he country."

Governor Argueello assisted his priestly friend as far as he was able,
and apprised Sarria that he would sustain the new establishment;
although he would withdraw the order for the suppression of San Rafael.
A compromise was then effected by which New San Francisco was to remain
a Mission in regular standing, but neither San Rafael nor old San
Francisco were to be disturbed.

Is it not an inspiring subject for speculation? Where would the modern
city of San Francisco be, if the irate Father and plotting politicians
of those early days had been successful in their schemes?

The new Mission, all controversy being settled, was formally dedicated
on Passion Sunday, April 4, 1824, by Altimira, to San Francisco Solano,
"the great apostle to the Indies." There were now two San Franciscos, de
Asis and Solano, and because of the inconvenience arising from this
confusion, the popular names, Dolores and Solano, and later, Sonoma,
came into use.

From the point now reached, the history of the Missions is one of
distress, anxiety, and final disaster. Their great work was
practically ended.

CHAPTER VI

THE INDIANS AT THE COMING OF THE PADRES

It is generally believed that the California Indian in his original
condition was one of the most miserable and wretched of the world's
aborigines. As one writer puts it:

"When discovered by the padres he was almost naked, half
starved, living in filthy little hovels built of tule,
speaking a meagre language broken up into as many different
and independent dialects as there were tribes, having no laws
and few definite customs, cruel, simple, lazy, and--in one
word which best describes such a condition of
existence--wretched. There are some forms of savage life that
we can admire; there are others that can only excite our
disgust; of the latter were the California Indians."

This is the general attitude taken by most writers of this later day, as
well as of the padres themselves, yet I think I shall be able to show
that in some regards it is a mistaken one. I do not believe the Indians
were the degraded and brutal creatures the padres and others have
endeavored to make out. This is no charge of bad faith against these
writers. It is merely a criticism of their judgment.

The fact that in a few years the Indians became remarkably competent in
so many fields of skilled labor is the best answer to the unfounded
charges of