discord and anarchy among the
Californians prepared a more effective measure for their destruction,
and they were left to the superintendence of individuals who plundered
them of all that was desirable or capable of removal. Thus, the
government commenced the robbery, and its hirelings carried it out to
the letter, destroying and laying waste wherever they were placed. In
order to give the inhabitants a share of the spoils, some of them were
permitted to slaughter the cattle by contract, which was an equal
division of the proceeds, and the contractors were careful, when they
delivered one hide to a mission, to reserve _two_ for themselves, in
this way following up the example of their superiors.

This important revolution in the systematic order of the monastic
institutions took place in 1836, at which period the most important of
them possessed property, exclusive of their lands and tenements, to the
value of two hundred and fifty thousand dollars. At the present day
they have but a little more than dilapidated walls and restricted
boundaries of territory. Notwithstanding this wanton devastation of
property, contrary to the opinion of many who were strongly in favour
of supporting these religious institutions, the result proved
beneficial to the country at large. Individual enterprise succeeded as
the lands became distributed, so that the Californian beheld himself no
longer dependent on the bounty of his spiritual directors, but, on the
contrary, he was enabled to give support to them, from the increase and
abundance of his own possessions.

Subsequent to the expulsion of the Mexicans, numbers of new farms were
created, and hundreds of Americans were scattered over the country.
Previous to 1830, the actual possessions of horned cattle by the
_rancheros_ did not exceed one hundred thousand; but in 1842, according
to a fair estimate, made by one on the spot, the number had increased
to four hundred thousand; so that the aggregate is equal to that held
by the missions when in their most flourishing condition. The present
number is not much, if any, short of one million.

Presuming a statistical knowledge of this country, before and after the
missionary institutions were secularized, may be interesting, I will
insert the following returns of 1831 and 1842, to contrast the same
with its present condition:--

1st. In 1832 the white population throughout Alta-California did not
exceed 4,500, while the Indians of the twen