Every man, both honest and dishonest, in California, has his own
horse--as a very good-looking, active one can be purchased, tamed to
carry the saddle and rider, from the Indians, for four or five dollars;
so that every one, I may add, of both sexes, ride in California. No one
walks far but the hunter, and he is carried in canoe a long way up the
river before he strikes into the forest after the animals he is in
pursuit of. This last class of men are the most wild, daring, yet
friendly and honest, of the lower class of the white population of
California. Well: as the robber as well as the honest man are equally
mounted, sometimes a very interesting steeple chase ensues,--ground
rough, not being previously chosen, occasionally leaping over pools of
water, large stones, and fallen trees. The Indians who use the lasso,
generally keep the lead, to strive to throw the noose over either the
man or horse they are pursuing. It is made of thongs of bullock-hide
twisted into a small rope about thirty or forty feet long, with a noose
formed by a running knot at the end of it. One end of the lasso is
fastened to the back of the saddle: the entire length of it is kept in a
coil on the right hand, and after two or three swings of it over their
heads, they will throw it with such accuracy that the smallest object
will come within the noose. Thus, then, if an equestrian traveler does
not keep a good look-out as he is passing by a bush or thicket, one of
these lassoes may be thrown out; the noose, falling over his head, will
be jerked tight round his body, and, in the twinkling of an eye, he will
be dragged off his horse, and away into the bush, to be stripped of
everything he has. By all the accounts I have heard, and from what I
have seen, the robbers of California are the most active in the world:
the end of the dangerous lasso being firmly fastened to the saddle,
enables the rider, as soon as his victim, either man or animal, is
noosed, to wheel round his horse, and dash off like an Arab, dragging
whatever he has fast after him. There is one method of averting the
fall of the lasso noose over the body of a man, either on foot or
horseback. If he holds, as he always ought, either sword or gun in his
right hand, when he sees the lasso coming, let him instantly raise
either and his arm in a horizontal position, and if the noose does fall
true, it cannot run farther down, being stopped by sword, gun, or
extended arm; then fling it off quick, or it may be jerked tight round
the neck. I have known this subterfuge save many a man from robbers and
perhaps murderers.
I once hunted for three months in company with a hunter well known in
California. In idea, he was wild and imaginative in the extreme; but, in
his acts of daring, &c., the most cool and philosophic fellow I ever
knew. A commercianto, or merchant, at San Francisco, on whose veracity I
know from experience I can depend, told me the following story of this
man, which will at once illustrate his general character. This hunter
was, some months before I had fallen in with him, making the best of his
way down the valley of the Tule Lakes from the interior, with a heavy
pack of furs on his back, his never-erring rifle in his hand, and his
two dogs by his side. He was joined at the northermost end of the valley
by the merchant I had spoken of, who was armed only with sword and
pistols. They had scarcely cleared the valley, when a party of robbers
galloped out before them. There were four whites, fully armed, and two
Indians with the lassos coiled up in their right hands, ready for a
throw. The hunter told the merchant, who was on horseback, to dismount
instantly, "and to cover." Fortunately for them, there was a good deal
of thicket, and trunks of large trees that had fallen were strewed about
in a very desirable manner. Behind these logs the merchant and the
hunter quickly took up their position, and as they were in the act of
doing so, two or three shots were fired after them without effect. The
hunter coolly untied the pack of furs from his back, and laid them
beside him. "It's my opinion, merchant," said he, "that them varmint
there wants either your saddle-bags or my pack, but I reckon they'll get
neither." So he took up his rifle, fired, and the foremost Indian, lasso
in hand, rolled off his horse. Another discharge from the rifle, and the
second Indian fell, while in the act of throwing his lasso at the head
and shoulders of the hunter, as he raised himself from behind the log to
fire. "Now," said the hunter, as he reloaded, laying on his back to
avoid the shots of the robbers, "that's what I call the best of the
scrimmage, to get them brown thieves with their lassoes out of the way
first. See them rascally whites now jumping over the logs to charge us
in our cover." They were fast advancing, when the rifle again spoke out,
and the foremost fell; they still came on to within about thirty yards,
when another fell; and the remaining two made a desperate charge up
close to the log. The hunter, from long practice, was dexterous in
reloading his gun. "Now, merchant," said he, "is the time for your
pop-guns, (meaning the pistols,) and don't be at all narvous, keep a
steady hand, and drop either man or horse. A man of them shan't escape."
The two remaining robbers were now up with the log, and fired each a
pistol-shot at the hunter, which he escaped by dodging behind a tree
close to, from which he fired with effect. As only one robber was left,
he wheeled round his horse with the intention of galloping off, when the
pistol-bullets of the merchant shot the horse from under him. "Well
done, merchant," said the hunter, "you've stopped that fellow's galop."
As soon as the robber could disentangle himself from the fallen horse,
he took to his heels and ran down a sloping ground as fast as he could.
The hunter drew his tomahawk from his belt, and gave chase after him. As
he was more of an equestrian than a pedestrian, the nimbleness of the
hunter soon shortened the distance between them, and the last of the
robbers fell. Thus perished this dangerous gang of six, by the single
hand of this brave hunter, and, as the "commercianto" informed me, he
acted as coolly and deliberately as if he were shooting tame bullocks
for the market. The affair was rather advantageous to the hunter, for,
on searching the saddle-bags and pockets of the robbers, he pulled forth
some doubloons, and a few dollars, with other valuables they had, no
doubt, a short time previously, taken from some traveler; the
saddle-bags, arms, and accouterments of the four white men, were packed
up, made fast on the saddles of the two horses, and the hunter mounted a
third, the merchant mounted another, his horse being shot, and thus they
left the scene of action, the bodies of the robbers to the wolves, who
were howling about them, and entered San Francisco in triumph.