MISSION OF SOLEDAD.
This mission is situated fifteen leagues southwest of Monterey, in a fertile plain, known by the name of the “llano del rey.” The priest was an indefatigable agriculturist. To obviate the summer drought, he constructed, through the labor of his Indians, an aqueduct extending fifteen miles, by which he could water twenty thousand acres of land. In 1826 this mission owned about 36,000 head of cattle, and a greater number of horses and mares than any other mission in the country. So great was the reproduction of these animals, they were given away to preserve the pasturage for cattle and sheep. It had about 70,000 sheep, and 300 yoke of tame oxen. In 1819 the mayordomo of this mission gathered 3400 bushels of wheat from 38 bushels sown. It has still standing about a thousand fruit trees, which still bear their mellow harvests; but its secularization has been followed by decay and ruin.