ines, one league and a half,
and they camped on the shore of Monterey Bay, where they erected another
cross with an inscription announcing their departure. On the 11th, they
ascended the Salinas and began to retrace the route of their coming.
They killed many geese, which relieved their necessities somewhat, and
on the 21st were clear of the Santa Lucia mountains. The hungry soldiers
stole flour, and to prevent further theft, the comandante divided
the remainder among them. On the 28th the command was stuck fast in a
mudhole near San Luis Obispo, and were unable to say mass, though it
was a feast day[37]. On January 3d, they passed Point Concepcion. Here,
among the Channel Indians, food was abundant, their severe trials were
over, and the health of the command improved daily. Instead of following
up the Santa Clara river, they crossed the Santa Susana mountains,
into the San Fernando valley, and followed down the Los Angeles river,
crossed the Santa Ana, January 18th, and reached San Diego, January 24,
1770, with the command in good health and without the loss of a man,
"with the merit of having been compelled to eat the flesh of male and
female mules, and with not having found the Port of Monterey, which we
judged to have been filled up by the great sand dunes which were in the
place where we had expected to find it."[38]

Portola found a joyful welcome at the little camp at San Diego. Many had
died, and Junipero and Father Parron were just recovering from scurvy.
No tidings were yet received from the San Antonio. The commander made a
careful inventory of supplies, and reserved enough to march to Velicata
in case the San Antonio did not appear when the remainder should be
exhausted. This, he calculated, would be a little after the middle of
March, and the 20th of that month was fixed as the date of departure,
very much to the disappointment of the priests. On February 11th Rivera
was sent to Velicata with a guard of nineteen or twenty soldiers, to
bring up the cattle and supplies that had been left there.

After sundown of the day before that appointed for the departure, a
sail appeared in the distance. It was the San Antonio, just in time to
prevent the abandonment of San Diego. She brought abundant supplies,
and Portola prepared for a second expedition in search of the Port of
Monterey. Captain Vila of the San Carlos declared, when the details of
the search were related to him, that the place where they erected the