In the meanwhile, says Palou, "that fervent zeal which continually
glowed and burned in the heart of our venerable Father Junipero, did not
permit him to forget the principal object of his journey." As soon
as Portola had left the encampment, he began to busy himself with the
problem of the mission which, it had been determined, should be
founded on that spot. Ground was carefully chosen with an eye to the
requirements, not only of the mission itself, but also of the pueblo, or
village, which in course of time would almost certainly grow up about it
[2]; and on the 16th of July--the day upon which, as the anniversary
of a great victory over the Moors in 1212, the Spanish church solemnly
celebrated the Triumph of the Holy Cross--the first mission of Upper
California was dedicated to San Diego de Alcala, after whom the bay had
been named by Sebastian Viscaino, the explorer, many years before. The
ceremonies were a repetition of those which had been employed in the
founding of the Mission of San Fernando at Villicata; the site was
blessed and sprinkled with holy water; a great cross reared, facing the
harbour; the mass celebrated; the Venite Creator Spiritus sung. And,
as before, where the proper accessories failed, Father Junipero and his
colleagues fell back undeterred upon the means which Heaven had actually
put at their disposal. The constant firing of the troops supplied the
lack of musical instruments, and the smoke of the powder was accepted as
a substitute for incense. Father Palou's brief and unadorned description
will not prove altogether wanting in impressiveness for those who in
imagination can conjure up a picture of the curious, yet dramatic scene.
The preliminary work of foundation thus accomplished, Father Junipero
gathered about him the few healthy men who could be spared from the
tending of their sick comrades and routine duties, and with their help
erected a few rude huts, one of which was immediately consecrated as a
temporary chapel. So far as his own people were concerned, the padre's
labours were for the most part of a grievous character, for, during the
first few months, the records tell us, disease made such fearful ravages
among the soldiers, sailors and servants, that ere long the number of
persons at this settlement had been reduced to twenty. But the tragedy
of these poor nameless fellows--(it was Junipero's pious hope that they
might all be named in Heaven)--after all hardly forms part of our proper
story. The father's real work was to lie among the native Indians, and
it is with his failures and successes in this direction that the main
interest of our California mission annals is connected.
They were not an attractive people, these "gentiles" of a country which
to the newcomers must itself have seemed an outer garden of Paradise;
and Junipero's first attempts to gain their good will met with
very slight encouragement. During the ceremonies attendant upon the
foundation and dedication of the mission, they had stood round in silent
wonder, and now they showed themselves responsive to the strangers'
advances to the extent of receiving whatever presents were offered,
provided the gift was not in the form of anything to eat. The Spaniards'
food they would not even touch, apparently regarding it as the cause
of the dire sickness of the troops. And this, in the long run, remarks
Palou, was without doubt "singularly providential," owing to the rapid
depletion of the stores. Ignorance of the Indians' language, of course,
added seriously to the father's difficulties in approaching them,
and presently their thefts of cloth, for the possession of which they
developed a perfect passion, and other depredations, rendered them
exceedingly troublesome. Acts of violence became more and more common,
and by-and-bye, a determined and organized attack upon the mission, in
which the assailants many times outnumbered their opponents, led to a
pitched battle, and the death of one of the Spanish servants. This was
the crisis; for, happily, like a thunderstorm, the disturbance, which
seemed so threatening of future ill, cleared the air, at any rate for
a time; and the kindness with which the Spaniards treated their wounded
foes evidently touched the savage heart. Little by little a few Indians
here and there began to frequent the mission; and with the hearty
welcome accorded them their numbers soon increased. Among them there
happened to be a boy, of some fifteen years of age, who showed himself
more tractable than his fellows, and whom Father Junipero determined
to use as an instrument for his purpose. When the lad had picked up a
smattering of Spanish, the padre sent him to his people with the promise
that if he were allowed to bring back one of the children, the youngster
should not only by baptism be made a Christian, but should also (and
here the good father descended to a bribe) be tricked out like
the Spaniards themselves, in handsome clothes. A few days later, a
"gentile," followed by a large crowd, appeared with a child in his arms,
and the padre, filled with unutterable joy, at once threw a piece of
cloth over it, and called upon one of the soldiers to stand godfather
to this first infant of Christ. But, alas! just as he was preparing to
sprinkle the holy water, the natives snatched the child from him, and
made off with it (and the cloth) to their own rancheria. The soldiers
who stood round as witnesses were furious at this insult, and, left to
themselves, would have inflicted summary punishment upon the offenders.
But the good father pacified them, attributing his failure--of which he
was wont to speak tearfully to the end of his life--to his own sins
and unworthiness. However, this first experience in convert-making
was fortunately not prophetic, for though it is true that many months
elapsed before a single neophyte was gained for the mission, and though
more serious troubles were still to come, in the course of the next
few years a number of the aborigines, both children and adults, were
baptized.