After a time, the natives began to make their appearance, and sometimes inconsiderable numbers, but always pacific; the trappers, however, suspected them ofdeep-laid plans to draw them into ambuscades; to crowd into and get possession oftheir camp, and various other crafty and daring conspiracies, which, it is probable,never entered into the heads of the poor savages. In fact, they are a simple, timid,inoffensive race, unpractised in warfare, and scarce provided with any weapons,excepting for the chase. Their lives are passed in the great sand plains and along theadjacent rivers; they subsist sometimes on fish, at other times on roots and the seedsof a plant, called the cat's-tail. They are of the same kind of people that CaptainBonneville found upon Snake River, and whom he found so mild and inoffensive.
The trappers, however, had persuaded themselves that they were making their waythrough a hostile country, and that implacable foes hung round their camp or beset theirpath, watching for an opportunity to surprise them. At length, one day they came to thebanks of a stream emptying into Ogden's River, which they were obliged to ford. Here agreat number of Shoshokoes were posted on the opposite bank. Persuaded they werethere with hostile intent, they advanced upon them, levelled their rifles, and killed twentyfive of them upon the spot. The rest fled to a short distance, then halted and turnedabout, howling and whining like wolves, and uttering the most piteous wailings. Thetrappers chased them in every direction; the poor wretches made no defence, but fledwith terror; neither does it appear from the accounts of the boasted victors, that aweapon had been wielded or a weapon launched by the Indians throughout the affair.
We feel perfectly convinced that the poor savages had no hostile intention, but hadmerely gathered together through motives of curiosity, as others of their tribe had donewhen Captain Bonneville and his companions passed along Snake River.
The trappers continued down Ogden's River, until they ascertained that it lost itself in agreat swampy lake, to which there was no apparent discharge. They then struck directlywestward, across the great chain of California mountains intervening between theseinterior plains and the shores of the Pacific.
For three and twenty days they were entangled among these mountains, the peaks andridges of which are in many places covered with perpetual snow. Their passes anddefiles present the wildest scenery, partaking of the sublime rather than the beautiful,and abounding with frightful precipices. The sufferings of the travellers among thesesavage mountains were extreme: for a part of the time they were nearly starved; atlength, they made their way through them, and came down upon the plains of NewCalifornia, a fertile region extending along the coast, with magnificent forests, verdantsavannas, and prairies that looked like stately parks. Here they found deer and othergame in abundance, and indemnified themselves for past famine. They now turnedtoward the south, and passing numerous small bands of natives, posted upon variousstreams, arrived at the Spanish village and post of Monterey.
This is a small place, containing about two hundred houses, situated in latitude 37°north. It has a capacious bay, with indifferent anchorage. The surrounding country isextremely fertile, especially in the valleys; the soil is richer, the further you penetrateinto the interior, and the climate is described as a perpetual spring. Indeed, allCalifornia, extending along the Pacific Ocean from latitude 19° 30' to 42° north, isrepresented as one of the most fertile and beautiful regions in North America.
Lower California, in length about seven hundred miles, forms a great peninsula, whichcrosses the tropics and terminates in the torrid zone. It is separated from the mainlandby the Gulf of California, sometimes called the Vermilion Sea; into this gulf empties theColorado of the West, the Seeds-ke-dee, or Green River, as it is also sometimes called.
The peninsula is traversed by stern and barren mountains, and has many sandy plains,where the only sign of vegetation is the cylindrical cactus growing among the clefts ofthe rocks. Wherever there is water, however, and vegetable mould, the ardent nature ofthe climate quickens everything into astonishing fertility. There are valleys luxuriant withthe rich and beautiful productions of the tropics. There the sugar-cane and indigo plantattain a perfection unequalled in any other part of North America. There flourish theolive, the fig, the date, the orange, the citron, the pomegranate, and other fruitsbelonging to the voluptuous climates of the south; with grapes in abundance, that yielda generous wine. In the interior are salt plains; silver mines and scanty veins of gold aresaid, likewise, to exist; and pearls of a beautiful water are to be fished upon the coast.
The peninsula of California was settled in 1698, by the Jesuits, who, certainly, as far asthe natives were concerned, have generally proved the most beneficent of colonists. Inthe present instance, they gained and maintained a footing in the country without theaid of military force, but solely by religious influence. They formed a treaty, and enteredinto the most amicable relations with the natives, then numbering from twenty-five tothirty thousand souls, and gained a hold upon their affections, and a control over theirminds, that effected a complete change in their condition. They built eleven missionaryestablishments in the various valleys of the peninsula, which formed rallying places forthe surrounding savages, where they gathered together as sheep into the fold, andsurrendered themselves and their consciences into the hands of these spiritual pastors.
