. M .
C H A P . sometimes acorns, to which at noon is generally added meat. Clothing
7 1 7 ® better kind than that worn by the Indians is given to the officers
Nov.
i 8 2 tí.
of the missions, both as a reward for their services, and to create an
emulation in others.
I f it should happen that there is a scarcity of provisions, either
through failure in the crop, or damage of that which is in store, as
they have always two or three years in reserve, the Indians are sent
off to the woods to provide for themselves, where, accustomed to hunt
and fish, and game being very abundant, they find enough to subsist
upon, and return to the mission, when they are required to reap the
next year’s harvest.
Having served ten years in the mission, an Indian may claim his
liberty, provided any respectable settler will become surety for his
future good conduct. A piece of ground is then allotted for his support,
but he is never wholly free from the establishment, as part of his
earnings must still be given to them. We heard of very few to whom
this reward for servitude and good conduct had been granted; and
it is not improbable that the padres are averse to it, as it deprives them
of their best scholars. AA’hen these establishments were first founded,
the Indians Hocked to them in great numbers for the clothing with
which the neophytes were supplied; but after they became acquainted
with the nature of the institution, and felt themselves under restraint,
many absconded. Even now, notwithstanding the difficulty of escaping,
desertions are of frequent occurrence, owing probably, in some cases,
to the fear of punishment—in others to the deserters having been
originally inveigled into the mission by the converted Indians or the
neophytes, as they are called by way of distinction to Los Gentiles, or
the wild Indians—in other cases again to the fickleness of their own
disposition.
Some of the converted Indians are occasionally stationed in places
which are resorted to by the wild tribes for the purpose of offering
them flattering accounts of the advantages of the mission, and of persuading
them to abandon their barbarous life; while others obtain
leave to go into the territory of the Gentiles to visit their friends, and
are expected to bring back converts with them when they return. At
a particular period of the year, also, when the Indians can be spared
from the agricultural concerns of the establishment, many of them
are permitted to take the launch of the mission, and make excursions Nov
to the Indian territory. All are anxious to go on such occasions, some
to visit their friends, some to procure the manufactures of their barbarous
countrymen, which, by the by, are often better than their own ;
and some with the secret determination never to return. On these
occasions the padres desire them to induce as many of their unconverted
brethren as possible to accompany them back to the mission, of
course, implying that this is to be done only by persuasion ; but the
boat being furnished with a cannon and musketry, and in every respect
equipped for war, it too often happens that the neophytes, and the
gènte de razón, who superintend the direction of the boat, avail themselves
of their superiority, with the desire of ingratiating themselves
with their masters, and of receiving a reward. I here are, besides,
repeated acts of aggression which it is necessary to punish, all of which
furnish proselytes. AVomen and children are generally the first objects
of capture, as their husbands and parents sometimes voluntarily follow
them into captivity. These misunderstandings and captivities keep
up a perpetual enmity amongst the tribes, whose thirst for revenge is
almost insatiable.
AA"e had an opportunity of witnessing the tragical issue of one ot
these holyday excursions of the neophytes of the mission of Sán Jose.
The laiin'ch was armed as usual, and placed tinder the superintendence
of an alcalde of the mission, who, it appears from one statement (for
there were several), converted the party of pleasure either into one of
attack for the purpose of procuring proselytes, or of revenge upon a
particular tribe for some aggression in which they were concerned.
They proceeded up the Rio Sán Joachin until they came to the territory
of a particular tribe named Cosemenes, when they disembarked with
the gun, and encamped for the night near the village of Los Gentiles,
intending to make an attack upon them the next morning ; but before
tliey were prepared, the Gentiles, who had been apprised ot their intention,
and had collected a large body of friends, became the assailants,
and pressed so hard upon the party that, notwithstanding they dealt
3 A