UGARTE, Juan (oo-gar'-tay), Mexican clergyman, born in San Miguel, Teguzigalpa, Honduras, 22 July, 1662; died in San Pablo, Sonora, 29 December, 1730. He entered the Society of Jesus in August, 1679, and was afterward professor of Latin in Zacatecas and of philosophy in Mexico, where he learned the Indian languages. In 1700 he devoted himself to the Californian missions, and spent about thirty years in evangelizing the natives. Finding that the guard of soldiers that accompanied him deterred them from approaching him, he dismissed it after reaching the country of the Yaquis, where he founded the missions of San Javier, San Pablo, Santa Rosalia, and San Miguel. He then joined Father Salvatierra in Loreto, and was successful in his missionary labors, teaching the natives agriculture, the art of spinning and weaving, how to build cottages, and even how to prepare vessels for sea. In 1705 he visited the coast of Sinaloa to find a good port for the Manilla fleet, but without success, and in 1708 was directed by the Spanish government to explore the Gulf of California. With the aid of his converts, he built a vessel which he called the " Triumph of the Cross," and manned it with twenty-six Chinese and native Californians. He landed among the Tepoquis and Seris, by whom he was well received, and reached the mouth of Colorado river, which violent storms prevented him from ascending. After encountering many dangers, the little vessel returned to Loreto. Ugarte was successful in the object of his mission. He proved that California was a peninsula, gave for the first time a proper idea of the coast, and noted such places as would be afterward suitable for missionary stations. He subsequently founded several missions, of which the principal were San Luis de Gonzaga, consisting of two villages, and Our Lady of Guadalupe, of six villages. He wrote "Noticia del Viage de la Balandra nombrada el Triumfo de la Santa Cruz, hecho en 1709 al Golfo de Californias, y Costa del Sur de la America Septentrional " and "Diarios, Relaciones, y Cartas de las Cosas de Californias." Miguel Venegas used these manuscripts in his "Historia de Californias."