Many rivers converged from the surrounding hills and the far corners of a wide valley, forming a series of bays. At the mouth of the largest valley, a range of hills stood against the cold ocean. Many nations came to live there. They fished in the bays. In the lowlands, they hunted and farmed. Each nation had its own language, dress, dances, burial rituals, and stories. Some say that old people sensed the moment when death approached them, then prepared for a long journey and climbed up into the hills. Other dead were buried beneath mounds of shells. Their nations were called Chochenyo, Romaytush, Yokuts, Muwekma, Miwok, Pomo, Patwin, Kashaya, among others.

  Men came from the south on ships. Their soldiers wore armor and carried guns. Their priests wore black robes. They rode horses. People who traded with these men got sick, and many started to die from a horrible pox. Their priests spoke through translators, espousing a religion filled with sin, punishment, redemption, and obedience. When people went with these priests to learn, they traveled to a peninsula at the mouth of the bay, the hills which shielded the bay from the ocean.

  The soldiers built a fort in these hills. Inside the fort, the priests built a temple. Many Native people studied in this temple, and they ran away from it. They said that the priests beat them and insulted them, fed them paltry portions of bread, and made them sleep in dingy cells. Nobody wanted to go into this temple. Then the soldiers began attacking the villages near their fort. They captured everyone and brought them to the temple, where most of them died. Some survived by adopting the religion of the priests. They followed the priests and soldiers, wearing the garb of paupers, acting as translators, guides, and servants. They told other people to go into the temple so they could be saved.

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  At one time, word spread that the soldiers were raping people in the temple. The priests built a new temple outside the fort, away from the army. The soldiers kept capturing people and giving them to the priests.

  By this time, people were starting to understand the religion of the foreign men. They believed in a god called Jesus, who had died to save everybody from sin. Since everybody was filled with sin, everybody needed to embrace Jesus or He would send them to Hell to be tortured by Satan. The best way to embrace Jesus was to obey his priests. All of the local gods and spirits were demons created by Satan.

  Soon, there were seven big temples all around the valley. The number of soldiers had also increased. They built roads and traveled on horseback throughout the land. Rich men built mansions around the bay. They used slaves to raise cattle and farm foreign crops.

  The invaders destroyed most of the nations which lived around those bays. Many people fled. The rest were killed, enslaved, or Christianized.