wind blows only now and then during the winter months, but the east wind hardly ever, the latter circumstance being somewhat surprising to the author, who observed that the clouds are almost invariably moving from the east. He never found the cold severer than during the latter part of September or April on the banks of the Rhine, where, after his return, the persevering coldness of winter and clouded atmosphere during that period made him long for the mild temperature and always blue and serene sky of the country he had left. Fogs in the morning are frequent in California, and occur not only during fall and winter, but also sometimes in the hot season. Dew is said to be not more frequent nor heavier than in middle Europe.

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Though the author represents California as a dry, sterile country, where but little rain falls, he admits that in those isolated parts where the proximity of water imparts humidity, the soil exhibits an astonishing fertility. There," he says, one may plant what he chooses, and it will thrive; there the earth yields fruit a hundred-fold, as in the best countries of Europe, producing wheat and maize, rice, pumpkins, water and other melons of twenty pounds' weight, cotton, lemons, oranges, plantains, pomegranates, excellent sweet grapes, olives and figs, of which the latter can be gathered twice in a summer. The same field yields a double or threefold harvest of maize, that grows to prodigious height, and bears sometimes twelve ears on one stalk. I have seen vines in California that produced in the second year a medium sized basket full of grapes; in the third or fourth year some are as thick as an arm, and shoot forth, in one season, eight and more branches of six feet length. It is only to be regretted that such humid places are of very rare occurrence, and that water for irrigating a certain piece of land sometimes cannot be found within a distance of sixty leagues."

In the last chapter of the first part the author gives an account of the pearl fisheries and silver mines carried on in Lower California while he was there. Both kinds of enterprise are represented as insignificant and by no means very profitable. "Every summer," he says, "eight, ten or twelve poor Spaniards from Sonora, Cinaloa or other parts opposite the peninsula, cross the Gulf in little boats, and encamp on the California shore for the purpose of obtaining pearls. They carry with them a supply of Indian corn and some hundred weight of dried beef, and are accompanied by a number of Mexican Indians, who serve as pearl fishers, for the Californians themselves have hitherto shown no inclination to risk their lives for a few yards of cloth. The pearl fishers are let down into the sea by ropes, being provided with a bag for receiving the pearl oysters which they rake from the rocks and the bottom, and when they can no longer hold their breath, they are pulled up again with their treasure. The oysters, without being opened, are counted, and every fifth one is put aside for the king. Most of them are empty; some contain black, others white pearls, the latter being usually small and ill-shaped. If a Spaniard, after six or eight weeks of hard labor, and after deducting all expenses, has gained a hundred American pesos (that is 500 French livres, or a little more than 200 Rhenish florins-a very small sum in America!) he thinks he has made a little fortune which he cannot realize every season. God knows whether the fifth part of the pearls fished in the Californian sea yields, on an average, to the Catholic king 150 or 200 pesos in a year, even if no frauds are committed in the transaction. I heard of only two individuals, with whom I was also personally acquainted, who had accumulated some wealth, after spending twenty and more years in that line of business. The others remained poor wretches, with all their pearl fishing."

There were but two silver mines of any note in operation at the time of Baegert's sojourn in California, and those had been opened only a few years previous to his arrival. They were situated in the districts of St. Anna and St. Antonio, near the southern end of the peninsula, and only three leagues

distant from each other. Digging for silver in California is not represented as a lucrative business, the owner of one of the mines being so poor that he had to beg for his travelling money when he was about to return to Spain. The proprietor of the other mine was in better circumstances, but he owed his wealth more to other speculations than to his subterranean pursuits. The mining population in the two districts amounted to 400 souls, women and children included, and the workmen were either Spaniards born in America, or Indians from the other side of the Californian gulf. The external condition of these people is represented as wretched in the highest degree. The soil produced almost nothing, and not having the necessary money to procure provisions from the Mexican side, they were sometimes compelled to gather their food in the fields, like the native Californians. The author speaks of a locality between the twenty-eighth and twenty-ninth degree, called Rosario, where some supposed gold to exist, but even admitting the fact, he thinks it would be almost impossible to work mines in that region, where neither food for men and beasts, nor water and wood, can be procured. Near the mission of St. Ignatius (28th degree) sulphur is found, and on the islands of El Carmen and St. Joseph in the Californian gulf, and in different places on both coasts salt of very good quality is abundant.

Having thus given an abstract of the first part of the book, I cannot conclude these introductory remarks without saying a few words in favor of the Jesuits. Whatever we may think, as Protestants, of the tendencies of that order, we cannot but admit that those of its members who came as missionaries to America deserve great credit for their zeal in propagating a knowledge of the countries and nations they visited in the New World. To the student of American ethnology particularly, the numerous writings of the Jesuit fathers are of inestimable value, forming, as it were, the very foundations upon which almost all subsequent researches in that interesting field of inquiry are based. "The missionaries and discoverers whom the order of the Jesuits sent forth were for the most part not only possessed of the courage of martyrs, and of statesmanlike qualities, but likewise of great knowledge and learning. They were enthusiastic travellers, naturalists, and geographers; they were the best mathematicians and astronomers of their time. They have been the first to give us faithful and circumstantial accounts of the new countries and nations they visited. There are few districts in the interior of America concerning which the Jesuits have not supplied us with the oldest and best works, and we can scarcely attempt the study of any American language without meeting with a grammar composed by a Jesuit. In addition to their chapels and colleges in the wilderness, the Jesuits likewise erected observatories; and there are few rivers, lakes, and mountains in the interior, which they have not been the first to draw upon our maps."

With this well-deservod eulogy, which is quoted from Mr. J. G. Kohl's recent work on the discovery of America, I leave to Father Baegert himself the task of relating his experiences among the natives of Lower California.

AN ACCOUNT OF THE ABORIGINAL INHABITANTS OF THE CALIFORNIAN PENINSULA.

CHAPTER I.—THE STATURE, COMPLEXION, AND NUMber of the CALIFORNIANS; ALSO, WHENCE AND HOW THEY MAY HAVE COME TO CALIFORNIA.

In physical appearance the Californians resemble perfectly the Mexicans and other aboriginal inhabitants of America. Their skin is of a dark chestnut or clove color, passing, however, sometimes into different shades, some individuals being of a more swarthy complexion, while others are tan or copper colored.

But in new-born children the color is much paler, so that they hardly can be distinguished from white children when presented for baptism; yet it appears soon after birth, and assumes its dark tinge in a short time. The hair is black as pitch and straight, and seldom turns gray, except sometimes in cases of extreme old age. They are all beardless, and their eye-brows are but scantily provided with hair. The heads of children at their birth, instead of being covered with scales, exhibit hair, sometimes half a finger long. The teeth, though never cleaned, are of the whiteness of ivory. The angles of the eyes towards the nose are not pointed, but arched like a bow. They are well-formed and well-proportioned people, very supple, and can lift up from the ground stones, bones, and similar things with the big and second toes. All walk, with a few exceptions, even to the most advanced age, perfectly straight. Their children stand and walk, before they are a year old, briskly on their feet. Some are tall and of a commanding appearance, others small of stature, as elsewhere, but no corpulent individuals are seen among them, which may be accounted for by their manner of living, for, being compelled to run much around, they have no chance of growing stout.

In a country as poor and sterile as California the number of inhabitants cannot be great, and nearly all would certainly die of hunger in a few days if it were as densely populated as most parts of Europe. There are, consequently, very few Californians, and, in proportion to the extent of the country, almost as few, as if there were none at all; yet, nevertheless, they decrease annually. A person may travel in different parts four and more days without seeing a single human being, and I do not believe that the number of Californians from the promontory of St. Lucas to the Rio Colorado ever amounted, before the arrival of the Spaniards, to more than forty or fifty thousand souls.* It is certain that in 1767, in fifteen, that is, in all the missions, from the 22d to the 31st degree, only twelve thousand have been counted. But an insignificant population and its annual diminution are not peculiar to California alone; both are common to all America. During my journey overland along the east side of the Californian gulf, from Guadalaxara to the river Hiaqui, in the Mexican territory, a distance of four hundred leagues,† I saw only thirteen small Indian villages, and on most days I did not meet a living soul. Father Charlevoix, before setting out on a journey through Canada or New France, writes in his first letter, addressed to the Duchess of Lesdiguières, that he would have to travel sometimes a hundred and more leagues without seeing any human beings besides his companions.‡

With the exception of Mexico and some other countries, North America was, even at the time of the discovery, almost a wilderness when compared with Germany and France; and this is still more the case at the present time. Whoever has read the history of New France by the above-named author, or has travelled six or seven hundred leagues through Mexico, and, besides, obtained reliable information concerning the population of other provinces, can easily form an estimate of the number of native inhabitants in North America; and if the southern half of the New World does not contain a hundred times more inhabitants than the northern part, which, relying on the authority of men who have lived there many years and have travelled much in that country, I am far from believing, those European geographers who speak in their books of 300 millions of Americans are certainly mistaken. Who knows whether they

Washington Irving states they had numbered from 25,000 to 30,000 souls when the first missions were established; on what authority I do not know.-Adventures of Captain Bonneville, (ed. of 1851,) p. 332.

+ Stunden.-I translate this word by "league," though the French lieue is a little longer than the German stunde.

Histoire de la Nouvelle France, par le P. de Charlevoix. Paris, 1744; vol. v, p. 66.

would find in all more than fifteen or twenty millions? The many hundred languages which are spoken in South America alone are a sure evidence of a scanty population, although the contrary might be inferred at first sight; for, if there were more people, there would be more community among them, the tribes would live closer together, and, as a result, there would be fewer languages. The Ikas in my district speak a language different from that of the other people in my mission; but I am pretty sure that the whole nation of these Ikas never amounted to five hundred persons.

It is easy to comprehend why America is so thinly populated, the manner of living of the inhabitants and their continual wars among themselves being the causes of this deficiency; but how it comes that, since the discovery of the fourth part of the world, its population is constantly melting down, even in those provinces where the inhabitants are not subjected to the Europeans, but retain their full, unrestrained liberty, as, for instance, according to Father Charlevoix, in Louisiana, (that is, in the countries situated on both sides of the Mississippi,) is a question, the solution of which I leave to others, contenting myself with what is written in the Psalms, namely, that the increase or diminution of the human race in different countries is a mystery which man cannot penetrate.

However small the number of Californians is, they are, nevertheless, divided into a great many nations, tribes, and tongues.* If a mission contains only one thousand souls, it may easily embrace as many little nations among its parishioners as Switzerland counts cantons and allies. My mission consisted of Paurus, Atshémes, Mitshirikutamáis, Mitshirikuteurus, Mitshirikutaruanajéres, Teackwàs, Teenguábebes, Utshis, Ikas, Anjukwáres, Utshipujes; all being different tribes, but hardly amounting in all to five hundred souls.

It might be asked, in this place, why there existed fifteen missions on the peninsula, since it appears that 12,000, and even more, Indians could be conveniently superintended and taken care of by three or four priests. The answer is, that this might be feasible in Germany as well as in a hundred places out of Europe, but is utterly impracticable in California; for, if 3 or 4,000 Californians were to live together in a small district, the scanty means of subsistence afforded by that sterile country would soon prove insufficient to maintain them. Besides, all of these petty nations or tribes have their own countries, of which they are as much, and sometimes even more, enamored than other people of theirs, so that they would not consent to be transplanted fifty or more leagues from the place they consider as their home. And, further, the different tribes who live at some distance from each other are always in a mutual state of enmity, which would prevent them from living peaceably together, and offer a serious obstacle to their being enclosed in the same fold. In time of general contagious diseases, lastly, which are of no unfrequent occurrence, a single priest could not perform his duties to their full extent in visiting all his widely scattered patients, and administering to their spiritual and temporal wants. My parish counted far less than a thousand members, yet their encampments were often more than thirty leagues distant from each other. Of the languages and dialects in this country there are also not a few, and a missionary is glad if he has mastered. one of them.

It remains now to state my opinion concerning the place where the Californians came from, and in what manner they effected their migration to the country they now occupy. They may have come from different localities, and either voluntarily or by some accident, or compelled by necessity; but that people

*The author probably fell into the very common error of confounding dialects with lan-guages. Dr. Waitz, relying on Buschmann's linguistic researches, mentions only three principal languages spoken by the natives of Lower California, viz., the Pericu, Mouqui, and Cochimi languages.-Anthropologie der Naturvölker von Dr. Theodor Waitz. Leipzig, 1864; vol iv, p. 248.

should have migrated to California of their own free will, and without compulsion, I am unable to believe. America is very large, and could easily support fifty times its number of inhabitants on much better soil than that of California. How, then, is it credible that men should have pitched, from free choice, their tents amidst the inhospitable dreariness of these barren rocks! It is not impossible that the first inhabitants may have found by accident their way across the sea from the other side of the Californian gulf, where the provinces of Cinaloa and Sonora are situated; but, to my knowledge, navigation never has been practiced by the Indians of that coast, nor is it in use among them at the present time. There is, furthermore, within many leagues towards the interior of the country no kind of wood to be had suitable for the construction of even the smallest vessel. From the Pimeria, the northernmost country opposite the peninsula, a transition might have been easier either by land, after crossing the Rio Colorado, or by water, the sea being in this place very narrow and full of islands. In default of boats they could employ their balsas or little rafts made of reeds, which are also used by my Californians who live near the sea, either for catching fish or turtle, or crossing over to a certain island distant two leagues from the shore. I am, however, of opinion that, if these Pimerians ever had gone to California induced by curiosity, or had been driven to that coast by a storm, the dreary aspect of the country soon would have caused them to return without delay to their own country. It was doubtless necessity that gave the impulse to the peopling of the peninsula. Nearly all neighboring tribes of America, over whom the Europeans have no sway, are almost without cessation at war with each other, as long as one party is capable of resistance; but when the weaker is too much exhausted to carry on the feud, the vanquished usually leaves the country and settles in some other part at a sufficient distance from its foes. I am, therefore, inclined to believe that the first inhabitants, while pursued by their enemies, entered the peninsula by land from the north side, and having found there a safe retreat they remained and spread themselves out. If they had any traditions, some light might be thrown on this subject; but no Californian is acquainted with the events that occurred in the country prior to his birth, nor does he even know who his parents were if he should happen to have lost them during his infancy.

To all appearance the Californians, at least those toward the south, believed, before the arrival of the Spaniards in their country, that California constituted the whole world, and they themselves its sole inhabitants; for they went to nobody, and nobody came to see them, each little people remaining within the limits of its small district. Some of those under my care believed to be derived from a bird; some traced their origin from a rock that was lying not far from my house; while others ascribed their descent to still different, but always equally foolish and absurd sources.

CHAPTER II.THEIR HABITATIONS, APPAREL, IMPLEMENTS, AND UTENSILS.

With the exception of the churches and dwellings of the missionaries, which every one, as well as he could, and as time and circumstances permitted, built of stone and lime, of stone and mud, of huge unburnt bricks, or other materials, and besides some barracks which the Indians attached to the missions, the few soldiers, boatmen, cowherds, and miners have now erected in the fourteen stations, nothing is to be seen in California that bears a resemblance to a city, a village, a human dwelling, a hut, or even a dog-house. The Californians themselves spend their whole life, day and night, in the open air, the sky above them forming their roof, and the hard soil the couch on which they sleep. During winter, only, when the wind blows sharp, they construct around them, but only opposite the direction of the wind, a half moon of brush-wood, a few spans high,