150 HISTORY OS 1 CALIFORNIA. 



from Missouri, and the time cannot be far distant 

 when cattle from the Western States will be driven 

 annually by tens of thousands to supply this new 

 market. 



"If California increases in population as fast as 

 the most moderate estimate would lead us to believe, 

 it will not be five years before she will require more 

 than one hundred thousand head of beef cattle per 

 annum, from some quarter, to supply the wants of her 

 people. 



" It must not be supposed that salt provisions may 

 supply this vast demand. Those who have attempted 

 to live on such food, during the dry season, have been 

 attacked with scurvy and other cutaneous diseases, of 

 which many have died. 



" There is no climate in the world where fresh meat 

 and vegetables are more essential to human health. 

 In fact, they are indispensable. 



" It must not be inferred that cattle driven across 

 the plains and mountains, from the Western States, 

 will be fit for beef on their arrival in California. But 

 one winter and spring, on the luxuriant pastures of 

 that country, will put them in a condition which would 

 render them acceptable in any Atlantic market. 



" These grazing grounds are extensive enough to 

 support five times as many cattle as may be annually 

 required ; therefore, there will be no scarcity of food 

 for them. 



"I am acquainted with a drover who left California 

 in December last, with the intention of bringing in 

 ten thousand sheep from New Mexico. This shows 

 that the flocks and herds east of the Rocky Mountains 

 are looked to already as the source from which the 

 markets on the Pacific are to be supplied. 



