efforts, sufferings and labours, and having left of all our provisions
but fourteen small sacks of flour, our expedition leaves this place
to-day for San Diego; I beg of Almighty God to guide it, and for thee,
voyager, that His divine providence may lead thee to the harbour of
salvation. Done in this Bay of Pinos, the 9th of December, 1769." On the
cross on the other side of Point Pinos was cut with a razor this legend:
- "The land expedition returned to San Diego for want of provisions,
this 9th day of December, 1769."

The little party - or more correctly speaking - what was left of it, did
not reach San Diego till the 25th of the following month, having in
their march down suffered terribly from hunger, exposure, wet, fatigue
and sickness. Depressed themselves, they found nothing to encourage them
in the mission and camp, where death had played havoc among those they
had left behind them six months before, and where the provisions were so
fast running low that only the timely reappearance of the San Antonio,
long overdue, would save the survivors from actual starvation. Perhaps
it is hardly surprising that, under these circumstances, Portolà's
courage should have failed him, and that he should have decided upon a
return to Mexico. He caused an inventory of all available provisions to
be taken, and calculating that, with strict economy, and setting aside
what would be required for the journey back to San Fernando, they might
last till somewhat beyond the middle of March, he gave out that unless
the San Antonio should arrive by the 20th of that month, he should on
that day abandon San Diego, and start south. But if the governor
imagined for a moment that he could persuade the padre presidente to
fall in with this arrangement, he did not know his man. Junipero firmly
believed, despite the failure of Portolà's expedition, that the harbour
of Monterey still existed, and might be found; he even interested
Vicente Vila in a plan of his own for reaching it by sea; and he