TO SAN DIEGO. 89 
While the preparations were being made for our 
journey, I made a brief visit to the Mission of San 
Luis Rey, forty miles north of San Diego. This is the 
latest of all the California missions, and was founded in 
1798. Itstands in a rich valley, from one to'two miles 
wide, and is about three miles from the ocean, being 
separated therefrom by a range of hills. Of all the 
missionary establishments in the State, this possesses 
the most extensive as well as the most imposing struc- 
ture. Itis built of adobe, although stone and brick are 
used in some portions of it. It faces the south, and has 
a front of five hundred and thirty feet, the greater por- 
tion of which exhibits a colonnade of some architectural 
beauty, although but sixteen or eighteen feet high.* On 
the front is also a church ninety feet in depth, with a 
tower and dome. Northand south, the dimensions are 
upwards of six hundred feet. This vast space included 
every thing that appertained to the mission. On the 
south-eastern corner is a small Campo Santo. Next 
comes the church with the priests’ apartments immed1- 
ately adjoining, and a small inclosure, or garden, shut 
in by the church walls on one side and by the main build- 
ing onthe other. This garden was handsomely laid out, 
and still contains a variety of fruit and ornamental 
trees. The main building is about three hundred feet 
square, with a colonnade in front. In the interior, is 
an open area of the same dimensions, with a beautiful 
colonnade all around. In the centre of this was a gar- 
den; but the only plant of interest that remains, is a 
* The general plan of this building and its admeasurements have 
been mislaid, so that I am unable to give the exact dimensions. 
