TRAVELS IN THE CALIFORNIAS. 
109 
in the centre of the town, which bears very striking testimo¬ 
ny to his being a civilized man. 
There is an old Catholic mission, one mile and three 
quarters above the town, called El Mission de Santa Barbara. 
The church itself is a stone edifice, with two towers on the 
end towards the town, and a high gable between them. The 
friars complimented Father Time, by painting on the latter 
something in the shape of a clock dial. In the towers are 
hung a number of rich toned bells, brought from old Spain 
nearly a hundred years ago. The roof is covered with burnt 
clay tiles, laid in cement. The residence of the Padres, also 
built of stone, forms a wing with the church towards the sea. 
The prisons form another, towards the highlands. Hard by 
are clusters of Indian huts, constructed of adobies and tile, 
standing in rows, with streets between. 
The old Padres seem to have united with their missionary 
zeal a strong sense of comfort and taste. They laid off a 
beautiful garden, a few rods from the church, surrounded it with 
a high substantial fence of stone laid in Roman cement, and 
planted it with limes, almonds, apricots, peaches, apples, 
pears, quinces, &c., which are now annually yielding their 
several fruits in abundance. Before the church they erected 
a series of concentric urn fountains, ten feet in height, from 
the top of which the pure liquid bursts, and falls from one to 
another till it reaches a large pool at the base ; from this it 
is led off a short distance to the statue of a grisly bear, from 
whose mouth it is ejected into a reservoir of solid masonry, 
six feet wide and seventy long. From the pool at the base 
of the urn fountains water is taken for drinking and household 
use. The long reservoir is the theatre of the battling, 
plashing, laughing and scolding of the washing-day. Around 
these fountains are solid, cemented stone pavements, and ducts 
to carry off the surplus water. Nothing of the kind can be in 
better taste, more substantial, or useful. 
Above the church and its cloisters, they brought the water 
17 
