2-20 CALIFORNIA. 



Miguel gave us the secret of this movement, saying, that his wife, 

 after our arrival in the morning, had persuaded him to go to bed ; but 

 he could not resist the opportunity that now offered itself, of telling 

 his old stories over again to willing listeners : and we had scarcely 

 taken our seats, before he began a full account of his birth, parentage, 

 &c, and was about relating his adventures in full, when the bell tolled 

 noon. He immediately sprang upon his feet, faced the south, and 

 began to cross himself, and repeat a prayer with great volubility. In 

 this exercise he continued for a few minutes, until he heard the last 

 taps of the bell. Of this we took advantage, to break up his dis- 

 course ; which, notwithstanding sundry efforts on his part, we suc- 

 ceeded in doing, and it was not long before we heard he was again in 

 bed. His deputy answered all our questions, and assured me that he 

 was well acquainted with the concerns of the mission, for he had 

 heard them very often repeated by the administrador during the last 

 few years. 



The deputy now conducted us through the garden, which is sur- 

 rounded by a high adobe wall, and has a gate that is always kept 

 locked. It was from one and a half to two acres in extent, and 

 mostly planted with grapes, which are cultivated after the Spanish 

 fashion, without trellises : some of the fruit was yet hanging, and was 

 generally of the sweet Malaga kind. Our guide informed me that 

 the mission took the first picking, for the manufacture of wine and to 

 preserve, then the inhabitants, the women of the "gente de razon," 

 and afterwards the children. Strict watch was, however, kept that 

 they did not pull the other fruit. Only a certain number are allowed 

 to work in the garden, and the whole is placed under the constant 

 superintendence of a gardener. It would be almost impossible to 

 protect the fruit otherwise. They have fruit of all kinds, both of the 

 tropical and temperate climates, which they represented as succeed- 

 ing admirably well. A few barrels of wine are made, but nothing 

 can be more rude than their whole process of manufacturing it. 

 The tillage is performed with ploughs that we should deem next to 

 useless ; they are nothing but a crooked piece of timber, four to six 

 inches square, somewhat in the shape of our 

 ploughs, which merely serves to loosen the 

 ground to a depth of three or four inches ; but 

 in such a soil, and in this level land, this rude implement answers 

 the purpose, and produces crops on an average of from sixty to eighty 

 for one. The ploughs are drawn by oxen, and are well adapted to 



