198 WITH THE FLOWERS AND TREES 



seven years after the passage of the Mexican Secu- 

 larization Act, and includes lemons and tobacco in 

 his list of the products. He, like Vancouver, speaks 

 of cocoanuts ; but it may be questioned if both these 

 travelers of the sea were not deceived by the date 

 palms that grew (as still a couple of them grow) 

 close to the sea at Ventura, and might easily be 

 mistaken for cocoanut palms by the non-botanical. 

 In those pre-gringo days, the Missions were the only 

 houses of entertainment that the traveler could 

 count on, and their hospitality was freely accorded 

 to all, for the Franciscan rule forbade the taking of 

 money in payment for favors given. Eich and poor 

 alike were welcomed, but in the case of guests of 

 distinction, special preparations were frequently 

 made, and the curious reader of old journals will 

 come upon accounts of generous repasts served in 

 pleasant weather under arbors in the Mission gar- 

 dens, followed by games of the Indian neophytes 

 played for the entertainment of the visitors, as they 

 sipped their pousse-caf e. 



It is not to be supposed however, that the Mis- 

 sionaries neglected the purely esthetic side of gar- 

 dening. In spite of the austerity of their monkish 

 way of living, they were many of them at least 

 men of tender sensibilities, and were by no means 

 indifferent to the purely beautiful in God 's creation. 



