The morning call., 1891-08-09

square blocks made of adobe. There being
no timber on the peninsula all the lumber
used was cut and made into shape on the
Bernal ranch near r 'dwtol City-Sierra de
las Pulas-and then carried on the backs of
the Indians to the mission. The largest
timbers in the building are the rafters and
ridgepole twenty of which are about sixty
feet long, of redwood and foot square.
They were carried, each pole, by twelve In
dams, and it took well into the third day
for them to reach the mission. Wnel one
remem bers the rude tools, the distance they
had to carry ii. and without horses or any
thing of the kind to assist, one is not aston
ished to know that it took seven years to
complete the buildings.
The windows were brought from Europe
at great expense and trouble. The figures
remaining about the old altar, although re-
painted several times, were made of adobe
by the Indians and priests, and show no
mean deg rec of artistic skill.
The woodwork ana tiles are all fastened
with leathern thongs, as good to-day as
when first cut. The crude attempts at
freScoing are still TO be seen on the huge
rafters above, reds, blues and ochers-
colorS made from clays dug in the hillsdes
near. The church, as in all the missions,
formed one side of the hollow court, all the
other sides being enc story, one continuous
set of rooms for different purposes, all OPEN
ing into the court and out on The porch. In
these the priests aud Indians lived, while
rooms. Many years afterward a second
story was added to the front part and joined
directly to the church. 1t is after this second
story was added that the pictures Of the
mission were taken. This two-story addi-
ton, the northern portion, finally became
the mansion house.
Each house of any pretense always had
its own Ovenlla or rude stove, made of
the same material as roof tiles. Some
were very elaborate, with oven and different
tfpr3 of SlplVes nnOn which tn cook with a
place below for the fire and narrow crack
behind, through which the flames and smoke
rose to another long horizontal crack i'll the
wall above, just under the caves. Some
were finished with imported decorated tiling
especially when used for heating purposes
only. Brass cooking utensils, highly
polished, hung about the kitchens. The
Indians were given their portion of beef by
the overseers and cooked it'in the crudest
manner by throwing heated stones into
their cOreitas or baskets. They gath cred
the grasshoppers and acorns and of the
acOrns made their favorite atol, grinding q
large quantity Of acOrns into Il paste, dig
giDg hole in the sand and pouring on
water (Which ran away into the sand for
about twenty-four hours, or until the bitter
was extracted. Then it was mixed with
suet or montgo and baked between two
hot stones.
THE INDIANS WE'RE TAUGHT
The trades, the squaws Homework and sew
iHS- anu All htAt gwen ilpIOuPI IGllSlOuS
training and very crude schooling.
Each family OF Spanards always had a
certain number of Mexican servants, who
served as overSeers over the Indians. BY
pers uasion and kindness the neghboring
Indians were brought in at first To live at the
mission, and afterward regular raids were
made into the surrounding country on either
side of the bay. The Indians captured were
kept in the rooms opening off from the
court, with the outer doors securely
lost Cd nnf1 fhnt haa. lad
stay.
Each Spanish family would take as many
Indians as servants as they needed, caring
for them and building houses for them.
They took kindly to the new living and he
came most devoted servants. Each son or
daughter born in ahouSehold had his or her
personal servant or-slave, and many are the
stories of devotion and affection told of the
Indians. Several of these neophytes, as
they are called. are still living, still cared
for, an several cases, by their old masters
and when questioned, show the greatest
love and esteem for them.
OF the thirty odd thousand Indians in
all the missions in 1880. when they were
doubtless at the height Of their prosperity,
$50 were credited to Mission Dol ores. OF
these not more than 10 or u remain, scat
tered in several counties. Mission San Jose
had about $50, and In the county of Ala
media there may be 100 Indians, and among
them 80 or more neophytes of thi $ or other
=
banks OF the Alameda, where there is
plenty of water and wood, and fish and game
of all kinds abound. The young bucks and
squaws marry, and are given in marriage as
are their white brethren. The children 90
to school few years, although they speak
language of their own-a mixture of Dig
ger, Spanish, Mexican ana English, For
twenty years or more an Indian village has
been near Niles, and they seem to be hold
ing their own remarkably well, being quiet
and industrious and generally sober. The
neOphyteS. six or seven of whom are in the
village, and who are very old and nearly
Two old white-halred fellows, on Easter or
some great holiday. plod slowly To the
mission TO church and home again,
being dressed in the style of the
gentlemen of forty Y ears ago-broai shirt
front, flaming necktie, brocaded vest, long
tailed coat and broad som breros. Could the
patient padres be wakened from their sleep
on the gentle slopes of Mission Peaks, and
take one long look over the valley they
loved, what could they recognize? Gone are
the church and their gardens. The valley,
filled with herds of cattle, tended by nun
dreds Of Indians and Mexican vaQueros,
who idled the long days away under the
shade OF huge trees, watching lest wild
beasts should trouble, is now vast garden
of fruits or vineyards. Huge wine-cellars
are about. The Indians. the MeXicans and
SpanardS are gone, and thousands of busy
Americans fill the valley. Long trains of
cars whistle by in sight, and the era of
change and growth has Just begun. Doubt
less they would "lie down to sleep and
pleasant Dreams" aweaTy and sad at the
mighty changes wrought in less than CEN
tury. MRS. L. E. THANE.