briel, and Purísima, by outsiders who contracted to kill the cattle and deliver half the hides to the padres. Such is the charge, and though exaggerated in detail, I have no doubt it is well founded; indeed, so far as I know, the padres have left in the records no denial of its truth. Naturally the documentary evidence on this subject is slight; but we have seen that in June the diputacion forbade the slaughter of cattle except in the usual quantities, and by members of the community; and a similar prohibition was deemed necessary in the reglamento of August. I append a few notes from the archives and something of what has been said on the subject.[1]
- ↑ July 16, 1834, F. to alcaldes, publishing the act of the dip. of the 12th. It is stated that the slaughter was then going on at Purísima, S. Luis, and S. Gabriel Pico, Doc. Hist. Cal., MS., i. 9-10; Dept. St. Pap., Ang., MS., xi. 21-2; Sta Cruz, Arch., MS., 10-11; Vallejo, Doc., MS., xxxi. 95-6. June 20th, Prefect García Diego circulates the order to the Zacatecanos. Arch. Obispado, MS., 90. July 8th, 10th, 12th, permission asked by S. Cárlos and S. Luis to slaughter cattle for payment of debts. Leg. Rec., MS., ii. 148-51, 163. From May to July 5,700 cattle were killed, leaving 2,850 hides for the mission, the rest belonging to the 'porcioneros.' St. Pap., Miss., MS., x. 4.
Osio, Hist. Cal., MS., 203-6, attributes the slaughter largely to the feeling of the Fernandinos against the Zacatecanos. The padre of S. Luis Obispo was ordered by his prelate to convert the mission wealth as rapidly as possible; and he bought $20,000 worth of cotton, woollen, and silk goods which he distributed among the neophytes. Over 5,000 hides from S. Gabriel were shipped at S. Pedro. When P. Esténega came to that mission he found all the cattle destroyed, so that he had to appeal to the Yorba rancho for meat, fat, and milk. Gov. Chico in 1836 said the friars 'annihilated the best part of the funds to allay the covetousness that they deemed to be the primary cause of secularization,' executing 'matanzas espantosas de ganado,' and abandoning 'toda clase de arbitrios de su progreso.' Earliest Printing in Cal. Bandini, Hist. Cal., MS., 51-3, tells us that 2,000 cattle were killed in a single day at one mission, the meat and fat being left in the fields. F.'s government only pretended to interfere, to save a portion of the stock for a particular purpose indicated in a letter to friends in Mexico, which the author saw, but which he takes good care not to quote or explain. J. J. Vallejo, Reminis, MS., 54-5, though a friend of the padres, admits the destruction, and thinks it was justified by circumstances. Pio Pico, Hist. Cal., MS., 157, says he had a contract at S. Gabriel, employing 10 vaqueros and 30 Indians, and killing over 5,000 cattle. Pico, Acont., MS., 24, speaks of a very extensive slaughter at Purísima under Domingo Carrillo, the administrator. Estudillo, Datos, MS., 33-4, tells us that after a time nothing but the hides was saved. Some 20,000 head were killed at the S. Jacinto ranch of S. Luis Rey. Robinson, Life in Cal., 159-61, says the ruin was more preceptible at S. Gabriel than elsewhere. The contractors really took two hides for every one they gave the padres. Hayes, Emig. Notes, 486, thinks the slaughter began in 1832. Mrs Ord, Ocurrencias, MS., 70-3, is inclined to doubt that any wanton slaughter was effected at most missions; but she understood that 30,000 cattle were killed at S. Gabriel, and remembers that there were fears of a pestilence from the rotting carcasses. Truman, in the Castroville Argus,
