"The expedition desired to reach Point Reyes, but some esteros intervened which ran far inland, which required a long journey to go around, and other difficulties (the chief of which was the want of provisions), made it necessary for us to return, believing that the Port of Monterey might perhaps be near the Sierra de Santa Lucia, and thinking that we might have passed it without observing it. We left the estero of San Francisco on our return on the 11th of November. We passed the Punta de Ano Nuevo on the 19th of said month, and reached the second time this Port and Ensenada de Pinos on the 27th of the same." It states that from that day to this they have made diligent search for the port of Monterey, but in vain, and now, despairing of finding it, their provisions nearly gone, they return to San Diego. Then follows the latitude at various points as observed by Costanso. It requests the commanders of the San Jose or San Antonio, if they, or either of them, should be informed of the contents of the letter and the condition of the expedition, to sail down the coast as near the land as possible, that the expedition might sight and obtain succor from them. The march that day was across the Point of Pines, one league and a half, and they camped on the shore of Monterey Bay, where they erected another cross with an inscription announcing their departure. On the 11th, they ascended the Salinas and began to retrace the route of their coming. They killed many geese, which relieved their necessities somewhat, and on the 21st were clear of the Santa Lucia mountains. The hungry soldiers stole flour, and to prevent further theft, the comandante divided the remainder among them. On the 28th the command was stuck fast in a mudhole near San Luis Obispo, and were unable to say mass, though it was a feast day[37]. On January 3d, they passed Point Concepcion. Here, among the Channel Indians, food was abundant, their severe trials were over, and the health of the command improved daily. Instead of following up the Santa Clara river, they crossed the Santa Susana mountains, into the San Fernando valley, and followed down the Los Angeles river, crossed the Santa Ana, January 18th, and reached San Diego, January 24, 1770, with the command in good health and without the loss of a man, "with the merit of having been compelled to eat the flesh of male and female mules, and with not having found the Port of Monterey, which we judged to have been filled up by the great sand dunes which were in the place where we had expected to find it."[38]