370 
VOYAGE TO THE 
XIII 
Nov. 
1826. 
CHAP, described ; and it is only when sickness prevails to a great extent that it 
is necessary to erect these habitations, in order to separate the sick from 
those who are in health. Sickness in general prevails to an incredible 
extent in all the missions, and on comparing the census of the years 
1786 and 1813, the proportion of deaths appears to be increasing. At 
the former period there had been only 7,701 Indians baptized, out of 
which 2,388 had died; but in 1813 there had been 37,437 deaths to 
only 57,328 baptisms. 
The establishments are badly supplied with medicines, and the 
reverend fathers, their only medical advisers, are inconceivably igno- 
rant of the use of them. In one mission there was a seaman who pre- 
tended to some skill in pharmacy, but he knew little or nothing of it, 
and perhaps often did more harm than good. The Indians are also 
extremely careless and obstinate, and prefer their own simples to any 
other remedies, which is not unfrequently the occasion of their disease 
having a fatal termination. 
The Indians in general submit quietly to the discipline of the 
missions, yet insurrections have occasionally broken out, particularly in 
the early stage of the settlement, when father Tamoral a nd other priests 
suffered martyrdom *. In 1823, also, a priest was murdered in a general 
insurrection in the vicinity of San Luis Eey; and in 1827, the soldiers of 
the garrison were summoned to quell another riot in the same quarter. 
The situations of the missions, particularly that of San Jose, are 
in general advantageously chosen. Each establishment has fifteen 
square miles of ground, of which part is cultivated, and the rest appro- 
priated to the grazing and rearing of cattle ; for in portioning out the 
ground, care has been taken to avoid that ^vhich is barren. The most 
productive farms are held by the missions of San Jose, Santa Clara, 
S4n Juan, and S4nta Cruz. That of S4n Francisco appears to be badly 
situated, in consequence of the cold fogs from the sea, which approach 
the mission through several deep valleys, and turn all the vegetation 
brown that is exposed to them, as is the case in Shetland with the tops 
of every tree that rises above the walls. Still, with care, more might be 
* Noticias de California, by Miguel Venegas. 
