84 
SCENES IN THE PACIFIC. 
A law of’the Republic of Mexico requires the citizens of 
other nations, who would hunt, trap, or trade for furs on any 
portion of her dominions, to obtain from the proper authori¬ 
ties written licenses to that effect. Three, four, and six 
months, are the usual terms of time specified in them, and the 
rights conveyed by them vary, from the mere privilege of 
trapping, to all the several franchises of a general trader. 
With these stowed away in deer-skin pouches, enveloped in 
the bladders of the buffalo so saturated with grease that nei¬ 
ther the storms norstreams can penetrate them, they load their 
mules with traps and goods and go forth into the wilderness. 
The territories over which they more commonly travel are 
those which lie on the rivers Jila, the Colorado of the West, 
the San Joaquin, and Sacramento, countries inhabited by In¬ 
dians only, among which the citizens of the Indio-Spanio-Bra- 
vo-Furioso-Militario-Despotico-Republica-Americana, dare 
not enter. Into these wastes the daring Americans fight their 
way through the savage tribes ; trap the beaver among flying 
poisoned arrows : guard each other while they take in turn 
their hurried sleep ; eat the flesh of wild animals and beaten 
grass seed; or,as is often the case,loose themselves and die of 
hunger, thirst, or the prostrating effects of the poisonous wa¬ 
ters in the sandy solitudes over which they attempt to travel. 
If, however, they survive the hardships ofthese journeyings, 
collect large quantities of furs, and return to the borders of civ¬ 
ilization, satisfied that their toil, however hazardous it may 
have been, has resulted in an adequate reward, it is still un¬ 
certain whether they have labored for their own or another’s 
benefit. The authorities who have sold them their licenses em¬ 
ploy various means to rob them of what they have so dearly 
acquired. The more common of these is to raise questions in 
regard to the validity of the licenses. To this end the hunter 
and his furs are seized and carried before the Alcalde, on the 
assumption that they have been obtained without lawful per¬ 
mission. The court is opened, and the possession and seizure 
is proven—the hunter offers in evidence of his right of pro- 
