THE CALIFOENIAN PENINSULA. 357 



distant from eacli other. Digging for silver in California is not represented as 

 a lucrative business, the owner of one of the mines being so poor tiiat he had 

 to beg for his travelling money when he was about to return to Spain. The 

 proprietor of the other mine was in better circumstances, but he owed his wealth 

 more to other speculations than to his subterranean pursuits. The mining 

 population iu the two districts amounted to 400 souls, women and children in- 

 cluded, and the workmen were either Spaniards born in America, or Indians 

 from the other side of the Californian gulf. The external condition of these 

 people is represented as wretched in the highest degree. The soil produced 

 almost nothing, and not having the necessary money to procure provisions from 

 the Mexican side, they were sometimes compelled to gather their food iu the 

 fields, like the native Californiana. The author speaks of a locality between 

 the twenty-eighth and twenty-ninth degree, called Eosario, where some sup- 

 posed gold to exist, but even admitting the fact, he thinks it would be almost 

 impossible to work mines iu that region, where neither food for men and beasts, 

 nor water and wood, can be procured. Near the mission of St. Ignatius (28tb 

 degree) sulphur is found, and on the islands of El Carmen and St. Joseph in 

 the Californian gulf, and in different places on both coasts salt of very good 

 quality is abundant. 



Having thus given an abstract of the first part of the book, I cannot con- 

 clude these introductory remarks without saying a few words iu favor of the 

 Jesuits. Whatever we may think, as Protestauts, of the tendencies of tliat 

 order, we cannot but admit that those of its members who came as missionaries 

 to America deserve great credit for their zeal in propagating a knowledge of 

 the countries and nations they visited in the New World. To the student of 

 American ethnology particularly, the numerous writings of the Jesuit fathers 

 are of inestimable value, forming, as it were, the very foundations upon which 

 almost all subseqiteut researches iu that interesting field of inquiry are based. 



" The missionaries and discoverers whom the order of the Jesuits sent forth 

 were for the most part not only possessed of the courage of martyrs, and of 

 statesmanlike qualities, but likewise of great knowledge and learning. They 

 were enthusiastic travellers, naturalists, and geographers ; they wore the best 

 mathematicians and astronomers of their time. They have been the first to 

 give us iaithful and circumstantial accounts of the new countries and nations 

 they visited. There are few districts in the interior of America concerning 

 which the Jesuits have not supplied us with the oldest and best works, and we 

 can scarcely attempt the study of any American language without meeting Avith 

 a grammar composed by a Jesuit. In addition to their chapels and colleges iu 

 the wilderness, the Jesuits likewise erected observatories ; and there are few 

 rivers, lakes, and mountains iu the interior, which they have not been the first 

 to draw upon our maps." 



Witli this well-deservod etdogy, which is qvaoted from Mr. J. G. Kohl's re- 

 cent work on the discovery of America, I leave to Father Baegert himself the 

 task of relating his experiences among the natives of Lower California. 



AN ACCOUNT OF THE ABORIGINAL INHABITANTS OF THE 

 CALIFORNIAN PENINSULA. 



CHAPTER I. — THE STATITIE, COMPLEXION, AND \U.MBER OF THE CALIFORMANS ;. 

 ALSO, WHENCE AND HOW THEV MAY HAVE COME TO CALIFORNIA. 



In physical appearance the Californians resemble perfectly the Mexicans and 

 Other aboriginal inhabitants of America. Their skin is of a dark chestnut or 

 clove color, passing, however, sometimes into different shades, some individuals 

 bein"- of a more swarthy complexion, while others are tan or copper colored. 



