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CALIFORNIA. 
sisted of some eighty Indians, who are daily in practice. He said that 
the Indians were fond of music, had good ears, and little difficulty was 
found in teaching it to them. In making the selections of performers, 
they generally took those whose physical qualifications seemed best 
adapted to the particular instrument, and practice did the rest. In 
this way, such music as pleased the Indians and people of the country, 
and which therefore answered his purposes, was produced. The chapel 
is painted in fresco, or I should rather say daubed, by a young artist 
of Mexico. The saints are all represented in full costume, and the 
scenes depicted are those most likely to attract the attention and wonder 
of the neophytes. The whole has a gaudy and unsightly appearance. 
We parted from Padre Mereador at the church door, knowing it was 
about the hour of his noon service; and received from him a pressing 
invitation to visit him in the evening, to play a game of chess, of which 
he said he was very fond. 
We now returned to the administrador, whom we found enveloped 
in his large overcoat, with a white nightcap on his head, waiting in 
his salle a manger to receive us, and afford us entertainment. Don 
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 ex¬ 
ercise he continued for a few minutes, until he heard the last taps of 
the bell. Of this we took advantage to break up his discourse ; which, 
notwithstanding sundry efforts on his part, we succeeded 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 after 
wards the children. Strict watch was, however, kept that they did 
