DAWN AND THE DONS 113
ef er one Eon is Bes Oe DLO RENNERANT small degree to the effects of the climate. It is no uncommon sight to find from fourteen to eighteen children at the same table, with their mother at their head. There is a lady of some note in Monterey who is the mother of twenty-two living children.” The respect and deference paid by children to their parents in this early period was the subject of universal | comment by those travelers who visited California, and ere who have left a record of their experiences and observations. In very truth, as Sepulveda so aptly suggests, a unique and distinct social organization developed in this far away, isolated wonderland of the Pacific wholly divergent from those of Mexico and Spain, and in sharp contrast with the puritan developments on the Atlantic side of the continent. And the center of it all was the Monterey peninsula. On the northern side of the peninsula was Monterey, home of the Governor, and seat of governmental author-
ity. Adjoining the town was the Presidio, with its small garrison, typifying the military arm of the government. On the southern side of the peninsula, a few miles away,
near the shore of Carmel Bay, was the Mother Mission, where lived the great Junipero Serra, and whence flowed the missionary activities through which was made easy the subjugation of an alien race. “Monterey,” says Chapman, “as the capital and residence of the Governor, was the most important presidial town. It was the principal resort of provincial society, the place to which the
