or two months and a half."

Fortunately help came; so the work continued.

The region of San Diego was well peopled. At the time of the founding
there were eleven rancherias within a radius of ten leagues. They must
have been of a different type from most of the Indians of the coast,
for, from the first, as the old Spanish chronicler reports, they were
insolent, arrogant, and thievish. They lived on grass seeds, fish,
and rabbits.

In 1774, the separation of the Mission from the presidio was decided
upon, in order to remove the neophytes from the evil influences of the
soldiers. The site chosen was six miles up the valley (named _Nipaguay_
by the Indians), and so well did all work together that by the end of
the year a dwelling, a storehouse, a smithy built of adobes, and a
wooden church eighteen by fifty-seven feet, and roofed with tiles, were
completed. Already the work of the padres had accomplished much.
Seventy-six neophytes rejoiced their religious hearts, and the herds had
increased to 40 cattle, 64 sheep, 55 goats, 19 hogs, 2 jacks, 2 burros,
17 mares, 3 foals, 9 horses, 22 mules,--233 animals in all.

The presidio remained at Cosoy (now old San Diego), and four thousand
adobes that had been made for the Mission buildings were turned over to
the military. A rude stockade was erected, with two bronze cannon, one
mounted towards the harbor, the other towards the Indian rancheria.

The experiments in grain raising at first were not successful. The seed
was sown in the river bottom and the crop was destroyed by the
unexpected rising of the river. The following year it was sown so far
from water that it died from drought. In the fall of 1775 all seemed to
be bright with hope. New buildings had been erected, a well dug, and
more land made ready for sowing. The Indians were showing greater
willingness to submit themselves to the priests, when a conflict
occurred that revealed to the padres what they might have to contend
with in their future efforts towards the Christianizing of the natives.
The day before the feast of St. Francis (October 4, 1775), Padres Jayme
and Fuster were made happy by being required to baptize sixty new
converts. Yet a few days later they were saddened by the fact that two
of these newly baptized fled from the Mission and escaped to the
mountains, there to stir up enmity and revolt. For nearly a month they
moved about, fanning the fires of hatred against the "long gowns," until
on the night