they
soon recovered. Padre Pujol, who came from Monterey to aid them, did not
fare so well for he was taken sick in a similar manner and died. Three
Indians were arrested, but it was never decided whether poison had been
used or not. The Indians escaped when being taken north to the presidio,
and eventually the padres pleaded for their release, asking however that
they be flogged in the presence of their families for having boasted
that they had poisoned the padres.

In August, 1806, a disastrous fire occurred, destroying all the
manufacturing part of the establishment as well as a large quantity of
wool, hides, cloth, and 6000 bushels of wheat. The roof of the church
was also partially burned. At the end of the decade San Miguel had a
population of 973, and in the number of its sheep it was excelled only
by San Juan Capistrano.

In 1818 a new church was reported as ready for roofing, and this was
possibly built to replace the one partially destroyed by fire in 1806.
In 1814 the Mission registered its largest population in 1076 neophytes,
and in live-stock it showed satisfactory increase at the end of the
decade, though in agriculture it had not been so successful.

Ten years later it had to report a great diminution in its flocks and
herds and its neophytes. The soil and pasture were also found to be
poor, though vines flourished and timber was plentiful. Robinson, who
visited San Miguel at this time, reports it as a poor establishment and
tells a large story about the heat suffocating the fleas. Padre Martin
died in 1824.

In 1834 there were but 599 neophytes on the register. In 1836 Ignacio
Coronel took charge in order to carry out the order of secularization,
and when the inventory was made it showed the existence of property,
excluding everything pertaining to the church, of $82,000. In 1839 this
amount was reduced to $75,000. This large valuation was owing to the
fact that there were several ranches and buildings and two large
vineyards belonging to the Mission. These latter were Santa Isabel and
Aguage, with 5500 vines, valued at $22,162.

The general statistics from the founding in 1797 to 1834 give 2588
baptisms, 2038 deaths; largest population was 1076 in 1814. The largest
number of cattle was 10,558 in 1822, horses 1560 in 1822, mules 140 in
1817, sheep 14,000 in 1820.

In 1836 Padre Moreno reported that when Coronel came all the available
property was distributed among the Indians, except the grain, a