Since the occupation of the country by the American forces, the inhabitants complained bitterly of the frequent depredations of the horse thieving Indians, but the powers that be listened with indifference to them, and offered no effective remedy for the evil, and it does not seem probable that the present military authorities will do any better for the country, judging from the disposition they have made of the forces. The inhabitants, if they can combine, will have to take the subject into their own hands, for it is even doubtful whether the highest authorities of the Union will deign to look into the wants of the _benighted ranchero_ of California. However, we will not lay the faults of the past government at the door of the present one; we will hope still a while longer for the best at its hands. It is of no small importance to those who wish to settle in California to know the state of landed property in the country; it will be but following their wishes if we offer a few pertinent remarks upon the subject, which we will do after a few preliminaries. A line drawn from the coast eastward that would pass at the southern edge of the Clear-lake valley; then another that would go north and south, intersecting the former, touching the western side of the auriferous region, and following it down to the frontier line south of San Diego, may be considered as enclosing the inhabited portions of the country. There is very little public land within the above described lines, as it is almost entirely occupied by proprietors or covered by titles. The government, therefore, cannot expect to find much in the settled portion of the country that should come under its immediate control in the shape of public lands. The land on the north and east sides of the imaginary lines we drew, is either unoccupied or inhabited by rambling tribes of Indians. We may say that the whole auriferous region is occupied by Indians in its whole extent, and the oak is the frontier line of the Indian dominions; beyond that line the undisputed possessions of the pine and the bear commence. The wild Indians of California are probably the most inferior race of all the Aborigines of the continent; they lack energy and spirit; they live on roots, acorns, pine-nuts, insects, and occasionally on game, when they can catch it, or on horse or mule flesh when they can steal it. North of the Bay of San Francisco, and between the Sacramento and San Joaquin rivers, some of the Indians live in the families of the settlers, or near their farms, working for their subsistence and an occasional blanket. These are called in Spanish, very properly, _Indios manzos_--(tame Indians.) The others live in the woods, rambling frequently from spot to spot and sustaining themselves in the way we have already mentioned.