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SCENES 1 » THE PACIFIC. 
that his father was an Indian of immense form, who lived on 
the head-waters of the San Joaquim, whose head brushed the 
boughs of the loftiest cedars, and whose arrows were often 
dulled against the brazen sides of the sun. Another plumes 
himself upon his Spanish blood. His great grandsire was a 
boatswain on board of some Spanish brig, the keel of which 
broke the Pacific waves when the white man brought the 
holy cross and tobacco seed into the Californias. Right 
merry fellows these, and whether drunk or sober, show a 
degree of consideration for their noble selves which would 
appear entirely marvellous and extraordinary in any country 
not inhabited by the successors of the worthy and knightly 
Quixote, Sancho, and Rosinante. 
That part of the population which by courtesy are called 
white, are the descendants of the free settlers frcm Mexico 
and the soldiers of the garrisons and Missions, who were per¬ 
mitted by his most Catholic Majesty to take wives. Their 
complexion is a light clear bronze; not white, as they them¬ 
selves quite erroneously imagine; and, withal, not a. very 
seemly color; not remarkably pure in any way ; a lazy color ; 
and for that reason, rather out of place, associated as it is, 
with large dark fashing eyes, a finely chiselled Roman nose, 
and teeth as clear and sound as pearl. Looking at the mere 
exterior of these men, the observer would most probably come 
to the conclusion that they were somewhat humanized. The 
speaking gait, the bland gesture of complaisant regard, the 
smile, that ray of the soul, all seem civilized—truly Castilian. 
The wide-brimmed and conical-crowned sombrero also, with 
its rope-like silver cord band, well be-tasselled, shoes and 
shoe-buckles, pantaloons well opened at the side seams, 
showing the snow-white flaunting drawers, the snugly-fitted 
roundabout, with its spherical silver buttons, and the largely 
proportioned vest, swinging loosely to ihe wind, the keen 
Spanish knife sitting snugly in its sheath along the calf of 
the leg, all would indicate tp the sojourner of a day among 
them, that these Castilianos Californios were accustomed to 
