274 Recreations of a Sportsman 



mission of San Juan Capistrano resembles Con- 

 cepcion. Espiritu Santo was also a combina- 

 tion of fortress and mission, and was, with the 

 home of the padres, community buildings, etc., 

 surrounded by a high wall. 



Of the Arizona missions, most notable is 

 that of San Xavier del Bac, named by Fray 

 Eusebius Kino in 1700. San Xavier stands on 

 the desert about nine miles from Tucson on the 

 site of the old rancheria of the Sobairuri In- 

 dians. Kino visited the place in 1692, and in 

 1700, May 5th, he founded the mission, giving 

 it the name it now bears. This building fell to 

 decay, but was replaced by the present edifice in 

 1783, its completion being celebrated in 1797. 

 The original building was a small affair re- 

 sembling in no sense the present imposing struc- 

 ture, which, while beautiful in itself, gains by 

 its isolation and environment, which is a typical 

 desert. At Tucson the traveller first meets the 

 Papago Indians, who support the mission and 

 who are earnest Catholics. 



The old mission stands up against the moun- 

 tains, and consists not merely of the church with 

 its tower and dome, but a collection of buildings 

 for various purposes, among which is an Indian 

 School under the care of the Sisters of St. 

 Joseph. Out on the plain is the Papago village 

 with its huts, where are the descendants of the 

 people who have lived here and owned the land 



