CHAPTER V
AN ELUSIVE HARBOR
PORTOLA’S the Harbor instructions were of Monterey, to find and there establish a Mission and a Presidio and found a colony. Like a good soldier, he desired to carry out his instructions, and his initial task was, of course, to find the harbor. Information concerning its location was rather meagre, save that he knew it was on the California coast, and was supposed to be at about 37 degrees North Latitude. Costanso, the engineer of the party, had two books upon which was placed the main reliance for means of identifying Vizcaino’s “Noble Harbor.” One was an account of Vizcaino’s voyage of a century and a half previous, written by one Venegas, and based on a prior account written by Torquemada; and the other 38
