346 
SCENES IN THE PACIFIC. 
duty of soldiers for the protection of the Missionaries, and the 
founders of a new colony. The first missionaries were men 
of great piety, benevolence, patience, and perseverance. It 
cannot fail to excite the wonder of any one at all acquainted 
with the indolence and fickleness of the Californian Indians, 
to behold the immense amount of labor, agricultural and me¬ 
chanical, which has been performed by them under the mild 
and paternal government of those monks. Every mission was 
a thriving and happy community until the Mexican Revolu¬ 
tion drove the Padres from the country, and commenced that 
work of rain which has laid them in the dust.” 
While the Missions were being destroyed in the manner 
shown on previous pages, the plantations of individuals some¬ 
what increased in number and extent. So that, although the 
number of domestic animals and the agricultural wealth, 
generally, was greatly reduced by the destruction of the Mis¬ 
sions, there is now believed to be in the country about 
1,000,000 black cattle, 500,000 horses, 420,000 sheep, 3000 
mules, 3000 goats, and 2000 swine. 
These animals roam on the unfenced plains and hills, and 
are never an object of care to the owners, except when they 
desire to brand, butcher, or sell them. The swine are seldom 
used for any other purpose than for making lard and soap. 
The sheep are raised for the wool only ; the goats are used 
for milk ; the mules for draught; the horses for riding only ; 
but those required for such purposes form a very small pro¬ 
portion of the whole number reared. Immense herds of these 
animals live in a wild state in the neighborhood of the settle¬ 
ments, and often become so numerous as to render it neces¬ 
sary to destroy them in great numbers in order to preserve the 
grass for the cattle. I was credibly informed that fifteen 
thousand of these noble animals perished thus in one year, on 
a single hacienda. 
The mode of making legal title to animals in the Califor- 
nias may not be uninteresting. I will give the reader a short 
account of it furnished me by my excellent friend, Dr. Lyman. 
