On this day they crossed the Rio del Pájaro, which they named because of a great bird the Indians had killed and stuffed with straw, and which measured seven feet and four inches from the tip of one wing to that of the other. It was thought to be a royal eagle, and that the natives were preparing it for some ceremony when they were frightened away by the approach of the Spaniards. Crespi, who still had a supply of saints on hand, gave the river the name La Señora Santa Ana, but again the saint was ignored, and the river is known as the Pájaro (Bird). On the 17th they crossed and named the Rio de San Lorenzo, at the site of the present city of Santa Cruz. On the 20th they were at Punta de Año Nuevo, and camped at the entrance of the cañon of Waddell creek. They recognized Point Año Nuevo from the description given by Cabrera Bueno, and Crespi estimated that it was one league distant from the camp. With good water and fuel, the command rested here the 21st and 22d. Both Portolá and Rivera were now added to the sick list. Meat and vegetables had given out and the rations were reduced to five tortillas of bran and flour per day. Crespi named the camp San Luis Beltran, while the soldiers called it La Cañada de Salud. On the 23d, they again moved forward, passing Punta de Año Nuevo and, traveling two leagues, camped probably on Gazos creek, where was a large Indian ranchería, whose inhabitants received them kindly. This camp, which was about opposite Pigeon Point, they named Casa Grande, also San Juan Nepomuceno[27]. The next jornada was a long one of four leagues, and their camp was on San Gregoria creek. It began to rain and the command was prostrated by an epidemic of diarrhoea which spared no one. They now thought they saw their end, but the contrary appeared to be the case. The diarrhoea seemed to relieve the scurvy, and the swollen limbs of the sufferers began to be less painful. They named the camp Vane de los Soldados de los Cursos, and Crespi applied the name of Santo Domingo to it. Unable to travel on the 25th and 26th, but resuming the march October 27th, they pressed forward. The next stop was Purisima creek, two short leagues distant, but the way was rough, and the pioneers had to make roads across three arroyos where the descents were steep and difficult for the transportation of the invalids. On the bank of the stream was an Indian ranchería, apparently deserted. The Spaniards took possession of the huts, but soon came running forth with cries of "las pulgas! las pulgas![28]" They preferred to camp in the open. The soldiers called the camp Ranchería de las Pulgas, while Crespi named it San Ibon. On the 28th they camped on Pilarcitos creek, site of Spanish town or Half Moon Bay. They named the camp El Llano de los Ansares—The Plain of the Wild Geese—and Crespi called it San Simon y San Judas. Every man in the command was ill; the medicines were nearly gone and the supply of food very short. They contemplated killing some of the mules. That night it rained heavily and Portolá, who was very ill, decided to rest on the 29th. On Monday, October 30th, they moved forward. Half Moon Bay and Pillar Point were noted but no names given. Several deep arroyos were crossed, some of which required the building of bridges to get the animals over. They proceeded up the shore until a barrier of rock confronted them and disputed the passage. Here in a rincon (corner) formed by the sierra and sheltered from the north wind they camped while Ortega and his men were sent out to find a passage over the Montara mountains. A little stream furnished them with water and they named the camp El Rincon de las Almejas, on account of the mussels and other shell fish they found on the rocks. Crespi calls it La Punta del Angel Custodia. The site of the camp is about a mile north of the Montara fog signal. By noon of the next day, October 31st, the pioneers had prepared a passage over the bold promontory of Point San Pedro, and at ten o'clock in the morning the company set out on the trail of the exploradores and made their painful way to the summit. Here a wondrous sight met their eyes and quickened their flagging spirits. Before them, bright and beautiful, was spread a great ensenada, its waters dancing in the sunlight. Far to the northwest a point reached out into the sea, rising abruptly before them, high above the ocean. Further to the left, west-northwest, were seen six or seven white Farallones and finally along the shore northward they discerned the white cliffs and what appeared to be the mouth of an inlet. There could be no mistake. The distant point was the Punta de los Reyes and before them lay the Bahía ó Puerto de San Francisco. The saint had been good to them and with joy in their hearts they made the steep and difficult descent and camped in the San Pedro valley[29] at the foot of the Montara mountains.
Some of the company thought they had left the Port of Monterey behind but would not believe they had reached the Port of San Francisco. To settle the matter, the governor ordered Ortega and his men to examine the country as far as Point Reyes, giving them three days in which to report, while the command remained in camp in the Vallecito de la Punta de las Almejas del Angel de la Guarda, as Crespi calls it, combining the two names of the camp of October 30th and transferring them to the camp in San Pedro valley.
The next day, Thursday, November 2nd, being All Souls day, after mass some of the soldiers asked permission to go and hunt for deer. They climbed the mountains east of the camp and returning after nightfall reported that they had seen from the top of the mountain an immense estero or arm of the sea, which thrust itself into the land as far as the eye could reach, stretching to the southeast; that they had seen some beautiful plains thickly covered with trees, while the many columns of smoke rising over them showed that they were well stocked with Indian villages. This story confirmed them in the belief that they were at the Port of San Francisco, and that the estero described was that spoken of by Cabrera Bueno, the mouth of which they imagined they had seen from the Montara mountains[30]. They were now satisfied that Ortega would be unable to reach Point Reyes, and that three days was not sufficient time to go around the head of such an estero. The exploring party returned in the night of November 3d, discharging their fire-arms as they approached. They reported that they found themselves obstructed by immense estuaries which ran extraordinarily far back into the land[31], but what caused their rejoicing was that they understood from the signs of the Indians that at two days journey from where they were there was a port in which a ship was anchored. On this announcement, some thought that they were at the port of Monterey, and that the supply ship San Jose or the San Carlos was waiting for them. Crespi says that if they were not in Monterey, they were certainly in San Francisco.
On Saturday, November 4th, being the day of San Carlos Borromeo, in whose honor they had come to establish a royal presidio and mission in the Port of Monterey, and also the day of the king, Don Carlos III (que Dios guarde), the holy sacrifice of the mass was celebrated "in this little valley, beach of the Port (without the least doubt) of my father San Francisco." The men feasted liberally on the mussels which abounded on the nearby rocks, and which were pronounced large and good, and, in better spirits than they had been for some time, they took up their march at one o'clock in the afternoon. Proceeding a short distance up the beach, they turned into the mountains on their right, and from the summit beheld the immense estero o brazo del mar. Then descending into the Cañada de San Andres, they turned to the south and southeast, and traveling two leagues camped in the cañada at the foot of a hill, very green with low brush, and having a cluster of oaks at its base. The next two days they traveled down the cañada, coasting the estero, which they could not see for the low hills (lomeria) on their left, noting the pleasant land with its groves of oak, redwood (palo colorado), and madroño. They saw the tracks of many deer and also of bears. The Indians met them with friendly offers of black tamales and atole, which were gladly received by the half-starved Spaniards. They begged the strangers to go to their rancherías, but the governor excused himself, saying that he must go forward, and dismissed them with presents of beads and trinkets. On the 6th, they reached the end of the cañada, which suddenly turned to the east, and saw that the estero[32] was finished in a spacious valley. To the cañada they gave the name of San Francisco[33]. Traveling a short distance towards the east, they camped on a deep arroyo, whose waters came down from the sierra and flowed precipitately into the estero. They were on the San Francisquito creek, near the site of Stanford University[34].
Having failed to get through to Point Reyes by the ocean beach route, Portolá now sent Ortega around by the contra costa giving him four days in which to explore the country and find the port containing the supply-ship.
Ortega with his exploradores, guided by some friendly Indians from the neighboring rancherías, set out after noon on November 7th and returned in the night of the 10th. He reported that he had seen no sign of port or ship, and was convinced he had not understood the information the Indians had tried to convey to him, and that the port of Monterey could not be in advance. They also reported that the country they had seen towards the north and northeast was impassable for the expedition, for the reason that the Indians had burned the grass and, in addition, were hostile and would dispute the passage. They said that they had encountered another immense estero on the northeast (Carquinez Strait), which also ran far inland and connected with the one on the southeast, and that to double it would take many leagues of travel[35].
During the absence of the explorers, the people of the expedition were compelled for want of meat to eat oak acorns, which caused them much suffering from indigestion and fever.
Portolá called a council of officers, on November 11th, to determine the best course to pursue. The decision was unanimous to return to the Point of Pines and renew the search for the elusive Puerto de Monterey, which they believed they had left behind. This was at once acted upon, and the command took up the march in the afternoon of that day, returning by the route of its coming, and on the 27th camped in sight of the Point of Pines at a little lake of muddy water. They had partly subsisted on wild geese which they shot, and on mussels gathered from the rocks of the coast. The following day, November 28th, they moved across the Point of Pines and camped in the cañada of the Cármelo, where was plenty of wood and good water from the river. After giving his men a rest, the governor sent ten soldiers, under command of Rivera, with six of the Indian pioneers, who undertook to guide them by the coast trails, with instructions to thoroughly explore the coast to the south and see if the Port of Monterey was concealed in some "rincon" of the Sierra de Santa Lucia.
The exploring party returned on Monday, December 4th, at night. They were tired out with their travels over the rough mountain trails, and they reported that no port of Monterey existed south of their camp; that the mountains belonged to the Sierra de Santa Lucia, and that there was no passage along the shore.
Vizcaino had said that Monterey was just north of the Sierra de Santa Lucia. "It is all that can be desired for commodiousness and as a station for ships making the voyage to the Philippines, sailing whence they make a landfall on this coast. This port is sheltered from all winds * * * and is thickly settled with people, whom I found to be of gentle disposition, peaceable, and docile; * * * they have flax like that of Castile, and hemp, and cotton,"[36] etc.