Jean-François de Galaup, comte de Lapérouse was a French explorer who was given a charter by the French government to survey and report on the western coast of North America. On September 14, 1786 he arrived with his two ships and visited Mission San Carlos Borromeo. Among other things, he described severe punishments inflicted on the Indians by the friars. He thought they considered the Indians "too much a child, too much a slave, too little a man." Until western contact, the native people lived in small villages of between 30 and 100 people. In 1786, there were 740 native men, women and children living in the village next to the Mission. The priests were ignorant of the cultural differences between the tribes and forced the Rumsen and Esselen Indians to live together. The two tribes were very hostile to one another and their proximity brought ongoing strife. Galaup described them as ill-fed and depressed by the strict mission routines. He said they were treated like slaves on a plantation.