i8o Audubon's Western Journal 



[No date.'] Today our ride of about eighteen 

 miles was over a plain of rather poor soil, and we 

 found the rancho; it was formerly the Mission of 

 San Fernando.-^ Like most of the others, it has a 

 long portico and arches; a few pictures of the 

 Virgin and some images of the saints are still 

 standing, but, from an artistic point of view, they 

 are poor trash. The garden is still most luxuriant, 

 and many grapes are grown here, and wine made, 

 as well as other liquors distilled. It looked like 

 sacrilege to me to see the uses made of sacred places 

 but so the changes appear to be in these countries; 

 dilapidation immediately follows the removal of 

 the priests. Great dislike was manifested to the 

 Americans here, and they would neither give nor 

 sell any of the fruits they had in such abundance, 

 grapes and melons wasting on the ground. 



Leaving this rancho we cam.ped five miles 

 further on our way, up an arroyo, in tall, rush-like 

 grass, where we had only bad water, being so 

 charged with sulphur and various salts as to be 

 undrinkable. The hills are of a friable, whitish 

 clay and sandstone, and after a very steep ascent, 

 WT gradually descended into a beautiful valley to 

 the rancho San Francisco, and encamped in sight 

 of it with good water, and plenty of wood. In the 



^ San Fernando is, of all the missions of California, in the 

 best condition. Its two principal buildings are in a good 

 state of preservation and the church has been re-roofed by the 

 "Landmarks Club." 



