As Benito wished to keep his horses, he decided to go to
the new country overland by way of the Colorado River, and across the
desert to Mission San Gabriel. This had been the regular route of the
land expeditions of the early days of mission history, and was still
used, although less frequently. Benito and Maria had not long to wait
when a company was formed to start out on the long journey of seven
hundred miles to Mission San Buenaventura.
At the time of the setting out of our friends in the year 1830,
traveling overland from Mexico to California was an easy thing, compared
to the hardship and dangers of fifty years earlier. Then, the way,
through the desert around the mouth of the Colorado River, was beset by
the fierce and powerful Yuma Indians, and unless the band of travelers
were large and well armed, it would suffer severely at their hands. But
the Yumas had become subdued with time, and traveling made safe. The
company with which Benito and Maria journeyed had no mishap, and after
four weeks passed on the way, they arrived, one evening late in October,
at Mission San Buenaventura, just as the bells of the mission church
were pealing out their evening burden.
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