MISSIONS AND MISSION INDIANS OF CALIFORNIA. 475 



of Indian neophytes, doubtless often with old grudges to pay off 

 and eager to find favor in the eyes of their masters, and to claim 

 the reward of their zeal in the new faith. Another fruitful occa- 

 sion for wholesale capture was the escape of converts to neigh- 

 boring tribes, and the attempt to recapture them by armed force, 

 to which are to be added, of course, the petty manifestations of 

 hostility on the part of the unconverted tribes. Overt acts on 

 their part were followed by reprisals, and these always meant a 

 fresh supply of converts. 



Having gained possession of their subjects, the next step was 

 to convert them to Christianity — a process neither very long nor 

 tedious. Before baptism it was customary to prepare the candi- 

 dates — if the term be applicable to unwilling captives — by pre- 

 liminary instruction, which the padres state never occupied less 

 than eight days. How clear an insight into the mysteries of the 

 Christian religion a pagan Indian, fresh from the worship of his 

 fetiches, is likely to obtain in eight days may be imagined ; but 

 the fathers declared that the instruction was ample. The usual 

 method of enlightenment is thus detailed by Beechey : 



" Immediately the Indians are brought to the mission they are 

 placed under the tuition of some of the most enlightened of their 

 countrymen, who teach them to repeat in Spanish the Lord's 

 Prayer and certain passages in the Romish litany ; and also to 

 cross themselves properly on entering the church. In a few days 

 a willing Indian becomes a proficient in these mysteries, and suf- 

 fers himself to be baptized and duly initiated into the church. 

 If, however, as it not unfrequently happens, any of the captured 

 Indians show a repugnance to conversion, it is the practice to 

 imprison them for a few days, and then to allow them to breathe 

 a little fresh air in a walk round the mission to observe the happy 

 mode of life of their converted countrymen ; after which they are 

 again shut up, and thus continue to be incarcerated until they 

 declare their readiness to renounce the religion of their fore- 

 fathers." A remark by Beechey that he thought the teachers had 

 an arduous task, elicited from the priest the reply that " they had 

 never found any difficulty ; that the Indians were accustomed to 

 change their own gods, and that their conversion was in a manner 

 habitual to them." This was undoubtedly true, as was evidenced 

 by the rapidity with which numbers apostatized in favor of their 

 earlier gods whenever occasion offered. 



Discipline among the converts was administered with some 

 severity. As was to be expected, desertion and the non-perform- 

 ance of their religious duties were the chief occasions of punish- 

 ment. A church-service is thus described by Beechey (page 367) : 



"After the bell had done tolling, several alguazils went round 

 to the huts to see if all the Indians were at church ; and if they 



