36 VOYAGE TO THE 



great extent that it is necessary to erect these liahita- 

 tions, in order to separate the sick from those who are 

 in health. Sickness in general prevails to an incredi- 

 ble extent in all the missions, and on comparing the 

 census of the years 1786 and 1813, the proportion of 

 deaths appears to be increasing. At the former period 

 there had been only 7,701 Indians baptized, out of 

 which 2,388 had died ; but in 1813 there had been 

 37,437 deaths to only 57,328 baptisms. 



The establishments are badly supplied with medi- 

 cines, and the reverend fathers, their only medical ad- 

 visers, are inconceivably ignorant of the use of them. 

 In one mission there was a seaman who pretended to 

 some skill in pharmacy, but he knew little or nothing 

 of it, and perhaps often did more harm than good. 

 The Indians are also extremely careless and obstinate, 

 and prefer their own simples to any other remedies, 

 which is not unfrequently the occasion of their dis- 

 ease having a fatal termination. 



The Indians in general submit quietly to the disci- 

 pline of the missions, yet insurrections have occasion- 

 ally broken out, particularly in the early stage of the 

 settlement, when father Tamoral and other priests 

 suffered martyrdom.* In 1823, also, a priest was mur- 

 dered in a general insurrection in the vicinity of San 

 Luis Rey ; and in 1827, the soldiers of the garrison 

 were summoned to quell another riot in the same 

 quarter. 



The situations of the missions, particularly that of 

 San Jose, are in general advantageously chosen. Each 

 establishment has fifteen square miles of s'round, of 

 which part is cultivated, and the rest appropriated to 



* Noticias cle California, by Miguel Venegas. 



