San Carlos, being driven sadly out of her route, did not reach San Diego till twenty days after the San Antonio, though dispatched some five weeks earlier. We shudder to read that of her crew but one sailor and the cook were left alive; the rest, along with many of the soldiers, having succ.u.mbed to the scurvy. The San Antonio also lost eight of her crew from the same dreadful disease.

These little details serve better than any general description to give us an idea of the horrible conditions of Spanish seamans.h.i.+p in the middle of the eighteenth century. As for the San Joseph, she never reached her destination at all, though where and how she met her fate remains one of the dark mysteries of the ocean. Two small points in connection with her loss are perhaps sufficiently curious to merit notice. In the first place, she was the only one of the s.h.i.+ps that had no missionary on board; and secondly, she was called after the very saint who had been named special patron of the entire undertaking.

The original plan, as we have seen, had been that Father Junipero should accompany the governor in the second division of the land-expedition; but this, when the day fixed for departure came, was found to be quite impossible owing to the ulcerous sore on his leg, which had been much aggravated by the exertions of his recent hurried journey from Loreto to La Paz and back. Greatly chafing under the delay, he was none the less obliged to postpone his start for several weeks. At length, on the 28th of March, in company with two soldiers and a servant, he mounted his mule and set out. The event showed that he had been guilty of undue haste, for he suffered terribly on the rough way, and on reaching San Xavier, whither he went to turn over the management of the Lower California missions to Palou, who was then settled there, his condition was such that his friend implored him to remain behind, and allow him (Palou) to go forward in his stead. But of this Junipero would not hear, for he regarded himself as specially chosen and called by G.o.d for the work to which he stood, body and soul, committed. "Let us speak no more of this," he said. "I have placed all my faith in G.o.d, through whose goodness I hope to reach not only San Diego, to plant and fix there the standard of the Holy Cross, but even as far as Monterey." And Palou, seeing that Junipero was not to be turned aside, wisely began to talk of other things.

After three days devoted to business connected with the missions of the lower province, the indomitable father determined to continue his journey, notwithstanding the fact that, still totally unable to move his leg, he had to be lifted by two men into the saddle. We may imagine that poor Palou found it hard enough to answer his friend's cheery farewells, and watched him with sickness of heart as he rode slowly away. It seemed little likely indeed that they would ever meet again on this side of the grave. But Junipero's courage never gave out. Partly for rest and partly for conference with those in charge, he lingered awhile at the missions along the way; but, nevertheless, presently came up with Portola and his detachment, with whom he proceeded to Villacata. Here during a temporary halt, he founded a mission which was dedicated to San Fernando, King of Castile and Leon. But the worst experiences of the journey were still in store. For when the party was ready to move forward again towards San Diego, which, as time was fast running on, the commander was anxious to reach with the least possible delay, it was found that Junipero's leg was in such an inflamed condition that he could neither stand, nor sit, nor sleep. For a few leagues he persevered, without complaint to any one, and then collapsed. Portola urged him to return at once to San Fernando for the complete repose in which alone there seemed any chance of recovery, but after his manner Junipero refused; nor, out of kindly feeling for the tired native servants, would he ever hear of the litter which the commander thereupon proposed to have constructed for his transportation. The situation was apparently beyond relief, when, after prayer to G.o.d, the padre called to him one of the muleteers. "Son," he said--the conversation is reported in full by Palou, from whose memoir of his friend it is here translated--"do you not know how to make a remedy for the ulcer on my foot and leg?" And the muleteer replied: "Father, how should I know of any remedy? Am I a surgeon? I am a muledriver, and can only cure harness-wounds on animals." "Then, son."

rejoined Junipero, "consider that I am an animal, and that this ulcer is a harness-wound... and prepare for me the same medicament as you would make for a beast." Those who heard this request smiled. And the muleteer obeyed; and mixing certain herbs with hot tallow, applied the compound to the ulcerated leg, with the astonis.h.i.+ng result that the sufferer slept that night in absolute comfort, and was perfectly able the next morning to undertake afresh the fatigues of the road.

Of the further incidents of the tedious journey it is needless to write.

It is enough to say that for forty-six days--from the 15th of May to the 1st of July--the little party plodded on, following the track of the advance-division of the land-expedition under Rivera y Moncada. With what joy and grat.i.tude they at last looked down upon the harbour of San Diego, and realized that the first object of their efforts had now indeed been achieved, may be readily imagined. Out in the bay lay the San Carlos and the San Antonio, and on the sh.o.r.e were the tents of the men who had preceded them, and of whose safety they were now a.s.sured; and when, with volley after volley, they announced their arrival, s.h.i.+ps and camp replied in glad salute. And this responsive firing was continued, says Palou, in his lively description of the scene, "until, all having alighted, they were ready to testify their mutual love by close embraces and affectionate rejoicing to see the expeditions thus joined, and at their desired destination." Yet one cannot but surmise that the delights of reunion were presently chilled when those who had thus been spared to come together fell into talk over the companions who had perished by the way. History has little to tell us of such details; but the sympathetic reader will hardly fail to provide them for himself.

The condition of things which the governor and the president found confronting them on their arrival was indeed the reverse of satisfactory. Of the one hundred and thirty or so men comprising the combined companies, many were seriously ill; some it was necessary to dispatch at once with the San Antonio back to San Blas for additional supplies and reinforcements; a further number had to be detailed for the expedition to Monterey, which, in accordance with the explicit instructions of the visitador general it was decided to send out immediately. All this left the San Diego camp extremely short-handed, but there was no help for it. To reach Monterey at all costs was Portola's next duty; and on the 14th of July, with a small party which included Fathers Crespi and Gomez, he commenced his northwest march.

III.

In the meanwhile, says Palou, "that fervent zeal which continually glowed and burned in the heart of our venerable Father Junipero, did not permit him to forget the princ.i.p.al object of his journey." As soon as Portola had left the encampment, he began to busy himself with the problem of the mission which, it had been determined, should be founded on that spot. Ground was carefully chosen with an eye to the requirements, not only of the mission itself, but also of the pueblo, or village, which in course of time would almost certainly grow up about it [2]; and on the 16th of July--the day upon which, as the anniversary of a great victory over the Moors in 1212, the Spanish church solemnly celebrated the Triumph of the Holy Cross--the first mission of Upper California was dedicated to San Diego de Alcala, after whom the bay had been named by Sebastian Viscaino, the explorer, many years before. The ceremonies were a repet.i.tion of those which had been employed in the founding of the Mission of San Fernando at Villicata; the site was blessed and sprinkled with holy water; a great cross reared, facing the harbour; the ma.s.s celebrated; the Venite Creator Spiritus sung. And, as before, where the proper accessories failed, Father Junipero and his colleagues fell back undeterred upon the means which Heaven had actually put at their disposal. The constant firing of the troops supplied the lack of musical instruments, and the smoke of the powder was accepted as a subst.i.tute for incense. Father Palou's brief and unadorned description will not prove altogether wanting in impressiveness for those who in imagination can conjure up a picture of the curious, yet dramatic scene.

The preliminary work of foundation thus accomplished, Father Junipero gathered about him the few healthy men who could be spared from the tending of their sick comrades and routine duties, and with their help erected a few rude huts, one of which was immediately consecrated as a temporary chapel. So far as his own people were concerned, the padre's labours were for the most part of a grievous character, for, during the first few months, the records tell us, disease made such fearful ravages among the soldiers, sailors and servants, that ere long the number of persons at this settlement had been reduced to twenty. But the tragedy of these poor nameless fellows--(it was Junipero's pious hope that they might all be named in Heaven)--after all hardly forms part of our proper story. The father's real work was to lie among the native Indians, and it is with his failures and successes in this direction that the main interest of our California mission annals is connected.

They were not an attractive people, these "gentiles" of a country which to the newcomers must itself have seemed an outer garden of Paradise; and Junipero's first attempts to gain their good will met with very slight encouragement. During the ceremonies attendant upon the foundation and dedication of the mission, they had stood round in silent wonder, and now they showed themselves responsive to the strangers'

advances to the extent of receiving whatever presents were offered, provided the gift was not in the form of anything to eat. The Spaniards'

food they would not even touch, apparently regarding it as the cause of the dire sickness of the troops. And this, in the long run, remarks Palou, was without doubt "singularly providential," owing to the rapid depletion of the stores. Ignorance of the Indians' language, of course, added seriously to the father's difficulties in approaching them, and presently their thefts of cloth, for the possession of which they developed a perfect pa.s.sion, and other depredations, rendered them exceedingly troublesome. Acts of violence became more and more common, and by-and-bye, a determined and organized attack upon the mission, in which the a.s.sailants many times outnumbered their opponents, led to a pitched battle, and the death of one of the Spanish servants. This was the crisis; for, happily, like a thunderstorm, the disturbance, which seemed so threatening of future ill, cleared the air, at any rate for a time; and the kindness with which the Spaniards treated their wounded foes evidently touched the savage heart. Little by little a few Indians here and there began to frequent the mission; and with the hearty welcome accorded them their numbers soon increased. Among them there happened to be a boy, of some fifteen years of age, who showed himself more tractable than his fellows, and whom Father Junipero determined to use as an instrument for his purpose. When the lad had picked up a smattering of Spanish, the padre sent him to his people with the promise that if he were allowed to bring back one of the children, the youngster should not only by baptism be made a Christian, but should also (and here the good father descended to a bribe) be tricked out like the Spaniards themselves, in handsome clothes. A few days later, a "gentile," followed by a large crowd, appeared with a child in his arms, and the padre, filled with unutterable joy, at once threw a piece of cloth over it, and called upon one of the soldiers to stand G.o.dfather to this first infant of Christ. But, alas! just as he was preparing to sprinkle the holy water, the natives s.n.a.t.c.hed the child from him, and made off with it (and the cloth) to their own rancheria. The soldiers who stood round as witnesses were furious at this insult, and, left to themselves, would have inflicted summary punishment upon the offenders.

But the good father pacified them, attributing his failure--of which he was wont to speak tearfully to the end of his life--to his own sins and unworthiness. However, this first experience in convert-making was fortunately not prophetic, for though it is true that many months elapsed before a single neophyte was gained for the mission, and though more serious troubles were still to come, in the course of the next few years a number of the aborigines, both children and adults, were baptized.

IV.

While Junipero and his companions were thus engaged in planting the faith among the Indians of San Diego, Portola's expedition was meeting with unexpected trials and disappointments. The harbour of Monterey had been discovered and described by Viscaino at the beginning of the seventeenth century, and it seemed no very difficult matter to reach it by way of the coast. But either the charts misled them, or their own calculations erred, or the appearance of the landscape was strangely deceptive--at any rate, for whatever reason or combination of reasons, the exploring party pa.s.sed the harbour without recognizing it, though actually lingering awhile on the sand hills overlooking the bay. Half persuaded in their bewilderment that some great catastrophe must, since Viscaino's observations, have obliterated the port altogether, they pressed northward another forty leagues, and little dreaming of the importance attaching to their wanderings, crossed the Coast range, and looked down thence over the Santa Clara valley and the "immense arm"

of San Francis...o...b..y. By this time the rainy season had set in, and convinced as they now were that they must, through some oversight or ill-chance, have missed the object of their quest, they determined to retrace their steps, and inst.i.tute another and more thorough search.

On again reaching the neighborhood of Monterey, they spent a whole fortnight in systematic exploration, but still, strangely enough, without discovering "any indication or landmark" of the harbour.

Baffled and disheartened, therefore, the leaders resolved to abandon the enterprise. They then erected two large wooden crosses as memorials of their visit, and cutting on one of these the words--"Dig at the foot of this and you will find a writing"--buried there a brief narrative of their experiences. This is reproduced in the diary of Father Crespe [3]; and its closing words have a touch of simple pathos: "At last, undeceived, and despairing of finding it [the harbour] after so many efforts, sufferings and labours, and having left of all our provisions but fourteen small sacks of flour, our expedition leaves this place to-day for San Diego; I beg of Almighty G.o.d to guide it, and for thee, voyager, that His divine providence may lead thee to the harbour of salvation. Done in this Bay of Pinos, the 9th of December, 1769." On the cross on the other side of Point Pinos was cut with a razor this legend:--"The land expedition returned to San Diego for want of provisions, this 9th day of December, 1769."

The little party--or more correctly speaking--what was left of it, did not reach San Diego till the 25th of the following month, having in their march down suffered terribly from hunger, exposure, wet, fatigue and sickness. Depressed themselves, they found nothing to encourage them in the mission and camp, where death had played havoc among those they had left behind them six months before, and where the provisions were so fast running low that only the timely reappearance of the San Antonio, long overdue, would save the survivors from actual starvation. Perhaps it is hardly surprising that, under these circ.u.mstances, Portola's courage should have failed him, and that he should have decided upon a return to Mexico. He caused an inventory of all available provisions to be taken, and calculating that, with strict economy, and setting aside what would be required for the journey back to San Fernando, they might last till somewhat beyond the middle of March, he gave out that unless the San Antonio should arrive by the 20th of that month, he should on that day abandon San Diego, and start south. But if the governor imagined for a moment that he could persuade the padre presidente to fall in with this arrangement, he did not know his man. Junipero firmly believed, despite the failure of Portola's expedition, that the harbour of Monterey still existed, and might be found; he even interested Vicente Vila in a plan of his own for reaching it by sea; and he furthermore made up his mind that, come what might, nothing should ever induce him to turn his back upon his work. Then a wonderful thing happened. On the 19th of March--the very day before that fixed by the governor for his departure, and when everything was in readiness for to-morrow's march--the sail of a s.h.i.+p appeared far out at sea; and though the vessel presently disappeared towards the northwest, it returned four days later and proved to be none other than the San Antonio, bearing the much needed succour. She had pa.s.sed up towards Monterey in the expectation of finding the larger body of settlers there, and had only put back to San Diego when unexpectedly, (and as it seemed, providentially), she had run short of water. It was inevitable that Father Junipero should see in this series of happenings the very hand of G.o.d--the more so as the day of relief chanced to be the festival of St. Joseph, who, as we have noted, was the patron of the mission enterprise.

The arrival of the San Antonio put an entirely new complexion upon affairs; and, relieved of immediate anxiety, Portola now resolved upon a second expedition in quest of Monterey. Two divisions, one for sea, the other for land, were accordingly made ready; the former, which included Junipero, started in the San Antonio, on the 16th of April; the latter, under the leaders.h.i.+p of Portola, a day later. Strong adverse winds interfered with the vessel, which did not make Monterey for a month and a half. The land-party, following the coast, reached the more southern of the great wooden crosses on the 24th of May, and after some difficulty succeeded at last in identifying the harbour. Seven days later, steering by the fires lighted for her guidance along the sh.o.r.e, the San Antonio came safely into port; and formal possession of the bay and surrounding country was presently taken in the name of church and King. This was on the 3rd of June, the Feast of Pentecost; and on that day of peculiar significance in the apostolic history of the church, the second of the Upper California missions came into being. Palou has left us a full account of the ceremonies. Governor, soldiers and priests gathered together on the beach, on the spot where, in 1603, the Carmelite fathers who had accompanied Viscaino, had celebrated the ma.s.s.

An altar was improvised and bells rung; and then, in alb and stole, the father-president invoked the aid of the Holy Ghost, solemnly chanted the Venite Creator Spiritus; blessed and raised a great cross; "to put to flight all the infernal enemies;" and sprinkled with holy water the beach and adjoining fields. Ma.s.s was then sung; Father Junipero preached a sermon; again the roar of cannon and muskets took the place of instrumental music; and the function was concluded with the Te Deum.

Though now commonly called Carmelo, or Carmel, from the river across which it looks, and which has thus lent it a memory of the first Christian explorers on the spot, this mission is properly known by the name of San Carlos Borromeo, Cardinal-Archbishop of Milan. A few huts enclosed by a palisade, and forming the germ at once of the religious and of the military settlement, were hastily erected. But the actual building of the mission was not begun until the summer of 1771

V.

News of the establishment of the missions and military posts at San Diego and Monterey was in due course carried to the City of Mexico, where it so delighted the Marques de Croix, Viceroy of New Spain, and Jose de Galvez, that they not only set the church bells ringing, but forthwith began to make arrangements for the founding of more missions in the upper province. Additional priests were provided by the College of San Fernando; funds liberally subscribed; and the San Antonio made ready to sail from San Blas with the friars and supplies. On the 21st of May, 1771, the good s.h.i.+p dropped anchor at Monterey, where, in the meantime, Junipero, though busy enough among the natives of the neighborhood, was suffering grievous disappointment because, from lack of priests and soldiers, he was unable to proceed at once with the proposed establishment of San Buenaventura. The safe arrival of ten a.s.sistants now brought him a.s.surance of a rapid extension of work in "the vineyard of the Lord." He was not the man to let time slip by him unimproved. Plans were immediately laid for carrying the cross still further into the wilderness, and six new missions--those of San Buenaventura, San Gabriel, San Louis Obispo, San Antonio, Santa Clara and San Francisco--were presently agreed upon. It was discovered later on, however, that these plans outran the resources at the president's disposal, and much to his regret, the design for settlements at Santa Clara and San Francisco had to be temporarily given up.

There was, none the less, plenty to engage the energies of even so tireless a worker as Junipero, for three of the new missions were successfully established between July, 1771, and the autumn of the following year. The first of these was the Mission of San Antonio de Padua, in a beautiful spot among the Santa Lucia mountains, some twenty-five leagues southeast of Monterey; the second, that of San Gabriel Arcangel, near what is now known as the San Gabriel river; and the third, the Mission of San Luis Obispo de Tolosa, for which a location was chosen near the coast, about twenty-five leagues southeast of San Antonio. In his account of the founding of the first named of these, Palou throws in a characteristic touch. After the bells had been hung on trees and loudly tolled, he says, the excited padre-presidente began to shout like one transported:--"Ho, gentiles! Come to the Holy Church; Come! Come! and receive the faith of Jesus Christ!" His comrade, Father Pieras, standing by astonished, interrupted his fervent eloquence with the eminently practical remark that as there were no gentiles within hearing, it was idle to ring the bells. But the enthusiast's ardour was not to be damped by such considerations, and he continued to ring and shout. I, for one, am grateful for such a detail as this.

An even more significant story, though of a quite different sort, is recorded of the dedication of San Gabriel. It was, of course, inevitable that here and there in connection with such a record as this of Serra and his work, there should spring up legends of miraculous doings and occurrences; though on the whole, it is, perhaps, remarkable that the mythopoeic tendency was not more powerful. The incident now referred to may be taken as an ill.u.s.tration. While the missionary party were engaged in exploring for a suitable site, a large force of natives, under two chiefs, suddenly broke in upon them. Serious conflict seemed imminent; when one of the fathers drew forth a piece of canvas bearing the picture of the Virgin. Instantly the savages threw their weapons to the ground, and, following their leaders, crowded with offerings about the marvellous image. Thus the danger was averted. Further troubles attended the settlement at San Gabriel; but in after years it became one of the most successful of all the missions, and gained particular fame from the industries maintained by its converts, and their skill in carving wood, horn and leather.

VI.

Though, as we thus see, Father Junipero had ample reason to be encouraged over the progress of his enterprise, he still had various difficulties to contend with. The question of supplies often a.s.sumed formidable proportions, and the labors of the missionaries were not always as fruitful as had been hoped. Fortunately, however, the Indians were, as a rule, friendly, notwithstanding the fact that the behaviour of the Spanish soldiers, especially towards their women, occasionally aroused their distrust and resentment. At one establishment only did serious disturbances actually threaten for a time the continuance of the mission and its work. Junipero had lately returned from Mexico, with undiminished zeal and all sorts of fresh designs revolving in his brain, when a courier reached him at San Carlos bringing news of a terrible disaster at San Diego. Important affairs detained him for a time at Monterey, but when at length he was able to get to the scene of the trouble, it was to find that first reports had not been exaggerated. On the night of the 4th of November, 1775, eight hundred Indians had made a ferocious a.s.sault upon the mission, fired the buildings, and brutally done to death Father Jayme, one of the two priests in charge. "G.o.d be thanked," Junipero had exclaimed, when the letter containing the dreadful news had been read to him, "now the soil is watered, and the conquest of the Dieguinos will soon be complete!" In the faith that the blood of the martyrs is veritably the seed of the church, he, on reaching San Diego, with his customary energy, set about the task of re-establis.h.i.+ng the mission; and the buildings which presently arose from the ruins were a great improvement upon those which had been destroyed.

Before these alarming events at the mother-mission broke in upon his regular work, the president had resolved upon yet another settlement (not included in the still uncompleted plan), for which he had selected a point on the coast some twenty-six leagues north of San Diego, and which was to be dedicated to San Juan Capistrano. A beginning had indeed been made there, not by Junipero in person, but by fathers delegated by him for the purpose; but when news of the murder of Father Jayme reached them, they had hastily buried bells, chasubles and supplies, and hurried south. As soon as ever he felt it wise to leave San Diego Junipero himself now repaired to the abandoned site; and there, on the 1st of November, 1776, the bells were dug up and hung, ma.s.s said, and the mission established. It is curious to remember that while the padre-presidente was thus immersed in apostolic labors on the far Pacific coast, on the other side of the North American continent events of a very different character were shaking the whole civilized world.

Though the establishment of San Juan Capistrano is naturally mentioned in this place, partly because of the abortive start made there a year before, and partly because its actual foundation const.i.tuted the next noteworthy incident in Junipero's career, this mission is, in strict chronological order, not the sixth, but the seventh on our list. For some three weeks before its dedication, and without the knowledge of the president himself, though in full accordance with his designs, the cross had been planted at a point many leagues northward beyond San Carlos, and destined presently to be the most important on the coast. It will be remembered that when Portola's party made their first futile search for the harbour of Monterey, they had by accident found their way as far as the Bay of San Francisco. The significance of their discovery was not appreciated at the time, either by themselves or by those at headquarters to whom it was reported; but later explorations so clearly established the value of the spot for settlement and fortification, that it was determined to build a presidio there. Some years previous to this, as we have seen, a mission on the northern bay had been part of Junipero's ambitious scheme; and though at the time he was forced by circ.u.mstances to hold his hand, the idea was constantly uppermost in his thoughts. At length, when, in the summer of 1776, an expedition was despatched from Monterey for the founding of the proposed presidio, two missionaries were included in the party--one of these being none other than that Father Palou, whose records have been our chief guides in the course of this story. The buildings of the presidio--store house, commandant's dwelling, and huts for the soldiers and their families--were completed by the middle of September; and on the 17th of that month--the day of St. Francis, patron of the station and harbour--imposing ceremonies of foundation were performed. A wooden church was then built; and on the 9th of October, in the presence of many witnesses, Father Palou said ma.s.s, the image of St. Francis was borne about in procession, and the mission solemnly dedicated to his name [4].