206 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 Mercador 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 



