These are the only
instruments, with the exception of the drums and trumpets at
Monterey that I ever heard in California; and I suspect they play upon
no others, for at a great fandango at which I was afterwards
present, and where they mustered all the music they could find,
there were three violins and two guitars, and no other instrument.
As it was now too near the middle of the day to see any dancing and
hearing that a bull was expected down from the country, to be baited
in the presidio square, in the course of an hour or two we took a
stroll among the houses. Inquiring for an American who, we had been
told, had married in the place, and kept a shop, we were directed to a
long, low building, at the end of which was a door, with a sign over
it, in Spanish. Entering the shop, we found no one in it, and the
whole had an empty, deserted appearance. In a few minutes the man made
his appearance, and apologized for having nothing to entertain us
with, saying that he had had a fandango at his house the night before,
and the people had eaten and drunk up everything.
"Oh yes!" said I, "Easter holydays!"
"No!" said he, with a singular expression to his face; "I had a
little daughter die the other day, and that's the custom of the
country.
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