MISSION OF LA PURISIMA.
This mission is located eighteen leagues south of San Luis, at the base of a mountain spur, in the coast range; its lands covered about thirteen hundred square miles, and were at one time so filled with wild cattle, the presiding priest granted permits to any person who desired to kill them for their hides and tallow, the meat being thrown away. Thousands in this shape fell under the lasso and knife, and still the mission numbered in 1830 over 40,000 head of cattle sufficiently domesticated to be corralled, 300 yoke of working-oxen, 2600 tame horses, 4000 mares, 30,000 sheep, and 5000 swine, which were raised for their lard—no one eating the meat. The horses on this mission were celebrated for their beauty and speed; they performed feats under the saddle worthy of the most brilliant page in the register of the turf. But now the steed and his rider are gone, and the willow sighs over the mouldering ruin.