worth more than ten dollars apiece, and the poorer being often sold for three and four.  In taking a day’s ride, you pay for the use of the saddle, and for the labor and trouble of catching the horses.  If you bring the saddle back safe, they care but little what becomes of the horse.  Mounted on our horses, which were spirited beasts (and which, by the way, in this country, are always steered in the cavalry fashion, by pressing the contrary rein against the neck, and not by pulling on the bit), we started off on a fine run over the country.  The first place we went to was the old ruinous presidio, which stands on a rising ground near the village, which it overlooks.  It is built in the form of an open square, like all the other presidios, and was in a most ruinous state, with the exception of one side, in which the commandant lived, with his family.  There were only two guns, one of which was spiked, and the other had no carriage.  Twelve half-clothed and half-starved looking fellows composed the garrison; and they, it was said, had not a musket apiece.  The small settlement lay directly below the fort, composed of about forty dark brown looking huts, or houses, and three or four larger ones, whitewashed, which belonged to the ``gente de razon.’’ This town is not more than half as large as Monterey, or Santa Barbara, and has little or no business.  From the presidio, we rode off in the direction of the Mission, which we were told was three miles distant.  The country was rather sandy, and there was nothing for miles which could be called a tree, but the grass grew green and rank, there were many bushes and thickets, and the soil is said to be good.  After a pleasant ride of a couple of miles, we saw the white walls of the Mission, and, fording a small stream, we came directly before it.  The Mission is built of adobe and plastered.  There was something decidedly striking in its appearance:  a number of irregular buildings, connected with one another, and, disposed in the form of a hollow square, with a church at one end, rising above the rest, with a tower containing five belfries, in each of which hung a large bell, and with very large rusty iron crosses at the tops.  Just outside of the buildings, and under the walls, stood twenty or thirty small huts, built of straw and of the branches of trees, grouped together, in which a few Indians lived, under the protection and in the service of the Mission.

Entering a gateway, we drove into the open square, in which the stillness of death reigned.  On one side was the church; on another, a range of high buildings with grated windows; a third was a range of smaller buildings, or offices, and the fourth seemed to be little more than a high connecting wall.  Not a living creature could we see.  We rode twice round the square, in the hope of waking up some one; and in one circuit saw a tall monk, with shaven head, sandals, and the dress of the Gray Friars, pass rapidly through a gallery, but he disappeared without noticing