Although many place names in California—French Camp, French Bay, French Corral, Les Fourcades, and others—attest to French presence in the gold fields, they were not the most popular or convivial group working in the area. “It was said that if ten Frenchmen should get together, they would be quarreling and insulting one another within five minutes. They lived in groups together, but they lived the life of France as far as possible; they did not become citizens of the United States, for they considered the Americans a savage and ignorant people. They did not learn English; they glorified French” (Chalmers 1998: 24–25). Possibly to drive them away, the authorities tried to impose a $20 per month license fee on the unpopular foreign miners, which nearly started an all-out riot. The French consuls in California, Patrice Dillon and Jules Lombard, had to go to the mines to restore order (Derbec 1964: 24–25).
From his own notes and later accomplishments, it appears that Boban did not associate with or think so highly of the other Europeans in the area, preferring the company of the Spanish-speaking population and native groups. “I lived in California for 4 years, beginning in 1853 and for two of those years all I did was travel the country in all directions; this wandering life among the Indians allowed me to study their customs” (HSA: B2240, Box 1, Folder III).3 He seems to have been an unusually empathetic observer of the circumstances and customs of California’s indigenous people. He wrote with some sadness and shock about the impact of the “violent European immigrants” and the disastrous effect they had on the land and lives of the native peoples.
Traveling up the Sacramento River, he met native Californians all along the way. The California Indians, he wrote, were
nomads and hunters, who ordinarily live in small groups (Rancherias), they choose always to build their rancherias on a hilltop with a view that stretches into the distance and located near extensive river valleys so that water is easily accessible. Their huts or shelters are made with tree branches (chamisos) stuck into the ground and joined at the other end in the shape of a bell, the base is circular, and in the center is a small fire that is kept going night and day. They all sleep pell mell, with their feet toward the fire. The Indians never make large fires for a number of reasons: lack of firewood because of deforestation, a desire not to frighten off game, and to avoid providing a target for their enemies. (HSA: B2240, Box 1, Folder III)4
He lived for a while in Los Angeles, which was a boomtown during the Gold Rush, filled with foreign fortune seekers, many of them violent, prone to strong drink and generally out of control. The “violent European immigrants” lynched Mexicans and brutally hunted and killed native peoples by setting fire to the many stands of trees. They “hunted them, burned their beautiful forests and disturbed the earth,” writes Boban. He later commented, “Certainly nothing is stranger than seeing a man, claiming to be civilized, take such great pleasure in burning and destroying everything, and if the Indians had the word ‘savage’ in their language, how often they should have applied it to those Europeans” (HSA: B2240, Box 1, Folder III).5
Other observers, both contemporary participants and later historians, echoed Boban’s concerns about the treatment of the original inhabitants of California. Peter H. Burnett, governor of California from 1849 to 1851, expressed the view that, “a war of extermination will continue to be waged between the two races until the Indian becomes extinct” (Heizer and Almquist 1971: 26). Unfortunately, Burnett’s prediction proved all too accurate. According to some sources, California’s native population plummeted between 1848 and 1860 from about 150,000 to about 30,000 (Heizer and Almquist 1971: 26).
The arrival of European and American settlers affected every aspect of the Indians’ lives and ruined their environment. As Edward Castillo, an historian and member of the Cahuilla tribe, wrote in a later history of California Indians, the violent immigrants exhibited a total disregard for the native inhabitants, and enthusiastically participated in “the destruction of the natural environment in their frenzy to exploit the land.” Their ceaseless violent devastation “struck a mortal blow to the Indians’ sacred relationship with nature” (Castillo 1978: 108).
Although he was minimally educated and came from a completely different culture, Boban exhibited an unusual openness and sophistication about the native people he met. He wrote about them with tenderness and admiration, detailing their customs and daily subsistence practices. “The Indians live by hunting and fishing. One day I was watching one of them fishing along the Sacramento and I tried to figure out what sort of bait he had at the end of his line. I saw him bend down and take some flesh from his heel and attach it to the line. Indians have very cracked heels. The bait was excellent, the fish seemed to find it tasty, and the fishing was successful” (HSA: B2240, Box 1, Folder III).6
The young explorer (voyageur in French) seems also quite sympathetic to the plight of native women. In another passage Boban recalled, “On a day of hunting—the Indian man leaves before daybreak and upon return he throws all the game on the ground in front of his wife, who is in charge of preparing everything, because she has the worst part of the share.”7 He commented on native hygiene as well. “The hunter goes off to bathe in the temascalli, a sort of steam bath like that used among the Aztecs and today also among the modern Mexicans as well, and leaving the steam bath, the California Indian jumps into the freezing water. I have always thought the Indian owes the freshness of his skin to that sort of bath” (HSA: B2240, Box 1, Folder III).8
Boban was a keen observer, noticing and recording a variety of different customs. He was always eager to try new experiences. “I was also present at a particular hunt undertaken by Indian women. This was at a place where there were very many grasshoppers—the women set fire to the grass and picked up the grasshoppers in their baskets. The grasshoppers were already half grilled, and they ate them with great gusto. The taste reminded me of shrimp” (HSA: B2240, Box 1, Folder III).9
Somewhere along the Sacramento River, the young traveler witnessed a funeral that touched him deeply.
The ceremony made a profound impression on me. One of the brothers of the dead man set fire to the funeral pyre and stirred the fire with the end of a branch so that the cadaver was completely consumed—during that time all the relatives and others danced around the fire. His poor mother was overwhelmed by despair. I saw her bend down and pick up one of her son’s vertebrae, which was still on fire, and put it in her mouth. The scene is still before my eyes. I will never forget it. When everything was reduced to ashes, the chief’s widow disposed of all her ornaments and rolled around in the burnt ashes of her husband. Then the ashes were picked up and placed in a terra cotta vessel and then put into the ground. (HSA: B2240, Box 1, Folder III)10
He also described his sadness about the cause of this young man’s death.
I arrived in this region the day before the death of this chief, a young man of 25 years at most, who was big and strong. He procured eau de vie [liquor], I really don’t know how, because it was far away from any village, and he was drunk for 15 days