ooo CALIFORNIA. 



his house, a very pretty two-storied edifice, of a light-cream colour, in 

 the centre of the main street, and directly opposite a new church that 

 they are erecting. The alcalde gave us a cordial reception. His 

 first appearance was that of a French pastry-cook, with his white 

 cap and apron. He was a short, dapper, rosy-cheeked man, by birth 

 a Frenchman, but had been now twenty years settled in the pueblo ; 

 was married, and had eleven children, who looked as healthy and as 

 dirty as one would wish to see them. The moment he understood 

 who his visiters wei'e, he did us the honour to doff his white cap and 

 apron ; and shortly after appeared in a roundabout, very much orna- 

 mented with braid, &c. The only name I heard him called by, was 

 Don Pedro. He spoke his native language imperfectly, using a great 

 many Spanish words with it, and told me that he had nearly forgot- 

 ten it. From him I learned that the pueblo contained six hundred 

 inhabitants, about forty of whom were whites. He described himself 

 as the " sous-prefet," and said that he administered justice, inflicted 

 punishment, and had the ability to make the inhabitants happy, as 

 he thought they should be. On my asking, by what laws he admi- 

 nistered justice, his answer was, — by what he thought right. He 

 had very little trouble, except guarding against the attacks of the 

 Indians and preventing them from stealing horses, of which he had 

 great fears ; he had, therefore, provided for the safety of his own by 

 keeping them in a small shed attached to his house, and within a 

 locked gate. 



He considered the pueblo as in danger of attacks from the Indians, 

 who were now in great numbers within striking- distance, and had 

 become very troublesome of late in driving off horses, of which 

 they had lost three or four hundred, and he said that pursuit was 

 impossible, as they now had no troops. I was not satisfied that the 

 alcalde was the bravest man in the world, or that he thought much 

 of the interests of those over whom he had sway. Don Miguel gave 

 him the character of being a good customer, and generally punctual 

 in his payments. He entertained us with wine and beer of his own 

 making, and showed us the copy-books of his children, who were in 

 pot-hooks and trammels, which he looked upon as a wonderful ad- 

 vancement in the education of the country. Some half-dozen books 

 were all they owned in the pueblo; but to make up for this deficiency, 

 the alcalde told me they were all very happy, and that there were but 

 few quarrels, for those in which stabs were inflicted did not occur 

 oftener than once a fortnight. We took our departure a short time 



