nt's dwelling, and huts for the soldiers and their
families--were completed by the middle of September; and on the 17th
of that month--the day of St. Francis, patron of the station and
harbour--imposing ceremonies of foundation were performed. A wooden
church was then built; and on the 9th of October, in the presence of
many witnesses, Father Palou said mass, the image of St. Francis was
borne about in procession, and the mission solemnly dedicated to his
name [4].

It was at San Luis Obispo on his way back from San Diego to Monterey,
that Father Junipero learned of the foundation of the mission at San
Francisco, and though he may doubtless have felt some little regret
at not having himself been present on such an occasion, his heart
overflowed with joy. For there was a special reason why the long delay
in carrying out this portion of his plan had weighed heavily upon him.
Years before, when the visitador general had told him that the first
three missions in Alta California were to be named after San Diego,
San Carlos and San Buenaventura (for such, we recollect, had been
the original programme), he had exclaimed:--"Then is our father, St.
Francis, to have no mission?" And Galvez had made reply:--"If St.
Francis desires a mission, let him show us his port, and he shall have
one there." To Junipero it had seemed that Portola had providentially
been led beyond Monterey to the Bay of San Francisco, and the founder
of his order had thus given emphatic answer to the visitador's words.
It may well be imagined that he was ill at rest until the saint's wishes
had been carried into effect.

But this was not the only good work done in the north while Junipero was
busy elsewhere; for on the 12th of January, 1777, the Mission of Santa
Clara was established in the wonderfully fertile and beautiful valley
which is now known by that name. The customary rites were performed
by Father Tomas de la Pena, a rude chapel erected, and the work of
constructing the necessary buildings of the settlement immediately begun
[5]. It should be noted in passing that before the end of the year the
town of San Jose--or, to give it its full Spanish title, El Pueblo de
San Jose de Guadalupe--was founded near by. This has historic interest
as the first purely civil settlement in California. The fine Alameda
from the mission to the pueblo was afterwards made and laid out under
the fathers' supervision.

VII.

Though Junipero's subordinates had