Page:History of California, Volume 3 (Bancroft).djvu/280

262 result was, that more than 250 persons were enlisted, of whom 204 — 99 men, 55 women, and 50 children — were entitled to rations and other aid after their arrival in the promised land.

Híjar and Padrés, like other colonization agents in all times and countries, painted the attractions of the country in bright colors. Then, as in much later times, California was represented, in respect of climate and other natural advantages, as an earthly paradise. There is little evidence, however, that these men made false promises, or went far beyond the limits of honest enthusiasm. Some of the Californians speak of promises to distribute the mission wealth, including the neophytes as servants; of promised opportunities to gain an easy fortune by employing native otter-hunters and pearl-seekers, or to live luxuriously in idleness; and of other inducements equally absurd and false; but the testimony of respectable citizens who were members of the colony does not confirm these theories. Again, it has been the fashion to ridicule the material of which the colony was composed, as having been altogether unfit for colonists. The truth is, that the men were of a class far superior to any that had before been sent as settlers to California. Many were educated, some had property, and all had a trade or profession. There was a notable absence of the low and criminal classes of Mexicans; and the subsequent record of those who remained in the country was favorable. True, they came mostly from the city, and the number of artisans was somewhat too predominant over that of agriculturists; yet such farm laborers as could have been obtained from