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(More customer reviews)This diary from Miguel Costanso, the engineer on the Portola expedition, provides fascinating glimpses of native California of the brink of major change. The brief text for each day is like snapshots from a roadtrip.
The expedition of 64 men and 200 horses and mules crosses a landscape filled with grizzly bears, tule elk, redwood trees. In the first two weeks the expedition experienced several major earthquakes. Later on, they suffer from scurvy, hunger, rain and cold. They experience, for the first time, acorn mush. They painfully learn not to eat raw acorns. Through the eyes of this spanish traveler, we see the native Californians react to this shock of the new. After the initial shock, the natives are overwhelming friendly and helpful.
Upon the expedition's return to San Diego after six months, in an ominous foreshadowing, the last entry has a retelling of the first violence between the Spanish and the natives.
A Route of the Expedition is included for those readers interested in following the same road trip. Throughout the book, the author provides brief annotations, mostly clarifying location.
Click Here to see more reviews about: The Discovery of San Francisco Bay: The Portola Expedition of 1769-1770/El Descubrimiento De LA Bahia De San Francisco : LA Expedicion De Portola De
On July 14, 1769 the Portola Expedition started off into an unknown country. They were the first Europeans to explore by land what is now California. In human history it is quite a short time from the Portola Expedition to the present day-- 223 years, some eight to ten generations. Most of what Miguel Costano saw has been transformed beyond belief and beyond imagining. But from the discovery site on Sweeney Ridge you can see Point Reyes and the white cliffs of Drakes Bay to the north-north-west, and the Farallon Islands to the west. And when you turn around you will behold the full sweep of the "magnificent estuary" that is San Francisco Bay, stretching toward the southeast.
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