USA > California > San Luis Obispo County > History of San Luis Obispo County, California, with illustrations and biographical sketches of its prominent men and pioneers > Part 15
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This we thought was pretty well-a gun every fifteen seconds-for a merchant-man with only four guns and a dozen or twenty men.
After supper the gig's crew were called and we rowed ashore, dressed in full uniform, beached the boat, and went up to the fandango. The bride's father's house was the principal one in the place, with a large court in front, upon which a tent was built, capable of containing sev- eral hundred people. As we drew near we heard the accustomed sound of violins and guitars, and saw a great motion of the people within. Going in we found nearly all the people of the town-men, women, and children, collected and crowded together, leaving barely room for the dancers; for on these occasions no invitations are given, but every one is expected to come, though there is always a private entertainment within the house for par- ticular friends.
The old women sat down in rows, clapping their hands to the music and applauding the young ones.
The music was lively, and among the tunes we recog- nized several of our popular airs, which we, without doubt, have taken from the Spanish.
In the dancing I was much disappointed. The women stood upright with their hands down by their sides, their eyes fixed upon the ground before them, and slided about without any perceptible means of motion; for their feet were invisible, the hem of their dresses forming a circle about them, reaching to the ground. They looked as grave as though they were going through some religious ceremony, their faces as little excited as their limbs, and on the whole, instead of the spirited, fascinating, Spanish dances which I had expected, I found the Californian fandango, on the part of the women at least, a lifeless affair.
The men did better. They danced with grace and spirit, moving in circles around their nearly stationary partners and showing their figures to advantage.
A great deal was said about our friend Don Juan Bandini, and when he did appear, which was toward the close of the evening, he certainly gave us the most grace- ful dancing that I had ever seen. He was dressed in white pantaloons, neatly made, a short jacket of dark silk
gaily figured, white stockings and thin morocco slippers upon his very small feet. His slight and graceful figure was well adapted to dancing, and he moved about with the grace and daintiness of a young fawn.
He was loudly applauded, and danced frequently toward the close of the evening. After the supper the waltzing began, which was confined to a very few of the gente de razon, and was considered a high accomplish- ment, and a mark of aristocracy. Here, too, Don Juan figured greatly, waltzing with the sister of the bride (Doña Augustia, a handsome and a general favorite), in a variety of beautiful figures, which lasted as much as half an hour, no one else taking the floor. They were repeatedly and loudly applauded, the old men and women jumping out of their seats in admiration, and the young people waving their hats and handkerchiefs.
CURIOUS CUSTOM.
The great amusement of the evening-owing to its being the carnival-was the breaking of eggs filled with cologne, or other essences, upon the heads of the com- pany. The women bring a great number of these secretly about them, and the amusement is to break one upon the head of a gentleman when his back is turned. He is bound in gallantry to find out the lady and return the compliment, though it must not be done if the person sees you. A tall, stately Don, with immense gray whiskers, and a look of great importance, was standing before me, when I felt a light hand upon my shoulder, and, turning round, saw Doña Augustia, whom we all knew, as she had been up to Monterey and down again in the Alert, with her finger upon her lip, motioning me gently aside. I stepped back a little, when she went up behind the Don, and with one hand knocked off his huge sombrero, and at the same instant with the other, broke the egg upon his head, and springing behind me, was out of sight in a moment. The Don turned slowly round, the cologne running down his face and over his clothes, and a loud laugh breaking out from every quarter. A great many such tricks were played, and many a war of sharp manœuvering was carried on between couples of the younger people, and at every successful exploit a general laugh was raised.
LOVE'S OFFERING.
Another of their games I was for some time at a loss about. A pretty young girl was dancing, named after what would appear to us an almost sacrilegious custom of the country, Espritu Santa, when a young man went behind her and placed his hat directly upon her head, letting it fall down over her eyes, and sprang back among the crowd. She danced for some time with the hat on, when she threw it off, which called forth a general shout, and the young man was obliged to go out upon the floor and pick it up. I soon began to suspect the meaning of the thing, and was afterwards told that it was a compli- ment, and an offer to become the lady's gallant for the rest of the evening, and to wait upon her home.
The Captain sent for us about ten o'clock, and we went aboard in high spirits, having enjoyed the new scene much, and were of great importance among the crew, from having so much to tell, and from the prospect of going every night until it was over; for these fandangoes generally last three days. The next day two of us were sent up town, and took care to come back by way of Señor Noriega's and take a look into the booth. The musicians were again there, upon their platform, scraping and twanging away, and a few people, apparently of the lower classes, were dancing. The dancing is kept up, at intervals, throughout the day, but the crowd, the spirit, and the elite come in at night. The next night, which was the last, we went ashore in the same manner, until
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CALIFORNIA UNDER MEXICO.
we got almost tired of the monotonous twang of the instruments, the drawling sounds which the women kept up, as an accompaniment, and the slapping of the hands in time with the music in place of castanets. We found ourselves as great objects of attention as any persons or anything at the place. Our sailors' dresses were much admired, and we were invited from every quarter to give them an American dance. Our agent, with a tight, black, swallow-tailed coat, just imported from Boston, a high, stiff cravat, looking as if he had been pinned and skewered, with only his feet and hands left free, took the floor just after Bandini, and we thought they had had enough of Yankee grace. The last night they kept it up in grand style, and were getting into a "high go," when the Captain called us off to go aboard, for, it being southeaster sea- son, he was afraid to remain on shore long; and it was well that he did not, for that night we slipped our cables, as a crowner to our fun ashore, and stood off before a southeaster, which lasted twelve hours, and returned to our anchorage the next day.
TWENTY-FOUR YEARS LATER,
In 1859, Mr. Dana again visited the Pacific Coast, this time as a passenger on the then floating palace, as it was called, steamship Golden Gate. The great change was noticed. California was American, gold mining was the great excitement, and San Francisco instead of Monterey was the great city. He relates seeing many familiar objects, and meeting a number of those he had become acquainted with on his earlier voyage. The following extract from his journal relates to a trip down the coast :-
SATURDAY, August 20, 1859 .- The steamer Senator makes regular trips up and down the coast, between San Francisco and San Diego, calling at intermediate ports. This is my opportunity to revisit the old scenes. She sails to-day, and I am off, steaming among the great clippers anchored. in the harbor, and gliding rapidly round the point, past Alcatraz Island, the light-house, and through the fortified Golden Gate, and bending to the southeast, all down in two or three hours, which, in the Alert, under canvas, with head tides, variable winds, and sweeping currents to deal with, took us full two days.
CAPTAIN JOHN WILSON.
Among the passengers I noticed an elderly gentleman, thin, with sandy hair and a face that seemed familiar. He took off his gloves and showed one shriveled hand. It must be he! I went up to him and said, "Captain Wilson,* I believe." Yes, that was his name. "I knew you, sir, when you commanded the Ayacucho on this coast in old hide-droghing times, in 1835-36." He was quickened by this, and at once inquiries were made on each side, and we were in full talk about the Pilgrim and Alert, Ayacucho, and Loriotte, the California, and Lagoda. I found he had been very much flattered by the praise I had bestowed in my book on his seaman- ship, especially in bringing the Pilgrim to her berth in San Diego harbor, after she had drifted successively into the Lagoda and Loriotte, and was coming into him. I had made a pet of his brig, the Ayacucho, which pleased him almost as much as my remembrance of his bride and their wedding, which I saw at Santa Barbara in
1836. Doña Ramona was now the mother of a large family, and Wilson assured me that if I would visit him at his rancho, near San Luis Obispo, I should find her still a handsome woman and very glad to see me. How we walked the deck together, hour after hour, talking over the old times-the ships, the captains, the crews, the traders on shore, the ladies, the missions, the south- easters! Indeed, where could we stop? He had sold the Ayacucho in Chili for a vessel of war, and had given up the sea, and had been for years a ranchero. (I learned from others that he had become one of the most wealthy and respectable farmers in the State, and that his rancho was well worth visiting.)
REMINISCENCES.
Old Señor Noriega, of Santa Barbara, he told me, was dead, and Don Carlos and Don Santiago, but I should find their children there now in middle life. Doña Augustia,* he said, I had made famous by my praises of her beauty and dancing, and I should have from her a royal reception. She had been a widow and remarried since, and had a daughter as handsome as herself. The descendants of Noriega had taken the ancestral name of De la Guerra, as they were nobles of old Spain by birth; and the boy Pablo, who used to make passages in the Alert, was now Don Pablo de la Guerra, a Senator in the State Legislature for San Luis Obispo and Santa Barbara Counties.
RETURN VOYAGE.
The steamer did not touch at the port of San Luis Obispo in going down, and the passengers for that place must make the voyage to San Diego and return. Mr. Dana was on a tour of observation, visiting the localities he had so vividly described and become so familiar with near a quarter of a century before. At Santa Barbara he landed in a boat as before, and found the town but very little changed. He learns that there is no such danger from southeasters as in former times.
Captain Wilson tells me that the climate has altered; that the southeasters are no longer the bane of the coast they once were, and that vessels anchor inside the kelp at Santa Barbara and San Pedro all the year round. I should have thought this owing to his spending his winters on a rancho instead of the deck of the Ayacucho, had not the same thing been told me by others.
The greater security of the anchorage probably arose from the better knowledge of the locality, as any change of climate is altogether improbable.
Mr. Dana found the most change at the pueblo of Los Angeles, the trade of which justified the employ- ment of a small tug or steam lighter, to land goods and passengers at the port of San Pedro. San Diego had undergone no other change than decay. The old hide houses at the landing, four miles from the town, were in ruins, and the mission, five miles inland from the town, was unoccupied and going to decay. Returning north the steamer stopped at San Luis Obispo to land Cap- tain Wilson, whose earnest invitation to stop there and visit him at his rancho he was obliged to decline. At that date there were no wharves along the coast, the landings being effected in small boats. There were no railroads south of San Jose, and New San Diego was not
* Capt. John Wilson was a native of Scotland, came from Peru in 1830, was a shipmaster on the coast for a number of years, then merchant and ranchero, owning the ranchos Los Osos y Pecho y Islay, the Chorro, and other lands. He married Doña Ramona Pacheco, widow of Don Romualdo Pacheco, a Colonel of the Mexican army on the staff of General Victoria, and killed by Avila at the Cahuenga Pass near Los Angeles in 1831. She was the mother of Governor Pacheco. Captain Wilson died in San Luis Obispo in 1860, at the age of sixty-two.
" Doña Maria de las Augustia de la Guerra married Don Manuel Jimeno, Secretary of Governor Alvarado, and after his death married Dr. Ord of the U. S. Army.
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HISTORY OF SAN LUIS OBISPO COUNTY.
known. From such sketches we obtain an occasional view of our coast and State as it has appeared from time to time in the past.
CALIFORNIA CUSTOMS.
A concise and comprehensive review of the people and their customs is found in the San Luis Obispo Tribune, furnished by Hon. Charles H. Johnson, whose long residence in the country, and habits of close obser- vation render him the best authority extant. He says :---
After the missions of California had been secularized, Mexican colonists with some foreigners who had be- come naturalized as Mexican citizens, acquired from the Government, through the Governors of California, grants of large tracts of land, ranging generally in extent from one to eleven leagues, although in some few instances exceeding the latter figures. These grants were made upon conditions of settlement, improvement, etc. They were soon stocked with cattle, sheep, and horses, that had been taken from the priests and Indians by the administrators of the missions and distributed or sold by them to these new proprietors. The whole of the settled portion of California, from the secularization of the mis- sions to a period long subsequent to the acquisition of the country by the American Government, was devoted almost exclusively to pastoral purposes, mainly the rear- ing of vast herds of cattle. The small parcels of land that were cultivated for gardens, or to raise a little wheat or barley for domestic purposes, were broken up with hoes, or wooden plows drawn by oxen, the grain cut with sickles, threshed, or rather tramped out by bands of wild mares; cleansed by throwing it high in the air upon a windy day, and ground by women upon metatas-flat stones. On some of the large ranchos, mill-stones were used that had been taken from the mission water mills. A long pole being attached to the upper stone it was revolved by pushing against the pole.
THE CARETA.
Transportation was effected either by traction, that is, dragging with horses and oxen, or by means of ox-carts, which were made of pieces of rought timber, fastened to- gether with thongs of rawhide and wooden pegs, and the wheels cut from the trunk of a tree. As late as 1850, the first American Civil Governor of California, Governor Burnett, with some members of the first Legislature, who were en route from San Francisco to San Jose, then the capital of the State, were conveyed in one of these carts from Alviso to the door of the State House, which was an old adobe building. Such was the industrial condi- tion of California, from the secularization of the missions to a period subsequent to 1848, and such was indeed the condition of things in this county as late as 1856.
A MANLY RACE.
The native California rancheros-descendants of the Mexican colonists -- were a hearty, robust race, lithe, act ive, and symmetrically formed. They were temperate in their habits, and enjoyed vigorous health. They had generous impulses and strong passions, although not of a revengeful disposition, yet they never entirely overlooked an affront. Their sole occupation being the rearing of cattle, they were inclined to indolence, but when the oc- casion demanded it, showed a great power of endurance
frequently riding one hundred miles in a day. Their chief amusements were horse-racing, bull-fighting and dancing.
SCHOOLS.
There being no schools in the country they were gen- erally without a liberal education, although fully aware of its importance, as those who could afford the ex- pense, sent their sons abroad, to the Sandwich Islands and to Peru, to be educated. Some were taught at home by the educated of the family, if there were any such, or by a tutor engaged, and slight instruction was given at the missions. The fine penmanship and language shown in the public documents preserved in the State and county archives are an evidence of the good education of many.
THE FECUNDITY OF THE PEOPLE
Was remarkable. It was rare to find a married couple with less than six or seven children, while many had from fifteen to twenty. Very few of them died in their youth, and in reaching the age of fifty, were almost sure of seeing their grandchildren, and in many cases, their great-grandchildren. Men of the age of eighty would ride long distances on horseback without exhibiting fa- tigue. The women were religious, virtuous, active and laborious, attending to all the household duties, the care of the children, attention to their husbands, and dedica- ting all their leisure moments to some occupation. Their clothing was always clean and decent, and they themselves, graceful and fine looking. The rose seemed to be ever stamped upon their cheeks.
THEIR TABLES
Were well supplied with substantial dishes. Breakfast was very light, however, and partaken of at an early hour. It consisted simply of a cup of coffee or chocolate with toast, tortillas, and a bit of cheese. Dinner was served at noon. The table was then furnished with a great variety of dishes, consisting of soup, beef broiled on coals, olla (the pot) boiled beef, generally the rib pieces, with garbanzo-a large pea -- carrots and cabbage; olla podrida, a stew composed of chicken, beef, venison, quail, tripe, with vegetables of various kinds, and seasoned with garlic; stewed beef with chile colorado (red pepper); tomales, which were made of chicken, meat, olives and chile colorado rolled in a thin paste of corn meal, the whole being covered with corn leaves tied at either end, and baked in an oven; carne seco (dried beef) cut fine and stewed with onions and manteca (beef fat from the ribs); baked chicken; frijoles (red beans) fried in manteca with onions; potatoes; tortillas; olives; salza-a sauce used as a relish for meats, made of tomatoes, chiles verde (large green peppers) and raw onions cut up finely and mixed with oil and vinegar; and vino del pais (native wine). The meats and fowl were never carved at table, but were brought on cut into pieces of convenient size. The dessert consisted of custards, pies, and fruit when in season. Tea with cakes, bread, and tortillas, was served at 4 P. M. Milk was not used with tea, mainly on account of its scarcity.
On the largest ranchos one cow only was kept up, which, to be milked successfully, was tied by the horns to a post of the corral, and its hind legs fastened together with a riata. As the cow was half wild, it furnished but little milk, which was immediately boiled and used at break- fast with coffee or chocolate, and if any was left it went into the composition of a custard for dessert at din- ner. The men added, however, to the tea a little leche del tigre (tiger's milk)-that is aguadiente, a native brandy. Supper was brought on at 7 P. M., and was a very substantial meal, and in this respect resembled the dinner. Tea was also served at this repast.
RANCH IN RESIDENCE OF MRS. HARRIETT SHIPP, CAYUCOS CREEK. SAN LUIS OBISPO CO. CAL.
DAIRY OF D C POWELL.
57
CALIFORNIA UNDER MEXICO.
THE FAMILY AT HOME.
In the evening the family assembled in the parlor, or reception room, which was very large but plainly fur- nished. A sofa and chairs, with a few pictures of saints on the walls, was all it contained. The women sang plaintive Moorish airs, with guitar accompaniment. If visitors were at the house, the violin was produced, and dancing ensued, which continued, with intermissions en- livened with singing, until ten or eleven o'clock, when the family retired.
WEDDINGS.
The weddings of the daughters of rich rancheros were celebrated with mediæval splendor. A chapel was pre- pared at one end of the corridor, facing the court, where the priest performed the marriage ceremony in the morn- ing. Friends of the family and acquaintances congre- gated from a circuit of a hundred miles. Feasting, dancing, singing, horse-racing, bull and bear-fighting, con -· tinued for five or six days consecutively. On the first evening of the entertainment no one was permitted to retire. Dancing and singing being kept up throughout the entire night. But the following day, after dinner, all indulged in the siesta, after which a horse-race, bull- fight, or feats in horsemanship were exhibited, to be fol- lowed in the evening by dancing and singing, and so on, to the end of the feast. The ordinary dances were the quadrille, waltz, and various other round dances, varied occasionally by the Arabe-a dance peculiar to the coun- try. In this dance, a lady takes the floor solus, and after showing off her graces by dancing around the apartment, approaches any gentleman she may select, performing before him a variety of pirouettes, until he rises, bowing and dancing quite around her, and then resuming his seat, when she leaves him to approach another, and thus makes the circuit.
THE LADIES COSTUMES.
The costumes of the women consisted of plain dresses, black silk being preferred, except for party dresses, which were of light colored French or Italian silks. When out of the house they wore the rebosa, a broad silk scarf of subdued colors, thrown over the head and arranged around the neck and waist in very graceful folds. Or a heavy Chinese erape shawl of brilliant colors thrown over the shoulders with the head left uncovered, and the hair neatly arranged and adorned with a large comb of tor- toise shell framed in gold.
CABALLERO'S DRESS.
The men wore a large brimmed hat decorated with a silver or gold band, European garments, and at times a cloth or velvet serape, or poncho, with gold and silver em- broidery around the edges. Their saddles, bridles, and horse trappings were heavily mounted with silver. The spurs were very large, having pendants which produced a constant jingling sound when the horse was in motion. But the vaqueros (herdsmen) wore a costume peculiar to their class alone. The hat was large, broad-brimmed, and glazed with a shining black varnish, the band of sil- ver cord. The jacket was very short, made of black cloth or velvet, ornamented with embroidery of the same color as the garment; the buttons were gilded or silver. A vest was seldom worn. The trousers were of the same material and color as the jacket. They were made to open on either side from the hip to the foot, but were generally worn buttoned down the leg as far as the knee. The buttons were plated or of silver. From the kneeto the foot they were unbuttoned, so as to display the whiteness of the under garments. A crimson silk sash was worn around the waist to support the trousers. When riding
the legs were enclosed from the knee to the foot with buckskins or other leather, often stamped or richly em- broidered, wrapped around them, which were fastened just below the knee with a silken cord. They were called botines, and used to protect the trousers when riding.
FUNERAL CUSTOMS.
When an adult died, the body was dressed as in life, with the best garments belonging to the deceased. And so, likewise, with children, but their death was attended with no mourning. The corpse was placed in an uncov- ered coffin; its head encircled with a chaplet of white roses, and carried to church by children of its own sex. If. a female, the pall-bearers were young girls, clad in white garments, and with a blue silken sash thrown over the shoulders and brought around the waist and there tied in a bow. Their brows were wreathed with chaplets of the white rose, and they each carried in one hand a flower to place upon the bosom of the dead child after the funeral services were ended, as last offerings of friend- ship. When the youthful funeral procession arrived at the church, the bells were not tolled, but rang out a joy- ful peal, as if announcing the entrance of an unspotted soul through the gates of Heaven.
POSTAL SYSTEM.
Mails were carried by couriers, usually soldiers on horseback, and at times when ordered without any calcu- lation of regularity. At each mission was an escolte-a Corporal's guard-of a few soldiers, and when a mail was to be sent, or one came to be forwarded, a soldier quickly mounted a fleet horse and hurried to the next point. In later days couriers rode from one presidio or pueblo to the next, changing horses as they pleased at the ranchos. Official correspondence comprised the chief mail matter.
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