THE ROMANCE OF MONTEREY
The suggested plan of marching overland from the southern end of Lower California—the most accessible point by boat from the mainland of Mexico—was not feasible. Father Serra, when informed of the plan, pointed out that the supply trains necessary would require so many mules and muleteers that it would be impossible for the accompanying families of colonists and their domestic animals to find food and water along the arid and desolate route in the weary months of march before reaching San Diego. Moreover, there remained the problem of getting these mule trains, muleteers, colonists, live stock and supplies from Mexico to Lower California by boat, the same sea problem already described. Again quoting Chapman, “The short voyage across the stormy gulf to Baja California was only slightly less difficult. Writing in August, 1771, Father Verger said that five boats had already been lost that year in attempting to reach the peninsula. A sixth left San Blas on February second, and did not reach Loreto until August twentythird, having meanwhile been blown nearly to Panama.” That same year the San Antonio required sixty-eight days to get as far as San Diego, by which time practically the entire crew was down with scurvy.
So slow was the progress of colonization that in 1773, three years after the establishment of the Mission and Presidio of Monterey, the total white population of California, mainly centered at Monterey, was less than a hundred, and the total of domestic animals of all kinds
