we responded by a suitable salutation.
We requested of our hostess some water, which she furnished us
immediately, in an earthen bowl. Opening our sack of provisions, we
spread them upon the table, and invited the senora to partake of them
with us, which invitation she accepted without the slightest
hesitation, and with much good-nature, vivacity, and even thankfulness
for our politeness. There are no women in the world for whose manners
nature has done so much, and for whom art and education, in this
respect, have done so little, as these Hispano-American females on the
coast of the Pacific. In their deportment towards strangers they are
queens, when, in costume, they are peasants. None of them, according to
our tastes, can be called beautiful; but what they want in complexion
and regularity of feature is fully supplied by their kindliness, the
soul and sympathy which beam from their dark eyes, and their grace and
warmth of manners and expression.

While enjoying the _pic-nic_ with our agreeable hostess, a _caballada_
was driven into the _corral_ by two _vaqueros_, and two gentlemen soon
after came into the house. They were Messrs. Lightson and Murphy, from
the Pueblo, bound for San Francisco, and had stopped to change their
horses. We immediately made ready to accompany them, and were soon on
the road again, travelling at racehorse speed; these gentlemen having
furnished us with a change of horses, in order that we might be able to
keep up with them.

To account for the fast travelling in California on horseback, it is
necessary to explain the mode by which it is accomplished. A gentleman
who starts upon a journey of one hundred miles, and wishes to perform
the trip in a day, will take with him ten fresh horses and a _vaquero_.
The eight loose horses are placed under the charge of the _vaquero_,
and are driven in front, at the rate of ten or twelve miles an hour,
according to the speed that is required for the journey. At the end of
twenty miles, the horses which have been rode are discharged and turned
into the _caballada_, and horses which have not been rode, but driven
along without weight, are saddled and mounted and rode at the same
speed, and so on to the end of the journey. If a horse gives out from
inability to proceed at this gait, he is left on the road. The owner's
brand is on him, and, if of any value, he can be recovered without
difficulty. But in California no one thinks of stopping on the road, on
ac