As daring riders as the world has ever seen, they instinctively knew the arts of herding cattle and sheep, and soon had that whole field of work in their keeping.

"H.H.," in _Ramona_, has told what skilled sheep-shearers they were, and there are Indian bands to-day in Southern California whose services are eagerly sought at good wages because of their thoroughness, skill and rapidity.
Now, with this list of achievements, who shall say they were not educated?
Something more than lack of education must be looked for as the reason for the degradation and disappearance of the Indian, and in the next chapter I think I can supply that missing reason.
At the end of sixty years, more than thirty thousand Indian converts lodged in the Mission buildings, under the direct and immediate guidance of the Fathers, and performed their allotted daily labors with cheerfulness and thoroughness.

There were some exceptions necessarily, but in the main the domination of the missionaries was complete.
It has often been asked: "What became of all the proceeds of the work of the Mission Indians?
Did the padres claim it personally?
Was it sent to the mother house in Mexico ?" etc.

These questions naturally enter the minds of those who have read the criticisms of such writers as Wilson, Guinn, and Scanland.

In regard to the missionaries, they were under a vow of poverty.