244 IN THE OLD WEST 



In California, however, they managed these 

 things better. The wily monks took care to keep 

 all interlopers from the country, established them- 

 selves in snug quarters, instructed the Indians in 

 agriculture ; and soon gained such an ascendency 

 over them, that no difficulty was experienced in 

 keeping them under proper and wholesome re- 

 straint. Strong and commodious Missions were 

 built and fortified, well stored with arms and am- 

 munition, and containing sufficient defenders to 

 defy attack. Luxuriant gardens and thriving 

 vineyards soon surrounded these isolated stations: 

 the plains waved with- golden corn; whilst domestic 

 cattle, thriving on the rich pasture, and roaming 

 far and near, multiplied and increased a hundred- 

 fold. 



Nothing can be more beautiful than the ap- 

 pearance of one of these Missions, to the traveler 

 who has lately passed the arid and barren wilder- 

 ness of the North-West. The adobe walls of the 

 convent-looking building, surmounted by cross and 

 belfry, are generally hidden in a mass of luxuriant 

 vegetation. Fig-trees, bananas, cherry, and 

 apple, leaf-spreading platanos, and groves of 

 olives, form umbrageous vistas, under which the 

 sleek monks delight to wander; gardens, cultivated 

 by their own hands, testify to the horticultural 

 skill of the worthy padres ; whilst vineyards yield 

 their grateful produce to gladden the hearts of 

 the holy exiles in these western solitudes. Vast 



