38 WILD FLOWERS OF THE PACIFIC COAST. 



silent Spanish woman, and asked most politely " if he could be 

 of any service to us." I told him of my errand and desire to 

 secure something from this interesting place. He "would be 

 most happy, senora," and leading us through the old house of the 

 priests into the grounds of the mission, we found ourselves among 

 the tombs of the monks, one of which attracted my attention. It 

 seemed the oldest. The inscription was entirely gone, and across 

 the top the bees were going in and out through a large crack. It 

 made me think of the court riddle so familiar to all, " As they 

 went out and in again, from the dead the living came," etc. 



Growing near, with its branches shading the tomb, was a 

 Chinese cigarette bush. I selected this bunch of blossoms in my 

 sketch because it was the nearest to the tomb and the wind swayed 

 it back and forth over the ashes of the monk who had rested 

 there more than a hundred years. 



The missions of California are very old and interesting. 

 Lower California was entered by the Jesuit missionaries in 1697. 

 The first mission founded was in 1769. They built in all 

 twenty-one mission establishments. The last built was in 1820. 



They selected for their sites the garden spots of the penin- 

 sula, and throve remarkably until 1822, when Mexico became 

 independent of Spain. This event was a death-blow to the 

 Franciscans' establishments, and from that time forward they lost 

 ground, and in 1840 were broken up altogether. 



