Franciscan mission padres’ orders to Macala y Arnel are ‘preserved in California archives and among DON GUILLERMO HARTNELL’s papers’

+++  Having a firsthand knowledge of conditions in California, the Scotsman also changed the character of every cargo sent up from South America.  ++  For religious services and furnishing of mission buildings, the padres desired images, holy pictures, shell gold, sheets of enamel, gold and silver lace and braid, gold and silver thread for embroidering frontals, copes, and altar hangings, various pieces of furniture and woodworking tools, musical instruments such as the flute, horn, violin, and guitar, bells and sacred music, dictionaries, religious books and games, gunpowder for rockets, carpeting, window glass, and “diamonds to cut with.”  ++  General merchandise was in great demand: quantities of cloth, cotton, and linen needed for the neophytes; modish clothes and patterns for the ‘gente de razon;’ miscellaneous wearing apparel like stockings, stays, trousers, hats, and bright red kerchiefs; canvas, paper, ribbon, thread, needles, and buttons.  Requests were continually being made for culinary articles such as copper and iron pots and kettles, frying pans, dishes, glassware, and tableware; farming implements of all kinds; seeds, sheep shears, and garden tools; axes and slaughtering knives; medical supplies and sulphur; stills, barrel spigots, locks, padlocks, wire, nets, and alarm clocks. These items all appeared on the mission and ‘presidio’ order blanks, preserved in California archives, and among Hartnell’s paper’s.  Of food products, rice and sugar were most in demand and after them, cocoa, tea, and coffee.  Spirits sold only moderately well, since homemade wine and ‘aguardiente’ suited the local taste, but Havana “segars” were highly prized.  ++  McCulloch found a very confused state of affairs on the South American continent, with counterrevolutionary flare-ups occurring even in the longest-established republics.  This often delayed or made impossible the fulfillment of orders.  On the other hand, the partners many times profited by a fluctuating market.  The parent organization, John Begg and Company, depended for its very existence on the South American and European political situation, being a highly speculative enterprise.  ++  Mr. Begg’s ruthless opportunism is significantly demonstrated in a letter written to the California firm from Lima, on May 2, 1823: … +++