known to the mission. Pablo, while under the
influence of too much aguardiente, had told of it. Father Zalvidea at
once set to work to silence the gossip, and did so effectually, for
he heard nothing more of it while he remained at the mission. But the
rumor, lived, although repressed, and for years after his departure,
searches were made for the money which many believed had never been
stolen, or, if recovered, had been reburied by the Father; for Pablo,
babbling in his stupor, had not been careful as to accuracy. In fact,
as late as 1888, there were people at San Juan Capistrano who still
believed in the buried treasure, and explored the ruins of the mission,
digging in various spots for it. Why the Father should have left his
money buried there (supposing it not to have been stolen), instead of
taking it with him when he removed from the mission, tradition does not
state.

Note.--Bancroft: History of California, Vol. IV, p. 624, note, gives
about all that is known of these famous onzas of Father Zalvidea.
Probably it will never be known definitely what became of them.

In alluding to the earthquake of 1812, the writer has followed the
commonly received assumption, derived from Bancroft, that it occurred
December 8, and that this date fell on a Sunday. From later research, it
is now believed to have occurred October 8, which was a Thursday. This
seems more likely than the date given by Bancroft (December 8, 1812,
fell on Tuesday), for he himself says forty of the attendants at mass
were killed, the officiating priest and six others being all that were
saved: he does not mention the wounded, if any. This would be far too
small a number for a Sunday mass attendance.

La Beata

It was a bright summer morning in the month of June of the year 1798.
All was bustle and excitement at the wharf in the harbor of the town of
Acapulco, on the western coast of Mexico, for at noon a ship was to sail
away for the province of Nueva California, in the far north. This was
always an event to attract the attention of the town, partly from its
infrequent occurrence, but more especially because, in those days, this
northern Mexican province was an almost unknown land to the general
mind. The first expedition to the new country, under the spiritual
direction of the beloved Father Serra, had been sent out nearly thirty
years before. But so many and conflicting were the tales of wars
with the Indian natives, the struggles of the