VII
IN THE NEIGHBORHOOD OF MONTEREY
Monterey. “Llegamos á este puerto de Monterey á 16 de Diciembre, 1602 á las siete de la noche” (We arrived at this port of Monterey on the sixteenth of December, 1602, at seven o’clock in the evening).—(From the diary of Sebastián Vizcaíno.)
When Vizcaíno sailed into the beautiful blue bay of Monterey, and looked about him at the ring of hills, dark with the dense growth of pines covering them from summit to base, he became at once enamored with the place, and wrote enthusiastically to his Spanish Majesty concerning it. In a letter of the date of May 23, 1603, he says: “Among the ports of most importance which I found was one in latitude 37, which I named Monterrey. As I wrote to your majesty from there on the twenty-eighth of September of the said year, it is all that can be desired for the convenience and sea-port of the ships of the Philippine line, whence they come to explore this coast. The port is sheltered from all winds, and has on the shore many pines to supply the ships with masts of any size that they may wish, and also live-oaks, oaks, rosemary, rock-roses, roses of Alexandria, good hunting of rabbits, hares, partridges and flying birds of different sorts. The land is of mild temperature, and of good waters, and very fertile, judging by the luxuriant growth of the trees and plants, for I saw some fruits from them, particularly of chestnuts and acorns, larger than those of Spain; and it is well-populated with people, whose disposition I saw to be soft, gentle, docile, and very fit to be reduced to the Holy Church. Their food is of many and various seeds that they have and also wild game, such as deer, some of which are larger than cows, also bears, and cattle and buffalo, and many others. The Indians are of good body, white of countenance, and the women somewhat smaller, and well-favored. Their dress is of the people of the beach, of the skins of seals, of which there are an abundance, which they tan and prepare better than in Spain.”
MONTEREY IN 1850.