ren, and killing another five
"Indios." At dark they retired for the night "to where the horses had
been left," but the following day returned briefly to the wood, where
they found no one. Then all hands returned to the mission.

Despite the fact that at least 40 Indians were encountered, there is no
indication in the Peralta diary of any permanent habitation. The attack
on Father Cuevas occurred at a point where no trace of natives could be
found. The battle in which Peralta was engaged took place among
barrancas and in a forested area--again, no suggestion of houses or of
even a temporary settlement.

With regard to the name of the tribal group concerned there seems to be
no question. In a letter of May 30, 1805, from San Francisco to Governor
Arrillaga (Bancroft Trans., Prov. St. Pap., XIX: 42) Jose Arguello
speaks of "the rancheria of the Luechas, where the attack against Father
Cuevas took place." Much later, Jose Maria Amador, writing for H. H.
Bancroft in 1877 (Bancroft Manuscript, Amador, Memorias, translated by
Earl R. Hewitt), referred to "Cuevas, who was going to instruct in the
Christian faith the heathen at the Lochis rancheria...." Here is a
discrepancy, for the contemporary documents state that Father Cuevas
intended to exercise his religious functions at the rancheria of the
Asirenes. However, it is clear enough that the outrage itself was
perpetrated by the Luechas.

The location of the people--wholly apart from the question of where the
attack occurred--is equivocal. That the attack took place in the Sierra
is beyond doubt, but that the home of the offenders was likewise in the
hills is not so sure. Cutter (1950, p. 92) relies upon a statement of
Amador (below) when he states: "The Indians had turned out to be the
Luechas, residents of the hills between Livermore and the San Joaquin
Valley"; and "this would place them at the foothills east of Mount
Diablo at the entrance of the Valley." The pertinent sentence in
Amador's Memorias (MS, p. 13) reads thus: "rancheria de Loechas, como 14
leguas al oriente de la mision, arriba del actual pueblo de Livermore a
4 o 5 leguas de dist^{a}."

Allowing, conservatively, 2.5 miles per league, the total distance from
the mission, if Amador is correct, would be 35 miles. The rancheria
would be from 10 to 12.5 miles from Livermore. The term "above" ("arriba
de....") does not necessarily mean toward the geographical north, but
the direction may be taken as in the qu