Page:Catholic Encyclopedia, volume 3.djvu/218

 CALIFORNIA

182

CALIFORNIA

benefit of the community. It. was their endeavour to raise or manufacture everything consumed or used by the Indians. For this reason much of the meagre allowance of the friars was invested in agricultural implements and mechanical tools, and it was for that reason, too, that the missions were located where there was sufficient arable land and enough water to irrigate the soil. In this way, notwithstanding the primitiveness of the implements of those days and the frequent droughts, t hi msands of acres of land were brought under cultivation by the natives directed by the missionaries, who themselves, for the sake of example, never disdained to labour like the Indians. The official records show that in the twenty-one mis- sions of Upper California from the year 1770 to the end of 1831, when the general reports cease, there were harvested in round numbers 2,200,000 bushels of wheat, 600,000 bushels of barley, 850,000 bushels of corn, 160,000 bushels of beans, and 100,000 bushels of peas and lentils, not to mention garden vegetables, grapes, olives, and various fruits, for which no reports were required. It must be remembered that before the arrival of the Franciscans the natives raised absolutely nothing, but subsisted upon whatever the earth produced spontaneously, e. g., acorns, seeds, berries in their season, fish near the coast, or, when there was nothing else, on anything that crept above the surface of the land. All the grain now raised and all the fruits, such as apples, oranges, peaches, pears, plums, prunes, lemons, grapes, pomegranates, olives, nuts, etc. were introduced by the missionaries. To irrigate the land long ditches had often to be con- structed, some of which were of solid masonry. The one which brought the water down to Mission San Diego was built of stone and cement, and ran along the river side over a distance of six miles, beginning at a dam made of brick and stone.

Much live stock was raised, not only for the pur- pose of obtaining meat but also for wool, leather, and tallow, and for cultivating the land. Thus the mis- sions in the height of their prosperity owned alto- gether 232,000 head of cattle, 268,000 sheep, 34,000 horses, 3500 mules or burros. 8300 goats, and 3400 swine. These figures are official, though quite dif- ferent from those encountered in the works of writers on California. All these various kinds of animals were brought up from Mexico. It required a great many Indians to guard the herds and flocks, and this occupation created a class of horsemen scarcely sur- passed anywhere. In addition, as almost every- thing was raised or manufactured at the missions except sugar and chocolate, which then served as the common beverage in place of 'coffee or tea, most of the trades were practised among the Indians under the direction of the friars. A special United States report of the year 1852 tells us, what, is evident from the annual mission accounts, that the Franciscans had turned the naked savages into "masons, carpen- ters, plasterers, soapmakers, tanners, shoemakers, blacksmiths, millers, bakers, cooks, brickmakers, carters and cartmakers, weavers and spinners, sad- dlers, shepherds, agriculturists, herdsmen, vintagers, in a word, they filled all the laborious occupations known to civilized society". Nor was secular edu- cation, so called, altogether neglected; but as the Indians were averse to book-learning, and school- books and writing material had to be brought from Mexico on the backs of mules, causing them to be very expensive, and inasmuch as competent school- masters were scarce, the missionaries had to devote their spare t ime to teaching reading, writing, and a lit tie arithmel ii to those boys who evinced any inclination for these branches. Some of the men who later on became most prominent in California politics acquired these necessary arts of civilization from the friars.

It was Mexican independence of Spain that put an end to the prosperity oi the missions and the hap-

piness of their inmates. With the advent of Echean- dia, the first governor under the Mexican Hag, began the decay of those homes of peace for nearly thirty thousand neophytes. In 1835 secularization com- pleted the ruin. According to the intent of the Span- ish laws, which always recognized the Indian's right to his land, secularization meant nothing more than the turning over of the spiritual affairs of the mission from the respective religious order to the bishop of the diocese, while the Indians retained control of the temporalities in severalty or as a whole. To this manner of secularization the friars made no objec- tion. Secularization as practised by the Mexicans and Californians was the turning over of the mission or Indian property to the control of hired commis- sioners appointed by the governor without regard to the wishes of the rightful owners, the Indians, placing the missionary on a level with the secular priest, and leaving it optional to the Indians whether they would practise their religion or not. This kind of seculari- zation, which was disguised confiscation, encountered the fearless opposition of the Franciscans, because the friars insisted that the land and all it produced, along with the live stock and buildings, belonged to the Indians and must be held sacred to the rightful owners; that the neophytes were incapable of manag- ing their property, and therefore it should be left in charge of those who, with the aid of the natives, had accumulated its wealth without, salary or compensa- tion for the benefit of those same Indians, inasmuch as the hired officials were both incompetent and un- worthy of the trust, because they were not looking to the welfare of the rightful owners, but only aimed at enriching themselves. As no court existed to which appeal could be made, the friars were powerless to secure the rights of their wards. The result was similar to that experienced in Lower California. The Indians gradually disappeared; the mission property was squandered; the mission buildings given over to destruction; the missionaries one by one died amid the few faithful who shared the poverty of the beloved jxidre, and the land once cultivated by the neophytes passed into the hands of the avaricious.

Notwithstanding the many drawbacks, the oppo- sition, and the scandalous example of many among the military and the white settlers, the missionaries met with extraordinary spiritual success. Down to the year 1845, when but tew friars and Indians sur- vived, the Fathers had baptized, according to the records, 99,000 persons, of whom possibly nine thou- sand were not Indians; they had blessed 28,000 mar- riages, of which possibly one thousand were not Indians, and they had buried 74,000 dead, four thousand of whom were probably not Indians. The largest number of neophytes harboured, fed, clothed, and instructed at all the missions at one time was nearly thirty thousand.

One hundred and forty-six Friars Minor, all priests and mostly Spaniards by birth, laboured in California from 1769 to 1845. Sixty-seven died at their posts, two as martyrs, and the remainder retired to their mother-houses on account of illness, or at the expira- tion of their ten years of service. The missions from south to north, with the date of founding, were; San I >iego t Hi July. 1769); San Luis Key i 13 June, 1798); San Juan Capistrano (1 Nov., 177ii': San Gabriel (8 Sept., 1771); San Fernando (8 Sept., 1797); San Buenaventura (31 March, 1782); Santa Barbara (4 Dec., 1786); Santa Inez (17 Sept.. 1804); Purisima Concepcion (8 Dec., 1787); San Luis Obispo (1 Sept., 1772); San Miguel (25 July, 1797); San Antonio de Padua (14 July. 1771); Soledad (9 Oct., 1791); San Carlos or Carmelo (3 June, 1770); Santa Cruz (25 Sept.. 1791); San Juan Bautista (24 June, 1797); Santa Clara (12 January, 1777'; San Josd ill June, 1797); San Francisco (9 Oct., 1776); San Rafael