SABOBA.
Saboba is the name of a village of Indians of the Serrano tribe, one hundred and fifty-seven in number, living in the San Jacinto Valley, at the base of the San Jacinto Mountains, in San Diego County. The village is within the boundaries of a Mexican grant, patented to the heirs of J. Estudillo, January 17th, 1880. The greater part of the grant has been sold to a company which, in dividing up its lands, allotted the tract where the Saboba village lies to one M. R. Byrnes, of San Bernardino, who proposes to eject the Indians unless the United States Government will buy his whole tract of seven hundred acres at an exorbitant price. The Saboba village occupies about two hundred acres, the best part of Mr. Byrnes's tract. The Indians have lived in the place for over a hundred years. They have adobe houses, fenced fields and orchards, and irrigating ditches. There is in the village a never-failing spring, with a flow of about twenty-five miner's inches. It is claimed by the Indians that the first surveys did not take in their village. This is probably true; the resurveying of grants and "floating" their lines so as to take in lands newly discovered to be of value, and leave out others discovered to be worthless, being a common practice in California. In a country where water is gold, such a spring as these Saboba Indians owned could not long escape notice or be left long in the undisturbed possession of Indians. These Indians support themselves now, and have always done so, by farming, and by going out in organized bands as sheep-shearers and vintagers. They are industrious and peaceable, and make in good seasons a fairly comfortable living. They formerly kept stock, but since the new occupancy, allotting and fencing of the valley, have been obliged to give it up. There is a Government school in this village, numbering from thirty to forty pupils, who have made remarkable progress in their studies. The school is taught by a Pennsylvania lady, formerly a teacher of the freedmen. Her gentleness and refinement have exerted an influence all through the village, and her self-denying labors among the people in times of sickness and suffering have been the work of a missionary rather than of a teacher. The following letters were written by two of the children in this school, both under fourteen years of age. They were written without the teacher's knowledge or aid, and brought to her with the request that she would send them. The handwritings are clear and good:—
To the President of the United States:
Mr. President: Dear Sir,—I wish to write a letter for you, and I will try to tell you some things. The white people call San Jacinto rancho their land, and I don't want them to do it. We think it is ours, for God gave it to us first. Now I think you will tell me what is right, for you have been so good to us, giving us a school and helping us. Will you not come to San Jacinto some time to see us, the school, and the people of Saboba village? Many of the people are sick, and some have died. We are so poor that we have not enough good food for the sick, and sometimes I am afraid that we are all going to die. Will you please tell what is good about our ranches, and come soon to see us?
Your friend,
Ramon Cavavi.
Mrs. Jackson:
My dear Friend,—I wish to write you a letter about the American people that want to drive us away from our own village of Saboba. I don't know what they can be about. I don't know why they do so. My teacher told me she was very sorry about the town, and then my teacher said, I think they will find a good place for you if you have to go; but I do hope they will not drive you away. Then it will be very good for all the people of Saboba. It is a very good town for the people. They have all the work done on their gardens, and they are very sorry about the work that is done. My work is very nicely done also. The people are making one big fence to keep the cows and the horses off their garden.
Your true friend,
Antonio Leon.