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Lance S.
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Left my much loved dog eared copy at a laundromat. It was actually Meigs and not Massey who placed the terminus near El Rosario. I'll go back and
fix that post.
From the online version page 32
Manila galleons sailed down the coast regularly after the late sixteenth century. The west coast of the Central Desert was not attractive, and, aided
by persistent northwest winds, the galleons usually bypassed it. The great embayment north of the Vizcaino Desert, however, is effectively shaped to
catch any flotsam and jetsam moving southward with the current along the coast.
During his exploration of 1751, Father Consag made a detour to look at a sandspit in front of one of the lagoons in this embayment. His Indian
companions collected pieces of crockery, including Chinese porcelain and other artifacts of Old World manufacture, and reported that the shore was
littered with such material, as well as with broken ship timbers. The fact that all iron objects, even nails in the timbers, disintegrated on handling
is evidence that the materials had washed ashore long before (Ortega: 414- 416).
Pages 36-37
Meigs (1935: 6, 8) locates the northern terminus of this expedition just south of the Arroyo Rosario, at latitude 29° 50′ N., citing Consag's nota-
tion of his latitude as 30° N. and of an island he thought was Guadalupe. Consag maintained that although Guadalupe was shown on maps to be much
farther at sea, along this foggy coast mariners might actually be much closer to the mainland than they believed (Ortega: 408). The tiny island San
Gerónimo lies six miles offshore at the point Meigs selected.
It is not likely that Consag was so nearly correct in his latitude. Santa Gertrudis, the starting point of the expedition, is very close to the 28th
parallel, but Consag believed it to be at 28° 30' N. (Ortega: 387). Latitude was generally overestimated in northward explorations. For example,
Clavigero gives the latitudes of all the Jesuit missions as they were estimated in 1767 (366-368). The missions are located accurately as far north as
Mulegé. Beyond that place the latitude is exaggerated progressively; Santa María, actually at about 29° 30' N., is stated to be near 31° N. A
single day's observations with a quadrant or sextant, taken in rough country, could scarcely be accurate within two degrees.
After laboring for weeks along tortuous routes from south to north, it is natural that an observer would choose to believe that the higher readings
were accurate and that he had really travelled a long way. On his other expeditions Consag often read latitudes more than a degree too high
(Venegas-Burriel, 2: insert map).
Few of the place names Consag mentions on this journey can be located today, but his topographic descriptions are clear. His Kalmayí (Ortega: 389) is
not the nineteenth-century mining camp Calmallí, but a waterhole, now known to the local population as Calmallí Viejo, about eight miles northeast
of the mining camp. Since this point is close to the beginning of his expedition, its identification helps plot the direction and rate of his journey.
Twelve days after leaving Calmallí Viejo he describes a white transparent marble which is quite clearly the Mexican onyx (ibid.: 398) deposit at El
Marmolito, perhaps seventy miles by road from Calmallí Viejo. His rate of travel was not unreasonably slow since the road was unknown and detours for
evangelization and exploration were undertaken. The expedition pressed forward only twelve days more. In completely un- known and unfavorable country
it could scarcely have made much better average time than during the first twelve days; the daily record indicates few long marches.
I have tried to follow the water holes and ridge crests he mentions, and to compare the return with the outgoing schedules. I conclude that Consag
reached a point west of the modern settlement of Punta Prieta. At this terminal point the local Indians informed the expedi- tion that it was three
days' march to a dependable water source (Krmpotic: 112). The Arroyo of San Fernando Velicatá at a distance of sixty miles is indicated.
[Edited on 8-6-2023 by Lance S.]
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David K
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Thank you, Lance!
I will be in my copy of Aschmann, soon!
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David K
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Lance, the page numbers are spot on.
This is in Chapter II (2): European Contact with the Aboriginal Population.
Can you provide the link for the online book?
I will include it with the photo I have of the book at: https://vivabaja.com/baja-books/ in the Guidebooks group (page 2)
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Lance S.
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https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=uc1.31822012237509
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bajaric
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Homer Aschmannn, what a great name.
I have that book. It is full of interesting little nuggets of information. Aschmann noted that there were no agaves growing near some of the old
missions in climate zones where they usually grow in profusion. He used this as an example of how slowly the plants in the central desert grow,
speculating that the agaves had been harvested for food by large concentrations of Indians living at the missions and had not grown back after 150
years.
Crosby put forth a different explanation; that the agaves had been harvested by "mescaleros", squatters who occupied the missions after they were
abandoned in the 1850's who used the agaves to make mescal.
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4x4abc
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Quote: Originally posted by David K  | They set sail on June 9, 1746, and traveled by day and came ashore each night. Let me share a few entries to illustrate the level of detail which
Consag enters into his diary:
On July 16th is an interesting entry where Padre Consag writes that they arrived at Bahía San Rafael and discovered hot springs by some white rocks
that were covered at high tide. The hot water comes up through the sand here and other places along the same sandy beach for half a league (approx.
one mile). When covered by high tide, the water is “tinged with red mixed with faint blue.” Some friendly Natives took them to the San Rafael
Aguage (a fresh water source). Consag writes, “Not far from the beach is a large pond, and near it a well, which when cleansed affords good
water.” This describes the lagoon near the late Pancho’s San Rafael beach camp.
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did anyone ever locate those hot springs?
I have not been able to find any indications on sat images
Harald Pietschmann
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David K
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| Quote: Originally posted by 4x4abc | | Quote: Originally posted by David K | They set sail on June 9, 1746, and traveled by day and came ashore each night. Let me share a few entries to illustrate the level of detail which
Consag enters into his diary:
On July 16th is an interesting entry where Padre Consag writes that they arrived at Bahía San Rafael and discovered hot springs by some white rocks
that were covered at high tide. The hot water comes up through the sand here and other places along the same sandy beach for half a league (approx.
one mile). When covered by high tide, the water is “tinged with red mixed with faint blue.” Some friendly Natives took them to the San Rafael
Aguage (a fresh water source). Consag writes, “Not far from the beach is a large pond, and near it a well, which when cleansed affords good
water.” This describes the lagoon near the late Pancho’s San Rafael beach camp.
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did anyone ever locate those hot springs?
I have not been able to find any indications on sat images |
Yes, Pancho (of San Rafael) knew them and on Google Earth, the location of the waypoint for it (that I have): 28.5573, -113.1156 .
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David K
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It is 1.8 miles south of Pancho's (foot trails parallel the coast to it) and 0.8 mile to the closest point on the dirt road, south of Pancho's, about
here: 28.5640, -113.1279
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