[Illustration: _A Map Showing Location of the California Missions_] [Illustration: California Missions] [Illustration: Façade] _California Missions_ A GUIDE TO THE HISTORIC TRAILS OF THE PADRES By KARL F. BROWN Illustrated with seventy-eight photographs By FLOYD RAY Foreword by REXFORD NEWCOMB _Dean, College of Fine and Applied Arts University of Illinois_ [Illustration: Bell tower] COPYRIGHT 1939 BY KARL F. BROWN AND FLOYD RAY GARDEN CITY PUBLISHING CO., Inc. NEW YORK [Illustration: _Chapel, San Diego De Alcalá_] [Illustration: _Façade, San Diego De Alcalá_] _Foreword_ Along the strand of the Pacific between San Diego and Sonoma, the intrepid monks of the Order of Saint Francis strung that cordon of missions that were to become, as time went on, the outposts of civilization along the sunset coast of California. Begun in 1769, this chain of churches along _El Camino Real_ was complete by 1823, and in these establishments the devoted followers of Padre Junípero Serra sought to win for Christ and the Crown of Spain devotees among the dusky inhabitants of this land. How well they succeeded may be judged when we learn that often in the more prosperous missions as many as two thousand Indians were being trained at one time. [Illustration: _Cloister, San Diego De Alcalá_] And what was the routine by which these fervent priests of Old Spain hoped to convert the backward natives of the coast into God-fearing, self-supporting and self-respecting subjects of his Hispanic majesty, the king? The system of training prescribed plenty of work accompanied by instruction in the handcrafts and Christian doctrine. To this end, each day, the morning bell assembled the Indians in the chapel for prayers and mass. Following this, breakfast was eaten, after which each went to his assigned task. At eleven o’clock dinner was eaten; then a siesta. Work, resumed at 2 P.M., continued until an hour before sunset, when the Angelus recalled all to worship. After prayers and rosary, supper was eaten, after which recreation ensued until early bedtime. [Illustration: _Bell Tower, San Diego De Alcalá_] [Illustration: _Bell Tower, San Antonio De Pala_] This was the happy pattern of life that obtained in these picturesque missions which at once comprised the early churches, the first schools, the first factories and the work-a-day habitations of the priests and their charges. Viewed in this light these old buildings become real human documents and are therefore very precious to all interested in the beginnings of civilization within our broad land. [Illustration: _Chapel, San Antonio De Pala_]