392 THE ABORIGINAL INHABITANTS OF 
‘Every day at sunrise they all attended mass, during which they said their 
beads. Before and after mass they recited the Christian doctrine, drawn up 
for them in questions and answers in their own language. An address or ex- 
hortation delivered by the missionary in the same language, and lasting from 
half an hour to three-quarters of an hour, concluded the religious service of 
the morning. This over, breakfast was given to those who were engaged in 
some work, while the others went where they pleased in order to gather their 
daily bread in the fields, if the missionary was unable to provide them with 
food. ‘Towards sunset, a signal with the bell assembled them all again in the 
church to say their beads and the litany of Loretto, or to sing it on Sundays 
and holidays. The bell was not only rung three times a day, as usual, but 
also at three o’clock in the afternoon, in honor of the agony of Christ, and also, 
according to Spanish custom, at eight o’clock in the evening, to pray for the 
faithful. departed. When the week was over, the parishioners returned to their 
respective homes, some three or six, others fifteen or twenty leagues distant 
from the mission. : 
On the principal holidays of the year, and also during passion-week, all 
members of the community were assembled at the mission, and they received 
at such times, besides their ordinary food, some head of cattle and a good sup- 
ply of Indian corn for consumption; dried figs and raisins were also given them 
without stint in all missions where such fruit was raised. On these occasions, 
articles of food and apparel were likewise put up as prizes for those who were 
winners in the games they played, or excelled in shooting at the target. 
Fiscals and superintendents, appointed from among the different bands, pre- 
served order within and without the mission. It was their duty to lead all 
those who were present to the church when the bell rung, and to collect and 
drive in to the mission that portion of the community which had been roaming 
for three weeks at large. ‘They were to prevent disorders, public scandals and 
knaveries, and to enforce decent behavior and. silence during church-service. 
It was further their duty to make the converts recite the catechism morning 
and evening, and to say their beads in the fields; to punish slight transgres- 
sions, and to report more serious offences at the proper place; to take care of 
those who fell sick in the wilderness, and to convey them to the mission, &c., 
&e. Asa badge of their office they carried a cane which was often silver- 
headed. Most of them were very proud of their dignity, but only a few per- 
formed their duty, for which reason they received their flogging oftener than 
the rest, and had to bear the blows and cuffs, which it was their duty to admin- 
ister to others.* There were also catechists appointed upon whom it was in- 
cumbent to lead the prayers, and to give instruction to the most ignorant of 
the catechumens. 
, Every day, in the morning, at noon, and in the evening, either the mis- 
sionary himself, or some one appointed by him, distributed boiled wheat or 
maize to the pregnant women, the blind, old and infirm, if he was unable to 
feed them all; and for those who were sick, meat was cooked at least once 
every day. When any work was done, all engaged in it were fed three times 
aday. Yet their labor was by no means severe. Would to God it had been 
* On a preceding page the author gives, not exactly in the proper place, the following 
particulars concerning the penal law established among the Californians: ‘‘In cases of 
extraordinary crimes, the punishment of the natives was fixed by the royal officer who com- 
manded the Californian squadron; common misdeeds fell within the jurisdiction of the 
corporal of the soldiers stationed in each mission. Capital punishment, by shooting, was 
only resorted to in cases of murder; all other transgressions were either punished by a 
number of lashes administered with a leather whip on the bare skin of the culprit, or his 
feet putin irons for some days, weeks, or months. As to ecclesiastical punishments, the 
Roman pontifis did not think proper to introduce them among the Americans, and fines were 
likewise out of the question, in accordance with the old German proverb: ‘ Where there is 
nothing, the emperor has no rights.’ ” 
