umber of merely
local particulars, was intended to be general; and for this reason may
the more properly be reproduced in this place.

"The edifice," he wrote, "is quadrilateral, and about one hundred and
fifty metres long in front. The church occupies one of the wings. The
facade is ornamented with a gallery [or arcade]. The building, a single
storey in height, is generally raised some feet above the ground. The
interior forms a court, adorned with flowers and planted with trees.
Opening on the gallery which runs round it are the rooms of the monks,
majordomos, and travelers, as well as the workshops, schoolrooms, and
storehouses. Hospitals for men and women are situated in the quietest
parts of the mission, where also are placed the schoolrooms. The young
Indian girls occupy apartments called the monastery (el moujerio), and
they themselves are styled nuns (las moujas)... Placed under the care of
trustworthy Indian women, they are there taught to spin wool, flax, and
cotton, and do no leave their seclusion till they are old enough to be
married. The Indian children attend the same school as the children of
the white colonists. A certain number of them, chosen from those who
exhibit most intelligence, are taught music--plain-chant, violin,
flute, horn, violincello, and other instruments. Those who distinguish
themselves in the carpenter's shop, at the forge, or in the field, are
termed alcaldes, or chiefs, and given charge of a band of workmen. The
management of each mission is composed of two monks; the elder looks
after internal administration and religious instruction; the younger
has direction of agricultural work... For the sake of order and morals,
whites are employed only where strictly necessary, for the fathers know
their influence to be altogether harmful, and that they lead the Indians
to gambling and drunkenness, to which vices they are already too prone.
To encourage the natives in their tasks, the fathers themselves often
lend a hand, and everywhere furnish an example of industry. Necessity
has made them industrious. One is struck with astonishment on observing
that, with such meagre resources, often without European workmen or
any skilled help, but with the assistance only of savages, always
unintelligent and often hostile, they have yet succeeded in executing
such works of architecture and engineering as mills, machinery, bridges,
roads, and canals for irrigation. For the erection of nearly all the
miss