The Governor Also Left With Them A
Sufficient Number Of Horses And Mules And About Sixty Loads[15] Of
Provisions.
On July 16th, two days after the Portola expedition started,
Junipero founded, with appropriate ceremonies, the mission of San Diego
de Alcala, the first mission established in Alta California.
The deaths
continued, and before Portola's return in January, eight soldiers, four
sailors, one servant, and eight Indians died, leaving but about twenty
persons at the camp.
We will now follow the governor. Relying somewhat on the supply ship,
San Jose, which was to meet him at Monterey, but which, as we have seen,
was lost at sea, and also on the supplies to be brought by the San
Antonio, the governor, knowing the uncertainties of a sea voyage, took
with him one hundred mules loaded with provisions, sufficient, he
concluded, to last him for six months.
On the march the following order was observed. Sergeant Ortega, with six
or eight soldiers, went in advance, laid out the route, selected the
camping place, and cleared the way of hostile Indians by whom he was
frequently surrounded. At the head of the column rode the comandante,
with Fages, Costanso, the two priests, and an escort of six Catalonia
volunteers; next came the sappers and miners, composed of Indians, with
spades, mattocks, crowbars, axes, and other implements used by pioneers;
these were followed by the main body divided into four bands of
pack-animals, each with its muleteers and a guard of presidial soldiers.
The last was the rear guard, commanded by Captain Rivera, convoying the
spare horses and mules (caballada y mulada).
The presidial soldiers were provided with two kinds of arms, offensive
and defensive.
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![The March Of Portola And The Discovery Of The Bay Of San Francisco By Zoeth S. Eldredge
- The governor also left with them a
sufficient number of horses and mules and about sixty loads[15] of
provisions - Page 31](../images/travel.jpg)
