Tire Field and Its Workers
tion the Indians had their breakfast, after which they were led to the fields either by one of the Padres or one of the soldiers assigned to the mission, who often acted as overseers and teachers in agricultural pursuits. Although the majority of the men went out to the fields, some were taken to the workshops. where they learned different trades. The women worked the looms, or made pottery, or baskets, or busied themselves preparing the meal for the men out in the fields. The children went to school in the morning. In the evening the entire pueblo gathered in front of the church for another hour of instruction and the rosary. Some of the Indians were taught to sing, others learned to play, others made furniture, while still others made bows and arrows for the warriors of the mission, who were supplied with both guns and their bows and arrows to defend the mission against attack and sometimes to help the presidia soldiers in their campaigns. But the missionaries were also teachers of social and political science after a fashion. According to the laws of the Indies, each Indian pueblo organized in a mission had to have its own governing body, chosen or elected under the supervision of the missionary. Thus each mission pueblo had its governor, its alcaldes, its regido,-es (councilmen) and its alguazil (sheriff). They also had one or two fiscales, whose main duty was to see that every Indian attended church in the morning and in the evening. The fiscales of the Indian pueblos reported to the Padre those who failed to attend church. If they did not have a good excuse, and they were habitual offenders, the culprits were administered publicly from one to five lashes. 46 This was generally done in the evening, when all the Indians had gathered before the church. Under the patient and sympathetic care of the missionaries, the mission Indians learned to manage their own affairs. How successfully this phase of missionary life was developed may be judged by the report of Governor Barrios, who in 1758, visited San Jose Mission and said : "The kind treatment of the missionaries has so pleased the natives that the best proof of their contentment is that there have been no fugitives, and that there are no chains or stocks in this mission. The neophytes .elect their own cabildo ( city council), judges, and councilors, their captain, officers, and governor, and their public prosecutor. At night they have regular guards who make the rounds. They have their military and civil tribunals which administer justice without bloodshed. The missionary in charge
46Recopilaci6n de !eyes de los Reynos de las Indias ( 1681 edition) Lib. I, Titulo xv; Lib. VI, Titulo iii.
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