niSTOlii' OF CALIFORXIA. 155 



tiful and extensive, and would, if brought into use, be 

 sufficiently productive to supply the wants of the 

 southern and western portions of the State." 



It is not to be expected that the labor and attention 

 necessary for the improvement of the soil will be given 

 to that object, so long as the continued discovery 

 of gold and other metals promise an easy road to 

 wealth. Many who were prosperously engaged in 

 agricultural employments, in the most fertile regions, 

 have abandoned it, lured by the golden bait, and 

 shouldered the pick and shovel to try their luck or 

 perseverance at gold digging. The gardens and the 

 vineyards of Los Angeles have been deserted for the 

 barren hills and ravines where the precious dust 

 abounds. In this state of things, California must 

 become an extensive market for the products of the 

 Atlantic States of the Union. 



The extent and value of the public domain, and 

 the validity of the titles to various tracts of land in 

 California, will, doubtless, be the cause of much liti- 

 gation and disturbance, as the country becomes more 

 thickly settled. The relation in which the claimants of 

 land granted to them under the Mexican government, 

 stand towards the government of the United States, 

 is clearly and fully set forth by Mr. King, in his Cali- 

 fornia report. He says — 



'' It is not known whether the Jesuits who founded 

 the mission, or their successors the Franciscans, ever 

 did, or do now, hold any title from the Spanish crown 

 to the lands which they occupied. Nor has any in- 

 vestigation been made to ascertain how far those 

 titles, if they ever existed, have been invalidated by 

 the acts of the priests, or the decrees of the Mexican 

 government. 



