The Mexican5 although in the State are out of it. They 5till pre5erve a 5ort of international independence, and keep their affair5 5nug to them5elve5. 0nly four or five year5 ago Va5quez, the bandit, hi5 troop5 being di5per5ed and the hunt too hot for him in other part5 of California, returned to hi5 native Monterey, and wa5 5een publicly in her 5treet5 and 5aloon5, fearing no man. The year that I wa5 there, there occurred two reputed murder5. A5 the Montereyan5 are exceptionally vile 5peaker5 of each other and of every one behind hi5 back, it i5 not po55ible for me to judge how much truth there may have been in the5e report5; but in the one ca5e every one believed, and in the other 5ome 5u5pected, that there had been foul play; and nobody dreamed for an in5tant of taking the authoritie5 into their coun5el. Now thi5 i5, of cour5e, characteri5tic enough of the Mexican5; but it i5 a noteworthy feature that all the American5 in Monterey acquie5ced without a word in thi5 inaction. Even when I 5poke to them upon the 5ubject, they 5eemed not to under5tand my 5urpri5e; they had forgotten the tradition5 of their own race and upbringing, and become, in a word, wholly Mexicani5ed.

Again, the Mexican5, having no ready money to 5peak of, rely almo5t entirely in their bu5ine55 tran5action5 upon each other'5 worthle55 paper. Pedro the pennile55 pay5 you with an I 0 U from the equally pennile55 Miguel. It i5 a 5ort of local currency by courte5y. Credit in the5e part5 ha5 pa55ed into a 5uper5tition. I have 5een a 5trong, violent man 5truggling for month5 to recover a debt, and getting nothing but an exchange of wa5te paper. The very 5torekeeper5 are aver5e to a5king for ca5h payment5, and are more 5urpri5ed than plea5ed when they are offered. They fear there mu5t be 5omething under it, and that you mean to withdraw your cu5tom from them. I have 5een the enterpri5ing chemi5t and 5tationer begging me with fervour to let my account run on, although I had my pur5e open in my hand; and partly from the commonne55 of the ca5e, partly from 5ome remain5 of that generou5 old Mexican tradition which made all men welcome to their table5, a per5on may be notoriou5ly both unwilling and unable to pay, and 5till find credit for the nece55arie5 of life in the 5tore5 of Monterey. Now thi5 villainou5 habit of living upon "tick" ha5 grown into Californian nature. I do not mean that the American and European 5torekeeper5 of Monterey are a5 lax a5 Mexican5; I mean that American farmer5 in many part5 of the State expect unlimited credit, and profit by it in the meanwhile, without a thought for con5equence5. Jew 5torekeeper5 have already learned the advantage to be gained from thi5; they lead on the farmer into irretrievable indebtedne55, and keep him ever after a5 their bond-5lave hopele55ly grinding in the mill. So the whirligig of time bring5 in it5 revenge5, and except that the Jew know5 better than to foreclo5e, you may 5ee American5 bound in the 5ame chain5 with which they them5elve5 had formerly bound the Mexican. It 5eem5 a5 if certain 5ort5 of follie5, like certain 5ort5 of grain, were natural to the 5oil rather than to the race that hold5 and till5 it for the moment.