At Yerba Buena, DON GUILLERMO HARTNELL met majordomos from Misiones San Juan, Santa Clara, San Rafael + Dolores; while at Monterey he delt with those from San Juan Bautista, La Soledad, San Antonio + San Carlos for mission produce

+++  Impatience would possess the whole population, and everyone who came in from outlying ‘ranchos’ and missions for the first choice of the new cargo.  The ‘paisanos’ could hardly wait while the captain exchanged courtesies and settled duty rates with the customs officials.  To these perennial children, he was San Nicolas carrying letters and presents to be distributed at his first free moment.  ++  The respected personage, Don Guillermo, would board the ship immediately, to examine a cargo invoice and read instructions from Messrs. Begg and McCulloch in Lima.  He then must send circular letters by Indian runners to all the missions and ‘presidios’ in California, announcing the arrival of the brig, enclosing a list of goods aboard, and asking what produce could be piled on the beach ready for shipping in each locality.  Within a week or so Don Guillermo would sail north on the company ship to San Francisco Bay.  At Yerba Buena he customarily met with ‘majordomos’ from the neighbouring missions of San Jose, Santa Clara, San Rafael, and Dolores (San Francisco), to show them samples of the cargo, encourage immediate purchases, and discuss future orders.  ++  After taking on board all hides and tallow already collected at this point, the ship would start its southward passage, touching at Santa Cruz to leave off purchases and take on produce, then proceeding to Monterey, and so on down the coast to San Diego, where stowage would be completed and the vessel dispatched for South America or Europe.  ++  The plan was simple, but its execution involved many difficulties.  In the first place, bays and inlets sufficiently protected from the weather were scarce and hard to find, there being few landmarks and no beacons along the rugged coast.  To Yerba Buena, northernmost company depot, would come small boats carrying some three hundred hides per load, bringing them from Santa Clara and San Jose down an ‘arroyo’ and across San Francisco Bay in seldom less than two days.  Santa Cruz, the next stop, was a dangerous point of embarkation, especially when winter winds were blowing.  ++  Since Monterey offered safe harborage at all times, an immense amount of produce continually was being sent there by the surrounding missions of San Juan Bautista, La Soledad, San Antonio and San Carlos.  +++