ders.
They are very indistinct in the dim light of the church, and little can
be said of their artistic value without further examination.

There is also an old breviary with two heavy, hand-made clasps, dated
Antwerp, 1735, and containing the autograph of Fr. Man. de Castaneda.

There is a quadrangle at San Miguel 230 feet square, and on one side of
it a corridor corresponding to the one in front, for six pillars of
burnt brick still remain.

At the rear of the church was the original church, used before the
present one was built, and a number of remains of the old houses of the
neophytes still stand, though in a very dilapidated condition.

San Miguel was always noted for its proximity to the Hot Springs and
Sulphur Mud Baths of Paso Robles. Both Indians and Mission padres knew
of their healthful and curative properties, and in the early days scores
of thousands enjoyed their peculiar virtues. Little by little the
"superior race" is learning that in natural therapeutics the Indian is a
reasonably safe guide to follow; hence the present extensive use by the
whites of the Mud and Sulphur Baths at Paso Robles. Methinks the Indians
of a century ago, though doubtless astonished at the wonderful temple to
the white man's God built at San Miguel, would wonder much more were
they now to see the elaborate and splendid house recently erected at
Paso Robles for the purpose of giving to more white people the baths,
the virtue of which they so well knew.

[Illustration: SEEKING TO PREVENT THE PHOTOGRAPHER FROM MAKING A
PICTURE OF MISSION SAN MIGUEL ARCANGEL.]

[Illustration: OLD PULPIT AT MISSION SAN MIGUEL ARCANGEL.]

[Illustration: RESTORED MONASTERY AND MISSION CHURCH OF SAN FERNANDO
REY.]

[Illustration: CORRIDORS AT SAN FERNANDO REY.]

CHAPTER XXVI

SAN FERNANDO, REY DE ESPAGNA

On September 8, 1797, the seventeenth of the California Missions was
founded by Padre Lasuen, in the Encino Valley, where Francisco Reyes had
a rancho in the Los Angeles jurisdiction. The natives called it _Achois
Comihavit_. Reyes' house was appropriated as a temporary dwelling for
the missionary. The Mission was dedicated to Fernando III, King of
Spain. Lasuen came down from San Miguel to Santa Barbara, especially for
the foundation, and from thence with Sergeant Olivera and a military
escort. These, with Padre Francisco Dumetz, the priest chosen to have
charge, and his assistant, Francisco Favier Uria, composed, with the
large con