TO LA MAGDALENA. 
423 
parties at the Gila ; and then showed him my commis- 
sion, with the great seal of the United States and the 
bold signature of Zachary Taylor affixed to it, toge- 
ther with letters from General Conde and Carrasco, 
requesting the civil and military authorities to extend 
to me every aid in their power. Whether it was the 
name of the hero of Buena Vista or the number and 
character of my letters that produced the effect, I do 
not know ; but he expressed himself perfectly satisfied 
before I had got half through, and said that he was 
only acting by order of the Prefect of San Ignacio. I 
told him that the Prefect had not treated us well ; that 
I had stopped in the public square with my party, and 
had been for more than an hour in the church, or in 
the dwelling house of one of the citizens, when a 
hundred of the people were around us, and knew our 
history ; that instead of asking me then, he had per- 
mitted me to resume my journey, and after getting a 
mile from the town, had ordered us back. After many 
apologies, the Alcalde told us to go where we pleased, 
and very politely tendered his services. 
I did not really blame the authorities alluded to 
except for compelling us to retrace our steps. The 
quiet people here have been so much annoyed by 
the conduct of California emigrants who have passed 
through the country, as to make them shy of all Ameri- 
cans. These reckless adventurers often set at defiance 
all law and propriety, and we had many accounts of 
their shameful and brutal conduct. The fields in this 
country are seldom fenced, and it is no uncommon 
thing for a party of these men to encamp and turn 
their animals into a field of corn, on which the help- 
