elected Lasuen to the office, and thereafter he resided mainly at
San Carlos.

September 14, 1786, the eminent French navigator, Jean François Galaup
de la Pérouse, with two vessels, appeared at Monterey, and the Frenchman
in the account of his trip gives us a vivid picture of his reception at
the Mission of San Carlos.

A few years later Vancouver, the English navigator, also visited San
Francisco, Santa Clara, and San Carlos. He was hospitably entertained by
Lasuen, but when he came again, he was not received so warmly, doubtless
owing to the fearfulness of the Spaniards as to England's intentions.

When Pico issued his decrees in 1845, San Carlos was regarded as a
pueblo, or abandoned Mission, Padre Real residing at Monterey and
holding services only occasionally. The little property that remained
was to be sold at auction for the payment of debts and the support of
worship, but there is no record of property, debts, or sale. The glory
of San Carlos was departed.

For many years no one cared for the building, and it was left entirely
to the mercy of the vandal and relic hunter. In 1852 the tile roof fell
in, and all the tiles, save about a thousand, were either then broken,
or afterwards stolen. The rains and storms beating in soon brought
enough sand to form a lodgment for seeds, and ere long a dense growth of
grass and weeds covered the dust of California's great apostle.

In _Glimpses of California_ by H.H., Mr. Sandham, the artist, has a
picture which well illustrates the original spring of the roof and curve
of the walls. There were three buttresses, _from which_ sprang the roof
arches. The curves of the walls were made by increasing the thickness
at the top, as can be seen from the window spaces on each side, which
still remain in their original condition. The building is about one
hundred and fifty feet long by thirty feet wide.

In 1868 Rev. Angelo D. Cassanova became the pastor of the parish church
at Monterey, and though Serra's home Mission was then a complete mass of
ruins, he determined upon its preservation, at least from further
demolition. The first step was to clear away the débris that had
accumulated since its abandonment, and then to locate the graves of the
missionaries. On July 3, 1882, after due notice in the San Francisco
papers, over four hundred people assembled at San Carlos, the stone slab
was removed, and the bodies duly identified.

The discovery of the bodies of Serra, Crespí, Lopez, and Lasuen aroused
some sentiment and interest in Father Cassanova's plan of restoration;
and sufficient aid came to enable him properly to restore and roof the
building. On August 28, 1884, the rededication took place, and the
building was left as it is found to-day.

The old pulpit still remains. It is reached by steps from the sacristy
through a doorway in the main side wall. It is a small and unpretentious
structure of wood, with wooden sounding-board above. It rests upon a
solid stone pedestal, cut into appropriate shaft and mouldings. The door
is of solid oak, substantially built.

In the sacristy is a double lavatory of solid sandstone, hewn and
arranged for flowing water. It consists of two basins, one above the
other, the latter one well recessed. The lower basin is structurally
curved in front, and the whole piece is of good and artistic
workmanship.

In the neighborhood of San Carlos there are enough residents to make up
a small congregation, and it is the desire of Father Mestris, the
present priest at Monterey, to establish a parish there, have a resident
minister, and thus restore the old Mission to its original purpose.



CHAPTER XI

THE PRESIDIO CHURCH AT MONTEREY

Before leaving San Carlos it will be well to explain the facts in regard
to the Mission church at Monterey. Many errors have been perpetuated
about this church. There is little doubt but that originally the Mission
was established here, and the first church built on this site. But as I
have elsewhere related, Padre Serra found it unwise to have the Indians
and the soldiers too near together.

In the establishment of the Missions, the presidios were founded to be a
means of protection to the padres in their work of civilizing and
Christianizing the natives. These presidios were at San Diego, Monterey,
San Francisco, and Santa Barbara. Each was supposed to have its own
church or chapel, and the original intention was that each should
likewise have its own resident priest. For purposes of economy, however,
this was not done, and the Mission padres were called upon for this
service, though it was often a source of disagreement between the
military and the missionaries. While the Monterey church that occupied
the site of the present structure may, in the first instance, have been
used by Serra for the Mission, it was later used as the church for the
soldiers, and thus became the presidio chapel. I have been unable to
learn when it was built but about fifty years ago Governor Pacheco
donated the funds for its enlargement. The original building was
extended back a number of feet, and an addition made, which makes the
church of cruciform shape, the original building being the long arm of
the cross. The walls are built of sandstone rudely quarried at the rear
of the church. It is now the parish church of Monterey.

Here are a large number of interesting relics and memorials of Serra and
the early Mission days. The chief of these is a reliquary case, made by
an Indian at San Carlos to hold certain valuable relics which Serra
highly prized. Some of these are bones from the Catacombs, and an Agnus
Dei of wax. Serra himself wrote the list of contents on a slip of paper,
which is still intact on the back of the case. This reliquary used to be
carried in procession by Serra on each fourth of November, and is now
used by Father Mestris in like ceremonials.

[Illustration: PRESIDIO CHURCH AND PRIEST'S RESIDENCE, MONTEREY, CALIF.]

[Illustration: MISSION SAN CARLOS.]

[Illustration: MISSION SAN ANTONIO DE PADUA.]

[Illustration: PRESIDIO CHURCH, MONTEREY.]

In the altar space or sanctuary are five chairs, undoubtedly brought to
California by one of the Philippine galleons from one of those islands,
or from China. The bodies are of teak, ebony, or ironwood, with seats of
marble, and with a disk of marble in the back.

In the sacristy is the safe in which Serra used to keep the sacred
vessels, as well as the important papers connected with his office. It
is an interesting object, sheeted with iron, wrapped around with iron
bands and covered all over with bosses. It is about three feet wide and
four feet high. In the drawers close by are several of the copes,
stoles, maniples, and other vestments which were once used by Serra at
the old Mission.



CHAPTER XII

SAN ANTONIO DE PADUA

The third Mission of the series was founded in honor of San Antonio de
Padua, July 14, 1771, by Serra, accompanied by Padres Pieras and Sitjar.
One solitary Indian heard the dedicatory mass, but Serra's enthusiasm
knew no bounds. He was assured that this "first fruit of the wilderness"
would go forth and bring many of his companions to the priests.
Immediately after the mass he hastened to the Indian, lavished much
attention on him, and gave him gifts. That same day many other Indians
came and clearly indicated a desire to stay with such pleasant company.
They brought pine-nuts and acorns, and the padres gave them in exchange
strings of glass beads of various colors.

At once buildings were begun, in which work the Indians engaged with
energy, and soon church and dwellings, surrounded by a palisade, were
completed. From the first the Indians manifested confidence in the
padres, and the fifteen days that Padre Serra remained were days of
intense joy and gladness at seeing the readiness of natives to associate
with him and his brother priests. Without delay they began to learn the
language of the Indians, and when they had made sufficient progress they
devoted much time to catechising them. In two years 158 natives were
baptized and enrolled, and instead of relying upon the missionaries for
food, they brought in large quantities of acorns, pine-nuts, squirrels,
and rabbits. The Mission being located in the heart of the mountains,
where pine and oak trees grew luxuriantly, the pine-nut and acorn were
abundant. Before the end of 1773 the church and dwellings were all
built, of adobe, and three soldiers, who had married native women, were
living in separate houses.

In August of 1774 occurred the first trouble. The gentile Indians,
angered at the progress of the Mission and the gathering in of so many
of their people, attacked the Mission and wounded an Indian about to be
baptized. When the news reached Rivera at Monterey, he sent a squad of
soldiers, who captured the culprits, gave them a flogging, and
imprisoned them. Later they were flogged again, and, after a few days in
the stocks, they were released.

In 1779 an alcalde and regidore were chosen from the natives to assist
in the administration of justice. In 1800 the report shows that the
neophyte population was 1118, with 767 baptisms and 656 deaths. The
cattle and horses had decreased from 2232 of the last report to 2217,
but small stock had slightly increased. In 1787 the church was regarded
as the best in California, though it was much improved later, for in
1797 it is stated that it was of adobes with a tiled roof. In 1793 the
large adobe block, eighty varas long and one vara wide, was constructed
for friars' houses, church and storehouse, and it was doubtless this
church that was tiled four years later.

In 1805 it gained its highest population, there being 1296 Indians under
its control. The lands of the Mission were found to be barren,
necessitating frequent changes in cultivated fields and stock ranges.

In 1808 the venerable Buenaventura Sitjar, one of the founders of the
Mission, and who had toiled there continuously for thirty-seven years,
passed to his reward, and was buried in sight of the hills he had loved
so long. The following year, or in 1810, work was begun on a newer and
larger church of adobes, and this is doubtless the building whose ruins
now remain. Though we have no record of its dedication, there is no
question but that it took place prior to 1820, and in 1830 references
are made to its arched corridors, etc., built of brick. Robinson, who
visited it in this year, says the whole Mission is built of brick, but
in this he is in error. The _fachada_ is of brick, but the main part of
the building is of adobe. Robinson speaks thus of the Mission and its
friar: "Padre Pedro Cabot, the present missionary director, I found to
be a fine, noble-looking man, whose manner and whole deportment would
have led one to suppose he had been bred in the courts of Europe,
rather than in the cloister. Everything was in the most perfect order:
the Indians cleanly and well dressed, the apartments tidy, the
workshops, granaries, and storehouses comfortable and in good keeping."

[Illustration: RUINS Of MISSION SAN ANTONIO DE PADUA.]

[Illustration: DUTTON HOTEL, JOLON. On the old stage route between San
Francisco and Los Angeles, near Mission San Antonio de Padua.]

[Illustration: RUINED CORRIDORS AT SAN ANTONIO DE PADUA.]

In 1834 Cabot retired to give place to Padre Jesus María Vasquez del
Mercado, one of the newly arrived Franciscans from Zacatecas. In this
year the neophyte population had dwindled to 567, and five years later
Visitador Hartwell found only 270 living at the Mission and its
adjoining ranches. It is possible, however, that there were fully as
many more living at a distance of whom he gained no knowledge, as the
official report for 1840 gives 500 neophytes.

Manuel Crespo was the comisionado for secularization in 1835, and he and
Padre Mercado had no happy times together. Mercado made it so unpleasant
that six other administrators were appointed in order to please him, but
it was a vain attempt. As a consequence, the Indians felt the
disturbances and discord, and became discontented and unmanageable.

In 1843, according to Governor Micheltorena's order of March 29, the
temporal control of the Mission was restored to the padre. But, though
the order was a kindly one, and relieved the padre from the interference
of officious, meddling, inefficient, and dishonest "administrators," it
was too late to effect any real service.

As far as I can learn, Pico's plan did not affect San Antonio, and it
was not one of those sold by him in 1845-1846. In 1848 Padre Doroteo
Ambris was in charge as curate. For thirty years he remained here, true
to his calling, an entirely different kind of man from the quarrelsome,
arrogant, drinking, and gambling Mercado. He finally died at San
Antonio, and was buried in the Mission he guarded so well.

In 1904 the California Historic Landmarks League (Inc.) undertook the
preservation of San Antonio, but little has yet been accomplished. Much
more should speedily be done, if the walls are to be kept from falling.



CHAPTER XIII

SAN GABRIEL, ARCÁNGEL

We have already seen that San Gabriel, the fourth Mission, was founded
September 8, 1771. The natives gave cheerful assistance in bringing
timber, erecting the wooden buildings, covering them with tules, and
constructing the stockade enclosure which surrounded them. They also
brought offerings of acorns and pine-nuts. In a few days so many of them
crowded into camp that Padre Somero went to San Diego for an addition to
the guard, and returned with two extra men. It was not long before the
soldiers got into trouble, owing to their treatment of the Indian women,
and an Indian attack, as before related, took place. A few days later,
Fages appeared on the scene from San Diego with sixteen soldiers and two
missionaries, who were destined as guard and priests for the new Mission
of San Buenaventura. But the difficulty with the Indians led Fages to
postpone the founding of the new Mission. The offending soldier was
hurried off to Monterey to get him out of the way of further trouble.
The padres did their best to correct the evil impression the soldiers
had created, and, strange to say, the first child brought for baptism
was the son of the chief who had been killed in the dispute with
the soldiers.

But the San Gabriel soldiers were not to be controlled. They were
insolent to the aged priests, who were in ill-health; they abused the
Indians so far as to pursue them to their rancherías "for the fun of the
thing;" and there they had additional "sport" by lassoing the women and
killing such men as interfered with their lusts. No wonder Serra's heart
was heavy when he heard the news, and that he attributed the small
number of baptisms--only seventy-three in two years--to the wickedness
of the men who should have aided instead of hindering the work.

In his first report to Mexico, Serra tells of the Indian population
around San Gabriel. He says it is larger than at any other Mission,
though, unfortunately, of several different tribes who are at war with
one another; and the tribes nearest to the sea will not allow others to
fish, so that they are often in great want of food. Of the prospects for
agriculture he is most enthusiastic. The location is a well-watered
plain, with plenty of water and natural facilities for irrigation; and
though the first year's crop was drowned out, the second produced one
hundred and thirty fanegas of maize and seven fanegas of beans. The
buildings erected are of the same general character as those already
described at San Carlos, though somewhat smaller.

[Illustration: INTERIOR OF MISSION SAN ANTONIO DE PADUA.]

[Illustration: REAR OF CHURCH, MISSION SAN ANTONIO DE PADUA.]

[Illustration: RUINS OF THE ARCHES, MISSION SAN ANTONIO DE PADUA.]

[Illustration: MISSION SAN GABRIEL ARCÁNGEL.]

When Captain Anza reached California from Sonora, by way of the
Colorado, on his first trip in 1774, accompanied by Padre Garcés, he
stayed for awhile to recuperate at San Gabriel; and when he came the
second time, with the colonists for the new presidio of San Francisco,
San Gabriel was their first real stopping-place after that long, weary,
and arduous journey across the sandy deserts of Arizona and California.
Here Anza met Rivera, who had arrived the day before from Monterey. It
will be remembered that just at that time the news came of the Indian
uprising at San Diego; so, leaving his main force and the immigrants to
recuperate, he and seventeen of his soldiers, with Padre Font, started
with Rivera for the south. This was in January, 1776. He and Rivera did
not agree as to the best methods to be followed in dealing with the
troublesome Indians; so, when advices reached him from San Gabriel that
provisions were giving out, he decided to allow Rivera to follow his own
plans, but that he would wait no longer. When he arrived at San Gabriel,
February 12, he found that three of his muleteers, a servant, and a
soldier belonging to the Mission had deserted, taking with them
twenty-five horses and a quantity of Mission property. His ensign,
Moraga, was sent after the deserters; but, as he did not return as soon
as was expected, Anza started with his band of colonists for the future
San Francisco, where they duly arrived, as is recorded in the San
Francisco chapter.

In 1777-1778 the Indians were exceedingly troublesome, and on one
occasion came in large force, armed, to avenge some outrage the soldiers
had perpetrated. The padres met them with a shining image of Our Lady,
when, immediately, they were subdued, and knelt weeping at the feet of
the priests.

In October, 1785, trouble was caused by a woman tempting (so they said)
the neophytes and gentiles to attack the Mission and kill the padres.
The plot was discovered, and the corporal in command captured some
twenty of the leaders and quelled the uprising without bloodshed. Four
of the ringleaders were imprisoned, the others whipped with fifteen or
twenty lashes each, and released. The woman was sentenced to perpetual
exile, and possibly shipped off to one of the peninsula Missions.

In 1810 the settlers at Los Angeles complained to the governor that the
San Gabriel padres had dammed up the river at Cahuenga, thus cutting off
their water supply; and they also stated that the padres refused to
attend to the spiritual wants of their sick. The padres offered to
remove the dam if the settlers were injured thereby, and also claimed
that they were always glad to attend to the sick when their own pressing
duties allowed.

On January 14, 1811, Padre Francisco Dumetz, one of Serra's original
compadres, died at San Gabriel. At this time, and since 1806, Padre
José María Zalvidea, that strict martinet of padres, was in charge, and
he brought the Mission up to its highest state of efficiency. He it was
who began the erection of the stone church that now remains, and the
whole precinct, during his rule, rang with the busy hammer, clatter,
chatter, and movement of a large number of active workers.

It was doubtless owing to the earthquake of December 8, 1812, which
occurred at sunrise, that a new church was built. The main altar was
overthrown, several of the figures broken, the steeple toppled over and
crashed to the ground, and the sacristy walls were badly cracked. The
padres' house as well as all the other buildings suffered.

One of the adjuncts to San Gabriel was _El Molino Viejo_,--the old mill.
Indeed there were _two_ old mills, the first one, however, built in
Padre Zalvidea's time, in 1810 to 1812, being the one that now remains.
It is about two miles from the Mission. It had to be abandoned on
account of faulty location. Being built on the hillside, its west main
wall was the wall of the deep funnel-shaped cisterns which furnished the
water head. This made the interior damp. Then, too, the chamber in which
the water-well revolved was so low that the powerful head of water
striking the horizontal wheel splashed all over the walls and worked up
through the shaft holes to the mill stones and thus wet the flour. This
necessitated the constant presence of Indian women to carry away the
meal to dry storerooms at the Mission where it was bolted by a hand
process of their own devising. On this account the mill was abandoned,
and for several years the whole of the meal for the Mission was ground
on the old-style metates.

The region adjacent to the mill was once largely inhabited by Indians,
for the foreman of the mill ranch declares that he has hauled from the
adjacent bluff as many stone pestles and mortars, metates and grinders
as would load a four-horse wagon.

It should not be forgotten that originally the mill was roofed with red
tiles made by the Indians at the Mission; but these have entirely
disappeared.

It was the habit of Padre Zalvidea to send certain of his most trusted
neophytes over to the islands of San Clemente and Catalina with a "bolt"
or two of woven serge, made at the Mission San Gabriel, to exchange with
the island Indians for their soapstone cooking vessels,--mortars, etc.
These traders embarked from a point where Redondo now is, and started
always at midnight.

In 1819 the Indians of the Guachama rancho, called San Bernardino,
petitioned for the introduction of agriculture and stock raising, and
this was practically the beginning of that _asistencia_, as will be
recorded in the chapter on the various chapels. A chapel was also much
needed at Puente, where Zalvidea had six hundred Indians at work
in 1816.

In 1822 San Gabriel was fearfully alarmed at the rumor that one hundred
and fifty Indians were bearing down upon that Mission from the Colorado
River region. It transpired that it was an Opata with despatches, and
that the company had no hostile intent. But Captain Portilla met them
and sent them back, not a little disconcerted by their inhospitable
reception.

Of the wild, political chaos that occurred in California after Mexico
became independent of Spain, San Gabriel felt occasional waves. When the
people of San Diego and the southern part of the State rebelled against
Governor Victoria, and the latter confident chief came to arrange
matters, a battle took place near Los Angeles, in which he was severely
wounded. His friends bore him to San Gabriel, and, though he had
entirely defeated his foes, so cleverly did some one work upon his fears
that he made a formal surrender, December 6, 1831. On the ninth the
leader of the rebels, the former Governor Echeandía, had a conference
with him at San Gabriel, where he pledged himself to return to Mexico
without giving further trouble; and on the twentieth he left, stopping
for awhile at San Luis Rey with Padre Peyri. It was at this time the
venerable and worthy Peyri decided to leave California, and he therefore
accompanied the deposed governor to San Diego, from which port they
sailed January 17, 1832.

After secularization San Gabriel was one of the Missions that
slaughtered a large number of her cattle for the hides and tallow. Pio
Pico states that he had the contract at San Gabriel, employing ten
vaqueros and thirty Indians, and that he thus killed over five thousand
head. Robinson says that the rascally contractors secretly appropriated
two hides for every one they turned over to the Mission.

In 1843, March 29, Micheltorena's order, restoring San Gabriel to the
padres, was carried out, and in 1844 the official church report states
that nothing is left but its vineyards in a sad condition, and three
hundred neophytes. The final inventory made by the comisionados under
Pio Pico is missing, so that we do not know at what the Mission was
valued; but June 8, 1846, he sold the whole property to Reid and Workman
in payment for past services to the government. When attacked for his
participation in what evidently seemed the fraudulent transfer of the
Mission, Pico replies that the sale "did not go through." The United
States officers, in August of the same year, dispossessed the
"purchasers," and the courts finally decreed the sale invalid.

There are a few portions of the old cactus hedge still remaining,
planted by Padre Zalvidea. Several hundreds of acres of vineyard and
garden were thus enclosed for purposes of protection from Indians and
roaming bands of horses and cattle. The fruit of the prickly pear was a
prized article of diet by the Indians, so that the hedge was of benefit
in two ways,--protection and food.

On the altar are several of the old statues, and there are some quaint
pictures upon the walls.

In the baptistry is a font of hammered copper, probably made either at
San Gabriel or San Fernando. There are several other interesting
vessels. At the rear of the church are the remains of five brick
structures, where the soap-making and tallow-rendering of the Mission
was conducted. Five others were removed a few years ago to make way for
the public road. Undoubtedly there were other buildings for the women
and male neophytes as well as the workshops.

The San Gabriel belfry is well known in picture, song, and story. Yet
the fanciful legends about the casting of the bells give way to stern
fact when they are examined. Upon the first bell is the inscription:
"Ave María Santisima. S. Francisco. De Paula Rvelas, me fecit." The
second: "Cast by G.H. Holbrook, Medway, Mass., 1828." The third: "Ave
Maria, Sn Jvan Nepomvseno, Rvelas me fecit, A.D., '95." The fourth:
"Fecit Benitvs a Regibvs, Ano D. 1830, Sn. Frano."

In the year 1886 a number of needed repairs were made; the windows were
enlarged, and a new ceiling put in, the latter a most incongruous
piece of work.



CHAPTER XIV

SAN LUIS OBISPO DE TOLOSA

Founded, as we have seen, by Serra himself, September I, 1772, by the
end of 1773 the Mission of San Luis Obispo could report only twelve
converts. Serra left the day after the founding, leaving Padre Cavalier
in charge, with two Indians from Lower California, four soldiers and
their corporal. Their only provisions were a few hundred pounds of flour
and wheat, and a barrel of brown sugar. But the Indians were kind, in
remembrance of Fages's goodness in shooting the bears, and brought them
venison and seeds frequently, so they "managed to subsist" until
provisions came.

Padre Cavalier built a neat chapel of logs and apartments for the
missionaries, and the soldiers soon erected their own barracks. While
the Indians were friendly, they did not seem to be particularly
attracted to the Mission, as they had more and better food than the
padre, and the only thing he had that they particularly desired was
cloth. There was no ranchería in the vicinity, but they were much
interested in the growth of the corn and beans sown by the padre, and
which, being on good and well-watered land, yielded abundantly.

[Illustration: MISSION SAN GABRIEL ARCÁNGEL.]

[Illustration: SAN LUIS OBISPO BEFORE RESTORATION.]

[Illustration: RUINED MISSION OF SAN JUAN CAPISTRANO. Showing campanile
and protected arched corridors.]

[Illustration: THE RESTORED MISSION OF SAN LUIS OBISPO.]

In 1776 certain gentiles, who were hostile to some Indians that were
sheltered by the padres, attacked the Mission by discharging burning
arrows upon the tule roof of the buildings, and everything was
destroyed, save the church and the granary. Rivera came at once,
captured two of the ringleaders, and sent them for punishment to the
Monterey presidio. The success of the gentiles led them to repeat their
attacks by setting fire to the Mission twice during the next ten years,
and it was these calamities that led one of the San Luis padres to
attempt the making of roof tiles. Being successful, it was not long
before all the Missions were so roofed.

In 1794 certain of the neophytes of San Luis and La Purísima conspired
with some gentiles to incite the Indians at San Luis to revolt, but the
arrest and deportation of fifteen or twenty of the ringleaders to
Monterey, to hard labor at the presidio, put a stop to the revolt.

Padres Lasuen and Tapis both served here as missionaries, and in 1798
Luis Antonio Martinez, one of the best known of the padres, began his
long term of service at San Luis. In 1794 the Mission reached its
highest population of 946 souls. It had 6500 head of cattle and horses,
6150 sheep. In 1798 it raised 4100 bushels of wheat, and in this same
year a water-power mill was erected and set in motion. San Luis was
also favored by the presence of a smith, a miller and a carpenter of
the artisan instructors, sent by the king in 1794. Looms were erected,
and cotton brought up from San Blas was woven. A new church of adobes,
with a tile roof, was completed in 1793, and that same year a portico
was added to its front.

In 1830 Padre Martinez was banished to Madrid, and at this time the
buildings at San Luis were already falling into decay, as the padre,
with far-seeing eye, was assured that the politicians had nothing but
evil in store for them. Consequently, he did not keep up things as he
otherwise would have done. He was an outspoken, frank, fearless man, and
this undoubtedly led to his being chosen as the example necessary to
restrain the other padres from too great freedom of speech and manner.

In 1834 San Luis had 264 neophytes, though after secularization the
number was gradually reduced until, in 1840, there were but 170 left.
The order of secularization was put into effect in 1835 by Manuel Jimeno
Casarin. The inventory of the property in 1836 showed $70,000. In 1839
it was $60,000. In 1840 all the horses were stolen by "New Mexican
traders," one report alone telling of the driving away of 1200 head. The
officers at Los Angeles went in pursuit of the thieves and one party
reported that it came in full sight of the foe retiring deliberately
with the stolen animals, but, as there were as many Americans as
Indians in the band, they deemed it imprudent to risk a conflict.

In December of 1846, when Frémont was marching south to co-operate with
Stockton against the Southern Californians, San Luis was thought to
harbor an armed force of hostiles. Accordingly Frémont surrounded it one
dark, rainy night, and took it by sudden assault. The fears were
unfounded, for only women, children, and non-combatants were found.

The Book of Confirmations at San Luis has its introductory pages written
by Serra. There is also a "Nota" opposite page three, and a full-page
note in the back in his clear, vigorous and distinctive hand.

There are three bells at San Luis Obispo. The largest is to the right,
the smallest in the center. On the largest bell is the following
inscription: "Me fecit ano di 1818 Manvel Vargas, Lima. Mision de Sn
Luis Obispo De La Nueba California." This latter is a circumferential
panel about midway between the top and bottom of the bell. On the middle
bell we read the same inscription, while there is none on the third.
This latter was cast in San Francisco, from two old bells which
were broken.

From a painting the old San Luis Obispo church is seen to have been
raised up on a stone and cement foundation. The corridor was without the
arches that are elsewhere one of the distinctive features, but plain
round columns, with a square base and topped with a plain square
moulding, gave support to the roof beams, on which the usual red-tiled
roof was placed.

The _fachada_ of the church retreats some fifteen or twenty feet from
the front line of the corridors. The monastery has been "restored," even
as has the church, out of all resemblance to its own honest original
self. The adobe walls are covered with painted wood, and the tiles have
given way to shingles, just like any other modern and commonplace house.
The building faces the southeast. The altar end is at the northwest. To
the southwest are the remains of a building of boulders, brick, and
cement, exactly of the same style as the asistencia building of Santa
Margarita. It seems as if it might have been built by the same hands.
Possibly in the earlier days Santa Margarita was a _vista_ of San Luis,
rather than of San Miguel, though it is generally believed that it was
under the jurisdiction of the latter.



CHAPTER XV

SAN FRANCISCO DE ASIS

The story of Bucareli's determination to found a presidio at San
Francisco, and Anza's march with the colonists for it from Sonora, has
already been recounted. When Serra and Galvez were making their original
plans for the establishment of the three first Missions of Alta
California, Serra expressed his disappointment that St. Francis was
neglected by asking: "And for our founder St. Francis there is no
Mission?" To which Galvez replied: "If St. Francis desires a Mission,
let him show us his harbor and he shall have one." It therefore seemed
providential that when Portolá, Pages, and Crespí, in 1769, saw the Bay
of Monterey they did not recognize it, and were thus led on further
north, where the great Bay of San Francisco was soon afterwards
discovered and reasonably well surveyed.

Palou eventually established the Mission October 9, 1776. None of the
Indians were present to witness the ceremony, as they had fled, the
preceding month, from the attacks of certain of their enemies. When they
returned in December they brought trouble with them. They stole all in
their reach; one party discharged arrows at the corporal of the guard;
another insulted a soldier's wife; and an attempt was made to kill the
San Carlos neophyte who had been brought here. The officers shut up one
of these hostiles, whereat a party of his comrades rushed to the rescue,
fired their arrows at the Mission, and were only driven back when the
soldiers arrived and fired their muskets in the air. Next day the
sergeant went out to make arrests and another struggle ensued, in which
one was killed and one wounded. All now sued for peace, which, with
sundry floggings, was granted. For three months they now kept away from
the Mission.

In 1777 they began to return, and on October 4, Padre Serra, on his
first visit, was able to say mass in the presence of seventeen adult
native converts. Then, passing over to the presidio on October 10, as he
stood gazing on the waters flowing out to the setting sun through the
purple walls of the Golden Gate, he exclaimed with a heart too full of
thanksgiving to be longer restrained: "Thanks be to God that now our
father St. Francis with the Holy Cross of the Procession of Missions,
has reached the last limit of the Californian continent. To go farther
he must have boats."

In 1782, April 25, the corner-stone of a new church was laid at San
Francisco. Three padres were present, together with the Mission guard
and a body of troops from the presidio. In the Mission records it says:
"There was enclosed in the cavity of said corner-stone the image of our
Holy Father St. Francis, some relics in the form of bones of St. Pius
and other holy martyrs, five medals of various saints, and a goodly
portion of silver coin."

In 1785 Governor Pages complained to the viceroy, among other things,
that the presidio of San Francisco had been deprived of mass for three
years, notwithstanding the obligation of the friars to serve as
chaplains. Palou replied that the padres were under no obligation to
serve gratuitously, and that they were always ready to attend the
soldiers when their other duties allowed.

In November, 1787, Captain Soler, who for a brief time acted as
temporary governor and inspector, suggested that the presidio of San
Francisco be abandoned and its company transferred to Santa Barbara.
Later, as I have shown elsewhere, a proposition was again made for the
abandonment of San Francisco; so it is apparent that Fate herself was
protecting it for its future great and wonderful history.

In 1790 San Francisco reported 551 baptisms and 205 deaths, with a
present neophyte population of 438. Large stock had increased to 2000
head and small to 1700.

Three years later, on November 14, the celebrated English navigator,
George Vancouver, in his vessel "Discovery," sailed into San Francisco
Bay. His arrival caused quite a flutter of excitement both at the
presidio and Mission, where he was kindly entertained. The governor was
afraid of this elaborate hospitality to the hated and feared English,
and issued orders to the commandant providing for a more frigid
reception in the future, so, on Vancouver's second visit, he did not
find matters so agreeable, and grumbled accordingly.

Tiles were made and put on the church roofs in 1795; more houses were
built for the neophytes, and all roofed with tiles. Half a league of
ditch was also dug around the potrero (pasture ground) and fields.

In 1806 San Francisco was enlivened by the presence of the Russian
chamberlain, Rezánof, who had been on a special voyage around the world,
and was driven by scurvy and want of provisions to the California
settlements. He was accompanied by Dr. G.H. von Langsdorff. Langsdorff's
account of the visit and reception at several points in California is
interesting. He gives a full description of the Indians and their method
of life at the Mission; commends the zeal and self-sacrifice of the
padres; speaks of the ingenuity shown by the women in making baskets;
the system of allowing the cattle and horses to run wild, etc. Visiting
the Mission of San José by boat, he and his companions had quite an
adventurous time getting back, owing to the contrary winds.

Rezánof's visit and its consequences have been made the subject of much
and romantic writing. Gertrude Atherton's novel, _Rezánof_, is devoted
to this episode in his life. The burden of the story is possibly true,
viz., that the Russians in their settlements to the north were suffering
for want of the food that California was producing in abundance. Yet,
owing to the absurd Spanish laws governing California, she was forbidden
to sell to or trade with any foreign peoples or powers. Rezánof, who was
well acquainted with this prohibitory law, determined upon trying to
overcome it for the immediate relief of his suffering compatriots. He
was fairly well received when he reached San Francisco, but he could
accomplish nothing in the way of trading or the sale of the needed
provisions.