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William Henry Hudson - The Famous Missions of California
anniversary of a great victory over the Moors in 1212, the Spanish church solemnly celebrated the
Triumph of the Holy Cross - the first mission of Upper California was dedicated to San Diego de Alcalą,
after whom the bay had been named by Sebastian Viscaino, the explorer, many years before. The
ceremonies were a repetition of those which had been employed in the founding of the Mission of San
Fernando at Villicatą; the site was blessed and sprinkled with holy water; a great cross reared, facing the
harbour; the mass celebrated; the Venite Creator Spiritus sung. And, as before, where the proper
accessories failed, Father Junipero and his colleagues fell back undeterred upon the means which Heaven
had actually put at their disposal. The constant firing of the troops supplied the lack of musical
instruments, and the smoke of the powder was accepted as a substitute for incense. Father Palou's brief
and unadorned description will not prove altogether wanting in impressiveness for those who in
imagination can conjure up a picture of the curious, yet dramatic scene.
The preliminary work of foundation thus accomplished, Father Junipero gathered about him the few
healthy men who could be spared from the tending of their sick comrades and routine duties, and with
their help erected a few rude huts, one of which was immediately consecrated as a temporary chapel. So
far as his own people were concerned, the padre's labours were for the most part of a grievous character,
for, during the first few months, the records tell us, disease made such fearful ravages among the
soldiers, sailors and servants, that ere long the number of persons at this settlement had been reduced to
twenty. But the tragedy of these poor nameless fellows - (it was Junipero's pious hope that they might all
be named in Heaven) - after all hardly forms part of our proper story. The father's real work was to lie
among the native Indians, and it is with his failures and successes in this direction that the main interest
of our California mission annals is connected.
They were not an attractive people, these "gentiles" of a country which to the newcomers must itself have
seemed an outer garden of Paradise; and Junipero's first attempts to gain their good will met with very
slight encouragement. During the ceremonies attendant upon the foundation and dedication of the
mission, they had stood round in silent wonder, and now they showed themselves responsive to the
strangers' advances to the extent of receiving whatever presents were offered, provided the gift was not in
the form of anything to eat. The Spaniards' food they would not even touch, apparently regarding it as the
cause of the dire sickness of the troops. And this, in the long run, remarks Palou, was without doubt
"singularly providential," owing to the rapid depletion of the stores. Ignorance of the Indians' language,
of course, added seriously to the father's difficulties in approaching them, and presently their thefts of
cloth, for the possession of which they developed a perfect passion, and other depredations, rendered
them exceedingly troublesome. Acts of violence became more and more common, and by-and-bye, a
determined and organized attack upon the mission, in which the assailants many times outnumbered their
opponents, led to a pitched battle, and the death of one of the Spanish servants. This was the crisis; for,
happily, like a thunderstorm, the disturbance, which seemed so threatening of future ill, cleared the air, at
any rate for a time; and the kindness with which the Spaniards treated their wounded foes evidently
touched the savage heart. Little by little a few Indians here and there began to frequent the mission; and
with the hearty welcome accorded them their numbers soon increased. Among them there happened to be
a boy, of some fifteen years of age, who showed himself more tractable than his fellows, and whom
Father Junipero determined to use as an instrument for his purpose. When the lad had picked up a
smattering of Spanish, the padre sent him to his people with the promise that if he were allowed to bring
back one of the children, the youngster should not only by baptism be made a Christian, but should also
(and here the good father descended to a bribe) be tricked out like the Spaniards themselves, in handsome
clothes. A few days later, a "gentile," followed by a large crowd, appeared with a child in his arms, and
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