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diff --git a/41561-0.txt b/41561-0.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..c3093cc --- /dev/null +++ b/41561-0.txt @@ -0,0 +1,2540 @@ +*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 41561 *** + +Note: Project Gutenberg also has an HTML version of this + file which includes the original illustrations. + See 41561-h.htm or 41561-h.zip: + (http://www.gutenberg.org/files/41561/41561-h/41561-h.htm) + or + (http://www.gutenberg.org/files/41561/41561-h.zip) + + + Images of the original pages are available through + Internet Archive/American Libraries. See + http://archive.org/details/picturesquepala00jamerich + + +Transcriber's note: + + Text enclosed by underscores is in italics (_italics_). + + Inconsistent hyphenation and spelling in the original + document have been preserved. Obvious typographical errors + have been corrected. + + + + + + [Illustration: George Wharton James] + + [Illustration: Rev. G. D. Doyle] + + +PICTURESQUE PALA + +The Story of the Mission Chapel of San Antonio de Padua +Connected with Mission San Luis Rey + +Fully Illustrated + +by + +GEORGE WHARTON JAMES + +Author of +In and Out of the Old Missions of California; The Franciscan +Missions of California; Indian Basketry; Indian Blankets and +Their Makers; The Indian's Secret of Health; Etc., Etc. + + + + + + + +1916 +The Radiant Life Press +Pasadena, California + + + + +List of Chapters + + Page + + Foreword 5 + + I. San Luis Rey Mission and Its Founder 7 + + II. The Founding of Pala 14 + + III. Who Were the Ancestors of the Palas 18 + + IV. The Pala Campanile 23 + + V. The Decline of San Luis Rey and Pala 31 + + VI. The Author of Ramona at Pala 34 + + VII. Further Desolation 37 + + VIII. The Restoration of the Pala Chapel 41 + + IX. The Palatingua Exiles 44 + + X. The Old and New Acqueducts 55 + + XI. The Palas As Farmers 60 + + XII. With the Pala Basket Makers 63 + + XIII. Lace and Pottery Makers 68 + + XIV. The Religious and Social Life of + the Palas 72 + + XV. The Collapse and Rebuilding of + The Campanile 81 + + + + +Copyright, 1916 +by +Edith E. Farnsworth + + + + +FOREWORD + + +There were twenty-one _Missions_ established by the Franciscan Fathers +in California, during the Spanish rule. In connection with these +Missions, certain _Asistencias_, or chapels, were also founded. + +The difference between a mission and a chapel is oftentimes not +understood, even by writers well informed upon other subjects. A +_Mission_ was what might be termed the parent church, while the +_Chapel_ was an auxiliary or branch establishment. + +The little mission chapel, or _asistencia_, of San Antonio de Padua de +Pala, has been an increasing object of interest ever since the +Palatingua, or Warner's Ranch, Indians, came and settled here, when +they were removed from their time-immemorial home, by order of the +Supreme Court of California, affirmed by the Supreme Court of the +United States. A century ago the beautiful and picturesque Pala Valley +was inhabited by Indians. To give them the privileges of the Catholic +Church and of the arts and crafts of civilization, the padres of San +Luis Rey Mission, twenty miles to the west, established this +_asistencia_, and caused the little chapel to be built. The quaint and +individualistic bell-tower always was an object of interest to +Californians and tourists alike, and thousands visited it. But +additional interest was aroused and keenly directed towards Pala, when +it was known that the severe storm of January, 1916, which caused +considerable damage throughout the whole state--had undermined the +Pala Campanile and it had tumbled over, breaking into fragments, but, +fortunately, doing no injury to the bells. + +With characteristic energy and determination Father George D. Doyle, +the pastor, set to work to clear away the ruins, secure the bells from +possible injury, and interest the friends of the Chapel to secure +funds enough for its re-erection. Citizens of Los Angeles, Pasadena, +San Diego, etc., readily and cheerfully responded. The tower was +rebuilt, in exactly the same location, and as absolutely a replica of +the original as was possible, except that the base was made of +reinforced and solid concrete, covered with adobe, and the +well-remembered cobble-stones of the original tower-base, with the +original building materials, bells, timbers, and rawhide. Even the +cactus was replaced. So perfectly was this rebuilding done that I +question whether Padre Peyri, its original builder, would realize that +it was not his own tower. + +Sunday, June 4, 1916, was selected for the dedication ceremony of the +new Campanile, and to give friends of the mission chapel a reasonably +full and accurate account of its appearance and history this brochure +has been prepared, with the full approbation and assistance of Father +Doyle, to whom my sincere thanks are hereby earnestly tendered for his +cordial co-operation. + + George Wharton James. + + Pasadena, California, + May, 1916. + + [Illustration: Padre Antonio Peyri, Founder of San Luis Rey and Pala] + + + + +Picturesque Pala + + + + +CHAPTER I. + +San Luis Rey Mission and its Founder. + + +What a wonderful movement was that wave of religious zeal, of +proselyting fervor, that accompanied the great colonizing efforts of +Spain in the sixteenth, seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. +_Conquistadores and friars_--one as earnest as the other--swept over +the New World. Cortés was no more bent upon his conquests than Ugarte, +Kino and Escalante were upon theirs; Coronado had his counterpart in +Marcos de Nizza, and Cabrillo in Junipero Serra. The one class sought +material conquest, the other spiritual; the one, to amass countries +for their sovereign, fame and power for themselves, wealth for their +followers; the other, to amass souls, to gain virtue in the sight of +God, to build churches and crowd them with aborigines they had "caught +in the gospel net." Both were full of indomitable energy and +unquenchable zeal, and few epochs in history stand out more +wonderfully than this for their great achievements in their respective +domains. + +Mexico and practically the whole of North and South America were +brought under Spanish rule, and the various Catholic orders--Jesuits, +Dominicans, Franciscans, Carmelites--dotted the countries over with +churches, monasteries and convents that are today the marvel and joy +of the architect, antiquarian and historian. + +Alta California felt the power of these movements in three distinct +waves. The two first were somewhat feeble,--the discovery by Cabrillo, +and rediscovery sixty years later by Vizcaino,--the third powerful and +convincing. During this epoch was started and carried on the +colonization of California by the bringing in of families from Mexico, +and its Christianization by the baptizing of the aborigines of the new +land into the Church, the making of them real or nominal Christians, +and the teaching of them the arts and crafts of civilization. + +Twenty-one missions were established, reaching from San Diego on the +south, to Sonoma on the north, and great mission churches and +establishments rose up in the land, of which the padres, in the main, +were the architects and the Indians the builders. + +Second in this chain--the next mission establishment north of the +parent mission of San Diego--was San Luis Rey, dedicated to St. Louis +IX, the king of France, who reigned from 1226 to 1270, renowned for +his piety at home and abroad, and who was especially active in the +Crusades. He was canonized by Pope Boniface VIII, in 1297, in the +reign of his grandson, Phillip the Fair, and his _day_ is observed on +the 25th of August. + +The Mission of San Luis Rey was the eighteenth to be founded and +Junipero Serra, the venerable leader of the zealous band of +Franciscans, had passed to his reward fourteen years before, his +mantle descending in turn to Francisco Palou, and then to Fermin +Francisco de Lasuen, under whose regime as _Padre Presidente_ it was +established. The friar put in charge of the work was one of the most +energetic, capable, competent and lovable geniuses the remarkable +system of the Franciscan Order ever produced in California. He was +zealous but practical, dominating but kindly, a wonderful organizer +yet great in attending to detail, gifted with tremendous energy, a +master as an architect, and withal so lovable in his nature as to win +all with whom he came in contact, Indians as well as Spaniards and +Mexicans. The Mission was founded on the 13th of June, 1798, and yet +so willingly did the Indians work for him, that on the 18th of July +six thousand adobes were already made for the new church. It was +completed in 1802. For over a century it has stood, the wonder, +amazement and delight of all who have seen it. + +Alfred Robinson, the Boston merchant, who came to California in 1828 +and settled here, engaging in business for many years, visited San +Luis Rey in 1829, and has left us a graphic picture of the buildings +of San Luis Rey and the life of its Indians. Riding over the barren +and hilly back country from San Diego he discants upon the weariness +of the forty-mile journey until the Mission is perceived from the top +of an eminence in the center of a rich and cultivated valley. He +continues: + + It was yet early in the afternoon when we rode up to the + establishment, at the entrance of which many Indians had + congregated to behold us, and as we dismounted, some stood + ready to take off our spurs, whilst others unsaddled the + horses. The Reverend Father was at prayers, and some time + elapsed ere he came, giving us a most cordial reception. + Chocolate and refreshments were at once ordered for us, and + rooms where we might arrange our dress, which had become + somewhat soiled by the dust. + + This Mission was founded in the year 1798, by its present + minister, Father Antonio Peyri, who had been for many years a + reformer and director among the Indians. At this time (1829) + its population was about three thousand Indians, who were all + employed in various occupations. Some were engaged in + agriculture, while others attended to the management of over + sixty thousand head of cattle. Many were carpenters, masons, + coopers, saddlers, shoemakers, weavers, etc., while the + females were employed in spinning and preparing wool for + their looms, which produced a sufficiency of blankets for + their yearly consumption. Thus every one had his particular + vocation, and each department its official superintendent, or + alcalde; these were subject to the supervision of one or more + Spanish _mayordomos_, who were appointed by the missionary + father, and consequently under his immediate direction. + + The building occupies a large square, of at least eighty or + ninety yards each side; forming an extensive area, in the + center of which a fountain constantly supplies the + establishment with pure water. + + The front is protected by a long corridor, supported by + thirty-two arches, ornamented with latticed railings, which, + together with the fine appearance of the church on the right, + presents an attractive view to the traveller; the interior is + divided into apartments for the missionary and mayordomos, + store-rooms, workshops, hospitals, rooms for unmarried males + and females, while near at hand is a range of buildings + tenanted by the families of the superintendents. There is + also a guard-house, where were stationed some ten or a dozen + soldiers, and in the rear spacious granaries stored with an + abundance of wheat, corn, beans, peas, etc., also large + enclosures for wagons, carts, and the implements of + agriculture. In the interior of the square might be seen the + various trades at work, presenting a scene not dissimilar to + some of the working departments of our state prisons. + Adjoining are two large gardens, which supply the table with + fruit and vegetables, and two or three large "_ranchos_" or + farms are situated from five to eight leagues distant, + where the Indians are employed in cultivating and + domesticating cattle. + + The church is a large, stone edifice, whose exterior is not + without some considerable ornament and tasteful finish; but + the interior is richer, and the walls are adorned with a + variety of pictures of saints and Scripture subjects, + glaringly colored, and attractive to the eye. Around the + altar are many images of the saints, and the tall and massive + candelabra, lighted during mass, throw an imposing light upon + the whole. + + Mass is offered daily, and the greater portion of the Indians + attend; but it is not unusual to see numbers of them driven + along by alcaldes, and under the whip's lash forced to the + very doors of the sanctuary. The men are placed generally + upon the left, and the females occupy the right of the + church, so that a passage way or aisle is formed between them + from the principal entrance to the altar, where zealous + officials are stationed to enforce silence and attention. At + evening again, "_El Rosario_" is prayed, and a second time + all assemble to participate in supplication to the Virgin. + + [Illustration: The Pala Campanile, Showing the Cactus Growing by + the Side of the Cross.] + + [Illustration: The Pala Chapel and Campanile Before the Restoration.] + +In this earlier account he adds comment upon the treatment some of the +Indians received at the hands of their superiors which would lead one +to infer that the rule of the padres was one of harsh severity rather +than of affection and wise discipline. Later, however, he writes more +moderately, as follows: + + On the inside of the main building it formed a large square, + where he found at least one or two hundred young Indian girls + busily employed spinning, each one with her spinning wheel, + and the different apartments around were occupied with the + different trades, such as carpenters, blacksmiths, + shoemakers, tailors, most useful for the establishment. There + were also weavers, busily at work weaving blankets, all + apparently contented and happy in their vocation. Passing out + of the square, he strolled towards the garden, where he + entered and found, much to his surprise, a great variety of + fruit trees--pears, apples, peaches, plums, figs, oranges and + lemons, besides a large vineyard, bearing the choicest + grapes. + +While it is very possible the Mission of San Juan Capistrano--the next +one further north--was the most imposing, architecturally, of all the +California Missions in its prime, it was not allowed to stand long +enough for us to know its glory, the earthquake of 1812 destroying its +tower, after which time it remained in ruins. San Luis Rey suffered +materially from the hands of the spoilers during the sad epoch of +_Secularization_ and when I first saw it, some thirty years ago, +nearly all its outbuildings were destroyed. Yet even in its ruined +condition it exercised great fascination over all who viewed it, and +careful study revealed that, architecturally, it was the most perfect +Mission of the whole chain. While not as solidly built as either Santa +Barbara, San Carlos at Monterey or San Carlos in the Carmelo Valley, +it was architecturally more perfect. Indeed it was the only Mission +that combined within itself all the elements of the so-called Mission +Style of architecture. + +To those unfamiliar with the history of California and the Missions +the question naturally arises, when they find the buildings in ruins, +the Indians scattered, and all traces of the establishments' former +glory gone, "Whence and Why this ruin?" [A] + +To answer fully would require more space than this brochure affords, +and for further information those interested are referred to my larger +work.[A] In brief it may be stated that the decline of the Missions +came about through the cupidity of Mexican politicians, who deprived +the padres of their temporal control, released the Indians from their +parental care, committed the property of the Missions into the +latter's hands and then deliberately and ruthlessly robbed them on +every hand. The work of demoralizing the Indians was followed by the +Americans who took possession of California soon after the Mexican act +of _secularization_ of the Missions was passed, and the days of the +gold excitement which came soon after pretty nearly completed the sad +work. + +Hence it is only since the later growth of population in California +that a desire to preserve these old Missions has arisen. Under the +energetic direction of Dr. Charles F. Lummis, the Landmarks Club has +done much needed work in preserving them from further ruin, and at San +Luis Rey the Franciscans themselves have systematically carried on the +work of restoration until, save that the Indians are gone and the +outbuildings are less extensive, one might deem himself at the Mission +soon after its original erection. + +FOOTNOTE: + +[A] _In and Out of the Old Missions_, Little, Brown & Co., Boston. + + + + +CHAPTER II. + +The Founding of Pala. + + +Many a time when I have been journeying between Pala and San Luis Rey, +pictures have arisen in my mind of the energetic Peyri. I imagined him +at his multifarious duties as architect, master builder, director, +priest officiating at the mass, preacher, teacher of Indians, settler +of disputes between them, administrator of justice, etc., etc. But no +picture has been more persistent and pleasing than when I imagined him +reaching out after more heathen souls to be garnered for God and +Mother Church. I have pictured him inquiring of his faithful Indians +as to the whereabouts and number of other and _heathen_ Indians, in +outlying districts. He soon learned of Pala, but his great organizing +and building work at San Luis Rey prevented for some time his going to +see for himself. Then I pictured him walking down the quiet valley of +the San Luis Rey River, talking to himself of his plans, listening to +the singing of the birds which ever cheerily caroled in that +picturesque vale, sometimes questioning the Indian who accompanied him +as guide and interpreter. + +Then I saw him on his arrival at Pala. His meeting with the chiefs, +his forceful, pleasing and dominating personality at once taking hold +of the aboriginal mind. Then I heard--in imagination--the herald give +notice of the meeting to be held next day, perhaps, and the rapid +gathering of the interested Indians. Then I felt the urge of this +devoted man's soul as he spoke, through his interpreter, to the dusky +crowd of men, women, and children as he bade them sit upon the ground, +while he unfolded his plan to them. He had come from the God of the +white men, the God who loved all men and wished to save them from the +inevitable consequences of their natural wickedness. With deep fervor +he expounded the merciless theology of his Church and the time, +tempered, however, with the redeeming love of the Christ, and the fact +that through and by his ministrations they could be eternally saved. + +Then, possibly, with the touch of the practical politician, he showed +how, under the hands of the Spaniards, they would be trained in many +ways and become superior to their hereditary enemies, the Cahuillas, +and the Indians of the desert and of the far-away river that flowed +from the heart of the Great Canyon down to the wonderful Great Sea +(the Gulf of California). After this he expounded his plan of building +a mission chapel and then-- + +And here I have often wondered. Did he ask for co-operation, gladly, +willingly, freely accorded, or did he authoritatively announce that, +on such a day work would begin in which they were expected, and would +absolutely be required, to take a part? Diplomacy, persuasion, zealous +love that was so urgent and insistent as to be irresistible, or +manifested power, command and rude control? + +Testimonies differ, some saying one thing, some another. Personally I +believe the former was the chief and prevailing spirit. I hope it +was. I freely confess I desire to believe it was. + +Anyhow, whichever way the influence or power was exercised, the end +was gained, and in 1816, the Indians were set to work, bricks and +tiles were made, lime burned, cement and plaster prepared, bands of +stalwarts sent to the Palomar mountains to cut down logs for beams, +which patient oxen slowly dragged down the mountain sides, through the +canyons and valleys to the spot, and maidens and women, doubtless, +were sent to pick up boulders out of the rocky stream bed for the +covering of the base of the Campanile. In the meantime a _ramada_ was +erected (a shelter made of poles and boughs) in which morning mass was +regularly held. Trained Christian Indians came over from San Luis Rey +to assist in the work, and also to guide the Palas in the Christian +life and the ceremonies of the Church. + +What an active bustling little valley it suddenly became. Like magic +the chapel was built, then the bell-tower sprang into existence, and +finally, one bright morning, possibly with a thousand or more gathered +from San Luis Rey to add to the thousand of Palas already assembled, +the dedication of the chapel took place, named after Peyri's beloved +Saint, Anthony, the miracle worker of Padua. + +It was a populous valley, and the Indians were soon absorbed in the +life taught them by the brown and long-gowned Franciscans. Mass every +morning. Then, after breakfast, dispersion, each to his allotted toil. +Year after year this continued until the Mexican _diputacion_, or +house of legislature, passed the infamous decree of _Secularization_, +which spelled speedy ruin to every Mission of California. + +Some writers, with more imagination than desire for ascertaining the +facts, have asserted that the name Pala, comes from _pala_, Spanish +for shovel, owing to the shovel or spade-like shape of the valley. The +explanation is purely fanciful. It has no foundation in fact. _Pala_ +is Indian of this region for _water_. These were the _water_ Indians, +to differentiate them from the Indians who lived on the other side of +the mountains in the desert. The Indians of Warner's Ranch, speaking +practically the same language, and, therefore, evidently the same +people, called themselves Palatinguas,--the _hot-water Indians_,--from +the fact that their home was closely contiguous to some of the most +remarkable hot springs of Southern California. + + + + +CHAPTER III. + +Who Were the Ancestors of the Palas? + + +The study of the ancestors of our present-day Amerind has occupied the +time and attention of many scholars with small results. Only when the +ethnologist and antiquarian began to take due cognizance of language, +tradition, and the physical configuration of skull and body did he +begin to make due progress. + +Dr. A. L. Kroeber, of the University of California, affirms that the +Palas belong to what is now generally called the Uto-Aztecan stock. +Distant relatives of theirs are the Shoshones, of Idaho and Wyoming; +so the general name "Shoshonean" was long since applied to them. But +more recent investigations have shown that the great group of +Shoshonean tribes are only a part of a still larger family, all +related among each other, as shown by their speech. In this grand +assemblage belong the Utes of Utah, the famous snake-dancing Hopi, and +the pastoral Pimas, of Arizona, the Yaki of Sonora, and, most +important of all, the Aztecs of Mexico. The name Uto-Aztecan, +therefore, is rapidly coming into use as the most appropriate for this +family, which was and still is numerically the largest and +historically the most important on the American continent. Whether the +Aztecs are an offshoot from the less civilized tribes in the United +States, or the reverse, is not yet determined. + + [Illustration: Interior of Pala Chapel Before the Restoration, Showing + the Old Indian Mural Decorations.] + + [Illustration: An Old San Luis Rey Mission Indian.] + + [Illustration: Statue of San Luis Rey Which Stands at the Right of the + Altar in Pala Chapel.] + +The most conspicuous of the Uto-Aztecan tribes in San Diego County are +the Indians formerly connected with the Mission of San Luis Rey, and +who are called, therefore _Luiseños_. They know nothing of their +kinship with the Aztecs but believe that they originated in Southern +California. They tell a migration legend, however, of how their +ancestors, led by the Eagle and their great hero, Uuyot, sometimes +spelled Wiyot, journeyed by slow stages from near Mt. San Bernardino +to their present homes. Uuyot was subsequently poisoned by the +witchcraft of his enemies and passed away, but not until he had +ordained the law and customs which the older Indians used to follow. + +Old Pedro Lucero, at Saboba, years before his death told me of the +earlier history of his people, and of their coming to this land. I +transcribe it here exactly as I wrote it at his dictation: + + Before my people came here they lived far, far away in the + land that is in the heart of the setting sun. But Siwash, our + great god, told Uuyot, the warrior captain of my people, that + we must come away from this land and sail away and away in a + direction that he would give us. Under Uuyot's orders my + people built big boats and then, with Siwash himself leading + them, and with Uuyot as captain, they launched them into the + ocean and rowed away from the shore. There was no light on + the ocean. Everything was covered with a dark fog and it was + only by singing, as they rowed, that the boats were enabled + to keep together. + + It was still dark and foggy when the boats landed on the + shores of this land, and my ancestors groped about in the + darkness, wondering why they had been brought hither. Then, + suddenly, the heavens opened, and lightnings flashed and + thunders roared and the rains fell, and a great earthquake + shook all the earth. Indeed, all the elements of earth, ocean + and heaven seemed to be mixed up together, and with terror + in their hearts, and silence on their tongues my people stood + still awaiting what would happen further. Though no one had + spoken they knew something was going to happen, and they were + breathless in their anxiety to know what it was. Then they + turned to Uuyot and asked him what the raging of the elements + meant. Gently he calmed their fear and bade them be silent + and wait. As they waited, a terrible clap of thunder rent the + very heavens and the vivid lightning revealed the frightened + people huddling together as a pack of sheep. But Uuyot stood + alone, brave and fearless, and daring the anger of 'Those + Above.' With a loud voice he cried out: 'Wit-i-a-ko!' which + signified 'Who's there;' 'What do you want?' There was no + response. The heavens were silent! The earth was silent! The + ocean was silent! All nature was silent! Then with a voice + full of tremulous sadness and loving yearning for his people + Uuyot said: 'My children, my own sons and daughters, + something is wanted of us by Those Above. What it is I do not + know. Let us gather together and bring pivat, and with it + make the big smoke and then dance and dance until we are told + what is required of us.' + + So the people brought pivat--a native tobacco that grows in + Southern California--and Uuyot brought the big ceremonial + pipe which he had made out of rock, and he soon made the big + smoke and blew the smoke up into the heavens while he urged + the people to dance. They danced hour after hour, until they + grew tired, and Uuyot smoked all the time, but still he urged + them to dance. + + Then he called out again to 'Those Above:' 'Witiako!' but + could obtain no response. This made him sad and disconsolate, + and when the people saw Uuyot sad and disconsolate they + became panic-stricken, ceased to dance and clung around him + for comfort and protection. But poor Uuyot had none to give. + He himself was the saddest and most forsaken of all, and he + got up and bade the people leave him alone, as he wished to + walk to and fro by himself. Then he made the people smoke and + dance, and when they rested they knelt in a circle and + prayed. But he walked away by himself, feeling keenly the + refusal of 'Those Above' to speak to him. His heart was + deeply wounded. + + But, as the people prayed and danced and sang, a gentle light + came stealing into the sky from the far, far east. Little by + little the darkness was driven away. First the light was + grey, then yellow, then white, and at last the glittering + brilliancy of the sun filled all the land and covered the sky + with glory. The sun had arisen for the first time, and in its + light and warmth my people knew they had the favor of 'Those + Above,' and they were contented and happy. + + But when Siwash, the god of earth, looked around and saw + everything revealed by the sun, he was discontented, for the + earth was bare and level and monotonous and there was nothing + to cheer the sight. So he took some of the people and of them + he made high mountains, and of some smaller mountains. Of + some he made rivers and creeks and lakes and waterfalls, and + of others, coyotes, foxes, deer, antelope, bear, squirrel, + porcupines and all the other animals. Then he made out of + other people all the different kinds of snakes and reptiles + and insects and birds and fishes. Then he wanted trees and + plants and flowers, and he turned some of the people into + these things. Of every man or woman that he seized he made + something according to its value. When he had done he had + used up so many people he was scared. So he set to work and + made a new lot of people, some to live here and some to live + everywhere. And he gave to each family its own language and + tongue and its own place to live, and he told them where to + live and the sad distress that would come upon them if they + mixed up their tongues by intermarriage. Each family was to + live in its own place and while all the different families + were to be friends and live as brothers, tied together by + kinship, amity and concord, there was to be no mixing of + bloods. + + Thus were settled the original inhabitants on the coast of + Southern California by Siwash, the god of the earth, and + under the captaincy of Uuyot. + +The language of the Palas is simple, easy to pronounce, regular in its +grammar, and much richer in the number of its words than is usually +believed of Indian idioms. It comprises nearly 5,000 different words, +or more than the ordinary vocabulary of the average educated white man +or newspaper writer. The gathering of these words was done by the late +P. S. Spariman, for years Indian trader and storekeeper, at Rincon, +who was an indefatigable student of both words and grammar. His +manuscript is now in the keeping of Professor Kroeber, and will +shortly be published by the University of California. Dr. Kroeber +claims that it is one of the most important records ever compiled of +the thought and mental life of the native races of California. + + + + +CHAPTER IV. + +The Pala Campanile + + +Every lover of the artistic and the picturesque on first seeing the +bell-tower of Pala stands enraptured before its unique personality. +And this word "personality" does not seem at all misapplied in this +connection. Just as in human beings we find a peculiar charm in +certain personalities that it is impossible to explain, so is it with +buildings. They possess an individuality, quality, all their own, +which, sometimes, eludes the most subtle analysis. Pala is of this +character. One feels its charm, longs to stand or sit in contemplation +of it. There is a joy in being near to it. Its very proximity speaks +peace, contentment, repose, while it breathes out the air of the +romance of the past, the devoted love of its great founder, Peyri, the +pathos of the struggles it has seen, the loss of its original Indians, +its long desertion, and now, its rehabilitation and reuse in the +service of Almighty God by a band of Indians, ruthlessly driven from +their own home by the stern hand of a wicked and cruel law to find a +new home in this gentle and secluded vale. + +As far as I know or can learn, the Pala Campanile, from the +architectural standpoint, is unique. Not only does it, in itself, +stand alone, but in all architecture it stands alone. It is a free +building, unattached to any other. The more one studies the Missions +from the professional standpoint of the architect the more wonderful +they become. They were designed by laymen--using the word as a +professed architect would use it. For the padres were the architects +of the Missions, and when and where and how could they have been +trained technically in the great art, and the practical craftsmanship +of architecture? Laymen, indeed, they were, but masters all the same. +In harmonious arrangement, in bold daring, in originality, in power, +in pleasing variety, in that general gratification of the senses that +we feel when a building attracts and satisfies, the priestly +architects rank high. And, as I look at the Pala Campanile, my mind +seeks to penetrate the mind of its originator. Whence conceived he the +idea of this unique construction? Was it a deliberate conception, +viewed by a poetic imagination, projected into mental cognizance +before erection, and seen in its distinctive beauty as an original and +artistic creation before it was actually visualized? Or was it mere +accident, mere utilitarianism, without any thought of artistic effect? +We must remember that, to the missionary padres, a bell-tower was not +a luxury of architecture, but an essential. The bells must be hung up +high, in order that their calling tones could penetrate to the +farthest recesses of the valley, the canyons, the ravines, the +foothills, wherever an Indian ear could hear, an Indian soul be +reached. Indians were their one thought--to convert them and bring +them into the fold of Mother Church their sole occupation. Hence with +the chapel erected, the bell-tower was a necessary accompaniment, to +warn the Indian of services, to attract, allure and draw the +stranger, the outsider, as well as to remind those who had already +entered the fold. In addition its elevation was required for the +uplifting of the cross--the Emblem of Salvation. + +It is evident, from the nature of the case, that here was no great and +studious architectural planning, as at San Luis Rey. This was merely +an _asistencia_, an offshoot of the parent Mission, for the benefit of +the Indians of this secluded valley, hence not demanding a building of +the size and dignity required at San Luis. But though _less_ +important, can we conceive of it as being _un_important to such a +devoted adherent to his calling as Padre Peyri? Is it not possible he +gave as much thought to the appearance of this little chapel as he did +to the massive and kingly structure his genius created at the Mission +proper? I see no reason to question it. Hence, though it does +sometimes occur to me that perhaps there was no such planning, no +deliberate intent, and, therefore, no creative genius of artistic +intuition involved in its erection, I have come to the conclusion +otherwise. So I regard Pala and its free-standing Campanile as another +evidence of devoted genius; another revelation of what the complete +absorption of a man's nature to a lofty ideal--such, for instance, as +the salvation of the souls of a race of Indians--can enable him to +accomplish. One part of his nature uplifted and inspired by his +passionate longings to accomplish great things for God and humanity, +_all_ parts of his nature necessarily become uplifted. And I can +imagine that the good Peyri awoke one morning, or during the quiet +hours of the night, perhaps after a wearisome day with his somewhat +wayward charges, or after a sleep induced by the hot walk from San +Luis Rey, with the picture of this completed chapel and campanile in +his mind. With joy it was committed to paper--perhaps--and then, +hastily was constructed, to give joy to the generations of a later and +alien race who were ultimately to possess the land. + +On the other hand may it not be possible that the Pala Campanile was +the result of no great mental effort, merely the doing of the most +natural and simple thing? + +Many a man builds, constructs, better than he knows. It has long been +a favorite axiom of my own life that the simple and natural are more +beautiful than the complex and artificial. Just as a beautiful +woman, clothed in dignified simplicity, in the plainest and most +unpretentious dress, will far outshine her sisters upon whose costumes +hours of thought in design and labor, and vast sums for gorgeous +material and ornamentation have been expended, so will the simply +natural in furniture, in pottery, in architecture make its appeal to +the keenly critical, the really discerning. + +Was Peyri, here, the inspired genius, fired with the sublime audacity +that creates new and startling revelations of beauty for the delight +and elevation of the world, or was he but the humble, though +discerning, man of simple naturalness who did not know enough to +realize he was doing what had never been done before, and thus, +through his very simplicity and naturalness, stumbling upon the +daring, the unique, the individualistic and at the same time, the +beautiful, the artistic, the competent? + + [Illustration: The Store and Ranch-House at Pala.] + + [Illustration: A Suquin, or Acorn Granary, Used by the Pala Indians.] + + [Illustration: The Old Altar at Pala Chapel, Before the Restoration.] + +In either case the effect is the same, and, whether built by accident +or design, the result of mere utilitarianism or creative genius, the +world of the discerning, the critical, and the lovers of the +beautifully unique, the daringly original, or the simply natural, owe +Padre Peyri a debt of gratitude for the Pala Campanile. + +The height of the tower above the base was about 35 feet, the whole +height being 50 feet. The wall of the tower was three feet thick. + +A flight of steps from the rear built into the base, led up to the +bells. They swung one above another, and when I first saw them were +undoubtedly as their original hangers had placed them. Suspended from +worm-eaten, roughly-hewn beams set into the adobe walls, with thongs +of rawhide, one learned to have a keener appreciation of leather than +ever before. Exposed to the weather for a century sustaining the heavy +weight of the bells, these thongs still do service. + +One side of the larger bell bears an inscription in Latin, very much +abbreviated, as follows: + + Stus Ds Stus Ftis Stus Immortlis Micerere Nobis. An. De 1816 + I. R. + +which being interpreted means, "Holy Lord, Holy Most Mighty One, Holy +Immortal One, Pity us. Year of 1816. Jesus Redemptor." + +The other side contains these names in Spanish: "Our Seraphic Father, +Francis of Asissi. Saint Louis, King. Saint Clare, Saint Eulalia. Our +Light. Cervantes fecit nos--Cervantes made us." + +The smaller bell, in the upper embrasure, bears the inscription: +"Sancta Maria ora pro nobis"--Holy Mary, pray for us. + +The Campanile stands just within the cemetery wall. Originally it +appeared to rest upon a base of well-worn granite boulders, brought up +from the river bed, and cemented together. The revealing and +destroying storm of 1916 showed that these boulders were but a +covering for a mere adobe base, which--as evidenced by its standing +for practically a whole century--its builders deemed secure enough +against all storms and strong enough to sustain the weight of the +superstructure. Resting upon this base which was 15 feet high, was the +two-storied tower, the upper story terraced, as it were, upon the +lower, and smaller in size, as are or were the domes of the Campaniles +of Santa Barbara, San Luis Rey, San Buenaventura and Santa Cruz. But +at Pala there were no domes. The wall was pierced and each story +arched, and below each arch hung a bell. The apex of the tower was in +the curved pediment style so familiar to all students of Mission +architecture, and was crowned with a cross. By the side of this cross +there grew a cactus, or prickly pear. Though suspended in mid-air +where it could receive no care, it has flourished ever since the +American visitor has known it, and my ancient Indian friends tell me +it has been there ever since the tower was built. This assertion may +be the only authority for the statement made by one writer that: + + One morning just about a century ago, a monk fastened a cross + in the still soft adobe on the top of the bell tower and at + the foot of the cross he planted a cactus as a token that the + cross would conquer the wilderness. From that day to this + this cactus has rested its spiny side against that cross, and + together--the one the hope and the inspiration of the ages, + and the other a savage among the scant bloom of the + desert--they have calmly surveyed the labor, the opulence, + the decline, and the ruin of a hundred years. + +One writer sweetly says of it: + + It is rooted in a crack of the adobe tower, close to the spot + where the Christian symbol is fixed, and seemed, I thought, + to typify how little of material substance is needed by the + soul that dwells always at the foot of the cross. + +Another story has it that when Padre Peyri ordered the cross placed, +it was of green oak from the Palomar mountains. Naturally, the birds +came and perched on it, and probably nested at its foot, using mud for +that purpose. In this soft mud a chance seed took lodgment and grew. + +Be this as it may the birds have always frequented it since I have +known it, some of them even nesting in the thorny cactus slabs. On one +visit I found a tiny cactus wren bringing up its brood there, while on +another occasion I could have sworn it was a mocking-bird, for it +poured out such a flood of melody as only a mocking-bird could, but +whether the nest there belonged to the glorious songster, or to some +other feathered creature, I could not watch long enough to tell. + +Other birds too, have utilized this tower from which to launch forth +their symphonies and concertos. In the early mornings of several of my +visits, I have gone out and sat, perfectly entranced, at the rich +torrents of exquisite and independent melody each bird poured forth in +prodigal exuberance, and yet which all combined in one chorus of +sweetness and joy as must have thrilled the priestly builder, if, +today, from his heavenly home he be able to look down upon the work of +his hands. + +It must not be forgotten, in our admiration for the separate-standing +Campanile of Pala, and the general belief that it is the only example +in the world, that others of the Franciscan Missions of California +practically have the same architectural feature. While the well-known +campanile of the Mission San Gabriel is not, in strict fact, a +separate standing one, the bell-tower itself is merely an extension of +the mission wall and practically stands alone. The same method of +construction is followed at Mission Santa Inés. The fachada of the +church is extended, to the right, as a wall, which is simply a +detached belfry. And, as is well known, the campanile of San Juan +Capistrano, erected after the fall of the bell-tower of the grand +church in the earthquake of 1812, is a mere wall, closing up a passage +between two buildings, with pierced apertures in which the bells are +hung. + + + + +CHAPTER V. + +The Decline of San Luis Rey and Pala. + + +The original purpose of the Spanish Council, as well as of the Church, +in founding the Missions of California, was to train the Indians in +the ways of Christianity and civilization, and, ultimately, to make +citizens of them when it was deemed they had progressed far enough and +were stable enough in character to justify such a step. + +How long this training period would require none ventured to assert, +but whether fifty years, a hundred, or five hundred, the Church +undertook the task and was prepared to carry it out. + +When, however, the republic of Mexico fell upon evil days and such +self-seekers as Santa Anna became president, the greedy politicians of +Mexico and the province of California saw an opportunity to feather +their own nests at the expense of the Indians. Let the reader for a +few moments picture the general situation. Here, in California, there +were twenty-one Missions and quite a number of branches, or +_asistencias_. In each Mission from one to three thousand Indians were +assembled, under competent direction and business management. It can +readily be seen that fields grew fertile, flocks and herds increased, +and possessions of a variety of kinds multiplied under such +conditions. All these accumulations, however, it must not be +forgotten, were not regarded by the padres as their own property, or +that of the Church. They were merely held in trust for the benefit of +the Indians, and, when the time eventually arrived, were to be +distributed as the sole and individual property of the Indians. + +Had that time arrived? There is but one opinion in the minds of the +authorities, even those who do not in all things approve of the +missionaries and their work. For instance, Hittell says: + + In other cases it has required hundreds of years to educate + savages up to the point of making citizens, and many hundreds + to make good citizens. The idea of at once transforming the + idle, improvident and brutish natives of California into + industrious, law-abiding and self-governing town people was + preposterous. + +Yet this--the making of citizens of the Indians--was the plea under +which the Missions were secularized. The plea was a paltry falsehood. +The Missions were the plum for which the politicians strove. Here is +what Clinch writes of San Luis Rey: + + Under Peyri's administration, despite its disadvantages of + soil, San Luis Rey grew steadily in population and material + prosperity. In 1800 cattle and horses were six hundred and + sheep sixteen hundred. The wheat harvest gave two thousand + bushels, but corn and beans were failures and barley only + gave a hundred and twenty fanegas. Ten years later 11,000 + fanegas of all kinds of grain were gathered as a crop. Cattle + had grown to ten thousand five hundred and sheep and hogs + nearly ten thousand. The Indians had increased to fifteen + hundred. Fourteen hundred and fifty had been baptized while + there had been only four hundred deaths recorded. By 1826 the + parent mission counted nearly three thousand Christian + Indians and nearly a thousand gathered at Pala, six leagues + from the central establishment. A church was built there and + a priest usually resided at it. At its best time San Luis Rey + counted nearly thirty thousand cattle, as many sheep and over + two thousand horses as the property of its three thousand + Indians. Its average grain crop was about thirteen thousand + bushels. San Gabriel surpassed it in farming prosperity with + a crop which reached thirty thousand bushels in a year, but + in population, in live stock, in the low death rate among its + Indians and in the character of its church and buildings, San + Luis Rey continued to the end first among the Franciscan + missions. + +It can well be imagined, therefore, that when the Mexican politicians +decided that the time had arrived to secularize the Missions, San Luis +Rey would be one of the first to be laid hold of. Pablo de la Portilla +and later, Pio Pico, were appointed the commissioners, and it seems to +be the general opinion that they were no better than those who +operated at the other Missions, and of whom Hittell writes: + + The great mass of the commissioners and their officials, + whose duty it became to administer the properties of the + missions, and especially their great numbers of horses, + cattle, sheep and other animals, thought of little else and + accomplished little else than enriching themselves. It cannot + be said that the spoliation was immediate; but it was + certainly very rapid. A few years sufficed to strip the + establishments of everything of value and leave the Indians, + who were in contemplation of law the beneficiaries of + secularization, a shivering crowd of naked, and, so to speak, + homeless wanderers upon the face of the earth. + +It is almost impossible for one who has not given the matter due study +to realize the demoralizing effect upon the Indians and the Mission +buildings of this infamous course of procedure. The Indians speedily +became the prey of the vicious, the abandoned, the hyenas and vultures +of so-called civilization. Deprived of the parental care of the +fathers, and led astray on every hand, their corruption spelt speedy +extinction, and two or three generations saw this largely +accomplished. Only those Indians who were too far away to be easily +reached escaped, or partially escaped, the general destruction. The +processes were swift, the results lamentably certain. + + + + +CHAPTER VI. + +The Author of Ramona at Pala. + + +When Helen Hunt Jackson, the gifted author of the romance +_Ramona_--over which hundreds of thousands of Americans have shed +bitter tears in deep sympathy with the wrongs perpetrated upon the +Indians--was visiting the Mission Indians of California, in 1883, she +wrote the following sketch of Pala. This is copied from her +_California and the Missions_, by kind permission of the publishers, +Little, Brown & Co., of Boston: + + One of the most beautiful appanages of the San Luis Rey + Mission, in the time of its prosperity, was the Pala Valley. + It lies about twenty-five miles east (twenty miles, Ed.) of + San Luis, among broken spurs of the Coast Range, watered by + the San Luis River, and also by its own little stream, the + Pala Creek. It was always a favorite home of the Indians; and + at the time of the secularization, over a thousand of them + used to gather at the weekly mass in its chapel. Now, on the + occasional visits of the San Juan Capistrano priest, to hold + service there, the dilapidated little church is not half + filled, and the numbers are growing smaller each year. The + buildings are all in decay; the stone steps leading to the + belfry have crumbled; the walls of the little graveyard are + broken in many places, the paling and the graves are thrown + down. On the day we were there, a memorial service for the + dead was going on in the chapel; a great square altar was + draped with black, decorated with silver lace and ghostly + funereal emblems; candles were burning; a row of kneeling + black-shawled women were holding lighted candles in their + hands; two old Indians were chanting a Latin hymn from a + tattered missal bound in rawhide; the whole place was full of + chilly gloom, in sharp contrast to the bright valley + outside, with its sunlight and silence. This mass was for the + soul of an old Indian woman named Margarita, sister of + Manuelito, a somewhat famous chief of several bands of the + San Luiseños. Her home was at the Potrero,--a mountain + meadow, or pasture, as the word signifies,--about ten miles + from Pala, high up the mountainside, and reached by an almost + impassable road. This farm--or "saeter" it would be called in + Norway--was given to Margarita by the friars; and by some + exceptional good fortune she had a title which, it is said, + can be maintained by her heirs. In 1871, in a revolt of some + of Manuelito's bands, Margarita was hung up by her wrists + till she was near dying, but was cut down at the last minute + and saved. + + One of her daughters speaks a little English; and finding + that we had visited Pala solely on account of our interest in + the Indians, she asked us to come up to the Potrero and pass + the night. She said timidly that they had plenty of beds, and + would do all that they knew how to do to make us comfortable. + One might be in many a dear-priced hotel less comfortably + lodged and served than we were by these hospitable Indians in + their mud house, floored with earth. In my bedroom were three + beds, all neatly made, with lace-trimmed sheets and + pillow-cases and patchwork coverlids. One small square window + with a wooden shutter was the only aperture for air, and + there was no furniture except one chair and a half-dozen + trunks. The Indians, like the Norwegian peasants, keep their + clothes and various properties all neatly packed away in + boxes or trunks. As I fell asleep, I wondered if in the + morning I should see Indian heads on the pillows opposite me; + the whole place was swarming with men, women, and babies, and + it seemed impossible for them to spare so many beds; but, no, + when I waked, there were the beds still undisturbed; a + soft-eyed Indian girl was on her knees rummaging in one of + the trunks; seeing me awake, she murmured a few words in + Indian, which conveyed her apology as well as if I had + understood them. From the very bottom of the trunk she drew + out a gilt-edged china mug, darted out of the room, and came + back bringing it filled with fresh water. As she set it in + the chair, in which she had already put a tin pan of water + and a clean coarse towel, she smiled, and made a sign that it + was for my teeth. There was a thoughtfulness and delicacy in + the attention which lifted it far beyond the level of its + literal value. The gilt-edged mug was her most precious + possession; and, in remembering water for the teeth, she had + provided me with the last superfluity in the way of white + man's comfort of which she could think. + + The food which they gave us was a surprise; it was far better + than we had found the night before in the house of an + Austrian colonel's son, at Pala. Chicken, deliciously cooked, + with rice and chile; soda-biscuits delicately made; good milk + and butter, all laid in orderly fashion, with a clean + tablecloth, and clean, white stone china. When I said to our + hostess that I regretted very much that they had given up + their beds in my room, that they ought not to have done it, + she answered me with a wave of her hand that "It was nothing; + they hoped I had slept well; that they had plenty of other + beds." The hospitable lie did not deceive me, for by + examination I had convinced myself that the greater part of + the family must have slept on the bare earth in the kitchen. + They would not have taken pay for our lodging, except that + they had had heavy expenses connected with Margarita's + funeral.... We left at six o'clock in the morning; + Margarita's husband, the "captain," riding off with us to see + us safe on our way. When we had passed the worst gullies and + boulders, he whirled his horse, lifted his ragged old + sombrero with the grace of a cavalier, smiled, wished us + good-day and good luck, and was out of sight in a second, his + little wild pony galloping up the rough trail as if it were + as smooth as a race-course. + + Between the Potrero and Pala are two Indian villages, the + Rincon and Pauma. The Rincon is at the head of the valley, + snugged up against the mountains, as its name signifies, in a + "corner." Here were fences, irrigating ditches, fields of + barley, wheat, hay and peas; a little herd of horses and cows + grazing, and several flocks of sheep. The men were all away + sheep-shearing; the women were at work in the fields, some + hoeing, some clearing out the irrigating ditches, and all the + old women plaiting baskets. These Rincon Indians, we were + told, had refused a school offered them by the Government; + they said they would accept nothing at the hands of the + Government until it gave them a title to their lands. + + [Illustration: An Old San Luis Rey Mission Indian.] + + [Illustration: The Pala Campanile from the Graveyard.] + + [Illustration: Just Entering Pala Valley on the Road from Oceanside.] + + [Illustration: An Ancient Pala Indian.] + + + + +CHAPTER VII. + +Further Desolation + + +Cursed by the common fate of the Missions Pala suffered severely. In +thirty years all its glory had departed as Mrs. Jackson graphically +pictures in the preceding chapter. But Pala was destined to receive +another blow. This is explained by Professor Frank J. Polley, formerly +President of the Southern California Historical Society. In the early +'nineties he visited Pala and from an article published by him in 1893 +the following accompanying extracts are quoted: + + Mr. Viele, the present owner of most of the old Mission + property, is the only white man residing nearby. His store + and dwelling is a long, low adobe, opposite the church. + Nearby is his blacksmith shop, and in the open space between + the church ruins and the river are the remains of the brush + booths used by the people at the yearly festival, and these, + with the remnants of the mission buildings, corral walls, and + the quaint Indian church with its beautiful bell tower, + constitute the Pala of today. + +The question naturally arises: How did Mr. Viele gain possession and +ownership of the Mission property? In the course of his narrative +Professor Polley gives the answer: + + Trading with the Indians is a slow but simple process. An + uncouth Indian figure in strange garb will silently enter the + store, and, with hat in hand, stand motionless in the center + of the room until Mrs. Viele chooses to recognize him. Then + follow rapid sentences in the guttural tone, she executes + her judgment in supplying his wants and hands out the parcel, + but the figure stands silently and motionless as before. Time + passes, and soon the Indian is leaning against the center + post. A little later the position is swiftly changed, and + next when one thinks of him the figure has vanished and + rejoined the group who are smoking their cigarettes by the + fence. Money is seldom paid until after their crops are sold. + With the squaw the transaction is different in this respect. + Like her European sister, every piece of cloth has to be + unrolled before purchasing; otherwise it is much the same as + with the men. Both men and women are very coarse, education + and morality are on a very low plane, the marital vow seems + to be but little regarded, and it is no uncommon thing to + see, within the shadow of the mission walls, five or six + couples living in common in one room. The race is fast dying + out from disease, for which the white people are largely + responsible. Unable to cope with these new ills, suspicious + of the government doctor, and treated like common property by + the lower white element in the mountain regions, the Indians + are jealous and distrustful of all; even the sick, instead of + being brought to the settlement for treatment, are secreted + in the hills. One old squaw of uncertain age came each day in + a clumsy shuffle to the gate, and there sank her fat body + into an almost indistinguishable heap of rags and flesh. The + gift of a cigarette would temporarily arouse her to + animation; otherwise she would sit there for hours, + apparently oblivious to all that was passing, and certainly + ignored by all in the house except myself. The education of + the Indian here is a serious problem. They do not attend the + county school, nor are they encouraged to come, as their + morals are demoralizing to the rest of the class. The chief, + or captain, is elected by the tribe, and, though only about + 30 years of age, the present one has had his position a long + time. His duties are light, and he is careful in executing + his authority. He is a reasonably bright fellow, speaks + English fairly well and often succeeds in securing justice + for his tribe in the way of government supplies. The balance + of his time he cultivates a little patch of garden, and seems + to enjoy life after the Indian fashion. + + Procuring the church keys was not so simple a matter, as the + building is now closed and services are held at very rare + intervals. This is the result of litigation. The law has + invaded this sheltered haven. Years ago, when times were + different and the mission was making some pretense to be a + living church, in the course of their duties a party of + government surveyors came here. As a result of their surveys + one of them told Mr. Viele in confidence that the entire + mission holdings, olive orchards and lands were all on + government property. Mr. Viele at once took steps to claim + all, and did so. The secret leaked out, and others came in + and attempted to settle on parts of the property under + various claims of title, and soon the Catholic church and the + claimants were engaged in a long lawsuit, which proved the + death struggle of the church's interests. Mr. Viele emerged + victorious, sole owner of the church, the orchard, the bells, + and even the graveyard. Afterward, by deed of gift, he gave + the church authorities the tumble-down ruin of the church, + the dark adobe robing room, the bells and the graveyard, but, + because Mr. Viele still withheld the valuable lands from the + church, no services are held there, and the quarrel has gone + on year by year. Mr. Viele clings to what he terms his legal + rights, and the church is locked up and the Indian left + largely to his own devices. Once in possession of the keys, + we found them immense pieces of iron, and it took some time + to unlock the door. The services of one of the Indian pupils + materially assisted us in our investigations. The church is a + veritable curiosity, narrow, long, low and dark, with adobe + walls and heavy beams roughly set in the sides to furnish + support for the roof. Canes and tules constitute this part of + the structure. The earthen walls are covered with rude + paintings of Indian design and of strange coloring that have + preserved their tone very well indeed. Great square bricks + badly worn pave the floor, and, set in deep niches along the + walls at intervals, are various utensils of battered copper + and brass that would arouse the cupidity of a collector of + bric-a-brac. The door is strongly barred and has iron plates + set with large rivets. The strange light that comes through + the narrow windows and broken roof sheds an unnatural glow on + the paintings upon the walls and puts into strange relief the + ruined altar far distant in the church. Three wooden images + yet remain upon the altar, but they are sadly broken and + their vestments are gone. One is a statue of St. Louis, and + is held in great veneration by the Indians. They say it was + secretly brought from the San Luis Rey Mission and placed + here for safe keeping. When the annual reunion of the Indians + takes place this image is decorated in cheap trappings and + occupies the post of honor in the procession. The robing + room is a small, dark apartment behind the altar, where not a + ray of light could enter. We dragged a trunkful of altar + trappings and saints' vestments out into the light. The dust + lay thickly upon the garments in these old chests, and it is + to be hoped that no one with a shade less of morality than we + had will ever explore their treasures, or the church may be + robbed and the images suffer much loss of their decorative + attire. Undoubtedly everything of value has long since been + removed, but what remains is very quaint and odd, being + largely of Indian workmanship. Everything about this simple + structure spoke of slow and patient work by the native + workmen, and it needed but little imaginative power to + conjure up the scene when men were hauling trees from the + mountains, making the shallow, square bricks, preparing the + adobe, and later painting these walls as earnestly perhaps as + did some of the greater artists in the gorgeous chapels of + cultivated Rome. The hinges creaked loudly and the great key + grated harshly in the rusty lock as we spent some time in + securing the fastenings at our departure. The beauty of the + valley and the bright sunlight were in great contrast to the + cool shadows of the dimly-lighted church. Once outside, we + again made the circuit of the outlying walls, where birds + sing and grasses grow from the ruined walls of the adobes. + Through gaps in them we passed from one enclosure to another, + this one roofless, that one nearly so, and a third so patched + up as to hold a few Indians who make it their home, and in + tiny gardens cultivate a few flowers or vegetables and + prepare their food in basins sunken in the firm earth. A few + baskets are yet left in this community, but of poor quality, + the more valuable ones having been long since gathered by + collectors, or sold and gambled by the Indians themselves. + Many curious relics still exist, however, for those who are + willing to pay several times the value of each article. + +Pala remained in much the same condition described above, its Indians +slowly decreasing in numbers, until the events occurred described in +the following chapters. + + + + +CHAPTER VIII. + +The Restoration of the Pala Chapel. + + +In the restoration of Pala chapel the Landmarks Club of Los Angeles, +incorporated "to conserve the Missions and other historic landmarks of +Southern California," under the energetic presidency of Charles F. +Lummis, did excellent work. November 20 to 21, 1901, the supervising +committee, consisting of architects Hunt and Benton and the president, +visited Pala to arrange for its immediate repair. The following is a +report of its condition at the time: + + The old chapel was found in much better condition for salvage + than had been feared. The earthquake of two years ago--which + was particularly severe at this point--ruined the roof and + cracked the characteristic belfry, which stands apart. But + thanks to repairs to the roof made five or six years ago by + the unassisted people, the adobe walls of the chapel are in + excellent preservation. Even the quaint old Indian + decorations have suffered almost nothing. The tile floor is + in better condition than at any of the other Missions, but + hardly a vestige of the adobe-pillared cloister remains. + Tiles are falling into the chapel through yawning gaps, and + it is really dangerous to enter. It will be necessary to + re-roof the entire structure. The sound tiles will be + carefully stacked on the ground, the timbers removed, and a + solid roof-structure built, upon which the original tiles + will be replaced. The original construction will be followed; + and round pine logs will be procured from Mt. Palomar to + replace those no longer dependable. The cloisters will be + rebuilt precisely as they were, and invisible iron bands will + be used to strengthen the campanile against possible later + earthquakes. + +Then follows an interesting account of a small gathering, after the +committee had formulated its plans, which took place in the little +store. Here is Mr. Lummis's account of it: + + The immediate valley contains about a dozen "American" + families, and about as many more Mexicans and Indians, and + about 15 heads of these families were present. After a brief + statement of the situation, the Paleños were asked if they + would help. "I will give 10 days' work," said John A. + Giddens, the first to respond. "Another ten," said Luis + Carillo. And so it went. There was not a man present who did + not promise assistance. The following additional + subscriptions were taken in ten minutes: Ami V. Golsh, 25 + days' work; Luis Soberano, 15 days; Isidoro Garcia, 10 days; + Teofilo Peters and Louis Salmons, 5 days each with team + (equivalent to 10 days for a man); Dolores Salazar, Eustaquio + Lugo, Tomas Salazar, Ignacio Valenzuela, 6 days each; Geo. + Steiger and Francisco Ardillo, 5 days each. These + subscriptions amount to at least $1.75 a day each, so the + Pala contribution in work is full $217. Besides this Mr. + Frank A. Salmons subscribed $10; and other contributions are + expected. It is also fitting that the Club acknowledge + gratefully the courtesies which gave two days of Mr. Golsh's + time to bringing the committee from and back to Fallbrook, + and the charming entertainment provided by Mr. and Mrs. + Salmons. The entire trip was heart-warming; and the liberal + spirit of this little settlement of American ranchers and + Indians and Mexicans surpasses all records in the Club's + history. For that matter, while Mr. Carnegie is better known, + he has never yet done anything so large in proportion. + +In July, 1903, _Out West_, an account was given of the repairs +accomplished. The chapel, a building 144×27 feet, and rooms to its +right, 47×27 feet, were reroofed with brick tiles; the broken walls of +the entire front built up solidly and substantially to the roof level, +the ugly posts from the center of the chapel taken out and the trusses +strengthened by the addition of the tension members which the +original builders had failed to supply. This greatly improved the +appearance of the chapel. + + [Illustration: A Pala Pottery Maker.] + + [Illustration: Two Palatingua Exiles, Father and Son.] + + [Illustration: The Lower Bell in the Pala Campanile.] + +Another beneficial service rendered was the securing of a deed from +the squatter, whose story is told in another chapter, to the +picturesque ruins and thus transfering them back to their rightful +owners--the Catholic church, in trust for the Indians. + +Unfortunately, soon after the Palatinguas came here, the resident +priest, whom Bishop Conaty appointed to minister to them, did not +understand Indians, their childlike devotion to the things hallowed by +association with the past, and their desire to be consulted about +everything that concerned their interests. Therefore, being +suspicious, too, on account of their recent eviction, they were +outraged to find the chapel interior freshly whitewashed so that all +its ancient decorations were covered. This was another white man's +affront which caused irritation and bitterness that it required months +to assuage. + + + + +CHAPTER IX. + +The Palatingua Exiles. + + +States and nations, even as individuals, are often tempted in diverse +ways to forsake the path of rectitude, and, for material gain, +territorial acquisition, or other supposed good, to do dishonorable +things. To my mind one of the chief blots on the escutcheon of the +United States is its treatment of the Indians, and California, as a +sovereign state, cannot escape its individual responsibility for its +utterly reprehensible treatment of its dusky "original inhabitants." + +When the Spaniards seized the land their laws were clean-cut and clear +in regard to the confiscation of the lands of the Indians. It was made +the duty of certain officials, under direct penalties, to see that +they were never, under any excuse, pretense, or even legal process, +deprived of the lands they had held from time immemorial. The +Mexicans, in the main, effectually carried out the same just and +equitable laws. But when the United States took possession of +California and the new state government was formally organized, a new +idea was interjected. The California law proclaimed its intention to +protect the rights of the Indians, but it made it the duty of the +Indians, within a certain specified time, to come before a duly +authorized officer and declare what lands were theirs and that they +intended to claim and use. Now while on the face of it this law seems +reasonable and just, in actual practice it is as cruel, wicked, and +surely confiscating as is the "stand and deliver!" of the highwayman. +How were the Indians to know what was required of them? What did they +know of the white man and his laws? As well pass a law that all the +birds who do not declare their intention of using the branches of +certain trees will be shot if they appear there, as pass laws +requiring Indians, ignorant of our language, our methods of procedure, +to appear and declare that they intend to continue to use lands they +had had uninterrupted possession of for unknown centuries. In other +words, the law fiction was a deliberate and definite scheme of +dishonest men to make legal the dispossession of the Indians, whenever +it was found desirable. Such a case in due time arose at Warner's +Ranch. Other cases innumerable might be cited, but this is the one +that particularly concerns Pala. + +Warner's Ranch was named after Jonathan Trumbull Warner, popularly +known to the Mexicans as Juan José Warner, who came from Lyme, Conn., +by way of St. Louis, Santa Fe and the Gila River, to California, in +1831. In 1834 he settled down in Los Angeles, marrying, in 1837, at +San Luis Rey Mission, Anita Gale, the daughter of Capt. W. A. Gale, of +Boston. The maiden, however, had been in California ever since she was +five years old, her father having placed her in the home of Doña +Eustaquia Pico, the widowed mother of Pio Pico, the last Mexican +Governor of California. In due time he (Warner) was naturalized as a +Mexican citizen and received from the Mexican Governor in 1844 the +grant of an immense tract of land in San Diego County, long known as +El Valle de San José. It was fine pasture land, but it was especially +noted for its hot springs--Agua Caliente--near which the Indians had +had their village from time immemorial. According to Spanish and +Mexican law, it must be remembered, their right to their homes and +adjacent pasture lands was inalienable _without their own consent_. +Hence under Warner's regime they lived content and happy, uninterfered +with, and never worried that a grant--of which they knew nothing--had +been made of their lands without any clause of exemption preserving to +them their time-honored rights. + +Then came Fremont, Sloat and Kearny. California became a state of the +United States and among other laws passed the one referring to the +lands of the Indians noted above. As he passed by Palatingua, Genl. +Kearny, according to the oldest man of the village, Owlinguwush, who +acted as his guide, solemnly pledged his government not to remove the +Indians from their lands, provided they would be friends of the new +people. + +This the Indians were. The white people soon learned the value of the +hot springs, and flocked thither in great numbers to drink and bathe +in the waters. The Indians charged them a small fee for the use of the +bath-houses and tubs they had prepared. This added to their modest +income, gained from their industries as cattle-men, hunters, farmers, +basket and pottery-makers. They were happy, healthy, fairly prosperous +and contented. + +But in time Warner died. His grant was duly confirmed by the United +States Land Courts, _but no one cared enough to see that the rights of +the Indians were guarded_, hence the confirmation and deed of grant +contained no exemption of the Indians' lands. + +The ownership changed until it came into the hands of a well-known +California capitalist. He was not interested in Indians, had no +particular sympathy with or for them, and did not see why they should +remain on _his_ land. Several times he vigorously intimated that he +wanted them to "clear off," he needed the land, and especially he +needed the hot springs. There was a strongly expressed desire that a +health and pleasure resort be established at this charming place, but, +of course, it was impossible so long as the Indians were there. Each +time removal was intimated to the Indians they laughed--as children +laugh if you tell them you are going to buy them from their parents. +Had they not lived here long before a white man had ever set foot on +the continent? Were they not born here, raised, married, had their +children, died and were buried here for centuries? Had not Spaniards, +Mexicans, and even General Kearny assured them they were secure in +their possession? Of course they laughed! Who wouldn't? + +But the _owner_ of the land grew tired of their smiles. He wanted the +place, so his lawyers ordered the Indians to vacate, and the papers +were served in such manner that even the childlike aborigines were +compelled to realize that something serious was going to happen. But +that they should be compelled to leave! Ah, impossible! No one +possibly could be so cruel and wicked as that. + +The courts were appealed to, and finally the State Supreme Court +decided against the Indians, by a vote of four to three--a decision so +contrary to the spirit of honor and justice that it aids in making +anarchists and revolutionists of good and law-abiding men. Confident +in the right of the Indians' cause their faithful friends took the +case up to the United States Supreme Court, and again, this time +purely on the plea of precedent--that it was contrary to rule for the +United States Supreme Court to interfere in any case that was purely +domestic to one State--the judgment ousting the Indians was confirmed. + +Things now began to look serious. Some of the Indians were crushed by +the decision, others were ugly and wanted to fight. Various people of +various temperaments interfered, and each one denounced the others as +trouble-makers and brewers of mischief. Council after council was +held, and at each one the Indians stedfastly refused to leave their +homes. + +In the meantime, realizing that the suit for eviction most probably +would go against the Indians, certain societies and individuals, +prompted by their interest in them and by their inherent sense of +justice, appealed to Congress to find a new home for these people if +they were dispossessed. + +For the first time in its history, Congress voted $100,000 to give to +these Indians a better home than the one they were to be evicted from. +A special inspector was sent out to determine where this new home +should be. He reported favorably upon a site, which, however, better +informed people in the state, considered altogether unsuitable. +Protests immediately were lodged with the Indian Department and as the +result a Commission was appointed to investigate conditions, and find +the most suitable place to which the Palatinguas could be transferred. +This Commission was composed of Charles F. Lummis, Russell C. Allen, +and Chas. L. Partridge. + +After weeks of careful and patient investigation, criticized on every +hand by those who were anxious to sell any kind of an acreage to the +Indians, it was finally decided to recommend the purchase of the Pala +Valley. Few seemed to see the irony of this decision. The land once +had belonged to the Pala Indians. Less than a century before a +thousand of them were regular attendants at the little Mission Chapel +and devoted friends of Padre Antonio Peyri. Whence had these and their +descendants gone? How had they been deprived of their lands? In +another chapter I have quoted from Frank J. Polley, how our California +laws aided and abetted the spoliators and how Pala unjustly came into +the possession of a white man. + +Now it must be bought back again. There were 3,500 acres, with a large +amount of hilly government land that would be of use for pasturage and +that could be added to the full purchased land as a reservation. The +Commission claimed, and doubtless believed, there was plenty of water, +but it was not long before the supply was found to be so inadequate +that something had to be done to add to it. This has been done, as is +elsewhere related. + +Congress passed the appropriation bill, made the purchase, May 27, +1902, setting the land aside as a permanent reservation. The Indian +Department, therefore, ordered the immediate transfer of the Indians +from Palatingua, as well as small bands from Puerta de la Cruz, Puerta +Chiquita, San José, San Felipe and Mataguaya--tiny settlements on the +fringe of Warner's Ranch and who were made parties to the ejectment +suit--to Pala. + +Serious trouble was feared. Mr. Lummis wired for troops to aid in the +removal, although his duties as head of the Commission to choose a +home for the Indians gave him no authority to act in the matter. He +was thereupon ordered from the ranch, and the work of removal +committed to the care of a special agent, as Dr. L. A. Wright, the +regular Indian Agent, confessed his inability to cope with the +situation. Mrs. Babbitt, for many years the teacher at Warner's Ranch, +and other friends of the Indians counselled acquiescence to the law's +demand. I was invited both by the Indians and the Indian Commissioner +to be present at the removal, but I knew that it would be too much for +my equanimity, so I kept away. My friend Grant Wallace, however, was +present, and in _Out West_ magazine, for July, 1903, gave the +following pathetic account: + + Night after night, sounds of wailing came from the adobe + homes of the Indians. When Tuesday (May 12) came, many of + them went to the little adobe chapel to pray, and then + gathered for the last time among the unpainted wooden crosses + within the rude stockade of their ancient burying ground, a + pathetic and forlorn group, to wail out their grief over the + graves of their fathers. Then hastily loading a little food + and a few valuables into such light wagons and surreys as + they owned, about twenty-five families drove away for Pala, + ahead of the wagon-train. The great four and six-horse wagons + were quickly loaded with the home-made furniture, bedding and + clothing, spotlessly clean from recent washing in the boiling + springs; stoves, ollas, stone mortars, window sashes, boxes, + baskets, bags of dried fruit and acorns, and coops of + chickens and ducks. + + While I helped Lay-reader Ambrosio's mother to round up and + encoop a wary brood of chickens, I observed the wife of her + other son, Jesus, throwing an armful of books--spellers, + arithmetics, poems--into the bonfire, along with bows and + arrows, and superannuated aboriginal bric-a-brac. In reply to + a surprised query, she explained that now they hated the + white people and their religion and their books. Dogged and + dejected, Captain Cibemoat, with his wife Ramona, and little + girl, was the last to go. While I helped him hitch a bony + mustang to his top buggy, a tear or two coursed down his + knife-scarred face; and as the teamsters tore down his little + board cabin wherein he had kept a restaurant, he muttered, + "May they eat sand!"... + + At their first stop for dinner they lingered long on the last + acre of Warner's Ranch, as though loath to go through the + gates. At night, at Oak Grove, they drew the first rations + ever issued to the Cupenos by the government--some at first + refused to accept them, saying they were not objects of + charity.... + + Although devout church members--scarcely a name among them + being unwashed by baptism--they refused the first Sunday to + hold services in the restored Pala Mission, or anywhere else, + asking surlily of the visiting priest, "What kind of a God is + this you ask us to worship, who deserts us when we need him + most?" Instead, thirty of them joined some swart friends from + Pauma in a "sooish amokat" or rabbit hunt, killing their game + with peeled clubs thrown unerringly while galloping at full + speed. + + Monday, however, the principal men, better pleased after an + inspection of the fertile and beautiful valley of Pala, had a + flag-raising at the little school-house--the only building + now on the site of the projected village. An Indian girl + played the organ, and a score of dusky children--who will + compare favorably in intelligence with average white + youngsters--joined in singing the praises of "America--sweet + land of liberty." School was opened, and later a + policeman--young Antonio Chaves--was elected by popular vote. + + [Illustration: The Pala Chapel and Campanile After Restoration by + the Landmarks Club.] + + [Illustration: The Interior of Pala Chapel as it Appears Today.] + + [Illustration: The Pala Bell Tower After Rebuilding.] + +Thus came about the transfer of the Palatinguas to Pala. Though they +often longed for their old home it could not be denied, even by them, +that the location of Pala is ideal. It is literally surrounded by +mountains that seem to rise in huge overlapping rings, each circling +the diminutive valley. The Pala River flows through the settlement. +Almost every available foot of space is now under cultivation in that +part of the valley near by, and further down, along the river, where +the fields broaden out, many acres are yielding their rich and +valuable crops. + +To the south may be seen the hospitable ranch-house--Agua Tibia--of +Lewis Utt, an attorney of San Diego, who divides his time between his +city office and his farm. Five thousand feet above cluster the pine +trees, the live oaks and other rich arboreal growths of Palomar, the +Mountain of the Dove. Nearby the rich olive orchards of John Fry +stretch out like silken flags of green. To the north, on the top of +the Pala grade, the Happy Valley ranch of A. M. Lobaugh is a +stopping-place for camper and tourist. To the west is the extensive +ranch of Monserrate. + +There are few more beautiful inland locations in the world, and +climatically it is as perfect as it is scenically. For from the one +side come the breezes of the warm South Pacific ocean, laden with the +ozone and bromine of kelp-beds and with the refreshing tang of the +salt air, while from the other come the aseptic breezes of the desert, +God's great purifying laboratory, where, after being completely +purified, they are sent over the mountains, there to gather their +unseen but never-the-less beneficent and healthful burden of sweet +balsams and odors from the trees, shrubs and blossoms that glorify +their slopes and summits. + +For awhile after their arrival at Pala they dwelt in tents, and then +occurred one of those inexplainable and inexcusable pieces of folly +that fills the heart of an intelligent man with contempt and almost +with despair. Cold weather was coming on. The Indians must be housed +erelong. One would have thought the sensible and obvious thing to do +would have been to engage the unoccupied Indians--for, of course, none +of them as yet had a thing to do--either to make adobe brick and build +their houses of them, or to buy lumber for the purpose from the +nearest place of supply. Instead of that what was done by the +dunder-headed officials at Washington? Even as I write it seems so +incredible that I can scarce believe it. These incompetent men +purchased, in New York, fifty flimsy, rickety, insecure, wretched +"portable" houses, sent them by freight, and ordered them put up as +the permanent homes of these unfortunate exiles. The amount of money +expended in these contemptible pretences for houses, and the freight +paid on them from the East, would have erected permanent buildings and +at the same time have provided paying occupation for the Indians +during their erection. Official stupidity seldom manifested itself +more clearly than in this instance. + +Commenting upon the matter the government's own special agent +reported: + + It was nearly six months before the Indians got into the + houses. The expense was double what wooden cabins built on + the spot would have been, and about four times the cost of + adobes.... The houses are neither dust-proof, wind-proof, nor + water-proof, and are far inferior to the despised adobes. + +But the Indians made the best of them, and have gradually improved, or +replaced them with something better. Then the water question arose. +There was not enough for their needs. Eighteen thousand dollars was +first expended, and then more was called for. At last, in May, 1913, +the new irrigation system was completed, and a grand fiesta was held +to celebrate the opening. + +The first teacher of the Palatinguas when they were removed to Pala +was Mrs. Josephine H. Babbitt, who for many years had been their +trusted friend at Warner's Ranch. But in those trying early days when +nerves were frayed, dispositions frazzled, and passions easily +aroused, her earnest and determined efforts to secure for her wards as +great a meed of justice as possible rendered her _persona non grata_ +to some whose influence was powerful enough to secure her removal. + +But it was not long before even this misfortune was made to work out +for the good of the Indians. Miss Ora Salmons, who was a teacher of +one of the near-by Indian schools, was appointed, and this year of our +Lord, sees her close her twenty-eighth year of faithful and happy +service among her dusky wards, many of which have been spent here at +Pala. With heart, mind and body attuned to her work she has truthfully +and poetically been termed "the little mother of the Indians." +Radiating brightness, sunshine, sympathy and love for her pupils, old +and young, she is strengthened in her daily task by the assurance that +she is making their life easier and happier, removing some of the +obstacles to their progress, and adding factors of strength and +self-reliance to their characters. + + + + +CHAPTER X. + +The Old and New Acqueducts. + + +In Southern California water is an essential element in nearly all +agricultural and horticultural development. In their own primitive +fashion the Indians irrigated the lands long prior to the coming of +the Spaniards. When Padre Peyri, however, came to Pala, his far-seeing +eye at once noted its possibilities, and he set about bringing water +from the headwaters of the river. He laid a line for a ditch from the +mountains to the mission lands so accurately and with such consummate +skill that it is as much the marvel of modern irrigation engineers as +is the architecture of the Missions of the modern architect. + +Where necessary a ditch was built, and on the other hand where the +natural course was in the proper line this was followed, to be +replaced again with ditches when necessary. So long as Peyri remained +the ditch was in constant use, but after he left in 1832 it began to +decline, and when his successor, Zalvidea, died, in 1846, it fell into +disuse and soon became choked up, ruined, and useless. + +When the Palatinguas came, some work in the bringing of water was done +on their behalf, but it was not adequate. While it supplied the +necessary water for their lands on the south side of the river, they +also needed it on the north side. So the Indian Department was again +appealed to, the appropriation made, and, in due time, the work begun. +The government engineers found that the line of old ditch could not be +improved upon, so the Indians were engaged to do the major part of the +work, as they had been in the days of Peyri, and on the occasion of +its completion the event was deemed of such importance that the +Indians decided to hold a great fiesta. + +After the decline of the Mission establishments the annual fiestas of +the Indians became mere pretexts for debauchery, gambling, and the +performance of their ancient dances. But of late years strenuous +efforts have been made to prohibit the sale of liquor to the Indians, +and the government also has abolished gambling. The influence of +Father Doyle and Agent Runke have been great in changing the character +of the fiesta, and on this occasion the event was one of decorum, +dignity, and reverent worship, as well as dancing, playing of games, +and pleasure. + +Not only was the securing of a permanent supply of water a cause of +rejoicing. The Indians were made happy by the announcement that, at +last, the government had recognized their claims to the land which +they had been tilling the past ten years and granted them their +patent. The announcement was made by Walter Runke, superintendent of +the reservation, just after the water was turned into the new ditch. + +Granting them their patent means that each Indian, whether babe, +child, man or woman is given title to one and three-quarters acres of +irrigated land and six acres of dry land. Much of this dry land has +been put under irrigation since the first allotment. In addition, the +head of each family is given two lots, one for his house and one for +his stable. There is, however, a stipulation in the grant which +forbids an Indian's deeding his newly acquired property away for the +next twenty-five years. + +I have explained already how bitter the Palatinguas were when removed +from Warner's Ranch. They felt that, as they had had no security in +the possession of their homes and lands at Warner's Ranch, so would it +be at Pala. They could be moved about, they said, at the whim of +Washington, without a guarantee of a final competency for themselves +or their children. But now they have been rewarded for their labor and +patience with land in one of the most fertile and beautiful valleys of +Southern California and under the shadow of the cross their beloved +padre raised one hundred years ago. + +The fiesta was held in due time. Eight members of the Franciscan Order +from San Luis Rey were invited to take an important part in the +ceremonies. + +A writer in the _San Diego Union_ shows how tenaciously the Indians +cling to the ceremonies of the past. He says: + + The opening of the government's new irrigation ditch was + preceded the night before by the same ceremony of praise and + thanksgiving that the Indians used to hold before ever a + padre raised a cross among them. In a rectangular enclosure + made of green willows they assembled about a log fire. They + seated themselves in a circle just beyond the line of fading + light, their swarthy faces being discernible only as a dim + streak in the dark; but before the fire, his rough and seamed + face illuminated by the unsteady flames which leaped, as now + and then he picked at a brand, and revealed his audience as + motionless as though chiseled out of lava, stood the aged + Cecelio Chuprosa. His hands were clasped behind his back and + his head bowed. At long intervals, he spoke briefly in his + native tongue, his soft gutterals coming so slowly that one + could count the vowels. A drawn-out low, weird monotone was + the only response from that rock-like circle just beyond the + light. Now and then some old woman emerged from the darkness + and danced beside the burning logs while she chanted some + wild incantation and was lost again in that stoic, stolid, + silent circle. + + Finally two padres appeared on the scene. They said nothing, + but the Indians soon slunk away. The padres do not approve of + the rites of pagan days, and they love their padres. + + Still amid the weird savagery of that scene, there were many + evidences of civilization. The old men and women wore cowhide + boots and shoes which covered their feet with corns. Instead + of the peace-pipe, the glow of the cigarette dawned and died + everywhere through the stoic night. Oil-filled lanterns took + the place of the starlight the Indians formerly used to find + their way home by, and one old wabbling woman wheeled her + grand-papoose to the meeting in the latest style of + perambulator. + + Chuprosa is 96 years old and has not a gray hair on his head. + He has worn his war paint, been on the warpath, and fought in + all the tribe's battles from his youth up. He is particularly + proud of the valor he displayed in the battle of Alamitos, + which occurred sixty-six years ago. + + Now Chuprosa is a baseball fan. He roots at all the games + between the teams of his and neighboring reservations. + Recently he rode forty miles on horseback to Warner's Ranch + to see a game and when he returned he was so stiff that he + had to be lifted out of the saddle, but he rubbed his aching + legs a little and laughed, for he had rooted his favorite + team to victory. + + Among the Franciscan monks who came from San Luis Rey to + attend the Pala fiesta was another old battler who had fought + through two wars and won two medals for valor from his + country. One of them is the far-famed and much coveted + iron-cross which German royalty and the Kaiser himself salute + whenever it is seen on the breast of a veteran. But Father + Damian,--and that is his only name in the cloister where he + has lived now for thirty-eight years,--threw these honors + into the sea and with head bowed he appeared one day at the + door of a monastery and asked that he might henceforth follow + only the standard of the cross. + + He was given a brown robe with a cowl and a pair of sandals + for his feet, and the hero of wars which Germany waged + against Austria and France, lost even his name and, becoming + a carpenter, gave his life in building schools and churches. + + Father Damian and Chuprosa met for the first time at the Pala + fiesta. The monk could speak no Spanish and the Indian no + German, but they soon became interested in each other when, + through an interpreter, each told of the battles the other + had fought. Although seventy-two years old, the father is + still rugged except that he feels the effect of cholera which + attacked his regiment in the war with Austria. "One morning," + he said, "one hundred in my regiment alone remained on the + ground when the bugle called us. They had died overnight of + cholera." + + [Illustration: A Pala Indian Washing Clothes in the Creek.] + + [Illustration: Bell Tower and Entrance to the Garden at Pala.] + + [Illustration: In the Pala Graveyard.] + + [Illustration: Pala Basket Makers at Work.] + +The morning of the fiesta dawned bright and clear. Every member of the +tribe was there in his or her best. The ceremonies opened by a solemn +high mass conducted by Father Doyle, and assisted by the Franciscan +Fathers from San Luis Rey. + +Then a grand parade was held, everyone marching happily to the head of +the ditch. There Father Peter Wallischeck, Superior of the San Luis +Rey house, blessed the water which poured itself for the first time +over the Indians' lands since the old ditch crumbled away, and as he +did so he stood on the very spot where Padre Peyri stood when, with +his Indians, they said a prayer of thanksgiving over the successful +completion of their labors, a century previously. + +The rest of the day was then spent in the pleasures of the table +mainly provided by an old-fashioned barbecue, a baseball game and the +inevitable game of peon. + + + + +CHAPTER XI. + +The Palas as Farmers. + + +To many white people an Indian is always what they conceive all +Indians ever have been--wild, uncultivated, useless savages. Never was +idea more mistaken and cruelly ignorant. At Pala there is not an +Indian on the free ration list. The putting of water upon their lands +has transformed them from the crushed, disheartened, half-starved and +almost despondent people they were thirteen years ago, after their +removal from their beloved Palatingua, into an industrious, energetic, +independent, self-supporting and self-respecting tribe. + +The olive trees planted by Padre Peyri are tenderly cared for and are +again in full bearing. As one now approaches Pala from either +Oceanside or Agua Tibia he gazes upon a valley smiling in its dress of +living green. Fields of alfalfa, corn, wheat, barley, beans, and +chilis stretch out on every hand, relieved by fine orchards of +apricots, peaches and olives. + +For years the Indians did not take kindly to government farmers. Most +of these men were too theoretical. For the past two years, however, +Mr. A. T. Hammock, government farmer at Pala, has shown by example and +sympathetic work the benefits of intensive farming. His practical +lessons have brought many dollars into the pockets not only of the +Palatinguas, but also of the other Mission Indians close to the border +of the Pala reservation. + +Recently the raising of late tomatoes for the Eastern market was tried +with much success. + +Added production enables the Indians to build better homes. Some of +them have done this, as is shown in one of the illustrations, and by +the time the drainage system contemplated by the government is in +place many of the forlorn gift houses, erected when they first came to +Pala, will be replaced by small but neat cottages. + +The Palas are also successful stock raisers and have many head of +cattle grazing on the wild lands of their reservation. They are also +proud of their horses. + +As a further evidence of progress they have now substituted for their +old fiesta a modern agricultural fair. + +In October, of 1915, they held their annual gathering and, after they +had erected their square of ramadas, or houses of tree branches, they +built one of finished lumber to contain an agricultural exhibit which +consisted not only of farm products, but also preserved fruit, pastry, +basketry, art lace and pottery. + +Over a thousand dollars' worth of baskets and nearly a thousand +dollars' worth of fine hand lace were on exhibition. Farmers from a +distant county were chosen as judges and with pleased astonishment +remarked that the exhibition as a whole would have taken a prize at +any county fair. + +Thus living with congenial administrators in a climate softer even +than the city of San Diego, for the breezes of the Palomar mountains +mingle with those of the Pacific in the trees which shade their +humble homes; having at the end of the principal street of the village +a hedged plaza, filled with blooming flowers all the year, making a +frame for the old Mission chapel, which stands restored as the best +preserved of the Mission chapels, a picture place of San Diego county +and their place of worship; not wealthy, but having sufficient for the +necessities and some of the comforts of life; it is little wonder that +the Indian of Pala pursues the even tenor of his way, happy and +without a care for the future. + + + + +CHAPTER XII. + +With the Pala Basket Makers. + + +The art instincts of primitive people naturally were exceedingly +limited in expression. Their ignorance of tools not only restricted +their opportunities for the development of handicraft ability, but +also deprived them of many materials they otherwise might have used. +Hence whenever an outlet was discovered for their artistic tendencies +they were impelled to focus upon it in a remarkable degree. With few +tools, limited scope of materials, and next to no incitement to higher +endeavor as the result of contact with other peoples, they yet +developed several arts to a higher degree than has ever yet been +attained by the white race. One of the chief of these artistic +industries was the making of baskets. + +Look at one of these exquisite pieces of aboriginal workmanship and +you will be astonished at the perfection of its form, its marvelous +symmetry, the evenness of its weave, the suitability of the material +of which it is made, its remarkable adaptability to the use for which +it is intended, the rare and delicate harmoniousness of its colors, +and the artistic conception of its design. These qualities all +presuppose pure aboriginal work, for directly the Indian begins to +yield to the dictation of the superior (!) race, she proceeds to make +baskets of hideous and inartistic shape, abominable combinations of +color, and generally senseless designs. + +Let us watch these basket-makers at work, as we find them at Pala +today. The weaver must first secure the materials. For the filling of +the inner coil she gathers a quantity of a wild grass, or broom corn, +the stems of which perfectly fulfil the purpose. The wrapping splints +are made of three or four products of the vegetable kingdom. The white +splints are secured from willows which are peeled and then split and +torn apart so as to make the desired size. The thinness and pliability +of the splint is determined by scraping off as much as is needed of +the inside. A black splint is found in the cuticle of the martynia, or +cat's claw, which grows profusely on the hill-sides. Sometimes, +however, the white willow splints are soaked in hot sulphur water for +several days, and this blackens them. This water is secured from one +of the hot springs which are found all over Southern California. The +rare and delicate shades of brown in the splints used by the Pala +Indians are gained from the root of the tule. These roots are dug out +of the mud of marshy places and vary in shade, from the most delicate +creamy-brown to the deepest chestnut. Carefully introduced into a +basket they make harmonies in color that fairly thrill the senses with +delight. Now and again an added note of color is found in the red of +the red-bud, which, when gathered at the proper time, gives a sturdy +red, not too vivid or brilliant, but that harmonizes perfectly with +the white, black and brown. As a rule these are the only colors used +by the older and more artistic of the Pala weavers. Now and again, a +smart youngster, trained at the white man's school, will come back +with corrupted ideas of color value, and will flippantly make +gorgeously colored splints with a few packages of the aniline dyes +that, to the older weavers, are simply accursed. But even the most +foolish and least discerning of the white purchasers of baskets made +of these degraded colors cannot fail, in time, to learn how hideous +they are when compared with the natural, normal and artistic work of +the more conservative of the weavers. + +With her materials duly prepared the weaver is now ready to go to +work. What drawing has she to represent the shape of her basket; what +complicated plan of the design she intends to incorporate in it? How +much thought has she given to these two important details? Where does +she get them from? What art books does she consult? She cannot go down +to the art or department store and purchase Design No. 48b, or 219f, +and her religion, if she be a _good_ woman (that is, good from the +Indian, not the white man or Christian standpoint), will not allow her +to copy either one of her own or another weaver's form or design. She, +therefore, is left to the one resort of the true artist. She must +create her work from Nature, out of her own observations and +reflections. Thus patterning after Nature the shapes of her baskets +are always perfect, always uncriticizable. There is nothing fantastic, +wild, or crazy about them, as we often find in the _original +creations_ of the white race. They are patterned after the Master +Artist's work, and therefore are beyond criticism. + +But who can tell the hours of patient and careful observation, the +thought, the reflection, put upon these shapes and designs. The busy +little brain behind those dark-brown eyes; the creative imagination +that sees, that vizualizes _in the mind_ and can judge of its +appearance when objectified, must be developed to a high degree to +permit the use of such intricate, complicated and complex designs as +are often found. There are no drawings made, no pencil and paper used, +not even a sketch in the sand as some guessers would have the +credulous believe. Everything is seen and worked out _mentally_, and +with nothing but the mental image before her, the artist goes to work. + +Seated in as easy a posture as she can find out-of-doors or in, her +splints around her in vessels of water (the water for keeping them +pliant), and an adequate supply of the broom-corn, or grass-stem, +filling at hand, she rapidly makes the coiled button that is the +center, the starting point of her basket. Her awl is the thigh-bone of +a rabbit, unless she has yielded so far to the pressure of +civilization as to use a steel awl secured at the trader's store for +the purpose. Stitch by stitch the coil grows, each one sewed, by +making a hole with the awl through the coil already made, to that +coil. When the time comes for the introduction of the colored splint, +she works on as certainly, surely and deftly as before. There is no +hesitation. All is mapped out, the stitches counted, long before, and +though to the outsider there is no possible resemblance discernible +between what she is doing with anything known in the heavens above, +the earth beneath, or the waters under the earth, the aboriginal +weaver goes on with perfect confidence, seeing clearly the completed +and artistic product of her brain and fingers. + + [Illustration: One of the Portable Houses bought by the U. S. Indian + Department. The rear house was erected by the Indians themselves, + and is the home of Senora Salvadora Valenzuela and her daughters.] + + [Illustration: Two Pala Indian Maidens.] + + [Illustration: Pala Boys at Work on the Farm.] + +And how wonderfully those fingers handle the splints. No white woman +has ever surpassed, in digital dexterity, these native Indians. Do you +wonder? Watch this weaver day after day as her basket grows. A week, +two, three, a month, two, three months pass by, and the basket is not +yet finished. Time as well as creative skill and digital dexterity are +required to make a basket, and it is no uncommon thing to find three, +four and even five or six months consumed before the basket is done, +and the weaver's heart is secretly rejoiced by the beauty of the work. + +Is it surprising that the Indian often refuses to show, even when she +knows she can make a sale, the latest product of her skill? The work +is the joy of her heart; she has met the true test of the artist--she +loves her work and, therefore, joys in it--how can she sell it? So +when you ask her if she has a basket to sell she shakes her head, and +when, days or weeks later, pressed by a real or fancied necessity, she +brings it out and offers it for sale, you inwardly comment--perhaps +openly--upon the untruthfulness of the Indian, when, in reality, she +meant to the full her negative as to whether she had a basket to +_sell_. + +There are many skilful and accomplished basket weavers at Pala, who +genuinely love their work. They are preserving for a prejudiced +portion of the white race, proofs of an artistic skill possessed for +centuries by this despised aboriginal race, and, at the same time, +give delight, pleasure, joy and kindlier feelings to those of the +white race who feel there is a fundamental truth enunciated in the +doctrines of the universal Fatherhood of God, and the Brotherhood of +Man. + + + + +CHAPTER XIII. + +Lace and Pottery Makers. + + +In the preceding chapter I have presented, in a broad and casual +manner, the work of the Pala basket-makers. They are not confined, +however, to this as their only artistic industry. They engage in other +work that is both beautiful and useful. For centuries they have been +pottery makers, though, as far as I can learn, they have never learned +to decorate their ware with the artistic, quaint, and symbolic designs +used by the Zunis, Acomese, Hopis and other Pueblo Indians of Arizona +and New Mexico, or that might have been suggested by the designs on +their own basketry. + +The shapes of their pottery in the main are simple and few, but, when +made by skilful hands, are beautiful and pleasing. They make saucers, +bowls, jars and ollas. Clay is handled practically in the same way as +the materials of basketry. After the clay is well washed, _puddled_, +and softened, it is rolled into a rope-like length. After the center +is moulded by the thumbs and fingers of the potter, on a small basket +base which she holds in her lap, the clay rope is coiled so as to +build up the pot to the desired size. As each coil is added, it is +smoothed down with the fingers and a small _spatula_ of bone, pottery +or dried gourd skin, the shape being made and maintained by constant +manipulation. When completed it is either dried in the sun, or baked +over a fire made of dried cow or burro dung, which does not get so hot +as to crack the ware, or give out a smoke to blacken it. + +In the dressing of skins, and making of rabbit-skin blankets, the +older Indians used to be great adepts, but modern materials have taken +away the necessity for these things. + +Before the Palatinguas were removed from Warner's Ranch to Pala, one +of them, gifted with the white man's business sense, and with the +creative or inventive faculty, started an industry which he soon made +very profitable. Every traveler over the uncultivated and desert area +of Southern California has been struck with the immense number of +yuccas, Spanish daggers, that seemed to spring up spontaneously on +every hand. This keen-brained Indian, José Juan Owlinguwush, saw +these, and wiser than some of his smart white brothers, determined to +put them to practical and profitable use. He had the bayonets gathered +by the hundreds, the thousands. Then he had them beaten, flailed, +until the fibres were all separated one from another. The outer skins +were thrown away, but the inner fibres were taken and cured. Then, on +one of the most primitive spinning-wheels ever designed, and worked by +a smiling school-girl, who passed a strap over a square portion of a +spindle, at the end of which was a hook, so as to make it revolve at a +high degree of speed, the fiber was spun into rope. To the hook the +yucca fibre was attached, and as the spindle revolved the hook twisted +the fibre into cord. The spinner, with an apron full of the fibre, +walked backwards, away from the revolving hook, feeding out the fibre +as required and seeing it was of the needed thickness. Some of the +rope or cord thus made was dyed a pleasing brown color, and then was +woven on a loom, as primitive as was the spinning-wheel, into +doormats, which I used, with great satisfaction, for several years. + +Soon after the Palatinguas were settled at Pala, the Sybil Carter +Association of New York introduced to them, with the full consent of +the government officials, the art of Spanish lace-making. In a recent +newspaper article it is thus lauded: "Ancient craft [Basket-making] of +Pala Indians Gives Place to More Artistic Handiwork." This is a very +absurd statement, for wherein is the work of lace-making more +_artistic_ than basket-making. In the article that follows our +newspaper friend tells us candidly that the creative spirit is still +alive in the manufacture of basketry: + + They use the natural grasses and no artificial coloring. _No + two baskets are alike_, though the mountain, lightning flash, + star, tree, oak-leaf, and snake designs are most common. + +The italics are mine. Our writer then goes on to say of the +lace-making: + + The little ten-year old school-child and the grandmother now + sit side by side weaving the intricate figures with deft + hands and each receives fair compensation for the finished + product. It takes sharp eyes and supple fingers to produce + this lace, _but no originality_, for the Venetian point, + Honiton, Torchon, Brussels, Cluny, Milano, Roman Cut-Work and + Fillet patterns are supplied by the government teacher, Mrs. + Edla Osterberg. + + [Illustration: The Fiesta Procession, Leaving the Chapel for the + Headgate of the Irrigation Ditch.] + + [Illustration: Pala Indian Women Dancing at the Fiesta.] + +Again the italics are mine. There is no comparison in the art work of +basketry and that of lace-making, yet it is a good thing the latter +has been introduced. It brings these poor people money easier and +quicker than basket-making, and, as they must earn to live, it aids +them in the struggle for existence. + +In the lace work-room, the last time I was there, thirty-nine weavers +in all, varying from bright-eyed children of seven years, to aged +grandmothers, were intently engaged upon the delicate work. The +bobbins were being twisted and whirled with incredible rapidity and +sureness, in the cases of the most expert, and all were as interested +as could possibly be. + + + + +CHAPTER XIV. + +The Religious and Social Life of the Palas. + + +It would require many pages of this little book even to suggest the +various rites, ceremonies and ideas connected with the ancient +religion of the Palas. It was a strange mixture of Nature worship, +superstition, and apparently meaningless rites, all of which, however, +clearly revealed the childlike worship of their minds. In the earliest +days their religious leaders gained their power by fasting and +solitude. Away in the desert, or on the mountain heights, resolutely +abstaining from all food, they awaited the coming of their spirit +guides, and then, armed with the assurance of direct supernatural +control, they assumed the healing of the sick and the general +direction of the affairs of the tribe. + +Then, later, this simple method was changed. The neophytes sought +visions by drinking a decoction made from the jimpson weed--_toloache_ +--and though the older and purer-minded men condemned this method it +was gaining great hold upon them when the Franciscan Missionaries came +a century or so ago. + +Even now some of their ceremonies at the period of adolescence, +especially of girls, are still carried on. One of these consists of +digging a pit, making it hot with burning wood coals, and then +"roasting" the maiden therein, supposedly for her physical good. + +I have also been present at some of their ancient dances which are +still performed by the older men and women. These are petitions to the +Powers that control nature to make the wild berries, seeds and roots +grow that they may have an abundance of food, and many white men have +seen portions of the eagle and other dances, the significance of which +they had no conception of. Yet all of these dances had their origin in +some simple, childlike idea such as that the eagle, flying upwards +into the very eye of the sun, must dwell in or near the abode of the +gods, and could therefore convey messages to them from the dwellers +upon Earth. This is the secret of all the whisperings and tender words +addressed to the eagle before it is either sent on its flight or +slain--for in either case it soars to the empyrean. These words are +messages to be delivered to the gods above, and are petitions for +favors desired, blessings they long for, or punishments they wish to +see bestowed upon their enemies. + +But when the padres came the major part of the ancestors of the +present-day Palas came under their influence. They were soon baptized +into the fold of the Catholic Church. The fathers were wise in their +tolerance of the old dances. Wherein there was nothing that savored of +bestiality, sensuality, or direct demoralization, they raised no +objection, hence the survival of these ceremonies to the present day. +But, otherwise, the Indians became, as far as they were mentally and +spiritually able, good sons and daughters of the church. + +Of the good influence these good men had over their Indian wards there +can be no question. + +A true shepherd of his heathen flock was Padre Peyri. When the order +of secularization reached San Luis Rey and every priest was compelled +to take the oath of allegiance to the republic of Mexico, Peyri +refused to obey. He was ordered out of the country. At first he paid +no attention to the command, but when, finally, his superiors in +Mexico authorized his obedience, he stole away during the dead of +night in January, 1832, in order to save himself and his beloved +though dusky wards the pain of parting. It is said that when the +Indians discovered that he had left them and was on his way to San +Diego in order to take ship for Spain, five hundred of them followed +him with the avowed intention of trying to persuade him to return. But +they reached the bay at La Playa just as his ship was spreading sail +and putting out to sea. A plaintive cry rose heavenward while they +stood, their arms outstretched in agonized pleading, as their beloved +padre gave them a farewell blessing and his vessel faded away in the +blue haze off Point Loma. + +The last resident missionary at San Luis Rey was Padre Zalvidea, who +died early in 1846. + +From this date the decline of the Mission was very rapid. In 1826, the +Indian population was 2,869 and in 1846 it scarcely numbered 400. +After the death of Padre Zalvidea the poor Indians were like a flock +of sheep without a shepherd. They dispersed in every direction, a prey +of poverty, disease, and death. + + [Illustration: The Pala Campanile After Rebuilding in 1916.] + + [Illustration: A Pala Basket-Maker at Work.] + + [Illustration: The Interior of Pala Chapel After the Restoration.] + + [Illustration: The Ruins of the Pala Campanile, After Its Fall in + January, 1916.] + +The Pala outpost shared the fate of the mother mission, San Luis Rey. +It became a prey to the elements and to vandalism. It was soon a +ruin, uninhabited and unhabitable. Even the water ditch, not being +kept in repair, soon became useless. Thus matters stood until the +United States decided to remove the Indians living on Warner's Ranch +to Pala. + +Longevity used to be quite common among the Pala and other Indians. To +attain the age of a hundred years was nothing uncommon, and some lived +to be a hundred and fifty and even more years old. A short time ago +Leona Ardilla died at Temecula, which, like Pala, used to be a part of +the Mission of San Luis Rey. Leona was computed to be fully 113 years +old. She well remembered Padre Peyri,--_el buena padre_, she called +him,--and could tell definitely of his going away, of the Indians +following him to San Diego, and their grief that they could not bring +him back. Often have I heard her tell the story of the eviction of the +Indians from San Pasqual, as described in _Ramona_, and the struggle +her people had for the necessities of life after that disastrous +event. + +Of gentle disposition, uncomplaining regarding the many and great +wrongs done her people by the white man, she lived a simple Indian +life, eating her porridge of _weewish_, the _bellota_ of the Spanish, +that is, acorn. This was for years her staple food. She ate it as she +worked on her baskets, with the prayers on her lips which were taught +her by Padre Peyri. + +Though deaf and nearly blind for over 20 years, Leona sat daily in the +open with some boughs at her back, the primitive, unroofed break-wind +described as the only habitation of many of the Indians at the advent +of the spiritual _conquistadores_ of California. There, in the shade +of her kish, she sat and wove baskets. A few days before she died she +tried to finish a basket which had been begun over a month before, but +her death intervened and it remains unfinished. + +A year hence, when the Indians hold their memorial dance of the dead, +this basket will be burned, together with whatever articles of +clothing she may have left. + +The old basket maker's only living child was Michaela. She is 80 years +of age, and was at her mother's death-bed. + +After their removal to Pala the Indians were too stunned to pay much +attention to anything except their own troubles, and the priest that +was sent to them neither knew or understood them. But a few years ago +the Reverend George D. Doyle was appointed as their pastor. He entered +into the work with zeal, sympathy and love, and in a short time he had +won their fullest confidence by his tender care of their best +interests. He deems no sacrifice too great where his services are +needed. He says, however, that beneficial service would have been +rendered impossible save for the justice, tolerance and helpfulness on +the part of the Indian service both at Washington and in the field. + +In their school life Miss Salmons has their confidence equally with +their pastor. The growing generation is bright and learns things just +as quickly as white children of the same age. + +The older Indians never seem to be able to count. Their difficulty in +understanding figures is shown when they make purchases at the +reservation store. An old Indian will buy a pound of sugar, for +instance, and lay down a dollar. After he is given his change he may +buy a pound of bacon and again wait for his change before he makes the +next purchase. He simply cannot understand that 100 minus 5 minus 18 +leaves 77. + +But the younger generation will have no such trouble. They are fairly +quick at figures, and a class in mental arithmetic under Miss Salmons' +direction would not appear poorly in competition with any white class +in any other California school. + +The women spend much time in their gardens and in basket- and +lace-making. Their houses, gates, and fences are covered with a wealth +of roses and other flowers and vines and their little gardens are laid +out and cultivated with great skill. The men have a club-house, in +which is a billiard-table, where they play pool and other games. There +is also a piano, and several of the Indians are able to play +creditably at their community dances. + +The games most popular among the Palas, in fact among all the Mission +Indians, are Gome, Pelota, Peon and Monte. _Gome_ is a test of speed, +endurance, and accuracy. As many contestants as wish enter, each +barefooted and holding a small wooden ball. A course from one to five +miles is designated. When the signal is given each player places his +ball upon the toes of his right foot and casts it. The ball must not +be touched by the hand again but scooped up by the toes and cast +forward. The runner whose ball first passes the line at the end of the +course is the winner. The good gome player is expert at scooping the +ball whilst running at full speed and casting the same without losing +his stride. Casts of 40 to 50 yards are not unusual. + +_Pelota_ is a mixture of old time shinny or hocky, la-crosse and +foot-ball. It is played by two teams generally twelve on a side, on a +field about twice the size of the regulation football gridiron, with +two goal posts at each end. Each player is armed with an oak stick +about three feet in length. The teams, facing each other, stand in +mid-field. The referee holds a wooden ball two inches in diameter +which he places in a hole in the ground between the players. He then +fills the hole with sand, signals, by a call, and immediately the +sticks of the players dig the ball from the sand and endeavor to force +it towards and through their opponents' goal. There are no regulations +as to interference. Any player may hold, throw or block his opponent. +He may snap his opponent's stick from him and hurl it yards away. He +may hide the ball momentarily, to pass it to one of his team-mates, +always striving for a clean smash at the ball. He may not run with the +ball but is allowed three steps in any direction for batting +clearance--if he can get it. When one team succeeds in placing the +ball between its opponents' goal-posts one point is scored. The first +team to score two points wins the contest. + + [Illustration: The Opening of the Fiesta. Father G. D. Doyle Reciting + the Mass.] + + [Illustration: On the Morning of the Fiesta at Pala.] + + [Illustration: The Women in the Ramada at the Pala Fiesta.] + +_Peon_, without doubt, is the favorite diversion of the Southern +California Indian. It is played at night. A small fire is lighted and +four players squat on one side of it and four on the other. The +players of one set hold in their hand two sticks or bones, one black, +the other white, connected by a thong about fourteen inches long. Two +blankets, dirty or clean, it matters little, are spread, one in +front of each set. Back of the players are grouped the Indian women, +and when the players holding the peon sticks bend forward to grasp the +blanket between their teeth the women begin a chant or song. The +players, with hands hidden beneath the blanket, suddenly rise to their +knees drop the blanket from their teeth and are seen to have their +arms folded so closely that it is impossible to tell which hand holds +the black stick and which the white one. Their bodies move from side +to side, or up and down, keeping perfect time with the song, whilst +one of the opponents tries to tell, by false motions or by watching +the eyes across the fire, which hands hold the white stick. By a +movement of the hand he calls his guess and silence follows the +opening of the hand which reveals whether he has been successful in +his guess. The players who have been guessed throw their peon sticks +across to their opponents. For the ones not guessed a chip or short +stick is laid in front of the player. The opponent must continue until +he guesses all the hands, when his side goes through the same +performance. There are fourteen chips and one set or side must be in +possession of all of them before the game is concluded; so it may be +seen that it can last many hours. Sometimes the early morning finds +the singers and players weary but undaunted, as the game is +unfinished, and each side is reluctant to give up without scoring. + +As poker is called the American's gambling game so peon might be named +the Indian's gambling game. Large sums are said to have been wagered +on this game prior to February of 1915, when the Commissioner of +Indian Affairs placed the ban upon gambling of any description on the +reservations. The game is now played only for a prize or small purse +which is offered by the Fiesta Committee. + +_Monte_ is a card game played by the older people and is much like +faro excepting that Mexican cards are used. + +Taking their lives all in all they are today very much like those of +their white neighbors. The warriors of the passing generation and +their squaws have thrown aside buckskin for gingham and shawls of +cotton and wool. The thick-soled shoe has taken the place of the +sandal or soft moccassin, but the springy tread of the foot is the +same as it was when it traversed a pathless wilderness. The stoicism +and the majestic mien, the indifference to results, and the absolute +fearlessness which are expressed in every movement, are still +essential influences in the life and government of the little band. + +The younger men and women, while they tolerate with filial respect the +superstitions of their fathers, are eager to adjust themselves to the +ways and to be taught the arts and wisdom of their pale-faced +conquerors. + + + + +CHAPTER XV. + +The Collapse and Rebuilding of the Campanile. + + +In January of 1916 a storm swept over the whole of the Coast Country +of California from north to south, doing considerable damage on every +hand. In the Pala Valley the rain fell in volumes. For twenty-four +hours it never ceased, it being estimated that twelve inches fell +during that time. The pouring floods swept over the valley, and soon +began to undermine the adobe foundations of the tower. The base was +simply a piled-up mass of adobe, covered with cobble-stones, which, +however, had withstood the storms and the earthquakes of a hundred +years. As soon as a few of these cobble-stones were removed by the +flood, the clay beneath began to wash away with startling rapidity. +Nothing, however, could be done to prevent the rushing torrent that +eagerly ate away the ever-softening clay, and at three o'clock in the +afternoon of January 27th, those who watched with bated breath, +anxious hearts, and prayerful longings, were saddened by seeing the +more solid part of the base drop apart, thus removing all support to +the tower. The next moment it toppled forward and fell with a splash +into the muddy water surging at its feet. As it fell it broke into +several pieces, but, fortunately, the bells sank into soft mud, and +were afterwards found uninjured, to the delight of pastor, Indians, +and all the inhabitants of the country around about. + +What now should be done? Had the Indians been alone there is little +doubt but that their love for the interesting and historic tower would +have led them, unaided and alone, to reconstruct it. But in their +pastor, the Rev. George D. Doyle, they had one upon whom they have +long learned to rely as a real leader, in all things pertaining to +their welfare. Father Doyle at once put himself in communication with +friends throughout the country. In San Diego he appealed to Mr. George +W. Marston and Mr. Thomas Getz, the former one of the most public +spirited benefactors of that city, the latter being well known for his +interest in the Missions, from his exhibit at the Panama-California +Exposition and his lectures on the same subject at "Ramona's +Marriage-Place," at Old San Diego. These gentlemen immediately +undertook to raise at least one-fifth of the amount estimated for the +Campanile's repair. Other friends responded nobly, and the work of +rebuilding was immediately begun. + +It was the substantial gift, however, of Mrs. George I. Kyte, of Santa +Monica, Calif., that made it possible to complete the work in so short +a time. + +A solid and substantial concrete base twelve feet long, twelve feet +deep, and five feet wide, was first erected, so that no storm of the +future could undermine it. Then carefully following the plan of the +old tower, using the old material as far as possible, and not +neglecting a single detail, the new tower slowly arose to its +completion. The old cross-timbers for the bells, were again given +their sweet burden, the original cactus saved from the ruins was +planted again at the foot of the cross, the cobble-stones of the base, +also, were put back into place and neatly white-washed. Hence, except +that it looks so new, Padre Peyri himself would not know it from the +tower of his own erection. + +*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 41561 *** |