Page:The American Cyclopædia (1879) Volume III.djvu/620

 614 CALIFORNIA the Olamentke on Bodega bay, the Mutsun, and Acagchemem near Monterey ; there were Sho- shonee tribes further south, and then Yuma tribes. All these were on the lowest scale of humanity, went naked, used rude weapons, lived in mere huts of boughs or reeds, and were disgusting in food and manners. Nowhere was there more unpromising material for mission- aries, yet in no part were missions established on a grander scale. The Jesuits began their reductions in 1697. A revolt took place in 1734, in which nearly all the missions were sus- pended, but they were soon restored. They trained the Indians to agriculture and the me- chanical arts, and though the sloth of the In- dians required a somewhat strict discipline, they made these communities self-sustaining. At the suppression of the Jesuits there were 16 of these missions. They then passed to the Dominicans and Franciscans, and in 1786 could still number 4,000 Christian Indians ; but they have since greatly declined. The Franciscans began missions in Upper California in 1768, and conducted them with success, collecting the Indians, training and governing them. In 1834 these missions contained 30,000 Indians. The northern Indians were superior to those of the lower province, making good bows and arrows, nets, and rafts of bulrushes. They burned their dead. Their religious ideas were very vague, the medicine men being as usual the priests. Vapor and hot sand baths were their usual remedies. Under the Mexican government these missions were so broken up that in 1842 the population had dwindled to 4,450, their cattle were nearly gone, and their cultivated lands waste. The Mexican law rec- ognized them as proprietors of these mission lands, but under the United States government this right has been ignored, and the surviving mission Indians in the counties of San Diego and San Bernardino, numbering 5,000, are homeless. They are to a certain extent civiliz- ed, and are hired by the whites. A proposal to place them on a reservation has led to diffi- culties fanned by interested whites. Besides the remnant of mission Indians, there were in 1871 800 Hoopas and Siahs, at the Hoopa Val- ley agency on Trinity river; 2,365 Klamath Indians, on the river of that name ; 796 Ukies, Pitt Rivers, Wylackies, Concows, and Red- woods, on Round Valley reservation ; 176 Tul6s and 198 Tejons on the Tul6 reservation ; 500 Wichumnies, Coweas, and Yokas, in the same county ; and about 15,000 of other tribes scattered in various parts. ALIFORNIA, Lower or Old (Span. Baja or Vieja California), a territory of Mexico, occu- pying the peninsula extending N. W. from Cape San Lucas, lat. 22 52' N., Ion. 109 53' W., about 750 m. to lat. 32 20' N., and having a breadth of from 30 to 150 m. ; bounded N. by California, E. by the Colorado river, which separates it from Arizona and Sonora, and by the gulf of California, S. and W. by the Pacific; area, about 57,500 sq. m. ; pop. in 1868, 21,645. The population consists chiefly of Indians and mixed races, mostly residing in the southern portion of the peninsula. It is divided into eight municipalities (municipalidades), each having an alcalde, or juez del distrito, as its judicial head. The principal towns are La Paz,' the capital, at the head of a bay on the S. part of the gulf coast,, and Loreto, about 150 m. further N., both very small. The coasts are flat, sandy, irregular, and frequently in- dented by coves and bays, while, especially along the gulf, they are skirted by many small islands. The principal islands on the Pacific coast are Cedros and Santa Margarita ; Guada- lupe, about 120 m. N. W. of Cedros, also belongs to the territory. On the gulf coast are the islands of Ceralbo, Espiritu Santo, San Josd, Carmen, and Angelo de la Guarda. The prin- cipal bays on the Pacific coast, commencing at the north, are those of Todos Santos, San Quintin, Sebastian Viscaino, Ballenas, and La Magdalena, which for the last 50 years has been visited by American whalers, sealers, and fur hunters, who since 1854 have had regular establishments there. Entering the gulf, the first important bay is that of La Paz, which penetrates the land S. from Espiritu Santo island some 25 m., with a breadth of from 6 to 10 m. The cove opposite the town of La Paz may be reached by vessels drawing not over 1 18 or 20 ft. of water ; this port is a stopping point for steamers from San Francisco to the ports along the Mexican coast. Loreto is, next to La Paz, the best harbor on this coast. Other ports are Los Angeles, and, near the head of the gulf, San Felipe Jesus. The peninsula is of volcanic origin, and is traversed throughout by mountains, which may be considered a con- tinuation of the Sierra Nevada and Coast ranges. It is divided into three regions. From Cape San Lucas due N. to Cape La Paz, in lat. 24 20', about 100 m., stretches the chain known as Sierra de San Lazaro, having an average height of about 6,000 ft., and forming the back- bone of the lower portion of the peninsula. Separated from this chain by La Paz bay, but commencing about the 24th parallel, is the Sierra de la Gigantea, a chain having an average elevation of from 3,000 to 4,000 ft., but with occasional peaks 6,000 to 8,000 ft. high. It ex- tends N. W. to about lat. 30 35', a distance of 500 m., and adheres closely to the gulf shore, from which it rises almost perpendicularly, while on the west it declines gradually in gentle slopes or plateaus, with occasional broken tracts, toward the Pacific. About lat. 29 the Coast range commences, and from lat. 30 40' the E. side of the peninsula, for a breadth of nearly 30 m. from this range to the head of the gulf and the Colorado river, is low and nearly level. Be- tween lat. 26 40' and 27 50' the peninsula sud- denly extends W., having an average breadth of about 135 m., and a range of coast hills of considerable altitude stretches N. W. and S. E. near the Pacific. In this region the land along the shore is low, and there are extensive la-