hundred souls, but most of them live too far away to walk to church,
and are too poor to ride."

"And how many Indians have you?"

"Perhaps a hundred," he answered, "and even they are dying off."

"What of their character?" I asked.

"They have sadly fallen away," was the response. "True, they are
Christians as far as they are anything, but they are hopelessly
degraded, yet they respect the Church, and are obedient and
reverential when under its influence."

[Illustration: DISCARDED SAINTS, SAN GABRIEL.]

[Illustration: MUTILATED STATUES.]

[Illustration: THE BAPTISMAL FONT.]

[Illustration: SAN GABRIEL, FROM THE SOUTHEAST.]

Most of the Californian Missions are really dead, and near that of La
Purissima may still be seen the rent in the ground made by the
earthquake which destroyed it. Others, like San Gabriel and San Juan
Capistrano, are dragging out a moribund existence, under the care of
only one or two priests, who move like melancholy phantoms through
the lonely cloisters, and pray among the ruins of a noble past. The
Mission of Santa Barbara, however, is in fairly good repair, and a
few Franciscan Fathers still reside there and carry on a feeble