THE CALIFORNIAN PENINSULA. 367 



One of tliem requested from hif< missionary a number of goats, in order to 

 live, as he said, like a decent man; that is, to keep liouse, to pasture the goata, 

 and to support himself and his family m ith their milk and the flesh of the kids. 

 But, alas ! in a few days the twelve goats with wliich the missionary had pre- 

 sented him Avere all consumed. 



A priest who had lived more than thirty years in California, and whose 

 veracity Avas beyond any doiibt, assured me repeatedly that he had 'known a 

 Californian who one day ate seventeen watermelons at one sitting; and anoth,cr 

 native who, after having received from a soldier six pounds of unclarified sugar 

 as pay for a certaiu debt, sat down and munched one piece after another till 

 the six pounds had disappeared. He paid, however, dearly for his gluttony, 

 for he died in consequence of it ; while the melon-eater was only saved by 

 taking a certain physic which counteracted the bad effects of his greediness. 

 I was called mys-lf one evening in great haste to three or four persons, who 

 pretended to be dying, and wanted to confess. These people belonged to a 

 band of about sixty souls, (women and children included,) to Mhom 1 had given, 

 early in the morning, three bullocks in compensation for some labor. When 

 I arrived at the place where they lay encamped, I learned that their malady 

 consisted merely in belly-ache and vomiting; and, recognizing at once the 

 cause of their disorder, I reprimanded them severely for their voracity, and 

 went home again. 



CHAPTER IV.— ^OF THEIR MARRIAGES AND THE EDUCATION OF THEIR CHILDREN. 



As soon as the young Californian finds a partner, the marriage follows im- 

 mediately afterwards ; and the girls go sometimes so far as to di-mand impetu- 

 ously a husband from the missionary, even before they are twelve years old, 

 which is their legitimate age for marrying. In all the missions, however, only 

 one excepted, the number of men was considerably greater than that of the 

 females. 



Matrimonial engagements are concluded without much forethought or scruple, 

 and little attention is paid to the morals or qualities of the parties; and, to con- 

 fess the truth, there is hardly any dilfen-nce among them in these respects ; 

 and, as far as good sense, virtue, and riches are concerned, they are always 

 sure to marry their equals, following thus the old maxim : Si vis nuhcre, nubc 

 j)ari. It happens veiy often that near relations want to join in wedlock, and 

 their engagements have, therefore, to be frustrated, such cases excepted in 

 which the impcdimentuvi ajffinitatis can be removed by a dispensation from the 

 proper authorities. 



They do not seem to marry exactly for the same reasons that induce civ- 

 ilized people to enter into that state ; they simply want to have a partner, and 

 the husband, besides, a servant Avhom he can command, although his authority in 

 that respect is rather limited, for the -women are somewhat independent, and 

 not much inclined to obey their lords. Although they are now duly married 

 according to the rites of the Catholic church, nothing is done on their part to 

 solemnize the act ; none of the parents or other relations and friends are 

 present, and no wedding feast is served up, unless the missionary, instead of 

 receiving his marriage fees, or jura stolae, presents them Avith a piece of meat, 

 or a quantity of Indian corn. Whenever I joined a couple in matrimony, it 

 took considerable time before the bridegroom succeeded in putting the Avedding 

 ring on the right finger of his future Avife. As soon as the ceremony is over, 

 the neAv married couple start off in different directions in search of food, just as 

 if they were not more to each other to-day than they Avere yesterday; and in 

 the same manner thoy act in future, providing separately for their eupport, 

 sometimes without living together for Aveeks, and Avithout kuoAving anything 

 of their partner's abiding place. 



