TRAVELS IN TIIE CALIFORNI AS. 
351 
young Indian girls are dressed in scarlet skirts and white 
bodices, or other colors suitable to the occasion. Every In 
dian, male and female, is obliged to attend the worship ; and 
if they lag behind, a large leathern thong, at the end of a 
heavy whip-staff, is applied to their naked backs, that the 
pain of disobedience may be contrasted with the pleasures of 
the opposite course. 
In church, the males and females occupy different sides, 
with a broad aisle between them. In this aisle are stationed 
men with whips and goads to enforce order and silence, and 
keep them in a kneeling posture. By this arrangement, the 
untamed and vicious are generally made willing to comply 
with the forms of the service. In addition to these restraints, 
a guard of soldiers with fixed bayonets occupies one end of 
the church, who may suppress by their more powerful wea¬ 
pons any strong demonstrations against this comfortable mode 
of worshipping God. The choirs of the churches are composed 
of Indians, who perform quite well upon various kinds of 
instruments, and chant with considerable musical accuracy 
It is due to the Padres to say, that they devote nearly all their 
time to the good of the converts; and, bating the objections 
which we have to the manner of conversion, and of sustaining 
them in the way of grace, no fault can be found with them. 
They treat them like children, and appear to have a sincere 
concern that they should live and die in the arms of that 
faith, which they believe to be the only guide of the soul in 
its way to Heaven. 
Los Pueblos, &c. —Los Pueblos, or villages, are small 
towns which grew up near the Missions. Their first inhabitants 
consisted of Spanish emigrants from different parts of Mexico. 
But to these were afterwards added such soldiers of the Pre¬ 
sidios as obtained permission from the King of Spain to retire 
from the service and marry Indian women. Those in Upper 
California which had this origin are Pueblo de los Angelos, in 
Latitude 34° 10' N., and Pueblo deSan Jose de Guadeloupe, in 
Latitude 36° 50' N. In later times another has been established 
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