Hunting in Many Lands 



tion, to accompany him upon a bear-hunt in 

 the Sierras. He explained to me that the 

 limited extent of his ranch in the San Joaquin 

 Valley — a meager and restricted demesne of 

 only 7,000 acres, consisting of splendid pas- 

 turage and arable land — made it necesssary for 

 the sheep to look elsewhere than at home for 

 sustenance during the summer months. 



Many of the great ranches in the valley pos- 

 sessed prescriptive rights to pasturage over 

 vast tracts in the high Sierras. These, al- 

 though not recognized by the law, were at 

 least ignored, and were sanctioned by custom. 

 The land belonged to nobody — that is, it be- 

 longed to Uncle Sam, which, so far as a Texas 

 or California stockman was concerned, amount- 

 ed to exactly the same thing. The owner of 

 such a right to pasturage zealously maintained 

 his claim ; and if, for any reason, he could not 

 use it himself during a particular season, he 

 formally gave his consent to some one else to 

 enjoy the privilege in his stead. It was con- 

 sidered a gross violation of etiquette for a 

 stockman to trespass upon that portion of the 

 forest habitually used by other sheep. Such 

 intrusions did occur, particularly upon the part 

 of Mexicans with small flocks — "tramp sheep" 



188 



