- land to which he gave the name of Cape Mendocino, in honor of his employer.
Sailing on beyond Cape Mendocino, Cabrillo was compelled, four degrees further north, to turn back, on account of the extreme cold. He arrived in Mexico in the spring of 1543, after ten months' absence, his voyage justly entitling him to be called the discoverer of Northern California, though that honor is usually claimed for our fellow-countryman, Sir Francis Drake, who, thirty-six years later, touched at Point de los Reyes, and, in ignorance of his predecessor's work, took possession of the country he thought he had discovered in the name of Queen Elizabeth, christening it New Albion.
In 1596, Mendoza's successor, Conde de Monterey, sent an expedition consisting of three vessels, under Sebastian Viscaino, to California, with a view to opening friendly relations with the natives. Crossing the lower portion of the Gulf of California, and rounding Cape St. Lucas, as Cabrillo had done before him, Viscaino soon came to a good harbor, which he named first St. Sebastian and then La Paz. After taking possession of the country for the King of Spain, by firing cannons and hoisting standards, the explorer allowed four Franciscan friars to admit such of the natives as were willing to the Holy Catholic Church, the simple people gazing with wondering admiration at the unintelligible ceremonies performed on their behalf. This double conquest made for the State and Church of his sovereign, Viscaino continued his voyage up the north-eastern coast; but a misunderstanding with the natives, and the failure of his provisions, compelled him shortly to return to Mexico. In 1602, however, he started again, this time at the head of a thoroughly well-organized expedition; and after a flying visit to the converts at La Paz, he sailed leisurely up the coast of California, discovering the harbor of San Diego (N. lat. 32° 47´) on the 10th November, and the Bay of Monterey (N. lat. 36° 33), so named after the Viceroy, on the 16th December.
At Monterey, the expedition received an unfortunate check by the breaking out of scurvy among the crew of the fleet. The terrible symptoms of this disease, the cause and cure of which were then alike unknown, so appalled the Spaniards, that all but a few entreated to be taken back to Mexico. Their request was granted, one vessel alone, the Capitana, under Viscaino himself, prosecuting the voyage. A miserable remnant of those who had been stricken with the now only too familiar seamen's complaint were landed on the Mexican shores, and when for many months no tidings came of the Capitana, it was supposed that she was lost with all on board. Very
