tness to the staying
qualities of the tumor on the chief's neck. Passing up the narrow canon
of San Luis creek, they camped at or near the site of the mission and
city of San Luis Obispo. From here, instead of proceeding over the
Sierra de Santa Lucia by the Cuesta pass into the upper Salinas valley,
whence the march to Monterey would have been easy, they turned to the
west and followed the Canada de los Osos to the sea at Morro Bay, which
they called El Estero de San Serafin. The Canada de los Osos[23], still
so called, they named because of a fight with some very fierce bears,
one of which they succeeded in killing after it had received nine balls.
Another wounded the mules, and the hunters with difficulty saved their
lives.

The travelers now marched up the coast until, on the 13th, they came
to a point where further progress was disputed by the Sierra de Santa
Lucia. This was where a spur from the sierra terminating in Mount Mars,
blocks the passage by the beach and presents a bold front, rising three
thousand feet from the water. Camping at the foot of the sierra, Portola
sent out the explorers under Rivera to find a passage through the
mountains. During the 14th and 15th, the pioneers labored to open a way
into the sierra through San Carpoforo canon, and on the 16th the command
moved up the steep and narrow gulch, with inaccessible mountains on
either side. It is impossible to follow their route through this rugged
mountain range with any degree of accuracy. Their progress was slow and
painful. On the 20th, they toiled up an exceedingly high ridge to the
north, and from its summit the Spaniards looked upon a boundless sea
of mountains, "presenting," writes Crespi, "a sad prospect to us poor
travelers worn out with the fatigue of the journey." The cold was
beginning to be severe, and many of the men were suffering from scurvy
and unfit for service, which increased the hardship for all; yet they
did not falter but pressed bravely on, and on the 26th emerged from
the mountains by the Arroyo Seco, which they named the Canada del Palo
Caido[24] (Valley of the Fallen Tree), and camped on the Salinas river,
which they christened Rio de San Elizario. From now on the march is an
easy one down the Salinas valley to the sea.

On the last day of September, the command halted near the mouth of the
Salinas river, within sound of the ocean, though they could not see
it. They were persuaded that they were not far from the desire