This indefatigable worker, with the assistance of interpreters, prepared a Catechism and Manual of Confession in the native language, which he found very useful in imparting religious instruction and in uprooting the prevailing idolatry.

In a little over twenty years the entire population for many leagues had been baptized, and were numbered among the converts.
This period of peace and prosperity was followed by sudden disaster.

The earthquake of 1812, already noted as the most severe ever known on the Pacific Coast, brought devastation to Purisima.

The morning of December 21 found padres and Indians rejoicing in the possession of the fruits of their labor of years,--a fine church, many Mission buildings, and a hundred houses built of adobe and occupied by the natives.

A few hours afterward little was left that was fit for even temporary use.