hemselves of the Mexican Catholic Church and all it's filth and start anew.
             The motives of these Franciscan padres did however change. The mission system became a type of organized slavery. It is possible that the power held by these remotely located padres was corrupting. The neophytes were assigned tasks, men worked crops, hunted and gathered food, while women and children fashioned rope from hemp, made baskets, and fashioned beads on necklaces. Unmarried women, age seven and up, were separated from the men in order to prevent unauthorized sexual activity. This separation however caused much spread of disease among the women. Dr. Cook, a professor at the University of California, estimated that nearly 15,250 Indians were killed due to disease brought on by their "saviors". McWilliams quotes J.M. Guinn who says, "The unsanitary condition of the Indian Villages at some of the missions was as fatal as Indian War."
             It obviously was not the Franciscan's o
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