A Few Inches
Of Cold Steel Has Been The Punishment Of Many An Unwary Man, Who Has
Been Guilty, Perhaps, Of Nothing More Than Indiscretion Of Manner.
The Difficulties Of The Attempt Are Numerous, And The Consequences
Of Discovery Fatal.
With the unmarried women, too, great watchfulness
is used.
The main object of the parents is to marry their daughters
well, and to this, the slightest slip would be fatal. The sharp eyes
of a dueña, and the cold steel of a father or brother, are a protection
which the characters of most of them - men and women - render by no means
useless; for the very men who would lay down their lives to avenge the
dishonor of their own family, would risk the same lives to complete
the dishonor of another.
Of the poor Indians, very little care is taken. The priests,
indeed, at the missions, are said to keep them very strictly,
and some rules are usually made by the alcaldes to punish their
misconduct; but it all amounts to but little. Indeed, to show the
entire want of any sense of morality or domestic duty among them,
I have frequently known an Indian to bring his wife, to whom he
was lawfully married in the church, down to the beach, and carry
her back again, dividing with her the money which she had got
from the sailors. If any of the girls were discovered by the
alcalde to be open evil-livers, they were whipped, and kept at
work sweeping the square of the presidio, and carrying mud and
bricks for the buildings; yet a few reáls would generally buy
them off.
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