South of the Boundary-Line [pp. 157-162]

1873.1 SOUTH OF THE BOUNDA1?y-LJNE. 159
him in 1769, while on his way from the Genera4" further than that "they save
City of Mexico to Alta California. dried grapes and manufacture some
Father Junipero and his colleagues brandy." Fruit and vine culture were
passed hurriedly through La Frontera, almost totally neglected, as the padres
the true objective point of their mission were compelled to devote most of their
being Alta California. A few years later, time in securing the foothold they had
his footsteps were followed by a band of obtained in the province.
Dominican friars, who undertook to fin- These missions have long since been
ish the work he had inaugurated, found- abandoned, and the churches are now
ing seven other missions in the province the refuge of the owl, bat, gi:ound-squir
-namely, El Rosario in 1774, Santo rel, and gopher. The Saii Fernando
Domingo in 1775, San Vicente Ferrer Villacata Mission Church is a mass of
in 1780, San Miguel in 1782, Santo To- worthless ruins. A marshy tract of land
mas in 1790, San Pedro Martin in 1794, -perhaps half a mile long-below which
and Santa Catarina in 1795. is another tract of arable land, compris In the beginning of the present cent- ing about one hundred acres, is in the
ury these missions were thriving. The immediate vicinity of the crumbled ruins.
"Resume;t Ge~zcra1"-a report made at The decay of this mission must have
stated intervals to the then Viceroy of been very rapid during the past few
Mexico of the condition of the missions years, as there is a striking contrast beof La Frontera-of the year 1801, has tween its present condition and the dethe following table showing the popula- scription given of it by Don Jose' Mation of the missions during the previous tias Moreno, in his report to the Nationyear, the stock owned, and the crops al Government of Mexico, in the year
harvested: 1861. Moreno says, "The ex-mission
:~oo-o~o~ has ample water and farming land, and
a considerable extent of pasturage for
~.K~v~ raising cattle on its old ranchos, known
u~J;8ioo?;88 as San J~~~$and~~e, i~a%~s$7i$~,hOaWd~ %~$j
tAl 8 Ursula, each of them of two square
o~::~o~: ~~ leagues (or a total area of about 43,000
D 8 88 t acres), with water, grass, and timber."
1 1 7~ Evidently considerable of the land in
~ Wo~88~o8~~~ the vicinity of this mission was at one
a,,~ time under cultivation; an aqueduct
~.~,flI~
~~~~8 through which the water for irrigating
_____________________ was carried being still in a fair state of
8~0~~f o8 - ~ preservation, and capable of being put
in good repair with an outlay of about
I.u2n~J $100.
~ [~~j::.;~~:~:.;;.{;:~ ~~~ The missionary Fathers had much to
-~ tianize the aborigines of La Frontera.
~ They did not apparently wield the same
power over the Indian tribes inhabiting
it as they did over the Indians of Alta
Of the grape, wine, and brandy inter- California. Alexander S. Taylor says,
ests nothing is said in the "Eesurne,t that, "between 1789 and 1800, the in