Colonial Expeditions to the Interior of California Central Valley, 1800-1820Cook, Sherburne Friend
History
Colonial Expeditions to the Interior of California Central Valley, 1800-1820
Cook, Sherburne Friend
California -- Discovery and exploration; California -- History -- To 1846 -- Sources; Central Valley (Calif.)
_18th day._ After having said Mass, since it was Sunday, we set out in
the same direction upstream, northeast. At the end of a league (which
cost us much labor to cover on account of the great force of the
current) we entered the main Sacramento River which runs from north
to south. It is the same one we left on the 6th to the right hand, or
starboard, although I cannot decide which of the two channels it was,
whether the first or the last. We kept on up the river, which is very
wide and of great depth, and at half a league we stopped to eat. Hardly
had we finished eating when suddenly our people became very much
excited, saying that the heathen Indians were coming to annoy us. But
no one appeared. We started out again at two o'clock in the afternoon.
After going a league we found an opening to the right which makes a turn
and joins the river again two leagues upstream.[26] About five o'clock
we descried the well-known Sierra Nevada to the northeast through a
clearing in the trees which border the river. The whiteness of the
mountains seemed to everyone to be snow, although the range contains
also (as is said) a kind of white rock which resembles the latter [i.e.,
snow]. We kept on a little farther up and stopped at sunset, having gone
in the day some five leagues northeast, north, and northwest.[27]
_19th day._ We started at seven o'clock in the morning and continued
upstream. After going one league we came upon a village called Chuppumne
on the east bank, the inhabitants of which fled at the sound of the
boats, leaving only two old women more than sixty years old. After
catechizing these, I baptized them because it seemed to us that they
were likely to die before Divine Providence could provide another
occasion upon which they might be baptized in a mission. We left this
village at ten o'clock and stopped to eat at noon. We started out again
at two o'clock in the afternoon and in the distance saw two villages
with people and another, for some time abandoned and covered with
water. The river is very high and so flooded on both sides that one
can scarcely get ashore. We stopped at sunset having during the day
traveled ten leagues north and northwest.[28]
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account