What a charming place Mission San Buenaventura was in those days!
Situated on the coast, it stood not a half-mile from the water, which it
faced, while behind, and close to it, was a line of hills running off
into the distance until they disappeared on the horizon. At the time of
year our pilgrims first saw it, there was little remaining of the
verdant freshness of spring and early summer. But if Nature refuses to
permit southern California to wear her mantle of green later than May or
June, she has bestowed on her a wealth of warm yellow, red and brown,
which, to some, is even more pleasing. The bare ground takes on a
vividness of glowing color that is almost incredible, while the hills in
the distance run through another gamut of color - from yellow through
all the shades of orange to an almost pure pink, with pale blue shadows,
changing at sunset to intensest purple. Color is rife in California.
The mission consisted of a large white adobe church, a long line of
buildings adjoining in which lived the padre and the Mexicans, and a
number of little houses and cabins, some of adobe, but the greater
number of straw and rushes, which sheltered the Indians.
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