Sacramento daily record-union. [volume] (Sacramento [Calif.]) 1875-1891, 1888-06-16
NEW PUBLICATIONS.
The WORKS OF HUBERT HOWE BANCROFT
History of the Pacific Coast States Of America)
Vol. xxxiv, California Pastoral, l769-1S4s San
Francisco. The History Company


Francisco. The History Company.
While the volumes preceding this one in |
MIR. Bancrotts series are in purely histor- /
ical sense, the record of the activities of /
peoples upon political lines and their at
triton in determining forms of govern |
ment, of greater interest to the student of !;
history, we are inclined to the belief that |
california PASTORAL for very many more |
possesses stronger attractions. The volume |
is devoted to considerations Of social sys- !
tens, beginning back as far as the earlier !
civiliIng activities in Spain and Mexico
and coming down to the present ere, and
treats very elaborately ali the Influences
thet have operated to make the society of
the coast what it Is. This yolame, more
so than that entitled Popular Tribunals"
is romantic. It furnishes thousand texts
f.om facts, for the play of the fancy and the
hveliest exercise of the imagination. A
glance at the contents of the work will con-
vey better idea of its scope than any other
expression we could make In the first
chapter we have very succinct and strongly
drawn comparisons between states of civil
ization and savagery and the advance
through feUdalism and knight errantry to
thegathering of communities within walled
towns, and thence through improved agen-
cles OF warfare to conditions in which intel
iect played greater part than brute force in
the settlement OF disputes and the adjust
ment of social conditions. More especially
are these factors in civilization considered
in their direction toward Spain. In Chapter
IL. the colonial policy of that kingdom is
considered and compared with that of
England and other nations; the domi-
nant religion of Spain, the strong hand of
Its rule IN her colonies, and the hold it
took upon the Spanish American States of
III Z
4 Mexico rs Seen Through the Eyes of
Science at the opening of the Nineteenth
Century" and we have here by all odds
one of the most interesting and well-told
brief stories of the researches of Alexander
Won Humboldt, If not the most concise and
comprehensive of any that has been pre-
scented to readers. That portion of it de-
voted to Humboldt's speculations concern
ing the migration of peoples, the history of
the origin of the human race, and his be-
lief that the parenage of the American
races was of Asiatic origin. Humboldt
appears to have greatly impressed Mr. Ban
croft with his genius and breadth, and he
does not hesitate to ascribe to him the
revelation of the continent which others
discovered. Chapter V. is wholly devoted
to what the historian has seen fit to style
" Lotos Land "-Caliiornia geographically
and dramatically considered. OF course
he is an enthusiast upon the subject; of
course, he deems it the fairest OF all fair
lands. He boldly contrasts it in smallest
detail and every minute with the most
favored spots of earth, and finds here ex-
cellent qualities known to no other section:
1t is a wiDterle-s earth's end perpetually re-
ireshed by ocean, a land surpassed neither by
the island grotto of Calypso, the ElySian fields
of Homer, nor the island valley of Avalon seen
by King Arthur in his dying thought. Here
d0U rlnr dOx affar
the stranger aud eat the lotos and be happy.
he may eat the lotos and forget the old home
and country. forget wife and children, content
forever TO rest in this strange land waking to
fall asleep again, and dream day-dreams and
night. dreams, as he floats silently down the
sluggish stream of time. Here might be placed
Ine inc, hebrew Eden, or the beatltude of the
BUDDHIST; here may the dark-eyed Italian en-
JOY his dolce far niente, and the signing ghost
o. Charles Lamb find a region beyond the do
man OF conscience. And doubt not, it proper
search be made, that there may be found The
singlng-tree OF the Arabian tale, the leaves
whereof are mouths, each one of which dis
courses harmonious music What shall | say of
TINS land ana not lay myself open to the charge
OF hyperbole, grosser than any ever INDUCED in
by the ancients? If they wrote much about
their Arabys and Arcadias-the world learning
and over to this day-may not write little
about better country? Grant that Andalusia is
the garden of Spain, Amboise OF France, Italy
of Europe. and Sicily of italy, and we NAV
justly claim for our lotos land place before
them all as the garden of the world.
From this he proceeds, in many pages of
poetic fervor, to depict the delights and
paint IN glowing imagery, the paradisical
reality OF this famous spot. Were it not
that skillfully Interpreted with all
this strong coloring is correct topo-
graphic and climatic fact, the whole
chapter would be open to the charge of en-
thusiasm for this land run mad. The sue
oho,N
consideration of the opposing forces under
whose contention the social, political and
landed systems of California were worked
out. This includes sketches OF the original
condition of the aboriginal: his occupation
OF the valleys and hills the coming of the
missionaries and the work they undertook
in converting the savage mind to the re.
ligion of the cross by imposing upon it the
stronger will of the priest. OF these mis-
slonarles he says, while despising their
fanaticism:
They were men of sublime heroism. of IN
bounded faith, of limitless creduity. In their
devotion to their faith they were as firm as
Abdiel. upon whom satans eloquence urging
heaven to revolt fell powerless. They had been
told that 1t was the thing to do to convert the
heather. to make them stand still while thew
mumbled dogmaS and scattered water over
them. Therefore they did not fear Man could
d. them no harm for if they killed thew en-
tered heaven at once. And. in truth some of
them seemed as hard to kill as Saint Cecilia
who, Kept of Christ, felt it no woe TO be shut in
not bath, ana whose fair neck the executioner
coulu by no chance Smite i'll two.
From this subject and contemplation of
the character of the missionaries he passes
to the mission history, the colonization and
pueblo system and then to the land grant,
era. Incidentally it may be said that the
short stories of the habits, practices, Judi
cal rule, inquisitorial tyranny and humor-
Gus phases of the experiences of the mis-
sion fathers are rich in lively interest. We
cannot more than refer to the landed his
tory and pueblo system. The chapter is a
valuable though very limited contribution
to history that has been much written
upon. Throughout other volumes of the
Bancroft series there runs the record of the
political and other facts underlying and
OVERLAPPING the Mexican land grant system.
and which for SO many years after the
American occupation crippled the progress
of California. "Lotos-Land Society.n
The Military System, "" Woman and Her
Sphere" are subjects treated in independ-
ent chapters, and bring us in the eleventh
to that of Pastures and Fields" in which
we are given an interesting account of early
cattle-raising in California, and considera-
BILE agricultural statistics Mr.. Bancroft &C.
cords TO Mission San Gabriel the honor of be-
ing the mother OF agriculture in California |
Succeeding chapters treat of floods, dress,
dwellings and domestic routine, amuse-
ments, occupations and industries. and of |
the inlano trade and coast traffic. The six |
tenth chapter is entitled A Futile Fight |
With Ignorance that is to say. it is a |
very graphic account of early educational |
methods III California, and they were such
as to provoke smiles and tears, as they |
were sad mixture of humor and cruelty. |
of keen-witted intelligence and gross bru- !
tally. The present generation OF youths |
may be brought to better appreciation of !
their favorable lot by reading this chapter
upon the crude mission instruction of the
early days upon the coast Californian
isms " is chapter upon the nomenclature
and patols of California in its era of Span
ish- Mexican-Indian mixture. Law, Gov
eminent aud Religion are subjects of the
eighteenth chapter, and Grimes and
Courts" of the nineteenth. IL this sub.
division of the volume there is much
that throws strong light upon the morals
of the early Californians. The twentieth
chapter is devoted to the sanitary condi-
tons of California from the Spanish occu-
patton to 1850, the fecundity of the women,
the singular disproportion between birth
or r oct ,. rota he, 4