II. EXPEDITIONS, 1804-1805
In 1804, and probably in 1805, there were various penetrations of the valley. Chief of these was the visit of Father Fray Juan Martin to the village of Bubal. Since this trip was entirely unauthorized, it was not described until 1815. This silence for ten years is significant, since it opens up the possibility that many other such informal expeditions occurred—without having been written up afterward.
FATHER MARTIN’S VISIT TO CHOLAM, 1804
Father Martin’s trip to Cholam did not actually reach the valley, but attained its borders. It is worth recording as showing the type of activity characteristic of the period.
José de la Guerra, Commandant, to Governor Arrillaga
Monterey, January 29, 1804
(Prov. St. Pap., Benicia, Military, XXXIV: 266-267)
Communicates that Father Juan Martin, minister of San Miguel, protected by one soldier, went to a village called Cholam and asked the chief of all the villages thereabouts, named Guchapa, to give him some children to baptize. This was refused by the chief, who told the Father and the soldier to get out immediately or it would go badly with them, for he “was not afraid of the soldiers, who were cowards, and he knew with certainty that they would die like everyone else.”
Commandant Guerra sent a sergeant, a corporal, and thirteen soldiers to take the chief, Guchapa, prisoner. The expedition set out December 22. It returned January 10 bringing as captives Chief Guchapa, his son, two other chieftains, and two Christians. (The commandant says he includes the report of the sergeant, but it is not to be found. He talks of “the heroic struggle of Guchapa and the good passage provided them by the Indian Cojapa.”)
The commandant continues saying that Guchapa made the proposition that he would bring out all the Christian Indians there were in his villages. This was accepted and he left his son as hostage. “I dismissed him with some presents which I gave him as a reward for his good behavior with the troops and waited a little while for his return. This was in order to grant them forgiveness together with the warning that in the future they should hold in respect the troops and the Fathers. This was the least which it seems to me should be done and said.”[1]
FATHER MARTIN’S VISIT TO BUBAL, 1805
Fray Juan Martin to P. P. Fray José Señan
San Miguel, April 26, 1815
(Santa Barbara Arch., VI: 85-89)
My venerated Father President Fray José Señan: good health!
Under date of 4 April, this year, the Reverend Father Prefect requested us to inform Your Reverence concerning the state of the heathen Indians near this mission, particularly as pertains to their inclination to receive Holy Baptism.
In complying with my orders I will state with candor that the desire of the neighboring heathens is great, for twelve years have already passed during which they have manifested good will, now to the soldiers on the various occasions when the troops have gone out, now to the Fathers who have likewise gone, and now also to the neophytes on the very numerous occasions when they have gone visiting to the Tulares. Their favorable disposition will continue if the fugitives from the north do not set them against us. Thus the most recent mission Indians to return from leave, who came from one of the Valley villages called Tache, informed us that Indians had arrived on horseback from the north saying that the Fathers were simply going to kill the Indians. Satan will do his utmost to gain possession of more than 4,000 souls[2] who will be started on the road to salvation if a mission is established in the nearby Tulare Valley. This I said in substance many times to Governor Don José Joaquin de Arrillaga, may he rest in peace.
Although I saw him to be inclined to establish missions on the rivers, and in spite of the high regard in which I held this gentleman, nevertheless on one occasion when he asked me what I thought about new foundations in the Tulare Valley, I spoke thus: “Sir, why do you wish to place missions where they are not wanted? And why do you neglect the villages of Bubal, Tache, Chuntache, Notonto, and Telame, which do want them? So that they may kill soldiers and priests and thus deprive us of the spiritual conquest? Aside from the primary reason that they are sons of God, if those who wish and beg for missions do not receive them, they will take up arms against all the soldiers who enter their territory.” Witnesses to this truth are Father Pedro Muñoz, Señor Moraga and in part I myself. In order that Your Reverence may fully understand this I shall set forth what I saw in the year 1804 in the village of Bubal where I went with no more protection than two soldiers.
Repeatedly I was informed by the neophytes who had been inhabitants of the villages of the Tulare Valley that the people of the region wanted to see me, that they were well disposed, and that they would give me their children to baptize. Finally they said that I might go without fear and I confess that I went with no permission from anyone.
So I left in the month of November in the year mentioned and at the end of the third day I arrived at the first suburb of the village Bubal, to which I gave the name La Salve. On first seeing us the heathen concealed their women in some little huts but as soon as they saw that we were coming in peace they brought the women out in order to make a fire and cook food for the Father.[3] This they did, using sticks which had been brought for more than eight leagues for the purpose of farming the [Zª ..., meaning unintelligible] when they gathered with their neighbors for some ceremony. They did not burn these sticks although they knew it was certain to be very cold, because for many leagues around one cannot find even small brush.
In the evening the people from the main village came to invite me to the place where they lived, saying that where I was there were no people, nor children to give me, and therefore I should come without fail. I promised I would go the following day, and I did so. As soon as I arrived they presented me with their little sons so that I might carry them away to be baptized. There were so many that the soldiers who accompanied me objected strongly, pointing out that there were no fewer than two hundred children, and that we must leave them. Seeing such a harvest, Your Reverence may well imagine how happy I was at the prospect of gaining so many infant souls for paradise. But Satan, always the fiend, brought it about that for the moment we did not gain a single one.
It happened that the chief was not at this place (which I called La Dolorosa). It was necessary for me to send for him for I did not venture to take them [the children] away without his sanction. There arrived a heathen, whom I took to be the chief. As the reason for my coming was made clear to him, which was to make them Sons of God, my request affected him very badly. He began to rail against the soldiers and their weapons in such a crazy fashion that the poor people who had given me their children, probably scared, fled in a body and I was left with no one. This man was one of those who with a bow in his hand fears nobody. His name is Chapé. The following day I condemned as vigorously as I could his wicked way of acting and was even tempted to order him punished. However, thank God, I satisfied myself with what I had done, in consideration of the fact that one of the soldiers was the commander of the garrison [at the mission] and that both priest and soldiers might expect a just reprimand if any injury resulted. I relaxed my determination not to return home without visiting the villages mentioned above and without taking with me as many small children as they would give me. Finally I went home quite disappointed at having lost, because of one villain, such a harvest for Heaven.
I may mention that the latter individual was taken to Monterey where I believe it is generally known that he was one of the first to receive the salutary waters of baptism. What I regret is that so many heathen are dying not only in continuous internal warfare but also from numerous diseases, especially syphilis. Therefore if a mission is not placed among them soon, when one is established there will remain no one to convert.
May God help them and keep Your Reverence safe for many years, together with your companion, Fray Marcos, as you desire.
Fray Juan Martin
EXPEDITION OF SECOND LIEUTENANT LUÍS ARGÜELLO, 1805
José Argüello, Commandant, to Governor Arrillaga
San Francisco, June 25, 1805
(Prov. St. Pap., Benicia, Military, XXXIII: 251-252)
This letter is accompanied by the report of the expedition, a report made by Second Lieutenant Luís Argüello. The latter on his mission, which occupied him thirty-two days, traversed “all the ranges of San José and Santa Clara as far as opposite the sheep ranch, scouting all the rivers, plains and tule swamps without having found any sign of wild Indians....”[4]
Second Lieutenant Argüello set out on the expedition with twenty-two men and returned on the 15th of July bringing with him twenty-two Indian renegades (thirteen Christians and 9 heathen).
On the trip he visited the village of the celebrated Joscoui[5] and captured everyone except this chieftain.[6]
Among the heathen captives there were six who were in part guilty of the murder of George the Christian.
Having been solicited, all the prisoners were baptized and distributed to the ministers of San José and Santa Clara. It was recommended that these Fathers moderate the punishment given to the six [mentioned above].