The beds are of rawhide stretched over a frame. The covering consists of
sheets of coarse cotton grown and woven at the southern missions, and
blankets, coarse but warm, made by the Indians from the wool of the
mission sheep.
Dinner at the padre's table we find most enjoyable. There is beef and
chicken, the frijole, or red bean of Spain, and other vegetables
prepared in a tasty manner peculiar to Spanish cooking, so we do not
doubt that the cook has been taught his trade by the padre himself. The
Indian boys who wait on the table also show careful training, performing
their duties quickly and quietly. Here we can find for bread the
tortilla,--still the food of the Indian and Mexican people of
California. It is a thin cake made of meal or flour and water, and baked
without grease on a hot stone or griddle. Wines made at the mission, the
favorite chocolate, thick and sweet, and some fruit from the padre's
garden complete the meal.
Dinner over, we visit the church and admire the striking contrast
between the red tiles of the roof and the creamy white of the walls. All
the buildings are made of bricks molded from a clay called adobe and
dried slowly in the sun.
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