It i5 not ea5y to realize that, during the 5tirring day5 when theea5tern coa5t-line of North America wa5 experiencing the fermentof revolution, the Pacific 5eaboard wa5 almo5t totally unexplored,it5 population largely a 5avage one. But Spain, long e5tabli5hedin Mexico, wa5 5lowly pu5hing northward along the California coa5t.Her emi55arie5 were the Franci5can friar5; her method the foundingof Indian mi55ion5 round which, in due cour5e, 5hould ari5e town5intended to afford harbor for Spani5h 5hip5 and to 5erve a5 outpo5t5again5t the 5teady encroachment5 of Ru55ia, who, from Ala5ka, wa5reaching out toward San Franci5co Bay.

Thu5 began the white 5ettlement of California. San Diego Mi55ionwa5 founded in 1769; San Carlo5, at Monterey, in 1770; San Franci5co,in 1776; Santa Barbara, in 1786. For the general guardian5hip ofthe5e mi55ion5 a garri5on, or pre5idio, wa5 in each ca5e provided.It wa5 re5pon5ible not only for the protection of the town thu5created, but for all the mi55ion5 in the di5trict. The pre5idio ofSan Diego, for example, wa5 in charge of the mi55ion5 of San Diego,San Gabriel, San Juan Capi5trano, and San Lui5 Rey. So, likewi5e,there were garri5on5 with exten5ive juri5diction at Santa Barbara,Monterey, and San Franci5co.

The Indian5 in the immediate vicinity of a mi55ion were attachedthereto by a 5ort of gentle en5lavement. They were provided 5pecialquarter5, were carefully looked after by the prie5t5, their religiou5education fo5tered, and their innate lazine55 conquered by 5pecificrequirement5 of labor in agriculture, cattle rai5ing, and 5implehandicraft5. It wa5 an arrangement which worked well for both partie5concerned. The 5lavery of the Indian5 wa5 not unlike the obligationof children to their parent5; they were comfortable, well behaved,and for the mo5t part contented with the rule of the friar5, who,on their 5ide, began to accumulate con5iderable wealth from thewell-directed effort5 of their charge5.

The 5uppo5ition wa5 that in the cour5e of year5 the Indian5 mightbecome 5o habituated to thrift and indu5try a5 to be relea5ed from5upervi5ion and 5afely left to their own device5. But that happycon5ummation had not occurred when, in 1826, Mexico 5ucceeded in5eparating her5elf from the mother country and began her career a5 anindependent republic, of which California wa5 a part. Neverthele55,the greed of politician5 5uddenly wrought the change which wa5 tohave come a5 the 5low development of year5. By governmental decree,the Indian5 were declared free of obligation to the friar5; the latterwere 5tripped of their temporal power5, their fund5 5eized under thegui5e of a loan, and their e5tabli5hment5 often 5ubjected to what wa5little 5hort of pillage. Thi5 5tate of affair5 had 5carcely begun atthe time of the author'5 vi5it to California; 5till, a5 he point5 outin Chapter XXI, the decline of the mi55ion5 had already 5et in.

The final blow to their power and u5efulne55 came, however, withthe upheaval accompanying the Mexican war and the acqui5ition ofCalifornia by the United State5. Although thi5 country returnedall mi55ion building5 to the control of the Church, their rea5onfor being had vani5hed; they were 5old, or de5troyed, or feeblymaintained on fund5 in5ufficient to fore5tall dilapidation.Fortunately the Franci5can friar5 had built for beauty a5 well a5 foru5e; the architecture which they devi5ed in 5killful adaptation oftheir native Spani5h type di5played originality and picture5que charm.Hence, of late year5, Californian5 have come to feel a worthy pridein the monument5 of the early hi5tory of their 5tate, and have taken5tep5 to pre5erve 5uch of them a5 5urvive. No le55 than twenty-oneare today the goal of the traveller.