the ravages of the scurvy among its crew. They also established a less important village at La Paz, which, with Loretto, and divers small hamlets and ranches, constitutes all there is of this parched peninsula.
Upper California comes to my aid in illustration of the early condition of Mexico, for, without this assistance, many phenomena that are witnessed in Mexico would be inexplicable. The effects of sudden wealth, the great accumulations of precious metals in few hands, the gross immoralities to which such a state of things gives rise, the almost fabulous state of society that arises when, by delays in its export, the accumulations become burdensome to the possessors, are no longer novelties in our day, and they now serve to illustrate the romance of the history of other times.
When, in the year 1847, a party of American settlers and trappers hoisted the bear-flag in Upper California, their situation was strikingly similar to that of Cortéz and his party. Numbers were about equal in each case. The Territory of California was equal to the whole empire of Montezuma. The hunters and trappers had a more formidable enemy to contend with than Cortéz had; but they proved themselves more than a match for all antagonists. Like Cortéz, they found numerous villages of mud huts and a country governed by priests, but immensely superior in civilization and in arms to the Aztecs.
MISSIONS IN CALIFORNIA.
In 1776, the monks of the angelic order of San Francis had established missions along the coast. Adopting in this fertile country the practice of enforcing the labor of the Indians, the missions became vast grazing farms, where the priest, like the patriarchs of old, was the spiritual and temporal head of the establishment, and had flocks and herds innumerable. Villages (pueblos) had been established by the aid of the royal government, and mud forts (presidios) were founded as a protection to both mission and pueblo; and ranges (ranchos) for cattle were granted to individuals.