82 RETURN FROM SAN FRANCISCO 
Spent the hour that remained before dark in walk- 
ing over the hills with Mr. Hayes. Los Angeles is situ- 
ated in one of the finest agricultural districts in the 
State. It has at various times contained from fifteen 
hundred to two thousand inhabitants, and was formerly 
a place of much wealth. There are many large haci- 
endas and ranchos in the valley, which is in a high state 
of cultivation, abounding in orchards and vineyards. 
Judging of the wine I saw, and the imperfect mode fol- 
lowed in producing it, there is no doubt that an article 
of superior quality might be made here in abundance. 
I saw more Indians about this place than in any 
part of California I had yet visited. They were chiefly 
‘‘ Mission Indians,” 1. e. those who had been connected 
with the missions, and derived their support from them 
until the suppression of those establishments. They 
are a miserable squalid-looking set, squatting or lying 
about the corners of the streets, without occupation. 
They have now no means of obtaining a living, as their 
Jands are all taken from them; and the missions for 
which they labored, and which provided after a sort 
for many thousands of them, are abolished. No care 
seems to be taken of them by the Americans; on the 
contrary, the effort seems to be, to exterminate them 
as soon as possible. One of the most intelligent of 
them, who was brought to me by the kindness of my 
friends here, was unacquainted with the name of the 
tribe to which he belonged, and only knew that it had 
been attached to certain missions. I obtained from 
him a vocabulary, which I found on examination, to be 
the Diegeno language, with some words different from 
that obtained at San Diego. 
