.

EXPLORATORY AND PUNITIVE EXPEDITIONS, 1776-1811

After the return of Anza to Monterey in 1776 the San Francisco Presidio
was founded. After this a joint expedition was sent out under Jose
Joaquin Moraga and Francisco Quiros. The latter was to proceed by water
and the former by land to a junction near the mouths of the rivers. The
plan, however, miscarried, and Moraga went off on the earliest and the
least known exploration of the main San Joaquin River. Meanwhile Quiros,
with Jose Canizares and Father Pedro Cambon, sailed up the Bay to a
point quite close to that described by Canizares in his first trip. The
only account we have of this journey is contained in Palou's New
California (1926, IV: 127-130). No details of ecological interest are
given and there is no mention of natives. For a detailed discussion of
the exploration, reference may be made to Cutter (1950, pp. 24-26).

One further document requires mention at this point: The Historical,
Political and Natural Description of California, by Pedro Fages, as
translated by Herbert I. Priestley (1937). Written in 1775, this little
volume has become a classic for its thorough and sympathetic description
of the Indians of California by one who was in a position to write on
the subject. Unfortunately, however, Fages discusses the Indians of the
San Francisco Mission area and of the Central Valley of the interior,
but he does not specifically refer to the natives of the East Bay. Hence
his essay must be passed over with this brief citation.

Following the series of explorations which culminated in the Anza
Expedition of 1776, little further official notice was taken of the East
Bay counties until approximately 1794. There is an item in the Bancroft
Library Transcript series (hereafter designated Bancroft Transcripts, or
Bancroft Trans.), consisting of a letter from Fages to Moraga, January
23, 1783 (Prov. Rec., III: 83), noting that the latter had pursued the
"indios gentiles Serranos" who had killed 18 head of livestock belonging
to the Mission of San Jose. It is probable that many other unrecorded
punitive expeditions were being undertaken throughout the two decades
from 1775 to 1795.

In 1793 there was activity along the coast, in the course of which
Lieutenant Francisco Eliza spent approximately two weeks exploring the
Bay, but the documents available (Cutter, 1950, p. 29; Archivo General
de la Nacion, Mexico, Ramo Historia, Vol. 71, Expediente on Matut