The morning call., 1892-09-28
CABRILLo DAY.

At the southern end of California Ameri-
cans and Mexieans are celebrating the fame
of a poor Portuguese pilot named Juan
Rodriguez Cabrillo, who $50 years ago was
commissioned by the King of Spain to ex-
plore the coast of North America, north
ward from the points occupied by Cortes
lieutenantS, and who finally laid his bones
on an island off the coast of this State now
known as San Miguel. What manner of
man this pilot was we know not. But he
could steer ship, take an observation and
keep a record of his discoveries, as we
learn from the elaborate account of his
voyages and discoveries, which is preserved
in the general archives OF The Indies at
Madrid.
Our friends at San Diego. with their
Mexican nelghborS from Lower California,
and a few surviving Indians, who We
notice have been corralled in au inclosure
to prevent their escaping, are making a
gay holiday over the memory of Cabrilo.
This is all right; it is well that we should
make the most of the few remnants of an
tiquity which we possess. When Cabrilo
surveyed the bay Of San Diego bluff King
Hal was King of England. the Guises were
masters OF France, and Charles Y was
monarchy liz Europe to be frttered away
by his successors. IL the Portuguese pilot
combined scholarship and philosophy with
his knowledge of navigation his vision of
the future of the world must have been
strangely at variance with the outcome Of
events He must probably have felt conf
dent that his adopted country was destined
to supreme dominance over chrlstendom.
and that the greater Spain in America was
likely TO become the most valuable portion
Of its dominions It is highly improbable
that he allowed any space in the future to
the little islands lying north Of France, or
to the spread of the progeny Of their in
habitants over the continent Of which he
raced tie west coast.
The prehistoric record of California is
full Of anomalies. Nobody has ever ex-
planned why Drake failed to discover the
bay Of San Francisco, or why Vancouver
was not as thorough in his coast survey
south Of 80 deg as he was north Of that
point. And WHY. when Cabrlll0 made his
/ landings as far north as Cape MendOcino
and perhaps even further north, did ne not
point out to the followers of Cortes that
here was a far superior country to Mexico
for them TO settle in, country with q
climate equal to the terra templada Of
Mexico, and far richer in the gold which
they coveted above all things? Again,
sixty years after CabTll0, Sebastian Wis
cayno surveyed the coast of Southern Cali
fornia, and landed at Monterey. The record
states that lie was much impressed with the
beauty of the country. but he does net seem
to have heen able to impress his fellow
countrymen with the advantage of coming
here. a hundred ana sixty-seven years
elapsed before Junipero Sierra founded the
mission of San Diego. and even then he
only did so because his order was expelled
from the Mexican missions.
If the Spaniards had migrated from
Mexico TO California in the sixteenth and
seventeenth centuries, the face Of the world
would probably nave been changed. They
remained in Mexico aud submitted 10 the
effects Of a tropical climate which enervated
a race already weakened by an undue ad-
mixture of Indian blood. Partly from this
cause Mexico, with a population of ten or
twelve millions, has never cut much Of a
! figure amcng the nations. If, insiead OF
/ "the sYaTt commander IN his leatAern
/ jerkn, the priest in stole Of snow" accom-
/ panied by a handful OF servants who after
/ wand became rancheros and herdsmen. a
/ great body Of Castilians had come to Cali
/ fornia under the lead of Cabrillo and Vis-
! cayno, It is quite probable that this State
might have become a Spanish common
wealth that would have riValed Chile in
ygor. 1t would naturally have followed
/ the law Of the American colonies. aud have
/ cut loose from the mother country in the
! latter part of the eighteenth century. Night
/ il not have absorbed the best blood Of Spain,
as the Atlantic States absorbed the best
/ blood Of England. and by this time have
! become the dominant power on the Pacific ?
| The yrility Of race depends, first, on the
/ blood which flows in its veins, and next on
the fertilizng effect of the atmosphere it
breathes. II the sons of The stalwart
| Spaniards who overraa this hemisphere
! south of the twentieth parallel of north
+ latitude had made their chief home in Cali
! fornia, they might have grown into power
with which at this time even the United
| Statos wovld have n ad IN rnckoO