MISSION OF SANTA CLARA. 95 



criminals. It proved to be the residence ap- 

 propriated by the monks, the severe guardians 

 of chastity, to the young unmarried Indian 

 women, whom they keep under their particular 

 superintendence, making their time useful to 

 the community by spinning, weaving, and simi- 

 lar occupations. These dungeons are opened 

 two or three times a-day, but only to allow the 

 prisoners to pass to and from the chiu'ch. I 

 have occasionally seen the poor girls rushing 

 out eagerly to breathe the fresh air, and driven 

 immediately into the church like a flock of 

 sheep, by an old ragged Spaniard armed with 

 a stick. After mass, they are in the same man- 

 ner hurried back to their prisons. Yet, not- 

 withstanding all the care of the ghostly fathers, 

 the feet of some of these uninviting fair ones 

 were cumbered with bars of iron, the penal con- 

 sequence, as I was informed, of detected trans- 

 gression. Only on their marriage are these 

 cloistered virgins allowed to issue from their 

 confinement and associate with their own people 

 in the barracks. 



Three times a-day a bell summons the Indians 

 to their meals, which are prepared in large 



