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Life in a California Mission: Monterey in 1786: The Journals of Jean François de la Pérouse
Nonfiction. California Studies. On the afternoon of September 14, 1786, two French ships appeared off the coast of Monterey, the first foreign vessels to visit Spain's California colonies. Aboard was a party of eminent scientists, navigators, cartographers, illustrators, and physicians. For the next ten days the expedition's commander, Jean Francois de la Perouse, took detailed notes on the life and character of the area: its abundant wildlife, the labors of soldiers and monks, and the customs of Indians recently drawn into the mission. These observations provide a startling portrayal of California two centuries ago.
- GenresHistoryNonfiction
112 pages, Paperback
First published April 1, 1989
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109 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 14 of 14 reviews
January 3, 2016
This is a book which everyone in California ought to read carefully. It is the best succinct volume I have found to date providing a factual, firsthand account of what life was like at a California mission.
The topic is mature and presented with academic rigor, but this is a page turner which is easy and fun to read, not a tough slog like many historical works can be. More than any other book I can recall, the introduction and other interpretive notes are at least as important and interesting as the source document itself, which is a set of journals by Jean François Galaup de La Pérouse who captained a goodwill expedition from France in the late 1700s.
The King of France went to extraordinary lengths to make this expedition happen. Its four year mission was to boldly go where no French had gone before, to explore what to France were strange, new lands, and to report on the activities of other European powers operating there. Monterey was just one of La Pérouse’s many stops. The expedition marked the first time non-Spanish vessels visited Spain’s California colonies.
Decades later, after the Mexican-American War and the Gold Rush, Euro-Americans heading west to prospect and settle would discover the ruins of the California missions and fashion from them the myth of a romantic era when “peaceful, tonsored monks bestowed blessings upon the children of nature in an arcadian world of harmony and love.” (Pages 47-48.) The facts presented in La Pérouse’s “captain’s log” allow the reader to separate such fantasy imagery from reality. In 1786, for example, after sixteen years of operation, the mission at Carmel was mud and thatch, and Spain had yet to produce in California any of what we tend to regard as mission architecture today.
La Pérouse, whose purpose was neither to praise nor scorn, but to record and report observations, did an excellent job of describing a typical day in the life of the mission at Carmel. He concluded based upon copious details set forth in the book that the mission most closely resembled a late 18th century slave plantation. The book cites multiple sources of evidence indicating that the living conditions at the missions left the Indian residents traumatized and deeply depressed.
In his introduction, Malcolm Margolin explains some of the dynamics that may have motivated the creation of this system. He discusses how the monks came to enter missionary service and what motivated them, and how the particular personalities of the Father-Presidents and individual monks affected the way that the missions developed.
The book explains that with baptism, Indians at the missions lost their freedom. What the Franciscan monks demanded of the mission Indians far exceeded what was expected of European villagers, and corporal punishments were administered liberally for minor infractions. Mission residents were purposefully separated from their homelands and traditional economies. Inside the missions, Indians lost many family members, including many children, to overwork, injuries, and disease. They had very limited control over what they ate, when, or how much. The authorities did their best to drive their prior religious convictions and traditions out of them. Residents could not date, or court, or marry according to their desires or customs. They could not parent their children as they saw fit. They lost their health, and the vast majority died prematurely.
While such broad brush conclusions can be found elsewhere, this volume contains copious evidence to support them.
The Museum of Tolerance pulls few punches, but at the missions there are no whipping posts on display. As evidenced in the book, such tools as whips, chains, and stocks were employed regularly at the Carmel mission. These are not included in exhibits or even many discussions today because they are so at odds with the romantic myth of the missions that became prevalent after California became a U.S. state.
If you want to know the facts that this book contains, then, you will have to read it, because I do not believe you will become exposed to the same information through visits to historical sites.
I highly recommend this concise scholarly work to you.
The topic is mature and presented with academic rigor, but this is a page turner which is easy and fun to read, not a tough slog like many historical works can be. More than any other book I can recall, the introduction and other interpretive notes are at least as important and interesting as the source document itself, which is a set of journals by Jean François Galaup de La Pérouse who captained a goodwill expedition from France in the late 1700s.
The King of France went to extraordinary lengths to make this expedition happen. Its four year mission was to boldly go where no French had gone before, to explore what to France were strange, new lands, and to report on the activities of other European powers operating there. Monterey was just one of La Pérouse’s many stops. The expedition marked the first time non-Spanish vessels visited Spain’s California colonies.
Decades later, after the Mexican-American War and the Gold Rush, Euro-Americans heading west to prospect and settle would discover the ruins of the California missions and fashion from them the myth of a romantic era when “peaceful, tonsored monks bestowed blessings upon the children of nature in an arcadian world of harmony and love.” (Pages 47-48.) The facts presented in La Pérouse’s “captain’s log” allow the reader to separate such fantasy imagery from reality. In 1786, for example, after sixteen years of operation, the mission at Carmel was mud and thatch, and Spain had yet to produce in California any of what we tend to regard as mission architecture today.
La Pérouse, whose purpose was neither to praise nor scorn, but to record and report observations, did an excellent job of describing a typical day in the life of the mission at Carmel. He concluded based upon copious details set forth in the book that the mission most closely resembled a late 18th century slave plantation. The book cites multiple sources of evidence indicating that the living conditions at the missions left the Indian residents traumatized and deeply depressed.
In his introduction, Malcolm Margolin explains some of the dynamics that may have motivated the creation of this system. He discusses how the monks came to enter missionary service and what motivated them, and how the particular personalities of the Father-Presidents and individual monks affected the way that the missions developed.
The book explains that with baptism, Indians at the missions lost their freedom. What the Franciscan monks demanded of the mission Indians far exceeded what was expected of European villagers, and corporal punishments were administered liberally for minor infractions. Mission residents were purposefully separated from their homelands and traditional economies. Inside the missions, Indians lost many family members, including many children, to overwork, injuries, and disease. They had very limited control over what they ate, when, or how much. The authorities did their best to drive their prior religious convictions and traditions out of them. Residents could not date, or court, or marry according to their desires or customs. They could not parent their children as they saw fit. They lost their health, and the vast majority died prematurely.
While such broad brush conclusions can be found elsewhere, this volume contains copious evidence to support them.
The Museum of Tolerance pulls few punches, but at the missions there are no whipping posts on display. As evidenced in the book, such tools as whips, chains, and stocks were employed regularly at the Carmel mission. These are not included in exhibits or even many discussions today because they are so at odds with the romantic myth of the missions that became prevalent after California became a U.S. state.
If you want to know the facts that this book contains, then, you will have to read it, because I do not believe you will become exposed to the same information through visits to historical sites.
I highly recommend this concise scholarly work to you.
October 17, 2014
Introduction was better than the actual journals.
January 17, 2026
A short, readable first-person account of the mission at Monterey from a non-Spanish European who lived in the time between Captain Cook (and had read his work) and Juana Maria, the Lone Woman of San Nicolas Island (aka the Island of the Blue Dolphins). The introduction by Malcolm Margolin (longer than the text) is incredibly succinct considering how much context it elucidates.
One of the most notable observances was that the Indians were held to a standard, through force, far above that of a European Catholic commoner:
"Corporal punishment is inflicted on the Indians of both sexes who neglect the exercises of piety, and many sins, which in Europe are left to Divine justice, are here punished by irons and stocks. And lastly, to complete the similarity between this and other religious communities, it must be observed that the moment an Indian is baptized, the effect is the same as if he had pronounced a vow for life. If he escapes to reside with his relations in the independent villages, he is summoned three times to return; if he refuses, the missionaries apply to the governor, who send soldiers to seize him in the midst of his family and conduct him to the mission, where he is condemned to receive a certain number of lashes with the whip. As these people are at war with their neighbors, they can never escape to a distance greater than twenty or thirty leagues." (82)
From a footnote:
"Filipe de Neve [former governor of California] found himself in a prolonged and bitter conflict with Junipero Serra. De Neve attempted to train Indians for self-government by having the Indians of each mission elect officers who would be outside the control of the missionaries. Serra opposed and ultimately sabotaged the effort. De Neve, on his part, resisted Serra's demands that runaways be pursued back to their native villages, fought against expanding the number of missions, and was responsible for establishing the Puebla's of San José and Los Angeles, hoping to create a civilian base that would moderate the power of both the missionaries and the military." (83)
One of the most notable observances was that the Indians were held to a standard, through force, far above that of a European Catholic commoner:
"Corporal punishment is inflicted on the Indians of both sexes who neglect the exercises of piety, and many sins, which in Europe are left to Divine justice, are here punished by irons and stocks. And lastly, to complete the similarity between this and other religious communities, it must be observed that the moment an Indian is baptized, the effect is the same as if he had pronounced a vow for life. If he escapes to reside with his relations in the independent villages, he is summoned three times to return; if he refuses, the missionaries apply to the governor, who send soldiers to seize him in the midst of his family and conduct him to the mission, where he is condemned to receive a certain number of lashes with the whip. As these people are at war with their neighbors, they can never escape to a distance greater than twenty or thirty leagues." (82)
From a footnote:
"Filipe de Neve [former governor of California] found himself in a prolonged and bitter conflict with Junipero Serra. De Neve attempted to train Indians for self-government by having the Indians of each mission elect officers who would be outside the control of the missionaries. Serra opposed and ultimately sabotaged the effort. De Neve, on his part, resisted Serra's demands that runaways be pursued back to their native villages, fought against expanding the number of missions, and was responsible for establishing the Puebla's of San José and Los Angeles, hoping to create a civilian base that would moderate the power of both the missionaries and the military." (83)
January 14, 2025
Read for a class of the History of California. For the intro, which is just as long as the journals themselves, I felt like I have heard the information in other books in better detail and writing. For the journal it just did not keep my attention or give me any new information. A firsthand account of living inside the mission system I felt should have been more interesting, I may try and reread it when I can give it more attention. It does have value as a historical source more than anything else.
June 16, 2021
We are hoping to travel to California and hope to see some of the missions, so thought this book might be a good introduction. It was!
As other reviewers have also shared, the introduction of the book is much more informative than the journals; though both were worth reading. 21st century romanticism of the missions vs 18th century reality of life in the missions: I'm pleased to now know the difference. A short read, but was both easy and difficult as the reader is brought to reality.
As other reviewers have also shared, the introduction of the book is much more informative than the journals; though both were worth reading. 21st century romanticism of the missions vs 18th century reality of life in the missions: I'm pleased to now know the difference. A short read, but was both easy and difficult as the reader is brought to reality.
Want to read
July 22, 2020This book is useful to compare a different perspective of the California missions from the mission period. This book is unique because it is written by French sailors observing the Spanish Mission system. Reading an alternative point of view from a non Spanish, non religious perspective allows students to understand the California Mission system in greater depth.
December 9, 2017
There is more introduction than there is journal and the intro is more informative than the journal.
March 28, 2021
In this book, the reader learns about when the French encountered the California Missions. It is a different perspective on life in a mission.
March 19, 2022
Skip the introduction and read Jean Francois de la Perouse’s journal then go back and read the intro.
March 30, 2014
While the information in this is fantastic, and interesting, more than half the book is an essay that is so skewed and one-sided that it taints the enjoyment of the real story. No one will say the mission system is perfect. Some say it was glorious, some say it was hell on earth, and the truth is probably somewhere in between. Margolin's essay is extremely prejudiced and lopsided. He spends pages telling you why everything in the book that is positive is probably false and why everything observed negative was probably a thousand times worse. What really lost it for me was him saying none of the missions were in any way prosperous, which from my numerous mission visits and the pile of other books I've read on the subject proves to be a completely preposterous claim. The actual book is decent and informative, but the fact that it's preceded by such negative, hateful diatribe drops the quality of the offering by a large factor.
February 18, 2016
It is always nice to read a translated primary source. The book gives a fresh perspective of someone who was neither a missionary, a soldier, or even Spanish for that matter. Jean Francois de la Perouse, a French explorer, provides a new way to look at the missions. The only perspective that would have been more interesting would have be an indigenous account. The essay that constitutes the first half of the book is an excellent addition. It really makes the book intelligible to those who are uninitiated in the complexities of the Spanish Mission system in "New California." I am pairing the book with this video: https://vimeo.com/107491579
May 2, 2008
Valuable tool for scholars interested in mission life but De la Perouse's writings should not be used to glean an accurate portrayal of Native American abilities or intellectual capacities. De la Perouse's writing demonstrates the limited application of Enlightenment ideals towards non-Europeans.
November 20, 2013
A wonderful book, and one that surprised me by turning "Zorro" on its head. That is, the Spanish troops come across as much more human and kind towards the indigenous people than the priests.
Displaying 1 - 14 of 14 reviews