174 
CALIFORNIA. 
ashes; some of the defenceless old men, who from their infirmities 
could not escape, were put to death, and forty or fifty women and 
children carried off as prisoners. This was not all: these prisoners 
were apportioned as slaves to various families, with whom they still 
remain in servitude, and receive very harsh treatment. Smarting 
under such wrongs, it is not surprising that the Indians should reta¬ 
liate. They openly assert that after taking all the horses, they will 
commence with families; and many of those which are situated on 
the frontiers, experience much alarm. In June 1841, an Englishman 
was shot by an arrow at the door of his house, early in the evening. 
The Indians enticed him out by making a noise near by, and the 
moment he opened the door, with a candle in his hand, an arrow was 
sent through his heart. 
The Indians at present rarely steal any thing'but horses; but so 
daring are they, that they not unfrequently take them out of the 
enclosures near the pueblos. Their reason for confining themselves to 
this description of property is, that with them they are able to avoid 
pursuit, which would not be the case if they took cattle. The Cali¬ 
fornians, on detecting and apprehending the aggressors, show them no 
mercy, and their lives are made the forfeit. This constant foray on 
one side or the other keeps up a continual embitterment, and as long 
as the present imbecile government lasts, this state of things must every 
day grow worse, and will undoubtedly tend to affect the value of 
property, as well as to prevent immigration, and settlement in the 
country. 
To all strangers but those of the Spanish race, the Indians seem in 
general well disposed, as they have usually received from the former 
considerate and kind treatment. The character of these Indians is 
not represented as savage, and they were little disposed to trouble the 
whites until they had been themselves ejected from the missions, and 
forced to consort with those who are yet in a wild state. The know¬ 
ledge they have of the Californians, of the missionary establishments, 
and the manner of conducting them, enables them to act more 
effectively; and if it were not for the presence of the English and 
Americans, they would either drive the Spanish race out of the country, 
or confine them to the narrow limits of their villages. 
The number of Indians is variously stated, at from twelve to fifteen 
thousand; but it is believed by some of the best informed, that their 
number, since the small-pox made its ravages among them, is not 
much more than one-half of this number, or eight or nine thousand. 
The principal part of these are the tribes on the Sacramento. 
In like manner, there has been an exaggeration in the computation 
