thus done without him in these
important developments at San Francisco and Santa Clara, he still
resolved to go north, both to visit the new foundations and to inspect
for himself the marvellous country of which he had heard much, but which
he had not yet seen. As usual, he was long detained by urgent affairs,
and it was not till autumn that he succeeded in breaking away. He made a
short stay at Santa Clara, and then pushed on to San Francisco, which he
reached in time to say mass on St. Francis' day. After a ten days' rest,
he crossed to the presidio and feasted his eyes on the glorious vision
of the Golden Gate--a sight which once seen is never to be forgotten.
"Thanks be to God!" he cried, in rapture (these, says Palou, were the
words most frequently on his lips); "now our Father St. Francis, with
the Holy Cross of the procession of missions, has reached the ultimate
end of this continent of California. To go further ships will be
required!" Yet his joy was tempered with the thought that the eight
missions already founded were very far apart, and that much labour would
be necessary to fill up the gaps.

It was thus with the feeling that, while something had been done, far
more was left to do, that the padre returned to his own special charge
at San Carlos. Various circumstances in combination had caused the
postponement, year after year, of that third mission, which, according
to original intentions, was to have followed immediately upon the
establishments at San Diego and Monterey. Three new settlements were now
projected on the Santa Barbara Channel, and the first of these was to
be the mission of San Buenaventura. It was not until 1782, however, that
the long-delayed purpose was at length accomplished. The site chosen
was at the southeastern extremity of the channel, and close to an Indian
village, or rancheria to which Portala's expedition in 1769 had given
the name of Ascencion de Nuestra Senora, or, briefly, Assumpta. A little
later on, in pursuance of the same plan, the then governor, Filipe de
Neve, took formal possession of a spot some ten leagues distant, and
there began the construction of the presidio of Santa Barbara. It was
Junipero's earnest desire to proceed at once with the adjoining mission.
But the governor, for reasons of his own, threw obstacles in the way,
and in the end this fresh undertaking was left to other hands.

For we have now come to the close of Father Junipero's long and
strenuous ca