ne of the principal purposes of the invaders. This did not, however,
prevent the Franciscans, who took possession of the land, from
selecting with great wisdom its very best locations; but, having done
so, they soon brought tens of thousands of Indians under spiritual
and temporal control. These natives were, for the most part, as
gentle and teachable as the Fathers were patient and wise; and, in
1834, a line of Missions stretched from San Diego to Monterey, and
the converted Indians numbered about twenty thousand, many of whom
had been trained to be carpenters, masons, blacksmiths, saddlers,
tailors, millers, and farmers. Three-quarters of a million cattle
grazed upon the Mission pastures, as well as sixty thousand horses;
fruits, grain, and flowers grew in their well-cultivated valleys
until the country blossomed like the Garden of the Lord; and in the
midst of all this industry and agricultural prosperity the native
converts obeyed their Christian masters peacefully and happily, and
came as near to a state of civilization as Indians have ever come.

[Illustration: RAMONA'S HOME.]

[Illustration: THE CHAPEL, RAMONA'S HOME.]

[Illustration: PALMS NEAR SAN FERNANDO MISSION.]

[Illustration: CORRIDOR, SAN FERNANDO MISSION.]

Presently the Mexicans made their appearance here; but, though they
held and managed enormous ranches, the situation was comparatively
unchanged; for they maintained harmonious relations with the
Missions, and had no serious difficulties with the Indians. Thus life
went on for nearly half a century, and seemed to the good Fathers
likely to go on forever; for who, they thought, would ever cross the
awful eastern plains to interfere with their Arcadian existence, or
what invading force would ever approach them over the lonely sea? But
history repeats itself. The Missions soon became too rich not to
excite cupidity; and those who coveted their lands and herds
declared, as an excuse for violence, that the poor Indians were held
in a state of slavery, and should be made to depend upon themselves.
At length, in 1833, the Mexican Government by a decree of
secularization ruined the Missions; but the Indians, although not so
prosperous and well treated as under the Fathers, still kept, through
Mexican protection, most of their privileges and the lands they
owned. Finally came the Anglo-Saxon, and, under the imperious
civilization that poured into California from 1840 to 1860, the
pastoral age soon disap