[Illustration: RUINS OF OLD ADOBE WALL AND CHURCH, MISSION SAN FERNANDO
REY.]

[Illustration: MONASTERY AND OLD FOUNTAIN AT MISSION SAN FERNANDO REY.]

[Illustration: INTERIOR OF RUINED CHURCH, MISSION SAN FERNANDO REY.]

The graveyard is on the northwest side of the church, and close by is
the old olive orchard, where a number of fine trees are still growing.
There are also two large palms, pictures of which are generally taken
with the Mission in the background, and the mountains beyond. It is an
exquisite subject. The remains of adobe walls still surround
the orchard.

The doorway leading to the graveyard is of a half-circle inside, and
slopes outward, where the arch is square.

There is a buttress of burnt brick to the southeast of the church, which
appears as if it might have been an addition after the earthquake.

At the monastery the chief entrance is a simple but effective arched
doorway, now plastered and whitewashed. The double door frame projects
pilaster-like, with a four-membered cornice above, from which rises an
elliptical arch, with an elliptical cornice about a foot above.

From this monastery one looks out upon a court or plaza which is
literally dotted with ruins, though they are mainly of surrounding
walls. Immediately in the foreground is a fountain, the reservoir of
which is built of brick covered with cement. A double bowl rests on the
center standard.

Further away in the court are the remnants of what may have been another
fountain, the reservoir of which is made of brick, built into a singular
geometrical figure. This is composed of eight semicircles, with V's
connecting them, the apex of each V being on the outside. It appears
like an attempt at creating a conventionalized flower in brick.

Two hundred yards or so away from the monastery is a square structure,
the outside of boulders. Curiosity prompting, you climb up, and on
looking in you find that inside this framework of boulders are two
circular cisterns of brick, fully six feet in diameter across the top,
decreasing in size to the bottom, which is perhaps four feet
in diameter.

In March, 1905, considerable excitement was caused by the actions of the
parish priest of San Fernando, a Frenchman named Le Bellegny, of
venerable appearance and gentle manners. Not being acquainted with the
_status quo_ of the old Mission, he exhumed the bodies of the Franciscan
friars who had been buried in the church and reburied them. He removed