In the rough and tumble fight which ensued the padre came out ahead; and after giving the culprits a severe homily on the sin of attacking a priest, they were pardoned, Marcelo becoming one of his best and most faithful friends thereafter.

Robinson says Viader was "a good old man, whose heart and soul were in proportion to his immense figure." In 1820 the neophyte population was 1357, stock 5024, horses 722, sheep 12,060.

The maximum of population was reached in 1827, of 1464 souls.
After that it began rapidly to decline.

The crops, too, were smaller after 1820, without any apparent reason.
In 1837 secularization was effected by Ramon Estrada.

In 1839-1840 reports show that two-thirds of the cattle and sheep had disappeared.
The downfall of the Mission was very rapid.