Though they
do not require all this land for their agriculture and the maintenance
of their stock, they have appropriated the whole; always strongly
opposing any individual who may wish to settle himself or his family on
any piece of land between them. But it is to be hoped that the new
system of illustration, and the necessity of augmenting private
properly, and the people of reason, will cause the government to take
such adequate measures as will conciliate the interests of all. Amongst
all the missions there are from twenty-one to twenty-two thousand
Catholic Indians; but each mission has not an equal or a proportionate
part in its congregation. Some have three or four thousand, whilst
others have scarcely four hundred; and at this difference may be
computed the riches of the missions in proportion. Besides the number
of Indians already spoken of, each mission has a considerable number of
gentiles, who live chiefly on farms annexed to the missions. The number
of these is undetermined.
"The Indians are naturally filthy and careless, and their understanding
is very limited. In the small arts they are not deficient in ideas of
imitation but they never will be inventors.
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