On July
27th, I Started In Search Of The Port Of San Francisco, Where I Arrived
On The Night Of August 5th.
I remained there forty-four days, inspecting
by myself, or by my pilot, with all possible accuracy, everything that
pertains to this matter.
It is true that this port is good, not only for the beautiful harmony
that offers to the view, but because it does not lack very good fresh
water, wood, and ballast in abundance. Its climate though cold, is
healthful and free from those troublesome fogs which we had daily in
Monterey, because the fogs here hardly reach the entrance of the port,
and once inside the harbor, the weather is very clear. To these many
advantages is to be added the best: and this is that the heathen Indians
around this port are so constant in their good friendship and so gentle
in their manners, that I received them with pleasure on board several
times, and I had the sailors frequently visit with them on land; so that
from the first to the last day, they remained the same in their
behavior. This made me present them with trinkets, beads, and biscuit;
the last they learned to ask for clearly in our language.
There is no doubt that this good friendship was a great comfort to us,
enabling us to make with less fear the reconnaissance that was ordered
of me. Although in a letter written by Your Excellency to my
predecessor, Don Miguel Manrique, dated January 2d, I read that it was
possible we might find in San Francisco the land expedition undertaken
by Captain Don Juan de Anza; I did not on that account refuse the offer
of another small land expedition which the Captain of Monterey, Don
Fernando de Rivera, made me.
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