Sacramento daily record-union. [volume] (Sacramento [Calif.]) 1875-1891, 1885-10-17


Jefe Politico, appointed at the City of
| Mexico. The Postofice Department has
one distributing Office at La Paz, with four
| postal routes and eleven agencies. The
| California steamship line has q vessel which
calls periodically at La Paz, Cabo San Luz
cas- and Bahia de la Magdalene and the
| Gulf of California express line sends steam
ers to La PaZ and Mulege.
We learned in our school geography that
Lower California was discovered by Her
nando de Griialva, in 1884 but history
| tells US that two years before that time
| CorteZ-having tired of the quiet life as a
coffee-planter and the Marquis of Oaxaca,
which for two years he had led in the vale
of Cuernavaca with his beautiful Young
wife, the Donna Juana de Zuniga (vhom
he decked with jewels, the richest ever
seen III Spain, those he had stolen from
murdered Aztec princes), he determined to
avail himself of powrs vested in him by
the Spanish King for conquest and discov-
| cry. Accordingly he fitted out two ships
to explore the Pacific. The first expedi-
ton proving q failure, be equipped two
more vessels, which accomplished nothing
more than the discovery of Lower Califor-
mia, which for more than century there
| after, from his reports, was believed to be
an island. In 1887 he launched three more
ships at Tehuantepec, and attempted to
I IOAOllIAS lLONtA OdlllOIllld. buL nearly all
| the colonists persisted in the treeless
! deserts, and at last, disappointed man, he
gave up his attempts at fresh discoveries,
having squandered over 800, 900 crowns
DISCOVERY AND ADVENTURES.
! 1t will be remembered that Cabrillo, a
! Portuguese in the service of Spain, discov-
| cred upper or old California in the year
! 1912, and that the English buccaneer,
Drake had taken possession of it for Queen
Elizabeth naming it New Albion After
King Philip H., the ferocious tormenter of
his race and kindred, had done the world
an unwilling service By dying lin 1850, the
coast OF California first began to attract
attention as possible Ell Dorado In 1902
the region which in our day, more than
two centuries later, became veritable land
of gold, was Thoroughly explored by Gen
eral Fiscaino, by order of Philip Ill, then
the new King of Spain and the Indus. Set
ting sail from Acapulco with four vessels.
he reached the port of Monterey (named
in honor of the reigning Viceroy of
Mexico, and eventually coasted as
far as Cape Mendocino. In 1912 the
Jesuits first formed establishments in
Lower California, which increased in the
reign of Philip Y, more especially after
17f4, when the Spanish missions became
numerous and powerful. In few wears
the Jesuits had built sixteen villages in the
interior of the peninsula; but in 1867 they
were expelled, and the administration of
California was committed to the monks of
the Dominican converts of the CITY of
Mexico, who never maintained the same
career Of usefulness as their predecessors.
The monks of San Fernando-those
Friars of orders gray" with their oft
repeated Ava Maria Purrissime-who dis
persed their missionaries over the most
miserable parts of the globe, did most for
Lower California. One of the monks,
very learned Jesuit. is said to have been
the first to discover that Cortez island was
peninsula. Through these pious crea-
tures-who, undeterred by danger brought
light to
THE MOST BENIGHTRD sAvAGEs-
1t was first made known that the region
was not the rich FL Dorado, teenling with
diamonds and precious metals, that had
been represented, but an arid, stony waste.
without water where was any soil, and
without soil where were springs of water.
The few spots that united these advantages
the monks took possession Of, and there
founded their missions among savages who
were about the most degraded specimens of
humanity on enthusiastically lower than
the beasts Of the field, for the creatures in
human form lay all day upon their faces in
the arid sand, basking in the heat; thew
abhOrred all manner of clothing, and their
religion was a secret horror which caused
them to tremb'e at the idea of their mvtho-
logical divinities, belonging TO three differ
ent tribes Of the air and which gods were
supposed to themselves feel mortal hatred
and TO wage perpetual war against each
other. Undeterred by the miserable con-
dition both of human and vegetable ma
ture, the Jesuits cultivated the ground,
established colonies, made important
astronomical observations, and devoted
themselves to science, to agricult-
ure and the amelioration of savage wretch
edness. In New California the missions
were under the charge of thirty-six Fran
clscan iriars, under whom the most extra
ordinary progress in civilization took place |
since, in little more than thirty-six wears |
upwards of 5000 Indians had been bap-
uzed and 5000 marriages had taken place |
The soil of Upper California being fertile |
and the climate more benign than in the |
lower peninsula, eighteen missions were
established there, and they cultivated
maize, wheat, etc, and introduced vege-
tables and fruit trees from Spain, among
them the vine and the olive. from
which excellent wine and oil were
made ell through that part of the country.
Among the monks destined to those dis |
tant missions were those of San Fernando. /
u,
prived Of all the advantages of civilization, |
devoted themselves to the task of tanning |
the wild Indians, introducing marriage |
among them, and taught them to cultivate |
the ground, together with some of the |
most simple arts, assisted their wants. |
reproyed their sins, and transplanted the |
benencent doctrines Of Christianity among |
them, using no arms but the influence !
which religion and kindness, united with |
extreme patie;ic1, n@s over their stubborn
natures, making what Baron Humbaldt.- ,
speaking Of them-calls 'a pacific con-
quest OF the country Many were the |
hardshlps these poor men endured, changed |
from place to place; at one time ordered |
to some barren shore, where it was neees-
sary to recommence their labors at an
other, recalled 10 the capital by the order /,
OF the prelate in conjunction with the |
wishes of their brethren, among whom was !
species OF Congress by them called Ell |
Capitulo. No increase of rank, no reward |!
or praise inspired their labors; their only |
rec6mpense was the inward conviction of |
doing good to their fellow creatures. In
THE CONVENT ARCHIVES
In the City of Mexico still exist some
curious records of the trials these monks
underwent, and descriptions of the physi-
cal and moral state of the peninsula-more
or less wei written according 10 the m
struction and talent of the writer. They
tell US that within a space Of $50 leagues
no less than nineteen different languages
was spoken, all of which they were
obliged to learn in order to deal
effectively with the people. It fire.
quently happened that marketable goods
and even provisions had to be sent by sea
to those missionaries who lived in the
most savage and uncultiyated portions of
the peninsula, and once it happened that
some friend sent to the monks, among
other things, box of fne Malaga raisins
sowed a number of the dried seeds. In
course of time they came up became vines
and produced fine grapes, from which the
best wine of California is to-day made.
When the monks reported that old Cslifor-