TO PUEBLO DE LOS ANGELES. 191 



their dignified exclusiveness with an old fogy stubbornes?. 

 They led the same isolated life at the time I was there as did 

 their ancestors when they came from Mexico. Surrounded by 

 a retinue of dark-faced half-breeds, the patriarchal Don lived 

 in stately pomp on his leagues of domain, unvexed by the 

 doings of the outer world. His chief riches were his flocks 

 and herds of horses, cattle, sheep and goats, which pastured in 

 freedom over his broad acres. The only pure Spanish blood in 

 California was in the veins of this class. These devotees of 

 time-honored customs employed the same simple implements of 

 agriculture as did their forefathers, and contentedly plowed 

 the soil with crooked sticks and harrowed with the branches of 

 trees. Their clumsy carts were made wholly of wood, the 

 wheels being sawed off the ends of logs, and the frame held 

 together by wooden pins. To these carts were hitched, with 

 rawhide ropes, from one to three pairs of half- wild oxen. The 

 yokes were laid behind the horns, to which they were lashed 

 with leather thongs. One reason I heard given for thus attach- 

 ing them was that advantage was got of the strongest part of 

 the ox, which lay in the neck ; that much strength being lost 

 when the yoke rested against the shoulder. It was amusing 

 to see one of these rig-outs in motion. On each side of the 

 column was a " greaser," who, with his goad pointed with a 

 nail, prodded the sides of his victims, accompanying each 

 thrust with a wild cry. Thus equipped the establishment 

 moved on its way, the wheels grinding forth dolorous music, 

 the heartless drivers punching and screaming, the oxen 

 panting under their burden. 



The mtiin forte of the Mexican is his horsemanship. Such 

 headlong riders I never saw ; always on the full jump, they sit 

 their saddles firmly and defy the efforts of their wild animals 

 to throw them. With their lassos they perform wonders. 

 With practiced skill the plaited leathern rope is thrown at full 

 gallop, and a wild bull or horse is flounderinc^ in the dust. 



