Juan María Salvatierra arrived at Loreto to begin successful Jesuit missionary work in Baja California; Piccolo came the next month. On July 17, 1701, Philip V requested a report on their efforts in a cédula real. The Piccolo Informe, completed in Guadalajara on February 10, 1702, was the missionary’s reply to this request. As a zealous pioneer, Piccolo presented an optimistic picture of the barren land, but revealed some of the hardships which he and Salvatierra had faced. The report concluded with a request for more missionaries, a presidio and troops under Jesuit control, skilled workmen, and more financial aid.
Hammond provides an excellent and sympathetic introduction summarizing developments in Baja California to 1702. There is a bibliographical note covering Piccolo’s career and the various editions of the Informe. Hammond includes a reproduction of the cédula and report from a copy in the Los Angeles Public Library, a smooth translation of both documents, some brief collateral references, an index, and a copy of the Kino map of 1710 showing Baja California as a peninsula, with locations of the first missions. This small volume, though somewhat expensive, makes more readily available another basic document on the Mexican peninsula, as part of the welcome and continuing interest of Glen Dawson in that region.
