empty bag.

The rising sun announced the approach of a fine day, and gave us a view
of the extensive plains which formed the surrounding country. The
missionaries cultivated wheat upon them, which had been already
harvested, and large flocks of cattle, horses, and sheep, were seen
pasturing among the stubble. The mission of Santa Clara possesses
fourteen thousand head of cattle, one thousand horses, and ten thousand
sheep. The greater part of these animals being left to roam undisturbed
about the woods, they multiply with amazing rapidity.

I now ordered the horses to be saddled, and we set off for the mission,
the buildings and woods of which bounded the view over these prodigious
corn-fields. Our way lay through the stubble, amongst flocks of wild
geese, ducks, and snipes, so tame that we might have killed great
numbers with our sticks. These are all birds of passage, spending the
winter here, and the summer farther north. We fired a few shots among
the geese, and brought down about a dozen: they differ but little in
size from our domestic goose, and some of them are quite white. A ride
of an hour and a half brought us to Santa Clara, where the monks
received us in the most friendly manner, and exerted themselves most
hospitably, to make our visit agreeable.

The mission, which was founded in the year 1777, is situated beside a
stream of the most pure and delicious water, in a large and extremely
fertile plain. The buildings of Santa Clara, overshadowed by thick
groves of oaks, and surrounded by gardens which, though carelessly
cultivated, produce an abundance of vegetables, the finest grapes, and
fruits of all kinds, are in the same style as at all the other missions.
They consist of a large stone church, a spacious dwelling-house for the
monks, a large magazine for the preservation of corn, and the
Rancherios, or barracks, for the Indians, of which mention has already
been made. These are divided into long rows of houses, or rather stalls,
where each family is allowed a space scarcely large enough to enable
them to lie down to repose. We were struck by the appearance of a large
quadrangular building, which having no windows on the outside, and only
one carefully secured door, resembled a prison for state-criminals. It
proved to be the residence appropriated by the monks, the severe
guardians of chastity, to the young unmarried Indian women, whom they
keep under their particular superintendence, making their time u