CALIFORNIA. 173 



some of these included twelve hundred individuals. During the manage- 

 ment of the Spanish priests, every thing was judiciously conducted : the 

 Indians were well dressed, well fed, and happy ; out of their earnings 

 the priests were able to buy annually ten thousand dollars' worth of 

 articles for their wants and gratification, from the vessels trading upon 

 the coast. Each mission formed a body politic of itself, having its own 

 alcalde, inferior officers, &c, and every thing went on prosperously. 

 The Indians, though at first disinclined to work, soon became indus- 

 trious, when they found the benefits and advantages that accrued to 

 themselves, and became converts to Christianity, so far as forms went, 

 in order to entitle them to its presents. It is not surprising that a rapid 

 increase of wealth took place, considering the number of labourers in 

 the field, added to a rich soil and fine climate. 



As has been before stated, in 1835, orders from the supreme govern- 

 ment were issued, administradors were appointed to each mission, and 

 the priests w r ere deprived of their sway, leaving them only their clerical 

 duties to attend to, with a small stipend. So far as they were person- 

 ally concerned, this was deserved ; for, with but one or two exceptions, 

 their lives were entirely opposite to what they ought to have been ; they 

 were openly and publicly dissolute. The administradors have made 

 themselves and those by whom they were appointed, rich upon the 

 spoils of these missions ; and so great have been the drafts upon some 

 of these missions, that they have not been able to support their 

 neophytes. The mission of San Jose, for instance, during the year of 

 our visit, was obliged to order off* five hundred of its proselytes, to pro- 

 cure their subsistence as they best could. These acts seem to be com- 

 mitted without any kind of consideration, or idea that there is any 

 injustice practised : the property acquired by the missions is looked 

 upon as belonging to the state; the claims of the Indians are entirely 

 overlooked, and in the event of their taking the cattle that in truth 

 belong to them, they are severely punished. This naturally irritates 

 them, for not only can they perceive the injustice of others appropri- 

 ating the fruits of their labour, but are exasperated by seeing them 

 living upon the common stock, while they are obliged to seek a preca- 

 rious subsistence in the forest. 



In consequence of this state of things, depredations are continually 

 committed by the Indians; and, a month previous to the arrival of 

 the squadron, they had driven off three hundred horses. Retaliatory 

 measures on the part of the Californians were adopted ; a party was 

 collected and despatched to punish them, which proceeded towards 

 the interior, came to a village, and without any inquiry whether its 

 dwellers had been the aggressors, it was set on fire, and reduced to 



P2 



