The new Po
elds. They were forced to wear clothes even in the terrible heat. Califor-nia, Oregon and Washington had the largest populations of Native Americans in the U.S.A. Most of them either died of depression and disease or were hunted down and murdered. The treatment by the early priests here in Cal-ifornia of Native Americans was deplorable. The treat-ment of Indians by many early Protestants was usually also just as terrible. It was the prejudiced way that White Americans used to view Native Americans in those times. In the minds of the early California priests it was better a dead Injun than a heathen going to hell. Many Native Americans and many other people are sure that Father Serra also made it to hell.
- Martin Sampson
