96 MISSION OF SANTA CLARA. 



kettles, and served out in portions to each 

 family. They are seldom allowed meat ; their 

 ordinary, and not very wholesome food, consist- 

 ing of wheaten flour, maize, peas and beans, 

 mixed together, and boiled to a thick soup. 



The mission of Santa Clara contains fifteen 

 hundred male Indians, of whom about one-half 

 are married. All these men are governed by 

 three monks, and guarded by four soldiers and 

 a subaltern officer. Since this force is found 

 sufficient, it follows either that the Indians of 

 the mission are happier than their free country- 

 men, or that, no way superior to the domestic 

 animals, they are chained by their instincts to 

 the place where their food is provided. The 

 first supposition can hardly be well founded. 

 Hard labour every day, Sundays only except- 

 ed, when labour is superseded by prayer ; cor- 

 poral chastisement, imprisonment, and fetters 

 on the slightest demonstration of disobedience ; 

 unwholesome nourishment, miserable lodging, 

 deprivation of all property, and of all the en- 

 joyments of life: — these are not boons which 

 diffuse content. Many indeed of these unfor- 

 tunate victims prove, by their attempts to 



