e. From thence he returned
to the settlements, and began to steal horses, which at that time were
very numerous. After pursuing his depredations for some time, he was at
last pursued and killed on his return from one of his forages. The
mission of Santa Clara has been, from that time to the present day, the
greatest nursery for horse thieves, as the Stanislaus river has been
and is their principal rendezvous. I have taken some pains to inquire
among some of the most intelligent and respectable of the native
inhabitants, as to the probable number of horses that have been stolen
between Monterey and San Francisco within the last twenty years, and
the result has been that more than one hundred thousand can be
distinctly enumerated, and that the total amount would probably be
double that number. Nearly all these horses have been eaten! From the
river of Stanislaus, as a central point, the evil has spread to the
north and south, and at present extends from the vicinity of the
Mickelemes River on the north, to the sources of the St. Joaquin on the
south. These Indians inhabit all the western declivity of the great
snowy mountains, within these limits, and have become so habituated to
living on horseflesh, that it is now with them the principal means of
subsistence.

"In past time they have been repeatedly pursued, and many of them
killed, and whole villages destroyed, but, so far from being deterred,
they are continually becoming more bold and daring in their robberies,
as horses become scarcer and more carefully guarded. About twenty
persons have been killed by them within the knowledge of the writer.
Among others, Mr. Lindsay and Mr. Wilson were killed by them not long
ago. Only about one month since, they shot and dangerously wounded four
persons employed on the farm of Mr. Weber, near the Pueblo of St.
Joseph, and at the same time stole the horses of the farm, and those
also from the farms of Captain Fisher and Mr. Burnal, in the same
vicinity; in all, about two hundred head. Within the last ten days
numerous parties of them have been committing depredations on many of
the farms in the jurisdiction of the Contra Costa, and scarcely a night
passes but we hear of their having stolen horses from some one. Three
days ago, a party of them were met by some young men who had been out
catching wild horses on the plains of the St. Joaquin, but as they were
mounted on tired animals, they were only able to recapture the stolen
hors