NORTHWESTERN AMERICA. 223 



they were instructed by the priests, and the artisans who were at- 

 tached to the establishments. There was also, to each mission, a 

 guard of soldiers, who had the double duty of protecting the inmates 

 from the attacks of hostile Indians, and preventing the converts from 

 escaping. When the debased character, limited intelligence, and 

 wandering habits of the Californian aborigines are considered, it 

 would certainly seem that this plan, of confinement under constant 

 superintendence, was the only one which could have been adopted 

 for their improvement, with any chance of success. It nevertheless 

 failed. The natives did, indeed, acquire some knowledge of civilized 

 arts, and even of letters, but the great change in their habits, and the 

 mode of life so alien to their natural disposition, had a fatal effect 

 upon their constitutions. Many more died than were born, and it 

 was necessary frequently to recruit their numbers by fresh captures, 

 or by purchasing slaves of the tribes in the interior. Within the last 

 ten years, most of the missions have been broken up, partly in conse- 

 quence of the political changes which have taken place in the country. 

 Of the inmates, some fled and rejoined their savage brethren, but the 

 greater number linger about the towns, subsisting on charity, or by 

 laboring for the Mexican settlers. 



These five languages are only a few of those which are spoken in 

 Upper California. It is a remarkable fact that while the interior of 

 the country west of the Rocky Mountains is occupied by a few ex- 

 tensive families (Tahkali, Selish, Sahaptin, and Shoshoni), the whole 

 coast, from the neighborhood of Behring's Strait to Cape St. Lucas, 

 is lined with a multitude of small tribes, speaking distinct idioms. A 

 few of these, as the Tsihailish, Kwalhioqua, and Nsietshawas are 

 allied to the families of the interior, but the greater number are en- 

 tirely unconnected, both with these, and with one another. 



In general it has been remarked that where popular report has 

 represented a barbarous population as speaking a multitude of dissi- 

 milar languages, subsequent researches have greatly diminished their 

 number. Instances of this might be noted particularly in Australia 

 and in the territory east of the Rocky Mountains. In Oregon, how- 

 ever, the contrary has occurred, and the variety of idioms has been 

 found to be much greater than was anticipated. Probably, as has 

 been before remarked, no other part of the world offers an example of 

 so many tribes, with distinct languages, crowded together within a 

 space so limited. 



If we might suppose that the hordes, which, at different periods, 



