mss142-vasilevShishmarev-i4-034

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by us,built of wood and close up resembling a shed, contained
a church within it, very insignificant in richness and orna-
mentation,and also the living quarters of the monks and the
Spanish horsemen. Around this house were scattered about 50
low huts, covered with thatch. Here, there were no work-
shops or mills, and the settlers were employed solely in
farming. Vast fields extended for a coniserable distance
along the shore from the mission. It was established only
three years before our visit on orders of the governor, Don
Pablo-Vichentso do Sola, brother of the local commandant.⁹
Because of the proximity to the sea, the soil is less fertile,
and we could not understand, just why a mission was started
here, separated from the rest of California by a wide bay
preventing easy communication because of insufficient means.
We did not get direct answers to our questions, but we con-
cluded from hints that the reason for it was the proximity
of our colony in California named "Ross Settlement," and
their apprehension of its extending to San Francisco Bay.
According to the Spaniards it was not more than 40 leagues
along the shore to that settlement, and they intended to extend
their settlements even farther north. ¹⁰

The Spaniards often mentioned two bays connected by the
basin in which we were anchored and the Rio Grande or Great River
[Sacramento River and Suisun Bay], flowing into them. They related that this
river really deserved its name, that it was more than a league
wide, and that no one had ever reached its source so far. To