BULL. 301 



MISSIONS 



895 



decay of 70 years. Around each mission, 

 except in tlie extreme n., were jirovcs of 

 palms, l)anaiias, oranges, olives, and tigs, 

 together witli extensive vineyards, while 

 more than 400,0(11) cattle ranged the pas- 

 tures. Workshops, school ro<tms, store- 

 rooms, chapels, dormitories, and liosjiitals 

 were all i)rovided for, and in additi«in to 

 religious instruction and ordinary school 

 studies, weaving, pottery-making, carpen- 

 try, and every other most usetnl trade 

 and occupation were taught to the neo- 

 phytes, besides the violin and other in- 

 struments to those who disjjiayed apti- 

 tude in nmsic. There weie lixed hours 

 for prayers and work, with three hours 

 of rest at noon, and dancing and other 

 amusements after supper and the angelus, 

 which was one hour before sunset. The 

 diet consisted of an al)undance of fresh 

 beef, nuitton, wheat and corn bread, and 

 beans, from their own lierds and planta- 

 tions. From the sale of the surplns were 

 bought clothing, toV)acco, and trinkets 

 for the Indians, and the necessary church 

 supplies. At seasonable intervals there 

 were outing excursions to allow the neo- 

 phytes to visit their wilder relatives in 

 the hills. The missionaries taught by 

 practical example at the plow, the brick- 

 kiln, and in the vineyard. Duf^ot de Mo- 

 fras, who made an official tour of the mis- 

 sions on behalf of the French govern- 

 ment shortly before their utter rnin, says: 

 "Necessity makes the missionaries indus- 

 trious. One is strnck with astonishment 

 at seeing that with such small resources, 

 generally without any European work- 

 men, and with the aid of savage popula- 

 tions whose intelligence was of the lowest 

 order and who were often hostile, besides 

 the vast agricultural culture, they have 

 been able to execute such extensive 

 works of architecture and mechanical 

 structures, sucli as mills, macliinery, and 

 workshops, besides bridges, roads, and 

 canals for irrigation. The construction 

 of almost all these missions required that 

 timber, often cut upon steep mountains, 

 should be brought 25 to HO miles, and 

 that the Indians should be taught how to 

 make lime, cut stone, and mould bricks. 

 This fact can not be mistaken-^it was 

 not merely by proselvtism that the old 

 missionaries succeeded in attracting the 

 Indians. In the work of their conver- 

 sion, if religion was the end, material 

 comfort was the means. The mission- 

 aries had re-solved the great problem of 

 making labor attractive." 



The Indians themselves, of many tribes 

 and (halects, were for the most part un- 

 warlike and tractable, but without native 

 energy, and probably, in their original 

 condition, lower in the scale of civiliza- 

 tion and morality than any others within 

 the limits of the United States. Infanti- 



cide prevailed to sucli a degree that even 

 the most earnest efforts of the mission- 

 aries were unable to stamp it out, the fact 

 showing how little the new teaching 

 really affected the deeper instinct of the 

 savage. Althongii there were fre(juent 

 raids by the wild tribes, there was little 

 serious opposition to mission discipline, 

 wliicli was supported when necessary ])y 

 military assistance from the nearest gar- 

 rison. Despite regular life, abundance of 

 food, and properclothingaccordingto the 

 season, the Indian withered away under 

 the restrictions of civilization supple- 

 mented by epidemic diseases introduced 

 by the, military garrisons or the seal hunt- 

 ers along the coast. The death rate was 

 so enormous in sjjite of ajiparent material 

 advancement that it is probable that the 

 former factor alone would have brought 

 about the extinction of the missions with- 

 in a few generations. 



But all this prosperity at last excited 

 the cupidity of the recently established 

 revolutionary government of Mexico, and 

 in 1833-34 decrees were ])assed to "secu- 

 larize" the missions and to expel the 

 missionaries, who, as Spaniards, were 

 hated by the revolutionists. The mission 

 funds and vast herds were confiscated, 

 the lands were distributed to eager polit- 

 ical adventurers, and minor vandals com- 

 pleted the work of destruction by taking 

 even the tiles from the roofs and digging 

 up the vines and fruit trees in the gar- 

 dens. Some abortive ])rovisiou was made 

 for the Indians, of which in their help- 

 lessness they were unable to avail them- 

 selves, and in a few years, left without 

 their protectors, they had again scattered 

 to the mountains and swamps or sunk 

 into the lowest degradation in the new- 

 mining towns. In 1834, when the blow 

 came, the California missions had 30,650 

 Indians, with 424,000 cattle, 62,500 

 horses and mules; 321,900 sheep, goats, 

 and hogs; and produced 122,500 bushels 

 of wheat and corn. In 1842 there re- 

 mained only 4,450 Indians, 28,220 cattle, 

 and the rest in proportion. To-day, ac- 

 cording to official report, there remain of 

 theold Mission Indiansonly 2,855, whose 

 condition is a subject of constant seri- 

 ous concern to philanthropists. 



Two other California missions have a 

 briefer history. In 1780 the military 

 commander oi' the Sonora district deter- 

 mined to establish among the warlike 

 Yuma two garrison posts with colony and 

 mission attachments, despite the protests 

 of the missionaries concerned, who fore- 

 saw that the combination would be dis- 

 astrous to their own part of the work. 

 Two sites were selected, however, in the 

 tall ol the year on the w bank of the Col- 

 orado — ttieone, La Puri'sima Concepcion, 

 occupying the site of old Ft Yuma, the 



