MEXICAN GRANTS. 453 
and after gratifying the base impulses of the moment, to have 
no further thought about her welfare, but to desert her for- 
ever, careless whether their desertion prove her ruin or not. 
From these men her virtuous soul turns with indignation and 
abhorrence. She welcomes no suitor save him who comes 
offering his whole heart in a lifelong union, under solemn 
promise that she alone shall be loved and cherished by him. 
Now let us turn to the manner in which the land-titles in 
the agricultural districts have been managed. 
§ 308. Mexican Grants—Upper California, when con- 
quered by the Americans in 1846, contained about five thou- 
sand Mexican inhabitants, who, with their fathers and grand- 
fathers, had lived here sixty or seventy years. Their chief 
occupation and the main source of their wealth were furnished 
by their herds of kine, horses, and sheep. Most of them dwelt 
in the country, upon ranches which had been granted to them 
for purposes of pasturage by the Mexican government. They 
held their lands under written titles, supposed to be, in most 
cases, legally perfect under the laws of Mexico. The govern- 
ment of that country never questioned or denied the validity 
of such grants as those held by the Californians. The grants 
were mace to suit the habits and wants of the people. The 
Californians owned large herds, which were never fed on cul- 
tivated food, never kept in fields, nor placed under shelter. 
In a country where an almost unbroken drought reigns from 
May to November, and where cattle get no food, save wild 
and indigenous grasses, much more land is required to sustain 
a cow, than in those lands where careful cultivation and fre- 
quent rains provide a regular and certain abundance of food 
through the year. A fertile soil, like that of a large portion 
‘of the Mississippi valley, will sustain five or six head of cattle 
to the acre,; but here three acres of uncultivated fertile land 
are necessary for the support of one cow. Herds of thov- 
sands of kine were not uncommon in California under the 
Mexican dominion. To accommodate these cattle, great tracts 
of land were necessary. The public land was granted not by 
