Pictures seem to have a peculiar attraction for the savage mind. In the Church of Guadaloupe, Mexico, you may see a large painting of the Mexican Virgin with Indians crowding around her. The effect of pictures is well illustrated by a scene in the ninth century, as when, in answer to the request of Bogoris, King of the Bulgarians, the Emperor Michael, of Constantinople, sent to him a painter to decorate the hall of his palace with subjects of a terrible character. It was Methodius, the monk, who was despatched to the Bulgarian court on this mission, and he took for his theme the Last Judgment as being the most terrible of all scenes. The representation of hell so alarmed the king that he cast aside his idols, and many of his subjects were converted. The Franciscans in their work both in Mexico and in California understood well the value of pictures in convincing the untutored mind. Hence it was the custom to have pictures of heaven and hell on the walls of the Missions. They were better than sermons. The name of the Mission here was at first, simply San Francisco de Asis. Then in time Dolores was added to indicate its locality, because it was west of a Laguna bordered with "Weeping Willows" or because three Indians had been seen weeping in its vicinity. Naturally the title of the Virgin would be applied to the Mission,--Nuestra Señora de Los Dolores, "Our Lady of Sorrows." In this Mission, as well as in the others, the Indians were in a certain sense slaves, as the Fathers controlled all their movements. The religious instruction was of the simplest character. The life of the convert also was somewhat childlike, in marked contrast with his experience in his savage condition. His breakfast consisted of a kind of gruel made of corn, called Atole. The dinner was Pozoli, and the supper the same as breakfast. The Christian Indians lived in adobe huts--of which the Padres kept the keys. Some of the Missions were noted for their wealth. For example, as you may read in the Annals of San Francisco, the Mission Dolores, in its palmiest days, about the year 1825, possessed 76,000 head of cattle, 950 tame horses, 2,000 breeding mares, 84 stud of choice breed, 820 mules, 79,000 sheep, 2,000 hogs, 456 yoke of working oxen, 18,000 bushels of wheat and barley, $35,000 in merchandise and $25,000 in specie.