The daily crescent. [volume] ([New Orleans, La.]) 1848-1851, 1849-01-30
DeaeGiption Of California.
Historical, Typographical, and Geographical
SKETCH OF THE CALIFORNIA;.

history of that interesting country-now the centr
of attraction TO all gold-smitten individuality,
have translated the following, which is HUMBOLDT
account of California. The part we publish thj
morning relates exclusively to the peninsula o
Old or Lower California but we intend, also, tc
| give the description of the upper province, by the
same distinguished author. In every subject tc
which humboldt has devoted his powerful mind, his
works are considered the highest and best authority
and the book. from which we have made these trans
latons, contains more reliable and extended infor-
| nation OF Mexico and its dependencies than any
ever published before or since We have been com
PEELED to translate from the French ourselves as we
| find 1t extremely difficult to procure English
translation of the work alluded to. The following
description of Lower California will be found COM
prised IN the l4th chapter Of the second volume of
The Essas.P olstique surle Royaume de Ia Noural1
szegungysads sla1sotat, ser ond esli
ton, published at Paris in the year 1927
PROVINCE OF OLD CALIFORNIA.
Population 1909 of the superficial area in
square leagues observation-disclosures the square league
The history of geography offers many examples
OF countries, whose position has been known to
former navigators, but which have been regarded as
only discovered during recent period. Such are
the Sandwich islands, the Western coasts of New
Holland, the grand Cycades, ancientiy named, by
Quros, the Archipelago of Espiritu Santo the
land of Arsacides, seen by Mendana, and above ali
the coasts of California. This country was re-
garded Jas peninsula before the year I54I and
one hundred and fifty years later, the merit Of first
proving that California not an island but that it
joins the continent of Mexico, was accorded TO
father kim (Kino.)
Cortez, after having astonished the world by his
exploits upon terra Erma, displayed not less adj
mlrable energy of character in his maritime enter
a,nI,t I Il
idea OF seeing the countries which had been subju-
gated by his ambition, which were governed some
times by a Corregidor of Toledo, some times by
President de paudieace. or by Bishop Of Saint
Domingo, he devoted himself entirely, TO his expe
dl,lons OF discovery on the South Sea- He appeared
to forget that his powerful enemies at court were
excited by The grandeur and rapdiy of his
successes, md he fiattered himself that he could
force them to silence by the splendor of the new
fields vi conquest which were opened by his &C.
tiyity. On the other hand, the Government which
was suspicious of so extraordinary man. encour-
aged him in his design to recross the ocean Be-
hevng, since the capture of Mexico that there was
no further need of the military services of CorteZ
the Emperor was glad to see him embarked in haz-
ardous enterprises. Above all, he desired to re-
move the hero from the theatre OF his courage and
daring.
Already, in 1923, Charles v in a letter dated at
Nalladolid, had recommended CorteZ TO search the
eastern and western coasts of New Spain for the
secret of passage lei Secreto del estrecho) which
should shorten by two-thirds the navigation from
Cadlz to the East Indies, called at that time the
land of spice. Cortez, in his reply to the Emperor
spoke with great enthusiasm OF the probability of
this discovery, which [added he will make your
Majesty master OF so many kingdoms, that you may
be regarded as the monarch Of the entire world.
1t was In the course of one of these maritime en-
terprses under the especial charge of Cortez that
the coasts of California were discovered BIZ Her-
nando de Grlxaiva, in the month of February,
1884. His pilot, Forum Ximenes, was killed bv
the Californians, in the bay of Santa Cruz, called
afterwards the port of La Paz, or of the Marquis
del Vale Discontinued with the sowness and
paucity Of his discoveries in the South Sea, Cortez
himself embarked, in 1885, at the port of Chiamet
Ian, with 400 Spaniards and 300 negro slaves He
coasted the two shores of the Gulf which afterward
bore his name, and which was. by the historian
Gomara, IN 1857, very udiciously compared to the
Adriatc Sea. 1t was during his sojourn in the bav
of Santa Cruz that CorteZ received the unweIcome
intelligence of the arrival of the first vceroy in
New Spain. This great conqueror pursued with
out relaxation, his discoveries in California not
outstanding the report of his death was spread in
Mexico His wife, Juana de Zuniga, equipped
two vessels and cdraUeHe test the truth of this
alarming news. CorteZ, after having passed
through thousand dangers, arrived happily at the |
port of Acapulco. The work which he so glori
ously commenced followed up, at his orders |
by Francisco de Uloa. Ulloa in the course of
two-years' navigation, explored the coast of the
Cult OF California as far the mouth of the Rio
Colorado. The map which the pilot Castillo con-
structed at Mexico in the year l54l, and to which
we have many times referred, representing the d.
rection of the coasts of California so nearly ex-
act, that we recognize them at this day. Notwith- |
standing this progress of geographical knowledge,
due to the genius and activity of Cortez, many |
writers under the feeble reign of the king Charles ii
to regard California as an archipelago |
of large islands, called "IsIas Caroinas'' The |
pearl fishery for some time attracted only some boat
men from the ports of Jalisco Acapulco and Cha |
Gala; and when three Jesuits, Kuhn, Salvatierra |
and Ugarte, had, from l70l to 1721, successfully
visited the coasts which surround the sea of CoreZ
(nar roro, or Uermejo they believed in Europe that
they had learned for the first time the peninsular
form of California.
The less a country is known the less approached |
by European colonies, and the fewer the inhabI- |
tants, the more easily it acquires the reputation of
great metallic wealth. The Imagination of men
delight In the marvellous tales which the credu-
ity and the art of the first voyagers propagated |
in mysterious tone. At Cumana and Caracas |
they were in ecsases about the riches of the coun
try situated between the Oronoco and the Rio
Negro; at Santa Fe, they increasingly vaunted the
Missions of Andigues; at Quito the provinces of
Macas, and of Magnas. The peninsula of Cali
ornia has for long time been the Dorado of
New Spain A country rich in pearls ought,
according to vulgar logic, produce an abundance
il gOlu, ulhinouus, pIcClous sIoncs.a N HULK |
voyager, Friar Marcos de Nizza, turned the heads
If the Mexcans by his fabulous accounts of the
beauty of the country situated TO the north of the
Gulf of California, of the magnifcence of the city
If Cibola, its immense population, and the policy
md civilization of its inhabitants Corez and the
Viceroy Mendoza disputed in advance the con-
quest Of this Mexican Timbuctoo. The Missions
which the Jesuits established in Old California
'nce the year 1888, made known the great aridity
If the country and the extreme difficulty of culti
waiting it, The little success which attended the
exploration of the mines of st. Anne, north of
Cape Pamo. diminished the enthusiasm with which
he metallic richness of the peninsula had been
viewed. But the malevolence and hatred felt
owards the Jesults excited the suspicion that that !
Order concealed from the eyes of the government,
he treasures of a country anciently much ex-
oiled. These considerations induced the Visitadar |
Don Jose de Galvez, whose chivalric spirit had
Engaged him in an expedition against the Indians of
Sonora, to pass into California He there found the
BARE without cultivabe soil, and desti-
uto of water Some few shruhs only grew in the