108 METHOD OF CONVERSION. 



improvement ; but these examples are rare in 

 the missions. 



Don Estudillo spoke with much freedom of 

 the affairs of California, where he had resided 

 thirty years : like most of his comrades, he was 

 no friend to the clergy. He accused them of 

 consulting only their own interest, and of em- 

 ploying their proselytes as a means of laying 

 up wealth for themselves, with which, when, 

 acquired, they return to Spain. He de- 

 scribed to us their method of conversion. 

 The monks, he said, send dragoons into the 

 mountains to catch the free heathens, that 

 they may convert them into Christian slaves. 

 For this species of chase, the huntsman is pro- 

 vided with a strong leathern noose fastened to 

 his saddle, long enough to throw to a great dis- 

 tance, and acquires such dexterity in the prac- 

 tice as seldom to miss his aim. As soon as he 

 perceives a troop of Indians, he throws his noose 

 over one of them before he has time to defend 

 himself, then setting spurs to his horse, rides 

 back to the mission with his prisoner, and is for- 

 tunate if he bring him there alive. I can myself 

 bear witness to the skill and boldness of the 



