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land in front of the poverty-stricken Mission Post. A Franciscan, consumed with fever, comes to meet him.
    He is in San Francisco.
    Fishermen's huts made of beaten earth. Blue-skinned pigs wallowing in the sun, lean sows with dozens of  piglets.
    This is what John Augustus Sutter has come to conquer.
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    The moment is particularly well-chosen.
    Although it is far from the political centre of the world, and outside the mainstream of contemporary history at the beginning of the nineteenth centuiy, California has just come through a series of acute crises. Events that may be no more than a nine days' wonder in the metropolis can often have the most terrible and far-reaching consequences in countries at the far ends of the earth; the repercussions may transform the old way of life from top to bottom or shatter the new and still fragile civic order.
    California's position was extremely precarious. Its very existence was in jeopardy.
    The Mission settlements, which the Jesuits had built throughout the territory of Old California as in all the other countries overseas, had passed into the hands of the Franciscans when the Jesuits were expelled in 1767. The Franciscans had undertaken the colonization of New California, where the Jesuits had never penetrated.
    Little by little, making their way slowly up the coast, the Fathers had established themselves in eighteen posts which were no more than simple settlements at first, but which, in the course of a few years, had become important estates surrounded by prosperous villages.
    Everywhere, the organization was the same and followed a single pattern.
    The most important of these colonies, San Luis Rey, was composed of a group of buildings arranged in a square. Each façade was 450 feet in length. The church occupied one whole side by itself. The other three were taken up by the living quarters, the farm with all its outbuildings, stables, cattle-byres, barns, storehouses and workshops. Within the square was a courtyard planted with sycamores and fruit trees. In the centre of the courtyard, a great jet of water rose from a monumental fountain. The infirmary was tucked away in one of the most secluded corners.
    Two Capuchin friars were responsible for the domestic chores, the others busied themselves in the school, the workshops and warehouses, or took care of travellers.
    The young Indian girls were under the supervision of Indian matrons; they were taught to weave woollen, linen or cotton fabrics; they did not leave the Mission until it was time for them to marry. The most gifted young people learned music and singing, the others, some manual skill or agriculture.
    The Indians were divided into brigades, each under the leadership of one of their chiefs. At4a.m. everyday, the Angelus was rung and everyone attended Mass. After a frugal breakfast, the workers went out to the fields. From 11 a.m. to 2 p.m., they had a meal in the open air followed by a rest. At sundown, there was another religious service which all, including the sick, were obliged to attend; then there was supper, and afterwards, singing and dancing which often went on far into the night. The food consisted of beef or mutton, cereals and green vegetables; there was nothing but water to drink. The men wore a long linen shirt, cotton trousers and a long Woollen cloak; the women were given two blouses a year each, plus a skirt and a coat.
    The alcalde and the other native chiefs were dressed like the Spanish.
    After their products - hides, talc and cereals - had been sold and loaded on to foreign ships, the Fathers distributed books, lengths of cloth, tobacco, rosaries and cheap knick-knacks to the Indians. Another portion of the revenue was devoted to the embellishment of the church, the purchase of paintings, statues and valuable musical instruments. One quarter of the harvest was kept in storage.
    Each year, more and more land was brought under cultivation. The Indians built bridges, roads, canals and windmills under the