and sometimes without oath--and decided the matter at once. The whole
matter was disposed of without any written proceedings, except in some
instances I gave to parties a memorandum of my decision. Thus on one
occasion a dispute arose as to the rate of wages, between several
workmen and their employer; the workmen insisting upon twelve dollars
a day and the employer refusing to give more than ten. To settle
the dispute they agreed to leave the matter to me. I heard their
respective statements, and after stating that both of them ought to
suffer a little for not having made a specific contract at the outset,
decided that the workingmen should receive eleven dollars a day, with
which both appeared to be well satisfied. On another occasion parties
disputed as to whether freight on a box of crockery should be charged
by measurement or by weight, a specific contract having been made that
all articles shipped by the owner should be carried at a fixed
price per hundred pounds. They agreed to leave the matter to my
determination, and I settled it in five minutes. Again, on one
occasion a woman, apparently about fifty-six, rushed into my office
under great excitement, exclaiming that she wanted a divorce from her
husband, who had treated her shamefully. A few moments afterwards
the husband followed, and he also wanted relief from the bonds of
matrimony. I heard their respective complaints, and finding that they
had children, I persuaded them to make peace, kiss, and forgive; and
so they left my office arm-in-arm, each having promised the other
never to do so again, amid the applause of the spectators. In this
way I carried out my conception of the good Cadi of the village,
from which term (Al Cadi) my own official designation, Alcalde, was
derived.

To make a long story short, until I was superseded by officers
under the State government, I superintended municipal affairs and