Ortega And His Scouts Were Now Dispatched To Lay Out The Route And
Locate Camping Places For Several Days In Advance, And On The 7th Of
October, The March Was Resumed.
Sixteen sick men had now lost use of
their limbs.
Each night they were rubbed with oil, and each morning they
were put into hammocks swung between two mules, tandem, and thus carried
in the mode of travel used by the women of Andalusia[26]. The march was
slow and painful. Some of the sick were believed to be in the last
extremity, and on October 8th, the holy viaticum was administered to
three, who were thought to be dying.
On this day they crossed the Rio del Pajaro, 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 Senora Santa Ana, but again the saint
was ignored, and the river is known as the Pajaro (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 Ano Nuevo,
and camped at the entrance of the canon of Waddell creek.
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