MISSION OF SAN LUIS REY.
This mission, located near the sea, and twelve leagues south of San Juan, was founded in 1798 by padre Peyri, who had devoted himself for years to the improvement of the Indians. The buildings occupy a large square, in the centre of which a fountain still plays; along the front runs a corridor, supported by thirty-two arches, ornamented with latticed railings; while the interior is divided into apartments suited to the domestic economy of a large establishment. Here the wool of the sheep which grazed on the hills around, was woven into blankets, and coarse apparel for the Indians, while the furrowed field waved for miles under the golden grain. The reeling grape, the blushing peach, the yellow orange, the mellow pear, and luscious melon filled the garden, and, loaded the wings of the zephyr with perfume. In 1826 it had three thousand Indians, 70,000 head of cattle, 2000 horses, 140 yoke of tame oxen, 300 mules, 68,000 sheep, and a tract of land, around half of which you could not gallop between sun and sun. Its massive stone church still remains, and the remnants of its greatness are now in the hands of an administrator who little heeds the object which animated its founder.