But these institutions, useful at first in preventing the spilling of blood and establishing the basis of society, have become hostile to progress. The effect of their isolation has been such that the Indians have remained in the same state as they were found before their scattered huts were grouped around missions. Their number has considerably increased but not their mental development. They have progressively lost that vigor of character and natural vivacity which everywhere comes from independence. By subjecting even the slightest domestic actions to invariable rules the Indians have been kept stupid in an effort to make them obedient. Their subsistence is more certain, and their habits more pacific, but subject to constraints and the dull monotony of the missions. They show by their gloomy and abstracted looks that they have not sacrificed freedom for comfort without regret.