78 OBSERVATIONS OF A RANCHWOMAN 



strong or the wily. The mayordomo and the 

 commissioners are alike invested with at once 

 too much and too little power. The system 

 in itself might not be amiss, provided other 

 things were equal. But when not merely a 

 coach and four could be driven through it, 

 but one of the huge ' schooners ' of the plains 

 also, ox-team included, it is no wonder that 

 the American ranchero waxes restive. 



The system in brief is as follows : Each 

 settlement or village possesses its own main 

 ditch, or acequia, which leaves the river at a 

 given point above the village, to return to it 

 at a given point below. From this main 

 acequia branch out various tributary ditches, 

 or contra-acequias, which are used for the 

 irrigation of land situated at distances more 

 or less remote from the main ditch. The latter 

 has its water-commission, to which commission 

 one or two Americans generally manage to 

 get elected. To this body appeal can be made 

 should corruption and injustice get beyond 

 even a Westerner's endurance no, not his 

 endurance, for the Westerner is apt to be 

 ready enough to take care of his own rights 

 without appealing to law, but beyond his 



