Some guns from the Presidio, fired with the powder that remained after returning our salute, one morning announced the arrival of Don Ignatio Martinez, the commandant, who, after the breaking up of the congress at Monterey, had returned to his post. With him came also the commandant of the Presidio St. Diego, Don José Maria Estudillo, whom I had before known. They visited me, accompanied by Sanchez, dined with me on board, and were so well entertained, that they did not take leave of us till late at night.
Indispensable business now summoned me to the establishment of the Russian-American Company called Ross, which lies about eighty miles north of St. Francisco. I had for some time been desirous of performing the journey by land, but the difficulties had appeared insurmountable. Without the assistance of the commandant, it certainly could not have been accomplished; I was therefore glad to avail myself of his friendly disposition towards me to make the attempt. We required a number of horses and a military escort; the latter to serve us at once as guides, and as a protection against the savages. Both these requests were immediately granted; and Don Estudillo himself offered to command our escort.
My companions on this journey were Dr. Eschscholz, Mr. Hoffman, two of my officers, two sailors, Don Estudillo, and four dragoons, making altogether a party of twelve. On the evening previous to the day for our departure, Estudillo came to the ship with his four dragoons, the latter well armed, and accoutred in a panoply of leather. He himself, in the old Spanish costume, with a heavy sword, still heavier spurs, a dagger and pistols in his belt, and a staff in his hand, was a good personification of an adventurer of the olden time. He assured us that we could not be too cautious, since we should pass through a part of the country inhabited by "los Indianos bravos:" we therefore also made a plentiful provision of arms, and were ready, as soon as the first beams of morning glimmered on the tops of the mountains, to set forward in our barcasse for the mission of St. Gabriel, lying on the northern shore of the bay, whence our land journey was to commence.
The weather was beautiful, the wind perfectly still, and the air enchantingly mild. An Indian named Marco, whom Estudillo had brought with him, served us as pilot; for the Spaniards here, incapable, either through indolence or ignorance, of discharging that office, always employ an experienced Indian at the helm.
Don Estudillo, although advanced in life, was a very cheerful companion, and one of the most enlightened Spaniards I have met with in California. He piqued himself a little on his literary acquirements, and mentioned having read three books besides Don Quixote and Gil Blas, whilst, as he assured me in confidence, the rest of his countrymen here had hardly ever seen any other book than the Bible. Marco had grown grey in the mission: on account of his usefulness, he had been in many respects better treated than most of the Indians: he spoke Spanish with tolerable fluency; and when Estudillo endeavoured to exercise his wit upon him, often embarrassed him not a little by his repartees. This Marco affords a proof that, under favourable circumstances, the minds even of the Indians of California are susceptible of improvement; but these examples are rare in the missions.
Don Estudillo spoke with much freedom of the affairs of California, where he had resided thirty years: like most of his comrades, he was no friend to the clergy. He accused them of consulting only their own interest, and of employing their proselytes as a means of laying up wealth for themselves, with which, when acquired, they return to Spain. He described to us their method of conversion. The monks, he said, send dragoons into the mountains to catch the free heathens, that they may convert them into Christian slaves. For this species of chase, the huntsman is provided with a strong leathern noose fastened to his saddle, long enough to throw to a great distance, and acquires such dexterity in the practice as seldom to miss his aim. As soon as he perceives a troop of Indians, he throws his noose over one of them before he has time to defend himself, then setting spurs to his horse, rides back to the mission with his prisoner, and is fortunate if he bring him there alive. I can myself bear witness to the skill and boldness of the dragoons, in the management of their horses, and in the use of the noose, with which two or three of them in conjunction will catch even bears and wild bulls; a single man is sufficient to capture an Indian.
Estudillo declared that no Indian ever presents himself voluntarily at the missions, but that they are all either hunted in the manner above described, or tricked out of their liberty by some artifice of the monks. For this purpose, some few in every mission are extremely well treated, as for instance our pilot Marco. These are from time to time sent into distant parts of the country to exert their eloquence on their countrymen, and entice them to the missions. Once there, they are immediately baptized, and they then become for ever the property of the monks.
To my observation, that affairs would now probably assume a different aspect, as the arbitrary dominion of the clergy, and the dependence of the military upon them were equally terminated, Estudillo replied, that California might certainly become a powerful state,—that she was abundantly provided by nature with all that was requisite to her political aggrandizement, but that she needed a man of ability in her councils. "Don Louis Arguello," said he, "is not the man to re-invigorate our radically disordered finances, to introduce a wholesome subordination, without which no government can flourish, and to establish a constitution upon which our future tranquillity and improvement may be founded. Our soldiers are all of one mind; whoever pays them the arrears due from the Spanish government is their master; he purchases them, and to him they belong. Induced by a knowledge of this disposition, Mexico has entered into negotiations with us; and the question whether California shall exist as an independent state, or place herself under the protection of another power, has been particularly discussed at the late congress at Monterey, and is still undecided."
I confess I could not help speculating upon the benefit this country would derive from becoming a province of our powerful empire, and how useful it would prove to Russia. An inexhaustible granary for Kamtschatka, Ochotsk, and all the settlements of the American Company; these regions, so often afflicted with a scarcity of corn, would derive new life from a close connection with California.
The sun rose in full magnificence from behind the mountain, at the moment when, emerging from between the islands which divide the northern from the southern half of the bay, an extensive mirror of water opened upon our view. The mission of St. Gabriel, the first stage of our journey, formed a distinguished object in the background of the prospect, sloping up the sides of the hills, the intervening flat land lying so low that it was not yet within our horizon. We had also a distant view towards the north-west of another newly founded mission, that of St. Francisco Salona, the only one situated on the northern shore of the bay except St. Gabriel.