A PECULIAR PEOPLE. 



15 



longing to the community, down to the smallest 

 pappoose, contributed in turn a hog. From our ig- 

 norance of the language, and the number of other 

 and more pressing matters claiming our attention, 

 we could not learn all the details of their internal 

 economy, but it seemed to approximate that im- 

 proved state of association which is sometimes 

 heard of among us ; and as theirs has existed for an 

 unknown length of time, and can no longer be 

 considered merely experimental, Owen or Fourier 

 might perhaps take lessons from them with advan- 

 tage. 



They differ from professed reformers in one im- 

 portant particular — they seek no converts. No 

 stranger is allowed, upon any consideration, to enter 

 their community ; every member must marry within 

 the rancho, and no such thing as a marriage out of 

 it had ever occurred. They said it was impossible ; 

 it could not happen. They were in the habit of 

 going to the villages to attend the festivals ; and 

 when we suggested a supposable case of a young 

 man or woman falling in love with some village In- 

 dian, they said it might happen ; there was no law 

 against it ; but none could marry out of the rancho. 

 This was a thing so little apprehended that the 

 punishment for it was not defined in their penal 

 code ; but being questioned, after some consultation 

 they said that the offender, whether man or woman, 

 would be expelled. We remarked that in their 

 small community constant intermarriages must make 



