No Protestant Has Any Civil Rights, Nor Can He Hold
Any Property, Or, Indeed, Remain More Than A Few Weeks On Shore,
Unless He Belong To Some Vessel.
Consequently, the Americans and
English who intend to remain here become Catholics, to a man;
the current phrase among them being, - "A man must leave his
conscience at Cape Horn."
But to return to Monterey. The houses here, as everywhere else
in California, are of one story, built of clay made into large bricks,
about a foot and a half square and three or four inches thick, and
hardened in the sun. These are cemented together by mortar of the
same material, and the whole are of a common dirt-color. The floors
are generally of earth, the windows grated and without glass; and
the doors, which are seldom shut, open directly into the common
room; there being no entries. Some of the more wealthy inhabitants
have glass to their windows and board floors; and in Monterey
nearly all the houses are plastered on the outside. The better houses,
too, have red tiles upon the roofs. The common ones have two or
three rooms which open into each other, and are furnished with a
bed or two, a few chairs and tables, a looking-glass, a crucifix of
some material or other, and small daubs of paintings enclosed in
glass, and representing some miracle or martyrdom. They have no
chimneys or fire-places in the houses, the climate being such as to
make a fire unnecessary; and all their cooking is done in a small
cook-house, separated from the house. The Indians, as I have said
before, do all the hard work, two or three being attached to each
house; and the poorest persons are able to keep one, at least, for
they have only to feed them and give them a small piece of coarse
cloth and a belt, for the males; and a coarse gown, without shoes
or stockings, for the females.
In Monterey there are a number of English and Americans (English
or "Ingles" all are called who speak the English language) who
have married Californians, become united to the Catholic church,
and acquired considerable property. Having more industry, frugality,
and enterprise than the natives, they soon get nearly all the
trade into their hands. They usually keep shops, in which they
retail the goods purchased in larger quantities from our vessels,
and also send a good deal into the interior, taking hides in pay,
which they again barter with our vessels. In every town on the coast
there are foreigners engaged in this kind of trade, while I recollect
but two shops kept by natives. The people are generally suspicious
of foreigners, and they would not be allowed to remain, were it not
that they become good Catholics, and by marrying natives, and
bringing up their children as Catholics and Mexicans, and not
teaching them the English language, they quiet suspicion, and even
become popular and leading men.
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