To: Ilaine who wrote (2592 ) 10/25/2000 3:36:49 PM From: cosmicforce Read Replies (1) | Respond to Then I say "What hypocrites!"cogweb.english.ucsb.edu Soldiers offered no help in these and other duties, although the padres, most of whom had considerable farming experience from their tenure in Mexico, sometimes assisted in the fields. But not for long. The padres provided supervision and blessings. The Baja field hands supplied the muscle and sweat. Drought, floods, and frosts wiped out most of their first crops, and even though they managed to replant everything and salvage a few bags of grain, they could not overcome the poor judgment of their superiors, who persisted in planting the wrong crops, in the wrong places. Well into the 1770s they were still living on the ragged edge, surviving on roots, seeds, and nuts donated by or bartered from local Indians, and on a gruel made of boiled wheat and dried chickpeas. Fighting for their lives, they declined rapidly in strength, numbers, and effectiveness, to the frustration of Father Serra, who wanted the local Indians to "see the cornfields which appear wonderful in their eyes" and the missions to have "a granary to fill them with food—and catch them in the nets of heaven.''
