A few weeks afterwards, I
saw the poor wretch, sitting on the bare ground, in front of the
calabozo, with his feet chained to a stake, and handcuffs about his
wrists. I knew there was very little hope for him. Although the deed
was done in hot blood, the horse on which he was sitting being his
own, and a great favorite, yet he was an Indian, and that was
enough. In about a week after I saw him, I heard that he had been
shot. These few instances will serve to give one a notion of the
distribution of justice in California.
In their domestic relations, these people are no better than in
their public. The men are thriftless, proud, and extravagant, and very
much given to gaming; and the women have but little education, and a
good deal of beauty, and their morality, of course, is none of the
best; yet the instances of infidelity are much less frequent than
one would at first suppose. In fact, one vice is set over against
another; and thus, something like a balance is obtained. The women
have but little virtue, but then the jealousy of their husbands is
extreme, and their revenge deadly and almost certain.
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