mussels, clams, and other edible mollusca; the rocks on its sea shores crowded with seal and otter ; and its forests full of trees and plants, bearing acorns, nuts, seeds and berries, while its climate was so mild and genial, that clothing was not a necessity. It would have been strange indeed, if an uncivilized race, whose lot was cast in such a pleasant place, had not been found enjoying life, as they understood it. It may have been their misfortune to have been born in so desirable a country-one so well adapted for the dwelling-place of their superiors; but it is not just to charge such a circumstance against them as a fault, or to accuse them of indolence when there was no necessity for them to labor. Equally unjust is it, to charge them with being stupid, and incapable of instruction, in the face of the fact that it was their labors that enriched the missions, and proved to the world the latent value of the soil of California. Nor is it true that, as a race, they were cowardly. The record shows how bravely many of the

chiefs and tribes contested the encroachments of the first settlers on their lands. Marin county owes its name to the chief of the Lecatuit Indians who inhabited that section of the State until 1824, and for many years defied all the forces sent to dispossess him. Sonoma, the name of another county, containing one of the most beautiful valleys on the coast, derives its name from a famous chief of the Chocuyens. Solano, the name of another county, was once that of a warlike chief of the Suisuns. Napa county derives its name from the tribe that once owned the land between San Pablo bay and Mount St. Helens, which now forms its beautiful farms, orchards, and gardens, which they fought long and fiercely to retain as their hunting grounds. So with Colusa, Shasta, Yolo, and several other counties-their names are the mausoleums of extinct tribes of aborigines, who bravely struggled against an inexorable destiny, which has in so few years swept them away.

The annals of the State, during the past eighteen years, either prove how fiercely the natives fought for the land of their birth, or that many thousands of dollars were expended in exterminating a race of men who did not deserve thus to die.

They are accused of having been destitute of any conception of religion, affection, trade, art, or any of the higher attributes of humanity. This is unjust to them, as well as to California. If it be true, as it is asserted by philosophers, that Nature dominates over man, and constrains his actions through the agency of the scenery and physical conditions that surround him-a theory strangely confirmed by the distinguishing traits of all civilized nations-then California,

with its cloudless skies, salubrious air, gorgeous scenery, and abundance of all the elements that minister to human happiness, could not have produced a race destitute of faculties to enjoy the blessings provided for them by their Creator. Nor did it produce such a race ; there is abundance of proof to the contrary.

Cabrillo, the discoverer of the country, who spent six months among the natives who dwelt in what is now Santa Barbara county, has left on record the names of forty towns, or villages (pueblos) which existed in that section of the State, at the time of his visit.

Viscayno, who visited the same section of the coast in 1602, or sixty years after Cabrillo, confirms all that his predecessor had stated about the condition of the aborigines, and says: they lived by hunting, fishing, and gathering seeds, nuts, and wild fruit. This authority states, further, that on the Island of Santa Catalina, off the coast of Santa Barbara, the natives had large wooden canoes, capable of holding twenty persons each, with which they caught large quantities of fish, which they sold to the natives on the main land.

It has been known to the Jesuit Fathers, and Spanish Government in Mexico, since 1540, that the natives of Upper California traded with the tribes dwelling far in the interior of the continent, for abalone, cowry and other shells, and various other articles. Father Palou says: "the natives of the main land made rafts, or canoes of the tule, for fishing, in which they went a great way out to sea." These extracts are sufficient to show that the natives were not destitute of skill, enterprise, or intelligence.

With reference to their notions of morality, Father Junipero Serra, the founder of the missions in Upper California, writing to his brethren on the peninsula, under date of July 3d, 1769, two days after his arrival in what is now the State of California, says:

"The number of savages is immense. All those of this coast, from the shore of Todos Santos, live very contentedly upon various seeds and fish, which they catch from their canoes made of tule, with which they go out a considerable distance to sea. They are very affable. All the males, both large and small, go naked; but the females are modestly clad, even to the little girls at the breast."

Father Palou records the same peculiarity of clothing the females, as do all the early visitors to the coast. Captain Woodes Rogers, who was here in 1711, says none of the young females were permitted to be seen by him or his crew.

They were remarkable for the affection that existed between parents

and children, and for the firmness of the friendships that were formed among them.

They were not quarrelsome, rarely fighting, and amused themselves with games of skill or chance, and dancing, which, if considered stupid by those accustomed to scenes in other lands, was quite exciting to them. In their marital relations they did not differ materially from the Mormons of the present day-the daughters and their mother often being the wives of the same man. Father Palou says: "The first baptisms made at the mission of San Francisco, were of three children, all born within two months, sons of an Indian and three sisters, to whom he was married, as well as to their mother.

They must have had some idea of a future state, or they would not have burned or buried their ornaments and weapons with the dead, as was the universal custom. They expressed their ideas of a change from life to immortality, by saying that "as the moon died, and came to life again, so man came to life after death;" and believed that the "hearts of good chiefs went up to heaven and were converted into stars, to watch over their tribe on earth.

There were priests, or sorcerers, both male and female, among them, who pretended to exercise supernatural control over their bodies, claiming to cure disease by incantations and curious rites and ceremonies. These priests wore long robes made of human hair, and were formidable rivals to the missionaries. Scores of these humanhair robes were burned by the Fathers, before their rivals were driven out of the field.

Viscayno says, the natives of Catalina Island had a temple, containing an idol "which they worshipped with sacrifices. These excerpts are sufficient to prove that they were not destitute of all "conceptions of religion.

Captain Rogers says, of their honesty, that they never took anything belonging to him, though his carpenters and coopers generally left their tools on shore. Other voyagers speak in similar praise of their honesty.

Forbes says, "their children, taught by the missionaries, spoke Spanish, and became polished by conversation."

With reference to their taste and skill in making ornaments, weapons, and utensils, La Pérouse, who was here in 1786, says: "they wore ear-rings made of carved wood, bandeaux of feathers round their heads, and shells strung as beads around their necks and bodies. He describes some of these feather bandeaux as exceedingly beautiful, and

as the product of great labor and skill. Langsdorff also notices the same articles, and says he counted in one of these bandeaux four hundred and fifty feathers from the tails of golden woodpeckers. As each of these birds has but two such feathers-and it is probable that every bird killed did not have both in perfect condition-it must have required much application to obain materials for such an ornament.

Forbes credits them with extraordinary skill in the construction of their baskets, bows and arrows; some of the former, made of the filamentous bark of a tree, were plaited so closely as to be perfectly watertight, and although made of very combustible materials, were used for roasting their grain before it was ground. Many of their baskets were ornamented with the scarlet feathers of the Oriolus phoeniceus, or with the black crest feathers of the mountain quail, and were really very handsome.

Father Palou says the men had wooden swords, that cut almost like steel, and formidable clubs, as well as bows and arrows, as weapons of warfare.

With reference to their physique, there appears to be considerable discrepancy between the statements of different authorities. Venegas thought them "equal to any race"; Captain Rogers says, "they were tall, robust, and straight as pine trees;" Captain Beechey says, "they were generally above the standard of Englishmen, in hight." In after years, some of the half-breeds were quite remarkable for their hight— reaching nearly seven feet.

Langsdorff, surgeon of the Russian admiral Kotzebue's ship, which arrived at San Francisco in September, 1824, states that "many of them had full, flowing beards." La Pérouse also says, "about half the males he saw had such splendid beards that they would have made a figure in Turkey, or in the vicinity of Moscow." It is a very remarkable fact that none of the present race of Indians have any beards.

The foregoing brief outline of the condition and habits of the aborigines of California, before and since their contact with the white race, would appear to justify the belief that they were capable of reaching a higher plane of civilization, than that on which they were placed by the missionaries.

Eminent men of science, from England, France, Russia, and the United States, who visited the coast, and saw the unfortunate natives under the mission regime, in its palmiest days, all bear witness to the wretched state of bodily and mental bondage in which they were held. Captain Beechey considered the method adopted by the Fathers, to

obtain "converts," as but "little better than kidnapping." Both men and women were flogged, or put into the stocks, if they refused to believe or to labor: other witnesses corroborate this statement.

All the Indian men, except those employed as vacqueros, or herdsmen, wore no other clothing than a coarse woolen shirt and a breech cloth. The vacqueros had pants and shoes, more for the sake of enabling them better to ride the unbroken mustangs than for decency. The women had a woolen chemise and petticoat, but neither shoes nor stockings. Both men and women were required to work in the fields every day, except those who were carpenters, blacksmiths, or weavers. None of them were taught to read or write, except a few who were selected to form a choir, to sing and play music, for each mission. The only instruments were the violin and guitar. They never received any payment for their labor, except food, clothing, and instructions in the catechism. The single men and women were locked up in in separate buildings, every night. Both sexes were severely punished with the whip, if they did not obey the missionaries or other white men in authority. The Fathers themselves wore but one garment, which reached from their neck to their heels; this was never washed, but was worn continually until worn out.

There is no room to doubt that the degradation of the existing race, is in some degree, the result of the mission system, which has deprived them of the instincts that Nature had implanted, and left them no dependence but upon the will of the Fathers, which was impotent to save them from extermination by the irresistible force of a higher civilization, in which they are unfitted to participate.

The Spanish Government appears to have acted with much liberality towards the aborigines, and intended that they should have had every opportunity to become civilized. It granted them tracts of land for cultivation, and lots in the pueblos for homesteads. Much of the land on which the city of San Francisco now stands, was granted to partially civilized Indians, prior to the year 1820; but a higher power than earthly Governments had destined that site to be occupied by a different race.

The most implacable Indian-hater must contemplate with astonishment, not unmixed with awe, the destruction that has overtaken the native Californians within the past forty years. When their country was first discovered, it was thickly populated with tribes, speaking a variety of dialects, the very names of which have been forgotten.

Mr. Gilroy, the first foreign settler in the State, who landed at Mon