The Californians are an idle, thriftless people, and can make nothing for themselves. The country abounds in grapes, yet they buy bad wine made in Boston and brought round by us, at an immense price, and retail it among themselves at a real [a Spanish coin then worth 12 1/2 cents] by the small wine-glass....[They] buy shoes (as like as not, made of their own hides, which have been carried twice round Cape Horn) at three and four dollars, and "chicken-skin" boots at fifteen dollars apiece. Things sell, on an average, at an advance of nearly three hundred per cent upon the Boston prices....

Their complexions are various, depending--as well as their dress and manner--upon their rank; or, in other words, upon the amount of Spanish blood they can lay claim to. Those who are of pure Spanish blood, having never intermarried with the aborigines, have clear brunette complexions, and sometimes, even as fair as those of English women. There are but few of these families in California....These form the aristocracy; intermarrying, and keeping up an exclusive system in every respect. They can be told by their complexions, dress, manner, and also by their speech....From this upper class, they go down by regular shades, growing more and more dark and muddy, until you come to the pure Indian, who runs about with nothing upon him but a small piece of cloth, kept up by a wide leather strap drawn round his waist. Generally speaking, each person’s caste is decided by the quality of the blood, which shows itself, too plainly to be concealed, at first sight. Yet the least drop of Spanish blood...is sufficient to raise them from the rank of slaves, and entitle them...to call themselves Españolos, and to hold property, if they can get any....

Another thing that surprised me was the quantity of silver that was in circulation....The truth is, they have no credit system, no banks, and no way of investing money but in cattle. They have no circulating medium but silver and hides--which the sailors call "California bank notes." Everything that they buy they must pay for in one or the other of these things....

No Protestant has any civil rights, nor can he hold any property, or, indeed, remain more than a few weeks on shore, unless he belongs to some vessel. Consequently, the Americans and English who intend to reside here become Catholics, to a man; the current phrase among them being,-- "A man must leave his conscience at Cape Horn."...

The government of the country is an arbitrary democracy; having no common law, and no judiciary. Their only laws are made and unmade at the caprice of the legislature, and are as variable as the legislature itself....Revolutions are matters of constant occurrence in California. They are got up by men who are at the foot of the ladder and in desperate circumstances, just as a new political party is started by such men in our own country. The only object, of course, is the loaves and fishes; and instead of caucusing, paragraphing, libelling, feasting, promising, and lying, as with us, they take muskets and bayonets, seizing upon the presidio and custom-house, divide the spoils, and declare a new dynasty. As for justice, they know no law but will and fear....

Such are the people who inhabit a country embracing four or five hundred miles of sea-coast, with several good harbors; with fine forests in the north; the waters filled with fish, and the plains covered with thousands of herds of cattle; blessed with a climate, than which there can be no better in the world; free from all manner of diseases...; and with a soil which corn yields from seventy to eighty fold. In the hands of an enterprising people, what a country this might be! we are ready to say. Yet how long would a people remain so, in such a country? The Americans (as those from the United States are called) and Englishmen, who are fast filling up the principal towns, and getting the trade into their hands, are indeed more industrious and effective than the Spaniards; yet their children are brought up Spaniards, in every respect, and if the "California fever" (laziness) spares the first generation, it always attacks the second.

1. What qualities does Dana ascribe to the Mexican residents of California? Is his description critical? Does he note any positive qualities of Californians?

2. By what standards does he judge the Californians? How do Dana’s observations reflect his cultural background? How would his comments reinforce the assumptions of his readers?

3. What kind of society does Dana describe? How does it differ from American society?

4. What is his view of the government? How is it different from that in the United States? What role does race play in California’s society? Is this different from the situation in the United States?

5. How are Dana’s values as revealed in this selection similar to the attitudes associated with Manifest Destiny that are described in the text? How could a proponent of American expansion find in his description justification for the United States’ taking over California?