^JISSION OF SANTA CLARA. 93 



The rising sun announced the approach of a 

 fine day, and gave us a view of the extensive 

 plains which formed the surrounding country. 

 The missionaries cultivated wheat upon them, 

 which had been already harvested, and large 

 flocks of cattle, horses, and sheep, were seen 

 pasturing among the stubble. The mission of 

 Santa Clara possesses fourteen thousand head 

 of cattle, one thousand horses, and ten thou- 

 sand sheep. The greater part of these animals 

 being left to roam undisturbed about the woods, 

 they multiply with amazing rapidity. 



I now ordered the horses to be saddled, and 

 we set off for the mission, the buildings and 

 woods of which bounded the view over these 

 prodigious corn-fields. Our way lay through 

 the stubble, amongst flocks of wild geese, ducks, 

 and snipes, so tame that we might have killed 

 great numbers with our sticks. These are all 

 birds of passage, spending the winter here, and 

 the summer farther north. We fired a few shots 

 among the geese, and brought down about a 

 dozen : they differ but little in size from our 

 domestic goose, and some of them are quite 

 white. A ride of an hour and a half brought 



