After dinner we visited one of these. The area of the inclosure
contains fifteen or twenty acres of ground, the whole of which was
planted with fruit trees and grape-vines. There are about six hundred
pear trees, and a large number of apple and peach trees, all bearing
fruit in great abundance and in full perfection. The quality of the
pears is excellent, but the apples and peaches are indifferent. The
grapes have been gathered, as I suppose, for I saw none upon the vines,
which appeared healthy and vigorous. The gardens are irrigated with
very little trouble, from large springs which flow from the hills a
short distance above them. Numerous aqueducts, formerly conveying and
distributing water over an extensive tract of land surrounding the
mission, are still visible, but as the land is not now cultivated, they
at present contain no water.
The mission buildings cover fifty acres of ground, perhaps more, and
are all constructed of adobes with tile roofs. Those houses or barracks
which were occupied by the Indian families are built in compact
squares, one story in height. They are generally partitioned into two
rooms, one fronting on the street, the other upon a court or corral in
the rear.
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