ure, as I have before observed, is the copious source of revenue
to the monks, and they farm on an extensive scale. The yearly crop of
wheat at Santa Clara alone, produces three thousand fanegos, about six
hundred and twenty English quarters, or three thousand four hundred
Berlin bushels; and from the extraordinary fertility of the soil, the
harvest, on an average, is forty-fold, notwithstanding the roughness of
their mode of cultivation. The field is first broken up with a very
clumsy plough, then sown, and a second ploughing completes the work.
Under the hard clods of earth thus left undisturbed, a great part of the
seed perishes of course. How unexampled would be the harvest, if
assisted by the capital and industry of an European farmer!

The monks themselves confess that they are not good agriculturists; but
they are content with their harvests. Their carelessness is however
unpardonable, in having never yet erected a mill. There is not one in
all California; and the poor Indians are obliged to grind their corn by
manual labour between two large, flat stones.

From the mission we took half an hour's walk to a _Pueblo_. This word
signifies, in California, a village, inhabited by married invalids,
disbanded soldiers from the Presidio, and their progeny. This Pueblo
lies in a beautiful spot. The houses are pleasant, built of stone, and
stand in the midst of orchards, and hedges of vines bearing luxuriant
clusters of the richest grapes. The inhabitants came out to meet us,
and with much courteousness, blended with the ceremonious politeness of
the Spaniards, invited us to enter their simple but cleanly dwellings.
All their countenances bespoke health and contentment, and they have
good cause to rejoice in their lot. Unburthened by taxes of any kind,
and in possession of as much land as they choose to cultivate, they live
free from care on the rich produce of their fields and herds.

The population of these Pueblos is every year on the increase; while, on
the contrary, the numbers of the Indians dependent on the missions are
continually decreasing. The mortality amongst the latter is so great,
that the establishments could not continue, if their spiritual
conductors did not constantly procure fresh recruits from amongst the
free Indians, to fill the thinning ranks of their labourers.

In Old California, many of the missions have gone to decay on account of
the total extermination of the savages. The north still affords