50 REMARKS AND OPINIONS. 



Some years ago, when artizans were brought here 

 at a great expense to teach the necessary arts, the In- 

 dians profited more by their instructions than the 

 ge7ite rational (rational people) as the Spaniards 

 call themselves. 



We observed with regret, that the best understand- 

 ing does not exist between the missions and the Pre- 

 sidio. The fathers consider themselves as the first in 

 this country, and the Presidios merely sent for its 

 protection. A soldier, who constantly carries and 

 often uses arms, unwillingly bears the government 

 of the church. The Presidio^, living only on their 

 pay, depend for the supply of their wants upon the 

 missions *, from which they purchase for ready 

 money ; they suffered distress in this latter period, 

 neglected by the mother country, and accused the 



* At the head of each mission are two Franciscans, who have 

 engaged to spend ten years in this hemisphere. They are dis- 

 pensed from the rules of their order, and receive four hundred 

 piastres each from the crown. Several missions are under one 

 Presidio. The commandant of the Presidio, captain of a com- 

 pany, has under him an artillery officer, a commissary, a lieu- 

 tenant, an ensign, and eighty men ; each of whom receives two 

 hundred piastres a year. The Spaniard is always on horseback. 

 Horses and oxen are kept in herds, and are almost wild ; when 

 wanted, they are caught with a lazo (a noose). The arms are, 

 the lance, shield, and musket. The Presidios have no tillage ; 

 the officers hardly cultivate a little garden-ground ; they con- 

 sider themselves as exiles, who wait with impatience their 

 speedy recal. The Pueblas, as they are called, which are few 

 in number, are Spanish villages. Some colonists, and veteran 

 soldiers constitute the population. Their wives are, for the 

 most part, Indian women. The Governor of New California, at 

 Monterey, as well as the Governor of Old California, at Loretto, 

 is under the Viceroy of Mexico. 



