Docas

Chapter 43: FOR A CONCLUSION

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About This Book

A collection of linked stories follows Docas, a California Indian boy, as he grows from village childhood into life at a nearby mission and later on a ranch. Early episodes depict daily tasks, food preparation, seasonal rites, play, and local customs; middle episodes show adaptation to mission routines—schooling, crop work, building projects, and trade with visiting ships; later episodes portray domestic and ranch activities, festivals, and horsemanship. Across three parts the narrative traces changing social contexts, practical skills, and family continuity, presenting everyday experiences and encounters that shape successive generations.

FOR A CONCLUSION

AND so Docas lived his life,—as a small boy at the Indian rancheria, as a larger boy and man at the Mission, and as an old man with his children and grandchildren about him at the home of Don Secundini. He was a very old man when he went to the Robles’ home, for it was in 1769 that the first white man came to the rancheria, and it was 1849 before Don Secundini built the big adobe ranch house. His life of mingled play and work is ended, and therefore ended also is the story of Docas, the Indian boy of Santa Clara.