The fires have flashed more than once from mountain to mountain and
have been answered not only by Akalan, but by every one of the two
hundred settlements on the bay shore. The principal event, one for
which no predetermined signal existed, was the passage along the
California coast of the _Golden Hind_, early in the summer of 1579. The
great captain, Sir Francis Drake, did not see the Golden Gate because
of the heavy fog, but the watchers on Mt. Tamalpais saw his ship and
did their duty as best they knew. Before evening of that day, every
dweller on the bay shore (those on the coast could see for themselves)
understood that Wasaka, the Eagle who brought the original fire to the
Mutsun people while they yet lived in the far North, had passed by.
Three or four weeks later, when the vessel returned from the North,
and was drawn ashore for repairs within the shelter of Point Reyes,
the signals were revised as a result of messages brought to Tamalpais
by runners from the Tamalaños, otherwise known as the “peaked-house”
people, who lived directly at Drake’s landing place. This time the
Mutsunes were informed that it was not Wasaka, but the great Chakalli
himself. Chakalli, the “Man Above,” or the “Great One Above,” was much
in their thoughts, but to have him visit was an event foreboding ill.
Nearly every one wished to flee from his presence. As it turned out,
the visitor conducted himself peaceably and in due course went away,
leaving few of the Mutsunes any the wiser.
Drake’s Bay, as it happened, lay in the country of the Miwok people,
who spoke a different tongue from the Mutsunes and who, besides, were
ordinarily jealous of their territorial rights. But a few of the
Mutsunes had gone around by sea, Wixi among them. Wixi was the only
one from Akalan who had gone, and the adventure proved a turning point
in his life. He came back somewhat of a hero, at least in the eyes of
those of his own age, the older men holding aloof. Wixi had learned
many wonderful things during his few days’ sojourn with the bearded
white men, among them that other people used sails to drive their
boats. If any doubted the story that he told, he had but to exhibit the
proofs: a small mirror, a couple of strings of colored glass beads, a
square of red cloth, and, above all, a truly marvelous thing, a knife
of metal. These things were given Wixi by the great captain himself,
in the general exchange of presents that followed one of the Indian
dancing ceremonies that we read of in Drake’s own log book.