242 OBSERVATIONS OF A RANCHWOMAN 



arousing in the Indian terror and anger, with 

 their inevitable concomitants. 



The Franciscan friars, while not invested 

 with authority to found missions, as were the 

 Jesuits in California, and acting simply as 

 parish priests, swept, nevertheless, into the 

 drag-net of the Church hundreds of Indian 

 ' converts.' 



Following the usual custom of their order, 

 they hurried from pueblo to pueblo, regard- 

 less of personal labour or peril, and having 

 extracted by bribes, threats, or cajoleries, 

 permission to baptize the children, proceeded 

 on their way entirely satisfied with what they 

 had accomplished. Above all alluring to the 

 grown Indian was the prospect held out by 

 the Church of continually recurring feast- 

 days and holidays ; and as time went on, 

 and the natives became more and more sub- 

 servient to Spanish rule, and the friars settled 

 down ' to preach, teach, and say prayers,' 

 these fiestas grew to be the strongest hold 

 possessed by Mother Church over an in- 

 dolent, ease-loving people. And as it was 

 then, so is it now. Mexicans and Indians 

 alike find in their religion much solace for 



