The economy of Mexican California was based on the
raising of huge herds of cattle. Skilled vaqueros or cowhands periodically
rounded up the cattle, slaughtered them, stripped and cleaned the
hides, and stretched the hides in the sun to dry. The hides were
a valuable source of leather for making saddles, shoes, and other
products. Fat from the cattle was boiled in iron pots until it melted
into a fatty liquid called tallow. The tallow was used to make soap
and candles.
The rancho elite traded hides and tallow for manufactured
goods from foreign traders who sailed along the coast. In the following
account, Prudencia Higuera recalled a time in 1840 when a ship from
the United States sailed into San Pablo Bay to trade for hides and
tallow:
"The next morning my father gave orders, and
my brothers, with the peons, went on horseback into the mountains
and
smaller valleys to round up all the best cattle. They drove them
to the beach, killed them there, and salted the hides. They tried
out the tallow in some iron kettles.... The captain soon came
to our landing with a small boat and two sailors.... The captain
looked
over the hides, and then asked my father to get into the boat
and go to the vessel.... [My father] came back the next day, bringing
four boat-loads of cloth, axes, shoes, fish-lines, and many new
things.
There were two grindstones, and some cheap jewelry. My brother
had traded some deerskins for a gun and four tooth-brushes, the
first
ones I had ever seen."
The rancho elite traded hides and tallow for manufactured
goods from foreign traders who sailed along the coast. In the following
account, Prudencia Higuera recalled a time in 1840 when a ship from
the United States sailed into San Pablo Bay to trade for hides and
tallow: