A THIEF OBEYING ORDERS.—GAME.—NO PENITENTIARY SYSTEM.—THE CALIFORNIA
CART ON A GALA DAY.—THE RUNAWAY DAUGHTER.—FAITH OF THE
INDIANS.—RETURN FROM THE WAR.—FIRST TRIAL BY JURY.—INDIAN AND HIS
SQUAW ON THE HUNT.—WHALES IN THE BAY.—THE TWO GAMBLERS.—LADIES ON
HORSEBACK.—MERRIMENT IN DEATH.—THE ENGLISHMAN AND HIS MISTRESS.
MONDAY, AUG. 24. One of our officers, bound with dispatches to San Juan,
fell in with an Indian to-day, on a horse, without saddle or bridle,
save a lasso; and knowing from this circumstance that he had stolen the
animal, ordered him to come to Monterey and deliver himself up to the
alcalde, and then passed on. So on the Indian came with the horse, and
presented himself at our office.
I asked him what he wanted; he told me the order he had received; but I
could not at first comprehend its import, and inquired of him if he knew
why the order had been given him. He replied, that it was in consequence
of his having taken the horse of another man. I asked him if he had
stolen the animal; he said yes, he had taken him, but had brought him in
here and given himself up as ordered; that he could not escape, as the
Americans were all over California. I told him stealing a horse was a
crime, and sentenced him to three months’ labor on the public works. He
was half naked. I ordered him comfortable clothes, and gave him a plug
of tobacco, and in an hour he was at his task, chewing and cheerful. He
is not wanting in intelligence; and if he only had as much respect for
the rights of property as he has for military orders, he might be a
useful member of the community.
Oats in California grow wild. The last crop plants the next, without the
aid of man. The yield is sufficient to repay the labors of the
husbandman, but is gratuitously thrown at his feet. But the fecundity of
nature here is not confined to the vegetable kingdom, it is
characteristic of the animals that sport in wild life over these hills
and valleys. A sheep has two lambs a year; and if twins, four: and one
litter of pigs follows another so fast that the squealers and grunters
are often confounded.
WEDNESDAY, AUG. 26. The Californians breakfast at eight, dine at twelve,
take tea at four, supper at eight, and then go to bed—unless there is a
fandango. The supper is the most substantial meal of the three, and
would visit anybody but a Californian with the nightmare. But their
constant exercise in the open air and on horseback gives them the
digestion of the ostrich.
The only meat consumed here to any extent is beef. It is beef for
breakfast, beef for dinner, and beef for supper. A pig is quite a
rarity; and as for chickens, they are reserved for the sick. The woods
are full of partridges and hare; the streams and lagoons are covered
with ducks and wild geese; and the harbor abounds with the most
delicious fish. But no Californian will angle or hunt, while he has a
horse or saddle left. And as for the Indians, but very few of them have
any hunting gear beyond the bow and arrow; with these they can kill the
deer and elk, but a partridge and hare are too shy and too quick. They
spear a large salmon which frequents Carmel river, three miles distant,
and bring it in to market. This fish is often three feet long, extremely
fat, and of a flavor that takes from Lent half the merit of its
abstinence. Spearing them is high sport for the Indian, and is another
feature in California life.
THURSDAY, AUG. 27. Nothing puzzles me so much as the absence of a
penitentiary system. There are no work-houses here; no buildings adapted
to the purpose; no tools, and no trades. The custom has been to fine
Spaniards, and whip Indians. The discrimination is unjust, and the
punishments ill suited to the ends proposed. I have substituted labor;
and have now eight Indians, three Californians, and one Englishman at
work making adobes. They have all been sentenced for stealing horses or
bullocks. I have given them their task: each is to make fifty adobes a
day, and for all over this they are paid. They make seventy-five, and
for the additional twenty-five each gets as many cents. This is paid to
them every Saturday night, and they are allowed to get with it any thing
but rum. They are comfortably lodged and fed by the government. I have
appointed one of their number captain. They work in the field; require
no other guard; not one of them has attempted to run away.
FRIDAY, AUG. 28. The ox-cart of the Californian is quite unique and
primitive. The wheels are cut transversely from the butt-end of a tree,
and have holes through the centre for a huge wood axle. The tongue is a
long, heavy beam, and the yoke resting on the necks of the oxen, is
lashed to their horns, close down to the root; from these they draw,
instead of the chest, as with us; and they draw enormous loads, but the
animals are large and powerful.
But to return to the cart. On gala days it is swept out, and covered
with mats; a deep body is put on, which is arched with hoop-poles, and
over these a pair of sheets are extended for a covering. Into this the
ladies are tumbled, when three or four yoke of oxen, with as many Indian
drivers, and ten times as many dogs, start ahead. The hallooing of the
drivers, the barking of the dogs, and the loud laughter of the girls
make a common chorus. The quail takes to the covert as the roaring
establishment comes on, and even the owl suspends his melancholy note.
What has his sad tone to do amid such noise and mirth? It is like the
piping cry of an infant amid the revelry and tumult of the carnival.
SATURDAY, AUG. 29. Four Californians—a girl, her father, mother, and
lover, all well clad and good-looking—presented themselves before me
to-day. The old man said he had come to reclaim his daughter, who had
run away with the young Mexican,—that he had no objection to his
marrying her, but this running away with her didn’t look decent. The
rash lover stated in his defence that he was ready to marry her, had run
away with her for that purpose, had placed her immediately with his
sister, and that she was still as chaste and pure as the driven snow. To
all this the father and mother assented.
I now expected we should have a wedding at once, and that I might be
called upon to officiate. But to my utter surprise, on asking the girl
if she insisted on marrying her lover, she declined. She said her escape
with him was a wild freak; she had now got over it, and wished to return
with her father. This fell like a death-knell on the ears of her lover,
who again protested his affection and her purity. Having been once
myself a disappointed suitor, I had a fellow feeling for him, and
advised the girl to marry him; but she said no, that she had changed her
mind: so I delivered her to her father, and told my brother in
misfortune he must wait; that a woman who had changed her mind once on
such a subject, would change it again.
SUNDAY, AUG. 30. Several gentlemen and ladies of Monterey were present
to-day at our service on board the Savannah. I have it in contemplation
to establish a service on shore. There are plenty of halls, which are
now used for dancing, and I should have as little scruple in converting
one of them into a church, as Father Whitfield had in appropriating to
his use the popular airs of the day, when he said he had no notion of
letting the devil run away with all the fine tunes. Blessings on the
memory of that devoted missionary! He has embalmed in his church
melodies that will live when the profane lyres from which they flowed
have long since been silent.
The wild Indians here have a vague belief in the soul’s immortality.
They say, “as the moon dieth and cometh to life again, so man, though he
die, will again live.” But their future state is material; the wicked
are to be bitten by serpents, scorched by lightning, and plunged down
cataracts; while the good are to hunt their game with bows that never
lose their vigor, with arrows that never miss their aim, and in forests
where the crystal streams roll over golden sands. Immortal youth is to
be the portion of each; and age, and pain, and death, are to be known no
more.
MONDAY, AUG. 31. I am at last forced into a systematic arrangement of my
time; without it, I could never get through with my duties. I rise with
the sun, read till eight o’clock, and then breakfast, at nine, enter on
my duties as alcalde, which confine me till three, P. M., then dine; and
at four take my gun and plunge into the woods for exercise and
partridges; return at sunset, take tea, and in the evening write up my
journal, and an editorial for the Californian.
When the Sabbath comes, I preach; my sermons are composed in the woods,
in the court-room, or in bed, just where I can snatch a half hour. I
often plan them while some plaintiff is spinning a long yarn about
things and matters in general, or some defendant is losing himself in a
labyrinth of apologetic circumstances. By this forbearance both are
greatly relieved; one disburdens himself of his grievances, the other
lightens his guilt, and, in the mean time, my sermon develops itself
into a more tangible arrangement. My text might often be—“And he fell
among thieves.”
TUESDAY, SEPT. 1. It is singular how the Californians reckon distances.
They will speak of a place as only a short gallop off, when it is fifty
or a hundred miles distant. They think nothing of riding a hundred and
forty miles in a day, and breaking down three or four horses in doing
it, and following this up by the week. They subsist almost exclusively
on meat, and when travelling, sleep under the open sky. They drive their
ox-carts, loaded with lumber or provisions, two hundred miles to market.
Their conceptions seem to annihilate space.
WEDNESDAY, SEPT. 2. The officers of Gen. Castro have been permitted to
return to their homes, after having taken an oath that they will not, on
pain of death, be found in arms against the United States during the
existence of the present war. A few, perhaps from national pride,
refused at first the oath, but were compelled to take it, or be treated
as prisoners of war. They of course preferred the former. The ladies
don’t seem to care much about these nice points in military etiquette:
they want their husbands at home; and their return, though on parole, is
the signal for getting up a ball. A Californian would hardly pause in a
dance for an earthquake, and would be pretty sure to renew it, even
before its vibrations had ceased. At a wedding they dance for three days
and nights, during which time the new-married couple are kept on their
feet. No compassion is shown them, as they have so much bliss in
reserve.
THURSDAY, SEPT. 3. Dispatches were received this morning, by courier,
from Com. Stockton, dated at the Pueblo de los Angeles. They contain his
second address to the people of California, which defines the new
attitude in which the country is placed by the declaration of war
between the United States and Mexico. The address is humane in its tone,
expansive and vigorous in its spirit. It has had the salutary effect to
set the community at rest, by establishing in the minds of the wavering
the full conviction that California is henceforth a part of the United
States. Ex-Gov. Pio Pico, it seems, did not escape with Gen. Castro, but
has surrendered to the commodore. He is one of the few who commanded the
confidence and respect of the public.
FRIDAY, SEPT. 4. I empannelled to-day the first jury ever summoned in
California. The plaintiff and defendant are among the principal citizens
of the country. The case was one involving property on the one side, and
integrity of character on the other. Its merits had been pretty widely
discussed, and had called forth an unusual interest. One-third of the
jury were Mexicans, one-third Californians, and the other third
Americans. This mixture may have the better answered the ends of
justice, but I was apprehensive at one time it would embarrass the
proceedings; for the plaintiff spoke in English, the defendant in
French, the jury, save the Americans, Spanish, and the witnesses all the
languages known to California. But through the silent attention which
prevailed, the tact of Mr. Hartnell, who acted as interpreter, and the
absence of young lawyers, we got along very well.
The examination of the witnesses lasted five or six hours; I then gave
the case to the jury, stating the questions of fact upon which they were
to render their verdict. They retired for an hour, and then returned,
when the foreman handed in their verdict, which was clear and explicit,
though the case itself was rather complicated. To this verdict, both
parties bowed without a word of dissent. The inhabitants who witnessed
the trial, said it was what they liked—that there could be no bribery in
it—that the opinion of twelve honest men should set the case forever at
rest. And so it did, though neither party completely triumphed in the
issue. One recovered his property, which had been taken from him by
mistake, the other his character, which had been slandered by design. If
there is any thing on earth besides religion for which I would die, it
is the right of trial by jury.
SATURDAY, SEPT. 5. I encountered on my hunting excursion to-day a wild
Indian, with a squaw and papoose. They were on horses, he carrying his
bow, with a large quiver of arrows hung at his side, and she with the
child in the bunt of her blanket, at the back. They were dashing ahead
in the wake of their dogs, which were in hot chase of a deer. The squaw
stuck to her fleet animal as firmly as the saddle in which she sat, and
took but little heed of the bogs and gullies over which she bounded. His
glance was directed to a ridge of rocks, over which he seemed to expect
the deer to fly from the field of wild oats through which the chase lay.
I watched them till they disappeared in their whirlwind speed over the
ridge. Whether the deer fell into their hands or escaped, I know not;
but certainly I would not hazard my neck as they did theirs for all the
game even in the California forests. But this, to them, is life; they
seek no repose between the cradle and the grave.
SUNDAY, SEPT. 6. The bell of the Roman Catholic church, which has been
silent some weeks, rung out loud and clear this morning. I directed the
prisoners, sentenced to the public works, to be taken to the service. I
had given them soap, and sufficient time to clean their clothes, on
Saturday; though having but one suit, they had only their blankets for
covering while these were washing and drying. With a marine at their
head, armed and equipped, they made quite a respectable appearance.
Their conduct, during service, was reported to me as very becoming. They
may yet reform, and shape their lives after the precepts of morality and
religion. My own service was on board the Savannah, where we had the
officers of the Erie.
MONDAY, SEPT. 7. We have been looking for a whale-ship, or spouter, as
she is called by our sailors, to come in here, and take care of the
whales which are blowing around us. One belonging to the genuine old
Nantucket line, came to anchor last evening. She had been on the
northwest coast in pursuit of the black whale; but found them so wild,
owing to the havoc that has been made among them, that she captured but
very few.
This morning her boats were lowered, and their crews put off in pursuit
of one of these monsters. The fellow plunged as they approached, and was
out of sight for some minutes, when he hove up at a distance. “There she
blows!” was the cry, and off they darted again; but by the time they had
gained the spot another plunge was heard, and only a deep foaming eddy
remained. The next time she lifted they were more successful, and lodged
one of their harpoons. The reel was soon out, and away the boat flew,
like a little car attached to a locomotive. But the harpoon at last
slipped its hold, and the whale escaped. The loss seemed proportionate
to the bulk of the monster.
TUESDAY, SEPT. 8. We have had for the last five days hardly an hour of
sunshine, owing to the dense fogs which prevail here at this season.
These murky vapors fill the whole atmosphere; you seem to walk in them
alone, like one threading a mighty forest. A transcendentalist might
easily conceive himself a ghost, wandering among the cypresses of a dead
world. But, being no ghost or transcendentalist, I had a fire kindled,
and found refuge from the fog in its cheerful light and warmth.
WEDNESDAY, SEPT. 9. A Californian came into my court in great haste last
evening, and complained that another Californian was running away with
his oxen. Suspecting the affair had some connection with a gambling
transaction, I immediately handed him a warrant for the arrest of the
fugitive, when off he started at the top of his speed to execute it. In
less than an hour he returned with his prisoner.
I then asked the plaintiff if the oxen were his; he said they were. I
asked him of whom he obtained them; he said of the man who attempted to
run away with them. I asked him what he gave for them; this was a
puzzler, but after hemming and hawing for a minute, he said he had
played for them, and won them. I asked him what else he had won of the
man; he replied, the poncho, and a thin jacket, both of which he had on.
I then ordered them both into the calaboose for the night. The winner,
who had apprehended the other, and who, no doubt, expected to get the
oxen at once, looked quite confounded.
This morning I had the two gamblers before me: neither of them looked as
if he had relished much his prison-couch. I made the winner return all
his ill-gotten gains, oxen, poncho, and jacket, and then fined them each
five dollars. The one who had served the warrant shrugged his shoulders,
as if he had made a great mistake. There was no escape from the
judgment, so they paid their fine and departed. The next time they
gamble, they will probably settle matters between themselves, without a
resort to the alcalde.
THURSDAY, SEPT. 10. My alcalde duties required me to-day to preside at
the executive sale of two dwelling-houses and a store. I was about as
_au fait_ at the business as Dr. Johnson at the auction of widow
Thrales’ brewery, when he informed the bidders, in his towering
language, that he offered them, not a few idle vats and worms, but the
“potentiality of becoming rich.” The property sold well, forty per cent.
higher than it would under the Mexican flag. All real estate has risen
since our occupation of the territory. This tells what the community
expects in terms which none can mistake. A Californian told me to-day
that he considered his lands worth forty thousand dollars more than they
were before our flag was hoisted. The old office-holders may, perhaps,
grumble at the change, but they whose interest lies in the soil silently
exult. They desire no ebb in the present tide of political affairs.
FRIDAY, SEPT. 11. An express came in to-day, bringing the intelligence
that a thousand Wallawalla Indians had reached the Sacramento from
Oregon. They have come, as the express states, to avenge the death of a
young chief, who was wantonly and wickedly killed about a year since, by
an American emigrant. They belong to a tribe remarkable for their
intelligence, hardihood, and valor. Their occupation is that of
trappers, and they are thoroughly used to fire-arms. Capt. Mervin has
sent a force from the Savannah, and Capt. Montgomery another from the
Portsmouth, to arrest their progress. Capt. Ford, with his company of
California rangers, who understand the bush-fight, will also be on the
spot.
SATURDAY, SEPT. 12. My partner in the “Californian” has been absent
several weeks. All the work of the office has devolved upon a sailor,
who has set the type for the whole paper, with fingers stiff as the
ropes around which they have coiled themselves into seeming fixtures.
Yet the “Californian” is out, and makes a good appearance. Who would
think, except in these uttermost ends of the earth, of issuing a weekly
journal, with only an old tar to set the type, and without a solitary
exchange paper! By good fortune, a hunter brought along a copy of the
“Oregon Spectator;” it was quite a windfall, though the only
intelligence it contained from the United States, was that brought its
editor by some overland emigrant. The “Spectator” speaks of the
institutions of the “City of Oregon” with as much reverence as if they
had the antiquity of the Egyptian Pyramids; when there is scarce a
crow’s nest which does not date further back. But age is no certain
evidence of merit, since folly runs to seed as fast as wisdom.