“The men being drawn up in line of battle, the Admiral stood ready to receive the king within the fences of his tent.  The company halted at a distance, and the sceptre-bearer made a speech half an hour long; at the end of which he began singing and dancing, in which he was followed by the king and all the people; who, continuing to sing and dance, came quite up to the tent; when, sitting down, the king took off his crown of feathers, placed it on the Admiral’s head, and put on him the other ensigns of royalty; and it is said he made him a solemn tender of his whole kingdom; all which the Admiral accepted in the name of the Queen his sovereign, in hope that these proceedings might, one time or other, contribute to the advantage of England.

“The people, dispersing themselves among the Admiral’s tents, professed the utmost admiration and esteem for the English, whom they looked upon as more than mortal; and accordingly prepared to offer sacrifices to them, which the English rejected with abhorrence; directing them, by various signs, that their religious worship was alone due to the supreme Maker and Preserver of all things....

“The Admiral, at his departure, set up a pillar with a large plate on it, on which were engraved her Majesty’s name, picture, arms, and title to the country; together with the Admiral’s name and the time of his arrival there.”

Pinkerton says in his description of Drake’s voyage:  “The land is so rich in gold and silver that upon the slightest turning it up with a spade these rich materials plainly appear mixed with the mould.”  It is not strange, if this were the case, that the natives—­who, though apparently gentle and well disposed, were barbarians—­should naturally have possessed the taste so characteristic of a barbarous people, and have loved to decorate themselves even lavishly with ornaments rudely fashioned in this rare metal.  Yet they seemed to know little of its value, and to care less for it than for fuss and feathers.  Either they were a singularly stupid race, simpler even than the child of ordinary intelligence, or they scorned the allurements of a metal that so few are able to resist.

Drake was not the first navigator to touch upon those shores.  The explorer Juan Cabrillo, in 1542-43, visited the coast of Upper California.  A number of landings were made at different points along the coast and on the islands near Santa Barbara.  Cabrillo died during the expedition; but his successor, Ferralo, continued the voyage as far north as latitude 42 deg..  Probably Drake had no knowledge of the discovery of California by the Spaniards six and thirty years before he dropped anchor in the bay that now bears his name, and for many years he was looked upon as the first discoverer of the Golden State.  Even to this day there are those who give him all the credit.  Queen Elizabeth knighted him for his services in this and his previous expeditions; telling him, as his chronicler records, “that his actions did him more honor than his title.”  Her Majesty seems not to have been much impressed by his tales of the riches of the New World—­if, indeed, they ever came to the royal ear,—­for she made no effort to develop the resources of her territory.  No adventurous argonauts set sail for the Pacific coast in search of gold till two hundred and seventy years later.