I Had Never Studied Spanish While At College, And Could Not Speak
A Word, When At Juan Fernandez; But During
The latter part of the
passage out, I borrowed a grammar and dictionary from the cabin,
and by a continual
Use of these, and a careful attention to every word
that I heard spoken, I soon got a vocabulary together, and began
talking for myself. As I soon knew more Spanish than any of the
crew, (who indeed knew none at all,) and had been at college and
knew Latin, I got the name of a great linguist, and was always sent
for by the captain and officers to get provisions, or to carry letters
and messages to different parts of the town. I was often sent to get
something which I could not tell the name of to save my life; but
I liked the business, and accordingly never pleaded ignorance.
Sometimes I managed to jump below and take a look at my dictionary
before going ashore; or else I overhauled some English resident
on my way, and got the word from him; and then, by signs, and the
help of my Latin and French, contrived to get along. This was a
good exercise for me, and no doubt taught me more than I should
have learned by months of study and reading; it also gave me
opportunities of seeing the customs, characters, and domestic
arrangements of the people; beside being a great relief from
the monotony of a day spent on board ship.
Monterey, as far as my observation goes, is decidedly the pleasantest
and most civilized-looking place in California. In the centre
of it is an open square, surrounded by four lines of one-story
plastered buildings, with half a dozen cannon in the centre; some
mounted, and others not. This is the "Presidio," or fort. Every
town has a presidio in its centre; or rather, every presidio has a
town built around it; for the forts were first built by the Mexican
government, and then the people built near them for protection. The
presidio here was entirely open and unfortified. There were several
officers with long titles, and about eighty soldiers, but they were
poorly paid, fed, clothed, and disciplined. The governor-general,
or, as he is commonly called, the "general," lives here; which makes
it the seat of government. He is appointed by the central government
at Mexico, and is the chief civil and military officer. In addition to
him, each town has a commandant, who is the chief military officer,
and has charge of the fort, and of all transactions with foreigners
and foreign vessels; and two or three alcaldes and corregidores,
elected by the inhabitants, who are the civil officers. Courts and
jurisprudence they have no knowledge of. Small municipal matters are
regulated by the alcaldes and corregidores; and everything relating
to the general government, to the military, and to foreigners,
by the commandants, acting under the governor-general. Capital
cases are decided by him, upon personal inspection, if he is near;
or upon minutes sent by the proper officers, if the offender is at a
distant place.
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