THE ROBERT E. COWAN COLLECTION BANCROFT LIBRARY ,.-/;.: ilfi FOUR MONTHS AMONG THE GOLD-FINDERS IN CALIFORNIA : BEING THE DIARY OF AN EXPEDITION FROM SAN FRANCISCO TO THE GOLD DISTRICTS. BY J. TYRWHITT BROOKS, M.D. NEW-YORK: D. APPLETON & COMPANY, 200 BROADWAY. PHILADELPHIA: GEO. S, APPLETON, 164 CHESNUT-STREET. M.DCCC.XLI5. WORKS ONJTHE USEFUL ARTS. D. Appleton fy Company, have recently published, A NEW EDITION COMPLETE WITH THE SUPPLEMENT, OF A DICTIONARY OF ARTS, MANUFACTURES, AND MINES, CONTAINING A CLEAR EXPOSITION OF THEIR PRINCIPLES AND PRACTICE. Illustrated with 1500 Wood Engravings. BY AWOREW CJRE, M. ., F. R. S., &c. One stout volume, 8vo, of 1640 pages, strongly bound in leather, $5. "Dr. Ure's Dictionary, of which the American edition is now completed, is a stupendous proof of persevering assiduity, combined with genius and taste. For all the benefit of individual enterprise in the practical arts and manufactures, and for the enhancement of general prosperity through the extension of accurate knowledge of political economy, we have not any work worthy to be compared with this important volume We are convinced that manufacturers, merchants, tradesmen, students of natural and experimental philosophy, inventive mechanics, men of opulence, members of legislatures, and all who desire to comprehend something of the rapidly accelerating progress of those discoveries which facilitate the supply of human wants, and the augmentation of social comforts with the national weal, will find this invaluable " Dictionary" a perennial soucre of salutary instruction and edifying enjoyment." National Intelligencer. " It is a publication of most decided and permanent value, one of which no library should be destitute. It is filled with infor mation upon precisely those subjects with which every one should be familiar, upon the practical operations of the arts, the scientific principles and processes of mechanics, and the history of all improvements in every department of Science and Industry. The author is a man of eminence and ability, and the work enjoys the highest reputation in England, where it was first published. We trust it will be welcomed by the intelligent in every class of our citizens." New- York Tribune. " This is unquestionably one of the most important practical scientific works, which the present century has produced. It is-. not only invaluable as a book of reference, but it presents the various subjects of which it treats, with so much perspicuity as to bring them quite within the reach of an ordinary intelligence. Every scientific man may be expected to possess himself of the work of course ; and we can commend it also with equal confidence to all not professedly men of science, who wish to be enlightened in respect to a thousand things of which the great mass are indeed profoundly ignorant, but which yet enter deeply into the economy of civilized society." Albany Jlrgus. " It rarely comes to our turn to notice so valuable a publication as this. We had seen it spoken of in high terms by the English press, but had no idea that it was so comprehensive a work as it is, or got up at any thing like the labor and expense that have evidently been bestowed on it. It should have been called a History of the Arts, etc., for it omits nothing that is necessary to be known of any of the various subjects which it treats of." New-York Courier and Knquircr. " We have received this excellent work from the press of the Messrs. Appleton, at a price placing it within the reach of the thousands to whom it must soon become a book of absolute necessity. Of Dr. Ure's eminent reputation as a man both of high science and extensive practical experience in its application, it is unnecessary to speak." Democratic Review. " This work is indeed what it professes to be, an Encyclopedia of every thing in the Arts, Manufactures and Mines. The facts are derived from sources of unquestionable authority, and the explanations are clear, comprehensive and satisfactory. We regard the publication not only as one o r the most useful but one of the cheapest of the day. The information contained in the pages of this Dictionary is in a great measure imperishable, and may be referred to with as much confidence many years to come as now. How much better, the gill of such a work to a student, an artist, a manufacturer, than any of the trashy and perishable- productions with which the press is so constantly teeming." Philadelphia Enquirer. " There is an astonishing amount of useful information condensed into the compass of this dictionary, forming a perfect vadc mecum to the inquirer after scientific facts." Buffalo Advertiser. THE BOOK OF USEFUL KNOWLEDGE. A CYCLOPEDIA OF SEVERAL THOUSAND PRACTICAL RECEIPTS, AND COLLATERAL INFORMATION IN THE ARTS, MANUFACTURES, AND TRADES: INCLUDING MEDICINE, PHARMACY, AND DOMESTIC ECONOMY, DESIGNED AS A COMPENDIOUS BOOK OF REFERENCE, FOR THE MANUFACTURER, TRADESMAN, AMATEUR, AND HEADS OF FAMILIES. BY ABNOLD JAMES COOLEY. ILLUSTRATED WITH NUMEROUS WOOD ENGRAVINGS. One Volume, 8vo., of 650 Pages. Piice 2 50 bound. stantly require her attention and judgment. Mr. Cooley's CYCLOP/EDIA amply supplies the deficiency, in its application to all the ordinary purposes oHife, The means to promote comfort and economy in the domicil are unfolded. " Bakers, and Confectioners, and Giocers, especially, will learn from it the most advantageous methods to secure good articles at the lowest cost. Chemists and Druggists will comprehend the most approved and scientific methods to obtain the surest effects of their pharmaceutical labors. Agriculturists will disc-.N or the most 1 aper Makers, and Typographers will also find their business explained ; while Den tin.-: anil Phunographers will equally be interested in the increased knowledge which they will imbibe of their respective ails and protes>ions, from Mr. Coolt-y's laborious resear.--.lv*, Hence, his CYCLOPEDIA OF PRACTICAL RKOKII-TS offers to all persons advantages unnarallelcd by any similar production FOUR MONTHS AMONG THE GOLD-FINDERS IN CALIFORNIA ; BEING THE DIARY OF AN EXPEDITION FROM SAN FRANCISCO TO THE GOLD DISTRICTS. BY J. TYEWHITT BROOKS, e-U/tL , V^wv^. NEW-YORK : D. APPLETON & COMPANY, 200 BROADWAY. PHILADELPHIA: GEO. S. APPLETON, 164 CHESNUT-STREET. M.DCCC.XLIX. X Bancroft Li! P PEFACE. THE accompanying diary some interesting circumstances con nected with which will be found in the letter which commences the present volume was sent home by the Author merely for the entertainment of the members of his own family and a few pri vate friends. It has been submitted to the public in the hope that, as an authentic record of a variety of interesting particulars con nected with the original discovery and present condition of the Gold Districts of California, it will not fail to prove acceptable. CONTENTS. LETTER ........... 13 16 CHAPTER I. Clearing: the Faranolles Making the entrance to the Bay of San Francisco The passage through the Strait Appearance of the Bay Town of San Francisco The anchor is let go The Author goes on shore His bad luck Sweeting's Hotel The Author and Mr. Malcolm propose visiting the American settlements They become acquainted with Captain Fulsom and Mr. Bradley Object of the Author's visit to California Mr. M'Phail leaves for Sonoma Tlie houses of San Francisco, and their inhabitants Native Californians Senoritas and cigarettes . . 17 18 CHAPTER II. Start for Monterey Horse equipments in California The advantages of them Rifles and Ruffians Californian scenery Immense herds of cat tle Mission of Santa Clara Pueblo of San Jose A Californian farm house What it is like inside and out Prolific crops of wheat Saddle- sickness The journey is resumed Mission of San Jose Arrival at Monterey The Author's visit to Col. Mason Surgeons not wanted in California Rumors of gold being found on the Sacramento Characte ristics of Monterey Don Luis Palo and his sisters What all Califor nian dinners consist of The party returns to San Francisco . 18 21 CHAPTER III. An arrival at San Francisco from the gold district Captain Fulsom intends visiting the mine The first Alcalde and others examine the gold Par ties made up for the diggings Newspaper reports The Government officers propose taking possession of the mine The Author and his friends decide to visit the Sacramento y alley A horse is bought In crease of the gold excitement Work-people strike work and prepare to move off Lawyers, storekeepers, and others follow their example The Author's journey delayed Ten dollars a-day for a negro-waiter Wait ing for a saddler Don Luis Palo arrives from Monterey on his way to the mines The report of the Government taking possession of the mines contradicted Desertion of part of the Monterey garrison Rumored ex tent of the mines The Author and his friends agree to go in company Return of M'Phail Preparations for the journey " Gone to the dig gings" , 2124 CONTENTS. CHAPTER IV. The party leave San Francisco Cross to Sausalitto with horses and baggage Appearance of the cavalcade Jose's method of managing horses Character of the country passed through Stay at Sonoma for the night A Yankee hotel-keeper's notion The author meets with Lieutenant Sherman Receives from him a letter of introduction to Captain Slitter Napper Valley Sleep at the house of a settler Troublesome bed-fellows Wild-looking Scenery Bradley is injured by a fall from his horse Difficulties in the way of pitching a tent A hint to the bears Supper and bed Resume the journey Sacramento Valley Elk and wild fowl A long halt A hunting party A missing shot . . . 24 26 CHAPTER V. Encampment for the night Symptoms of neighbors not far off Reach the Sacramento River Sutler's Fort Captain Sutter His offer of accom modation Various matters to be seen to A walk through the Fort Desertion of the guard to the " diggings" Work and whisky Indians and their bargains A chief's effort to look like a civilized being Yan kee traders Indians and trappers " Beats beaver skins" Death to the weakest A regular Spanish Don and his sen-ant Captain Sutter a Swiss Guard His prejudice in favor of " constituted authorities " 26 29 CHAPTER VI. The journey delayed A walk to the camp A list of wants Captain Sut ler's account of the first settlement in California How he served the Indians, and how he civilized them Breakfast Captain Sutler's wife and daughter Ridiculous stories about the discovery of the gold mines Joe Smith's prophecy An Indian ghost Something about a ship-load of rifles 3031 CHAPTER VII. Captain Sutler's account of the first discovery of the gold His surprise at Mr. Marshall's appearance at the Fort Mr. Marshall's statement The mill-wheel thrown oul of gear The water-channel enlarged Mr. Mar shall's atlenlion attracted by some glittering subslance Finds it lo be gold First imagines it to have been buried there Discovers it in great abundance Takes horse to Sutler's Fort Captain Sutter and Mr. Mar shall agree to keep the matter secret They start off to ihe mill Proceed up Ihe Fork Find ihe gold in greal abundance Relurn to the mill The work-people meet them A knowing Indian and a sly Kentuckian A laboring party organized Digging and washing for gold The news spreads People flock to the diggings Arrival of Mormons The gold found to be inexhaustible Men of science as blind as the rest of the world 3134 CHAPTER VIII. The Author and his friends leave Sutler's Fort Tents in the bottom A caravan in motion Green hills and valleys Indian villages Califor- nian pack-horses A sailor on horseback Lunch at noon A trouble some beasl Sierra Nevada Firsl view of Ihe lower mines How Ihe gold is dug and washed The " cradle" The diggers and their slock of gold A store in course of conslruclion The lenl is pilched The golden ilch First attempts at gold-finding A hole in the Saucepan Sound asleep 34 38 CONTENTS. CHAPTER IX. Two horses stray away How orders were enforced at the digs day work Nature of the soil Inconveniences even in gold getting Dinner and rest A strike for higher wages A walk through the dig gings Sleeping and smoking Indians and finery Californians and Yankees Runaway sailors and stray negroes A native-born Ken- tuckian " That's a fact" A chapel at the diggings A supper with an appetite 38 40 CHAPTER X. Digging and washing, with a few reflections A cradle in contemplation Scales to sell, but none to lend Stock of gold weighed More arri vals Two new-comers Mr. Biggs and Mr. Lacosse Good order pre vails at the mines Timber bought for the cradles The cradles made The cradles worked The result of the first day's trial . . . 41 44 CHAPTER XI. The proceedings of the week Visit from Mr. Larkin What will the Go vernment do ? What " enough" is San Francisco Houses and ships deserted A captain and ship without a crew A ship without a crew or captain Wages, newspapers, and shovels The Attorney-General to the King of the Sandwich Islands Something for the lawyers Gold-diggers by moonlight Mr. Larkin's departure Provisions run short Seek a supply at Sutler's Good luck Diggings' law Provisions arrive A wagon wanted Arrival of Californians and their families Gay dresses and coquettish manners Fandangos El Jarabe The waltz Lookers- on and dancers Coffee, and something stronger No more Sunday work Jose and the saints The Virgin Mary cheated Contemplated migration .... - 44 49 CHAPTER XH. The party leave the Mormon diggings Cradles sold by auction Laughter and biddings The wagon sent back The route to the saw-mills A horse in danger A miss at a Koyott An antelope hit Mr. Marshall Venison steaks for supper The saw-mills Indians at work Acorn bread Where the gold was How it was got Gentlemen and horses New-comers " Yankee Doodle" and the " Star Spangled Banner" 49 52 CHAPTER XIH. The party again shift their quarters The river forded Horry in the water Mr. Sinclair's party of Indians Deserted Indian villages Weber's Creek A halt made Cradles hollowed out A commotion in the camp Col. Mason arrives on a tour of inspection His opinions as to what Congress should do Military deserters, and what ought to be done with them Return of Col. Mason's party to Suiter's Fort Bradley accom panies it with a stock of gold How the gold was packed, and what pre cautions were taken for its security 52 56 CHAPTER XIV. Smoking and sleeping Fever, and how caused Bradley returns A doctor wanted A doctor's fee at the mines Medicine scarce A hot air bath and a cold water bath Indians engaged to work Indian thimble-rigging An Indian gamester, and the stake he plays for More sickness Mormons move off A drunken dance by Indians An Indian song about the yellow earth and the fleet rifle An immodest dance by Indian women . 56 58 10 CONTENTS. CHAPTER XV. The party determine to start for Bear River Sickness at the mines What happened to a drunken Indian An old trapper and his stories Captain Suiter's first settlement Indians partial to horse-flesh A score of horses stolen An expedition to revenge the theft A rancheria demolished A chorus of yells Indians routed and then brought to labor Tin Bear River The trapper engaged as guide Preparations for the journey An addition to the party The journey commenced Rocky country Cross the North Fork An incident to a mule Flour cakes and bacon t scraps Resume the journey Precipitous ravines End of the jour ney 5962 CHAPTER XVI. A rest A solitude No gold to be found An exploring party Good for tune Food and security More cradles A fortified shanty in prepara tion A dessert after dinner Dejection Thoughts about home No other gold-finders to be seen Mormon trail Salt Plain and the Great Salt Lake A weary day's journey without water Saline exhalations The inland sea and its desolate shores A terrible whirlpool The shanty finished The trapper's services retained The camp visited by an In dian tribe A friendly sign The pipe of peace A " trade" with the Indians declined Some depart and some remain Provisions run short Hunting expeditions Something about a bear ..... 63 66 CHAPTER XVH. A rich mine of gold discovered A guard both night and day A good morn ing's work An Indian scout How he served Dowling, and how Dow- ling served him A look-out Indians seen advancing A moment of fear A yell Arrows and rifles A wounded chief carried off The field of battle The return to the camp Horses driven off by Indians Where Jose was found The wounded attended to An after-dinner dis cussion How the watch went to sleep, and how they were woke up M'Phail missing Wolves, deer, and a puma A party set out in search ofM'Phail 67 70 CHAPTER XVIII. Where M'Phail was last seen The trapper's keen eyes A nap in the open air The Author woke up Camp-fires A surprise attempted Horses left in charge The tactics of the advance and the retreat A shot from a rifle, and a man wounded A salute The rifle-shot explained Horses driven off A volley fired Poor Horry scalped The trapper promises vengeance The wounded man Grief at the loss of a friend A mystery explained Horry 's grave His funeral and monument . 71 74 CHAPTER XIX. The party strengthen their defences No tidings of M'Phail The trapper goes in search of him Returns, having met with no success M'Phail makes his appearance accompanied by guides His adventures while away Finds he is lost Loses his rifle No supper Loses his horse No food for three days Sinks into a stupor Is discovered by two In dians Their humane treatment of him They conduct him by slow marches to the camp 74 76 CONTENTS. 11 CHAPTER XX. The Author inclined to return to the coast Sickness in the camp Provi sions run low What is to be done with the gold ? Proposal to convey it to the coast Short rations Indians visit the camp The invalids of the party The conveyance of the gold again discussed Suspicions be gin to arise Captain Sutler's receipt missing Bradley's explanation Further discussions about the gold The matter at last arranged No chance of rain 76 79 CHAPTER XXI. The party start for the coast How the carrying of the gold was arranged The escort Character of the country they passed through Halt at noon An alarm A discovery The escort return, keeping a sharp look-out A merry evening The narrative resumed A loud whistle "The best part of the gold is lost" The party are sullen and angry Malcolm is missing Don Luis's explanation A lasso whirls through the air A horse shot Malcolm falls to the ground Bradley fires, and with effect Retire to cover A discharge of rifles The enemy wheel off Mal colm's horse is missing Malcolm found to be insensible More horse men Tomas Maria Carillo Robberies at the mines Brutal conduct A litter procured Malcolm conveyed to a shanty A kind Californian woman A volley of inquiries about the gold " It is the doctor you have to thank for that" The Author's reflections . . . 79 84 CHAPTER XXII. The stock of gold remaining weighed and shared Squabbling over it The party separate The Author and others start off They meet with La- cosse and the trapper Lacosse's explanation Arrive at Suiter's Pur chase flour at eighty-five dollars a barrel Camps of miners A gold- washing colony Encamp for the night Horses and flour missing in the morning Visit a big bony American A hole threatened in their skulls How quarrels are settled Lacosse promises to join the party at Sut- ter's The march resumed Arrive at Malcolm's shanty The doctor prescribes for his patient Malcolm's first idea of the lasso The party leave for Sutler's . . 84 87 CHAPTER XXIII. The gold district Sickness and selfishness The dead become the prey of the wolf Malcolm's gradual recovery The kindness of his nurse A maferia Life and property alike insecure The wealthy gold-finder laid in wait for Bodies in the river Gold for a pillow Robberies Rags Brandy at a dollar a dram The big bony American again Suiter's Fort Intelligence of Lacosse Intelligence of the robbers Sweeting's Hotel again A meeting " El Capitan" Desertions from the ships Andreas's offer to a captain The first Alcalde gone to the mines The second Alcalde follows his superior Start for Monterey in pursuit of Andreas Board the vessels in port A deserter arrested Leave Monte rey Cross the coast range Meet with civilized Indians Intelligence of the robbers Indian horse-stealers Continue the pursuit Abandon it, and return to Monterey 87 93 12 CONTENTS. CHAPTER XXIV. The Author and his friends part company-^-Their regrets at the separation Friendship in the wilderness Friendship at a supper The Author finds himself alone Monterey deserted High wages Officers' servants not to be obtained A few arrivals from the mines Stores shut, houses locked up, and ships left defenceless 93 94 LETTER. MONTEREY, October 11, 1848. DEAR GEORGE, I take advantage of the departure of a courier sent by Colonel Mason, the United States Governor of California, to Washington, with dispatches, to let you know what I have been about during the five months which have elapsed since I last wrote you. Long before you receive this you will have heard in England of the extraordinary occurrences which have taken place out here. My last letter, which I hope you received, told you of the failure of the emigration scheme to Oregon, and of my intention of leaving that barren, desert-like place, the first possi ble opportunity. A friend of mine, of whom I have before spo ken to you, namely, Mr. Malcolm, a Scotchman, and a thorough practical agriculturist, was anxious to shift his quarters to Cali fornia, the soil of which country was represented by every one who had visited it as of extraordinary fertility. We had heard of the war that was going on between the United States and Mexi co having extended itself to that country, and Mr. Malcolm pre vailed on me to accompany him to San Francisco, where he thought I might manage to obtain an appointment in the United States army. We made the voyage together, and the accom panying diary of which more by and by commences with an account of our first setting out. But to return to California. I assure you it is hardly possible for any accounts of the gold mines, and of what I may call gold gravel and sand, to be exaggerated. The El Dorado of the early voyagers to America has really been discovered ; and what its consequences may be, not only upon this continent but upon the world, wiser heads heads more versed than mine is in moneta ry science must tell. There is much speculation here as to the effects which the late wonderful discovery will produce in the States and the old country. Of course we expect to be inundated with emigrants, coming, I suppose, from every part of the world, and truly, for all I can tell, there will be gold enough for all. And now, the first question you will ask me is, whether I have made my fortune ? I reply, my old bad luck has not for- 2 ]4 LETTER. saken me. I always seem to come in for monkey's allowance more kicks than halfpence. Three months ago I thought my fortune was made, and that I might come home a South Ameri can nabob. Nothing of the kind. Here I was, almost on the spot, when the first news of the gold was received. I have worked hard and undergone some hardships, and, thanks to the now almost lawless state of the country, I have been deprived of the great mass of my savings, and must, when the dry season comes round again, set to work almost new. I have but fourteen hundred dollars' worth of the precious metal remaining, and, with the rate of prices which now universally prevails here, that will not keep me much over a couple of months. My own case, though, is that of many others. As the number of diggers and miners augmented, robberies and violence became frequent. At first, when we arrived at the Mormon diggings, for example, every thing was tranquil. Every man worked for himself, with out disturbing his neighbor. Now the scene is widely changed indeed. When I was last there, as you will see by my diary, things were bad enough ; but now, according to the reports we hear, no man, known to be in possession of much gold, dare say, as he lays down his head at night, that he will ever rise from his pillow. The fact is, that there is no executive government of any strength here to put an end to this state of things. The country is almost a wilderness, whereof Indians are the princi pal inhabitants. The small force Colonel Mason has here has been thinned very materially by desertions, and the fidelity of those that remain is, according to the opinion of their command ing' officer, not to be overmuch depended on. Of course, as you may expect, I am naturally much cast down at the turn which matters have taken I mean as regards my own misfortunes. It is heart-breaking to be robbed by a set of villains of what you have worked so hard for, and have under gone so much to obtain. I am in hopes, however, that my next gold campaign may be a more successful one. I dare say there have been plenty of accounts of the doings in California in the newspapers. As, however, not only you, but Anna and Charley, and my kind friends Mr. and Mrs. and Miss , and many others, will, I am sure, be glad to know something about my own personal adventures, I send you a rough diary of what I have seen and done. I hardly know whether you will be able to make the whole of it out, for I have interlined it in many parts, and my writing never was of the most legible character. You know I have always been in the habit, ever since I first went abroad, of jotting down some record of my movements, scanty enough, but still forming a memorial which it is pleasant to look back upon. As, however, the gold affair is not only a great feature in a man's life, but in the history of our times, I made pretty full jottings of my adventures every few days j and since LETTER. 15 I returned here I have spent a few days in expanding them, and adding to them a few extra particulars which I thought would be of interest. I don't know whether you will care to wade through such a bundle of information. The MS. when I got it all together quite frightened me, and I hardly liked to ask Colo nel Mason to transmit such a bulky parcel for me ; but you know our couriers over here travel with quite a cavalcade of horses, and a few pounds more would not be thought much of. How ever, as it may prove interesting to yourself S I know will read it through with pleasure and delight in it I dispatch it for you to do as you like with. It will .be forwarded to a young friend of mine in New York, Mr. Thome, to whom I have written, requesting him to transmit the package to England by one of the monthly steamers. This will save you a heavy charge for postage, which, I dare say, you would not thank me for. N You can't conceive, my dear brother, how often I have wish ed you were out here with me. Your engineering talents would have been invaluable in inventing some method of procuring the gold dust, or rather of separating it from the soil, which would have been much more effectual than the rude way in which we went to work. At the same time, I am now thankful you are at home. It is easy to get gold here, but it is very difficult to keep it. In fact, after all, the affair is a hazardous lottery ; and those who may succeed in getting ofj with their pounds of gold dust and flakes to Europe or to the settled States, will be the few who will win the great prizes. In my diary, you will find a very detailed account of our va rious operations and successes. The first place we made for was on the south bank of the Americans' river, and when the Lower or Mormon diggings, as they are called, got over-crowded, we marched off further up the river, which soon divides itself into two branches, forming the North and South Forks. We reached the saw-mill, where the discovery was first made, and worked there some time; but finding inconveniences in the way, and hearing of another station, we started again. This new place is called Weber's Creek, and sometimes Rock Creek, and is a small stream running into the North Fork of the river. We being upon the southern bank of the South Fork, and Weber's Creek running into the North Fork at the north bank, we had to ford both branches of the stream to get to our new station, which we found very productive ; the gold being more plentiful than in the lower diggings, and discovered in short veins, and in lumps amongst the rocks of the neighboring ravines. We should probably not have gone any further than Weber's Creek I sincerely wish we had not but a good deal of fever and ague got about. The sun was terribly hot in those deep valleys all day, and the nights chill and damp. After some weeks here, then, we got restless. JQ LETTER. and set off once more, directing our course three days' journey to the north, to a place upon the Bear River, where we were led to expect not only plenty of gold, but a better temperature and a healthier climate. It was after we reached Bear Yalley that our reverses began. It is utterly a savage country, where a strong arm and the rifle form the only code of laws. Up to our appear ance on Bear River, we had got on with very few adventures, and considerable profit ; but now came misfortunes. I shall not trouble you with them here : they are written at full length in the batch of MS. I send. I hardly know -what to do with myself here until the dry season comes round. The rains have not begun yet, but they may be expected from day to day, and then I suppose we shall have a vast influx from the interior, as it is quite impossible to camp out in the rainy season. Of course the price of any article of food and clothing will be excessive, and I almost think that the best thing for me to do, when the seamen come down, and the ships are manned again, will be to try and get a passage to the Sandwich Islands, which are not very far off, and in which it is probable that living is reasonable. I could easily get back to the mainland in time for the next dry season. What changes may take place by that time, however, I know not. The States may claim the land, and the gold within it, and send an army to enforce their rights. If so, a terrible scene of tumult and dis order may be expected. All the lawless adventurers who are scattered about this part of the continent are flocking down to the gold regions, so are the Indians ; and I feel pretty sure that Jona than will have a tough battle to fight if he wants to keep all the bullion to himself. I suppose that in England the people will be pricking up their ears when they learn what we are doing here, and that we shall have plenty of emigrants from home. I hardly like to advise upon the subject here ; there certainly is a wonderful amount of gold. What the chances of obtaining it and getting it taken home may be next season, I know not. At all events, the pursuit will be difficult in the extreme, and tolerably dangerous also. ***#** Yours affectionately, J. TYRWHITT BROOKS. FOUR MONTHS AMONG THE GOLD-FINDERS IN ALTA CALIFORNIA. CHAPTER I. * * * I felt heartily glad to hear that we were then clearing the Faranolles, and soon hurried upon deck, but we continued beating about for several hours before we made the entrance to the Bay of San Francisco. At length, however, we worked our way in between the two high bluffs, and along a strait a couple of miles wide and nearly five miles long, flanked on either side with bold broken hills passing on our right hand the ricketty-looking fortifications erected by the Spaniards for the defence of the pas sage, but over which the Yankee stars and stripes were now float ing. On leaving the strait we found ourselves on a broad sheet* of rippling water looking like a great inland lake, hemmed in on all sides by lofty hills on which innumerable herds of cattle and hor ses were grazing, with green islands and clusters of rock rising up here and there, and a little fleet of ships riding at anchor. On our right was the town of San Francisco. I had suffered so much from the voyage, that when the anchor was let go I felt no inclination to hurry on shore. M'Phail and Mal colm, however, went off, but promised to return to the ship that night. I soon after turned into my hammock, and, thanks to the stillness of the water in which we rode, .slept soundly till morn ing. April 29th. This morning we all rose early, and went on shore. The little baggage we had we took in the boat. Mal colm told me that he had heard the war was over between the United'States and Mexico, and I bitterly congratulated myself on experiencing my usual run of bad luck. We made our way to Sweeting's hotel, which Malcolm and M'Phail had visited y ester- 18 FOUR MONTHS AMONG THE day, and stated to be the best of the three hotels which have sprung up here since the Americans became masters of the place. Malcolm intends making an excursion lo the interior. He proposes to visit the American settlements, and to satisfy himself as to the reputed advantages which California presents as an agricultural country. I have agreed to accompany him. We have fallen in with two very pleasant American gentlemen at our hotel to-day one, a Captain Fulsom, holding some appointment under Government here ; the other, a young friend of his named Bradley. We had some conversation together on the ^ubject of the Mexican war, in the course of which I learnt that Mr. Bradley has been a resident in California for the last eight years, and that he was one of the officers of the volunteer corps attached to the army of the United States, while military operations were going on in this country. I told him of my desire to enter as a surgeon in the service of the States, and he promised to speak to Captain Fulsom on the subject, and obtain from him a letter to Colonel Mason, the new governor ; but he is afraid there is little chance of my meeting with success, as nearly all the volunteer corps have been, or are about to be, disbanded. Both Mr. Bradley and Captain "Fulsom speak very favorably of the climate and soil of California, and say that an enterprising agriculturist is sure to make a speedy fortune. Mr. Bradley, who has agreed to accom pany us on our trip, strongly advises Malcolm to shift his quarters from Oregon, and settle here, saying that he is sure my friend will do so when he has once seen the farms in the Sacramento valley, whither we are to start early next week. M'Phail left us to-day, to make a trip to Sonoma. San Francisco, although as yet but a poor place, will no doubt become a great emporium of commerce. The population may be about a couple of thousand ; of these two-thirds are Americans. The houses, with the exception of some few wooden ones which have been shipped over here by the Americans, are nearly all built of unburnt bricks. The appearance of the native Californian is quite Spanish. The men wear high steeple-like hats, jackets of gaudy colors, and breeches of velvet, generally cotton. They are a handsome, swarthy race. The best part in the faces of the women are their eyes, which are black and very lustrous. The Californian belles, I am sorry to say, spoil their teeth by smoking cigarettes. CHAPTER II. MONTEREY. May 4.th. Started off early on the morning of the 2nd on our journey to Monterey. We found our horses in readiness in the hotel yard, in charge of a servant (here called a vaquero) of Mr. Bradley's. The latter, having business to transact at Monterey, GOLD-FINDERS IN CALIFORNIA. 19 accompanied us. My horse was equipped after the Spanish fashion, with the usual high-pommelled cumbrous saddle, with a great show of useless trappings, and clumsy wooden stirrups, and for a long time I found the riding sufficiently disagreeable, though, doubtless, far more pleasant than a coast journey would have been, with a repetition of the deadly sea-sickness from which I had already suffered so much. I soon found out, too, the advan tages of the Spanish saddle, as enabling one to keep one's seat when travelling over the rough broken country through which our road ran. Bradley had told us to have our rifles in readiness, as no one travels any distance here without that very necessary protection, the mountains near the coast being infested with law less gangs of ruffians, who lay in wait for solitary travellers. The first part of our ride lay through a dense thicket of under wood, and afterwards across parched-up valleys, and over low sandy hills ; then past large grazing grounds where cattle might be counted by the thousand and numerous ranches or farms, the white farm buildings, surrounded by little garden patches, scattered over the hill sides. We at 'length came to an extensive plain, with groups of oaks spread over its surface, and soon afterwards reached the neglected Mission of Santa Clara, where we halted for a few hours. On leaving here our road was over a raised causeway some two or three miles in length, beneath an avenue of shady trees, which extended as far as the outskirts of the town of St. Jose. This town, or pueblo as it is called, is nothing more than a mass of ill-arranged and ill-built houses, with an ugly church and a broad plaza, peopled by three or four hundred inhabitants. Not being used to long journeys on horseback, I felt disposed to stop here for the night, but Bradley urged us to proceed a few miles farther, where we could take up our quarters at a rancho belonging to a friend of his. Accord ingly we pushed on, and after a ride of about seven miles, di verged from the main road, and soon reached the farm-house, where we were well entertained, and had a good night's rest. Like the generality of houses in California, this was only one story high, and was built of piles driven into the ground, inter laced with boughs and sticks, and then plastered over with mud and whitewashed. The better class of farm-houses are built of adobes, or unburnt bricks, and tiled over. The interior was as plain and cheerless as it well could be. The floor was formed of the soil, beaten down till it was as firm and hard as a piece of stone. The room set apart for our sleeping accommodation boasted as its sole ornaments a Dutch clock and a few gaudily- colored prints of saints hung round the walls. The beds were not over comfortable, but we were too tired to be nice. In the morning I took a survey of the exterior, and saw but a few cattle stalled in the sheds around the house. The greater part, it seems, after being branded, are suffered to run loose over the 20 FOUR MONTHS AMONG THE neighboring pastures. There was a well-cultivated garden in the rear of the house, with abundance of fruit trees and vege tables. While we were at breakfast, Malcolm asked our host several questions about his crops, and soon found that he was no practi cal agriculturist. He had, however, at Bradley's suggestion, dis carded the native wooden plough for the more effective American implement. He told us that he calculated his crop of wheat this year would yield a hundred fanegas for every one sown ; and, on our expressing our surprise at such a bountiful return, said that sixty or over was the usual average. If so, the soil must be something wonderful. After expressing our thanks, for the hos pitality shown us, to the wife of our host, who was a very pretty little dark-eyed woman, with a most winning way about her, we started off to resume our journey. For my own part, I felt very loth to proceed, for I was terribly fatigued by my performance of yesterday, and suffered not a little from that disagreeable malady called " saddle-sickness." Our California!! accompanied us some short distance on our road, which lay for many miles through a wide valley, watered by a considerable stream, and overgrown with oaks and sycamores. Low hills rose on either hand, cov ered with dark ridges of lofty pine trees, by which herds of elk and deer were every now and then seen scampering. We at length entered upon a narrow road through a range of green sheltering hills, and, passing the Mission of San Juan, crossed a wide plain and ascended the mountain ridge which lay between us and Monterey, where we arrived late in the day. Next morning Mr. Bradley accompanied me to the Gorernor's house, where we saw Colonel Mason, the new Governor of the State. He received us with great politeness, but said that the Avar, if war it deserved to be called, was now at an end, that but a small number of troops were stationed in the country, and that there was no vacancy for a surgeon. " Indeed," he said, " con sidering that we have given up head-breaking, and that the cli mate is proverbially healthy. California is hardly the place for doctors to settle in. Besides," said he, '' the Native Californians all use the Temeschal (a sort of air bath) as a remedy for every disorder." Colonel Mason then asked Mr. Bradley if he had heard the reports of gold having been found on the Sacramento, as Mr. Fulsorn had casually mentioned in a letter to him that such ru mors were prevalent at San Francisco. Bradley replied that he had heard something about it, but believed there was no truth in the matter, although a few fools had indeed rushed off to the re puted gold mines'forthwith. With this our interview terminated. Monterey seems to be a rising town. The American style of nouses is superseding the old mud structures, and numbers of new buildings are being run up every month. The hotel we stopped at has only been recently opened by an American. Mon- GOLD-FINDERS IN CALIFORNIA. 21 terey is moreover a port of some importance, if one may judge from the number of vessels lying at anchor. May 7th. On Friday we dined at the house of Don Luis Pa lo, a Californian gentleman of agreeable manners, whose father held office here under the Spanish government previous to the Mexican Revolution. I believe it is Don Luis's intention shortly to return to Spain. He is unmarried, and his two sisters are the handsomest women I have yet seen in this country; their beauty is quite of the Spanish style. A dinner in California seems to be always the same first soup and then beef, dressed in various ways, and seasoned with chillies ; fowls, rice, and beans, with a full allowance of pepper and garlic to each dish. On Saturday we set out on our return, and after two days' hard riding reached San Francisco to-day at 4, P. M. CHAPTER III. May 8th. Captain Fulsom called at Sweeting's to-day. He had seen a man this morning who reported that he had just come from a river called the American Fork, about one hundred miles in the interior, where he had been gold washing. Captain Fulsom saw the gold he had with him ; it was about twenty- three ounces weight, and in small flakes. The man stated that he was eight days getting it, but Captain Fulsom hardly believed this. He says that he saw some of this gold a few weeks since, and thought it was only " mica," but good judges have pro nounced it to be genuine metal. He talks, however, of paying a visit to the place where it is reported to come from. After he was gone Bradley stated that the Sacramento settlements, which Malcolm wished to visit, were in the neighborhood of the Ame rican Fork, and that we might go there together : he thought the distance was only one hundred and twenty miles. May Wtli. Yesterday and to-day nothing has been talked of but the new gold " placer," as people call it. It seems that four other men had accompanied the person Captain Fulsom saw yes terday, and that they had each realized a large quantity of gold. They left the " diggings" on the American Fork (which it seems is the Rio de los Americanos, a tributary to the Sacramento) about a week ago, and stopt a day or two at Sutler's fort, a few miles this side of the diggings, on their way : from there they had travelled by boat to San Francisco. The gold they brought has been examined by the first Alcalde here, and by all the mer chants in the place. Bradley showed us a lump weighing a 22 FOUR MONTHS AMONG THE quarter of an ounce, which he had bought of one of the men, and for which he gave him three dollars and a half. I have no doubt in my own mind about its being genuine gold. Several parties, we hear, are already made up to visit the diggings ; and, according to the newspaper here, a number of people have ac tually started off with shovels, mattocks, and pans to djgthe gold themselves. It is not likely, however, that this will be allowed, for Captain Fulsom has already written to Colonel Mason about taking possession of the mine on behalf of the government, it being, as he says, on public land. May I3th. It is now finally settled that we start off on Wed nesday to the Sacramento Valley. To-day, under Bradley's di rection, I have bought a good horse, for which I paid only fifteen dollars. It will be very little more expense than hiring a horse of the hotel-master here, besides being far more agreeable to have a horse of one's own ; for every body, the commonest workman even, rides in this country. The gold excitement increases daily, as several fresh arrivals from the mines have been reported at San Francisco. The merchants eagerly buy up the gold brought by the miners, and no doubt, in many cases, at prices considerably under its value. I have heard, though, of as much as sixteen dollars an ounce having been given in some instances, which I should have thought was over rather than under the full value of gold in the United States. I confess I begin to feel seriously af fected with the prevailing excitement, and am anxious for Wed nesday to arrive. May 17th. This place is now in a perfect furor of excitement ; all the work-people have struck. Walking through the town to day, I observed, that laborers were employed only upon about half-a-dozen of the fifty new buildings which were in the course of being run up. The majority of the mechanics at this place are making preparations for moving off to the mines, and several hundred people of all classes lawyers, store-keepers, merchants, &c. are bitten with the fever ; in fact, there is a regular gold mania springing up. I counted no less than eighteen houses which were closed, the owners having left. If Colonel Mason is moving a force to the American Fork, as is reported here, their journey will be in vain. Our trip has been delayed to-day, for the saddler cannot get our equipments in readiness for at least forty-eight hours. He says that directly he has finished the job he shall start off himself to the diggings. I have bribed him with promises of greatly in creased pay not to disappoint us again. As it was, we were to pay him a very high price, which he demanded on account of three of his men having left him, and there being only himself and two workmen to attend to our order. I told Mr. Bradley of our misfortune. He promised to wait for us, but recommended me to keep going in and out of the sad- GOLD-FINDERS IN CALIFORNIA. 23 dler's all day long in order to make sure that the man was at work, otherwise we might be kept hanging about for a fortnight. May 20th. It requires a full amount of patience to stay qui etly watching the proceedings of an inattentive tradesman amid such a whirlpool of excitement as is now in action. Sweeting tells me that his negro waiter demanded and receives ten dollars a day. He is forced to submit, for " helps 5 ' of all kinds are in great demand, and very difficult to meet with. Several hundred people must have left here during the last few days. Malcolm and I have our baggage all in readiness to start on Monday. May 22d. To-day all our arrangements have been changed ; the saddler did not keep his promise, and while Malcolm, Brad ley, and myself were venting our indignation against him, Don Luis Palo made his appearance. The gold fever had spread to Monterey, and he had determined to be off to the mines at, once. He had brought his servant (a converted Indian, named Jose) with him, and extra horses with his baggage ; he intended to set to work himself at the diggings, and meant to take every thing he required with him. He says the report about Colonel Mason's moving a force off to the mines to take possession of them is all nonsense ; that some of the garrison at Monterey have already gone there, is quite true, but they have deserted to dig gold on their own account. Colonel Mason, he says, knows too well that he has no efficient force for such a purpose, and that even if he had, he would not be able to keep his men together. It appears, also, that the mines occupy several miles of ground, the gold not being confined to any particular spot. On hearing this intelli gence we at once determined to follow Don Luis's example, and although there appeared to be a certain degree of absurdity in four people, all holding some position in society, going off on what might turn out to be only a fool's errand, still the evidence we had before us, of the goldwhich had actually been found, and the example of the multitudes who were daily hastening to the diggings, determined us to go with the rest. We therefore held a council upon the best method of proceeding, at which every one offered his suggestions. While we were thus engaged, M'Phail, our fellow-passenger from Oregon, made his appearance, having only just then return ed from Sonoma. He had heard a great deal about the new gold placer, and he had merely come back for his baggage, intending to start off for the mines forthwith. The result of our delibera tions was to this effect. Each man was to furnish himself with one good horse for his own use, and a second horse to carry his personal baggage as well as a portion of the general outfit ; we were each to take a rifle, holster pistols, &c. It was agreed, moreover, that a tent should be bought immediately, if such a thing could be procured, as well as some spades, and mattocks, and a good stout axe, together with a collection of blankets and 24 FOUR MONTHS AMONG THE hides, and a supply of coffee, sugar, whisky, and brandy ; knives, forks, and plates, with pots and kettles, and all the requisite cook ing utensils for a camp life. The tent is the great difficulty, and fears are entertained that we shall not be able to procure one ; but Bradley thinks he might buy one out of the government stores. I followed the saddler well up during the day, and was for tunate enough to obtain our saddles, saddle-bags, &c. by four o'clock. On going to his house a couple of hours after about some trifling alteration I wished made, I found it shut up, and deserted. On the door was pasted a paper with the following words, " Gone to the diggings." CHAPTER IV. SONOMA. May 2Ath. This morning at last saw us off. We left San Fran cisco shortly after seven, and embarked with our horses and bag gage in a launch, which landed us at Sausalitto before ten. Prom thence we made our way to Sonoma, where we put up for the night. We formed quite a cavalcade, and presented a tolerably imposing appearance. First came the horses (six in number), which carried our baggage, camp equipments, &c. After these came Jose, Don Luis's Indian servant (who seems to be a far more lively fellow than Indians are generally), having these extra hor ses in his charge ; and he really managed them admirably. For what with whistling, and coaxing, and swearing, and swinging his " riatta " over their heads, he had them as much under his command, as ever a crack dragsman had his four-in-hand in the good old coaching times of my own dear England. We followed after, riding, when the road would admit of it, all abreast, and pre senting a bold front to any gang of desperadoes who might be daring enough to attack us. There was little fear of this, how ever, for we hardly rode a mile without falling in with scattered parties bound to the gold mines. We made our way but slowly during the first portion of our ride, for the road wound up steep hills and down into deep hol lows, but when at last we came upon a winding valley some miles in extent, our horses got over the ground in a style which only Californian steeds could achieve after the hard work which had already been performed. Towards evening, we crossed the hills which divided the valley from Sonoma plain, and on reach ing Sonoma put up at a hotel recently opened here by a citizen GOLD-FINDERS IN CALIFORNIA. 5 from the United States, who coolly told us, in the course of con versation, that he guessed he didn't intend shearing off to the gold mines, until he had drawn a few thousand dollars from the San Francisco folk who pass through here to and from the dig gings. May 27th. We stopped at Sonoma the greater part of Thurs day, to give our horses rest. At the hotel, I met Lieutenant Sher man, who had brought dispatches to the officer in command here from Colonel Mason. I was much delighted in again meeting this gentleman, and we had a long talk together over the merry times we had when we were both staying at Washington. When he heard our destination he kindly offered to give me a letter of introduction to a very old friend of his, Captain Sutter, the propri etor of Suiter's fort, and one of the earliest settlers on the Sacra mento. I availed myself of his offer, and about three o'clock we started off across the plain, and made our way through the groves of fine oak trees which cover it in every direction. We next as cended the hills which lay between us and Napper Valley, and ' after crossing them, made for the house of an American settler, a friend of Bradley's, who provided us with the' best accommoda tion his house would furnish for the night. We turned in early, but the legions of fleas which were our bedfellows exerted them selves to such a degree, that for hours sleep was out of the ques tion. The country is terribly plagued with these vermin. I do not know how the settlers get on ; perhaps they are accustomed to the infliction, but a stranger feels it severely. The next day we travelled over the corresponding range of hills to those crossed on Thursday, and were soon in the midst of a much wilder-looking country a rapid succession of steep and rugged mountains, thickly timbered with tall pine trees and split up with deep precipitous ravines, hemming in beautiful and fer tile valleys, brilliant with golden flowers and dotted over with no ble oaks. While we were riding down one of these dangerous chasms, Bradley, who was showing off his superior equitation, was thrown from his horse, and fell rather severely on his arm. On examining it, I was surprised to find he had escaped a frac ture. As it is, he has injured it sufficiently to prevent him from using it for several days. I bandaged it up, put it in a sling, and he proceeded in a more cautious manner. To-night we used our tent for the first time. We were some what awkward in pitching it, and three times did the whole structure come down by the run, burying several of us in the flap ping canvas, and inflicting some tolerably hard knocks with the poles. However, at length we succeeded in getting it fixed ; and, kindling a blazing fire close to it, as a polite intimation to the bears that they were not wanted, cooked our supper over the em bers, and then, wrapped in our blankets, slept far better than the fleas had allowed us to do the night before. 26 FOUR MONTHS AMONG THE This morning I examined Bradiey's arm, and was glad to find the inflammation somewhat reduced. He was bruised a good deal about the body generally, and complained to-day sorely of the pain he felt while being jolted over the broken ground which we crossed in our ascent of the tall mountains that bound the Sacramento Valley. From their summit we obtained a no ble view of the broad winding river and its smaller tributaries, thickly studded with islands overgrown with noble oaks and sy camores. We encamped to night at the foot of these hills, near a little stream which gurgled merrily by. We have seen several herds of elk to-day, and a large quantity of wild fowl. Sunday, May 28th. To-day we made a long halt, for we were all exceedingly tired, and some of our pack-horses, which were heavily laden, showed symptoms of " giving out." We determined, therefore, to stay here till late in the day, and then to follow the course of the creek for a few miles, and there pitch our tent. Burning our horses loose to graze, several of the party went off on a hunting excursion on foot, but their only success was about a score of wild geese, which are very plentiful in the marshy land bordering the creek. I got a shot at an elk which came down to the water to drink, but it made off unhurt. CHAPTER V. May 29th. Last night we encamped under a group of oaks, and we " knew by the smoke that so gracefully curled" over other parts of the valley, that there were several other camps pitched at no great distance. , When we started in the morning we fell in with a few parties moving towards the Sacramento. A ride of a few hours brought us to the borders of that noble rirer, which was here about a couple of hundred yards wide, and we immediately made preparations for crossing it. After several mishaps and delays, we at length succeeded in getting over in a launch. The new town of Suttersville, numbering some ten or twelve houses, is laid out within half a mile of the banks of the river. From here a brisk ride over a level plain parcelled out into fields of wheat and pasture-grounds, dotted with hundreds upon hundreds of grazing cattle, and here and there a loitering team brought us to Sutler's Fort, an extensive block of buildings planted on the top of a small hill which skirts a creek running into the Americanos, near its junction with the Rio Sacramento. A schooner and some small craft were beating up the Americanos GOLD-FINDERS IN CALIFORNIA. 37 River towards the Fort, and alongside the landing-place several launches were lying unshipping cargoes. As we made the spot, we soon saw that here all was bustle and activity. Boatmen were shouting and swearing ; wagoners were whistling and hal looing and cracking their whips at their straining horses, as these toiled along with heavily-laden wagons to the different stores within the building; groups of horsemen were riding to and fro, and crowds of people were moving about on foot. It was evident that the gold mania increased in force as we ap proached the now eagerly longed-for El Dorado. On inquiring of a squaw we met at the entrance of the Fort, and who knew just sufficient English to understand our ques tion, she pointed out to us as Captain Sutter a very tall good- looking sort of personage, wearing a straw hat and loose coat and trowsers of striped duck, but with features as unlike those of a Yankee as can well be imagined. I at once introduced my self, and handed him the letter which Lieutenant Sherman had given me. After reading it, the Captain informed me that he was happy enough to see me, although he feared, from the great change which a few weeks had made in this part of. the world, that he could offer me but indifferent hospitality. Every store and shed was being crammed with bales of goods, barrels of flour, and a thousand other things for which a demand had suddenly sprung up. The Captain's own house was indeed just like a hotel crowded with many more visitors than it could accommo date ; still no one who came there, so the Captain was good enough to say, recommended by his friend Sherman, should have other than a hospitable reception. All that he could do, however, he said, would be to place one sleeping-room at my service for myself and such of my friends as I liked to share it with ; and, leaving me to arrange the matter with them, he went away, promising to return and show us our quarters. I told my companions of the Captain's offer, but they were satisfied to rough it out of doors again to-night, and it was ar ranged that only Bradley and myself should accept the sleeping accommodation offered by Captain Sutter, as a good night's rest in comfortable quarters would be more beneficial to our friend with the injured limb, than an out-door nap with a single blanket for a bed and a saddle for a pillow. Two of our horses having cast their shoes, Malcolm and Jose" walked them round to the blacksmith's shop, where, after their losses were repaired, a stock of shoes, nails, &c., were to be laid in for future contingencies M'Phail and our Spanish friend undertook at the same time to purchase a ten days' supply of pro visions for us, and Bradley agreed to look about the Fort and see if he could meet with another servant, In this errand, I am sorry to say, he was not successful. 28 POUR MONTHS AMONG THE While these several commissions were executing, the Captain returned and walked with me through the Fort. On our way he pointed out the guard-house, the Indian soldiers attached to which had deserted to the mines almost to a man ; the woollen factory, with some thirty women still at work; the distillery house, where the famous pisco is made; and the blacksmith's and wheelwright's shops, with more work before them than the few mechanics left will be able to get through in a month. Yet all these men talked of starting off to the diggings in a day or two. The Captain told me he had only been able to keep them by greatly increased pay, and an almost unlimited allowance of pisco and whisky. It was not easy to pick our way through the crowds of strange people who were moving backwards and forwards in every di rection. Carts were passing to and fro ; groups of Indians squat ting on their haunches were chattering together, and displaying their flaring red and yellow handkerchiefs, the scarlet blankets, and muskets of the most worthless Brummagem make, for which they had been exchanging their bits of gold, while their squaws looked on with the most perfect indifference. I saw one chief, who had gone for thirty years with no other covering than a rag to hide his nakedness, endeavoring to thrust his legs into a pair of sailors' canvas trowsers with very indifferent success. Inside the stores the bustle and noise were even greater. Some half-a-dozen sharp-visaged Yankees, in straw hats and loose frocks, were driving hard bargains for dollars with the crowds of customers who were continually pouring in to barter a portion of their stock of gold for coffee and tobacco, breadstuff, brandy, and bowie knives ; of spades and mattocks there were none to be had. In one corner, at a railed-off desk, a quick-eyed old man was busily engaged, with weights and scales, setting his own value on the lumps of golden ore or the bags of dust which were being handed to him, and in exchange for which he told out the estimated quantity of dollars. These dollars quickly returned to the original deposit, in payment for goods bought at the other end of the store. Among the clouds of smoke puffed forth by some score of pipes and as many cigarettos, there were to be seen, mingled together, Indians of various degrees of civilization, and corresponding styles of dress, varying from the solitary cloth kilt to the cotton shirts and jackets and trowsers of Russian duck ; with groups of trappers from as far up as Oregon, clad in coats of buffalo hide, and with faces and hands so brown and wrinkled that one would take their skins to be as tough as the buffalo's, and almost as indiffe rent to a lump of lead. " Captain," said one of these gentry, shaking a bag of gold as we passed, " I guess this beats beaver skins eh, captain." Another of them, who had a savage-look ing wolf-dog with him, was holding a palavar with an Indian GOLD-FINDERS OF CALIFORNIA. 29 from the borders of the Klamath Lake ; and the most friendly understanding seemed to exist between them. " You see those two scoundrels?" said the Captain to me. " They look and talk for all the world like brothers, but only let either of them get the chance of a shot at the other after scenting his trail, may be for days, across those broad hunting grounds, where every man they meet they look upon as a foe, and the one that has the quickest eye and the readiest hand will alone live to see the sun rise next d'ay." Threading his way amongst the crowd, I was somewhat struck by the appearance of a Spanish Don of the old school, looking as magnificent as a very gaudy light blue jacket with silver buttons and scarlet trimmings, and breeches of crimson velvet, and striped silk sash, and embroidered deer-skin shoes, and a perfumed cigaretto could make him. He wore his slouched sombrero jauntily placed on one side, and beneath it, of course, the everlasting black silk handkerchief, with the corners dangling over his neck behind. Following him was his servant, in slouched hat and spangled garters, carrying an old Spanish mus ket over his shoulder, and casting somewhat timid looks at the motley assemblage of Indians and trappers, who every now and then jostled against him. Beyond these, there were a score or two of go-a-head Yankees " gentlemen traders," I suppose they called themselves with a few pretty California!! women, who are on their way with their husbands to the mines. I noticed that the Captain had a word for almost every one, and that he seemed to be held in very great respect. Bradley informed me to-night of the origin of a scar which is just distinguishable in Captain Suiter's face. It seems that the Captain, who is a Swiss, was one of Charles the Tenth's guards in 1830, and that a slight cut from the sabre of one of the youths of the Polytechnic School had left in his visage a standing me morial of the three glorious days. Indeed the Captain seems generally to have taken the side of the constituted authorities, as in the revolution of 1845 he turned out with all his people for the Mexican government. However, he was more fortunate in Cali fornia than in Paris, as he didn't even get his skin scratched on this occasion. 30 FOUR MONTHS AMONG THE CHAPTER VI. May 30th. To my great disappointment, our journey was not re sumed to-day. As I had expected, Malcolm had found there was no chance of getting the farrier's assistance yesterday, and he came to me in the evening to inform me that he and the rest were going into camp for the night. Bradley and myself found an ample supper prepared for us ; and after doing due justice to the eat ables, and dressing Bradley's arm, I shortened the night a couple of hours by jotting down the events of the day. This morning I rose early, and walked to the camp, which I found, about half a mile off, under some oaks in a piece of pas ture land on the Captain's farm. I had some difficulty in finding it out, for there were at least fifteen or twenty tents of one kind or another in the " bottom." The party were all roused, and breakfast was preparing under Don Luis's superintendence. It was the general opinion that we must buy two extra horses to carry our breadstuff's, &c. Malcolm reported that there were a vari ety of articles we were still in want of; namely, tin drinking cups, some buckets for water, with forks and other small articles. He recommended that a couple more axes and a strong saw be bought at Brannan's, together with hammers, nails, &c , and some of the Indian baskets which seem to be so common about here. On my return to the Fort, I fell in with the Captain, rigged out in a military undress uniform. I chatted with him for half an hour about his farm, &c. He told me he was the first white man who settled in this part of the country ; that some ten years ago, when the Mexican government was full of colonization schemes, the object of which was to break up the Missions, and to introduce a population antagonistic to the Californians, he received a grant of land, sixty miles one way and twelve another, about sixteen or seventeen hundred acres of which he had now brought under cultivation. " When I came here," said the Captain, " I knew the country and the Indians well. Eight years ago these fields were overgrown with long rank grass, with here and there an oak or pine sprouting out from the midst. You can see what they are now. As to the Indians, they gave me a little more trouble. I can boast of fourteen pieces of cannon, though one has little oc casion for them now, except to fire a few salutes on days of re joicing. Well ! most of these guns came from Ross within this last four years ; but when I. first arrived here, I brought with me a cou ple of howitzers, from which one night, when these thieves were hemming me in on all sides, I discharged a shell right over their heads. The mere sight of it, when it bursted, was sufficient to give them a very respectful notion of the fighting means at my command. But though this saved me from any direct attack', it GOLD-FINDERS IN CALIFORNIA. 3j did not secure me against having my horses and cattle stolen on every convenient occasion." The Captain went on to say, that he at last brought the Indians pretty well under his control ; and that, by promises of articles of clothing, they became willing to work for him. He took good care to trust very few of them with rifles or powder and shot. Nearly every brick in the buildings of the Fort, he tells me, was made by the Indians, who, moreover, dug all the ditches dividing his wheat fields. These ditches are very necessary, to prevent the very large number of cattle and horses on the farm from straying among the crops. On our way to the house, I got the Captain to speak to the head blacksmith about our horses, after which we went into breakfast, when I saw his wife and daughter for the first time. They were both very ladylike women, and both natives of France. During the meal, I found Captain Sutter communica tive on the subject of the discovery of the gold mines, which I was glad of, as I was anxious to learn the true particulars of the affair, respecting which so many ridiculous stories had been cir culated. One was to the effect, that the mines had been dis covered by the Mormons, in accordance with a prophecy made by the famous Joe Smith. Another tale was, that the Captain had seen the apparition of an Indian chief, to whom he had given a rifle (the possession of which he only lived three months to enjoy, having been trampled down by a buffalo in the neigh borhood of the Rocky Mountains, on his way with his tribe to make an attack on the Pawnees), when the ghost in question told the Captain that he would make him very rich, and begged that, with this promised cash, the Captain would immediately buy a ship-load of rifles, and present one to every member of his tribe. Such were the absurd stories circulated. The true ac count of the discovery I here give, as near as I can recollect, in he Captain's own words. CHAPTER TIL "I WAS sitting one afternoon," said the Captain, "just after my siesta, engaged, by-the-by, in writing a letter to a relation of mine at Lucerne, when I was interrupted by Mr. Marshall a gentleman with whom I had frequent business transactions bursting hurriedly into the room. From the unusual agitation in his manner I imagined that something serious had occurred, and, as we involuntarily do in this part of the world, I at once glanced 3-2 FOUR MONTHS AMONG THE to see if my rifle was in its proper place. You should know that the mere appearance of Mr. Marshall at that moment in the Fort was quite enough to surprise me, as he had but two days before left the place to make some alterations in a mill for sawing pine planks, which he had just run up for me, some miles higher up the Americanos. When he had recovered himself a little, he told me that, however great my surprise might be at his unexpected reappearance, it would be much greater when I heard the intelli gence he had come to bring me. ' Intelligence,' he added, ' which, if properly profited by, would put both of us in possession of un heard-of wealth millions and millions of dollars, in fact.' I frankly own, when I heard this, that I thought something had touched Marshall's brain, when suddenly all my misgivings were put an end to by his flinging on the table a handful of scales of pure virgin gold. I was fairly thunderstruck, and asked him to explain what all this meant, when he went on to say, that, ac cording to my instructions, he had thrown the mill-wheel out of gear, to let the whole body of the water in the dam find a pas sage through the tail-race, which was previously too narrow to allow the water to run off in sufficient quantity, whereby the wheel was prevented from efficiently performing its work. By this alteration the narrow channel was considerably enlarged, and a mass of sand and gravel carried off by the force of the tor rent. Early in the morning after this took place, he (Mr. Mar shall) was walking along the left bank of the stream, when he perceived something which he at first took for a piece of opal a clear transparent stone, very common here glittering on one of the spots laid bare by the sudden crumbling away of the bank. He paid no attention to this ;"but "while he was giving directions to the workmen, having observed several similar glittering frag ments, his curiosity was so far excited, thathe stooped down and picked one of them up. ' Do you know,' said Mr. Marshall to me, ' 1 positively debated within myself two or three times whe ther 1 should take the trouble to bend my back to pick up one of the pieces, and 1 had decided on not doing so, when, further on, another glittering morsel caught my eye the largest of the pie ces now before you. I condescended to pick it up, and to my as tonishment found that it was a thin scale of what appears to be pure gold.' He then gathered some twenty or thirty similar pieces, which on examination convinced him that his suppositions were right. His first impression was, that this gold had been lost or buried there by some early Indian tribe perhaps some of those mysterious inhabitants of the West, of whom we have no account, but who dwelt on this continent centuries ago, and built those ci ties and temples, the ruins of which are scattered about these so litary wilds. On proceeding, however, to examine the neigh boring soil, he discovered that it was more or less auriferous GOLD-FINDERS IN CALIFORNIA. 33 This at once decided him. He mounted his horse, and rode down to me as fast as it would carry him with the news. "At the conclusion of Mr. Marshall's account," continued Captain Sutter, " and when I had convinced myself, from the specimens he had brought with him, that it was not exaggerated, I felt as much excited as himself. I eagerly inquired if he had shown the gold to the work-people at the mill, and was glad to hear that he had not spoken to a single person about it. We agreed," said the Captain, smiling, " not to mention the circum stance to any one, and arranged to set off early the next day for the mill. On our arrival, just before sundown, we poked the sand about in various places, and before long succeeded in col lecting between us more than an ounce of gold, mixed up with a good deal of sand. I stayed at Mr. Marshall's that night, and the next day we proceeded some little distance up the South Fork, and found that gold existed along the whole course, not only in the bed of the main stream, where the water had sub sided, but in every little dried-up creek and ravine. Indeed I think it is more plentiful in these latter places, for I myself, with nothing more than a small knife, picked out from a dry gorge, a little way up the mountain, a solid lump of gold which weighed nearly an ounce and a half. <; On our return to the mill, we were astonished by the work people coming up to us in a body, and showing us small flakes of gold similar to those we had ourselves procured. Marshall tried to laugh the matter off with them, and to persuade them that what they had found was only some shining mineral of tri fling value ; but one of the Indians, who had worked at the gold mine in the neighborhood of La Faz, in Lower California, cried out, ' Oro-! oro!' We were disappointed enough at this discoveiy, and supposed that the work-people had been watching our move ments, although we thought we had taken every precaution against being observed by them. I heard, afterwards, that one of them, a sly Kentuckian, had dogged us about, and that, looking on the ground to see if he could discover what we were in search of, he had lighted on some flakes of gold himself. ' ; The next day I rode back to the Fort, organized a laboring party, set the carpenters to work on a few necessary matters, and the next day accompanied them to a point of the Fork, where they encamped for the night. By the following morning I had a party of fifty Indians fairly at work. The way we first managed was to shovel the soil into small buckets, or into some of our famous Indian baskets ; then wash all the light-earth out, and pick away the stones ; after this, we dried the sand on pieces of canvas, and with long reeds blew away all but the gold. I have now some rude machines in use, and upwards of one hun dred men employed, chiefly Indians, who are well fed, and who are allowed whisky three times a-day. 34 FOUR MONTHS AMONG THE " The report soon spread. Some of the gold was sent to San Francisco, and crowds of people flocked to the diggings. Added to this, a large emigrant party of Mormons entered California across the Rocky Mountains, just as the affair was first made known. They halted at once, and set to work on a spot some thirty miles from here, where a few of them still remain. When I was last up to the diggings, there were full eight hundred men at work, at one place and another, with perhaps something like three hundred more passing backwards and forwards between here and the mines. I at first imagined the gold would soon be exhausted by such crowds of seekers, but subsequent observa tions have convinced me that it will take many years to bring about such a result, even with ten times the present number of people employed. " What surprises me," continued the Captain, " is, that this country should have been visited by so many scientific men, and that not one of them should have ever stumbled upon the treasures ; that scores of keen-eyed trappers should have crossed this valley in every direction, and tribes of Indians have dwelt in it for cen turies, and yet that this gold should have never been discovered. I myself have passed the very spot above a hundred times du ring the last ten years, but was just as blind as the rest of them, so I must not wonder at the discovery not having been made earlier." While the Captain was proceeding with his narrative, I must confess that I felt so excited on the subject as to wish to start off immediately on our journey. When he had finished, I walked off to see after the horses, but, although they were ready, the additional shoes we wanted to carry with us, would not be fur nished for several hours : it was late in the afternoon before we got them. We bought two horses of Captain Slitter (very strong animals), and M'Phail managed to engage a big lad as a servant a rough-looking fellow, who appears to have deserted from some ship, and worked his way up here. All things considered, it was agreed that we should remain here all night, and resume our march as early as we could in the morning. CHAPTER VIII. Sunday, June 4th. The morning we left the Fort the scene was one of great excitement Down in the bottom some twenty tents were pitched, outside which big fires were smoking ; and, while breakfast was being prepared, the men of each company were GOLD-FINDERS IN CALIFORNIA. 35 busily engaged in saddling their horses and arranging their bag gage ; several wagons and teams were already in motion, follow ing the road along the windings of the river. Tkhe tents were soon all struck, the srnoke from the fires was dying away, and a perfect caravan was moving along in the direction of the now no longer ridiculed El Dorado. We pushed along, as may be believed, with the utmost impa tience, conjuring up the most flattering visions of our probable success as gold-hunters. The track lay through a spacious grassy valley, with the Americanos River winding along it, on our left hand. At first, the stream was nearly two miles distant from the track of our caravan, but as we advanced we approached its banks more nearly. The country was pleasant, consisting of a succession of small hills and valleys, diversified here and there by groves of tall oak trees. We passed several wretched Indian vil lages clusters of filthy smoky hovels, and now and then caught sight of the river and the line of oak trees which bordered it. We managed tolerably well with our horses, but it requires great ex perience to be able to fasten securely the loads of provisions and stores which they carry on their backs. Flour, of course, formed the principal article of our commissariat. This was packed up in sacks, which were again inclosed in long pockets, made of hides, and called " parfleshes," the use of which is to defend the canvas of the sacking from being torn by branches of fern and underwood. The sacks we secured on strong pack-saddles, between which and the back of the horse were some thick soft cloths. All our bag gage-horses were furnished with trail ropes, which were allowed to drag on the ground after the horse, for the purpose of enabling us to catch him more readily. Besides the animals we rode, we had seven horses, for the conveyance of our provisions, tents, &c. The two we bought from Captain Slitter, though strong, were skittish, and gave us much trouble, for our newly engaged ser vant, whose name is James Horry, knew more about harpooning and flenching whales than about the management of horses. He was certainly willing and did his best, but he occasioned some mirth during the day's inarch by his extreme awkwardness on horseback. However, to do him justice, he bore the numerous falls which he came in for with great philosophy, starting up again every time he was " grassed," and laughing as loudly as the rest. At noon we halted to refresh by the side of a small stream of crystal purity. While making preparations for our hurried meal, we had all our eyes about us for gold in the channel of the rivu let, but saw none. We had not yet reached the favored spot. After some difficulty in catching the pack-horses, one of the per verse brutes having taken it into i:s head to march up to its belly in the stream, where he floundered about for some time, enjoying the coolness of the water, Ve set forward, determined to reach the 36 FOUR MONTHS AMONG THE lower diggings by sundown. As we neared the spot the ground gradually became more broken and heavily timbered with oak and pine, while in the distance, and separated from us by deep forests of these trees, might be seen a long ridge of snow-capped mountains the lofty Sierra Nevada. But we were too anxious to reach the gold to care much about the more unprofitable beau ties of Nature, and accordingly urged our horses to the quickest speed they could put forth. We were now travelling along the river's banks, and towards evening came in sight of the lower mines, here called the "Mormon" diggings, which occupy a sur face of two or three miles along the river. There were something like forty tents scattered up the hill sides, occupied mostly by Americans, some of whom had brought their families with them. Although it was near sundown, everybody was in full occupation. At every few yards there were men, with their naked arms, busily employed in washing out the golden flakes and dust from spadefuls of the auriferous soil. Others were first passing it through sieves, many of them freshly made with intertwisted willow branches, to get rid of the coarse stones, and then wash ing the lumps of soil in pots placed beneath the surface of the water, the contents of the vessel being kept continually stirred by the hand until the lighter particles of earth or gravel were carried away. A great number of the settlers, however, were engaged in ma king what are here called " cradles ;" partly, 1 suppose, from their shape, and partly from the rocking motion to which they are subjected. These machines were being roughly constructed of deal boards. Later in the day I watched one of them at work, and had the process explained to me. Four men were employed at it. The first shovelled up the earth ; another carried it to the cradle, and dashed it down on a grating or sieve placed hori zontally at the head of the machine the wires of which being close together, only allowed the smaller particles of earth and sand to fall through ; the third man rocked the cradle I must confess I never saw one so perseveringly rocked at home ; while the fourth kept flinging water upon the mass of earth inside. The result of this fourfold process is, that the lighter earth is gradually carried off by the action of the water, and a sort of thick black sediment of sand is left at the bottom of the cradle. This was afterwards scooped out, and put aside to be carefully dried in the sun to-morrow morning. I can hardly describe the effect this sight produced upon our party. It seemed as if the fabled treasure of the Arabian Nights had been suddenly realized before us. We all shook hands, and swore to preserve good faith with each other, and to work hard for the common good. The gold finders told us that some of them frequently got as much as fifty dollars a-day. As we rode from camp to camp, and saw the hoarrls of gold some of it in GOLD-FINDERS IN CALIFORNIA. 37 flakes, but the greater part in a coarse sort of dust which these people had amassed during the last few weeks, we felt in a per fect fluster of excitement at the sight of the wealth around us. One man showed us four hundred ounces of pure gold dust which he had washed from the dirt'in a tin pan, and which he valued at fourteen dollars an ounce. As may be imagined, the whole scene was one well calculated to take a strong hold upon the imagination. The eminences, rising gradually from the river's banks, were dotted with white canvas tents, mingled with the more sombre-looking huts, constructed with once green but now withered branches. A few hundred yards from the river lay a large heap of planks and framings, which I was told were intended for constructing a store ; the owner of which, a sallow Yankee, with a large pluffy cigarette in his mouth, was laboring away in his shirt sleeves. Bewildered and excited by the novelty of the scene, we were in haste to pitch our camp, and soon fixed upon a location. This was by the side of a dried-up water course, through which, in the wet season, a small rivulet joined the larger stream ; we did not, however, immediately set to work to make the necessary arrangements for the night. Our fingers were positively itching for the gold, and in less than half an hour after our arrival, the pack-horse which carried the shovels, scoops, and pans, had been released of his burden, and all our party were as busily em ployed as the rest. As for myself, armed with a large scoop or trowel, and a shallow tin pail, I leapt into the bed of the rivulet, at a spot where I perceived no trace of the gravel and earth hav ing been artificially disturbed. Near me was a small clear pool, which served for washing the gold. Some of our party set to work within a short distance of me, while others tried their for tune along the banks of the Americanos, digging up the shingle which lay at the very brink of the stream. I shall not soon for get the feeling with which I first plunged my scoop into the soil beneath me. Half filling my tin pail with the earth and shingle, I carried it to the pool, and placing it beneath the surface of the water, I began to stir it with my hand as I had observed the oth er diggers do. Of course I was not very expert at first, and I dare say I flung out a good deal of the valuable metal. How ever, I soon perceived that the earth was crumbling away, and was being carried by the agitation of the water into the pool, which speedily became turbid, while the sandy sediment of which I had heard, remained at the bottom of the pail. Careful ly draining the water away, I deposited the sand in one of the small close-woven Indian baskets we had brought with us, with the intention cf drying it at the camp-fire, there not being suffi cient time before nightfall to allow the moisture gradually to ab sorb by the evaporation of the atmosphere. After working for about half an hour, 1 retraced my steps gg POUR MONTHS AMONG THE with my basket to the spot where we had tethered the horses, and found the animals still standing there with their burdens on their backs. Mr. Malcolm was already there ; he had with him about an equal quantity of the precious black sand ; it remained, however, to be seen what proportion of gold our heaps contained. In a short time Bradley and Don Luis joined us, both of them in tip-top spirits. " I guess this is the way we do the trick down in these clearings," said the former, shaking a bag of golden sand. As for Jose, Don Luis's Indian servant, he was devout in his ex pressions of thanksgiving to the Virgin Mary and the Great Spi rit, whom he would insist upon classifying together, in a most remarkable and not quite orthodox manner. We now set to work to get up our tent. Malcolm, in the mean time, prepared coffee and very underbaked cakes, made of the flour we had brought with us. His cooking operations were greatly impeded by our eagerness to dry the sand we had scraped up a feat in the achievement of which Bradley was clumsy enough to burn a hole in our very best saucepan. However, we managed to get the moisture absorbed, and, shutting our eyes, we commenced blowing away the sand with our mouths, and shortly after found ourselves the possessors of a few pinches of gold. This was encouraging for a beginning. We drank our coffee in high spirits, and then, having picketed our horses, made ourselves as snug as our accommodation would allow, and, being tired out, not only with the journey and the work, but with ex citement and anxiety, slept soundly till morning. CHAPTER IX. THE morning broke brilliantly, and the first thing we disco vered on rising was, that two of the horses had broken their fastenings during the night and strayed. As we could not afford to lose the' animals, Jose and Horry were dispatched to look after them, and they grumbled not a little at being thus sent off from the scene of golden operations ; but Bradley, producing a rifle, swore that he would shoot them both unless they obeyed orders ; so, after a little altercation, away they went. Breakfast was soon dispatched, and the question as to the day's operations asked. Don Luis was the only one who, on the score of its being Sunday, would not go to the diggings. He had no objection to amuse himself on Sunday, but he would not work. To get over the difficulty, we agreed to go upon the principle of every man keeping his own findings, our bonds of unity as a GOLD-FINDERS IN CALIFORNIA. 39 party to extend merely to mutual protection and defence. Leav ing Don Luis, then, smoking in the tent, we proceeded to work, and found that the great majority of the gold finders appeared to entertain our opinions, or at all events to imitate our practice, as to laboring on the Sunday. I had now leisure more particularly to remark the nature of the soil in which the gold was found. The dust is found amid the shingle actually below water, but the most convenient way of proceeding is to take the soil from that portion of the bed which has been overflowed but is now dry. It is principally of a gravelly nature, full of small stones, composed, as far as I could make out, of a species of jasper and milky quality, mingled with fragments of slate and splinters of basalt. The general opinion is that the gold has been washed down from the hills. I worked hard, as indeed we all did, the whole morning. The toil is very severe, the constant stooping pressing, of course, upon the spinal column, whilst the constant immersion of the hands in water causes the skin to excoriate and become exceed ingly painful. But these inconveniences are slight when com pared to the great gain by which one is recompensed for them. At twelve o'clock, our usual primitive dinner hour, we met at the tents, tolerably well tired with our exertions. No dinner, however, was prepared, both Jose and Horry being still absent in pursuit of the strayed horses. We had, therefore, to resort to some of our jerked beef, which, with biscuits and coffee, formed our fare. After dinner, we determined to rest until the next day. The fact is, that the human frame will not stand, and was never intended to stand, a course of incessant toil ; indeed, I believe that in civilized that is to say, in industrious communities, the Sabbath, bringing round as it does a stated remission from labor, is an institution physically necessary. We therefore passed some time in conversation, which was interrupted by the arrival of Jose and Horry with the strayed horses. Horry demanded an immediate increase of wages, threatening to leave us and set to work on his own account if we refused. Bradley tried to talk big and bully him, but in vain. Jose had a sort of fear of Don Luis who in return looked on his servant as his slave so he said nothing. We could see. how ever, that they had evidently been in communication with the diggers around, and so we gave in. Later in the afternoon I started with Malcolm and M'Phail for a walk through the dig gings. We found comparatively a small proportion of the people who had commenced work in the morning still at their pans. Numbers were lying asleep under the trees, or in the shade of their tents and wagons. Others sat smoking and chatting in circles upon the grass, mending their clothes or performing other little domestic duties at the same time. It was really a motley scene. Indians strutted by in all the pride of gaudy calico, the 40 FOUR MONTHS AMONG THE manners of the savage concealed beneath the dress of the civili zed man. Muscular sun-burnt fellows, whose fine forms and swarthy faces pronounced that Spanish blood ran through their veins, gossiped away with sallow, hatchet-faced Yankees, smart men at a bargain, and always on the look-out for squalls. Here and there one spied out the flannel shirt and coarse canvas trowsers of a seaman a runaway, in all probability, from a South Sea whaler ; while one or two stray negroes chattered with all the volubility of their race, shaking their woolly heads and showing their white teeth. I got into conversation with one tall American ; he was a native-born Kentuckian, and full of the bantam sort of consequence of his race. He predicted wonder ful things from the discovery of the mineral treasures of Califor nia, observing that it would make a monetary revolution all over the world, and that nothing similar, at least to~so great an extent, was ever known in history. " Look around ! for, stranger," said he to me, " I guess you don't realize such a scene every day, and that's a fact. There's gold for the picking of it up, and by all who choose to come and work. I reckon old John Bull will scrunch up his fingers in his empty pockets when he comes to hear of it. It's a most everlasting wonderful thing, and that's a fact, that beats Joe Dunkin's goose-pie and apple sarse." Farther on we came upon a tremendous-looking tent, formed by two or three tents being flung into one, which, on examination, we found was doing duty as a chapel. A missionary, from one of the New England States, as I hear, was holding forth to a pretty large congregation. The place was very hot and chokey, and I only stayed long enough to hear that the discourse abound ed in the cloudy metaphors and vague technicalities of Calvi- nistic theology. The remainder of the afternoon I have been devoting to writing my journal, which I here break off to commence a hearty good supper, in revenge for the scrambling sort of dinner one has had to-day. The beef doesn't look roasted as they would put it on the table at the Clarendon, or at Astor House even : but none of those who sit down at the Clarendon table, at any rate, have such an appetite as I now have, far away beyond care and civili zation, in the gold-gathering region of California. GOLD-FINDERS IN CALIFORNIA. . in. A Voyage up the River Amazon; Including a Residence at Para. BY W. H. EDWARDS. One neat volume, I2mo. Price, paper cover, 75 cents ; cloth, $1 00. " This book equals in novelty of incident and piquancy of style, the famous ' Typee ' and ' Omoo ' of Melviile. It i aeresting account of a visit to a portion of the South American Continent as little known to travellers and readers of oo ravel, as was that Eden in the Marquesas, Typee, before Mr. Melville stumbled upon it, and which the author truly itylai garden of the world.' Buy it and read it." U. S. Gazette. ~ IV. A Summer in the Wilderness; Embracing a Canoe Voyage up the Mississippi and around Lake Superior. BY CHARLES LANMAN. One neat volume, 12mo. Paper cover, 50 cents ; cloth, 63 cents. is a ry f books at " Lanman is one of our most pleasing writers, and in this book he has described the romantic scenes and onnected with his visit to one of the most romantic spots of our country, in a style admirably suited to the subject. It h m ook to read and re-read with increasing pleasure Tribune. ','. What I Saw in California; Being the Journal of a Tour, by the Emigrant Route and South Pass of the Rodfjf Mountains, across the Continent of North America, the Great Desert Basin, and through California, in the years 1946, 47. "All of which I saw, and part of which I was.'" BY EDWIN BRYANT, ESQ., LATE ALCADK OF 5T. PRAX CISCO. One volume, 12mo, of about 450 pages. The work of which the foregoing U the title, has been prepared by a gentleman who was an eye-witnew of what ha escribes ; and his opportunities of acquiring information (by observation and his official station) give to thin work more UMB sual value and authority. THE BEST AMERICAN T R A V E L L E R ' 8 G U I D E . -T PUELISirED. Appleton's Railroad and Steamboat Companion; Being a Traveller's Guide through the United States of America, Canada, Nctf Brunswick, and Nova Scotia. Illustrated by 31) Maps, engraved on Steel, including four Flans of Cities, and embellished with Twenty-six Engrariigk BY W. WILLIAMS. One handsomely printed volume. Price 1 25 ; or, \vi;h Maps, colored, !j>l 50. " This is emphv.kaUy a ' traveller's guide.' The rainutenes of its detkili, the number and correctness of iU map imA > ravings, and the ' statistics, render it superior to any work of the kind. With thU comptnioK OM YssKiaf 4^ lace tor -: himself a stranger' " D. APPLETON & COMPANY RANTLEY MANuR. A Tale. 3y Lady Georgiana Fullerton : 50 JJFE, ANECDOTES, AND LETTERS OF GEN. ZACHARY TAILOR 525 HANDY ANDY, By Saranel Lover 50 S. D. TREASURE TROVE. By Samuel Lover 25 FORTUNES O'f HECTOR O'HALLORAN. By W. H. Majwell 50 MARGUERITK DE VALOIS. By Alex. Dumas. 25 HISTORY AND ADVENTURES OF MARGA RET CATCHPOLE. By Rev. B.ichard Cor- bonld 25 THE PEOPLE. By M. Miclie'-* 38 NARRATIVE OF THE EXPLORING EXPE DITION TO OREGON AND CALIFORNIA. By Capt. Fremont 25 THE LIFE OF MAJOR GENERA!, ZACH- ARY TAYLOR. By C. F. Powell 25 THE FOOL OF THE NINETEENTH CEN TURY; and other Tales. By H. Zschokke 50 MY UNCLE IIOBSON AND I; or Slashes at Life. By P. Jones 50 MEMOIRS OF AN AMERICAN LADY. By Mrs. Grant 50 THE BETROTHED LOVERS. By Alex. Man- zoni. 2 vols , 1 00 FROST'S BOOK OF GOOD EXAMPLES. 12mo. Illustrated 1 00 FROST'S BOOK OF ANECDOTES. 12mo. Il lustrated 1 00 FROST'S BOOK OF TRAVELS IN AFRICA. 12mo. Illustrated 1 DO FROST'S BOOK OF ILLUSTRIOUS ME CHANICS. 12mo. 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