The Land of To-Morrow 5 



Pacific, the Hispano-Californians, who ate and drank 

 and made merry. Some of them may still be found 

 south of Point Concepcion; they have absolutely 

 nothing left — except their charming manners. 

 When I came to the Pacific Slope, in '82, you might 

 find, here and there, a ranchero, the lord of many 

 acres, of many flocks and herds. At his house a 

 warm welcome awaited the stranger. The men of 

 the family, the caballeros, entertained their guests 

 with feats of horsemanship, barbecues, and stories 

 of the past. The senoritas danced and sang. The 

 word " work " was seldom mentioned. These were 

 simple primitive people : content with little, grate- 

 ful to God for the blessings vouchsafed them, truly 

 free, if we may accept their own testimony, and 

 truly happy. Such as they were, however, the 

 Pacific Slope will never see their like again. 



Their songs, I remember, were infinitely touching. 

 One had a pathetic refrain (it was a favourite with 

 the senoritas) : Adios, adios, para siempre adios. I 

 never heard it sung without reflecting that this — 

 so to speak — was the swan-song of the Latin to 

 the all-conquering Anglo-Saxon. 



During the fifty years that followed the American 

 occupation of the West so much has been accom- 

 plished that an encyclopedia would hardly find 

 room for facts. In the appendices of this book will 

 be found figures taken from reliable sources that will 

 serve to faintly indicate what has been done. By 

 applying to these figures the rule of geometrical 

 progression some conception may be formed of what 

 will be done — to-morrow. 



It will be conceded, I think, that so far as Cali- 



