Southern California; . m the date of the establishmentof the first mission, a chain of twenty-one establish-ments dotted the coast valleys, each within an easy daysjourney of the next. There were on an average about athousand Indians living permanently at each mission,and many thousands of cattle, horses and sheep roamedover the intervening country. These Indians weredevout Catholics, conversing in the Spanish tongue, liv-ing under a strict ecclesiastical regime and carrying onfaithfully the manifold occupations imposed upon the very inception of the mission movement,however, it was
Southern California; . m the date of the establishmentof the first mission, a chain of twenty-one establish-ments dotted the coast valleys, each within an easy daysjourney of the next. There were on an average about athousand Indians living permanently at each mission,and many thousands of cattle, horses and sheep roamedover the intervening country. These Indians weredevout Catholics, conversing in the Spanish tongue, liv-ing under a strict ecclesiastical regime and carrying onfaithfully the manifold occupations imposed upon the very inception of the mission movement,however, it was intended that the Indians should become self-sustaiuing, aud, when finally converted and civil-ized, left to their own devices. With the growth ofpower and temporal possessions, the Franciscans becamemore worldly as a class. They did not wish to relinquishthe authority won at cost of so great labor, and subse-quent events proved that it would have been far betterfor the Indians had they been left in power. But the pol-. 130 ilicians of Mexico finallj sue- ff » 1 1 i ceeded in passing the order of ]\ . , ^ ^^ \ I I ] ,secularization which placed the / , - a |t, -J^ »*
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Keywords: ., bookauthorkeelerch, bookcentury1900, bookdecade1900, bookyear1901
