and all the property, garden,
granary, mill, storehouse, orchards, cattle, placed in other hands. What
would the children do?

So now the Indians, like bereft children, knew not what to do, and,
naturally, they did what our own children would do. Led by want and
hunger, some sought and found work and food, and others, alas, became
thieves. The Mission establishment was the organized institution that
had cared for them, and had provided the work that supported them. No
longer able to go and live "wildly" as of old, they were driven to evil
methods by necessity unless the new government directed their energies
into right channels. Few attempted to do this; hence the results that
were foreseen by the padres followed.

July 7, 1846, saw the Mexican flag in California hauled down, and the
Stars and Stripes raised in its place; but as far as the Indian was
concerned, the change was for the worse instead of the better. Indeed,
it may truthfully be said that the policies of the three governments,
Spanish, Mexican, and American, have shown three distinct phases, and
that the last is by far the worst.

Our treatment of these Indians reads like a hideous nightmare.
Absolutely no forceful and effective protest seems to have been made
against the indescribable wrongs perpetrated. The gold discoveries of
1849 brought into the country a class of adventurers, gamblers, liquor
sellers, and camp followers of the vilest description. The Indians
became helpless victims in the hands of these infamous wretches, and
even the authorities aided to make these Indians "good."

Bartlett, who visited the country in 1850 to 1853, tells of meeting with
an old Indian at San Luis Rey who spoke glowingly of the good times they
had when the padres were there, but "now," he said, "they were scattered
about, he knew not where, without a home or protectors, and were in a
miserable, starving condition." Of the San Francisco Indians he says:

"They are a miserable, squalid-looking set, squatting or
lying about the corners of the streets, without occupation.
They have now no means of obtaining a living, as their lands
are all taken from them; and the Missions for which they
labored, and which provided after a sort for many thousands
of them, are abolished. No care seems to be taken of them by
the Americans; on the contrary, the effort seems to be to
exterminate them as soon as possible."

According to the most con