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diff --git a/.gitattributes b/.gitattributes new file mode 100644 index 0000000..d7b82bc --- /dev/null +++ b/.gitattributes @@ -0,0 +1,4 @@ +*.txt text eol=lf +*.htm text eol=lf +*.html text eol=lf +*.md text eol=lf diff --git a/LICENSE.txt b/LICENSE.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6312041 --- /dev/null +++ b/LICENSE.txt @@ -0,0 +1,11 @@ +This eBook, including all associated images, markup, improvements, +metadata, and any other content or labor, has been confirmed to be +in the PUBLIC DOMAIN IN THE UNITED STATES. + +Procedures for determining public domain status are described in +the "Copyright How-To" at https://www.gutenberg.org. + +No investigation has been made concerning possible copyrights in +jurisdictions other than the United States. Anyone seeking to utilize +this eBook outside of the United States should confirm copyright +status under the laws that apply to them. diff --git a/README.md b/README.md new file mode 100644 index 0000000..921795f --- /dev/null +++ b/README.md @@ -0,0 +1,2 @@ +Project Gutenberg (https://www.gutenberg.org) public repository for +eBook #69412 (https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/69412) diff --git a/old/69412-0.txt b/old/69412-0.txt deleted file mode 100644 index d3e4549..0000000 --- a/old/69412-0.txt +++ /dev/null @@ -1,10156 +0,0 @@ -The Project Gutenberg eBook of Mountains and molehills, by Frank -Marryat - -This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States and -most other parts of the world at no cost and with almost no restrictions -whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms -of the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online at -www.gutenberg.org. If you are not located in the United States, you -will have to check the laws of the country where you are located before -using this eBook. - -Title: Mountains and molehills - or Recollections of a burnt journal - -Author: Frank Marryat - -Release Date: November 23, 2022 [eBook #69412] - -Language: English - -Produced by: Chuck Greif and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at - http://www.pgdp.net (This file was produced from images - available at The Internet Archive) - -*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK MOUNTAINS AND MOLEHILLS *** - - - - - - [Illustration: WHERE THE GOLD COMES FROM. - - F. MARRYAT DEL^{T}] - - - - - - [Illustration: - - MOUNTAINS AND MOLEHILLS - OR RECOLLECTIONS OF - A BURNT JOURNAL] - - BY.FRANK.MARRYAT. - - AUTHOR OF “BORNEO AND THE EASTERN ARCHIPELAGO.” - - WITH ILLUSTRATIONS BY THE AUTHOR. - - LONDON: - LONGMAN, BROWN, GREEN, AND LONGMANS. - 1855. - - - LONDON: - BRADBURY AND EVANS, PRINTERS, WHITEFRIARS. - - - - -PREFACE. - - -Nothing that I can say here will blind the reader to the deficiency of -these pages; they are in truth, as their title expresses, the -recollections of a “Journal burnt,” and I present here but an outline of -what I have seen or heard during three years of my life; and if I am -wanting in figures and statistics and anything of weight as regards the -country written of, it is certainly because I recalled this Journal -unexpectedly, and far from the scenes it once depicted. - -I may have remembered too little, but that is preferable to remembering -too much. - -I have tried to confine myself to what is most pleasant, and it may be -that a rambling truthful story is the best, if to make the work -elaborate one must have recourse to fiction. - -It is right that a man should submit anything he does modestly, yet for -all that a preface need not be an apology; for I look on a tale written -as a tale told, with this advantage to the reader, that if the tale -written please him not, he can close the book and have done with it. I -am no button-holder, and would rather, sir, that you would desert me at -my second chapter, than that you should wade wearily through this -volume, and then, because we do not suit each other, say that I have -bored you. - -In these days, when new discoveries of Nature’s gifts, and increased -facilities of communication with them invite man to roam, any record of -travel should possess some interest for the adventurous. - -I have proved to myself, what these pages may not show, that a man with -health may plant himself in any country in the world, and by the -exercise of those reasonable faculties that are denied to few, may there -live well and happily. - -It is nothing, perhaps, to state this for a fact, but I would have each -emigrant hug it to his breast as a warm hope that will uphold him in the -hours of adversity and trial that will meet him in the path he pioneers -for himself in a new country. - -Reader, these pages are so much black and white, and will pass as nearly -all such matter does, rapidly to oblivion; but if they bring no smile to -you, nor help momentarily to efface a care, I would ask that they should -bring no frown, for they are written earnestly, and with a good -intention, even though from first to last they stand against me as -printed errors, to cause regret in later years. - -FRANK MARRYAT. - -_December 1st, 1854._ - -NOTE.--As my sketches were destroyed by fire, I have been unable to -illustrate the scenery of California, but in the accompanying drawings I -have endeavoured to be faithful to the characteristics of the people. - - - - -CONTENTS. - - -CHAPTER I. - - PAGE - -Chagres River--Curiosity--Isthmus of Panama--Washington Hotel--Ants--A -Native of Virginia--Gold Train--Robbery--Panama Bells--An -Emigrant Ship--An Affecting Preacher--San Francisco 1 - - -CHAPTER II. - -A Great Country--Improvement--Adventurers--Drinking-Saloons--The -Old Judge--Banks--Mine Speculators--Gambling Houses--“Don’t -Shoot”--Climate--High and Dry 21 - - -CHAPTER III. - -Benicia--Barnes--A Mad Bloodhound--His Death--Grasshoppers--Don -Raymond--A Blessed City--Wicked Mules--“Camping Out”--Napa--Fourth -of July--Agriculturists--Sonoma--Competition--An -Irascible Bull 39 - - -CHAPTER IV. - -Spanish Grants--Squatters--Squatter Fights--A Spanish Ranche--Good -Quarters--Fleas--Vanity--Vaccaros--Quilp--English -Saddles--Antelope Hunt--Rattle-Snakes--Quilp Waltzes--Californian -Horses--Saddles--Horse-Breaking--A Tame Horse 58 - - -CHAPTER V. - -Spanish Priests--Indians--Quilp forgets himself--Habits of Native -Californians--Father Bartoleméo--The Lasso--Good Riders--Cattle -Branding--Raymond provides Mules--Russian River--We -Encamp--Saw-mill--I propose to “Squat” 78 - - -CHAPTER VI. - -The Little Valley--Three Martyrs--Mountain Life--The Poor Does--Castor-oil--A -Sick Dog--The Carpentaro--Grey Squirrel--Digger -Indians--Red-wood Tree--American Rifles--Grizzly Bear Hunt--Sheldon -Wounded--Difficulty in Killing the Bear--Habits of the -Bear--A Thief 97 - - -CHAPTER VII. - -Deer Hunting--Wild Bulls--Wild Fowl--A Duck Gun--Driving an -Ox-Team--I Reflect--An Estampede--The Tiger Cat--Rainy -Season--Indian Fires--Wasps--We are Robbed by the Indians--I -kill a Bear--Crossing a Swollen River 122 - - -CHAPTER VIII. - -Quilp departs for the South--San Luis--Ramsey--I am left for -Dead--The Early History of California--Discovery of San Francisco--Spanish -Missions--A Digression--Digression, continued--A -Rainy Season--A Little Crab 144 - - -CHAPTER IX. - -The Old Crab-Catcher--Mr. Warren--American Friendship--The -American Press--Education in America--Americans Good Colonists--Californian -Correspondence 164 - - -CHAPTER X. - -Long Wharf--Clipper Ships--Chinese Emigrants--The May Fire--An -Exciting Scene--Iron Houses--Vallejo--The Coyote--Wild Geese 180 - - -CHAPTER XI. - -Coyote Hunting--My Dominions are Invaded--Thomas kills a _Bear_--A -Trial of Strength--Rowe’s “Lot”--Choctaw--Elk--A Butchery--Rough -Life--Fertility of the Soil 197 - - -CHAPTER XII. - -Another Fire--My Geological Friend--“Burnt Out”--Sacramento--Levee-- -Hulks--Rats--Vigilance Committee--Start for Volcano--Crocket--“Right -Side Up” 216 - - -CHAPTER XIII. - -An Old She-goat--Our Mineralogist--Gold Diggers--Murderer’s Bar--The -Theorist puzzled--Mining Laws--Jumping Claims--The -Miner’s Life--“Let her slide”--Hostile Indians--We are disgusted--Fire-proof -Houses 231 - - -CHAPTER XIV. - -Joe Bellow--Stockton--A Bear Trapper--Bear and Bull Fights--An -Uneasy Bear--Californian Inns--Natural Roads--Good Driving--I -Kill a Flea--Sonora--The Evening commences--French Emigrants--A -Drinking Bar--Number Eighty--A Corral and a Moral 248 - - -CHAPTER XV. - -The Gold Mine--The Innocence of Sonora--Sunday in Sonora--Selling -a Horse--Carrying Weapons--Bob--We leave Vallejo--We are -“Bound to go”--The Shadow of a Crow 269 - - -CHAPTER XVI. - -I explain to the Patient Reader--Pioneers--A Lady’s Boot--Mainspring--Mexican -Robbers--Victims of Prejudice--Works on -America--Two Pigs--Power of the Human Will 286 - - -CHAPTER XVII. - -Yield of Gold--Its Duration--Mormon Gulch--The Distribution of -Gold--Tunnelling--Damming Rivers--Holden’s Garden--Energy -in the Mines--Quartz Mines--Quartz Mining successful--The -Author gets out of his Depth 304 - - -CHAPTER XVIII. - -Transport Machinery to the Mine--The Carpenter Judge, and Constable -Rowe--Cut-throat Jack--Greasers--French Miners--John -Chinaman--Chinese Ferocity--The Feast of Lanterns--Chinese -Despotism--False Sympathy 323 - - -CHAPTER XIX. - -The Firemen of San Francisco--“We strive to Save”--A Barber’s -Saloon--Oysters--Places of Amusement--A Pickled Head--Shooting -on Sight 341 - - -CHAPTER XX. - -Rat-Catchers--Drays--Crested Partridge--A Marvellous Story--Sailors -in the Mines--A Verdict--The Quartz has the best of it--I -leave Tuttle-town 356 - - -CHAPTER XXI. - -Advice to Emigrants--Gold Countries--Self-Doctoring--Advice continued--I -arrive at Stockton 373 - - -CHAPTER XXII. - -Elections--Executions--Reforms--Exiles--“Know Nothings”--Testimonials--Speaking -Trumpets--Ocean Steamers--Life-Buoys--Air-Boats--Confidence -necessary--Fitting a Raft--A Suggestion 387 - - -CHAPTER XXIII. - -“Hercules” fails--Land Crabs--Mr. Bobbins--Rushing the Ship--New -York 406 - - -CHAPTER XXIV. - -Yellow Fever--A Wooden Head--Hard Times--A Gale--We Spring -a Leak--Acapulco--Smuggling--Cholera--Conclusion 417 - - -APPENDIX 433 - - - - -ERRATUM. - -Page 204, fifteenth line, _for_ “Athletes,” _read_ “Athletæ.” -[Corrected by ebook transcriber.] - - - - -LIST OF PLATES. - -DRAWN ON STONE BY MESSRS. HANHART, FROM DESIGNS BY FRANK MARRYAT. - - - PAGE - -WHERE THE GOLD COMES FROM _Frontispiece_ - -HIGH AND DRY 37 - -CHAGRES RIVER 92 - -WINTER OF 1849 162 - -BAR ROOM AT SONORA 224 - -HORSE AUCTION 274 - -SAN FRANCISCO--A FIREMAN’S FUNERAL 344 - -CROSSING THE ISTHMUS 406 - - - - -LIST OF WOODCUTS. - -DRAWN ON WOOD BY MR. L. C. MARTIN, FROM DESIGNS BY FRANK MARRYAT. - - - PAGE - -VACCARO AND INDIAN 67 - -QUILP 74 - -CAMPING OUT 95 - -THE THREE MARTYRS 101 - -THE SHOOTING BOX 103 - -ROWE’S LOT 208 - -A PROSPECTER 232 - -THE SONORA STAGE 259 - -THE UMBRELLA 282 - -OLD SOLDIER AND CHOCKTAW 283 - -THE LADY’S BOOT 292 - -THE CARPENTER JUDGE 328 - -FRENCH MINER 330 - -JOHN CHINAMAN 333 - -FEAST OF LANTERNS 335 - -THE MINER’S GRAVE 365 - -DRAWING STRAWS 367 - -MR. BOBBINS 411 - - - - -[Illustration] - -MOUNTAINS AND MOLEHILLS; - -OR, - -RECOLLECTIONS OF A BURNT JOURNAL. - - - - -CHAPTER I. - - CHAGRES RIVER--CURIOSITY--ISTHMUS OF PANAMA--WASHINGTON - HOTEL--ANTS--A NATIVE OF VIRGINIA--GOLD TRAIN--ROBBERY--PANAMA - BELLS--AN EMIGRANT SHIP--AN AFFECTING PREACHER--SAN FRANCISCO. - - -_April, 1850._ - -At eight A.M., Chagres was reported in sight, and as we neared the land, -it presented an appearance far from inviting. - -The American steamer, “Cherokee,” ran into the anchorage with us, and -immediately disgorged five hundred American citizens in red and blue -shirts. - -I landed with as much expedition as possible, and commenced at once to -bargain for a canoe to take me up the river. This I at last effected at -an exorbitant price, and on the express condition that we should not -start until sunset. A few months back the native Indians of this place -considered themselves amply repaid with a few dollars for a week’s work, -but since the Californian emigration has lined their pockets with -American eagles, they have assumed American independence: and now the -civilised traveller, instead of kicking the naked aborigine into his -canoe, or out of it as his humour prompts, has to bargain with a -“padrone,” as he calls himself, dressed in a coloured muslin shirt and a -Panama hat, with a large cigar in his still larger mouth; and has not -only to pay him his price, but has to wait his leisure and convenience. - -The town of Chagres deserves notice, inasmuch as it is the birthplace of -a malignant fever, that became excessively popular among the Californian -emigrants, many of whom have acknowledged the superiority of this malady -by giving up the ghost, a very few hours after landing. Most towns are -famous for some particular manufacture, and it is the fashion for -visitors to carry away a specimen of the handicraft; so it is with -Chagres. It is composed of about fifty huts, each of which raises its -head from the midst of its own private malaria, occasioned by the heaps -of filth and offal, which putrefying under the rays of a vertical sun, -choke up the very doorway. - -On the thresholds of the doors, in the huts themselves,--fish, -bullock’s heads, hides, and carrion, are strewed all in a state of -decomposition; whilst in the rear is the jungle, and a lake of stagnant -water, with a delicate bordering of greasy blue mud. As I had with me my -man Barnes and three large blood-hounds, I hired a boat of extra size -capable of containing us all, together with the baggage, this being -preferable to making a swifter passage with two smaller canoes and -running the risk of separation. At about three we started, the -“Cherokees” in boats containing from ten to a dozen each. All was noise -and excitement,--cries for lost baggage, adieus, cheers, a parting -strain on a cornet-à-piston, a round dozen at least of different -tongues, each in its owner’s own peculiar fashion murdering Spanish, a -few discharges from rifles and revolvers, rendered the scene ludicrous, -and had the good effect of sending us on the first step of a toilsome -journey in a good humour. So up the river we went, and as Chagres -disappeared behind us, we rejoiced in a purer air. There is an absence -of variety in the scenery of the Chagres river, as throughout its whole -length the banks are lined to the water’s edge with vegetation. But the -rich bright green at all times charms the beholder, and the eye does not -become wearied with the thick masses of luxuriant foliage, for they are -ever blended in grace and harmony, now towering in the air in bold -relief against the sky, now drooping in graceful festoons from the bank, -kissing their own reflections in the stream beneath. - -Every growing thing clings to and embraces its neighbour most lovingly; -here is a bunch of tangled parasites that bind a palm tree by a thousand -bands to a majestic teak, and having shown their power, as it were, the -parasites ascend the topmost branch of the teak, and devote the rest of -their existence to embellishing with rich festoons of their bright red -flowers, the pair they have thus united. - -The teak, which is here a very bald tree, is much improved by the -addition of these parasites, which give him quite a juvenile appearance, -and form, in fact, a kind of wig, to hide the infirmities of age. Here -is a dead and well bleached sycamore tree, half thrown across the river, -but still holding to the bank by its sinewy roots; and at its extremity -is an ants’ nest, about the size of a beehive, and along the trunk and -branches green leaves are seen to move about at a prodigious rate, under -which ants are discovered on inspection. - -Immediately under the ants’ nest are some glorious water-lilies, and -close to these, by way of contrast, floats an alligator who has been -dead some time, and hasn’t kept well, and on the top of him sit two -black cormorants, which having, evidently, over-eaten themselves, are -shot on the spot and die lazily. So we ascend the river; a-head, astern, -on every side are canoes; here, surmounting a pyramid of luggage, is a -party of western men in red shirts and jack boots, questioning everybody -with the curiosity peculiar to their race. Presently it is my turn.-- - -“Whar bound to, stranger?” - -“California.” - -“Come along! Whar d’ye head from?” - -“England.” - -“Come along! Whar did yer get them dogs?” - -“No whar,” I had a mind to reply, but at this stage I relapsed into -dogged silence, well knowing that there are some lanes which have no -turning, and among these is a western man’s curiosity. The padrone of my -canoe, who steered the boat, had brought his wife with him, and she sat -with us in the stern sheets, laughing, chattering, and smoking a cigar. - -I could find no heart to object to this increase of our live freight, -and indeed so far benefitted by her presence as to be able to practise -Spanish, and before we arrived at the anchorage I had relieved her of -the false impressions she laboured under, that my dogs were “tigers,” -and that some cherry brandy I produced was poison. At night, having -reached a small village on the river, out jumped the lady, who scrambled -up the bank followed by the boatmen, and I scrambled after them as fast -as I could, to ascertain the meaning of this sudden desertion; but quick -as I was, by the time I reached the huts that constituted the “pueblo,” -I found my padrone already seated as banker at a well-lighted monte -table, surrounded by an anxious crowd of boatmen, natives, and American -passengers, his pretty wife looking over his shoulder watching the game. - -The short time he took to change his profession was very characteristic -of the gambling habits of these Central Americans. - -I slept in the canoe, and at daylight the boatmen returned, having made -a night of it. The monte banker had been lucky, he informed me, and had -left his wife behind, to which I was ungallantly indifferent. Another -day on the river, and another night spent at a hut, and on the third -morning we arrived at Gorgona, from whence we had to take mules to -Panama. - -The bargaining for mules at Gorgona was in every respect similar to the -canoe transaction at Chagres; and after passing a day in the sun, and -accomplishing in the evening what might, but for the vacillation of the -natives, have been done at once, we started for Panama in company with -the baggage, Barnes walking from choice with the dogs. With our mules in -a string we plunged at once into a narrow rocky path in the forest, -where palm trees and creepers shut the light out overhead;--splashing -through gurgling muddy streams, that concealed loose and treacherous -stones--stumbling over fallen trees that lay across our road--burying -ourselves to the mules’ girths in filthy swamps, where on either side -dead and putrid mules were lying--amidst lightning, thunder, and -incessant rain, we went at a foot pace on the road to Panama. The -thunder-storm changed the twilight of our covered path to darkness, and -one of my mules missing his footing on the red greasy clay, falls down -under his heavy load. When he gets up he has to be unpacked amidst the -curses of the muleteer, and packed again, and thus losing half an hour -in the pelting storm, file after file passes us, until, ready once more -to start, we find ourselves the last upon the road. At Gorgona a flaming -advertisement had informed us that half way on the road to Panama the -“Washington Hotel” would accommodate travellers with “forty beds.” -Anxious to secure a resting-place for my own party, I left the luggage -train under the charge of Barnes, and pressed forward on the bridle -road. - -At nightfall I reached the “Washington Hotel,” a log hut perched on the -top of a partially cleared hill; an immense amount of fluttering calico -proclaimed that meals could be procured, but a glance at the interior -was sufficient to destroy all appetite. Round it, and stretching for -yards, there were mules, drivers, and passengers, clustered and -clamorous as bees without a hive. To my surprise the crowd consisted for -the most part of homeward bound Californians--emigrants from the land of -promise, who had two days before arrived at Panama in a steamer. Some -were returning rich in gold dust and scales, but the greater part were -far poorer than when first they started to realise their golden dreams. - -And these latter were as drunken and as reckless a set of villains as -one could see anywhere. Stamped with vice and intemperance, without -baggage or money, they were fit for robbery and murder to any extent; -many of them I doubt not were used to it, and had found it convenient to -leave a country where Judge Lynch strings up such fellows rather quicker -than they like sometimes. They foretold with a savage joy the miseries -and disappointment that awaited all who landed there, forgetting that -there travelled on the same road with them those who had in a very -short space of time secured to themselves a competency by the exercise -of industry, patience, and temperance. The Yankee owner of the -Washington was “realising some,” judging from the prices he charged, and -that every eatable had been consumed long before my arrival. The “forty -beds” respecting which we had met so many advertisements on the road, -consisted of frames of wood five feet long, over which were simply -stretched pieces of much soiled canvas--they were in three tiers, and -altogether occupied about the same space as would two fourposters--they -were all occupied. - -Wet with the thunderstorm, I took up my station on a dead tree near the -door, and as night closed in and the moon rose, awaited the arrival of -my man and dogs with impatience. Hours passed, and I felt convinced at -last that fatigue had compelled Barnes to pass the night at a rancheria -I had seen a few miles back. Rising to stretch my limbs, I became -instantly aware of a succession of sharp stings in every part of my -body; these became aggravated as I stamped and shook myself. In sitting -on the dead tree I had invaded the territory of a nest of ants of -enormous size--larger than earwigs; they bit hard, and had sufficiently -punished my intrusion before I managed to get rid of them. During the -night file upon file of mules arrived from Panama. These were unloaded -and turned adrift to seek their supper where they could; and travellers, -muleteers, and luggage were spread in every direction round a large fire -that had been lit in the early part of the evening. Deserting my -inhospitable tree, I found myself comfortable enough among a heap of -pack saddles, buried in which I slept till morning. With the first -streak of day everything was moving, luggage was replaced on kicking -mules; the sallow, wayworn, unwashed tenants of the “Washington,” with -what baggage they had on their backs, started for Gorgona on foot. The -morning oath came out fresh and racy from the lips of these disappointed -gentlemen; nor could the bright and glorious sun reflect any beauty from -their sunken bloodshot eyes; when they disappeared in the winding road -leading to Gorgona, it was quite a comfort to me to reflect that we were -not about to honour the same country with our presence. In less than an -hour I found myself alone at the half-way house; the crowd had dispersed -on either road, but as yet my baggage had not arrived. When it did come -up at last we were all very hungry, but as there was nothing left -eatable at the “Washington,” we started for Panama without breaking our -fast. - -Through a tortuous path, which had been burrowed through the forest, we -stumbled on at the rate of a mile and a half an hour; at times the space -between the rocks on either side is too narrow to allow the mules to -pass; in these instances all our efforts are directed to the mule that -is _jammed_; heaven knows how we get her clear--several shouts, some -kicking, a plunge or two, a crash, and, the mule being free, proceeds on -her path, whilst you stop to pick up the lid of your trunk, which has -been ground off against the rock, as also the few trifles that tumble -out from time to time in consequence. And shortly afterwards we meet -more travellers homeward bound, some on foot, with a stout buckthorn -stick and bundle, and others on mules, with shouldered rifles. Each one, -as I passed, asked me what state I was from, and if I came in the -“Cherokee” steamer. I had been questioned so much after this manner at -the “Washington” that I began to think that to belong to a state and to -arrive in the “Cherokee” would save me much trouble in answering -questions, for my reply in the negative invariably led to the direct -query of Where did I come from? So along the road I surrendered myself -invariably as a “Cherokee” passenger and a native of Virginia, and was -allowed to pass on in peace. At last the country becomes more open, -huts appear occasionally, and the worst part of the journey is well -over. Still the human tide flows on to Gorgona, for another California -steamer has arrived at Panama; and now we meet some California patients -carried in hammocks slung upon men’s shoulders, travelling painfully -towards a home that some of them will not live to see. Trains of unladen -mules are going down to meet the emigration, some with cargoes of -provisions for the Washington Hotel perhaps. - -Pass on filth, squalor, and poverty, and make way as you should for -wealth, for here, with tinkling bells and gay caparisons, comes a train -of mules laden with gold--pure gold from Peru; as each mule bears his -massive bars uncovered, glittering beneath the cordage which secures -them to the saddle, you can touch the metal as they pass. Twenty of -these file by as we draw on one side, and after them, guarding so much -wealth, are half a dozen armed natives with rusty muskets slung lazily -on their backs; but behind them, on an ambling jennet, is a well “got -up” Don, with muslin shirt and polished jack-boots, richly-mounted -pistols in his holsters, and massive silver spurs on his heels, smoking -his cigarette with as much pomposity as if the gold belonged to him, and -he had plenty more at home. This gentleman, however, is in reality a -clerk in an English house at Panama, and when he returns to that city, -after shipping the gold on board the English steamer, and getting a -receipt, he will change this picturesque costume for a plaid -shooting-coat and continuations, and be a Don no longer. As the gold -train passed, I thought, in contrast to its insecurity, of the villains -I had parted from in the morning, all of whom were armed. Then followed -a train much larger than the first, and just as little guarded, carrying -silver. For years these specie trains have travelled in this unguarded -state unmolested, _not_ from the _primitive honesty_ of the natives, for -a greater set of villains never existed, but from the simple difficulty -of turning a BAR of gold to any account when once it has been taken into -the jungle. Since the time of which I am writing many attempts have been -made to rob the gold trains, but, when pursuit has been active, the bars -have invariably been discovered in the jungle a short distance from the -scene of the robbery. - -The country became more open as we approached Panama, and when the town -appeared in the distance, we had no shelter from the sun, and the dogs, -panting and footsore, dragged on very slowly. Here I found a man by the -roadside attacked with fever, shivering with ague, and helpless. He was -going to Gorgona, but as he had no mule, he wished to return to Panama. -I hoisted him on to mine, and we proceeded; he was very ill, wandered in -his speech, and shook like a leaf; and before we got into Panama, he -died from exhaustion. As I did not know what to do with him, I planted -him by the road-side, and on my arrival at the town, I informed the -authorities, and I presume they buried him. Weary and sunburnt, we -arrived at the gates of the town, outside of which we found a large -American encampment, in the midst of which we pitched our tent. Every -bed in the town had long before been pre-engaged, and these cribs, after -the fashion of the “Washington,” were packed from fifty to a hundred in -a room. We slept comfortably that night under one of Edgington’s tents, -the baggage inside, and the dogs picquetted round us. - -Since Panama has become the half-way resting-place of Californian -emigration, the old ruin has assumed quite a lively aspect. Never were -modern improvements so suddenly and so effectually applied to a -dilapidated relic of former grandeur as here. The streets present a -vista of enormous sign-boards, and American flags droop from every -house. - -The main street is composed almost entirely of hotels, eating-houses, -and “hells.” The old ruined houses have been patched up with whitewash -and paint, and nothing remains unaltered but the cathedral. This -building is in what I believe is called the “early Spanish style,” which -in the Colonies is more remarkable for the tenacity with which mud -bricks hold together, than for any architectural advantages. The -principal features in connection with these ancient churches are the -brass bells they contain, many of which are of handsome design; and -these bells are forced on the notice of the visitor to Panama, inasmuch -as being now all cracked, they emit a sound like that of a concert of -tin-pots and saucepans. At the corner of every street is a little -turretted tower, from the top of which a small boy commences at sunrise -to batter one of these discordant instruments, whilst from the belfries -of the cathedral there issues a peal, to which, comparatively speaking, -the din of a boiler manufactory is a treat. If those bells fail to bring -the people to church, at all events they allow them no peace out of it. -The streets are crowded day and night, for there are several thousand -emigrants, waiting a passage to California. Most of these people are of -the lower class, and are not prepossessing under their present aspect; -and many of them, having exhausted their means in the expenses of their -detention, are leading a precarious life, which neither improves their -manners or their personal appearance. Long gaunt fellows, armed to the -teeth, line the streets on either side, or lounge about the drinking -bars and gambling saloons; and among these there is quarrelling and -stabbing, and probably murder, before the night is out. The more -peaceably disposed are encamped outside the town, and avoid these -ruffians as they would the plague; but the end of this, to the -evil-disposed, is _delirium tremens_, fever, and a dog’s burial. With a -good tent and canteen, an abundant market close at hand, and plenty of -books, the time passed pleasantly enough, until I had arranged for my -conveyance to California, which I shortly succeeded in doing, in a small -English barque. - -It is nothing new to say that the Central Americans are an inert race, -and that the inhabitants of New Grenada, of Spanish blood, seem to -assimilate in habits with the famous military garrison of Port Mahon, -the members of which were too lazy to eat;--for these people are too -indolent to make money when it can be done with great rapidity and very -little trouble, consequently, the advantages of the Californian -emigration are entirely reaped by foreigners. Not a _permanent_ -improvement has been added to the town, and if this route was abandoned -altogether, the _city_ would be little the richer for the millions of -dollars that have been left there during the last few years. The sole -exception, almost, is that of a native firm, which has amassed much -wealth by contracting for mules for transportation. The projected -railroad will be undoubtedly carried out, and will give a vast -importance to the isthmus: but it is built with American money and for -American purposes. The new town of Aspinwall, in Navy Bay, is American; -it is in its infancy at present, and likely always to remain rather -“thin,” for the reason that the marshes that surround it render it -unhealthy. I cannot see what the New Grenadians are to gain by all this -exercise of energy and capital; some day or other, perhaps, the brass -guns on the ramparts of Panama may be remounted, and the breaches in the -walls will be repaired, but by the time these events occur, I think the -flag that will float from the citadel will not be that of New Grenada. - - * * * * * - -I must confess I felt great delight when we made the mountains at the -entrance of San Francisco Bay; I had been cooped up for forty-five days -on board a small barque, in company with one hundred and seventy-five -passengers, of whom one hundred and sixty were noisy, quarrelsome, -discontented, and dirty in the extreme. I had secured, in company with -two or three gentlemen, the after-cabin, and so far I was fortunate. We -had also bargained for the poop as a promenade, but those fellows would -not go off it; so there would some of them sit all day, spitting tobacco -juice, and picking their teeth with their knives. Occasionally they -became mutinous, and complained of the provisions, or insisted upon -having more water to drink; but the captain knew his men, and on these -occasions would hoist out of the hold a small cask of sugar, and -knocking off the head, place it in the middle of the deck, and -immediately the mutinous symptoms would subside, and the jack-knives -would cease to pick teeth, and diving into the sugar cask would convey -the sweetness thereof to their owners’ mouths! - -Quarrels were of daily occurrence; there was a great deal of -knife-drawing and threatening, but no _bloodshed_, and this was probably -attributable to the fact that there was no spirit on board. - -It requires a dram or two even for these ferocious gentry to conquer -their natural repugnance to a contest with cold steel; and I may remark -here that on first finding himself amongst a swaggering set of bullies -armed to the teeth, the traveller is apt to imagine that he is -surrounded by those who acknowledge no law, have no fear of personal -danger, and who will resent all interference; but a closer acquaintance -dispels this illusion, and the observing voyager soon finds that he can -resent a man’s treading on his toes none the less that the aggressor -carries a jack-knife and revolver. One Sunday during our voyage we were -addressed spiritually by a minister who dissented from every known -doctrine, and whose discourses were of that nature that rob sacred -subjects of their gravity. - -He shed tears on these occasions with remarkable facility; but under -ordinary circumstances, I should imagine him not to have been sensitive -in this respect, as I overheard him during the voyage threaten to “rip -up the ship’s cook’s guts,” and he carried a knife with him in every way -adapted for the contemplated operation. Under all circumstances I was -very glad when the land about San Francisco Bay appeared in sight. The -morning was lovely; and it needs, by the way, a little sunshine to give -a cheerful look to the rugged cliffs and round gravelly grassless hills -that extend on either side of the bay;--in foggy weather their -appearance is quite disheartening to the stranger, and causes him to -sail up to the anchorage with misgivings in general respecting the -country. Quarrels were now forgotten, and each heart beat high with -expectation, for now was in sight that for which many had left wives and -children, farms and homesteads, in hopes of course of something better -in a land so favoured as undoubtedly was this before us. But hope as we -will our best, fear and doubt will creep in; and who knows what blanches -the cheek of yonder man! Is it the exhilaration consequent on reaching a -goal where certain reward awaits him? or is it a lurking fear that all -may _prove illusion_? - -It is a more intense feeling, perhaps, than that of the man who sees -before him the card which carries on its downward side his ruin or his -fortune; for the gambler cannot if he would find any stake against which -to risk the happiness of wife and children, the affections of a -well-loved home, and the _chance_ of misery and speedy death in an -unknown land. Such the emigrant knows to have been the lot of thousands -who have gone before him; but he has also heard of rich “pockets” and -“great strikes,” of fortunes made in a month--a week--a day: who shall -then say which of these emotions blanches his cheek, as we now fly -rapidly past the “Golden Gate” rocks that guard the harbour’s mouth? - -As we open the bay, we observe dense masses of smoke rolling to leeward; -the town and shipping are almost undistinguishable, for we have arrived -at the moment of the great June Fire of 1850, and San Francisco is again -in ashes! - - - - -CHAPTER II. - - A GREAT COUNTRY--IMPROVEMENT--ADVENTURERS--DRINKING-SALOONS--THE - OLD JUDGE--BANKS--MINE SPECULATORS--GAMBLING HOUSES--“DON’T - SHOOT”--CLIMATE--HIGH AND DRY. - - -_June, 1850._ - -The fire was fast subsiding; and as the embers died away, and the heavy -smoke rolled off to leeward, the site of the conflagration was plainly -marked out to the spectator like a great black chart. There is nothing -particularly impressive in the scene, for although four hundred houses -have been destroyed, they were but of wood, or thin sheet iron, and the -“devouring element” has made a clean sweep of everything, except a few -brick chimneys and iron pots. Everybody seems in good humour, and there -is no reason why the stranger, who has lost nothing by the calamity, -should allow himself to be plunged into melancholy reflections! Planks -and lumber are already being carted in all directions, and so soon as -the embers cool, the work of rebuilding will commence. - -I found it amusing next day to walk over the ground and observe the -effects of the intense heat on the articles which were strewed around. -Gun-barrels were twisted and knotted like snakes; there were tons of -nails welded together by the heat, standing in the shape of the kegs -which had contained them; small lakes of molten glass of all the colours -of the rainbow; tools of all descriptions, from which the wood-work had -disappeared, and pitch-pots filled with melted lead and glass. Here was -an iron house that had collapsed with the heat, and an iron fireproof -safe that had burst under the same influence; spoons, knives, forks, and -crockery were melted up together in heaps; crucibles even had cracked; -preserved meats had been unable to stand this second cooking, and had -exploded in every direction. The loss was very great by this fire, as -the houses destroyed had been for the most part filled with merchandise; -but there was little time wasted in lamentation, the energy of the -people showed itself at once in action, and in forty-eight hours after -the fire the whole district resounded to the din of busy workmen. - -On the “lot” where I had observed the remains of gun-barrels and nails, -stands its late proprietor, Mr. Jones, who is giving directions to a -master carpenter, or “boss,” for the rebuilding of a new store, the -materials for which are already on the spot. The carpenter promises to -get everything “fixed right off,” and have the store ready in two days. -At this juncture passes Mr. Smith, also in company with a cargo of -building materials; he was the owner of the iron house; he says to Jones -interrogatively,-- - -“_Burnt_ out?” - -JONES.--“Yes, and _burst up_.” - -SMITH.--“Flat?” - -JONES.--“Flat as a d--d pancake!” - -SMITH.--“It’s a great country.” - -JONES.--“It’s nothing shorter.” - -And in a couple of days both Smith and Jones are on their legs again, -and with a little help from their friends live to grow rich perhaps, and -build brick buildings that withstand the flames. - -This fire was attributed to incendiarism, but when the general -carelessness that existed is considered, it is quite as probable that it -resulted from accident. It is much to be regretted that these fires did -not sweep off the gambling houses; but these buildings were now -constructed of brick, and were tolerably well secured against all risk. -When the burnt portion of the city was again covered with buildings, I -had an opportunity of judging of the enormous strides the place had made -since two years back, when it was, by all accounts, a settlement of -tents. Three fires had checked its growth in this short space; but a -daring confidence had laughed as it were at these obstacles, and any one -who knew human nature might see, that so long as that spirit of energy -animated every breast, the city would increase in size and wealth, in -spite even of conflagrations so calamitous. For though many individually -are ruined by the flames, and are forced to retire from the field, yet -in a small community where all are armed with strong determination, the -vacant ranks are soon filled up again, and shoulder to shoulder all -march on in unity of purpose, and gain the victory at last, though at -ever so great a sacrifice. Twelve months back there was little else but -canvass tents here, and a small, shifting, restless, gambling, -population: who was it then, when all looked _uncertain in the future_, -that sent away so many thousand miles for steam excavators, and -tramways, and railway trucks? who were those, again, who sent from this -hamlet of shanties for all the material for large foundries of iron and -brass, for blocks of granite, bricks and mortar, for pile-drivers and -steam-boats? I don’t know,--but these things all arrived; and now, in -eighteen hundred and fifty, the sand-hills tumble down as if by magic, -and are carried to the water’s edge on a railroad where the -pile-drivers are at work, and confine them to the new position assigned -them on a water lot. The clang of foundries is heard on all sides, as -machinery is manufactured for the mines,--brick buildings are springing -up in the principal thoroughfares, steamers crowd the rivers, and -thousands of men are blasting out huge masses of rock to make space for -the rapid strides of this ambitious young city. The better portion of -the population of San Francisco in eighteen hundred and fifty, may be -said to have consisted of adventurers; these were of all nations, the -Americans being in the proportion of about one-third. Many people object -to the term adventurer, as one that has been generally associated with a -class who travel with scanty purses and easy consciences. But Johnson -defines an adventurer as “one who hazards a chance;” and when we -consider that the population here have to a man almost made sacrifices -elsewhere, in hopes of the speedier reward held out by the vicinity of -these vast gold-fields, the term is not misapplied. Neither is it one -that should ever carry opprobrium; while fresh countries remain to be -explored, and facilities of communication are daily increasing, I have -no objection to call myself an adventurer, and wish that I had been one -of those fortunate ones who conferred a vast benefit upon mankind (and -secured _moderate advantages for themselves_) by the discovery of the -gold-fields of California and Australia. The most successful merchants -of San Francisco were needy men, who by chance were on the spot when -first the gold was discovered. The colossal fortunes that a few of these -have reaped, sprung only from the chances that were open to all. Sam -Brannan is probably the wealthiest of these speculators, and he -commenced, they say, by levying a tax on the profits of a party of -Mormons whom he piloted to the diggings. When the Mormons declined to -pay the tax any longer, he called them a parcel of fools for having paid -it so long, and then speculated in building-lots and real estate in San -Francisco and other cities. The rapid rise in the value of this property -elevated Sam to the top round of the ladder of fortune, where he will -probably hold on as long as he can. - -The stranger in San Francisco at this time is at once impressed with the -feverish state of excitement that pervades the whole population; there -is no attention paid to dress, and everyone is hurried and incoherent in -manner. Clubs, reading-rooms, and the society of women are unknown; and -from the harassing duties of the day’s business, there is nothing to -turn to for recreation but the drinking-saloons and gambling-houses, -and here nightly all the population meet. Where the commerce engaged in -fluctuates with every hour, and profit and loss are not matters of -calculation, but chance--where all have hung their fortunes on a die, -and few are of that class who bring strong principles to bear upon -conduct that society does not condemn--the gambling-tables are well -supported, and the merchant and his clerk, and perhaps his cook, jostle -in the crowd together, and stake their ounces at the same table. - -Drinking is carried on to an incredible extent here; not that there is -much drunkenness, but a vast quantity of liquor is daily consumed. - -From the time the habitual drinker in San Francisco takes his morning -gin-cocktail to stimulate an appetite for breakfast, he supplies himself -at intervals throughout the day with an indefinite number of racy little -spirituous compounds that have the effect of keeping him always more or -less primed. And where saloons line the streets, and you cannot meet a -friend, or make a new acquaintance, or strike a bargain, without an -invitation to drink, which amounts to a command; and when the days are -hot, and you see men issuing from the saloons licking their lips after -their iced mint juleps; and where Brown, who has a party with him, meets -you as he enters the saloon, and says, “Join us!” and where it is the -fashion to accept such invitations, and rude to refuse them;--what can a -thirsty man do? The better description of drinking-bars are fitted up -with great taste, and at enormous expense. Order and quiet are preserved -within them during the day; they are generally supplied with periodicals -and newspapers, and business assignations are made and held in them at -all hours. Everybody in the place is generous and lavish of money; and -perhaps one reason for so many drinks being consumed is in the fact that -there is ever some liberal soul who is not content until he has ranged -some twenty of his acquaintances at the bar, and when each one is -supplied with a “drink,” he says, “My respects gentlemen!” and the -twenty heads being simultaneously thrown back, down go “straight -brandies,” “Queen-Charlottes,” “stone-fences,” “Champagne-cocktails,” -and “sulky sangarees,” whilst the liberal entertainer discharges the -score, and each one hurries off to his business. There is no one in such -a hurry as a Californian, but he has always time to take a drink. There -is generally a sprinkling of idlers hanging about these saloons, waiting -for any chance that may turn up to their benefit, and particularly that -of being included in the general invitation of “drinks for the crowd,” -which is from time to time extended by some elated gentleman during the -day. These hangers-on are called “loafers.” There is a story told of an -old judge in the southern part of the country, who was an habitual -frequenter of the bar-room, and who with his rich mellow voice would -exclaim, “Come, let’s all take a drink!” Gladly the loafers would -surround the bar, and each would call for his favourite beverage; but -when all was finished, the judge would observe, “_And now let’s all pay -for it!_” which the loafers would sorrowfully do, and then retire wiser -men. - - * * * * * - -Perhaps in no other community so limited could one find so many -well-informed and clever men--men of all nations, who have added the -advantages of travelling to natural abilities and a liberal education. -Most of these are young, and are among the most reckless, perhaps, just -now; but by-and-by, when this fever of dissipation has given way to -better impulses, these men will gladly abjure a life which has been -entailed more upon them by circumstance than choice, and will be the -first to help to elevate society to a standard adapted to their real -qualities--and tastes. - -The banks of San Francisco are naturally important, as being the -depositories of the wealth that thousands are hourly accumulating on the -rich “placer” fields. These buildings are of brick, and have fire-proof -cellars; and although at the time they were erected the outlay was -enormous, both for material and labour, it was a mere trifle in -comparison with the profits of their owners. The banks line one side of -Montgomery Street, the principal thoroughfare of the city; and as the -space on all sides has been entirely cleared for some distance by the -fire, this row of buildings stands alone just now and solitary, like the -speculative “Terrace” with “extensive marine view” that fronts an -unpopular watering-place in England. At the corner of a street is -Burgoyne’s Bank; you enter and find it very crowded and full of -tobacco-smoke; instead of the chinking of money, you hear a succession -of thumps on the counter, as the large leathern bags of gold-dust come -down on it. Some of the clerks are weighing dust, some are extracting -the black sand with a magnet, and others are packing it in bags and -boxes. The depositors are, generally speaking, miners who have come down -from the diggings, fellows with long beards and jack-boots, and of an -unwashed appearance for the most part. However, many of these are not by -any means what they seem; they have just arrived, perhaps, from a -toilsome dusty journey, and deposit their gold as a first precaution; -and before the evening they will have been metamorphosed into very -respectable-looking members of society, and will remain so until they -return again to the diggings. Large blocks of quartz lie about the room, -in all of which are rich veins of gold. These have been sent down from -the mountains to be assayed; and the rich yield that these solitary -specimens afforded led some time afterwards to a great deal of very -ruinous speculation, for it had been represented that these specimens -were average samples of great veins, and it was only when money had been -expended in large sums that it was discovered that these rich morsels -were merely accidental deposits of gold, and by no means indicated the -value of the veins. A few rich lumps were brought to England, and, by a -little judicious handling and a few public dinners, were turned to good -account; and nothing but the bungling stupidity of some of those who -were sent here to _pull the wires_ prevented the consummation of some of -the greatest swindles that ever were imposed upon the English public. I -feel sore upon this point, for the dishonesty thus practised produced an -ill feeling against the country which was undeserved, and the stigma of -fraud and dishonesty was unjustly cast upon the whole population. - -There are no public lamps in the town at this time, so that the greater -part of it is admirably adapted for that portion of the population who -gain their livelihood by robbery, and _murder_ in those cases where -people object to being robbed. But Commercial Street, which is composed -entirely of saloons, is a blaze of light, and resounds with music from -one end to the other. No expense is spared to attract custom, the -bar-keepers are “artists” in their profession; rich soft velvet sofas -and rocking-chairs invite the lounger; but popular feeling runs -strongest in favour of the saloon that contains a pretty woman to attend -the bar. Women are rarities here; and the population flock in crowds and -receive drinks from the fair hands of the female dispenser, whilst the -fortunate proprietor of the saloon realises a fortune in a week--and -only has that time to do it in, for at the end of that period the -charmer is married! A French ship arrived during my stay, and brought as -passengers a large number of very respectable girls, most of whom were -tolerably well looking; they were soon caught up by the saloon -proprietors as waiting-women at salaries of about 50_l._ each per month, -and after this influx the public became gradually inured to female -attendance, and looked upon it as a matter of no moment. - -Near the centre of the town is a square, which, in common with many -other things in the country, retains its Spanish appellation, and is -called the “Plaza;” two sides of this are occupied by brick buildings, -devoted solely to gambling. We have the “Verandah,” “Eldorado,” “Parker -House,” “Empire,” “Rendez-vous,” and “Bella Union,” in one row. Most of -these establishments belong to companies, for the amount of capital -required is very large. One or two of the houses are under French -superintendence; companies having been formed in Paris, who openly -avowed their object in the prospectus they issued. On entering one of -these saloons the eye is dazzled almost by the brilliancy of chandeliers -and mirrors. The roof, rich with gilt-work, is supported by pillars of -glass; and the walls are hung with French paintings of great merit, but -of which female nudity forms alone the subject. The crowd of Mexicans, -Miners, Niggers, and Irish bricklayers, through which with difficulty -you force a way, look dirtier (although there is no need of this) from -contrast with the brilliant decorations. Green tables are scattered over -the room, at each of which sit two “monte” dealers surrounded by a -betting crowd. The centres of the tables are covered with gold ounces -and rich specimens from the diggings, and these heaps accumulate very -rapidly in the course of the evening, for “monte,” as played by these -dexterous dealers, leaves little chance for the staker to win. The thin -Spanish cards alone are used, and although the dealer is intently -watched by a hundred eyes, whose owners, in revenge for having lost, -would gladly detect a cheat, and fall upon him and tear him to pieces, -yet are these eyes no match for his dexterous fingers, and the savage -scrutiny with which he is assailed as his partner rakes in the stakes -produces no emotion on his pale unimpassioned face. The duty of a -“monte” dealer is one of great difficulty; although surrounded by a -clamorous crowd, and the clang of music, his head is occupied by -intricate calculations, his eyes are watchfully (though apparently -carelessly) scanning the faces that surround his table, yet they appear -to be rivetted to his cards; he has, in the presence of vigilant -observers, to execute feats, the detection of which would cost him his -life;--nightly almost he draws his revolver in self-defence;--and -through all this he must never change a muscle of his face, and must be -ready at all times to exercise a determined courage in resenting the -mere suspicion of dishonesty on his part, if such is expressed -incautiously by those about him. - -There is no limit to the introductions one is subjected to in a -Californian crowd;--if the “monte” dealer rises from his chair, you -will probably be introduced to him, and I had the honour of shaking -hands with a murderer quite fresh from his work, who had been acquitted -a day or two previously by bribing the judge, jury, and the witnesses -against him. I should have declined the honour had I learnt his -profession with his name, but custom insists on your shaking hands on -being introduced to a fellow-mortal; and to refuse to do so is tacitly -to deny one of the great principles of the model republic, which holds -that “one man is as good as another;” and, as I heard a democratic -Irishman observe, “_a d--d sight better_!” - -Amidst all the din and turmoil of the crowd, and the noisy music that -issues from every corner, two or three reports of a pistol will -occasionally startle the stranger, particularly if they should happen to -be in his immediate vicinity, and a bullet should (as is not uncommon) -whistle past his head and crack the mirror on the other side of him. -There is a general row for a few moments, spectators secure themselves -behind pillars and under the bar; there is a general exclamation of -“don’t shoot,” which means of course “don’t shoot till we get out of the -way;” but after the first discharges the excitement settles down, and -the suspended games are resumed. A wounded man is carried out, but -whether it is a “monte” dealer who has shot a player, or one gentleman -who has drawn on another gentleman, in the heat of altercation, one does -not learn that night, but it will appear in the morning paper; if the -former it will be headed “_Murderous affray_,” if the latter, -“Unfortunate _difficulty_.” There are different names for the same -thing, even in a democratic colony! The climate of California is very -healthy;--there is a tendency in it to intermittent fever and ague in -some parts of the mountains; but in the mines, sickness has generally -resulted from imprudent exposure, and the drinking of the worst possible -description of ardent spirits. On the sea coast and at San Francisco, -the weather is very changeable during the summer months. When the sun -rises and clears away the fog that hangs over the Bay, the air is as -pure and transparent as that of Naples; by noon the glass is at 90°, and -then the sea breeze sets in, and would be welcome, but that it does not -fan one gently like other sea breezes, but bursts on you with the force -of a hurricane, blows off a bit of the roof of your house, and sends the -fine dust in whirling clouds along the street, in such a way that the -people would profit by lying down flat on their stomachs, as they do in -a regular Simoom! As the sun goes down the “doctor” subsides, after -having done a great deal of good in - -[Illustration: HIGH AND DRY.] - -airing the town, which as yet is unprovided with sewers. Then there -creeps in steadily a heavy, fat fog, which takes up its quarters in the -Bay every night, and disappears as before mentioned when the sun -rises--under whose influence it does’nt melt like other fogs, but goes -out to sea, and watches the town gloomily, until it is time to come in -again. - -These varieties of temperature during some months are methodically -regular, but are not productive of sickness of any kind. The front of -the city is extending rapidly into the sea, as water-lots are filled up -with the sand-hills which the steam excavators remove. This has left -many of the old ships, that a year ago were beached as storehouses, in a -curious position; for the filled-up space that surrounds them has been -built on for some distance, and new streets run between them and the -sea, so that a stranger puzzles himself for some time to ascertain how -the “Apollo” and “Niantic” became perched in the middle of a street, for -although he has heard of ships being thrown up “high and dry,” he has -probably sufficient nautical experience to observe that the degree of -“height” and “dryness” enjoyed by the “Apollo” and “Niantic” resulted -from some other cause than the “fury of the gale.” Leaving San Francisco -for the present to return to it again by-and-by and watch its growth -and improvement, I got all ready for a start for Benicia, a little town -on the Bay, from whence I intended to travel leisurely to Russian River. -I had chosen this district as it abounded in game; and was in quite an -opposite direction to the diggings--a visit to which I postponed until -the ensuing summer, my object for the present being to encamp myself in -some snug place in the mountains, and there live upon my gun, in all the -enjoyment of a free life and the pleasures of the chase. - - - - -CHAPTER III. - - BENICIA--BARNES--A MAD BLOODHOUND--HIS DEATH--GRASSHOPPERS--DON - RAYMOND--A BLESSED CITY--WICKED MULES--“CAMPING OUT”--NAPA--FOURTH - OF JULY--AGRICULTURISTS--SONOMA--COMPETITION--AN IRASCIBLE BULL. - - -_July, 1850._ - -Great labour and capital have been expended on the wharves of San -Francisco; there is little space left between these, and ships ride at -their sides, and discharge their cargoes with as much rapidity and -comfort as if they were in dock. The central wharf is nearly a mile in -length, and from the end of this the river steamboats take their -departure every day at four o’clock. At these times the wharf is always -densely crowded, and it has always seemed strange to me that this -every-day occurrence attracts a crowd without fail, although directly -the boats are off, every man runs back to the city as if he had -forgotten something. Perhaps they come down on the chance of an -explosion, in which they are occasionally gratified; whether or no, -there must be some great attraction, for these curious people have to -walk a mile to get there, and run a mile to get back! The “Senator” was -our boat, and with one leg on board of her and the other buried in this -observing crowd, I had to work briskly to get my provender on -board--sacks of potatoes and flour, dogs, rifles, shovels, and pickaxes, -were handed in with astonishing celerity, considering that I was not -born a porter, and as the ship’s bell ceased tolling we cast off from -the wharf and threading the shipping at full speed, were soon steaming -up the Bay. The “Senator” is a fine boat, but no description of her is -requisite, as much finer have been described by travellers who have -sailed up the Mississippi River. She came round the Horn, and being the -first boat to arrive in the Bay, she realised most incredible sums of -money for her owners. - -In two hours we arrived at Benicia, and the steamer ran alongside of an -old hulk connected by a gang-way with the shore. Through the unusual -degree of Yankee nautical smartness shown on this occasion, I lost some -bags of potatoes, for the boat had scarcely touched the hulk, than we -were driven out of it carrying all we could, and the word was given to -“go a-head” again, the gang-board was hauled in, our potatoes were still -on board, there was no time for expostulation, and away steamed the -“Senator,” whilst we gazed dreamily at her receding hull, wrapt in -admiration at the general smartness that evidently surrounded us. -Benicia is a city in embryo, there is ample room for building, for in -every direction extend undulating hills, covered with wild oats, but -unobstructed by timber, of which none can be found within many miles. -But the natural advantages of this spot have not been embraced by the -public, for one reason, that the opposite town of Martinez is more -fortunately planted among groves of trees, and for another, that no one -requires a town in this particular part of the world. So Benicia is a -failure just now; and instead of raising an imposing front, in evidence -of man’s progress, it hides its diminished little head, among the few -huts that stand in commemoration of its failure. I pitched my tent at a -short distance from the beach, and as I afterwards discovered on -reference to the “plan of Benicia,” on the exact spot that had been -selected as the site of the “Public Botanical Gardens” of that -flourishing city. Our party consisted of three men and three dogs. -Besides Barnes, I had with me Mr. Alexander Thomas, the son of an old -friend of my father, who had come out to join the staff of a colossal -mercantile house, but the house had unfortunately exploded, staff and -all, before his arrival in the country. - -Barnes had been a desperate poacher, but for years past had -distinguished himself equally as a keeper on my father’s estate. He was -a good-natured, willing fellow, possessed of enormous physical strength, -and could throw a stone with such force and precision, that he had been -equally avoided by the keepers when he was a poacher, and by the -poachers when he deserted their ranks, which he did as many others -would, the moment the chance was offered him of making his bread -honestly. My dogs consisted of two blood-hounds of the breed of Mr. -Hammond of Norfolk--Prince and Birkham--the latter was of great beauty, -but of very uncertain temper. A large half-bred Scotch slot-hound, -called Cromer, completed the list--this latter had an unfailing nose and -great intelligence, and was a perfect retriever in or out of water. An -introductory note to an American gentleman who resided in one of the -wooden houses that straggled over the hills, ensured me much civility, -and enabled me to procure the mules I required for carrying the tent and -baggage. During the interval that elapsed we had time to try the range -of the rifles at a target, and get our “hands in” ready for the -mountains. A distressing incident occurred very shortly after arriving -at Benicia. We had been practising at a target, and were returning to -our camp with our rifles unloaded--the heat was intense--the dogs were -with us, and I was suddenly struck by the conduct of Birkham the -bloodhound. For some time he hung back in the rear as if afraid of us, -and as I advanced to caress him he retreated. There being evidently -something wrong, I conjectured that he was about to have an epileptic -fit, with one of which he had been attacked at San Francisco, but -suddenly he lifted up his massive head in the air, and delivered that -deep prolonged howl that only a bloodhound has at command, and which is -so distressing to hear; he then started at full speed away from us -towards the hills, howling and leaping in the air as if in pursuit of -something, and I had no doubt then that he was mad. Barnes and Thomas -now loaded their rifles to be prepared for his return, I had expended my -bullets in target firing. We had lost sight of him in the long wild oats -which here grow to a great height, and scarcely expected him back, at -least for some time; I was coupling Prince and Cromer together as a -precaution, when suddenly Barnes exclaimed “Here he is, sir,” and I had -just time to seize my rifle and swing it round, bringing the butt down -on his head, as he passed within a foot of me. - -I never witnessed any sight so dreadful as this dog when he turned now -and deliberately attacked us, his whole appearance was changed, and the -saliva frothed in his mouth. He might have done much mischief, now that -he was in the humour for it, had he made a rapid dash at us; but as he -stopped short to give a howl, Barnes shot him in the shoulder, and -Thomas’s ball entered his head. It required two more shots to finish -him, and painful as it was to have to kill the poor beast, even in -self-defence, we could not but congratulate ourselves on having -experienced a fortunate escape. Birkham was a dog of enormous power, and -one grip of his jaw on a man’s throat would probably be quite sufficient -to cause death; he had shown symptoms of uncertain temper immediately -upon arriving in a warm latitude, and had twice bitten me in the arm -during the passage out. Barnes was a famous man for savage dogs, being -both severe yet temperate, but he always had his “doubts,” as he said, -respecting Birkham, whose great crime consisted in showing his teeth to -his master, a misdemeanour that required, and always received -punishment. This consisted of one blow with a short dog-whip, and only -one, but that was remembered, particularly by Birkham, who would lie -down and place his great head on the ground, wrinkle his forehead, and -sulk all day, refusing his dinner and taking no notice of anything that -passed around him. Such a dog is never safe, and had these qualities -been developed during the time he was in my possession in England, I -never should have brought him away from that country. - -Immense quantities of grasshoppers are to be found in the vicinity of -Benicia at this season; as you walk through the wild oats and disturb -them, they hop up to an immense height, in every direction, and like -other insects they aim at your eyes, which they hit with unerring -certainty and great force, and as they are as hard as little pebbles, -they get the best of it altogether. The dogs are much puzzled with them, -and as they get knocked about the head, they give short snaps in the air -with their eyes shut. - -I had great difficulty in procuring the mules I required for my journey, -and these I could only hire, as a report of the discovery of a “Gold -Lake” somewhere in the mining districts had taken deep root, and all the -Benicia mules had been called into requisition. A fine dashing-looking -Spaniard rode up to my tent one day in company with the gentleman who -had interested himself to get me mules;[1] he was introduced as Don -Raymond Carrillo, a native of California, and owner of a ranche, or -farm, at Santa Rosa Valley, about forty miles in the interior. - -Many of the native Californians whose ancestors emigrated from Mexico, -have good Spanish blood in their veins, they are a robust and -well-favoured race, and probably in this respect have much improved the -original breed, which is all blood and bone. Don Raymond was a -striking-looking fellow, well built and muscular, with regular features, -half concealed by his long black hair and beard. The loose Spanish -dress, the heavy iron spurs, the lasso hanging from the saddle, and the -gaunt but fiery colt on which he was mounted, were all for work and -little for show; probably the whole turn-out, including the horse, was -not worth twenty dollars; but he was more picturesque in his mountain -costume, than the best Andalusian that ever got himself up in gold lace -and silver buttons for “bolero” or “bull-fight.” Don Raymond not only -offered to send mules to convey ourselves and baggage to Santa Rosa, but -most hospitably invited us to remain at his “ranche” until we could with -his assistance purchase the animals we required. Whilst we were at -Benicia the fourth of July, the anniversary of American Independence, -came round; had Benicia been the city it was intended to be, what an -opportunity would there not have been for the celebration of this day. -Looking at the plan now before me, I can imagine the _Botanical -Gardens_ thronged with holiday people, whilst the mayor and corporation -having reviewed the troops in front of the _City Hall_, are now -inspecting the _Infirmary for the Blind_, which (in the plan) occupies a -position to the extreme right; fireworks echo in the “plaza,” whilst the -theatre opens its doors to an eager crowd, and the town pump is -surrounded by little boys: but unfortunately Benicia is not far enough -advanced to enable us to realise this scene. “The gardens” produce as -yet but wild oats; the theatre is one unchanging scene of parched-up -desolation; the town pump _is_ not, and of the “plaza” no one knows the -limits, for some of the oldest inhabitants, in happy ignorance of the -fate of those who “remove their neighbour’s landmarks,” have pulled up -the surveyor’s pegs, and basely used them for firewood; but they say -that Benicia will do better by-and-by. The _plan_ is named after the -wife of General Vallejo, and signifies “Blessed,” and rather -appropriately, as under present circumstances the proprietors are -incorporated among those who are spoken of as being blessed if they -expect nothing. Shortly afterwards, there arrived from Don Raymond eight -mules, in charge of a young Californian “Vaccaro”[2] or cattle-driver; -the mules were accompanied by an old white mare with a bell hung on to -her neck. It is usual to accustom the mules to follow a leader of this -kind, and without the old lady leads the way they become very -intractable. - -Don Raymond had stated frankly that he had no pack mules that had not -been turned out for a time with the wild horses, and those he had sent -us, though fine strong beasts, were undoubtedly very little tamer than -fresh-caught zebras. The first mule having been brought forward with -some difficulty, a cloth was tied round his eyes, and he remained -perfectly still whilst the loading was performed with great dexterity -and expedition by the “vaccaro” and one or two assistants. When all were -packed, the blinds were taken from the mules’ eyes, and without any -hesitation, and perfectly regardless of the white mare, who walked -quietly towards home, away they scampered through the long grass, -kicking and screaming; here goes a tin kettle, there a ham, now a bag of -flour falls out and bursts, and the place is strewed with the relics of -our commissariat stores. Two mules, followed by the “vaccaro,” have -disappeared behind the hills, where the sun is disappearing also. Number -three is motionless, for, not having succeeded in kicking the tent off -his back, he has lain down with it in a small pond; whilst number four, -having divested himself of every thing with which he was entrusted, -including the pack-saddle, is making his supper off wild oats, under the -full impression that he has performed his day’s work meritoriously and -deserves repose. We employed the daylight that remained in collecting -our traps; and as our “vaccaro” soon returned with the missing mules and -assistance, after a few more refractory attempts we got off shortly -after dark, and took the trail that led towards a village called Napa. - -When about twelve miles from Benicia we halted to encamp for the night -at a clump of trees, the first we had seen since landing. We had “carte -blanche” to shoot a calf whenever our necessities required, from among -the droves of tame cattle with which the plains on our route were well -stocked. Our first object on halting was to avail ourselves of this -permission, and it being too dark to kill with the rifle, our “vaccaro” -brought in a calf with his lasso, as soon as the mules had been unpacked -and turned off to feed. We had no occasion for the tent, the night air -was so pure and mild, so we sat half buried in the tall soft grass, a -bed of down from which nothing could have roused us but the grateful -smell of the calf’s ribs as they roasted by our bright camp fire. As -long as it lasted, our sleep was delicious, but it was interrupted most -unseasonably, about the middle of the night, by the yells of a pack of -“coyotes,” (a kind of jackal,) that had collected round the remains of -the calf. - -These beasts had the audacity to approach us within a few yards. We -killed some, wounded many, and the dogs drove them away in every -direction, still they always congregated somewhere and sent forth their -hideous yell in chorus, first from one side of us, then from another, -and not until dawn appeared would these brutes allow us to rest; then -they disappeared, and I congratulated myself on being able to resume my -slumbers; but almost immediately after the “coyotes” had gone, the sun -appeared, and there was an end of the luxuries of an oat-straw bed -al-fresco, for that night at least. The mules submitted more readily to -be loaded this morning, and followed quietly in the steps of the white -mare. - -On approaching Napa, which is distant from Benicia about twenty miles, -we entered a very beautiful valley about three miles in breadth, studded -with oak trees, and bounded on either side by mountains that rose -abruptly from the plain, and whose summits were crested with heavy -masses of the red-wood tree and white pine. As yet there was no sign of -cultivation or enclosure, nor did we see a dwelling-house until the -village of Napa appeared in sight; but the whole of this rich and -fertile valley was shortly to be made productive, and it was to supply -the wants of the many settlers, who were now on the eve of improving -this wild tract, that the little bunch of houses called “Napa City” had -sprung into existence. - -We had to cross a small stream in a ferry-boat to enter Napa, and we -found the little place in a very lively state. Music was playing, the -stars and stripes were waving from each house, whilst the street was -thronged with people. The outside settlers had come in to celebrate -their fourth of July, it was now the fifth, and they were in the thick -of it, and there was to be a “ball” in the evening. At twelve o’clock -they prepared to fire a salute from three old honeycombed cannons that -had probably been fished up out of the river; whether or no, a serious -accident immediately occurred--the first gun fired exploded like a -shell, blowing off the arm of one man and destroying the sight of -another, besides peppering the spectators more or less seriously. This -damped temporarily the pleasure of the afternoon, but the public dinner, -which took place under an enormous booth, seemed to restore -cheerfulness. The settlers were nearly all “Western people,” small -farmers from Missouri, and other Western states, who emigrated with a -wife and half-a-dozen children to California in search of good land; on -this they _squat_ until the land-claims are decided, and with their -thrifty habits make money, not only more surely and comfortably, but -faster than the miners, whose wants they supply. - -The soil here is admirably adapted for the growth of wheat, barley, and -potatoes; and although the price of labour is so great that these -immigratory agriculturists, having little or no capital, can only till a -patch of land at first, yet so rare a luxury as yet is a vegetable, that -large profits attend their earliest efforts, and the settler of these -valleys, if prudent, is a rising man from the moment his spade first -raises the virgin sod. - -During the day a Mexican tight-rope dancer performed to the crowd: I -considered him rather a bungler at his work, but my opinion was not -shared by the spectators, one of whom, an old farmer, “kinder, reckoned -it was _supernatural_,” in which he was supported by an old -back-woodsman, who said “It warn’t nothing else.” I left these good -folks in the height of enjoyment, and should not perhaps have said so -much about them, but that having all very lately come from the United -States across the plains, they had brought with them, and as yet -retained, the simple manners and wants of a rural population. These -people form the most valuable portion of the emigration, for they come -as permanent settlers, and they continue permanent improvers. Under -their hands forests are cleared, and valleys enclosed, grain is raised -and mills are erected, the country no longer relies on foreign ventures -for its chief wants, and monopolising flour companies cease to fatten at -the expense of a hard-working population. - -I did not wait for the “ball,” as I wished to reach Sonoma that night, -the luggage having gone on. On our first arrival at the Creek, the -ferryman, who was an American, had refused all toll on the strength of -the “Anniversary.” We could not but admire such a striking instance of -real charity, as it enabled many of the surrounding farmers to cross -over with their numerous families, which at the rate of one dollar for -each person they could not have afforded to do. But there was nothing -said about going back for nothing, and our Yankee friend having -succeeded in filling the village gratis, had now the satisfaction of -emptying it at a dollar a-head. So there they were like the nephew of -“Gil Perez,” caught like a rat in a trap. The scenery still improves in -beauty as we approach Sonoma, the valleys are here sprinkled with oak -trees, and it seems ever as if we were about to enter a forest which we -never reach, for in the distance the oaks, though really far apart, -appear to grow in dark and heavy masses. Sonoma was one of the points -selected by the early Spanish priests for a mission; the remains of the -mud church and other buildings used by the priests still exist. It has -been chosen as a military station, and about a couple of dozen United -States dragoons are quartered here. - -General Vallejo, a native Californian, who is owner of a large portion -of the surrounding valley, resides at Sonoma; he took part in some -skirmishing which occurred, previous to the cession of California to the -United States, between the natives and a handful of adventurers, who -hoisted a flag with a Grizzly Bear on it, and took the field under that -standard. The General was also on one occasion taken prisoner, and -perhaps it was during his term of incarceration that he designed a tall -square building, which he afterwards erected here, of mud bricks, and -which is now the principal feature of the place; as the General informs -his friends that this was intended for a fortress, they take his word -for it, though it has neither guns or embrasures. Overlooked by the -fortress is a quadrangle of mud huts, these are now converted into -stores intended to supply the farmers who are fast settling on the -surrounding plains. - -But there are too many stores in Sonoma; there are so many people in -California who can only live by keeping small retail shops, that -directly a good opening for making money in this way appears, there is a -regular rush of small speculators in soap and candles, who all arrive at -the desired spot about the same time, each one undoubtedly -congratulating himself that _he alone_ has been struck with the bright -idea. A man who came to the country in 1848, told me that he managed -with great toil and at great expense to get a large cask of whiskey to -some rich diggings on the banks of the Yuba, where he commenced -retailing it at immense profits; but on the second day his customers -fell off, and he found that another Yankee had also rolled up a cask and -was underselling him higher up the river. So he moved higher up again by -a circuitous route, until again supplanted; and these two continued -“cutting each other out,” and living a life of uncertainty until they -formed a junction, with the intention of jointly reaping the profits -that attend a monopoly of the article in demand. But almost as soon as -the new concern was started, up went a canvass house by the side of -them, and out went a board on which was written, “Liquor Store.” So with -every opening where the chances of large profits are held out, where -there are so many calculating speculative people, competition steps in -and monopoly is destroyed. This is partly the reason why the San -Francisco markets are so uneven and fluctuating. - -Brown is a clever fellow, and says to himself, Coals will be very scarce -next fall, I’ll write for coals; every one else, being as clever as -Brown, writes for coals from the same motives, and the spring sees coals -tumbling in on all sides: or Brown says, everybody will be writing for -coals for the spring, I shall advise my correspondents not to ship; -every one else thinks as Brown thinks, no one writes for coals, and next -spring coals can’t be had at any price. - -We pitched our tents outside the fortress, and the only event that -occurred worthy of notice was in the fact of an enormous bull making a -clean bolt at it, about the middle of the night. The moon was up, and I -presume its reflection on the white canvass annoyed him; he annoyed us -excessively, for he not only tore down the tent, but we narrowly escaped -being trodden upon. As he stood in the bright moonlight pawing the -ground at a short distance, meditating another charge at us, I shot him -in the head, and he fell, never again to rouse honest gentlemen from -their sleep in the dead of night, or wantonly to destroy private -property for the gratification of a senseless animosity. - - - - -CHAPTER IV. - - SPANISH GRANTS--SQUATTERS--SQUATTER FIGHTS--A SPANISH RANCHE--GOOD - QUARTERS--FLEAS--VANITY--VACCAROS--QUILP--ENGLISH SADDLES--ANTELOPE - HUNT--RATTLE-SNAKES--QUILP WALTZES--CALIFORNIAN - HORSES--SADDLES--HORSE-BREAKING--A TAME HORSE. - - -_August, 1850._ - -Leaving Sonoma at daylight, we passed through the Sonoma Valley, which -in many places, but a few hundred yards in width and studded with groups -of oaks and flowering evergreens, has all the appearance of a private -park bounded by mountains--the herds of deer, of which now and then we -catch a glimpse, strengthening this resemblance. After following the -trail for fifteen miles, we ascended a rise from which we had a view of -Santa Rosa Valley. It was a continuation of that we had traversed, and -was divided from it only by a small stream, which marked the boundary of -either. From our elevation, the twenty miles of well timbered land, of -which Don Raymond was owner, lay stretched before us: large herds of -cattle were grazing on the plain, and near the mountains which bounded -the ranche, “mañadas” of wild horses could be perceived, with here and -there a drove of elk or antelopes. - -Previous to the occupation of this country by the Americans, its fertile -plains had been granted away by the Mexican government, to such as chose -to settle here and stock the land. The terms on which these grants were -to be held, easy as they were, were for the most part evaded, and after -a new settler had portioned out for himself so many square leagues of a -fat valley, and had sent the record of his property to head quarters, he -built himself a house, bought a few head of cattle and horses, which -were turned off to breed, and he became from that time a “ranchero.” -Cattle increased and multiplied, and at last were killed for their -hides, which were sent down occasionally to San Francisco, and there -placed on board ship. - -By the treaty formed between the United States and Mexico previous to -the occupation of California, the original Spanish grants of land were -guaranteed to the native settlers in all cases where the claim could be -properly established. A commission to enquire into these land claims was -appointed by the United States government, and its labours still -continue. The Americans therefore on their arrival in the country had -the mortification to discover that nearly every foot of arable land was -private property, and that there remained nothing but barren hills and -swamps to settle on and improve, under the pre-emption laws of the -United States. They therefore _squatted_ where they pleased on the -Spanish ranches, under the plea that the land commissioners _might_ -decide the grant on which they were to be illegal; but in reality -because each man wanted a piece of land and was determined to have it, -the Spanish owners being powerless to dispossess them of the part they -chose to select. The consequence is, that even now in “eighteen hundred -and fifty-four,” when most of the land-claims have been confirmed by the -commissioners, the Spanish owner of a ranche may cast his eye over the -property that was but the other day a waving tract of wild grass, and -behold, it is parcelled out and enclosed, and cultivated from end to -end, and from squatters’ huts curls the smoke on every side. Armed with -the law, the Spanish owner says “Vamos usted,” (be off); armed with his -rifle the squatter says something much ruder, but to the purpose, and -remains. Already have there been serious squatter fights; the papers -daily record “Squatter difficulties,” in which men fight, and shed each -other’s blood savagely, over a patch of soil, which in many instances -belongs to neither of them. So that one of the wisest and most -beneficent laws of the United States, is here productive of evil to -society. - -The squatters in the vicinity of Sacramento city organised themselves -into a banditti, and fought “en masse” in defence of their stolen -property; but they had made the great mistake of squatting on land that -belonged to Americans; these latter sallied from the city with the mayor -at their head, and the squatters were defeated and retired with loss, -leaving some dead on the field--not however without riddling the mayor, -who behaved with great courage, and who must have been much damaged, as -the cost of repairing him, when sent in to government by his medical -attendant, amounted to about two thousand pounds sterling. But as there -are reasonable men among all classes, so among the squatters are to be -found many who are willing to purchase their claims, conditionally on -the owner’s grant being eventually found to be valid; still taken -altogether the subject will be one of endless strife, if not bloodshed. - -Hundreds have settled down quietly on land from which the present owners -are unwilling or unable to dislodge them. These men will raise around -them permanent improvements, and will look to the few acres of land they -have enclosed for a livelihood for themselves and families; a year or -two hence, perhaps, the land they have appropriated will change hands, -and the new purchaser will ask his belligerent friends down, as I have -witnessed more than once, to stay at his house and help him to “_turn -off the squatters_.” Down go the friends and take their fire-arms, as -coolly as if they were accepting an invitation to a week’s partridge -shooting. Occasionally when the proprietor and his friends, armed to the -teeth, present themselves at the door of a squatter’s log-hut, they find -the owner surrounded by _his_ friends, prepared to resist intrusion. -Sometimes the rival parties exchange shots, but I have always found that -in these cases, the owner of the property has walked quietly back again, -and the squatter has remained. - - * * * * * - -We dismounted at the door of a long low “adobe”[3] house, where we were -met and hospitably greeted by Don Raymond. Having much refreshed -ourselves by bathing in the rivulet which ran past the house, we were -rejoiced to find that our host had prepared a dinner, for of this we -were in need; and whilst we eat, a couple of Indian girls tickled our -ears and noses with long green boughs, with the intention of keeping off -the flies. We cheerfully acknowledged the merit not only of the Mexican -cookery, but of the native wine of the south, which our host brought out -for the occasion. We were then introduced to his wife and two sisters; -these latter were young, with handsome sunburnt faces. My knowledge of -Spanish was very limited, but I always prefaced my remarks by a -statement of this fact, thus I relieved myself from the necessity of -paying those unmeaning compliments which, particularly when delivered in -bad Spanish, must be highly amusing to Mexican ladies. As there was an -absence of ceremony, and an evident wish on the part of the family to -set us at our ease, before night we were on excellent terms, and whilst -one of the “vaccaros” played the guitar we waltzed. Don Raymond produced -more wine of the south and “cigarittas” in abundance; and when the -ladies retired and Don Raymond showed me to my quarters, I determined on -not hurrying myself respecting the purchase of mules so long as the -hours could be made to pass so agreeably; as for Thomas, into whose head -the wine of the south had mounted, it was with the greatest difficulty -he could be prevented from embracing Don Raymond in the warmth of his -satisfaction. Our host then left us, and we were immediately attacked by -the fleas with a vigour that was perfectly astonishing. - -In the course of my experience I have been tortured by sand-flies in the -Eastern Archipelago, and have made acquaintance with every kind of -mosquito, from Malta to Acapulco, including of course the famous “tiger” -breed, against which there is no resource but flight. I remember that, -when sick at Hong Kong, I was crammed into the cabin of an old -store-ship so full of cockroaches, and these so ravenous, that they kept -my toe-nails quite close every night, and would even try the flavour of -the top of my head, and, when they found that to be all bone, they eat -my hair and whiskers, the last circumstance being very annoying, from -the fact that whiskers were scarce with me in those days; but I would -have preferred any of these annoyances to the attack of those Santa Rosa -fleas. On lighting a candle we found the place alive with them; unlike, -both in appearance and manner, the modest flea of ordinary life, that -seeks concealment as soon as by accident it is unearthed, these insects, -reared in the rough school of a wild bullock’s hide, boldly faced as -they attacked us. We discovered the next day that the room, the floor -and walls of which were of earth, had contained hides, and had been -cleared out for the purpose of our accommodation. - -But, as a general rule, the Californian houses are alive with fleas, -they thrive in the cracks of the mudbrick walls and in the hides with -which these places are always strewed. No pains are taken to eject them, -and Don Raymond remarked, on our mentioning the fact, that we should get -used to them; he and his family never gave the little “malditos” a -thought. - -After an early breakfast of “tortillas” and fresh milk we commenced at -once to look up our shooting gear. Close to us, on one side, was a marsh -full of wild fowl, and, stretching for miles round, was the wooded -plain, covered with grass, in some places as tall as ourselves. This -plain, our host assured us, abounded with deer, elk, and antelope. For a -reason, which afterwards appeared, Don Raymond was very anxious that -Thomas and I should mount two of his horses, and, in company with some -of his Spanish friends, ride over the ranche; we were to take our rifles -and shoot all that came in our way. I should of course have preferred to -have been allowed to go out on foot and seek my venison in a more -sportsman-like manner, than in the company of a dozen clattering, -jingling “Caballeros;” but I could not do otherwise than accept the -invitation, particularly as it suggested itself to me that Don Raymond’s -main object in mounting us was that we should at once appreciate the -beauty and extent of the Santa Rosa Ranche. - -So that even among these most primitive of agriculturists vanity of -possession stands uppermost in all its vulgarity; what has this man, I -thought, to show me but a tract of land, rich certainly in nature’s -gifts, but in which his only pride consists that _he owns_ it? I could -have seen it much better by myself when walking over it, but to please -his egotism I must admire it _his way_ and sacrifice my own pleasure; -but how I hugged myself when I considered that here at least were no fat -pigs, no model styes, with which to bore one; no oatcake-fed bullocks to -be measured with a cambric pocket-handkerchief and praised, whilst you -held your nose; not even a heap of “compo-manure” to sit and gloat over. -At the worst it was but a pleasant gallop over the wild oats, in a pure -air, and through a lovely country. - -In front of the house was a court-yard of considerable extent, and part -of this was sheltered by a porch. Here, when the “vaccaros” have nothing -to call them to the field, they pass the day, looking like retainers of -a rude court. A dozen wild, vicious little horses, with rough wooden -saddles on their backs, stand ever ready for work; whilst lounging -about, the “vaccaros” smoke, play the guitar, or twist up a new -“riatta”[4] of hide or horse-hair. When the sun gets warm they go to -sleep in the shade, whilst the little - -[Illustration] - -horses, who remain in the sunshine, do the same apparently, for they -shut their eyes and never stir. Presently a “vaccaro,” judging the time -by the sun, gets up and yawns, and staggering lazily towards his horse, -gathers up his “riatta” and twists it round the animals neck; the -others, awakened, rise and do the same, all yawning with their eyes half -open, looking as lazy a set as ever were seen, as indeed they are when -on foot. Huppa!--Anda!--away they all go in a cloud of dust, splashing -through the river, waving their lassos round their heads with a wild -shout, and disappearing from the sight almost as soon as mounted. The -“vaccaro” wants at all times to ride furiously, and the little horses’ -eyes are opened wide enough before they receive the second dig of their -rider’s iron spurs. - -We found great bustle and preparation going on in the court-yard when we -rose; it was full of horses and “vaccaros,” and some neighbouring ranche -owners having arrived, their horses, which were handsome and of large -size, were standing near the house, champing their bits. The saddles and -bridles of these were ornamented with silver, and the stirrup-leathers -were covered with bear skins in such a way as to form a very secure -armour for the legs against the attacks of wild cattle. - -Breakfast over, the Spanish guests were introduced; they were all fine -dashing looking fellows, with the exception of one, a short stout man; -from the first moment of our meeting war was tacitly declared between us -and this gentleman; we found that he was a suitor for the hand of the -eldest sister, who, by the way, owned a part of the ranche, and I -suppose he imagined it was our intention to contest this prize with him; -for he commenced at once to show his disapprobation of our presence; we -called this fellow Quilp. Each of the party had his horse waiting in -readiness--ours had yet to be selected from a drove of about a hundred, -which were enclosed in a “corral,” or circular enclosure, that was close -by the house. The wild horses of the country generally are small, of -these I shall speak by and bye; but Don Raymond, who took the lead among -the _fast_ Californians, prided himself on the possession of a “mañada” -of horses of a superior breed; these he had pointed out to me the day -before, and among them I had observed, all rough as they were, some fine -beasts. A few steps brought us to the “corral;” Quilp in the foreground, -muttering something which we took for granted was insidious advice to -Raymond to pick us out “wild ones.” - -“You English ride?” asked Raymond. I replied modestly, that we rode a -little sometimes, as I knew that the slightest approach to assurance on -my part would be the signal for a wild stallion being selected for my -accommodation. However, Raymond picked us out two high-spirited, but -broken-in beasts, that seemed about as well behaved as any that were -there. When they were brought into the court, and blinded as usual, -Thomas and I produced, and girthed up, our English saddles, on which we -had ridden up from Benicia; we were immediately surrounded by the whole -crowd of guests and “vaccaros;” bah! those were not saddles--there was -no horn to which to fasten the lasso--the stirrups did not protect the -foot and leg when the horse fell down and rolled over you! I did not -know Spanish enough to answer them, and perhaps it was as well, for I -should most certainly have addressed myself to Quilp most strongly on -the subject, as the instant he saw my “pigskin” he made a point of -turning up what nose Providence had endowed him with, and that was not -much. But I observed with pleasure that their observations were directed -principally to the fact of the flat smooth surface of our saddles as -compared with their “demi-peaks,” from which the body receives support -on every side. Thomas had a fine seat on a horse, and both of us had had -some practice in rough riding both at home and abroad, or otherwise I -should have remonstrated with Raymond respecting the wish so evidently -expressed by his friends of amusing themselves at our expense. - -I had but one rifle I could carry on horseback, so slinging that on my -back, away we went, and as the horses warmed under their exercise, and -we shook ourselves into our seats, I observed with pleasure that Thomas -was both sitting and handling his horse well, and took the fallen timber -that came in our way in capital style. However, to shorten this part of -the story, the Spaniards soon became less bumptious on the subject, and -we flew over the plain at great speed. - -Before long we saw a herd of antelope grazing at some distance, and the -Spaniards pulled up and prepared their lassos. The antelope at this time -of the year are very fat, and comparatively speaking do not run, or -bound rather, fast through the long grass, so that if headed there is a -_chance_ for an expert horseman to catch one with the “riatta,” and it -was with the intention of showing me if possible this feat, that our -host had made up the party. I had no sooner unslung my rifle than I was -satisfied that there was no possibility of shooting from the saddle, for -my beast, who would have been quiet as a lamb had I whirled a lasso -round his head, became unmanageable at the presence of the rifle. We -were to ride round and head the antelope whilst the “vaccaros” drove -them towards us. As we galloped through the long grass towards the -position chosen, I told Thomas to keep close to me and prepare to hold -my horse, for I felt it would be excessively annoying if such a fellow -as Quilp for instance should catch an antelope with his bit of rope, and -I be debarred from even a shot at the herd. - -When we were well ahead of them, the drove started at the sight of the -“vaccaros,” and a few strides of our horses brought some of us right in -the line they were taking; my foot had scarcely left the stirrup when -they flew past with rapid bounds. Don Raymond spurred at the headmost -bucks, but his lasso fell short; three does brought up the rear; at one -of these I fired and wounded it, but it plunged into the thicket with -the rest. Seeing that nothing had fallen to the report of the rifle, the -Spaniards now went slowly homewards; whilst I searched the thicket and -found my doe dying within a few hundred yards. Raymond returned for us, -and leaving the venison in charge of the “vaccaros,” we rode home. On -the way I succeeded in explaining to Raymond that we preferred hunting -the deer on foot not only for the advantages of exercise, but of the -cover which was afforded by the long grass. - -Raymond now, for the first time, pointed out to me that the rattlesnakes -were very abundant in the valley, and this we afterwards discovered to -be true. It destroyed in a great measure the pleasure of our sport, for -we lost many a good shot from looking on the ground--which men are apt -to do occasionally when once satisfied of the existence of a venomous -reptile, the bite of which is by all accounts mortal. The rattlesnake is -seldom seen, it glides away through the long grass on the approach of -man or beast, and for this reason cattle are seldom bitten by it. But it -allows you to approach very closely before it moves, and the rattle of -its tail even in retreat is very unpleasant to hear. Higher up the -country we afterwards killed one or two young ones; but we soon -exercised such precautions as insured our not being brought too -frequently in contact with them. I have heard of many remedies for -rattlesnake bites, and of many fatal cases; but had any of my party been -unfortunate enough to have been bitten very seriously it was agreed -between us that the unbitten ones should immediately apply a red-hot -iron to the part affected, and then give the victim a powerful dose of -castor oil, and leave him to repose; but I doubt if the complete cautery -would have been carried out! - -Before we arrived at the house Quilp had got scent of the antelope, and -had departed. - -From this time we found ample employment for our guns, and soon -succeeded in bringing in some black-tailed deer. Hares were in abundance -close to the house, whilst in the marshes wild fowl were plentiful, so -that we kept our host’s larder well stored, and Quilp (who returned and -made himself quite at home) became quite sleek from good living. - -As we were always tired with our day’s work, and had moreover our guns -to clean, we left Quilp to do all the waltzing; and when he had enjoyed -this pastime until he panted like an over-driven prize ox, he would sit -down on a stool in the porch, and throwing one leg over the other, -would twang the old guitar and accompany it with a Spanish hymn to the -Virgin, which, being delivered in a dismal falsetto, bore much -resemblance to the noise of a wheelbarrow that requires greasing, and -was about as musical. - -[Illustration] - -The small native horses of the country are remarkable for sureness of -foot and great powers of endurance; half-starved, unshod, and -overweighted, these ponies will perform long journies at great speed, -with great courage; but, alas! for them, in a country where horseflesh -is so cheap and riders are so merciless, the noble qualities of this -animal meet no reward; and the long day’s journey bravely accomplished, -the “vaccaro” takes his saddle off the panting beast, and turns him off -to die or not, according to his constitution. - -The Californian saddle is very rough in appearance, being formed simply -of wood and hide, but great care is bestowed both on the material and -form, and for the duties required of them they are admirable. The -“vaccaro” is in his saddle all day, and it forms his pillow by night; -when once he gets a good “saddle-tree” nothing can induce him to part -with it, and you may see a dozen of these “vaccaros” standing round a -rusty-looking saddle, listening to its owner’s praises as he points out -its beauties. These saddles are also well adapted for long journies, -affording, as they do, so much support to the body. - -When the tame horses attached to a ranche begin to be “used up” with -hard work, and the stud requires replenishing, the “vaccaros” start for -the mountains, and return shortly driving before them a band of wild -colts, which, with some difficulty, they force into the corral, where -they are enclosed. The “vaccaros” now enter to select the likely colts, -the mad herd fly round the corral, but the unerring lasso arrests the -career of the selected victim, who is dragged, with his fore feet firmly -planted in the ground, half-strangled, to the court yard, where a strong -leather blind is at once placed over his eyes; at this he hangs his -head, and remains quite still, his fore feet still planted in the ground -ready to resist any forward movement. Then the “vaccaro,” always keeping -his eye on the horse’s heels and mouth, places a folded blanket on his -back, and on that the saddle, divested of all incumbrances, this he -girths up with all his power; the bridle is on in an instant, so simple -is its construction; how free from ornament is the bit, how plain and -unpretending is that rusty iron prong, which, at the least pressure on -the rein, will enter the _roof of the horse’s mouth_. Now the “vaccaro” -is seated, and nothing remains but to remove the blind; this is done by -an assisting “vaccaro,” who gets bit on the shoulder for his trouble, -and the work begins. Single jumps, buck jumps, stiff-legged jumps; -double kicks; amalgamated jumps and kicks, aided by a twist of the back -bone; plunges and rears; these constitute his first efforts to dislodge -the “vaccaro,” who meets each movement with a dig of his long iron -spurs: then the horse stands still and tries to shake his burden off, -finally he gives a few mad plunges in the air, and then falls down on -his side. - -It is now that the formation of the Californian saddle and the large -wooden stirrups protect the rider: a small bar lashed crossways to the -peak of the saddle prevents the horse from rolling over, and when he -rises his tormentor rises with him unhurt; finding all efforts useless, -he bounds into the plain, to return in a few hours sobbing, panting, but -mastered. The blind is again put on, the saddle and bridle removed, -several buckets of cold water are thrown over his reeking sides, and he -is turned into the “corral,” an astonished horse, to await the morrow, -when his lesson will proceed, and receive less opposition from him! In -three days he is considered broken, and is called a “manzo,” or tame -horse, but admirably as docility has been inculcated in this short -period, he is not yet by any means the sort of horse that would suit -those elderly gentlemen who advertise in the “Times” for a “quiet cob,” -nor indeed is he fit for any one but a Californian “vaccaro.” - - - - -CHAPTER V. - - SPANISH PRIESTS--INDIANS--QUILP FORGETS HIMSELF--HABITS OF NATIVE - CALIFORNIANS--FATHER BARTOLEMÉO--THE LASSO--GOOD RIDERS--CATTLE - BRANDING--RAYMOND PROVIDES MULES--RUSSIAN RIVER--WE - ENCAMP--SAW-MILL--I PROPOSE TO “SQUAT.” - - -_August, 1850._ - -The capabilities of Santa Rosa Valley had not been overlooked by the -early missionaries, and the house now occupied by Don Raymond had been -built by them. The object of these priests had been, first, to encourage -the wild Indians of the country to settle near their mission-houses, and -then gradually to domesticate them and employ them in bringing the land -under cultivation; but in the northern portion of the country, their -efforts seem on all sides to have been unattended with success, for with -the exception of the existence here and there of a few bands of -“Manzos,” or tame Indians, nothing remains in evidence of the exertions -of these early colonists. In the southern portion of the country, where -the climate is better adapted for the growth of fruit-trees and vines, -signs of improvement everywhere mark the presence of the land-loving -Jesuit. The missions there consist of several houses, part of the -surrounding country is producing grain; a breed of small sheep has been -introduced; and the Indians having been made available for agricultural -purposes, large quantities of vines are reared, from which an excellent -wine, to which I have already alluded, is produced. For this more genial -clime the northern valleys had been abandoned, but a band of -domesticated Indians remained attached, like cats, to the mud building, -where first they made acquaintance with the white man. The Indians of -the country are called Diggers, from the fact of their subsisting on -roots and acorns. Filthy and degraded in their habits, not one ennobling -trait is to be found in them; whether domesticated, or in a primitive -state, they are ever the most debased of tribes, morally and physically. -It might have been from this that the process of civilising these beings -was abandoned by the priests, for so thankless a task might damp the -energy even of a Jesuit. - -The tribe in question occupied a few huts not far from the house, and -Raymond had, with a spirit a little in advance of his fellow colonists, -employed these Indians in enclosing a few acres of land, which were now -sown with barley and peas. Every week a bullock was killed for the -Indians, the whole of which, including entrails, they devoured on the -instant. Of an evening they made a great disturbance, by indulging in -what they intended for a dance; this consisted in crowding together in -uncouth attitudes, and stamping on the ground to the accompaniment of -primitive whistles, of which each man had one in his mouth, whilst the -women howled and shrieked in chorus. - -Business required Raymond’s presence at Sacramento for a few days, and -from that time Quilp’s influence worked strongly to our disadvantage. We -were no longer summoned to the early breakfast of fresh milk and -“tortillas,” and those meals that were prepared for us consisted for the -most part of stewed beans. We reminded the ladies, whom now we seldom -met, that we had deposited game in the kitchen but the day before; -“Possibly,” they replied, “the gatos (cats) had destroyed it.” The idea -of palming this dreadful story on an Englishman was rather too good. We -were now therefore often compelled to shift for ourselves, and although -it was no great trouble to light a fire whilst out shooting, and roast a -hare or wild duck, we felt our position to be very awkward, having -promised Raymond not to depart before his return, an event we awaited -with impatience. Not far from the house lived a “squatter” of the name -of Elliot, he had been settled for some time in the country and had -planted a small garden of vegetables; we found that he was always -supplied with venison, and on this discovery we soon made an arrangement -with him that relieved the people of the ranche from all trouble -respecting our meals. When we returned at night, Quilp would be found as -usual twanging his guitar, but on one occasion, emboldened by our silent -contempt, which he mistook perhaps for fear, he ventured on a liberty -which, but for my interference, might have been very summarily punished. -Returned one evening from shooting, my dog, Cromer, went up -inquisitively to Quilp as he sat in the porch, and this gentleman, -perhaps to please the group of vaccaros who shared his dislike of us, -undertook to kick the animal with his heavy spurred heel. Barnes’ -powerful grip was on his shoulder in an instant, and so long as it -remained there, Quilp was held to his chair as if in a vice. I ordered -Barnes at once to desist, and once released, Quilp drew a knife from his -boot and swore, “Madre de Dios!” that all the English that ever lived -should die under the application of that piece of cutlery; but as his -eye wandered down the barrel of the rifle that Barnes now brought in -close proximity with his head, he evidently deferred his sanguinary -intentions for the time being, and retired pale and trembling into the -house. It was some time before the excitement died away, and I was not -sorry when I had reduced Barnes to a calm state of mind, for he was by -no means the right sort of person to “muddle,” to use his own -expression. - -Whilst out on the ensuing day we came across a beautiful little animal -of the size of a racoon, striped black and white. This was a species of -skunk, that emitted an odour so overpowering, that the animal’s instinct -did not even induce it to attempt to run from the dogs, who flew at -first to worry it, but surrendered at once to the poisonous smell, and -refused to approach. We left the skunk in full possession of the field, -and returned to find Quilp and a newly arrived party of Spaniards, -enjoying themselves in-doors, drinking the “wine of the south” and -cracking jokes, probably at our expense. I had paid little attention to -the fact of Barnes having lagged behind us as we came home, and I was in -the porch awaiting his return, when he suddenly appeared on the -threshold of the door from which the merriment proceeded, and with the -laconic remark of “D--n you, take that,” before I was aware of his -purpose he chucked the skunk into the middle of the party of Spaniards, -where it alighted amidst the screams of the ladies and the oaths of the -men. In a few moments the room was cleared, and the men soon afterwards, -amidst many vows of vengeance, mounted their horses and rode swearing -away. Quilp went with them, and we never saw him again. - -Raymond returned, next day, and having explained to him as much as was -necessary to account for the estranged terms on which he found us with -his family, and apologised for my servant’s inexcusable rudeness, I -insisted upon being at once permitted to terminate my visit; and the -same day I erected my tent on the plain. - -Raymond, who entertained much good feeling towards us, felt very sore to -find on inquiry that we had been inhospitably treated during his -absence; but unable to persuade me to remain longer as his guest, he -requested that we would wait and witness his annual “cattle-branding,” -then about to take place, and he would then procure us mules to pursue -our journey. - -No life is so thoroughly lazy as that of a Californian family, who, -totally uneducated, can neither read or write; and whilst there are no -domestic duties on which to employ the women, the men leave to their -vaccaros the little superintendence the cattle on a ranche require. Nor, -as far as the women are concerned, does the care of their children seem -by any means to engross their leisure; for the rising off-shoots are -allowed, like the young cattle, to grow unassisted and unembellished to -maturity, though undoubtedly the naked little urchins benefit physically -by the freedom their young limbs enjoy. Raymond had but one child, of -about four years of age, and this little fellow, with no covering but a -scanty shirt, strutted about the yard all day, practising with a -miniature lasso at the cocks and hens. - -The Californian idea of religion is rather sketchy and undefined. It is -well known that the Spanish Roman Catholic missionaries were never prone -to waste much time in expounding the tenets of their faith; the great -principle was, in all instances, to _convert_, and to increase the “army -of the Faithful.” I remember that in the islands of Batan in the China -Sea, the process was excessively simple. So soon as a nigger was -caught--and in a small island he had not much chance of escape from a -Jesuit--a tin cross was hung round his neck, and he was turned off -again, like one of Raymond’s branded steers, one being as wise as the -other as to whom the new allegiance was owing. The Californians have, -however, learnt enough to know that every one not of their faith, is a -heretic, and the Carrillo family asked us point-blank if we belonged to -that unhappy class, and received gravely our modest reply, that we -believed we had that misfortune. The Spaniards and their priests, are -not only inveterate card-players, but practised cheats. One of these -sleight-of-hand Padres, I was told, displayed great fervour in -attempting to convert a heretic who lived near him, and who happened to -be an English master of a merchant vessel, who had settled in the -country; as the story goes, the old Salt defended himself from the -theological attacks of Father Bartoleméo on the score that he never -could understand the principal articles of his new creed. “How so?” -exclaims the Padre, “with faith, and the help of the Virgin, all -obstacles will melt like snow before the sun.” “Then,” observed the -captain, as he produced a pack of Spanish monté cards, “how do you turn -up the Jack when the seven and Jack are laid out and an open bet is made -on the seven?” “Toe-nails of St. Ignatius! what has this to do with the -tenets of the true faith?” roars the father. “This,” says the other, in -reply, “is the first tenet of _your faith_, teach me this and I embrace -the rest.” It is easy to imagine the wrath and indignation of the holy -father when he thus heard his religion insulted, and, sympathising with -him in his warmth, we are the less prepared to hear that he not only -controlled his feelings, but sat down and inducted the master into the -art of turning up the Jack, too happy at so small a sacrifice to gain -ANOTHER convert to his faith. - -Where so much ignorance exists, a proportionate amount of superstition -will of course be found, and in horse-racing, which is their passion, -the Californians are regulated by a code of rules affecting the colours -of horses and the hours at which they must start to ensure victory. -Sailors used to dislike a Friday, but there is no day of the week that -is not unlucky for something in California. - -At Santa Cruz (in the south) some time ago, the “Virgin” was intreated -for rain, and the hat being sent round, a sufficient amount was -collected to back the request in the substantial manner that the priests -point out as being acceptable. An old heretical American settler, who -had a farm on the high land above the valley, declined either to -contribute or to pray; but, from his elevated position, his crops soon -throve under genial showers, whilst the valley below as yet received no -relief; this unequal distribution of favour on the part of the saint -astonished the occupants of the valley: and we will presume that fresh -appeals brought down retribution on the heretic, for, in a very short -time, his crops were set on fire, and he saved his house from -destruction with some difficulty. - -The dress of the vaccaro consists of a broad-brimmed hat, always secured -under the chin, a loose shirt and jacket, and buckskin breeches; round -the leg is wound a square piece of leather, this is secured at the knee, -and is a protection against falls or the attacks of cattle; in one of -these leggings he carries his knife; his spurs, serapa, and lasso, -complete his costume; under his saddle he has a blanket, and thus -lightly equipped is independent of everything. The lasso is generally -constructed of twisted hide, and is made with great care. In the hands -of a good vaccaro the noose is thrown carelessly, but with unerring -precision; it is a formidable weapon of attack, and in the guerilla -warfare, which preceded the occupation of the country, it was not only -used successfully, but horrible cruelties were practised by the -Spaniards on those whom by chance they cut off in this manner. - -The Californians are perfect riders--graceful, active, and courageous; -they ride with a straight leg when in the saddle, and this latter, when -properly made, gives great support to the body and legs; how otherwise -could they endure, for hours together, the shock of bringing up _all -standing_ wild cattle running at full speed? - -When I first seated myself in a Californian saddle belonging to -Raymond, and found the lower part of my body deeply imbedded in the soft -skins which covered it, I was led into an error which I dare say has -been shared by many others; I thought at the time that riders accustomed -to so much assistance were less dependent on the muscles of the body; -and I have no doubt in those valuable papers, since lost, I recorded a -hasty opinion that their crack riders would make a poor show on an -English saddle over a steeple-chase country; but this is only another -proof of the danger of trusting to first impressions. The Californian -will ride a bare-backed horse at speed and bring him on his haunches -with a seat undisturbed: but what more particularly arrests the critical -eye of an Englishman is their beautiful handling of the horse’s mouth; -with a bit, the slightest pressure on which arrests the horse, they -ride, in all the excitement of the cattle chase, with a lightness of -hand that is truly admirable. In the hunting counties, where by chance -some black-coated stranger takes and keeps a forward position throughout -the day, it is a matter of duty after dinner for all legitimate -red-coats to depreciate the arrogant unknown; but when no fault can be -found either with his seat or his style of riding, there is always some -one who clinches the matter by remarking sagely--“The fellow rides well -enough, but he has got no ‘hands!’” Now the Californians have both -seats and “hands,” and may defy the criticism even of the ill-natured. - -Once a year it was customary to drive up all the cattle on a ranche to -brand the young steers. On these occasions the vaccaros are in their -glory, crack riders volunteer their assistance, and ranche owners -congregate from far and wide to point out and take away such of their -own beasts as have strayed and become mixed with those on the ranche. -For a week previously, the vaccaros scour the mountains and plains, and -collect the wild herds, and these are at once enclosed in the “corrals.” - -The proprietor of the ranche keeps open house, whilst the vaccaros adorn -themselves in all the finery they can muster, which is not much, and -they are specially mounted for the occasion. Fires are lighted near the -corral, and in these the branding-irons are kept heated. The work is -commenced leisurely, a few vaccaros enter the corral, the gate of which -is formed of a bar of wood, easily withdrawn, to allow egress to the -cattle. The first lasso is thrown over the horns of a steer, and as the -bar is withdrawn he rushes out with the vaccaro at his side; on the -instant a second lasso catches the hind leg and he falls on his side, as -if shot. The two lassos are then kept tight by the horses to which they -are attached, who are admirably trained to throw their whole weight on -the rope; the brand is then applied. A shake of the lasso disengages it, -and the steer after a wild look at the assembled company, rushes -smarting with pain to the mountains, where he is soon joined by his -fellows in a similar unfortunate predicament. - -The corral becomes gradually thinned, and more vaccaros enter the lists, -and as the large beasts are kept until the last, and become maddened by -being driven round in the heat, and noise, and dust, every opportunity -is afforded for a display of good riding. Savage-looking cows show fight -from every quarter, and make fierce charges at the horsemen, who -experience much more danger, and have more work to do, than the armed -“torredores” of a bull-fight. The dust and excitement increase rapidly -now, and the cattle thump the ground with their ribs on every side, as -their legs fly from under them. A groan, a hiss, and a smell of roast -meat, as the hot brand touches them, and away they go, tail on end. - -But occasionally the scene is diversified by some cantankerous young -bull, who having received the impression of his master’s initials, makes -a rush at the crowd that surround the corral, with the intention of -revenging an insult never intended. This wayward conduct subjects him to -increased punishment, for he is now brought down on his side again, -until at last he thinks better of it, and makes the best of his way to -some lonely spot on the plain, where he revenges himself by praiseworthy -but unsuccessful attempts to gore the largest oak-tree he can find. - -The work is now carried on with great rapidity, the vaccaros have -renewed their horses many times, and under the influence of brandy, -which is freely served to them, they begin to get as mad as the cattle. -All ends at dusk, and the evening is devoted to a “fandango;” but the -men are all so drunk and tired, that this amusement always terminates -early, and generally seriously; for among so many boasting and -quarrelsome riders, knives are soon produced, and the dispute, which -always has reference to the _capacity_ of some horse, is terminated for -the time being by the letting of a little blood. - -It is the nature of man to boast of his horse in all countries, and how -unfortunate it is that these Spaniards are not sufficiently civilised to -settle their disputes with a bet; then the only blood drawn would be -from the horse’s flanks, when he was called upon by his master to -perform the feat in question, and the whole would be decided in a -_gentlemanly manner_! - -Shortly after the “cattle-branding,” Raymond provided me with four -handsome mules and a horse. I have already mentioned that the management -of wild mules was a matter of great difficulty; to us it was an -impossibility, and we found it requisite to hire the services of a -vaccaro. We started for Russian River after bidding adieu to Raymond, -who had behaved to us throughout with great hospitality and kindness. -Our road led through another plain, oak-timbered like the valleys, and -that there may be at least one good remark in my book, I shall borrow a -description from Sterne, who says, “There is nothing more pleasing to a -traveller or more terrible to travel-writers, than a large rich plain, -especially if it is without great rivers or bridges, and presents to the -eye but one unvaried picture of plenty; for, after they have once told -you that it is delicious or delightful (as the case happens), that the -soil was grateful, and that nature pours out all her abundance, &c., -they have then a large plain upon their hands, which they know not what -to do with.”--_Tristram Shandy_, vol. ii., p. 123. The reader will then -please to consider that my party has reached in safety the banks of the -Russian River. - -This is a broad stream, and in the summer months when the water becomes -low, it runs sluggishly; but high among the branches of the alder-trees -that line the banks, are accumulations of sticks and rubbish that mark -the height to which the river rises when the mountain snow begins to -melt, and it changes its present lazy rippling pace for the turbulent -roar of a cataract, and overflows the adjacent plains. - -Being nightfall, we encamped without crossing, and at daylight we were -dismayed at discovering that our beasts had been stolen; we had no -reason to suspect the vaccaro, who at all events acted surprise to -perfection, if guilty of connivance; but mules and horses were gone, and -the riattas with them. Some expert thieves had tracked us, and as we -were in ignorance as to who they were, we laid the whole matter at -Quilp’s door. I have since discovered by experience, that if a band of -Mexicans are determined to have your horses, they generally manage it by -some means, in spite of the utmost vigilance; with our inexperience and -the possible connivance of the vaccaro (of which, however, there was not -a shadow of proof) the task was easy. I discharged the vaccaro, and we -crossed the river on foot, taking off our clothes and carrying them in a -bundle on our heads. The water was so refreshing, that the task of -taking over our baggage piecemeal, was one of pleasure, and helped -wonderfully to counterbalance - -[Illustration: CHAGRES RIVER.] - -the annoyance I felt at the loss of my mules--a loss which entirely -precluded my further advance into the country. Leaving Barnes with the -baggage and dogs, Thomas and I proceeded in search of a back-woodsman’s -hut, which we had been informed existed in this direction; after -following the river for some time, we ascended a steep hill, from the -summit of which was presented the most lovely panorama--beneath us the -thickly wooded plain extended for miles--on one side bounded by -mountains, on the other, melting away in a blue hazy distance;--the -windings of the Russian River were marked distinctly in contrast with -the dark rocks and foliage that lined its banks, whilst immediately -beneath us was a forest of firs and red-wood trees, over which the -vultures wheeled incessantly, and not even the sound of an insect -disturbed the silence of the scene. - -From this hill we discovered the hut of which we were in search, -situated near a running stream and surrounded by towering red-wood -trees. We found the occupant at home; he was a tall sinewy man, a -Missourian of the name of March, and he at once cheerfully assisted us. -He lent us his mule to bring up our baggage, and by nightfall we were -encamped within a few yards of his hut. There were two other -backwoodsmen living with March, and these three - -[Illustration] - -had just completed unaided a saw-mill, to which they had applied the -power of the stream, by means of an over-shot wheel. The heavy beams -that formed the mill-frame, the dam and race, had all been constructed -from the adjacent forest trees, and now that the work was completed, -wanting only the saw, for which they intended to go to San Francisco, it -seemed incredible that so large a frame could be put together by so -small a number of men. This saw-mill erected in the forest and of the -forest, raising its long beams from the midst of the romantic scenery -that surrounded it, was a glorious instance of what energy will -accomplish, and of the rapidity with which each man in an American -colony contributes towards the development of the new country’s -resources. - -And it contrasts strangely with the languid inertness of those -communities, who with equal brains and hands _ponder_ and _dream_ over -the means of supplying wants, even when they have long been felt; to see -that here even the uneducated backwoodsman devotes his time and energy -to preparing for the wants _to come_; buoyed up by an admirable -confidence in the rapid growth and prosperity of his country, which -confidence is part of his education, and one great secret of his -success. If the Americans go a-head, it is principally because they -“look a-head.” March when he planned his mill and felled his first tree -in this solitary forest, ranked with those who wrote from the tents of -San Francisco for steam-engines and foundries. Now as I write, these -latter are performing their daily work in the city, and have become -essential to its wants, whilst March’s mill, seemingly so out of place -where I first saw it, can now barely supply the wants of the numerous -agricultural population that is settling round about it. March and his -companions lived entirely on game, which he assured me abounded; and as -for the present at all events I could not proceed, I determined at his -advice to walk over the hills and look at a valley on which he strongly -recommended me to “squat;” we therefore started the next morning in -search of it, following the directions that March had given us for our -guidance to the spot. - - - - -CHAPTER VI. - - THE LITTLE VALLEY--THREE MARTYRS--MOUNTAIN LIFE--THE POOR - DOES--CASTOR-OIL--A SICK DOG--THE CARPENTARO--GREY SQUIRREL--DIGGER - INDIANS--RED-WOOD TREE--AMERICAN RIFLES--GRIZZLY BEAR HUNT--SHELDON - WOUNDED--DIFFICULTY IN KILLING THE BEAR--HABITS OF THE BEAR--A - THIEF. - - -_September, 1850._ - -The country which we now traversed consisted of a series of small -round-topped hills, uniform in size but varying in feature. The whole -had been long since subjected to violent volcanic action, so whilst one -hill was crowned with a grotesque mass of rock and cinder, round which -the tall wild oats waved desolately, the next enchanted the eye with a -profusion of evergreen oaks and flowering arbutus. These hills altered -in character as they had been subjected to, or had escaped from the -volcanic shower; thus whilst on one side was a huge mound of lava -destitute of all vegetation, on the other was a dense mass of rich -underwood, from which rose groups of the stately red-wood tree. - -We saw several old craters, and the cindery desolation that encircled -them for some distance yielded suddenly to the encroachment of -vegetation; a strife for mastery between these two had existed, and you -may believe, if you please, as I do, the volcanic agency to have been -under the management of an evil gnome, the wild vines and arbutus to -have been protected by a good fay, and that after numerous fierce -engagements, a lasting peace had been concluded and the territory -equally divided. - -We put up several hares and covies of partridges, whose parents had -never been shot at, and we fully satisfied ourselves as to the existence -in abundance of both bears and deer. - -Arrived at the summit of a hill, the little valley we were in search of -lay at our feet. It was scarcely twenty acres in extent, level as a -table, bounded on one side by masses of red-wood trees, and on the other -by a fine stream, whose banks were shaded with alders and wild vines. -The valley itself was free from shrub or tree, excepting that from the -centre there rose a clump of seven gigantic red-woods, which growing in -a circle, and meeting at the roots, formed a natural chamber to which -there was but one inlet. - -As the land we were on belonged to the United States government, I -determined to take March’s advice, and _squat_ on this valley, for I -became at once enchanted with it, as indeed were my companions: I -therefore affixed to the red-wood trees a paper I had long prepared and -kept in my knapsack for immediate use, and which ordered all men to take -notice that F. M. claimed, under the laws of pre-emption, one hundred -and fifty acres of land measuring from that spot, and that he intended -to defend his right by force of arms, &c. &c. - -Considering that, saving the wild Indians, human foot had probably never -crossed the spot, the notice scarcely seemed necessary, and the Indians -did not respect it, as I shall have occasion to show hereafter. - -By the time we had walked thoroughly over the property and discovered -fresh advantages, and had drunk of the stream and found the water -excellent, it was dusk, and not being sufficiently satisfied with our -landmarks, to try our way back to our camp that night, we determined on -passing it in the red-wood clump; the fire was soon stacked and -lighted--that jolly camp-fire that on the instant suffuses everything -around it with its cheerful ruddy glow, and sends its sharp crackle -merrily up through the air, throwing a charm over the most inhospitable -desert, and giving a zest to the hunter’s meal be it ever so homely. -How naturally as we sit around it we recall the memory of wet seasons, -When benighted, damp, chilly, and tired, we selected amidst the falling -mist, the driest and most sheltered spot in the wet brushwood; how we -laugh now at the vain attempt to kindle damp leaves and undergrowth; the -partial success that engendered hope, only to render the failure of the -last match more intolerable; the dark long night, dreary, drizzling, -with one of us on guard for danger, and all unable to sleep, watching -impatiently for the morning, with the first dull streak of which we -stretch our half stiffened limbs, and shouldering the dead game, that no -camp-fire over night converted into a well-earned and needful supper, -seek some sheltered spot elsewhere, and make a breakfast of it. The -recollection of nights like these--and they fall to the lot of every -hunter--causes one to contemplate the blazing embers with a simple -gratitude, that is not always engendered elsewhere by the possession of -the comforts of this world. - -We had a leash of hares, which being skinned and cleaned were impaled on -withers and placed at the fire to roast, where they looked like three -martyrs flayed alive, and staked. Whilst they were cooking we filled the -red-wood clump with several armfuls of long oat-straw from the adjacent -hill. - -[Illustration] - -After worrying the three hares, we lighted our pipes, and picquetting -the dogs round us, we gave ourselves up to the pleasures of a comparison -of the happiness of our position as compared with that of other men, and -then I sunk into a gentle slumber (of course), while my companions -snored in unison with the dogs. - -We rose with the sun; and properly speaking, I should take advantage of -that fact to inform the reader what part of the surrounding scenery was -first bathed in yellow light, and what remained in obscurity; what the -deep blue of the distant mountains contrasted with, and what completed -the picture in the foreground: but these things are to be found better -described in any book of travels of the day; and moreover, at the time -of which I am writing, I was not gazing at the landscape, but was -proceeding rather unpoetically to bathe in the river, munching on my way -the leg of a cold martyr. - -In the course of the day we moved our baggage from March’s Mill to our -new possession, where I determined on passing the winter. - -I decided upon enclosing the valley and rendering it fit for -agricultural purposes, but as the winter was approaching, I saw that the -first thing requisite was to send for a quantity of useful articles that -I had stored in readiness at Sonoma, and which consisted of carpenter’s -tools, blankets, powder and shot, books, and a small quantity of -groceries. For these I despatched Thomas, and the red-wood clump having -been perfected in its internal accommodations, by the addition of a -boarded floor, a brushwood roof, with a convenient rack for the rifles, -and a secure magazine for the powder, Barnes commenced laying his axe to -the red-wood trees on the other side of the stream, whilst I shouldered -my rifle and supplied the larder. - -There is but one species of deer here--the black-tailed--and the -venison, though generally fat, is insipid, owing perhaps to the fact -that the dry season parches up every blade of green stuff, and the deer -live on the long self-made hay, which in some parts is very plentiful, -but not nutritious. The deer are generally found in herds of from five -to seven, and it requires great caution to “bag them.” - -[Illustration] - -As the wind at this season of the year blows with little variation from -the same point, my ground was almost always of the same nature, the -river being in my rear, and the mountains before me. Stalking was out of -the question, for from the peculiar formation of the country, which -consisted of a series of undulations, no extended view could be procured -of a herd, and the long grass which afforded them cover abounded with -rattle-snakes. The only plan in such a country is to keep your eyes -about you, not forgetting the ground, and walk the deer up, against the -wind of course, taking advantage of any cover that may be in your path, -in the shape of a rock, and using great caution in showing yourself over -the rising ground. The herd will probably then start up with a bound -from the long oat-straw at your feet, but seldom afford a fine shot, as -they plunge away half concealed by it; now you throw yourself down, and -see, the herd has stopped within a hundred yards of you; and here a buck -advances chivalrously in defence of his harem--five paces--ten--now he -is troubled; for although there is pride in his nostrils, and anger in -his stamping hoof, there is indecision in those working ears, and by his -eye you may read that if anything very ugly appears, he will run away. -But a doe advances; this nerves her lord to a few paces more;--now you -may fire;--full at the shoulder;--crash--poor buck! Now load again, and -then rush up and cut his throat, he is stone dead; rattle, tattle, -tattle, tattle,--mind the snake! Now flay him, if you want the skin, or -quarter him if you don’t: this done you can carry home a haunch, the -skin, the antlers, the tongue and the brains, and these, with your -accoutrements and the hot sun, will probably tire you before you get -home. In the evening the poor does, with their soft hearts still -palpitating, from the nasty noise your rifle made, and the very ugly -appearance of yourself generally, will stand in a group, and turn their -wistful eyes in the direction where last they saw their master, and -wonder--poor innocents--why he is not there as usual to lead them -proudly down to the stream, and take his station on the bank to ward off -any danger whilst they drink. Night comes, but he does not appear; then -they wander about, and cry and pass a miserable night, whilst you are -making a good supper off the buck, and are speaking jocularly of him as -a “fat old rascal.” - -The deer is very inquisitive, and if when you have walked up a herd, and -have thrown yourself down, in the long grass, you extend your loading -rod above your head, with a piece of rag attached to it, the bucks will, -even though they wind you, generally approach within killing distance, -which, when shooting as I was, for subsistence, should not be more than -_seventy yards_ if possible. It is always better to make this rule when -shooting for the “larder.” Where game is thin, fire at nothing that you -don’t think certain, until the day wanes, and necessity and an empty -stomach oblige you to shoot at everything you see. Where game is wild -and difficult to approach, and you are living on your gun, too much -precaution cannot be taken to insure, if possible, the bagging of -everything you hit; for if anything makes sporting cruel, it is the -habit that some have of trying long shots, and sending poor brutes away -to die a lingering death in the brush. Moreover, I was much in the -position of a man with a preserve, and that not overstocked. I could not -afford to drive my game, by careless shooting, out of my own beat, and -the nature of my country was such that the want of cover in the -undulating hills rendered the deer very alert whilst feeding there, and -when they took to the mountains in alarm they were lost to the hunter, -if alone, so far as this, that they invariably managed to keep a large -sized hill between him and themselves; for the Russian River deer are -actually _cunning_, and never did I see one take to a ravine, or lay -himself open in any way when once he ascended the steep. I have often -killed before I have left the house twenty minutes, but far more -frequently have walked the whole day without seeing a deer. - -We recovered some wounded deer with the assistance of the blood-hound, -Prince; but just as he became useful, he was attacked by a distemper -peculiar to the country, which affects the hindquarters with paralysis, -and generally kills. I think I saved Prince’s life by administering a -tremendous dose of castor-oil on the first appearance of his symptoms, -but he was a very sick dog for a long time, and staggered like a three -days’ old calf. Having mentioned castor-oil, I wish to do justice to its -invaluable qualities, which would not perhaps have been so thoroughly -tested by us were it not that our sole stock of medicine consisted of -two quart bottles of it. It was successfully applied to both man and -beast in every complaint, and acted with a little tobacco-leaf, as a -balm for all outward wounds. - -Barnes, who was a famous axe-man and was possessed of unusual physical -strength and endurance, soon felled a large number of the giant -red-woods in the rear of our valley, in order to split them and convert -them into rails for enclosing the farm. If we should speak well of the -bridge that carries us over, we should also speak well of the tree that -roofs us in for the winter, but the red-wood tree (Arbor Vitæ) deserves -especial notice on its own merits, which I shall proceed to detail. The -size and height attained by the red-wood in California are very -wonderful, and faithful accounts of these trees have been received with -incredulity. The average size of the full-grown trees may be quoted at -from five to six feet in diameter, and about 150 feet in height. This -tree maintains in some instances so perfect a perpendicular, that in -felling it on a calm day, if one is cut towards the centre, a very small -portion of the heart will sustain the immense trunk. The largest tree we -discovered at Russian River was not far from the house. Measuring it six -feet above the ground, its circumference was 40 feet, and its height -about 200 feet. But in Calaveras county, a group of trees exists which -measure respectively, 27 feet, 20 feet, 23 feet, 18 feet, and 16 feet in -diameter, and from 200 feet to 250 feet in height. The largest of these -was felled and the bark removed to San Francisco, where it was erected -in its original position, and formed a capacious room. - -The timber of the red-wood is very durable, and is so easily worked that -a man needs but an axe, a betel and a few wedges, to convert the largest -of them, provided they are free from knots, into planks, rails or -clap-boards, and I have seen Barnes fell a huge fellow, and in less than -a fortnight he has carried it all away but the boughs and the bark. It -is a fine sight to watch one of these trees fall to the axe; leaving the -perpendicular at first so leisurely; then gathering impetus as it nears -the ground, crushing all it meets, making the earth vibrate with its -shock, and sending forth a booming echo, that startles the game far and -wide. The bark of the red-wood is perforated in every direction, and -with great regularity, by a kind of starling, called, from this -peculiarity, _carpentaro_, or carpenter. These birds form cells in the -tree with great assiduity, and deposit therein acorns, which fit very -tightly. They are very quaint and noisy, and employ themselves -continually, when not fighting, in depositing acorns in the red-woods. -You may see a dozen of them clinging to the bark of one tree in the most -uncomfortable positions, pecking away, each at a hole. But the -carpentaros work for the more lazy portion of creation, and one of their -enemies is the beautiful grey squirrel which abounds here. I have often -watched a grey squirrel ascend a red-wood; for the birds work in the -upper part of the tree. He is immediately surrounded by carpentaros, -who, knowing him of old, are at no loss to divine his object, but the -open day robber, nothing daunted, at once extracts an acorn, and popping -it in his mouth, he turns his head from side to side in the quaintest -manner possible, as if to say to the birds that chatter around him, -“Pray go on, don’t mind my feelings.” Then down he comes whisking his -beautiful silvery tail. Then the carpentaros assemble round the pillaged -hole, and scream over the matter so much that you may imagine them to be -abusing the squirrel in their choicest slang; and presently up comes -grey squirrel again for another acorn, having found the first so good; -and then, fresh carpentaros having arrived, the noise becomes so -intolerable, that the most enthusiastic of naturalists would walk off -with his fingers in his ears. The grizzly bear also takes advantage of -the exposed condition of the carpentaro’s winter provision, and climbs -the red-wood in much the same fashion as the grey squirrel, though less -gracefully; so they say: I never saw a bear in this position, and if -unarmed I should not wait to study his habits, if I did; for although -naturalists tell us that the bear is graminivorous, there is no doubt -that the grizzly would sacrifice all the acorns that grow for a juicy -piece of the calf of one’s leg. - -The carpentaro has a more destructive enemy than even the squirrel or -the bear, and a greater beast than either--the Digger Indian. These -miserable specimens of humanity will light a fire at the root of a -well-stocked red-wood tree until it falls; they then extract the -carpentaro’s acorns and fill many baskets full, which they carry away. - -“Eat as much as you like, but pocket none,” the justly indignant -carpentaros might say. - -The red-wood tree is the main-stay of California. The supply is -inexhaustible, but nature has been sufficiently capricious to make them -most abundant in very inaccessible spots, whilst the level plains are -covered with a short-grained dwarf oak, serviceable only for firewood. -But, however steep the mountains, the Californian red-wood has to fall -and to be fashioned to the use of man, and when a steam saw-mill gets -perched upon a mountain-top the romance of the forest is gone; its -silent grandeur no longer awes the mind; and the trees, whose size and -beauty caused such deep impressions and such grave reflections, fall -into insignificance as you see them torn into planks and packed on -waggons, whilst the once still forest resounds to the sound of the axe -and the shrill whistle of the steam-engine. I have been very -disappointed at finding these sudden changes in revisiting some of my -old hunting-grounds. - -Thomas now arrived with our stores, which we unpacked with great -pleasure, as they had not seen the light since we had boxed them up -ourselves in England, and every article was associated with home. We set -to work, and in a fortnight had completed a two-roomed house, close to -the red-wood clump: we then converted that apartment into a larder and -storehouse. - -It is not my intention to dwell very much upon the subject of -deer-shooting, as, even could I say what has not been said before by -mightier hunters than I, the subject has interest for sporting men -alone. - -I have mentioned in the early part of this chapter, that bears were said -to be plentiful in the country I had chosen for my sojourn. The -Californian hunter holds the grizzly bear in great respect; and not -without reason, when we consider that this animal is difficult to kill, -that he is a relentless pursuer when wounded, and that he can run and -climb under ordinary circumstances, with more agility than his -assailant. On this account, and from the fact that you must, from the -nature of his haunts, attack him on foot, a wounded grizzly bear is a -worse enemy to encounter than a tiger. March had promised to make up a -bear hunt for us, and in a day or two he came over to the farm with two -hunters of the name of Sheldon and Carter; both hard-looking fellows, -carrying nothing but their rifles, a knife, and a Colt’s revolver, which -latter is invaluable in all kinds of hunting. - -The Americans carried rifles of their own make; capital make too, though -too weak in the lock on account of the cheap price at which they are -supplied. The bore of their rifles seemed small for bear-shooting, -carrying a half-ounce ball, but they seemed to consider that their -skill in shooting counter-balanced this deficiency. I carried the only -rifle that I ever used of those I took out, one of German make, carrying -a ball of an ounce and a half. I should say here that our rifles were -often the subject of discussion with these honest fellows. I had two -Rigby’s with an accumulation of sights, which were perfectly useless for -my work, although they were beautifully finished weapons; and Barnes’s -friendly disputes concerning the relative merits of the American barrel, -with its enormous weight of metal and long point-blank range, and the -English lock, with its wholesome click, and the American stock, with its -carved butt, that gives so much steadiness to the muscles of the body -when you aim, resulted in a combination that was highly approved of by -all parties; for all these good qualities were amalgamated by the -construction of a new stock, and thus a rifle was produced that amongst -ourselves enjoyed great celebrity, and this rifle March has probably in -his possession to this day. - -The German rifle, to which I have alluded, was rather too short, but -very true within a hundred yards, and its qualities were expressed by -its name, “shoulder-breaker,” engraved on the stock. It is a rare thing -to get a good rifle carrying a heavy ball. - -We started at once in search of our bear--six in number--and accompanied -by a small dog belonging to Sheldon. It was not until the afternoon that -we struck upon a fresh bear sign, of which March had had previous -knowledge. The sign led into thick underwood in which the bear seeks -shade, but which is the worst of all places for killing him. March -disposed us in couples; we then spread and entered the thicket at a -partially cleared part. Almost immediately I heard a crash, and an angry -roar, and then a shot was fired to the left. It was necessary for us to -retrace our steps, on account of intervening jungle, to rejoin our -party, which done, the bear was in view. I was astonished at his size; -standing on his hind-legs with his mouth open like a thirsty dog, and -working himself up and down, he indicated that he felt the inconvenience -of the pellet that March had intended for his heart, but which had -lodged in his alimentary canal. However, in an instant, and as if by a -sudden impulse, he again assumed the position of a quadruped and bounded -towards March and Sheldon, clearing as much ground at each stride--for -he was as big as an ox--as would have done credit to the winner of the -Liverpool steeplechase. A shot from the right altered his course again -in that direction, for the grizzly bear will turn to the last -assailant, and this enforces the necessity of bear-hunters supporting -each other. - -A momentary uncertainty on his part gave me an opportunity of troubling -him with one of my 1½ oz. balls, but this only elicited a grunt and a -rush in my direction. I confess that, as soon as my rifle was -discharged, I felt great inclination to disregard March’s directions, -which were, not to use my revolver, but if possible to _reload my rifle -directly I had fired_, under _all circumstances_. Whilst in a curious -state of uncertainty on this point, though loading, the bear swerved -suddenly on one side in chase of the little high-couraged dog that -belonged to Sheldon. - -This dog had been in other bear-hunts and was generally very useful, for -the grizzly has a great suspicion of anything behind him, and if a dog -can be trained to worry his hams, the bear will turn round and round and -afford much facility to the hunters. - -I fancy the dog must have got hurt or lost his pluck, for he now rushed -straight to his master, and the bear followed; Sheldon fired as the -grizzly approached, but without effect, and the next moment poor Sheldon -was down bathed in blood, one blow had carried away the flesh entirely -from one side of his face, fracturing his jaw-bone in the most -frightful manner. - -The bear disappeared, and probably retired to die, whilst we carried -Sheldon home, with what feelings of grief I need not say. We sent him on -to Sonoma as soon as possible, and he afterwards recovered, though -dreadfully disfigured, and with the loss of an eye. It was perhaps on -account of this accident that we made up no more parties for the express -purpose of bear-hunting, but left it to chance to meet them, and as it -happened, accident threw very few in our way. - -The chief difficulty in killing the grizzly bear arises from the -formation of his head, which is convex. The ball generally glances off -sufficiently to avoid the brain; you have in fact but three vital parts, -the back of the ear, the spine, and the heart; and it is said that the -grizzly bear will live long enough after being shot in the latter part -to do much mischief. He is always in motion, and I think the steadiest -of hunters will allow that his conduct when wounded is not calculated to -improve one’s aim. The very fact of finding that you hit him so often -without effect, destroys confidence, and the sudden rushes that the bear -makes at his assailant is a great trial to the hunter’s nerve. There are -many accidents of the description I witnessed on record, although I -know one or two instances of bears being killed at the first shot. - -It appears to me that a recorder of travels has a difficulty to -surmount, which falls to the lot of no other writer, for whilst duty -admonishes him to give a strictly veracious account of everything that -comes before his notice (and of a great deal that does not), inclination -and the publisher prompt him to avoid prosiness, for this very good -reason, that if he enters into details he bores his readers; but then, -on the other hand, if he is not sufficiently specific, he is pronounced -a “superficial observer.” - -This observation is induced by the necessity of my introducing, at all -costs, further accounts respecting the grizzly bear. - -When we consider the weight of the grizzly, which often reaches fifteen -hundred pounds, the enormous strength of which he is possessed, as -evidenced by the limbs of trees which he will wrench from the trunk, and -his extraordinary speed and activity, we have reason (speaking as one -who lives in his vicinity) for congratulation that the animal is of -inoffensive habits, and avoids the presence of man. The sole instance to -the contrary is that in which you are unfortunate enough to invade the -domestic circle of the she-bear when accompanied by her cubs: she -invariably gives chase the instant she sees the intruder, who, if he is -wise, will “draw a bee-line” in an opposite direction. In running[5] -from a bear, the best plan is to turn round the side of a hill, for the -bear having then as it were two short legs and two long ones, can’t, -under such circumstances, run very fast. There is but one sized tree -that you can climb in safety in escaping from a bear, and you may run a -long way before you find it. It must be just too small for your pursuer -to climb up after you, and just too large for it to pull down, a nice -point to hit. The she-bear is invariably irascible when nursing, and -perhaps this accounts for the fact that the male-bear is seldom found in -her company; to her he leaves the education and support of their -progeny, whilst he seeks amusement elsewhere--I might say at his club, -for it is the habit of bears to congregate in threes or fours under a -tree for hours, and dance on their hams in a very ludicrous manner, with -no apparent ostensible object but that of passing the time away and -getting away from their wives. - -I have heard many anecdotes related of grizzly bears. I choose the -following as characteristic of a well-established fact that the bear, -even when infuriated, not only acts from the instinct of -self-preservation, but seems loth to kill and mangle what it attacks. - -In the hills round San José, an unarmed negro came suddenly on a she -grizzly with cubs. She pursued him, and fortunately for him struck him -on the head, which knocked him down, but did not of course (he being a -nigger) inflict any serious damage on the part assailed. The man wisely -remained perfectly still, whilst the bear, who knowing nothing about -“darkies’” heads, supposed she had gained the day by a _coup de main_, -retired for a short distance. After remaining quiet, as he supposed, -sufficiently long, the negro thought of getting up, but his first -movement was arrested by a crack on the other side of his head, and down -he went again, and the bear retired to watch over his interests. It was -a long time before the negro again attempted to rise (for more reasons -than one), and this was not until the bear had quitted the spot, -apparently satisfied; but no sooner was Quashy up to look about him, -than the bear darted out from another quarter, and this time she did -poor Darky great injury: she tore his back and knocked him senseless, -and then half covered him up with leaves. After this she was quite -satisfied, and the negro was shortly afterwards discovered and -resuscitated, and felt quite unwell all the next day; but told this -story long afterwards to me with great satisfaction, and, I need not -add, with unimpeachable veracity. - -I have mentioned the dexterity with which the Spaniard throws the lasso, -and the weapon has been successfully employed in entrapping the bear. -The noose is thrown over him when he is near a tree, and by riding in a -circle he is secured by a dozen thongs. This is one of the feats which -the Spaniards assure you they _can_ do. - -Although the grizzly’s natural food consists probably of roots and -acorns, I suppose he must be ranked as omnivorous, for he certainly -crunches a bone with great gusto. The bears cleared off any bones that -were lying round our hut; and, in one instance, we shot at a couple that -came close to our door at night and stole the bones from under the noses -of the dogs. One bear walked away with a large piece of meat and the -iron hook on which it hung, but whether he swallowed the hook with the -bait, or pulled it out with his fingers, we never ascertained; he never -brought it back again, so we indulge in the hope that it sticks in his -jaws to this day, and that he has found out “qu’il n’y a point de roses -sans des épines.” - -Bear meat is eatable, but very devoid of flavour, and I think the -grizzly indulges in too much gymnastic exercise to qualify him for the -table of the epicure. He figures in the bill-of-fare at all Californian -Restaurants, and, as a great number of the common black bears are caught -alive in traps, the San Francisco hairdresser has no difficulty in -“sacrificing, on any occasion, a real animal for the benefit of his -customers.” - - - - -CHAPTER VII. - - DEER HUNTING--WILD BULLS--WILD FOWL--A DUCK GUN--DRIVING AN - OX-TEAM--I REFLECT--AN ESTAMPEDE--THE TIGER CAT--RAINY - SEASON--INDIAN FIRES--WASPS--WE ARE ROBBED BY THE INDIANS--I KILL A - BEAR--CROSSING A SWOLLEN RIVER. - - -_Christmas, 1850._ - -To render agreeable a life where men are thrown entirely on their own -resources, the chief point is to ensure contentment, and nothing -conduces more to this end than to apportion to each one of the party an -equal and strictly-defined share of work. Forest life, in my case, never -altered the relations that existed between myself and those in my -employment, nor will real respect ever vanish under the familiar contact -which such a life imposes. - -I gave Barnes the woods and forests, which was not such a sinecure as it -is here, as he had full employment for the winter in felling the -red-woods, and splitting them into rails for enclosing the farm. Thomas -undertook the “hewing and drawing,” the cooking, and the internal -cleanliness of the house; and this latter is very essential in mountain -life. Take everything out of your hut daily and hang it in the sun; -then, water well the floor; this drives away the vermin, which abound in -the deer and hare skins; it also ensures you against scorpions and -centipedes, which are apt to introduce themselves into the firewood. It -devolved on me to supply the larder, and the amount of exertion required -for this duty varied considerably. One day an easy walk would bring me -to a marsh, and a few shots from my double-barreled gun would secure as -many wild-ducks as we required, but on another I might be doomed, after -a long journey, to extend myself over the carcase of a buck, and then, -exposed to a glaring sun, unaided, flay my quarry and disembowel him, -quarter him, and carry him home piece by piece, over four or five miles -of successive cindery hills. I had no stout little pony with a shaggy -mane and tail, such as one sees carrying home the deer in Landseer’s -splendid pictures. I had to take as much meat as I could “pick-a-back,” -or else leave it to the coyotes, who would appear in sight whilst I was -yet at work on the carcase. If this part of a hunter’s duty was entailed -upon our fashionable deer-stalkers, many of the deer would reap the -benefit, not so much by being flayed and carried home by members of the -aristocracy, as in being left alone. - -The monotony of this life was varied by excursions into the adjacent -country, and these would last two or three days; during which time we -left the hut to take care of itself; and, carrying each a rifle and a -blanket, with a few other necessaries, we passed our nights by the camp -fire, and in the day discovered wonders of nature that amply repaid us -for our journey. The first object that attracted our attention was an -immense hill of sulphur, and we discovered hot springs strongly -impregnated with this mineral in its immediate vicinity. Round one of -the springs was an apparently hard crust of sulphur, but this was -treacherous, as Thomas found out, for it was the cause of his tumbling -in and getting a medicated bath; and, although he soon dried, he smelt -so strongly of lucifer matches for some days afterwards as to be almost -unbearable. We brought some of the sulphur, which was very pure, away -with us. We also discovered large craters, and igneous rocks, piled in -such vast confusion as indicated the blind fury with which the earth had -torn and rent itself on some former great occasion. The whole of -California has been subjected to more than ordinary violent -disturbances, but the vegetation of thousands of years has decomposed -since then, and the huge rocks that were once hurled, red-hot, I dare -say, into the air, are now deeply-embedded in the surrounding soil. - -These excursions opened a new field for our rifles, for, whilst taking a -bird’s-eye view one morning from the elevation on which we had encamped, -our attention was arrested by the appearance of a herd of wild cattle. -Having observed the direction in which they were grazing, and finding -that, unfortunately, the direction of the wind prevented our heading -them, I adopted a plan which proved successful. Carefully keeping them -in sight from the rear, as I knew that water was not immediately ahead -of them, I foresaw that towards sunset they would alter their course, -and, guided by their instinct, graze towards the nearest spring. This -they did in the afternoon; and having now a side wind, we hastened to -look for cover in their line of march, glad to exchange the slip-shod -pace at which for hours we had followed their movements, for a brisk -double in the other direction. As soon as we had hit our line, I sent -Barnes out to reconnoitre, and he immediately returned, having -discovered the spring and a good cover a little in advance of it. We -soon took up our positions, and before long the herd appeared in view: -five black bulls, one a young one. They were most beautiful beasts, -with sleek and glossy coats; thin in the flank, broad in the chest, and -rather short of horn. They evinced uneasiness at once when within shot, -and stared in our direction, snuffing the air and pawing the ground. As -the young one presented his broadside, he fell on his knees to -“shoulder-breaker” and, tail on end, went the rest of the herd at a long -trot over the hills. We walked up to our friend to give the “coup de -grâce,” but, through a want of caution, not usual with him, Barnes got a -bad bruise, for the bull, by a sudden exertion, rose and plunged at him, -catching him full in the chest, and knocking him down, then fell down -himself, never to rise again. Barnes felt some pain for a day or two, -which we allayed with the infallible castor oil: but I rather suspect -his chief annoyance was caused by having been floored by a young bull, -for whom, under ordinary circumstances, I think he was a match in -physical strength. - -Although wild cattle are not described as being indigenous to the -country, I have no doubt, from their appearance, that these were so, and -that their cows were not many miles away. It is vexatious to be obliged -to leave a fine carcase to the wolves and vultures; but as a bullock is -too much for three men, and we were far from home, we cut out the best -part of it and returned to camp; and the coyotes made a fine noise, -during the night, over what remained. - -The wild fowl now came over in heavy flights and settled in our -vicinity. The geese were in incredible numbers; white and grey geese and -brant. Of ducks we had several varieties, many of them quite unknown to -me, and I regret that I failed, from want of materials, in my endeavours -to preserve specimens of them. The geese are very easily shot when first -they arrive, but soon become very wary. The easiest and best plan is to -construct little huts of green stuff near the marshes they frequent, and -you are sure of good flight shooting at daylight. I had a large duck-gun -that I had used in punt-shooting in Norfolk, but it was very rebellious, -and kicked so, when used from the shoulder without a rest, that I placed -it under Barnes’s especial charge; and whenever he felt in particularly -good health, he went out with it, and you might see him returning with -geese and ducks suspended from every part of his body; his face wreathed -in smiles at his good fortune; but the next morning would disclose a -bruise on his right shoulder of about the size and colour of a certain -popular green dessert plate. Herons and curlew were plentiful, and very -tender, jack-snipe in great abundance, but I never disturbed them, for -I am a bad snipe shot, and the first rule in the mountains is to spare -your powder. Hares and partridges were in abundance, yet were also -spared, as we wished them about the place; but rabbits were rather -scarce and very small. If the love of sport, therefore, was sufficient -to chain one to this spot, the above enumeration will show that we had -not only ample occupation, but variety; yet I determined on adding -farming to my other amusements, and although it recurred to me that when -I gave up “gentleman farming” in England, I registered a vow to leave -such things to those who better understood them, I thought there could -be no danger in trying “an acre of maiden soil.” - -It was our custom of an evening, after our supper was over, the fire -piled up with blazing oak logs, and each man had lighted his pipe and -received a noggin of schnappes, after the fatigues of the day, to -congregate in one room and there, after lighting a candle, one of us -would read a book aloud. I had a good stock of books, though they -travelled in a small compass, and as they were, for the most, by -Fielding, Smollett, De Foe, Le Sage, Goldsmith, and that class of -writers, they all bore reading twice, and more than twice; so that our -evenings were passed very sociably. Barnes, too, who was an uneducated -man, was taking instructions in writing from Thomas, and began to learn -in this wild spot what they never tried to teach him in the Christian -village where he first saw the light. One evening these amusements were -set aside for the discussion of the subject of the cultivation of a -piece of the farm. Onions were at this time commanding fabulous prices -in San Francisco; and a very simple calculation proved, as distinctly as -possible, _on paper_, that one acre planted with onions would realise an -enormous profit, provided the onions came up. To ensure this last -important point, I engineered a ditch, which was to convey water for -their irrigation from our stream; and leaving the others to carry out -these works, I started on foot for San Luis, where I arrived, after two -days, very footsore. I procured a plough, a waggon, a yoke of strong -American oxen, and a fresh supply of groceries, and I then paid a flying -visit to San Francisco in a small fishing-boat, and returned to Sonoma -with seeds of all kinds, a box of horse-radish roots, which came in very -well afterwards with wild bull, and about 500 fine young fruit-trees. -The difficulty now was to get my ox-team up to Russian River, for I knew -nothing of driving oxen. However, I took lessons from an American -teamster; and, as there are but two words of command, and each one, when -delivered, is accompanied by a crack on the head of the ox nearest to -you, I found the beasts soon recognised my voice and style of hitting. -But I had several rather impetuous streams to pass, some of which were -scarcely fordable, for the rain had set in; I was doubtful, therefore, -as to the method to be adopted in forcing my team through these. This, -my instructor informed me, could only be accomplished by “talking freely -to the oxen;” and, to my demand for a specimen, he jumped on the waggon, -and working himself into a state of apparent phrenzy, he stamped and -swore, and beat them, and cracked his whip, and execrated them until -they both broke into a round trot. I profited by his advice, and got -through my gulches in safety, and I can only hope that the “freedom of -speech” I indulged in was justified by the circumstances of the case. - -I started alone, and as oxen travel very slowly, I was three days and a -half getting to the farm. On my way I met a good-looking fellow with -black beard and moustaches, who asked me in French the way to the -nearest log hut. I entered into conversation with him, and found that he -was a Normandy man of the name of Lebret. He had a gun, and a game bag, -and gaiters on; in fact, he was a “Frenchman out shooting” all over, -with nothing in his game-bag. I found that he was hard up and wanted -employment, so I told him where I was going, offered him a berth, and -with an “Eh bien!” up he jumped, and after crossing Russian River, for -which we were just in time, as it was much swollen, I landed my cargo -and Frenchman safe and sound at the farm, which, after my temporary -absence, seemed home in every sense. And it was so. The very dogs knew -it for a happy place as they bounded out to bid me welcome back. Home -speaks in the grip of Barnes’s bony hand; in the studied polish that my -rifle bears as it hangs above my bed; and home speaks in the eager faces -that group around the fire and listen to my brief recital of what befel -me since we parted. - - * * * * * - -I had a favourite little spot on my hunting ground that I always -selected for my halt; it was a little clump of sheltered rocks, and, -after poking about with my loading-rod, to turn out any rattlesnake that -might be there, I would sit down and enjoy the luxury of the cool shade -and a pipe. All good sportsmen agree, and with great truth, in the -impropriety of smoking whilst working up to game; but, after walking a -few hours in the hot sun, a pipe is a great luxury, and I was always -glad to reach this cover where I could indulge my propensity without -fear of tainting the surrounding atmosphere. - -I have often mused, as I have sat in this little den, on the life I was -leading, and reflected with regret that its charms must some day succumb -to use, and that, in time, even deer hunting would pall on the taste, -and the excitement of a wild life become monotonous. With health beating -in every pulse, with God’s best gifts strewed round him in profusion, -and intellect to fashion them to use, a man acknowledges instinctively -the infinite wisdom of the Creator, and feels a proportionate gratitude -for His gifts. - -It is easy to be grateful when one has health, strength, and freedom, -and easy to flatter oneself into the belief that a life so primitive is -more natural than one more civilised; but it is but the lazy gratitude -of one who has nothing else to live for but himself, and who is freed, -not alone from the conventionalities which a more civilised state -imposes, but from all claim upon his self-denial. Freed in fact from the -presence of all evils which beset man elsewhere, and tax his fortitude, -his courage, and his virtue; living but for himself, with himself alone -to study, he indulges in selfishness, and is happy. And this is the -great foundation-stone of the charms we hear associated with a wild free -life. - -One night a herd of deer jumped our railings, and passing close to the -hut, crossed the river at great speed, evidently under the influence of -fear. We listened, and shortly afterwards heard a pack of wolves, giving -tongue in the distance. The next morning the ground, which was soft, -gave evidence that there had been an _estampede_ the night before. Herds -of deer had crossed and recrossed in every direction until they had -forded the stream, when they made a clean bolt for the mountains. Not a -hare was to be seen; and for several days we had an empty -larder,--living during that time on wheat cakes, for, unfortunately, we -had expended all our small shot. I imagine that wolves are very uncommon -in the country, from the facts of the game becoming so much excited at -their presence, and that we never heard their bark again. We did not see -a wolf, but their “sign” was unmistakeable. One day we observed the -trail of a panther near the brook, and searched for him without success; -but Barnes bagged him next day to his own gun. He was up a tree when -Barnes saw him, and came down with great rapidity on being shot through -the skull. He was a heavy beast, a male, and of a tawny colour. This -animal is called in the country the Californian lion. - -The tiger cat is a beautiful animal, and very ferocious for its size; -we saw two or three of these, about the size of a wild cat, and -beautifully marked in the coat. I shot but one, and it was with the -greatest difficulty that I could induce him to resign his life without -having his skin spoilt. I was agreeably surprised, on my return one day -to the hut, to find a horse, saddled and bridled, attached to our -railing, and I ascertained that its owner was a countryman of mine who -had been “prospecting” the surrounding country, and had been directed by -March to our camp. They say we are a stiff and formal people: perhaps -so; but in the mountains, an Englishman needs no further introduction -than to know a man for a countryman to place the best he has at the -stranger’s service. You show him the river and give him a towel: you -supply him with a tin plate and spoon, and he helps himself from your -smoking pot: you produce a bottle of whiskey in his honour, and after -placing the tobacco cannister at his elbow, and pointing out the bundle -of blankets that will form his bed, you enter into social conversation. -When you part from the man the next morning, you feel quite sorry, and -hope to see him again, although there is little probability of that, for -these are chance meetings. It is my belief that there is an honest -purpose in the hearty wring of the hand that such a stray visitor gives -you as he mounts his horse to depart. Whether or no, he can’t go away -and say your rooms are _damp_, and your claret is _sour_, that your wife -is a _fright_, and your pictures are _trash_, as people _sometimes_ do -in more civilised countries, after enjoying the hospitality of their -friends. Our guest produced from his pocket, a number of Punch, and one -of the Illustrated News--about five months old. I had had opportunities -of reading these publications in a great many out-of-the-way parts of -the globe, but I never expected that they would reach my log hut. But -English periodicals creep in everywhere; and I remember that the first -indication I received of some family news of importance was when, at a -pic-nic at Mount Lebanon, I picked up a scrap of newspaper which had -contained the mustard of some party who had preceded us, and casually -glanced at its contents. - -The rainy season was now approaching, and the heat became occasionally -intense. At times the Indians would fire the surrounding plains, the -long oat-straw of which would ignite for miles. The flames would advance -with great rapidity, leaving everything behind them black and charred. -At these times a dense smoke would hang over the atmosphere for two or -three days, increasing the heat until it became insupportable. I had a -thermometer with me during the whole of my stay in California, and could -produce an elaborate[6] meteorological table; but as people say you -should write as you talk, I shall dismiss the subject of the temperature -of Russian River by remarking that in summer it was sometimes as warm as -Hong Kong, and in the rainy season it was as cold as an average English -winter. We have an officer of scientific renown in our naval service, -who is selected by the Admiralty to explore the least known portions of -the globe; of which parts, when he returns, he publishes an account, -which would be interesting in the extreme, but, that, alas! his -scientific knowledge oozes out in every line, and the reader, after -hopelessly following him through a maze of figures, which are -particularly addressed to, and understood only by, the Geographical -Society, shuts the book in despair, and remains for life in ignorance of -the habits of the Chow-chow Islanders. - -The Digger Indians burn the grass to enable them to get at roots and -wasps’ nests; young wasps being a luxury with them. These fires have the -good effect of destroying immense quantities of snakes and vermin; and -one can scarcely imagine the extent to which these might multiply were -they not occasionally “burnt out.” The wasps are so numerous here in -summer, as to destroy with rapidity everything they attack. Fleas not -only abound in the skins of every beast you kill, but even live on the -ground, like little herds of wild cattle; and ants are of all shapes and -sizes, and stand up savagely on their hind legs and open their mouths, -if you only look at them. The wasps attack any meat that may be hanging -up, and commence at once cutting out small pieces, which they carry -home, and it is astonishing the quantity they will carry away with them. -What they do with it when they get home, I never ascertained; but I -presumed that they “jerked” it for winter use, as the Spaniards do. - -It was hard work at dinner-time, to know who the meat belonged to, for -these wasps used to sting on the slightest provocation; and it was the -worst part of Thomas’s duty to take a hare down from a peg and cut it -up. - -But neither ants nor fleas ever troubled our persons; the skins were -always sent down to the river whilst yet warm, and the common -precautions I adopted in-doors insured us against all annoyance. - -It now commenced to rain very heavily, but not before I had, -fortunately, completed a shed, and laid in a stock of fire-wood, and had -also erected an additional room for drying wet clothes, &c., and for -sheltering the dogs. The first rain lasted for four days without -cessation; and here again I am unable to state, scientifically, the -quantity of water that fell in inches, but on the fourth day the water -laid on our valley of such a depth that it just plummed the top of a -pair of Cording’s fishing-boots, which came up to about my knees. All -the fruit trees and garden seeds were in the ground; and as we had no -immediate use for our oxen, and they were up to their bellies in water, -we let them run over the hills. Shortly after this the weather cleared -up, and we were much distressed at missing my slot-hound. Many days -elapsed before we gained any clue to his fate, until, beating up some -new ground one day, I came upon what remained of the poor old -fellow,--his skin and bones. He had broken away and indulged in a -midnight ramble, and had evidently been attacked and overpowered by -coyotes, of which two carcasses lay near him. We all felt much regret -for the old fellow, for he was a good staunch dog, and had been a great -favourite of my late father. We buried his remains and erected a mark to -his memory; but, although I experienced the same feeling of regret that -most men do when they lose a favourite and faithful hound, I shall -refrain from inflicting upon the reader the doleful stanzas which are -generally addressed “To my Dog,” on these occasions. - -_January 1._ For two months we had alternate rain and sunshine, and -nothing of moment occurred. The farm was by this time entirely enclosed, -and the _onions_ with which Barnes had planted an acre, began to appear -above the ground. We had also large patches of vegetables for home -consumption. - -When returning one day from an excursion, we found that the Indians had -paid our valley a visit, and rifled our house of everything they thought -valuable; cooking utensils, blankets, clothes, and tools had -disappeared,--but we had taken the precaution of depositing our powder -in a secret place which they did not discover. Our rifles, and one -blanket each, we had with us on our excursion. The two principal -annoyances that resulted from this were, firstly, that the nights being -very cold indeed now, and our house very thin, our blankets were a -serious loss; secondly, they had stolen _all our candles_. They also -stole our skins; not that I ever intended to bring these trophies away -for the benefit of the public, for with the exception of the puma-skin, -and some of wild cats, they were of that mild description which are only -exhibited in tailors’ shop-fronts, where they assume the form of -gentlemen’s hunting inexpressibles. The Indians, it afterwards -appeared, were in the habit of annually following the course of our -stream to gather the wild grapes which grew on its banks. These people -will eat anything, but how they manage the wild grapes is a mystery, for -these grapes never ripen, and green gooseberries give no conception of -their acidity. In pursuit of these luxuries, however, they came upon our -camp, and took away whatever they thought they understood the use of, -but evidently departed in a great hurry. I never saw an Indian during -the whole of my stay in that part of the country; but, after this -robbery, had any ever come within rifle range either of my hut or -March’s, he would have been shot like a coyote; for once let an Indian -think he can steal with impunity, he will soon attempt to murder you for -the clothes on your back. - -Although I had determined, after Sheldon’s casualty, upon following no -more bears into the bush, which is here too thick for the use of the -rifle, I still hoped to kill a bear during the winter, trusting to a -chance meeting under favourable circumstances; and in this respect I was -gratified, inasmuch as I killed a bear to my own gun. Now, in writing -from memory, one might almost be excused for a little inaccuracy in -point of size and weight; and I must confess that I have an almost -irresistible temptation to forget the real dimensions of the animal -that surrendered life on this occasion, and, calling it simply a _bear_, -leave its weight and ferocity to be conjectured from my general -description of the species. In fact, it was a cub, that I once found -playing by itself among some rocks. I should have liked to have taken -him home alive, but although his movements were excessively infantine -and playful to behold, I have no doubt that had I attempted to capture -him, he would not only have bitten me until I had let him go, but would -have hallooed for his parents, and brought those amiable persons to the -rescue. So I shot him; and I had quite enough to do to carry him home -dead, for he was very fat. I must mention here, that although we walked -this country for nearly nine months, and continually alighted on the -fresh “sign” of bear, with the exception of those that visited our hut -at night, and the others above mentioned, our party saw but three bears, -two of which were wounded, but escaped; and this is probably -attributable to the fact that the bear’s sense of hearing enables him to -follow up his natural impulse of avoiding the hunter. - -A Colt’s revolver is invaluable to the deer-hunter, both for -self-defence and killing wounded game. Perhaps the best praise I can -award to this weapon is in saying that I have had mine for four years, -during which time it has been much used and _more abused_, but at this -moment it is perfect in every respect, and has never required repair. - -We searched, or “prospected” the adjacent hills on many occasions, to -discover if gold existed in the surface soil, but without success. It is -worthy of remark, that this district of country is similar in every -respect to that of the mining regions. Here, as there, is a succession -of red gravelly hills, interspersed with veins of quartz, all of which -have been subjected to volcanic agency that would long ago have ejected -the gold from the quartz had there been any in it. But the mountain in -labour here brought forth a mouse; whilst a few miles further south it -has produced results of a much more satisfactory description. We, -however, did discover a peculiar blue quartz, which, upon assay by -fusion, was found to contain a large quantity of gold. The presence of -silver in small quantities was also evident in another rock we -discovered. But, with these exceptions, we found no trace of any -description of metal but iron. - -It was now spring, and I started alone, on foot, for San Francisco, -where business required my presence. On arriving at Russian River I -found the stream much swollen, but I struck a part of the river where I -knew one of the hunters had a log-hut and a dug-out, or canoe. I reached -the hut and found no one at home, but the dug-out was hauled up and the -paddle was in it. - -It was easy to launch the dug-out, which was very long and thin; so, -seating myself in the stern, I was at once in the current. I need not -say that I should never have dreamt of paddling myself over a swollen -river in a canoe, had I not accustomed myself to them when in the Borneo -rivers; but when I reached the middle of the stream I found the eddies -made the dug-out so unmanageable, and the current was so much stronger -than I imagined, and the water hissed and bubbled about me to such an -extent that I had to keep the dug-out’s head nearly straight up stream, -and I began to get quite giddy and bewildered, and wished I was safe on -shore. I did effect a landing, an hour afterwards, about a mile lower -down the river; I had just strength enough to land, and just sense -enough to feel excessively grateful for not having been carried out to -sea, or, what is more probable, capsized in the eddies of the stream. - - - - -CHAPTER VIII. - - QUILP DEPARTS FOR THE SOUTH--SAN LUIS--RAMSEY--I AM LEFT FOR - DEAD--THE EARLY HISTORY OF CALIFORNIA--DISCOVERY OF SAN - FRANCISCO--SPANISH MISSIONS--A DIGRESSION--DIGRESSION, CONTINUED--A - RAINY SEASON--A LITTLE CRAB. - - -_April, 1851._ - -It was long after dark when I arrived at Santa Rosa Valley, perfectly -“knocked up.” Englishmen are generally good pedestrians; but there is a -great difference between walking on the level in well-made shoes, and -dragging through deep sloughs and acres of thick clayey mud in heavy -ill-fitting jack-boots, particularly when the boots appear unwilling to -proceed in your society, and one or other of them is continually -disengaging itself, as if wishing to be left behind regardless of -expense. - -I found that the Carillo family had left Santa Rosa, and the valley had -been purchased by Americans for the purpose of cultivating grain, for -which many parts of it were well adapted. The Carillos had departed, -with horses, dogs, Indians, and Quilp, for the south, _where the wine -came from_, where the temperature was better adapted to their -“far-niente” dispositions, and where in particular Quilp was likely to -enjoy a longer lease of life than his undisguised hatred of Americans -would probably have permitted had he remained much longer at the valley. -As slothfulness and ignorance stepped out, intelligence and industry -usurped their place, and on the rich plain the wild waving oats fell to -the ruthless scythe, whilst the plough upturned the maiden soil on every -side. - -And so must other lands and other people of this continent succumb to -the increasing wants of Anglo-Saxon man. As the red-Indian retires -before the pale-face, so will inert bigotry in the new world disappear -before the march of energy; and the bounteous riches with which the -Creator has strewed this portion of the globe must some day be under a -rule that will admit of these benefits being extended to mankind, no -longer to be closed to the world, through the petty warfares or -restrictive seclusion of a people too inert to seize the advantages -around them, and (with a full sense of this) too jealous to admit others -to do so. - - * * * * * - -About five miles from Sonoma is an “embarcadero,” or landing place, -situated on a mud creek, which is navigable for small boats, and -communicates with the bay of San Francisco. Here are three houses, -which conjointly represent the town of San Luis; opposite the town some -fishing-boats lay at anchor, and in one of these I bargained for a -passage to San Francisco, in company with eight live bullocks, that were -now lying on the strand, bound neck and heels together, moaning -piteously, as if impatient to get to the butcher’s and have it all over. - -With the exception of the owners of the three houses, the population of -San Luis was a particularly floating one, being represented for the most -part by the crews of the fishing-smacks, of which there were at times a -great number in port. - -From the centre house there proceeded the sound of a fiddle, and, as no -one could be perceived outside, it became evident that the floating -population had here assembled to wile away the hours until the tide -served to enable the boats to leave. - -I entered the house and found it to consist of a store and drinking-shop -combined; and, in virtue of its latter attraction, it was filled, as I -had anticipated, by the men belonging to the boats, who, already half -drunk, were tossing off champagne,[7] out of tin pannikins, and drinking -to a speedy voyage across the bay. The proprietor of the establishment -was not only an Englishman, but he was one of those plump, rosy-cheeked, -good-natured-looking fellows that attract the eye at once, and whose -smile is sympathetic; he was a gentleman, that is to say, he had been -educated as one, and had lived as one, and was none the less one (as I -found afterwards), now that he kept a grog-shop. I shall call him -Ramsey; he was one of those men who never make money, for they cannot -save; so that when Ramsey left, as he did, a high and very remunerative -position of trust on the Pacific coast, and came up to San Francisco -with a cargo of flour, in the expectation of making a fortune; and when -he determined on taking the flour up the river Sacramento, and the flour -was caught in a squall in the bay and went down, Ramsey found that he -had done a very foolish thing. However, all smiles and good-humour, he -took the grog-shop and store at San Luis, where I found him. - -Ramsey had related these adventures to me before we had been an hour -acquainted; and on my presenting myself as a countryman (for there was -no mistaking his Anglo-Saxon physiognomy), he had immediately relapsed -into beaming smiles, and placing a bottle of champagne under each arm, -he had ushered me into his little bed-room, leaving his assistant to -attend to the wants of the freshwater sailors. - -Understanding from him that he had lost all his personal effects when -his cargo disappeared, I was surprised to find so many evidences in his -bed-room of an English establishment;--a well-browned hunting-saddle and -bridle, the stalk of a whip and a pair of spurs, a double-barrelled gun -and fishing-rod, with some pairs of “cords,” were observable about the -little pig-sty he called his room. In answer to my inquiring look, he -said he had just had time to save _these only_ from his wreck, and that -they were pleasant things to have about one as reminiscences of old -England and happy days spent in fishing and hunting there; the smile -forsook his face, as it did mine, when he said this, but it soon -returned again to both of us, and as we chatted away I found much to -like in my new acquaintance, who was not only intelligent and -well-informed, but very humorous. There was to be a ball that night at -Sonoma, at the house of one Judge White, and as the boatmen had (from -the effects of the champagne) delayed their departure until the next -morning, I agreed to accompany Ramsey, who had been especially invited, -to this festivity. - -At the ball everything appeared to be conducted with great propriety; -but the company was composed of honest mechanics, who, with the best -intentions, danced quadrilles on a peculiar principle, inasmuch as they -cut capers to such an extent as obliged the spectator, however -disinclined, to smile. In no uncomplimentary spirit I made a remark in -French to Ramsey on the subject, and this being overheard and but half -understood, was retaliated in the following manner. - -During a pause in the dances, a small gentleman, who had overheard my -remark, and who was one of the most active of the _chassez-croisez_ -dancers, and was a blacksmith, though apparently small for his -profession, informed me audibly, with fire in his eyes, “that if I did -not like the company, I might leave it, and that d--d soon.” To this I -could only bow my assent, and shortly afterwards, being unable to find -Ramsey, I left the room, intending to wait for him at our hotel, that -was close by. I had not proceeded very far, when I was suddenly attacked -by the small blacksmith and three other gentlemen--blacksmiths, too, I -presume; if so, they evidently mistook my head for an anvil, for they so -belaboured it with bludgeons and other weapons that they almost killed -me, and left me for dead, before I had time to strike a blow in -defence. - -When I recovered my senses, I found myself alone on the grass, and I -then managed to crawl to the hotel, where I found Ramsey awaiting me, -quite unsuspicious of the cause of my detention. I returned with him to -San Luis, and soon found that, further than having been stunned, I had -not suffered any material damage. This delayed, however, my departure -for San Francisco; and during this time a circumstance occurred which is -characteristic of the easy state of the law in the provincial districts -at this time. The house next to Ramsey’s was occupied by a choleric old -fellow, who also dispensed “notions.” This old rascal coolly shot a man -over his bar on the most trifling provocation; the man died, and the -murderer was taken before Judge White (who also kept a store, by the by, -and gave his ball with an eye to business); the Judge not only (good, -merciful fellow!) refused to detain the prisoner, but discharged him -without bail, which, he said, was not requisite; and this was all that -justice ever exacted at the hands of this cold-blooded villain. - -I started at last, with fair wind and tide, for San Francisco, in a -small yawl, with a crew of three men, who were not only half-drunk, but -were about the greatest lubbers that ever went afloat. Before we reached -the mouth of the creek, they managed to run the boat on the bank, where -the ebb tide soon left her high and dry. - -Under these circumstances, I cannot do better than introduce a sketch of -the early history of California, which, however uninteresting, must be -brought in somewhere; and there is no better place, I think, for -imposing it on the reader, than whilst we are waiting for the flood tide -to take us off, and are spitefully pelting, out of a bag of beans, the -muddy little crabs that surround our stranded bark. - -It was about the middle of the sixteenth century that stories of the -existence of untold wealth first inflamed the minds and excited the -ardour of the Mexicans and Spaniards. The expedition of Hernando de -Alarcon and Francisco de Ulloa had returned in safety to Mexico, after -having visited the river Colorado, and the Pacific coast as high as 30° -North. Many and wondrous were the tales these bold adventurers related -of precious stones, and gold and pearls; of Amazons, and wealthy cities; -so that naturally the attention of the adventurous was turned in one -direction only; and the dream of the young, the ambition of the aged, -was to discover this Cibola--this undeveloped El-Dorado. The Viceroy of -Mexico at this period was one Mendoza, a jealous opponent of the -renowned Cortes. This man was sufficiently sagacious to perceive the -advantages of obtaining, if possible, possession of the reported gold -regions, and fitted out an expedition in the port of Natividad, -consisting of two vessels, which were placed under the command of Juan -Rodriguez Cabrillo, who had with him as lieutenant Bartolomé Ferrelo. - -It is no honour to the viceroy that this expedition was set on foot by -him, for in those days the discovery of new lands, as is well known, -conferred large benefits and rewards on the potentates under whose rule -the expeditions originated; whilst the brave fellows who risked their -lives in carrying out the work were not only unrewarded then, but in few -instances have been considered worthy even of a _name_ in the history of -the countries they have discovered. It was no slight proof of courage to -undertake this voyage, for it will be remembered that not only were the -vessels in use of such a class that the wonder now is that they ever -rode out a gale; but the impression was strong in the minds of the -mariners of that day, that the world was square, and that to arrive at -its limits would bring down the punishment of Heaven for their -presumption, even if they did not tumble over the edge. Nor need we -wonder that such a belief existed in those superstitious days. Are there -not many now among the civilised and enlightened who refuse to -investigate the palpable evidences of the power of animal magnetism, -from the fixed belief that there should be a limit to man’s inquiry into -the mysteries of nature? - -The expedition sailed, it appears, in 1542, jogging on at the rate of -about ten miles a day. Cabrillo discovered in succession the southern -ports of California. At some of these he touched, and found the -inhabitants to consist of a half-civilised tribe of Indians, who treated -him with kindness. The existence of these Indians is confirmed by later -writers. Vizcaino, who visited these shores in 1602, mentions having -discovered idolatrous temples on the island of Catalina. - -The surveys of this expedition are not of much value to the present age, -as the nautical instruments of that period were not very true; but -Cabrillo’s explorations none the less assisted those who came after him, -who, with instruments equally defective, hit his points with tolerable -accuracy, although there was generally an error in _his_ latitude by -observation of about a hundred miles. - -Cabrillo at last worked up towards San Francisco, but the heavy surf and -iron-bound coast, together with the thick fogs that hang about the bay, -no doubt prevented his entering, and he resolved on returning and -awaiting a more favourable season; but anchoring for repairs in one of -the harbours of the Santa Barbara Islands, the old sailor died, probably -from fatigue and exposure to the damps and north-west winds. - -The command of the expedition then devolved upon Ferrelo, who bravely -made another attempt; but failing in effecting a landing, he returned to -Natividad, after a voyage of 283 days. Sir Francis Drake next visited -California in 1579; Juan de Fuca in 1595, and Sebastian Vizcaino in -1602. This latter entered the bay of San Francisco, though probably he -was not its discoverer, and proceeded in boats as far as where Benicia -now stands. - -In 1769 the settlement of Upper California was commenced by Spanish -priests at San Diego, and several small expeditions followed in -succession until 1776, when the Roman Catholic missionaries Palou and -Cambon landed in San Francisco, and established their head-quarters in -that place. The settlement at this period was known by the name of Yerba -Buena, from the presence of a medicinal herb which abounded in the -neighbourhood, and which was held in high estimation by the Indians. -Here the missionaries erected a church and other buildings, of “adobes,” -or sun-dried bricks. The Mission flourished rapidly. The Indians soon -learnt, under the tuition of the Padres, the advantages of cultivating -the earth; and those of them that embraced the Catholic religion began -to drink rum, and value beads, as is usual with converted savage tribes. -Mexican settlers also made their appearance, and the richest portions of -the country were soon appropriated by them. Gradually cattle and sheep -were introduced, which in their wild state increased rapidly without -much trouble to their owners, who, having nothing to do but to kill -their meat and eat it, basked in the sun like lazy dogs as they were, -and thought themselves the happiest of men;--and it is difficult for any -one to prove they were not. - -By the year 1831, the number of Christian baptisms amounted to about -7000. After this period, the Indians, from some cause or other, perhaps -from a scarcity of rum, altered their minds on the subject; and although -a fresh supply of priests arrived, the number of converts rapidly -decreased, so much so that in the eight years preceding the discovery of -gold, only 400 savages were caught and converted. And if one may judge -from the specimens of converted Indians that are to be found here and -there in California at the present date, one has no reason to regret -that the efforts of the priests were unattended with success; for, -however we may deplore the abject misery and degradation of the -aboriginal tribes, it is not by the mummery of a form that such souls -can be redeemed, or such unhappy natures be remodeled. On the contrary, -their small glimpses of civilisation offer to their view both virtues -and vices equally unknown before; then, left untrammeled to choose -between the two, we see the baptised savage follow his impulses until he -sinks so low in the scale of men, that his original degradation stands -out almost as virtue beside him. - -A holy task is that of the missionary, and bravely carried out. Let him -still strive to reclaim the savage, and bring his soul to God; but yet -take heed that the work be finished, for I have seen in my day converted -tribes that were a mockery on all that sanctifies the missionary work, -and had better, one would think, have eaten each other’s bodies in -primeval irresponsibility, than, having been only _half_ awakened to a -sense of right, but fully so to a knowledge of all that is wrong, have -been left to grovel in the vices that most debase humanity. How much -more care does it not require to avert the steps of the _converted -savage_ from crime, than that of others of your flock!--is he not -naturally more debased, more prone to adopt the broad and easy path that -ever lies plain and palpably before him? Can you take a young tiger -from the jungle, and having caged him, soften his natural propensities -easily? You can do so only by unceasing watchfulness and coercion; cease -these, and your tiger is a tiger again, as nature asserts her sway. -Somewhat so it is with the savage you allure from the freedom of his -hunting-ground; you show him the advantages of domestic life, and the -means of applying to his benefit the soil around him; you adapt to his -comprehension the simple outlines of religion, by pointing out to him -that, to live in brotherhood and amity is good (and beneficial); that to -wage war and hate and eat one’s enemy is bad (and detrimental); that a -good Supreme Being, who can reward or punish, has said so, and that the -evidence of this Supreme Being reigns, as even a savage can see, in all -around. The simple aborigine accords you his belief; regretfully, -perhaps, he leaves his wild prairie and the baked heads of his enemies, -and will worship the “Great Spirit,” whose presence the poetry of his -nature enables him to understand; sooner or later you baptise him, and -you have your savage in the first stage of Christianity. But now you -have a savage nature on your hand; you have implanted innocently what -with his impulses may grow to avarice if you leave him to himself; for -if he cultivates the land among the _civilised_ he will cheat--if -cheat, wrangle--if wrangle, murder; for the steps to crime are rapid in -such a constitution; but if he drinks, the savage ever becomes too -brutalised for reclamation. - -In what does this fault lie? Not so much that the man is so constituted -that he must thus err, but that, like the tiger I have used for -illustration, his propensities must be ever _watched_ and _guided_. The -converted savage is never so alienated from his natural impulses that he -can be left;--yet he _is_ left. - -If there is fault in this, it is not, I know, on the part of those who -_work_; but to those who direct these things it might be said that it is -better to convert a few, and _in reality increase Christ’s fold_, than -sign a million with His holy symbol, yet bring their souls no nearer -heaven. Yet how fruitlessly one may argue. To whom is the reproach, that -while we _may_ add our mite to aid the propagation of the Gospel abroad, -we dare not relieve gaunt misery in the street at home, for fear of -encouraging systematic mendicity; as if, forsooth, the blame of this -belonged by right alone to those who practised it. - -There are black missionaries who work as faithfully as white, and it is -a startling fact to find that many of these, leaving their coloured -brethren at home to the care of our white missionaries, are in our -midst, attempting to alleviate, by God’s help, the misery and ignorance -that exist in our great towns; and if the most festering wounds have the -first claim upon the surgeon’s skill, the place of these black -missionaries is here, God knows! - -Why shall it still be said, and said again of us who are not loth to -_relieve_, that our aims are misdirected from want of judgment and from -ill-government? And why are the talents and energies of so many -churchmen, whose beck and nod the charitable, to a great extent, obey, -still turned to the Propagation of the Gospel abroad, when it requires -but the opening of a proper channel at home to rid us of this great -reproach? - -We may condemn the love of political power, that in the main actuated -the Jesuits in their efforts to propagate their faith; but how much has -not the love of power, equally reprehensible, been a bar to the cure of -our evils at home? Would the young and energetic of our young clergy -seek a field abroad in which to work, with little reward and great -privation, if the field at home was open to them? - - * * * * * - -About the year 1845, some Americans began to congregate at Yerba Buena, -and these increased so rapidly, that San Francisco was in fact an -American settlement before California became a territory of the United -States. - -During the war that broke out between the United States and Mexico in -1846, the settlement appears to have increased in population and -prosperity, although the exportation of hides never seems at any time to -have been of much importance. In 1847, the population of San Francisco -amounted to eight hundred, and everything gave promise that the country -would soon be sought for its agricultural advantages; the attention of -the Californian settlers was directed towards the supposed mineral -wealth of the country, but gold was the last metal thought of. -Quicksilver had already been found and worked at San Jose; and the -reported existence of veins of copper, silver, coal, and limestone, -caused a feverish excitement to disturb this small community. - -The first discovery of gold was made in December, 1847, when some of the -labourers employed at Sutter’s Mill, near Sacramento, discovered some -flakes whilst constructing a ditch; ample evidence soon existed of the -truth of the first reports, and the whole population flocked to the gold -fields, and shortly afterwards the country became the property of the -United States. Events now followed one another with great rapidity: -adventurers poured in from all quarters of the globe, and ships arrived -in harbour freighted with merchandise which realised tremendous profits. - -The rainy season of California commences about November, and the winter -of 1849 was more than ordinarily wet. It is said that nine inches of -water fell on the night of the 6th of November; the whole town, which -had now become important in extent, was a perfect quagmire; all rubbish -and hard materials that could be procured were thrown into the streets -to form a pathway, but to no purpose, for owing to the peculiar soil of -the place, the mud was unfathomable. The streets were impassable to -mules, for there were mud-holes large enough to drown them; in those -streets which had been connected by means of a pathway of bales of -damaged merchandise, it was necessary to exercise great caution in -crossing, for one false step would precipitate the unwary passenger into -a slough on either side, in which he stood a chance of meeting a muddy -grave. - -The amount of rain that fell in this winter was undoubtedly so great, -that it is much to be regretted no careful record was kept, by some of -those who now so eloquently narrate their adventures in connection with -it. - -The first of the conflagrations for which San Francisco has become so -famous, occurred in December, 1849. By this, fifty houses and an immense -quantity of merchandise were destroyed. Another occurred a month -afterwards, causing an almost equal amount of damage. - -The great fire of the fourth of May, 1850, commenced at four in the -morning, in a drinking-house, and spreading with great rapidity, was not -arrested until it had consumed three hundred houses, and about a million -sterling of property. - -These were hard blows for the young city, but nothing daunted, the -citizens renewed their exertions, and in a few weeks the burnt district -was again covered with buildings. Every effort was now made to secure -the city against future similar calamities; many brick houses were -erected, fire companies on a large scale were organised, and reservoirs -for water were constructed in different parts of the town. But on the -14th of June, fate again was relentless, and a fourth conflagration, -aided by a high wind, razed three hundred houses to the ground, and -scattered three million dollars of property to the winds. It was whilst -this fire was raging that (as the reader may remember) I arrived at San -Francisco; so here ends my digest of the early history of this brave -young city, and as the flood-tide is coming in, I take - -[Illustration: THE WINTER OF 1849.] - -a parting shot at a little crab that has not taken his eyes off me since -we arrived, and wonders, I suppose, why I don’t pelt one of my own size, -and gliding off our mud bank, we make sail for San Francisco. - - - - -CHAPTER IX. - - THE OLD CRAB-CATCHER--MR. WARREN--AMERICAN FRIENDSHIP--THE AMERICAN - PRESS--EDUCATION IN AMERICA--AMERICANS GOOD COLONISTS--CALIFORNIAN - CORRESPONDENCE. - - -_April, 1851._ - -At daylight the next morning we found ourselves among the shipping that -lay moored in crowds in front of San Francisco. Whilst threading our way -to the wharf, we narrowly escaped being swamped by one of the Stockton -river steamboats, which, in fact, did graze our stern. The Yankee -freshwater skippers of those days expected everything to get out of -their way, regardless of any difficulties that might prevent a small -boat doing so; but one of these go-ahead commanders received, to my -knowledge, a check. A fisherman of the bay had his smack damaged, and -his trawling apparatus unnecessarily carried away by one of the river -boats. His application to the captain for compensation was met with the -remark, that the next time he got in the way he would swamp him. But -might did not so easily triumph over right, and for this reason. The -small river-boats are very low in the hull, and as the steering -apparatus leads forward, the helmsman stands prominently (under a booby -hatch) near the bow of the boat. The old smack, as usual, was bobbing -about with her trawls and lines out, when down comes the steamboat one -day, the fishing-boat evidently directly in her course, and showing no -disposition to move. “D--n that old crab-catcher!” said the Captain. -“I’ll give him a close shave this time.” But the “old crab-catcher,” -standing up in his boat, levelled a long wicked-looking Kentucky rifle, -and “drew a bead” on the Captain, who, having taken the helm, formed a -splendid target. Upon this, that brave sailor thought better of it, and -not only dispensed with the close shave, but “concluded” to allow the -small smack to bob about in peace from that time forth. - -On landing at San Francisco, I found so many changes on every side, that -my knowledge of locality was at fault; wharves extended on all sides -into the sea, and the spot where I last had landed was scarcely -recognisable, it was now so far inland; the steam-paddy had worked -incessantly, and the front of the town still advanced into the bay. - -The winter had been (compared with that of 1849) a dry one, and some of -the streets having been graded and planked, the town was under the -worst circumstances navigable for jack-boots. - -What first struck me, among the many changes of a few months, was that -the inhabitants generally were less eccentric in dress. When first I -arrived, the people were most capricious in this respect; they wore, in -fact, whatever pleased them, long hair and beards included; sobered down -by circumstances, however, they had now quietly relapsed into the habits -of ordinary mortals. - -Places of rational amusement had sprung up, and replaced in a great -measure the gambling saloons, whose fortunes were rather on the wane -from over competition. There were clubs, reading-rooms, and a small -theatre, called the Dramatic Museum. This last was sadly in want of -actors, and as my time hung very heavily on my hands (I was awaiting the -arrival of a vessel from England) I gave way to a vicious propensity -that had long been my bane, and joined the company as a volunteer. For -about a month, under an assumed name, I nightly “Used Up” and “Jeremy -Diddlered” my Californian audiences, who never having fortunately seen -Charles Matthews, did not, therefore, stone me to death for my -presumptuous attempts to personate that unrivalled actor’s characters. - -I became, at last, so used to seeing my “last appearance but one” -displayed on the advertising posters, that I began to associate myself -with the profession altogether, and to believe my name _was_ Warren; and -what with the excitement of acting in leading parts, and the pleasant -parties, and picnics, with our troupe, I forgot all about Russian River -Farm, and became a very slave to the buskin. - -The dreadful experience of the place had made people so nervous -respecting fire, that the sound of the fire-bell would cause every man -to rush to his house, and get ready for the defence of his property; and -as small fires on the outskirts of the town were of continual -occurrence, there was scarcely a night but the deep-toned bell would -keep the citizens on the alert. On these occasions the theatre would be -deserted rapidly, whilst every other man would vociferate fire, but -almost immediately the leading columns would return, with cries of “all -over!” and “all out!” and the theatre would refill, and the performances -proceed, until the “fire-bell” took them off again, which occasionally -it would in ten minutes. - -The market at this time was so overstocked with merchandise, that goods -sold at auction at less than cost-price. Ready-made clothing, in -particular, was cheaper in San Francisco than it was in New York or -London. So that the storehouses being everywhere crammed with goods, -great depression in trade existed. The city of San Francisco at this -time was in debt, about a million of dollars, and the Treasury being -empty, scrip was issued bearing the ruinous interest of thirty-six per -cent. per annum. But this state of affairs was remedied by funding the -debt, and issuing bonds payable in twenty years, bearing interest at ten -per cent. The citizens cooperated in this movement, and submitted to a -heavy tax, and thus, in spite of repeated conflagrations following on a -state of apparently hopeless bankruptcy, the energy of the San -Franciscans not only enabled the municipality to redeem annually a -portion of their bonds, but placed the credit of the city on a firm and -secure basis. - -There were seven or eight churches already in San Francisco, all of -different denominations--these were well attended on Sundays, but the -price of pews was very exorbitant, reaching as high, sometimes, as ten -pounds a month. Some of these churches were built entirely in a spirit -of speculation, and on asking an acquaintance once what security he had -for some money he had lent, he told me, so many shares in ---- Church; -and the same building was afterwards sold, I think, by auction, to -satisfy its creditors. Now that ladies begin to flock into California so -rapidly, the churches are crammed to overflowing on a Sunday. The -Americans are rather strict observers of congregational worship, which -has this drawback, however, that it here imposes the necessity of so -many becoming hypocrites on the Sabbath, for as regards the amount of -religious feeling that exists at this time, one can neither judge of it -by the attendance or the absence of the people from public worship. But -I will say this for them, that as a nation they are most charitable, and -that they are true friends to one another in adversity; _once_ your -friend, the American will share all he has with you, and risk his life -in defence of your honour and name--more, he will not even permit -merited censure to be passed upon you in his presence, and however -suspicious of others worldly contact may have made him, he will repose -his confidence in you like a child. And so common are these friendships, -that the true generosity which cements them forms a prominent feature of -the American character; but whether it springs from deep religious -feeling or not is a question I do not care to argue. A great portion of -the working-classes of America are Methodists, or of somewhat similar -persuasions; they have their camp-meetings, read their Bible very -generally, are given to psalm-singing, and have the appearance of being -a religious people. - -I attended one of these camp-meetings. My old friend of the English -Barque, who wished to “rip up the cook,” was officiating with “tears in -his eyes.” There was a great deal of excited praying, but the greater -proportion of the people seemed to have come out for any purpose but -that of worship--in fact, the scene was very lively, and if it had not -been for the weeping priest, it would have been a merry pic-nic. - - * * * * * - -There are now seven daily papers at San Francisco, and each mining town -of importance in the country publishes its weekly sheet. If the -Americans were not thirsty people for news, warm party politicians, and -all able to read, so great a number of periodicals could never be -supported. - -There is an independence about American journalism in strict accordance -with the character of the institutions of the country, but which, in my -opinion, detracts greatly from the value of the press. As, for instance, -many journals of wide circulation, conducted by men of ability, enforce -injudicious opinions that not only closely affect the vital interests of -the state, but, to a great extent, the passions of the people. For this -reason the American press has not so much weight with the highest class -of Americans, and there is no leading journal of sufficient influence to -direct and _admonish_ them; or which, from its impartiality and -justness, can give a healthy tone to the thousands of minnows that -follow in its track--none, in fact, that occupies the position of the -“Times” with us. - -The Americans are prone to throw in our teeth that we are led by the -“Times,” and form no opinion for ourselves; but they forget that our -faith in the practical essays of that journal is not the result of a -blind adherence to custom, but of the confidence that, among the -rational, will ever cling to opinions that are seldom proved, under the -strongest test, to be fallacious. _Socially_, the “Times” is our -expounder and monitor, and if, in this respect, it leads us, it leads us -by conviction, as we should be led, and when you hear a man say that “he -doesn’t care what the ‘Times’ says on this or that subject,” he is -generally one not open to conviction, or not sufficiently noble to -surrender to it his own false impressions. In political matters the -“Times” may be strategical, as great statesmen have been. - -The press of England has not hitherto been widely disseminated among the -working classes (fault we will say of their narrow means and education) -nor were it so, would they, as in America, be so influenced politically -by its tone; but that _which is_ disseminated either takes its tone -from the “Times,” so far as to echo weekly the strictures which that -journal passes on our _home abuses_, or otherwise is conducted in the -same spirit. Therefore there is an unanimity of opinion in the English -press, and as its expositions are by no means flattering, as a general -rule, to the public, and meet no contradiction, we may presume, from -that fact alone, that the principles it inculcates on these matters are -sound. Putting aside the slave question, the great proportion of the -American press by no means devotes itself to the exposure of abuses: in -the first place, the Americans are not fond of having their faults -pointed out, and an editor is naturally anxious to place before his -readers only what is palatable. Therefore the press declines to -admonish, and following no just and truthful leader, each provincial -journal disseminates its own doctrine, whatever that may be; and thus, -in a country where all read, the press exercises its power to excite the -passions, but seldom to control them. For instance, at the time I write -the press of California upholds strongly the doctrine of forcible -annexation; some of these journals inform the public (many of whom, by -the way, are ripe for novel enterprise) that the Sandwich Islands _must_ -become subject to the United States; whilst the more ambitious point to -Mexico on one side, and British Oregon on the other--undecided only, -which first should bow to American rule. The higher classes, it will be -said, disregard these “fillibustering” doctrines; but of the 200,000 -souls in California how large a proportion does not foster them until a -spirit is diffused that can never be countenanced even by the warmest -admirers of the “Munro Doctrine.” - -For although one may admit it to be probable that in time the American -people will add to their dominions the Sandwich Islands and the sickly -independencies of South America, they will do so, it is to be hoped, -only as becomes a great nation, and not through piracy or intimidation. -In fact, to sum up, I think a great part of the press of the United -States studies the foibles of the people instead of correcting them, -when they most need correction, which leads to this result, that the -Americans hear of their faults through the press of other countries, and -attribute those strictures to a feeling of injustice and envy. - -An American gentleman of great intelligence assured me that the good -feeling which now exists (and I trust ever will) between the two -countries, would have been induced long previous had the “Times” (I use -his own expression) been _less silent_ on the subject of America. - -“What,” he asked, “did your leading journal ever say _in our favour_ -fifteen years ago, when this country was making the most unexampled -strides towards prosperity? Were we ever written of but with an open -allusion to the Pennsylvanian debt? Was anything connected with us -thought worthy of record but our steam-boat explosions and Lynch law?” - -There is great truth in this--the press of Europe _has_ treated America -until latterly with silence if not contempt, and it is no wonder that -the Americans, who are the first to feel a slight, should retain some -bitterness on this score. - -But this has passed away, the superficial travels of prejudiced -Englishmen (and women) no longer regulate our judgment of this country, -which indeed, even if their views were correct, has long outgrown, in -its rapid prosperity, the features they depicted. - -The American newspapers are conducted with talent, and warmly encourage -and keep alive the spirit of energy and progress, from which the -country’s greatness springs; their moral tone generally is good, and the -amount of useful information they disseminate renders them of great -value to the greater proportion of readers; but it is to be deplored -that so many are connected with the press, whose feelings prompt them to -keep alive a jealousy and hatred of the mother country. The best of us -need at times to have the scales removed from our eyes, and the -fallacies we hug so stubbornly must be made to fall before conviction. -Therefore, with so large a mass of readers of the lower class dependent -almost on the press for information; among a people of warm blood and -quick impulses, but a people, whom it is as easy to mould to think -calmly and dispassionately as to inflame and excite until the judgment -falls before the power of doctrines flattering to national vanity; is it -not to be lamented that that portion of the press to which the bone and -sinew of the country looks naturally for guidance and advice, should in -few instances be directed by a wise and sound policy, principally from -the absence of leading journals sufficiently courageous to _chastise_? - - * * * * * - -There is nothing more pleasant than to revert to the good traits of a -country, particularly after having recorded what in one’s judgment -appears an infirmity. I allude therefore with pleasure to the -educational system of the Americans, honourable as it is to the good -feeling of the country, although it must be remembered I am speaking of -the Americans as _colonists_. The base of the American system of -education is simply to educate everybody, and to develope the natural -faculties; thus the way is opened to all to raise themselves by -assiduity and talent to independence and mayhap renown. How is it that -great and wise countries in the matter of education discuss so much and -so idly the manner of the doing; leaving the patient unrelieved whilst -the wise doctors disagree? Or how is it that it requires a Bishop and -his staff to plant a school in certain colonies, and why is so much fuss -made about the matter when the Bishop comes home and informs the public, -as bishops always do at some meeting or other, of the glorious success -that has attended his labours, and how he has called together -twenty-five small Carribean children in a wooden building forty feet by -twelve, as if a sacrifice had been offered up to Heaven, the incense of -which should diffuse itself gratefully over the whole land? - -Now if one turns to the accounts of San Francisco in 1848, they will be -found to convey a tolerably truthful account of the society of that then -city of tents. It was scarcely a fortuitous commencement for a colony, -that its earlier inhabitants were for the most part maddened to excess -by the easy acquisition of wealth; and that under the influence of an -all-absorbing pursuit (such as few of us, I venture to say, could under -such circumstances entirely have resisted); the worst passions were -exercised without control, and _selfishness_, as is natural, reigned -paramount; what idea of the intellectual or moral cultivation of the -young would be expected to intrude itself on the thoughts of a community -occupied solely in the pursuit of selfish gratifications? - -Yet in _this_ year a public school was opened in San Francisco supported -by the people, and this school was shortly placed in the charge of an -intelligent clergyman. What better illustration can we find in proof -that the Americans stand out in strong colours on this point? what -better proof that they are good colonists, when under such adverse -circumstances, in the midst of riot, dissipation, and ungodliness, the -first and only approach to a sense of responsibility was shown in a -fostering care of the young and helpless children _not their own_. - -There were no bishops here, no staff, nor was the school organised by -reverend men; it owed its foundation and support to the one sense of -duty that no circumstances could erase from the American mind; and in -this earnest desire to open to all the path to future prosperity, the -grand principle of equality is better carried out than by any other -feature of the people of America. If this feeling exists, as I believe -throughout the United States, what stronger foundation-stone, speaking -in a worldly point of view, can a people naturally intelligent lay down -as a basis for increased prosperity? for, putting aside religion, with -this education is inculcated self-reliance; self-reliance in a nation -leads to mutual support and unity, and this in colonists overcomes -difficulties apparently insurmountable, as ants united move the dead -body of a lizard from the doorway of their home, or sailors par-buckle a -gun up some apparently impracticable mountain. - -The proportion of children in California was naturally small as compared -with the population, yet I find that in 1853 the City of San Francisco -expended the monthly sum of seven hundred and fifty pounds on its -schools, in which were educated fourteen hundred children; and excellent -institutions now exist there, also, for the relief of orphans and the -sick and destitute. It will be remembered that the city is already -deeply in debt, and that the population are averse to taxes, which -render the maintenance of these establishments a burden. - - * * * * * - -The book stores of San Francisco drive a thriving trade after the -arrival of each mail, but the importations consist for the most part of -novels, which are greedily bought up, and find a ready sale in the -mining regions. - -Apparently, every Californian can read, and judging from the fact that -the mails take an average of fifty thousand letters to the United States -every fortnight, we may presume that there are few among them that -cannot write. - - - - -CHAPTER X. - - LONG WHARF--CLIPPER SHIPS--CHINESE EMIGRANTS--THE MAY FIRE--AN - EXCITING SCENE--IRON HOUSES--VALLEJO--THE COYOTE--WILD GEESE. - - -_May, 1851._ - -The Central Wharf of San Francisco, which is nearly a mile in length, is -for some distance occupied on either side by Jew slopsellers; and, as -these indefatigable gentlemen insist all over the world upon exposing -their wares outside their shops, the first glance down Central Wharf -impresses you with the idea that the inhabitants of the district have -hung their clothes out to dry after a shower of rain. Scattered among -the Jew shops are markets for vegetables and poultry, fishmongers, -candy-sellers, (the Long Wharfers are very fond of sugar-plums), -gambling-houses of the worst repute, and drinking-shops innumerable. -Being narrow and crowded, and full of loaded drays, drunken sailors, -empty packing-cases, run-away horses, rotten cabbages, excited -steam-boat runners, stinking fish, Chinese porters, gaping strangers, -and large holes in the planks, through which you may perceive the water, -it is best to be careful in walking down Long Wharf, and to turn neither -to the right nor to the left. - -This busy street terminates at the city front; and from thence the -wharf, which extends for half a mile into the sea, is flanked on either -side by ships discharging their cargoes with great order and rapidity. - -Here may be seen a fleet of those clippers to which the Californian -trade gave rise. The “Queen of the Clippers” is one of the finest and -largest of these ships, and is a beautiful model; she is extremely sharp -at either end, and, “bows on,” she has the appearance of a wedge. Her -accommodations are as perfect as those of a first-class ocean steamer, -and are as handsomely decorated; and, as it is worthy of remark that -great attention has been paid to the comfort of the crew, the sooner -some of our shipowners copy that part of her construction the better. -Nor should they overlook any longer that the Americans have long -economised in ship labour very materially by the use of patent blocks, -patent trusses, and more particularly in patent steering-gear. - -It gives cause for reflection to observe how on board these mammoth -clippers, one man, comfortably protected from the weather by a -wheel-house, can steer the ship with ease in any weather, and to recall -recollections of big English ships beating up against the monsoon, with -three and even four men at the helm, tugging to get it up, or -pulley-hauling to get it down, exposed on the deck in heavy sou’-westers -and painted canvass frocks, while their faces are cut to pieces by the -salt spray that the wind sends drifting along the deck. Yet -comparatively few of our merchant vessel owners have availed themselves -of these improvements. Scotland, as far as we are concerned, has most -distinguished herself in the production of clippers, and the small -class, similar to the “Marco Polo” and “Stornaway” stand first as -specimens of mercantile naval architecture. - -The building of clippers, if not originated by, was encouraged by the -discovery of gold in California, for the valuable market that was so -shortly afterwards opened to the United States afforded a field for the -employment of ships that could perform a journey round the Horn in a -space of time that would enable them to land a cargo, not only clean and -in good order, but with a certain degree of regularity as regarded time. -The ships that have sailed from English ports for San Francisco have -been selected from a particularly inferior class of tubs, principally -from the erroneous supposition that anything was good enough for the -diggings. Then observe the mistake! The expensive dashing clipper leaves -New York, and, after a three months’ passage, lands her cargo clean and -dry in San Francisco (where the sale of packages depends very much on -their outward as well as internal appearance); the English ship, which -false economy has picked from about the worst in dock, after a passage -of from eight to ten months, arrives in San Francisco, with _her_ cargo. -The market has not only gone by for the articles she brings, but these, -from long confinement, and her unseaworthy qualities, are landed in such -an unprepossessing state as to be almost unsaleable. Nor is this -all--the clipper ship having discharged, sails for China, and takes home -the first teas at a high rate of freight, discharges at London, and -returns again to New York, full; having accomplished a rapid voyage -round the world, and, in all probability, cleared a large portion of her -first cost in her first voyage. But our English clunbungy can find no -cargo to take home from San Francisco, there being no export; she knows -better than to present herself in China as a candidate for teas, there -is little chance of her getting guano, so she either goes home empty at -a great expense, or, as is more often the case, is knocked down by -auction for less than her value, and is converted into a floating -store-ship.[8] - -It was said, I remember, when these clippers first attracted attention, -and before Australia had been found to be auriferous, that we had no -field for the employment of such vessels, and that our own “A 1 for -thirteen-year” ships were better adapted for our trade; that they were -stronger and more _lasting_. Where we enjoy a monopoly of -ship-transport, as for many years in some places we have done, the -argument of “let well alone” is excellently prudent. - -That our vessels are strong no one will deny who ever saw a teak-built -ship with her heavy beams and prodigious wooden knees; that they are -_lasting_ follows as a matter of course, but this very qualification is -at this moment our drawback to improvement. We are something like a man -who has determined not to get a suit of clothes adapted for the dog-days -until he has worn out his old winter garments, and has been unfortunate -enough to have had these made of that imperishable article known as -corduroy. - -It is plain enough that we shall have comparatively few clipper ships -until our enormous mercantile navy is worn out; and all we have now to -regret is the stubbornness of that heart of oak whose durability we -have been wont to laud in speech and song. In the meantime, unless -Aberdeen and other ports work cheerily, the Californian clippers will -bid for the carriage of the teas, and take the bread literally from -between our teeth; and, what is still more galling, the Yankee clippers -will take our Australian trade, if they have not already done so. We -have a bold competitor on the waters now, and I regret to see that -almost at the moment that the projected Panama and Sydney steam-line is -withdrawn for want of _government support_, measures are being taken by -the American government to connect San Francisco and China, and thus -complete the first steam communication round the world; whilst the -“Sovereign of the Seas” and “Golden Age” are conveying our emigrants -from Liverpool to Australia. On the other hand, the spirit of -speculation in building clipper ships in America has been so far -overdone as to cause many of them to be too hastily “run up,” and a few -of these have arrived in San Francisco, and in London, much strained and -with damaged cargoes. - - * * * * * - -The Chinese have emigrated to California in great numbers. Those in San -Francisco are mostly engaged in mercantile pursuits, and supply their -countrymen at the mines with necessaries. There has been great outcry -in the gold regions here respecting the rapidly-increasing numbers of -the Chinese miners, and it was proposed forcibly to stop their -immigration; it was argued, rather dog-in-the-mangerly, that they -collected vast quantities of gold from the soil that of right belonged -to the Americans only, and that they carried their gold-dust to their -own country to spend. The last objection had some justice in it, for -undoubtedly it is contrary to the spirit of a young colony to encourage -the immigration of a class of people who bring their own rice with them, -and impoverish the auriferous soil without leaving a “_pice_” behind -them for the permanent improvement of the country. - -I believe there are few men who have been thrown much among the Chinese -who believe that many honest ones can be found among them; old Whampoa -of Singapore, who gives champagne dinners in a most orthodox manner, may -be one; but I confess, for my part, that from the Emperor down to the -fellow in the blue shirt who begs in Piccadilly, and looks as if butter -wouldn’t melt in his mouth, I don’t believe in them. They are a people -whose natural propensities lead them to cheat, and whose natural cunning -aids this object most materially. - -A short time ago it was discovered that a clique existed in San -Francisco composed of a few of the wealthiest Chinese, and that these -self-constituted mandarins exercised so much influence over the Chinese -population of the country as to subject them to fines and bastinado, and -they even went to the length of shipping some of them back to their own -country; this, however, having been brought to light by the police, was -temporarily checked, as these punishments were applied only for the -purpose of extortion. - -The Chinese themselves are so used to this kind of despotic rule that -they made no effort to resist it even when it was assumed by those not -in authority; but they behaved better under the infliction of fines than -they would otherwise have done, and indeed I am puzzled to know what -such a race would become, with their natural cunning, under a freer -government than that they enjoy. - - * * * * * - -On the 3rd of May, at eleven in the evening, the fire-bell again -startled us; but on this occasion the first glance at the lurid glare -and heavy mass of smoke that rolled towards the bay evidenced that the -fire had already a firm grip on the city. The wind was unusually high, -and the flames spread in a broad sheet over the town. All efforts to -arrest them were useless; houses were blown up and torn down in -attempts to cut off communication; but the engines were driven back step -by step, while some of the brave firemen fell victims to their -determined opposition. As the wind increased to a gale, the fire became -beyond control; the brick buildings in Montgomery Street crumbled before -it; and before it was arrested, over one thousand houses, many of which -were filled with merchandise, were left in ashes. Many lives were lost, -and the amount of property destroyed was estimated at two millions and a -half sterling. - -No conception can be formed of the grandeur of the scene; for at one -time the burning district was covered by one vast sheet of flame that -extended half a mile in length. But when the excitement of such a night -as this has passed by, one scarcely can recall the scene. The memory is -confused in the recollection of the shouts of the excited populace--the -crash of falling timbers--the yells of the burnt and injured--the clank -of the fire-brakes--the hoarse orders delivered through -speaking-trumpets--maddened horses released from burning livery-stables -plunging through the streets--helpless patients being carried from some -hospital, and dying on the spot, as the swaying crowd, forced back by -the flames, tramples all before it--explosions of houses blown up by -gunpowder--showers of burning splinters that fall around on every -side--the thunder of brick buildings as they fall into a heap of -ruin--and the blinding glare of ignited spirits. Amidst heat that -scorches, let you go where you will--smoke that strikes the eyes as if -they had been pricked by needles--water that, thrown off the heated -walls, falls on you in a shower of scalding steam--you throw your coat -away and help to work the engine-brakes, as calls are made for more men. - -At daylight you plod home, half-blind, half-drowned, half-scorched, -half-stunned, and quite bewildered; and from that time you never care to -recall one half of the horrors you have witnessed on the night of the -conflagration of the 3rd of May. - -The Dramatic Museum was “burnt out” on this occasion; and about the same -time the ship I had awaited arrived. I had expected to receive an iron -house in her, but as this tenement (which I had taken great pains to -have constructed in England) was landed in the shape of several bundles -of bent and rusty iron plates, and irrecognisable rotten planks, I -deserted the property, and allowed the owners of the wharf to throw it -overboard, which they eventually did after six months’ reflection. - -Iron houses under most circumstances are a failure, and I write from -experience in the matter. I have sat in churches made of iron, and have -been glad to get out of them for that reason. I have thrown down my -billiard-cue in disgust in iron club-houses, have paid my bill -incontinently and left iron hotels, and have lived in misery in an iron -shooting-box of my own, which was supposed to be _very complete_. - -I could live comfortably at all times in my little log hut at the “farm” -but never could I endure myself inside my iron house. When the sun shone -it was too hot; as night advanced it cooled too suddenly, and at -daylight I shivered. When it was too warm the hot iron, with its -anti-corrosive paint, emitted a sickening smell; and when the rain came -down on the roof it sounded like a shower of small shot.[9] I lined it -with wood throughout, that is to say, I built a _wooden house_ inside my -iron one, and then it was only bearable. But it would have been cheaper, -it seemed to me, to have built the wooden house first, and then have put -the iron on if it was wanted, which it was not. - -In this age, when so many of our countrymen are emigrating, it becomes -almost the duty of a traveller to recount any experience that may tend -to the benefit of those who go after him; and therefore I trust that in -remarks similar to the foregoing, which may or may not affect a peculiar -branch of trade, I may be exonerated from any other intention than that -of benefiting others by my experience. I have seen so many metal and -wooden houses thrown away (I have seen in one heap of rubbish the value -of ten thousand pounds), that I would recommend to the emigrant of -moderate means not to purchase either the one or the other. If new gold -fields are discovered, as most probably they will be, and reports are -rife of house room commanding enormous prices there, never for all that -let him take his shell out, snail-like, on his back; let him take the -money that would buy the house--the cash will be the scarcest article -there, and will find him house-room and a profit too. Perhaps nowhere -has my argument been better proved than in California. Large numbers of -iron houses were shipped to that country when first reports arrived of -the scarcity of building materials. Had they been capable of resisting -fire they would perhaps have been less generally condemned, but of those -that were erected, not only did the thin corrugated houses first expand -and then collapse, and tumble down with astonishing rapidity before the -flames, but in the fire I have just recorded the American iron house of -Taeffe and M’Cahill, of which the plates were nearly an inch in -thickness, and the castings of apparently unnecessary weight, collapsed -like a preserved-meat can, and destroyed six persons, who, believing it -to be fire-proof, remained inside. And, in connection with this subject, -it is worthy of mention that when these houses arrived in California -there was no one to be found who could put them together; not but that -the method is very simple, but simple things, as we all know, present -great difficulties at times in their solution. - -A friend of mine employed a man for a long time at four pounds a day, -merely to superintend the erection of an iron hotel; it was completed at -last, and, although it had a somewhat lopsided appearance it looked -pretty well under the influence of light-green paint; but the fire came -and it “caved in,” as the Americans say. - -This discussion on iron buildings would have found no place here, had -not these cheerless tenements been connected with a speculation into -which I was at this time induced to enter: nor would the speculation -have been alluded to, particularly as it turned out a failure, were it -not again inseparably connected with a peculiar feature of the country. - -It appeared that the state was looking about at this time for a site on -which to erect a capital, where, free from the busy hum of men, the -representatives of the people might meet and do their country’s work. -Upon the condition that General Vallejo would expend a large amount in -the erection of public buildings, a part of this gentleman’s property -was selected by the then Governor as the “seat of government,” and upon -that, a few scrubby-looking hills that bordered on the bay, were -surveyed and staked off, and there was your town of “Vallejo.” - -About this time a store-ship, laden with iron houses, belonging to a -friend of mine, sunk at her moorings during a heavy gale. When raised -she was so full of mud, clay, and small crabs that there was no -possibility of rendering her cargo fit for sale at San Francisco. The -bright idea occurred to me of landing these muddy materials at Vallejo, -and, after allowing the tide to clean them, to convert them to some use -in assisting to erect this capital that was to be “made to order.” -Landing my cargo on Vallejo beach at low water mark, Canute-like, I -ordered the tide to complete the very dirty work I had set before it, -which it did, and, to finish the story here, in the course of six months -I erected a very handsome hotel out of the materials. I felt rather -pleased when it was finished, and painted, and handsomely furnished, to -think what a butterfly I had turned out of the very dirty grub I had -found in the hold of the old hulk. But the moral of the story lies in -the fact that at this juncture the government altered their minds -relative to the site of the capital, and selected Benicia in preference. - -The city “made to order” was then pulled down and sold for old -materials, to the great delight, as may be imagined, of myself and the -other speculators who had worked so assiduously to raise it, and who had -received no compensation. It is quite like the story of the Enchanted -City, that was up one day and down the next; but somehow I don’t find so -much pleasure in recalling the history of Vallejo as I did as a boy in -reading the fairy tale. - -The hills of Vallejo are destitute of game, but abound in coyotes, who -lead a predatory life, not altogether, I suspect, free from care or -anxiety, as, excepting in the calving season, they are dependent for -food on the chance carcase of some poor mired bull or over-driven mule; -and, as these casualties are not of very frequent occurrence, I feel -satisfied that hunger and the coyote know each other. And indeed he has, -in a great measure, himself alone to blame that his stomach is always -either too empty or too full; for this fellow, when he gets a meal, -raises such a hue and cry in the dead of night as effectually warns all -savoury animals to avoid his presence. - -In the calving season the coyotes are in clover, and the little veals -fall an easy prey to a pack of these nocturnal robbers. In winter, when -the wild geese cover the hills, I doubt if the coyote gains much -permanent benefit, judging from the fact that I have seldom found -feathers. The geese encamp in vast armies, and at times perhaps outlying -picquets and sentries asleep on their post get cut off by the enemy; but -the wild goose, fool as he may be, has just so much keen relish for a -good joke as to allow the coyote to reach a point where expectation has -resolved itself into certainty, and then the goose decamps, harassed -undoubtedly, but whole in body. The coyote has more of the dog than the -fox in his composition, and is a bungling poacher at any time; one -feature alone of his character proves this, inasmuch that, when suddenly -disturbed, he runs but a few yards, then stops, turns round and looks at -you. A Norfolk poaching lurcher knows better than that, _he_ would never -turn his face to you for fear you should _identify him_, at least so -Barnes tells me, and he ought to know; but the most satisfactory proof -that the coyote is a weak forager exists in the conclusive fact that you -seldom shoot one that has anything in his stomach. - -As, therefore, there was no employment for my rifle at Benicia, I was -thrown on my resources for amusement. Fortune again favoured me; -fortune, by the way, always has favoured me when I have been in pursuit -of amusement, but she snubs me amazingly whenever my designs are in the -least degree mercenary, which leads me to infer that that divinity is of -rather a jovial disposition than otherwise. - -In one day’s search I secured two horses, one gig, three well-formed -Australian kangaroo dogs, and three blood-hound whelps, just arrived -from Hobart Town; these being shipped in a small schooner, in company -with my iron shooting box, I started for San Luis, and called on Ramsey, -who had probably forgotten me. I urged him at once to come and be a -Vallejo-ite; he demurred at first, but, alas, we are all mortal; -pointing with one hand to his buckskins and hunting saddle, rotting from -disuse, with the other I directed his attention to my greyhounds, then I -uttered one word, “coyotes,” and Ramsey struck his flag in passive -submission to his destiny--and followed me. - - - - -CHAPTER XI. - - COYOTE HUNTING--MY DOMINIONS ARE INVADED--THOMAS KILLS A BEAR--A - TRIAL OF STRENGTH--ROWE’S “LOT”--CHOCTAW ELK--A BUTCHERY--ROUGH - LIFE--FERTILITY OF THE SOIL. - - -_June, 1851._ - -Our first duty, on arriving at Vallejo, was to erect a temporary shanty, -and before we had been long there the materials for about fifty houses -were scattered over the ground by various speculators. Ramsey laid the -foundation of a small village on his own account, and built a -dwelling-house, a livery stable, and another grog-shop, in which his -champagne and tin pannikins were soon rattling away, as of old, to the -sound of the fiddle. - -As soon as I had erected the iron house, to which I have already alluded -in terms of bitterness, we tried the projected coyote hunt. I had two -horses; one was an old grey “Texian Ranger,” who had seen so much hard -service that, when once adrift, he was neither to be caught with chaff -or the best of oats, but had to be lassoed and dragged home by main -force; once assured, by means of spurs, and bottles of water broken on -his head when he reared, and sticks broken on his side when he -buck-jumped, that he was “bound to go,” as they say here, “the Old -Soldier” (for so I named him) proved an animal of great speed and -endurance, and afterwards performed his eighty miles in a day with me -without flinching. The other was a handsome bay that I had bought from a -retiring watchmaker, and he retained the name his last master had -bestowed in honour of his shop, “Main Spring.” - -My Australian Kangaroo dogs were a cross between the bull-dog or -bull-mastiff and the greyhound; like the generality of cross-bred -greyhounds, they differed only from the thoroughbreds in increased size, -muscle, and breadth of chest; they ran of course from sight, but were -not devoid of nose. - -Of the three I had procured but two proved of any value, Tiger and -Bevis, and these I coupled for an experimental hunt. I trust I may be -excused from the charge of egotism in thus mentioning these animals in -detail; they were my companions up to the very day I left the country; -and being associated with the adventures I am sketching they will appear -in my narrative from time to time. With all his faults I owe a debt of -gratitude to the “Old Soldier.” - -Stealing quietly away to the surrounding hills, with Ramsey on the “Old -Soldier,” we soon found a coyote, and I slipped the dogs; he made a -straight run, but there was no chance for him, and in less than five -hundred yards he was caught and worried without a fight, and I whipped -the dogs off. I was disappointed; I had hoped that the coyote would not -only run well, but would make some kind of stand at the finish; but we -found him invariably devoid of any pluck. Some that we afterwards saw -would make an excellent start and then turn round and attempt to -fraternise with the dogs, and these, after a time, began to recognise -something of the nature of the cur in this conduct, and, after rolling -the coyote over, would turn back without injuring him.[10] So that our -coursing was deferred until we reached the hare country, where the dogs -showed to better advantage, and generally killed, the hare of the -country being rather a fool than otherwise. - -It became necessary now for me to return to Russian River, and, as -Ramsey and a Mr. Bottomly were anxious to accompany me, we made up a -four-in-hand out of a pair of Ramsey’s horses and mine, and, throwing -our blankets into the old waggon that constituted our drag, we put -Tiger and Bevis inside to save their feet, and started. - -We arrived without accident at the river, and I found that now the rains -were over, settlers were flocking in from all sides. The river was still -very high owing to the melting snow at its source; and when the waggon -floated for a minute or two as we crossed the centre of the ford, and -then filled to my companions’ knees, they evidently viewed with great -interest this, to them, novel feature in “tooling a four in hand.” - -The sun was intensely hot, and when we had reached the opposite bank of -the river, we pulled up in the shade to dine, the provisions having been -secured against all injury in crossing the river. Ramsey insisted on -drinking an immense quantity of the river, which, however, he qualified -with brandy; and after having in consequence expended a large amount of -second-hand poetry on the surrounding scenery, nothing would please him -but he must alter the tails of his two Canadian switch tail ponies, to -make them match with those of Mainspring and the Old Soldier, which were -banged. I remonstrated with him on the folly of spoiling two valuable -animals, whose chief beauty consisted in their manes and tails, but he -would do it; and having cut one tail about a foot shorter than the -other with a blunt table knife, he left them pretty objects. Imagine my -disgust when the fellow remarked, after gravely contemplating them, -“Sh’no consequence, s’hey don’t b’long to me.” I got into trouble about -them afterwards, as will be seen. - -In the cool of the evening we arrived at the farm, where I found -everybody well, and glad to see me back. As I had foreseen, settlers -were beginning even to invade _my_ dominions, and not only was the -romance of the place destroyed, but the game was retiring very rapidly, -and it required a long day’s walk to find venison. This of itself would -have determined me to leave the valley, but other causes hastened my -decision--firstly, _the onions were a failure_; they had come up, but -the ground squirrels had proved so numerous as to destroy all vestige of -the young plants; secondly, I had on one occasion disclosed at March’s -not only that I was _not_ a naturalised American, but that I had no -intention of bringing myself into contempt by deserting my own country -from interested motives, as too many I regret to say have done. This had -become known among the crowd of settlers that were now hunting for -pre-emption claims; they also knew, as of course there were a few -Philadelphia lawyers among them, that as an alien I had no right to the -valley. Some of them called upon me to tell me so, but these left -however quicker than they came. Under all the circumstances, and -particularly as I never could have resided among such a set as were now -“locating” themselves about the place, I made a virtue of necessity, and -gave the farm as it stood (excepting the cattle and my books and -shooting materials) to one of the backwoodsmen I had known there for -some time. - -During this last visit to the old place, however, we enjoyed ourselves; -the green peas had arrived at perfection, and the young fawns were -excellent substitutes for lamb. Tiger and Bevis afforded us some -coursing, and Ramsey found out for the first time in his life what it -was to stand knee deep in a running stream and wash a flannel shirt -without soap. - -Whilst we were absent one night on an excursion, Thomas, who remained at -home, distinguished himself by shooting a valuable milch cow, that had -been brought up by one of the new settlers, and which, having strayed -near the house, he mistook in the dark for a wild bull or a bear. When -we returned in the morning, Thomas, in great trepidation, had just -completed burying the carcase near the house, and we were still laughing -over the matter, when a tall settler appeared amongst us and inquired if -we had seen “e’er a cow,” to which Thomas, knowing that the settler had -followed his cow’s trail, fortunately replied in the affirmative, and -suggested a distant hill as a celebrated rendezvous for strayed cows in -general, on account of the fine quality of its spring water; thither the -settler wended his way, after satisfying himself with a few rapid and -suspicious glances that we had venison hanging about instead of beef, -and that no symptom of cow was stamped about the place. As he turned -once more to call three wiry-looking, gamboge-coloured curs, that he had -brought with him, and which had been sniffing about, I observed with -horror that the brutes were on the cow’s grave, scratching away -bravely--“Seize them, Tiger! At them, Prince! Bevis!” and these -disturbers of the dead flew for their lives, and as I called the dogs -off, evidenced no disposition to return, although my brave defenders -immediately had a battle royal over the dainty morsel which had thus -been brought to light. - -I have already alluded to Barnes’s physical strength; in Norfolk he was -always an expert axeman, even with the stupid broad-headed Flemish axe, -that we still adhere to in England, but his six months’ training at the -farm with the American axe had so improved on his former strike and -natural powers of endurance, that he was induced one night to boast of -his prowess whilst in company with some backwoodsmen at March’s shanty. -It had already been proved that no one of the party was a match for him, -as I had given him permission to fell for March’s saw-mill in his -leisure hours, (at which work I may mention he often made his thirty -shillings a day,) March therefore undertook to bring a man called -Alexander, to take “the shine out of Barnes,” and during our stay this -man arrived. He was a Hercules in muscle though spare, and when, a tree -having been selected, the men “stripped for work” as _Bell’s Life_ would -say, there was little to choose between them in appearance, though I -thought I saw an advantage on Barnes’s side in point of loins. To me it -is delightful to witness a fair trial of skill and dexterity between two -picked athletæ, where, as in this instance, the pleasure is unalloyed by -any brutal exhibition of inflicted punishment. Our party and that of the -Americans were equally excited, but no bets were made, and there was no -boastful confidence in the issue on either side. I have mentioned -elsewhere that the red-wood tree retains in its growth sometimes so -perfect a perpendicular that it may be cut round its centre, and yet -remains erect on a calm day, supported but by a few inches of the heart. -A tree having therefore been selected of about eight feet diameter, as -nearly as I can recollect, the men were placed on either side, and a few -straight lines for their guidance having been chalked on the bark, they -commenced work, the man on whose side the tree fell, to be declared the -winner, as he of course would have cut the deepest. For the first part -of the day the champions worked manfully stroke for stroke, and the -issue seemed to the last doubtful, but at length the strokes became -weaker and slower, and then Barnes seemed to have kept something back -for the finish, for after a few vigorous drives, the huge tree fell over -on his side, and came thundering to the ground. It was a touch and go -victory; and caused no ill feeling; but Barnes on returning home was -very unwell from over exertion, and during the night he wandered in his -head; the next day, however, he was quite well; but the “shine” was -taken out of him although he won. - -I bade farewell to the little valley before its charms had so palled -upon me by use as to render me indifferent to its possession, but its -great charm of seclusion that first bound me to it was lost, and in my -eyes it was as much “cut up” by the presence of fresh settlers, as is -your country villa, sir, when a rushing railway, marking out its track -directly through your favourite clump of weeping willows, sends its hot -cinders on to the very lawn in front of you; but you were compensated -for your villa being smoke-begrimed, and sold it, moreover, on good -terms to Styles, who likes living near a railway, and being hourly -reminded that his country is making “giant strides,” whilst I, equally a -victim to the march of improvement, walked out without any other -reflection than that I had gone to a great deal of trouble for the sole -benefit of an utter stranger. - -We arrived at Vallejo without accident. The appearance of the tailless -Canadian horses brought forward their indignant owner, who demanded of -me, as conductor of the expedition, an exorbitant sum, which I of course -refused to pay, upon which he went to law; and about the time that the -hotel was completed, an execution was put on it by the sheriff for the -amount claimed for two horses’ tails that I never touched. - -We had very little sport at Vallejo; a few wild-fowl hung about the -marshes, but were very hard to secure; snipe and curlew also were -tolerably plentiful; but the sun was hot, and the yellow treeless hills -dazzled the eyes too much for shooting. Our guns therefore were shelved -for the present; but I found another source of amusement by fortunately -making the acquaintance of a young Englishman of the name of Rowe. - -Rowe was a surveying engineer of good ability, and had, previous to -leaving England, scarified that country to a considerable extent in the -shape of tunnels and cuttings on railways. His present business in -Vallejo consisted in surveying and laying out the plan of that city, -which having completed, he was now transferring to a gorgeous map, on -which the Botanical Gardens, Orphan Asylums, and _Schools for the -Indigent Blind_ were already traced and lettered. - -Rowe possessed about a dozen small Californian and Indian horses, and as -these brutes were not only now wild, but were of that peculiar breed -that can neither be tamed or fattened, I could not at first conceive -what object Rowe had in keeping them, especially as they were all small, -gaunt, and painfully ugly. I perceived that almost daily my new -acquaintance, dressed in Californian spurs and leggings, would mount the -horse that he generally kept by him (with the saddle always on), and -proceed in search of the others which he had turned out to graze on the -hills the night previous. - -In the evening he would return as usual, driving his ill-looking pack -before him, and these, after being enclosed for a short time, would be -again turned out. On my suggesting that his animals seemed to cause him -more trouble than they were worth, he at once elucidated the mystery. - -It appeared that he had received these scarecrows from time to time in -payment of bad debts, contracted for surveys of the surrounding farms; -they cost nothing to keep, as they lived on the wild oats, and the -reason he turned them out and brought them home each day, was for the -pleasure of hunting and catching them with the lasso when he could. I -soon joined him in this diversion, and the sport was most exciting. His -band, as soon as they saw us coming, would have an appearance similar to -this:-- - -[Illustration] - -They would stand in a crowd together, looking at us out of the corners -of their eyes; then as we approached they would go over the hills and -gulches, whilst we rode after them, shouting and heading them back -whenever we could. - -After two or three hours of this exercise, they would allow themselves -to be driven without much trouble into Rowe’s corral. I believe they -liked the sport; whether or no, they got it every day, and as it was all -they had to do, they were better off than most of their race. In fact, -the Old Soldier did the same work with me on his back, and liked it so -much that I could not hold him at last when once he got sight of these -scarecrows. He tried to catch them one day when in the gig, because they -suddenly appeared in sight, and if it had not been for a deep gulch that -brought us all up with a smash, I believe he would have “corralled” them -on his own account. - -Rowe had an Indian pony of great power and endurance; it was named -“Chocktaw,” after the American Indian tribe, to which of right it -belonged. He had a head like a wedge of wood, and although tolerably -quiet under a severe Spanish bit, he had the habit of never taking his -eyes off you. He was always suspicious, if you walked round him, and -would follow you with his wild colt’s eye. - -Chocktaw combined the sure-footedness of the mule, with the speed of -the horse, and the capability of the donkey of living and doing well -upon comparatively nothing, which was so far fortunate for him as he was -occasionally locked up and forgotten for a day or two, during which -periods of trial he generally munched shavings, and upon being -remembered and released became more suspicious than ever. - -Chocktaw and the Old Soldier became fast friends, so much so, that the -latter kicked other horses on Chocktaw’s account, and took him under his -protection generally, even to the length of eating Chocktaw’s oats -(which he got on Sundays), for fear, no doubt, they should disagree with -his Indian stomach; whether this made him more suspicious or not, I -don’t know, but Chocktaw never took his eyes off his friend for all -their affection. - -The unhappy Chocktaw is typical of a class of men who live continually -in the torment of half-confirmed suspicions--innocents, who, stopping -half-way in their study of the world, are ever doubting and fearing, yet -never learning, force the lesson on them as you will;--“Chocktaws” to -whom “Old Soldiers” are necessary--these latter cheating them, yet -preventing others from doing so; finding brains for them; kicking other -horses for them, but eating _their oats as recompense_. Unhappy then the -Chocktaw who wriggles, as it were, in the half-consciousness of being -outwitted, and torments himself with vain suspicions. Far more to be -envied he who can clap his persecuting protector on the back, and own -him to be “necessary but expensive;” his mind is at ease from that time -forth; he can pay his bully as he does his income-tax, and get more for -his money. - -News was brought in one day that a band of elk had been seen near the -place, and upon this the whole population turned out. Independently of -the fact that I feared being shot by some of the party, among whom were -several boys, armed with rifles, I knew that the Elk does were heavy at -this season, and I had no mind to assist in a butchery. The drove was -headed about nightfall in marshy ground, and about _eighteen does_ were -killed. - -I was sorry to have lost the chance of hitting the slot of these beasts, -for the bucks might easily have been secured with care, whereas, -approached as they were, whilst drinking in marshy and treacherous -ground, the bucks being on the outskirts made for the hills, whilst the -poor frightened does became quagmired, and fell an easy prey. - -About this time I received a visit from Sir Henry Huntly, and we started -on an exploring expedition, but losing our way, found ourselves at -length near Napa. Pulling up temporarily at a small house at the side -of the creek to enquire the road, we found it occupied by half-a-dozen -fine-looking fellows, who were sitting over their supper. The invitation -to join them was too heartily offered to refuse, and Sir Henry and -myself being armed each with a cast-iron knife and tin platter, attacked -the provisions as men do who lose their way, and fall happily and -unexpectedly on a savoury stew of antelope. We were glad enough also to -be so kindly invited to pass the night there, for a day passed in the -hot sun is very fatiguing, and once down, a man has to be kicked up -again, particularly after a surfeit of antelope stew. So we lit our -pipes, and then, as a matter of course, we allowed gradually to leak out -who and what we were. Our entertainers consisted of four Americans and -two Englishmen. These latter were army-men, who had thrown up their -commissions in Canada to seek a rough and adventurous life in exchange -for the dull routine of barracks. So far as roughness went, they had it -in perfection, and they stood it well; but the _roughest_ roughness -palls, and an adventurous life, with its fevers and privations, and hard -toil in the blistering sun, soon loses its charms, and then comes the -yearning for home, and it is best then to have something _to fall back -upon_. - -There are few after all to whom either roughness or adventurous life -comes aptly, although the proud man scorns to _own_ he feels the -privation he has sought as it were; but few of those who have sacrificed -position, comforts, and friends elsewhere, for the pursuit of freedom -and adventure, with wealth of course appearing in the distance, have -realised their dreams, or have done otherwise in the long run than own -their folly, and mourn it secretly. Some men are born for a wild and -careless life--a happy liveliness of disposition, knowledge of the -world, physical health, recklessness of personal safety, indifference to -social position and home comfort, all fit them for it; their creed is to -do as no one else does, (and they do _none_ the worse for this); these -men are few in number, and they can live when others starve. Observe the -man in a hunting-field, who strikes out his own line of country, and -that a new one to him; each fence may conceal a marl-pit, but he faces -bravely all obstacles, and comes in right at last. Rash fool! says Jones -as he opens a gate. Stupid ass! echoes Brown as he creeps through a gap! -But no! Brown and Jones would be both fools and asses if they tried to -do it, but to this man such work comes naturally. - -As a rule the fate of the minnows who will pursue an unbeaten track is -certain enough. It is generally a _great mistake_ when men throw up on -their own account a certain means of livelihood, to seek adventure and -fortune in new gold countries. It is generally a _great mistake_ when -fathers with spendthrift sons, stupid sons, or lazy sons, say, “John, -you are doing no good for yourself, here are five hundred pounds, go and -try your luck in the diggings.” It was a _great mistake_ when a party of -gentlemen left England in 1849 for California in a yacht of their own, -and having arrived at the diggings got disgusted, and returned very much -out at elbows, with most melancholy reports respecting the goldfields. -And these are great mistakes, for this reason, that patience under -disappointment, and a disposition that can ever look sanguinely into the -future, are as requisite for “_rough life_,” as strong _hands, witting -hearts and_ sound health. - -Our entertainers occupied themselves in market-gardening, which is a -peaceful and unexciting profession; and as the whole party were animated -with a strong love of adventure, and were anxious for something more -soul-stirring than weeding and watering beds of cabbages, soon after I -last saw them they disbanded and dispersed, nor have I heard of them -since. - -Vegetables attain an unusual size in California, owing to the rich -qualities of the maiden soil; but I have observed an insipidity in -everything that has thus rapidly matured, and size is attained at the -expense of loss of flavour. Onions and tomatas as large as cheese plates -are common. Melons have attained the weight of fifty pounds. Wheat and -oats grow to the height of eight and ten feet, and are very prolific in -the ear; potatoes reach dimensions unheard of elsewhere, and the -diameter of a cabbage is sometimes so large that the cabbage has to be -seen to be believed in. - -A brutal murder had been committed at Napa previous to our arrival; the -murderer had been sentenced to death, and without any ostensible reason, -a free pardon for this felon was granted by the governor of the state. -During our stay here some of the most determined of the citizens of Napa -frustrated this act of ill-timed mercy, and the murderer was found hung -in his cell. No further notice was taken of the matter; but this act -cannot be justified under any circumstances, for as the people elected -the governor, and armed him with the right, had he so chosen, of setting -free every convicted felon in the state, their election was a farce if -his decision was not binding in the pardon he dispensed to the Napa -murderer. - - - - -CHAPTER XII. - - ANOTHER FIRE--MY GEOLOGICAL FRIEND--“BURNT - OUT”--SACRAMENTO--LEVEE--HULKS--RATS--VIGILANCE COMMITTEE--START - FOR VOLCANO--CROCKETT--“RIGHT SIDE UP.” - - -_June, 1851._ - -Shortly after my return to Vallejo, a bright glare in the direction of -San Francisco indicated too surely that the city was again in flames. -The wind was very high, and we had every reason to believe that the -conflagration was general. Having roused out the Old Soldier to his -intense disgust, I reached Benicia in time to take a passage to San -Francisco in the last returning Stockton boat. We met steamers going up -river crowded, that stopped and confirmed our worst fears; mine in -particular, for I had felt anxious respecting the property of a friend -who had shown me unceasing kindness since my arrival in the country. I -learnt that his stores had already fallen, and knew that he was ruined. -It was with great difficulty we landed, for the fire had extended to the -water’s edge, and in many places the wharves had been disconnected; -everywhere deep holes had been burnt in them, and some were drowned -that night from this cause. - -The ruins of the fire were quite deserted, the inhabitants had sought -the suburbs, sorrowfully no doubt, for a night’s rest; and the bright -moon looked calmer than ever in contrast to the red angry embers which -smouldered on every side. - -I found myself alone after I had scrambled up a small hill that -commanded a view of the fallen city, and I never remember feeling so -solitary in my life. Small columns of red-tinted smoke rose lazily in -every direction, the blackened shells of brick warehouses stood out here -and there in bold relief against the moonlight, whilst every crevice and -window in them was fantastically lighted by the glowing embers that -still burnt within. Over the ruins of large drug stores ghostly lights -of blue and green flickered in a supernatural manner. Where the fire had -already been extinguished, dark pits seemed to yawn, and open wells, and -deep cisterns, stood ready on all sides, their coverings being burnt, to -trap the unwary adventurer who might be led to explore those regions. -Not a sound broke the stillness of the night, and as the moon was -overshadowed by a passing cloud, I turned and stumbled on what was -either a very dead man or a very drunken one, and having seen all there -was to see, I descended the hill and rejoined my companions. - -Lodgings were scarce enough that night, as may be imagined, nor was -there a sufficient number of houses standing to accommodate the -burnt-out citizens. I was fortunate enough to meet an Hungarian -geologist, who was probably the poorest man in San Francisco, for the -science he professed could not at this time be put to much account in -California. Were it not for the respect in which I hold a learned -society at home before which “papers” are read, and by which laws are -made for the better regulation of geology, I should say that the reason -why the votaries of this science did not succeed in California, arose -from the fact, that this eccentric country, had for ages past acted in -defiance of the fundamental rules of the society in question: whether or -no, whenever my friend set out in search of gold on scientific -principles, he generally left that metal farther behind him at every -step. - -Wherever you go now you will meet a few Hungarians, and I have ever -found them a superior class of men--quiet and unobtrusive in their -habits, and of very liberal education. My geological friend had a small -hut built among the sand-hills. As we walked towards it we were called -on to deliver by three gentlemen of the road, but as, happening to be -both armed, we made the usual demonstration in such cases, we went on -our way without molestation. Not but what it would have been a kindness -to have robbed the Hungarian, for though he had no money in his pocket, -and his clothes were valueless, he was staggering through the deep sand -under the weight of an enormous bag of quartz he had collected, every -ounce of which I foresaw was destined to be pulverised in a hand mortar -and tested, involving a great amount of labour but _no profit_. I tossed -up with my friend who should have his bed, and having won it I was soon -asleep, it being now nearly daylight; when I awoke he was gone, and I -was at no loss to conjecture that he had sought elsewhere a softer couch -than the heap of rocks and fossils that had fallen to his lot. - -When I reached the burnt city all was again animation, and on every side -preparations were being made for rebuilding it of brick and stone. - -I have alluded to a friend; it was with sorrow that I viewed the wreck -of the noble warehouses that had been his: but yesterday, as it were, he -had pointed to these buildings with pride as evidencing his successful -efforts, though never forgetful to whom success was owing, while to-day -a heap of ashes marks the emptiness of human calculation. A week ago -and his glorious hospitality assembled hundreds to commemorate the -completion of a stately warehouse,--to-day the firm is hopelessly and -irretrievably ruined. - -He lies now in the cemetery outside San Francisco, and those who have -not forgotten the warm grasp of a hand that was ever ready to -succour--now that that hand is cold, will recognise this sketch, and -will not blame me for recording this slight tribute to his memory. - -After a diligent search I was directed by the appearance of sundry steel -buttons to the ashes of what had been my wardrobe; everything had been -destroyed, and among the papers I had lost were the notes and sketches -of the country that I had collected to this date, which notes, after -three years, I am rewriting from memory. - -After contemplating mournfully the whitened remains of two little dogs -that lay side by side, with the blackened ashes of my dress coat and -patent leather boots, I turned from the spot, and shortly afterwards -encountered Sir Henry Huntly, who in an equally melancholy frame of -mind, had just completed a survey of his “ashes;” we agreed to pay a -visit to the northern mines, and made preparations for a start. - -The wooden wharves had for the most part been converted into charcoal, -and the steamer was crowded with those who like ourselves were anxious -to leave behind them so much desolation. - -The mail steamer had come in from Panama, and ladies who had just -arrived to find their husbands, houseless and ruined, were hurrying -careworn from their toilsome journey sorrowfully to seek a temporary -shelter in Sacramento. There were troupes of actors, who, forgetting all -rivalry in their common adversity, felt the reality of tragedy. The fire -bell had arrested their performances, and though they worked ever so -manfully at the breaks, the temples of Thespis had been swept away in -the storm, and with them their wardrobes and arrears of pay. There were -professional gamblers for whom the losing card had now turned up, who, -burnt out of their tinsel saloons, were starting for the mines, to -commence life again in a thimble-rigging tent, until growing prosperous -they could work gradually back again to San Francisco, where the tinsel -saloons were already being rebuilt. - -There were speculators who had a “snug lot” of flour or pork up country, -and who were off to fetch it down and lock it up in store-ships, until -the wants of the community should make it worth its weight in gold -almost. There were small traders, whose debtor and creditor accounts had -been, fortunately for them, buried in oblivion by the general ruin, and -who talked furiously of their losses, and bespattered their hard fate -with curses of the loudest and deepest character. And there were many -who like myself had come to satisfy their curiosity, just as we go to -the sea-shore and view the wreck of a noble ship; and these grew -hilarious upon the strength of having lost nothing, and returned to -their homes in famous good humour with themselves and all the world. - -Passing Benicia we entered Suisun Bay, on the shores of which a city was -attempted--New York by name--but failed. There is something to admire in -the audacity of speculators, who finding themselves possessed of a few -acres of swamp, wave their wands and order a city to appear. The working -human tide of California ebbed and flowed past New York with great -regularity, but all commands to arrest it, and direct it from its -natural course were futile as regarded that city, which really presented -no advantage that I could see. It is now dusk, and we enter the -Sacramento river. Presently we pass a large steamboat going down, who -gives us a close shave, and complimentarily strikes three bells, upon -which we strike three bells; and in a few minutes we pass a small -steamboat also going down, who gives us a closer shave, and shrieks -three times out of something connected with her steam-pipe, upon which -we groan three times out of something connected with our steam-pipe. -These salutes are invariably observed, and the greater the rivalry -between the boats, the louder they scream at each other. - -The banks of the river are for the most part marshy, but in the fading -light we catch glimpses here and there of small cultivated enclosures, -with comfortable-looking shanties peeping between the oak trees. After -supper everybody turns in, and at daylight we arrive at Sacramento. - -Sacramento is built on the banks of the river, from the encroachments of -which it is as often drowned as its sister city is burnt. The houses are -gaily painted, and the American flag waves in every direction; the -streets are wide, and some trees that have been left standing in the -town give it a cheerful appearance. - -It is an American town at the first glance; an immense quantity of -sign-boards stare at you in every direction, and if anything would -induce a man to purchase “Hay and Grain,” “Gallego Flour,” “Goshen -Butter,” or any other article for which he has no want, it would be the -astounding size of the capital letters, in which these good things are -forced upon his notice. - -Every other house is an hotel or boarding-house, for with few exceptions -every one is put out to “livery,” as it were, in Sacramento; and in -hard times, when cash is scarce, one half of the population may be said -to feed the other half gratuitously, or on credit, which often amounts -to the same thing, thus affording a beautiful illustration of mutual -support and confidence. - -Sacramento is terribly dusty; the great traffic to and from the mines -grinds three or four inches of the top soil into a red powder, that -distributes itself everywhere; it is the dirtiest dust I ever saw, and -is never visited by a shower until the rainy season sets in, and -suddenly converts it into a thick mud. - -I was introduced to a club of Sacramento gentlemen, who had formed -themselves into what they called a literary society. In their rooms was -to be found what in those days was scarce, a tolerable collection of -books and the periodicals of the day. They were very jovial fellows, -well-informed, not so literary as I expected, and certainly quite free -from pedantry. The most important ceremony at their meetings consisted -in the members standing in a circle, upon which a Chinese hat of -teetotum shape was spun in the centre, and the “literary savant,” who -was indicated by a black mark on the hat when it ceased to spin, stood -“drinks for the crowd.” - -The weather was oppressively warm, and the iced - -[Illustration: Bar Room at Sonora] - -“drinks”[11] were necessary even to a literary society;--so much so, -that the hat was kept continually spinning by public acclamation. There -was no lack of sensible and entertaining conversation, and the evenings -passed with these gentlemen were to my thinking none the less pleasant, -although perhaps less literary, for the twirling of the Chinese hat. - -A levée, or sea-wall, has been built in front of the city, to protect it -from the river when it rises with the high spring tides; but the river -generally undermines these works, and flows over the surrounding plain -as it has been wont to do for ages past. - -A large number of old dismantled hulks, now converted into floating -houses, are moored along the front of the levée, and it is from these -probably the rats first landed that are now so distinguished at -Sacramento for their size and audacity. These animals come out after -dark in strong gangs, as if the town belonged to them, and attack -anything that may happen to have been left on the wharf during the -night; being very numerous, the destruction they cause to merchandise is -a serious loss. - -Ten thousand dollars were offered, I was told, to the man who should -clear the town, and seduced by this bribe, some one in the rat-catching -line volunteered to draw all the rats into the country, and there -enclose them in a paddock, to be publicly exposed previous to a -massacre; but whether the rats thought it best to leave well alone, and -be content with the comfortable quarters and nice pine-apple cheeses -they enjoyed in the city, or whether they objected to country air, does -not appear; but they never went out to the paddock, except one, who is -reported to have approached within a reasonable distance of the -vain-glorious rat-catcher, and then standing on his hind legs, after the -manner of rats, and scratching the tip of his nose contemplatively with -his paw, he turned tail for the city, causing grievous disappointment to -five terrier dogs, who ineffectually chevied him in. - -The conflagrations of San Francisco had been attributed to -incendiarists, and as many attempts to fire the town had been -frustrated, it is probable that this was the case. A Volunteer-Guard, -therefore, patrolled the city of Sacramento at night, to guard against -this evil, and to protect the inhabitants from the wholesale plunder of -organised bands of burglars. Crime had increased so rapidly of late in -San Francisco, and robbers and incendiarists had become so emboldened by -the impotence and venality of the justiciary, that the citizens -organised a society styled the Vigilance Committee, for the purpose of -affording the protection to life and property that the law would not -bestow. - -So far was well; but this society, composed of men who _smarted under -personal loss_, attributed _perhaps unjustly_ to incendiarism, took upon -themselves the dispensation of life and death. - -Men detected, as was supposed, in the act of _felony only_, were tried, -sentenced, and executed, without defence, in the same night. - -It is useless now to dwell on the summary executions that were put in -force in half a dozen cases by the Vigilance Committee; no one would -defend their acts, and they met with opposition at the time from the -better class of citizens; the memory of them may pass away, but they -certainly had the effect at the time of ridding the country of a set of -desperate men, and of restoring a degree of security to the inhabitants -of San Francisco that had never previously been enjoyed. - -Colonel D----, a friend of Sir Henry’s, had control of a quartz vein at -a place called Volcano, in the northern mines, and we determined upon an -inspection of this vein, which was reported to be highly auriferous. - -We started at daybreak, in a light spring waggon, and, taking with us -our blankets, we were soon five miles from Sacramento, and pulled up at -the young town of Brighton. - -Colonel D---- appeared to be the owner of Brighton; and, being a -sporting man, he had constructed a race-course here; with the exception -of the race-course, and one or two stables, there was not much of the -town developed as yet; but being really advantageously situated, I have -no doubt that it is well populated by this time. - -The road was straight and level, and on either side, enclosed by fences, -were well-cultivated farms; numerous dwelling-houses lined the road, and -it was difficult to believe that the signs of civilisation and industry, -that met us on all sides, were the result of two years’ occupation of -the country by gold hunters. - -As we left Brighton we overtook long lines of waggons, heavily laden -with stores for the mines; and these, drawn by innumerable oxen, -ploughed up the deep dust to such an extent as obliged us to cover our -faces as we passed them. We met waggons coming in, containing miners, on -whom, to judge by their appearance generally, a bath, a shave, and a new -suit of clothes would not be thrown away; and I have no doubt they -indulged in these luxuries on their arrival at Sacramento. - -We stopped to breakfast at a house of entertainment kept by one -Crockett, who had a very pretty wife; but the possession of this luxury, -so far from humanising Crockett, appeared to keep him in a continual -fever of irritation; for he was jealous, poor fellow, and used to worry -himself because there was ever a dozen or two of hairy miners gazing in -a bewildered manner at Mrs. C.; but, if report speaks truly, the bonnet -and boots of a “female” had been successfully exhibited in this region -at a dollar a head, (a glimpse of them being thought cheap even at that -price) surely therefore Crockett might have excused the poor miners for -regarding attentively the original article when presented gratis in the -shape of a pretty woman. - -Crockett carried a revolver of disproportionate size, he not being a -large man, and this instrument he occasionally used upon provocation. A -great number of miners had looked at Mrs. Crockett on the morning of our -arrival, and her husband had not quite finished foaming at the mouth in -consequence, when we entered the house. It was some time before he -condescended to be civil; but having at length informed us that he was -“so riled that his skin cracked,” he added that he was a “devilish good -fellow when he was ‘_right side up_,’” and commanded us to drink with -him. After this he procured us a most excellent breakfast, and, on the -strength of our respectable appearance, allowed Mrs. Crockett to preside -at this repast, which she did in a nervous manner, as if momentarily -under the expectation of being shot. - -We left our host “right side up,” and, proceeding on our way, we soon -lost sight of the cultivated country and began to traverse undulating -plains studded with the dwarf oak. The road now gradually becomes worse, -and has long ceased to be level; we pass road-side houses, whose names -indicate the localities in which they are placed: “Rolling Hills,” -“Willow Springs,” “Red Mountain,” and so forth. - -After travelling twenty miles we ascend the first range of hills; the -pine-tree appears, and here and there we catch glimpses of the American -Fork River. As we leave the plain, and ascend the wooded hills, trails -may be observed indicated by blazed trees, leading to mountain gorges, -where diggers are at work. Flowers clothe the hills in the richest -profusion, and most conspicuous is the yellow poppy, which lightens up -these desolate red hills for a few weeks each spring; growing in rich -masses that, in contrast to the bleak and stunted herbage, are like -sunbeams, and like sunbeams leave every spot they cheer more gloomy, -when, under the influence of the first hot summer wind, they droop in a -night and pass away. - - - - -CHAPTER XIII. - - AN OLD SHE-GOAT--OUR MINERALOGIST--GOLD DIGGERS--MURDERER’S - BAR--THE THEORIST PUZZLED--MINING LAWS--JUMPING CLAIMS--THE MINER’S - LIFE--“LET HER SLIDE”--HOSTILE INDIANS--WE ARE - DISGUSTED--FIRE-PROOF HOUSES. - - -_July, 1851._ - -We reached the Salmon Fall diggings about noon, and, without halting, -crossed a wooden bridge that had been built here on the north fork of -the American River; we paid five dollars toll to its enterprising owner, -and ascended the opposite hill. The road here became so uneven that we -got out of the waggon in preference to being pitched out, and we were -kept very busy in locking the wheels when it went down hill, and pushing -behind when it went up. We passed no houses now, but trails led off on -either side, whilst occasionally we encountered solitary miners -“prospecting” near the road. “Prospecting” is the term applied to a -pursuit of knowledge under difficulties, that is, searching for gold -where no trace of it is apparent on the surface.[12] There are plenty -of “prospectors” in the mines, but the profession scarcely pays, for -the “prospector” is the jackall who must search for many days, and, when -he has found, the lion, in the shape of the old miner, steps in and -reaps the benefit. So that there is something to be learnt in the -diggings, for undoubtedly one of the first principles in life is to look -on while others work, and then step in and cry “halves.” - -[Illustration] - -We stopped at dusk at a house a little off the trail, and, having had -supper, we spread our blankets on the ground, and being tired were soon -asleep; but we soon awoke again, for, separated from us by a canvas -screen, was a young goat, whose dismal bleatings made “night hideous:” -vain were the imprecations that were showered on the goat’s head; -daylight discovered him still crying, and us awake and unrefreshed. - -As we prepared to start, in rather a sullen humour, what was our -astonishment when our host accosted us smilingly thus: “I had an -addition to my family last evening, gentlemen, and as fine a boy as ever -you saw!” So he must be, thought we, to have a voice like a goat; and, -as we went on our way, we recalled the compliments with which, during -the night, we had greeted the new-born babe, under the innocent -impression that it was a kid; and conjectured to ourselves the feelings -of the mother when she heard herself alluded to as an old she-goat! - -As the waggon followed the trail, we walked through the forest at the -side; the botanist of our party had now ample employment, and tortured a -new flower at each step; whilst our mineralogist pocketed specimens with -such fervour that their accumulated weight began at last to tell -severely on his frame, upon which he discharged his gleanings -surreptitiously, to our great amusement, for we insisted that he had -dropped them by accident, and made him pocket them again. If the people -of this world had but to carry their hobbies up a dusty mountain, under -a hot sun, in the shape of a bag of quartz, how soon they’d cast them -off! - -At noon, having reached the ridge of the mountain, we had an extended -view of the gold country as it stretched away for miles beyond us in a -succession of steep red hills; through these the American Fork rushed -impetuously, and huge masses of red-woods clothed the highest mountains; -while, in the distance, the white peaks of the Sierra Nevada were -perceptible; those famous mountains of which the reputed wealth is still -as much the Dorado of the Californian diggers, as were the placer fields -before me once the dream of the Mexicans of the sixteenth century. -“Prospectors” visit these cheerless snows never to return; but, like the -discontented squirrel of the fable, who would ascend the sun-lit hills -that looked so much like gold, reach them, utter a moral and die. - -A turn of the road presented a scene of mining life, as perfect in its -details as it was novel in its features. Immediately beneath us the -swift river glided tranquilly, though foaming still from the great -battle which, a few yards higher up, it had fought with a mass of black -obstructing rocks. On the banks was a village of canvas that the winter -rains had bleached to perfection, and round it the miners were at work -at every point. Many were waist-deep in the water, toiling in bands to -construct a race and dam to turn the river’s course; others were -entrenched in holes, like grave-diggers, working down to the “bed rock.” -Some were on the brink of the stream washing out “prospects” from tin -pans or wooden “batteas;” and others worked in company with the -long-tom, by means of water-sluices artfully conveyed from the river. -Many were coyote-ing in subterranean holes, from which from time to time -their heads popped out, like those of squirrels, to take a look at the -world; and a few with drills, dissatisfied with nature’s work, were -preparing to remove large rocks with gunpowder. All was life, merriment, -vigour, and determination, as this part of the earth was being turned -inside out to see what it was made of. - -The air was so still and clear that the voices rose to us with startling -distinctness, and when a head appeared from a distant pit, and its owner -vociferated, “How are you, Frank?” I thought at first he meant me, and -was on the point of replying, “Well and hearty, thank him. How was he?” - -Small patches of garden surrounded the village, which bore so palpably -the stamp of cheerfulness and happy industry, that I was disappointed on -learning that its name was “Murderer’s Bar;” though the appellation was -justly conferred in memory of a brutal murder that had been committed -amongst its earliest settlers. - -Had all the diggings been named in accordance with the circumstances -that ushered them individually into public notice, there would be more -Murderer’s Bars than the traveller would well know what to do with, -unless they were numerically arranged like the John Smiths in the -muster-roll of a marching regiment. - -The name is unpleasantly candid; there are plenty of “diggings” that can -record their tales of blood much more forcibly than Murderer’s Bar, but -under such peaceful titles as “Diamond Springs,” or “Happy Valley,” they -bring no shudder to the traveller. So that we learn another thing at the -diggings, which is, that it is ridiculous to be a Publican and make a -clean breast of it to every stranger, when such great immunity is gained -under the garb of the Pharisee. - -One would ask how it is that Murderer’s Bar, despite its name, is a -peaceable village, where each man’s wealth, in the shape of ten feet -square of soil, is virtuously respected by his neighbour; it is not -because there is enough for all, for every paying claim has long ago -been appropriated, and the next comer must go further on. There is a -justice of the peace (up to his arms in the river just at present), and -there is a constable (who has been “prospecting” a bag of earth from the -hill, and been rewarded with a gold flake of the value of three cents); -these two, one would suppose, could scarcely control two or three -hundred men, with rude passions and quick tempers, each of whom, as you -observe, carries his revolver even while at work. But these armed, -rough-looking fellows themselves elected their judge and constable, and -stand, ever ready, as “specials,” to support them. - -If a man wanted a pickaxe or a shovel, and thought to help himself to -one of those that lie about at all times at Murderer’s Bar, he would -find it inconvenient if discovered; for, as there is no extenuating -clause of hunger or misery in the diggings, theft is held to be a great -crime; in all probability the offender would be whipped at the tree; and -this brings us again to the perplexing subject of Lynch law as relating -to the miners. - -I venture to say that it will puzzle the theorist to determine how far -the roving population of the mining regions in California have been -justified in taking measures to eject the bad and worthless from among -them; for all rules and precedents fall before the strong argument of -self-preservation. When Christian and his shipmates landed at Pitcairn’s -Island and made laws for the regulation of their small colony (happily -little needed) they acted as much upon the principle of Lynch law as did -the miners; for these latter were equally without the reach of the laws -under which they had been born. Where, after all, was the great -difference in the first trial by jury and the Lynch execution among a -colony of men living far from civilisation? Was the peace of a community -of honest men to be disturbed by crime and bloodshed, unpunished, when, -from circumstances, the law of their country was unable to protect them? -These and similar questions would form the basis of the argument in -defence of Lynch law in the mountains. - -On the other hand, the opponent would point to the fearful instances on -record of men being hurried to eternity without preparation--victims to -the overwrought feelings of an excited mob. The defence of -self-constituted law is untenable, yet there are instances in which -small communities have seemed to me justified in enforcing, by the only -means at their command, the order so necessary in such a state of -society as that of the mountain gorges of California. - -But when we see this law “subverting law” in a city like San Francisco, -then we are forced sweepingly to condemn, once and for all, all that -bears the name of Lynch, and we feel loth to admit that in any case the -end can ever justify the means. Still it is a question, taken from first -to last, that one may split straws on, when we see how peacefully -Murderer’s Bar progresses, not under the _execution_, but under the -_fear_ of Lynch law. In most mining villages public indignation has been -confined to ordering men to “leave the camp” in twenty-four hours, or -otherwise take the consequences; and after being thus warned, the -nefarious digger invariably “slopes.” - -The mining population have been allowed to constitute their own laws -relative to the appointment of “claims,” and it is astonishing how well -this system works. Had the Legislature, in ignorance of the miner’s -wants, interfered and decided that a man should have so much, and no -more, of the soil to work on, all would have been anarchy and confusion. - -Whereas now, every “digging” has its fixed rules and by-laws, and all -disputes are submitted to a jury of the resident miners; excepting in -those instances where twenty men or so are met by twenty men, and in -these cases there is first a grand demonstration with fire-arms, and -eventually an appeal to the district court. The by-laws of each district -are recorded in the Recorder’s Office of the county, and these laws are -stringent although self-constituted; ill-defined at first, and varying -as they did, they were conflicting and troublesome, but though they have -been jumbled as it were in a bag, they have come out like Mr. Crockett, -“right side up.” - -I have had my claim in the digging more than once, of ten feet square; -if a man “jumped” it, and encroached on my boundaries, and I did’nt -knock him on the head with a pickaxe, being a Christian, I appealed to -the “crowd,” and my claim being carefully measured from my stake and -found to be correct, the “jumper” would be ordered to confine himself to -his own territory, which of course he would do with many oaths. - -It is customary to leave your mining tools in your claim, to indicate to -all new comers that it is occupied, and as this rule is recognised it -saves a great deal of unnecessary explanation; but it has often struck -me that if in the quiet and virtuous hamlet of Little Pedlington, a -market-gardener were to leave his spade outside as a sign of occupancy, -he would not detect that implement in the morning, spite of the -vigilance of the one policeman, who guards that blissful retreat. - -We descended the cliff by a short cut; the mineralogist took a shorter, -for a ledge of earth gave way beneath his weight, and enabled him to -reach the base about three minutes before us. - -Gongs sounded at this moment, and the red clayey population flocked in -to dine, looking disproportionately dirty in contrast with their white -houses: I did not see a woman in the “camp.” But these things are being -better ordered now, and I can foresee the day when the traveller from -Murderer’s Bar shall speak of anxious mothers rushing from the white -tents with soap-sud arms to rescue embryo miners from the gutter; and -when flaxen-headed urchins shall gaze suspiciously at the approach of -such as I, and running back to their parents, will exclaim, “Oh! daddy, -here’s a Britisher!” - -The gold is found here in coarse flakes, and the bank washings, from all -accounts, average five or six dollars a day per man. - -The days had passed when diggings were abandoned, so soon as they ceased -to reward a day’s toil with less than an ounce or two of gold, and -“chunks” and “big strikes”[13] were now exceptions to the rule; but the -days had passed, also, when to obtain these prizes men laboured -painfully under the influence of fever, produced by bad food and -poisonous spirits, to die at last, perhaps, disgorging every hard-earned -flake of gold to some attendant quack. - -Much happier the miner, when, as at Murderer’s Bar, his toil is -regularly rewarded with a smaller gain, for his health is no longer -impaired by feverish excitement and drink, and the necessaries of life -are placed within his reach, at prices that enable him to save his gold -scales as well as his constitution, for the “rainy day,” that in one -form or the other comes to all at last. - -Leaving the village and passing some hills, the sides of which were -overgrown with the white azalia, we reached another part of the river, -where was a ferry-boat, and here we found our waggon. On the opposite -side of the river the ascent was very steep, and would have been -impracticable for waggons, had not the owner of the ferry excavated a -portion of the mountain, and otherwise constructed a road. - -For this outlay of capital the ferryman was reaping a rich harvest; -having thus opened the only practicable trail at this time to the more -northern mines, he had secured to himself the toll of every waggon -passing to or from those regions, and these tolls amounted in one year -to sixty thousand dollars (12,000_l._). The original capital was, I -understood, the result of successful digging; and I mention this -circumstance as it proves two things, first, that fortunes in the mines -are not dependent on the discovery of little nests of gold, as some -suppose, but on the judicious application in a new country of the small -capital which a little steady work with the pickaxe will ensure to any -industrious and healthy man; and, secondly, that a large portion of the -gold amassed in mining regions is expended upon the permanent -improvement of the country; so that the export of the “dust” is no -criterion of the yield. - -Bridges, ferries, roads, watercourses, dams, hotels, and stage coaches, -have nearly all been started by means of the capital obtained from the -soil over which they run, or on which they are constructed. No one knows -what a waggon will undergo, until he has mastered Californian trails and -gulches. The worst places are the steep descents that skirt the base of -a mountain, where the road has an inclination of about thirty degrees -towards the precipice beneath. - -In such places you may fasten a rope to the axle of the waggon, and -passing the other end round a tree or rock as a check, you may let her -“slide,” which she will do without any further trouble on your part. - -We were now approaching a spot where a few days previously the Indians -had made some successful descents upon mining parties, cutting off some -of their number. The Indians of this region promise to be a great -annoyance, for they are mounted and brave, and are gradually becoming -possessed of rifles. - -There is an Indian commission in the country, and portions of -territory, called “Indian Reserves,” have been marked out as in other -states, and presented to the Indians from their good father, the -President. These “Reservations” the Indians accept and occupy, but the -lurking idea still remains, that the rest of the country is theirs also, -and in the mean time they “lift hair,”[14] from time to time, to keep -their hands in. - -When Indians, labouring under the ridiculous notion that anything can -belong to them that the white man wants, become troublesome, it is -customary to drive them back; but the Indians of this region when so -driven, will find their revenge in carrying on an exterminating warfare -against the overland emigration--at least so it appears to me. - -Still, the policy of conciliation pursued by the “Commissioners” is the -only one that lies open, and if they can persuade these savages “that -half a loaf is better than no bread,” they will have carried out their -diplomatic mission to its full extent. But it is easier to lull Indian -suspicions than to eradicate them; and unfortunately for all parties, -these aborigines cherish morbid ideas relative to the “graves of their -fathers,” from which, under the influence of diplomacy, they have been -induced to retire: and certainly in those cases, where their progenitors -have been buried in auriferous soil, their remains are not more -religiously respected than would they have been had their fate consigned -them to some of our intramural burying grounds. For although, in a -civilised country, one’s great grandmother’s skull may be thrown up with -impunity, when her lease of the grave is out, these Indians cling to the -absurd superstition that the great “Manitou” looks wrathfully on those -who wilfully disturb the dead! - -We ascended hill after hill, and by noon, being hot, tired, and dusty, -the scenery had no longer charms for our eyes; we passed gigantic -red-woods only to sneer at them; we pooh-pooh’d cascades that fell from -masses of black basaltic rock; the honeysuckles that lent their -sweetness to the air around us, were pronounced disgusting; and even the -botanist reproached the yellow poppies with being “stinking,” as if _he_ -couldn’t have borne with them. - -But when we pulled up at “Smith’s ranche” and bathed and dined, we -dismissed these unhealthy feelings, and took the honeysuckles to our -bosoms again. We now began to experience the change of air consequent on -our increased elevation, and the ascent was so rapid here, that thirty -miles ahead of us the snow was reported to be lying fifteen feet in -depth. - -Where we now were, the main trail was little worn, but at a certain -point we struck off to the right through the forest, and following the -“blazed trees” we suddenly emerged on a clear and rocky ledge on the -side of the mountain. Here was the quartz vein we had come to see, and -its thirteen American owners lived upon the spot in a couple of log -huts. - -We were received with great hospitality, although this was of less -substantial kind than it would have been, had not our entertainers been -“out of everything” but flour, water, and tea. We had fortunately -brought some provisions with us, otherwise we might have indulged in the -luxury of a mountain appetite longer than was conducive to comfort. -During two days we inspected the quartz mine, and having to the best of -our ability satisfied ourselves of its wealth, we retraced our road to -Sacramento, taking care to avoid the residence of the “old she goat,” -but calling on Crockett, whom we again found with his “skin cracking” at -some imaginary insult to his wife. - -When we reached San Francisco we found that preparations were going on, -on all sides, for erecting brick and stone buildings in lieu of -combustible shanties. - -The style of architecture in vogue was less remarkable for cunning -design than for its sturdy fireproof qualities; and although the square -houses, with their thick walls and double doors, and shutters of strong -iron, and bomb-proof cellars underground, added little towards the -embellishment of the city, it was no time to think of elegant façades or -imposing friezes when the first object was the security of life and -property. Each building, then, was intended to assume the character of a -fortress to resist the common enemy of the place; and from that day to -this, this end has been fortunately carried out, and the heart of the -city is impervious to fire. - - - - -CHAPTER XIV. - - JOE BELLOW--STOCKTON--A BEAR TRAPPER--BEAR AND BULL FIGHTS--AN - UNEASY BEAR--CALIFORNIAN INNS--NATURAL ROADS--GOOD DRIVING--I KILL - A FLEA--SONORA--THE EVENING COMMENCES--FRENCH EMIGRANTS--A DRINKING - BAR--NUMBER EIGHTY--A CORRAL AND A MORAL. - - -_September, 1851._ - -So many reports had reached San Francisco at this time of the discovery, -in various parts of the mining regions, of auriferous veins of quartz of -immense wealth, that all that portion of the population who were in -waiting for something to turn up had already departed for the mountains -in search of gold rock. - -Although not exactly belonging to this class, it was my destiny to hear -from one Joe Bellow an account of a certain mineral district, a portion -of which, it appeared, had been showered by Fortune into his lap. His -description was resistless. His natural volubility, trained as it had -been by his professional duties as an auctioneer, overcame all obstacles -that I could raise, and I succumbed to his earnest entreaty that I -would visit the mine in question and feast my eyes, as he had feasted -his, on the glittering wealth which nature had here exposed to view, and -of which he extracted a specimen from his pocket of the most -satisfactory description. - -The mine was situated in the vicinity of Sonora, the chief town of the -southern mines; and as, independently of my curiosity to inspect it, I -wished to visit that section of the country, we started at four o’clock -one evening in a small river boat called the “Jenny Lind,” bound to -Stockton, a town situated on the San Joaquin River. - -On starting from San Francisco for the mines, it was but natural to bid -adieu to cleanliness and comfort for the time being, and, having so -fortified myself, I was better able to withstand the intolerable filth -of the “Jenny Lind.” She has since “blown up,” which is about the only -thing that could have purified her. - -At daylight we arrived at Stockton, which I shall allude to more fully -by and by, and at once landed and secured our places in the stage then -about to start for the town of Sonora. - -The stage coach was of American manufacture, and of the class known as -“Concord” coaches. It carried nine inside and two out. Our driver was a -colonel, and his name was Reed. He was one of the best of whips, and, -as proprietor of the line by which we were now travelling, he was making -money very fast. Having been forestalled in the box seat by a very hairy -miner, I completed, in company with Mr. Joe Bellow, the complement -inside, after paying the gallant colonel an “ounce” for passage money. -This was a “reduced fare,” occasioned by an opposition having lately -made its appearance on the Sonora road; the bare mention of this -emulative vehicle raised the colonel’s “dander.” With a crack of the -whip we started at a good pace, behind four well-built, active beasts, -not over-groomed, or “turned out” very expensively as to harness, but -famous goers, and good for ten miles an hour over the plain. - -Lines of stages now traverse the country in every direction, and there -is scarcely a canvass mining village that is debarred from communication -in this way with the principal towns. The horses used by these lines are -of the best quality, for a Yankee stage driver knows wherein true -economy lies; but the capital required to start a line is very -considerable, and as soon as the profits begin to “tumble in pretty -freely,” as Colonel Reed remarked, up starts an opposition; for -stage-driving is a favourite speculation! Our inside passengers -consisted of a young Canadian woman, who travelled under the protection -of an ill-looking dog, a kind of Irish Yankee, who was very quarrelsome -and bumptious, and carried his revolver in a very prominent position. We -had two or three miners, who, as a matter of course, brought their -rifles and blankets with them into the coach, and who squirted their -juice at passing objects on the road with astonishing accuracy. We had, -however, one decided character. This was a man who, as he gratuitously -informed us, was professionally a bear hunter, bear trapper, and bear -fighter; who, in fact, dealt generally in grizzly bears. When he shot -bears--and it appeared he lived in the mountains--he sold the meat and -cured the skins; but when he was fortunate enough to trap a fine grizzly -alive, a rich harvest generally awaited him. The grizzly was immediately -transferred, bound head and foot, to a large and strong cage; and this, -being mounted on the bed of a waggon, the animal was despatched to some -large mining town in the vicinity, where notice was given, by means of -handbills and posters, that “on the Sunday following the famous grizzly -bear, ‘America,’ would fight a wild bull, &c., &c. Admission, five -dollars.” - -A bull and bear fight is, of all exhibitions of this description, the -most cruel and senseless. The bear, cramped in his limbs by the strict -confinement that his strength and ferocity have rendered necessary, is -placed in the arena; and attached to him by a rope is a bull, generally -of fine shape and courage, and fresh from the mountains. Neither animal -has fair play, and indeed, in most instances, each one avoids the other. -The bull’s power of attack is weakened by the shortness of the tether, -whilst the bear, as above mentioned, has scarcely the free use of his -muscles. - -The bull invariably commences the attack, and the immense power of the -bear’s fore-arm is then exemplified; for, raising himself on his hams, -he meets the coming shock by literally boxing the bull’s ears; but this -open-handed blow saves his entrails, and the bull swerves half stunned, -whilst his horns graze Bruin’s skin. But if the bull approaches in a -snuffing, inquisitive kind of manner, the bear will very probably seize -his enemy’s nose and half suffocate him in his grip. The fight generally -ends without much damage on either side, for the simple reason that -neither of the combatants means mischief. - -I was sleeping one night at Campo Seco, a mining village in the southern -mines, the houses of which were, for the most part, composed of canvass, -the “balance,” as they say here, being of muslin. The camp was very -full, as on the day previous, Sunday, a long-expected fight had come off -between a grizzly bear and a cinnamon bear. I had heard that, after an -uninterrupted embrace between the two of about four hours, the grizzly -had been declared the victor, which was not so extraordinary, -considering that he weighed about 1200 lbs., and that you could not have -driven a tenpenny nail through his hide, whilst the cinnamon’s weight -was quoted at 400 lbs. I was “putting up” with an acquaintance who kept -a store in a small canvass house, and he having, with true mining -generosity, opened a bale of new red blankets for my temporary -accommodation, I was soon asleep. About daylight I was awoke by what I -imagined to be the moaning of a man in pain, and the occasional -disturbance of the canvass wall nearest my sleeping-place satisfied me -as to the locality. The moaning soon became deeper, and occasionally the -canvass yielded to some heavy weight that pressed against it. Presently -was heard a smash of crockery and a tremendous roar; upon which my host -started up, and, placing a revolver in my hand and seizing his rifle, he -rushed out of the tent, vociferating, “Come on.” Following him into the -adjoining room, which formed his kitchen and occasionally a stable for -his old mule, my eyes at once lit upon the cinnamon bear, whom my host -had provided with lodging at the nightly charge of one dollar. The bear -was fortunately chained to a strong stake in the centre of the hut, -otherwise, “all smarting, with his wounds being cold,” he looked, -judging from as much of his eyes as one could distinguish in his swollen -face, as if it would be grateful to him to set-to with something as much -smaller than himself as he was smaller than his late antagonist. Upon an -after inspection of his chain I ascertained that its length would have -admitted his gratifying this desire on my carcase, had he tumbled -through the canvass partition which had separated us for the night. - -The weather being at this time fine and the roads in good order, we -passed, throughout the whole length of our journey, innumerable waggons -laden with winter provisions for the mines; and droves of mules--patient -little brutes, some as small as donkeys, staggering under barrels of -liquor and cases as big as themselves; each drove led, as a matter of -course, by an old white mare with a bell. - -As we neared the Stanislaus River, distant thirty miles from Stockton, -every one inside became sociable, except the Irishman, whose jealousy -had been aroused to a fearful pitch by J. Bellow, who entertained the -fair Canadian in French, a language unknown to her protector. During -our journey J. B. had not been inactive, having already disposed, -conditionally, of sundry bags of sugar to the miners, and a box or two -of German cigars to the bear hunter; samples of these articles having -been extracted from his capacious pocket. Crossing the river Stanislaus -at a fordable spot, we pulled up at a large wooden house, and alighted -to dine and wash off the dust with which we were covered. - -The immense traffic carried on on the roads that lead to the mining -regions affords an extensive field for the profitable management of -houses of entertainment. These may be encountered at almost every mile -throughout the whole country, and they vary in size from a wooden -two-story house to the very smallest kind of canvass shanty. - -There seems to be a certain hour of the day for every traveller in -California to breakfast, dine, or sup; and should he not arrive at a -roadside house at one of these specified hours, he will get no meal; and -could the traveller by any possibility be present at each and every -hostel at the same moment, he would find a stereotyped bill of fare, -consisting, with little variation, of a tough beefsteak, boiled -potatoes, stewed beans, a nasty compound of dried apples, and a _jug of -molasses_. He would then sit down at the summons of a bell in company -with all the tagrag and bobtail of the road who might have congregated -for the repast in question: and, if inclined to follow the custom of the -country, he would, with the point of his knife, (made blunt for this -purpose) taste of the various condiments, butter included, that were -ranged before him, and, selecting as many of these as were suited to his -taste, he would pile them on his plate, demolish them with relish, and -depart on his way in peace. Travel where you will in California, you may -rest assured that of the foregoing will your meal be composed, and in -nearly such a manner must you eat it. - -Dinner over, we mounted a strong spring waggon in exchange for our -covered coach, which had too much top hamper for the mountain trail we -had before us. We had now six horses, all American, good sound cattle, -that had come to California across the plains, and were well broken in -to crossing gulches and mud-holes. We were soon in a different style of -country. Hitherto we had been crossing a level track across the Stockton -plain, interrupted by an occasional dive into a dry gulch; now we -commenced at once to ascend the hilly country which first indicates the -approach to the mining regions. The road to Sonora, as indeed to most -places in this country, has never been laid out by Government, but is, -in fact, a natural trail or path marked out by the first pioneer waggons -that passed that way, deviated from, from time to time, as experience -indicated a shorter cut; receiving no assistance from the hand of man, -and encountering a vast number of obstacles from the hand of nature. - -For instance, we arrive at a part, that, skirting the base of a hill, -presents a rapid declination to the left, which is a very hard and -rocky-looking ravine. Colonel Reed exclaims, as he places his foot on -the break, which works from the box, “Hard up to the right!” upon which -the insiders loll their heads and bodies out on that side of the vehicle -to preserve its equilibrium. We had to “hard up” a great many times -either to one side or the other, during which time J. Bellow always -considered it necessary to assist the fair Canadian; whereupon the -Irishman looked fierce and talked large, but finally one of the miners -told him, in a quiet but unmistakeable manner, that “if he didn’t ‘dry -up’ he’d chuck him out of the stage.” Whereupon the Irishman did dry up -for the rest of the journey; and shortly after arriving at Sonora we -heard of his being detected attempting to pass off _bogus_, or imitation -gold dust, and he narrowly escaped being lynched by the mob. In the -course of the afternoon I obtained the box seat, and engaging the -colonel at once on the subject of horseflesh, I soon obtained from him a -great amount of useful knowledge on the subject of American stock, of -which I am a great admirer. As we neared Sonora, the colonel’s attention -was almost entirely occupied by his team, for in many places the trail -led through deep gulches, into which previous volcanic eruptions had -showered an infinity of small cindery rocks, which, close enough -together to prevent wheels getting through them, were just sufficiently -high to capsize the cart if the wheels went over them. We arrived at the -summit of a “used up” crater, and, having a long descent of this -description before us, the inside passengers were ordered out; the break -was put on, worked by the colonel’s leg on the box. I held on according -to orders. We slided down in famous style, first over on one side then -the other, the colonel occasionally addressing his team with “D---- you, -don’t touch one of them!” meaning the rocks, through which we were -picking our way. But, near the bottom of the hill, we got our off-wheels -into a _mud-hole_ and declined gently on that side, a fine specimen of -volcanic formation preventing the waggon from going over altogether. The -colonel, without hesitation, made all his passengers hang their weights -to the near side of the waggon, and, sitting on my lap, with a crack of -the whip he started the whole concern, and sent it flying and swaying -from side to side to the bottom of the hill. Here we pulled up, and the -colonel, relieving me from his weight, observed, in extenuation of what -might otherwise have appeared a liberty, “that he was obliged to be a -little _sarcy_ on this road.” - -[Illustration] - -Fleas are very prevalent in the southern mines, and my first -introduction to the species was in this wise. The colonel turned -suddenly to me, his hands being occupied with his ribbons, with “I -guess there’s a flea on my neck;” and I perceived on the instant that -there was a large, broad-shouldered insect, refreshing himself on the -place indicated, in apparent oblivion of all around. As in duty bound as -box seat, I pulled him off and put him to death, the colonel remarking -as he nodded his thanks, that he generally had three or four of the -“darned cattle put through” in that fashion during the journey. - -With so many teams and waggons on so narrow a trail, there is -occasionally much disputing for the right of way. Men carry arms on the -road as a general rule; but very seldom use any worse weapon than their -tongues in these disputes. In a very awkward descent we found the road -entirely and unnecessarily blocked up by a waggon, drawn by eight yoke -of oxen. The Colonel at a glance recognised a teamster with whom he had -previously had many words on the same subject, and he opened fire by -ordering him to his own side of the road; to which the teamster sulkily -acquiesced after some delay, our driver, as he passed, threatening him -with a “lamming” on the next convenient occasion; to which the teamster -replied by a promise of blowing the top of the colonel’s head off; which -so incensed the colonel, that he forgot himself, and rising in his -seat, solemnly assured the driver of the ox team, that at some future -period nothing should deter him from “spiking” him; to which the driver -replied with such a shout of derision, that, believing as I do in the -colonel, I have no doubt that before this the teamster has met his fate, -and is a _spiked_ man. The colonel felt very “ugly” for some minutes -after this, but soon recovered his equanimity of temper. And here I -shall take leave of him, for we now approach Sonora; the sun was -disappearing behind the red wood trees that capped the surrounding -mountains; we began to pass rapidly through mining villages and mining -populations, of which more anon, and after dashing through several bad -places, in which, as the colonel remarked, the best driver might get -_mired_, or stuck in the mud, the town of Sonora appeared in sight; and -dashing in at full gallop, we pulled up at the principal hotel. - -It was dark when we entered Sonora; and as the habits of the people here -are nocturnal, the evening may be said to have commenced as we alighted. -It certainly had commenced, for Greenwich Fair might be spoken of as a -sober picture of domestic life, compared to the din and clamour that -resounded through the main street of Sonora. On either side were -gambling houses of large dimensions, but very fragile structure, built -of a fashion to invite conflagration, though offering little of value to -the devouring element when the invitation was accepted, which it was -about every other night or so. In most of these booths and barns the -internal decorations were very glittering; chandeliers threw a brilliant -light on the heaps of gold that lay piled on each monté table, whilst -the drinking bars held forth inducements that nothing mortal is supposed -to be able to resist. On a raised platform is a band of music, or -perhaps some Ethiopian serenaders, or if it is a Mexican saloon, a -quartet of guitars; and in one house, and that the largest, is a piano, -and a lady in black velvet who sings in Italian and accompanies herself, -and who elicits great admiration and applause on account of the scarcity -of the fair sex in this region. - -Each gambling house is full; some are crowded, and the streets are full -also, for it is Saturday, a night on which the miners flock into Sonora, -with the avowed intention of purchasing necessaries for the ensuing -week, and returning the same night; but, seduced by the city’s -blandishments, they seldom extricate themselves from its temples of -pleasure until very early on the ensuing Monday morning, when they -return to their _camps_ and _long toms_,[15] and soothe their racking -headaches by the discovery of chunks of gold. - -The Mexican population preponderates in Sonora and its vicinity, and -nearly everything is stamped with their nationality. The gambling tables -are surrounded by them; and, dirty fellows as they are, they are very -picturesque at a distance with their slouch hats and long serapes. The -American population, between whom and the Mexicans a rooted hatred -exists, call the latter “greasers,” which is scarcely a complimentary -sobriquet, although the term “greaser camp,” as applied to a Mexican -encampment, is truthfully suggestive of the filth and squalor the -passing traveller will observe there. Sonora has a large French -population, and to this Gallic immigration is attributable the city’s -greatest advantages; for where Frenchmen are, a man can dine, which is -very important. The “_Trois Frères Provençaux_,” has its namesake here, -where good cooking and excellent light wines are at all times to be -relied on; but where Frenchmen are, there are also good bakers; and -there is, moreover, a great deal of singing and gaiety, and good humour, -which is a pleasant contrast to the coarser hilarity of a generally very -drunken population. - -The long bar of a saloon is always actively engaged, and the bar-keeper -must be prepared for all demands in all languages. Here he serves a -Mexican group with _agua diente_; now he allays a Frenchman’s thirst -with _absinthe_, in the pouring out of which he displays much art; again -he attends with rapidity to the demands of four Americans, whose -_orders_ embrace respectively, a “gin-cocktail,” a “brandy-straight,” a -“claret sangaree,” and a “Queen Charlotte;” these supplied, he must -respond with alacrity to the call of a cockney miner, whose demand is -heard even above the surrounding din: - -“Hain’t you got no hale hor porter?”[16] - -J. Bellow expounded a great deal more than I have attempted to describe, -before we had been many minutes at Sonora. As soon as we had bathed and -freed ourselves from the dust with which we were covered, and which, -perhaps from its having been ground off an auriferous soil, resembled a -fine rich plate powder, we dined at a French restaurant and commenced -our perambulations: not before J. B. had conducted me to his residence. -This was situated in the main street, and was a small canvas house -rather ostentatiously placed between two glittering saloons. The -interior consisted of one large room, filled with stores and -provisions, and another very small apartment in which J. B. slept. The -front of the house was entirely occupied by black letters, more than a -foot in length, which, so soon as you got far enough off to read them -all at once, informed you that Joseph Bellow carried on the business of -auctioneer. In one of the saloons, a very interesting and well-looking -young girl was attending at a part of the bar where confectionary was -sold. I should not have supposed her to have had black blood in her -veins; but J. B. assured me that she had been a slave, and had been once -sold at New Orleans at a very high price, which he mentioned, and I -ascertained this to be true; she was free now, but freedom had come too -late, I suspect, to bring much value with it to her. J. B. knew every -miner in the place, and to each he had something to say, and with most -he took something to drink. It was, “Well, Jones, how did those pickles -suit you?” and if Jones disparaged the condiments in question, as he -probably did, it was, “Well, let’s have a drink: allow me to introduce -my friend, Mr. M----,” and if I had not managed to elude him, I should -have had to shake hands with every man in Sonora on the first night of -my arrival. - -I had been directed to a place called Holden’s Hotel as a sleeping -place. The lower floor formed the gambling saloon, in which were the -Ethiopian serenaders already alluded to; the upper being converted, as I -had understood, into sleeping apartments. On applying at the bar for a -bed, I was requested to pay a dollar and enter my name on a slate -opposite a vacant number; 80 it was. I wished to go to bed, and was -directed to mount the staircase and find No. 80 for myself. On reaching -the second storey, I found myself in a long and dimly lighted room of -the same dimensions as that below, and round and about which were ranged -about a hundred wooden stretchers, covered with canvas, and furnished -each with one dark-blue blanket, and a small bag of hay to represent a -pillow. It is satisfactory to me to remember, that, so far from -expressing surprise, I displayed a stoicism that would have brought the -blush through the vermilioned cheek of a Pawnee warrior; I wound my way -through the settees, most of which were occupied, until I arrived at one -on the head of which was a card bearing my number. A glance assured me -that the bag of hay that rightfully belonged to me was there, but that -the blanket was not. A momentary inspection further developed the fact, -that on all the occupied stretchers were two or more blankets, whilst -the unoccupied beds had been denuded of this covering. Having been -educated as a midshipman, it is needless to say that to be in possession -of _three_ blankets, for it was cold, and an extra bag of hay, was the -work of a moment; and making myself as snug as I could in No. 80, I was -soon asleep, notwithstanding that the chinking of the monté-bankers, and -the noise of the crowd below, and the calls for brandy-smashes, and the -chorus of the serenaders, were by no means “fainter in the distance;” -and no wonder, for close to No. 80 there was a chink between two planks, -so wide that I could see “Bones” lolling out his tongue at the public, -as he accompanied the chorus to the popular song of “Charlestown Races.” - -I awoke about daylight, very chilly, and found that my blankets had -disappeared. The law of reprisal had been fairly enforced, and one -cannot always be _wide-awake_. It was a comfort to me to reflect, that -he who took the blankets, took the fleas that belonged to them; and as -these creatures feed about daylight, _I had the best of it after all_. -It was a capital idea of the landlord’s, to have all the blankets of the -same colour, for as every man deposited his revolver under his head -before retiring for the night, it prevented all possibility of the joke -becoming serious. - -As I have already observed, the Spaniards enclose their wild horses in -a “corral.” Here, closely packed, the best horse kicks himself into the -best place, and keeps it. These wholesale human dormitories are also -called corrals, and the principle is much the same as regards the -occupant; you must kick or get kicked--and indeed for that matter the -whole world is conducted on much the same principle. - - - - -CHAPTER XV. - - THE GOLD MINE--THE INNOCENCE OF SONORA--SUNDAY IN SONORA--SELLING A - HORSE--CARRYING WEAPONS--BOB--WE LEAVE VALLEJO--WE ARE “BOUND TO - GO”--THE SHADOW OF A CROW. - - -_September 1851._ - -Early the next morning I proceeded on horseback with Joe Bellow and an -engineer to the mine, which was situated near a mining village called -Tuttle-Town. To reach this spot we had to cross a table mountain, so -covered with the débris of former volcanic eruptions, that it was a -perfect cinder-heap upon a large scale. The ground reverberated as we -passed over concealed craters, and for two or three miles we were -confined to a foot pace, as we picked our way through the rough boulders -that lay half buried in the earth, like a field of winter turnips. - -The Tuttletonians were not actively employed at the time of our arrival, -principally from the fact that the diggings had “given out.” - -The quartz vein, however, was there, and after a day’s inspection, I was -satisfied that in external appearance at least it bore out the report -that Joe Bellow had given of it. To the man who wants more money than he -has (and few of us are free from that craving), the sight of massive -veins of rock, peppered with specks of gold, is a trying spectacle. - -As he sits upon a boulder on the outcrop, and extracts a piece of pure -metal with the point of a knife, he is subject to a thrill which I am -afraid is indicative of the sordid ideas of his nature;--when he -descends the shaft, and by the aid of a candle still beholds the specks -of gold, he draws a long breath, in mental contemplation of the wondrous -wealth before him; then when the wealthy seam is placed at his service, -on terms so easy that it appears quite thrown away, in all probability -he will do as I did, swallow the bait, hook and all. The opinion of the -engineer was highly satisfactory, as engineers’ opinions generally are; -we therefore returned to Sonora, where I plunged at once into the -subject of mining statistics. I remember now how ridiculously plain the -whole matter appeared; here was the gold,--you could see it and feel -it,--well, all you had to do was to get it out! Argument would have been -wasted upon any thick-headed fellow who looked upon the matter -in any other light. But none such existed,--all Sonora was -quartz-mine-mad,--and although no machinery had as yet reached this -region, shafts were being sunk, and adits cut, in every hill around the -town. One mine, which extended from the rear of the principal hotel, was -owned entirely by Cornish miners; these had sunk two deep shafts, and -connected them by a gallery, by which means two or three hundred yards -of the vein were laid bare. - -This vein was called the “Englishmen’s mine,” and it had not only the -merit of being sufficiently rich to all appearance to justify the -erection of machinery, but it was about the only lode that had been -scientifically opened by miners, and which was ready without further -expense to supply any amount of ore. But up to the time of my leaving -the country, the owners of this vein, although Englishmen, had not been -able to exert sufficient interest to get it “looked at,” and if this -incident should be read by any victim who has had two and twopence -returned to him in exchange for the sovereign he invested in California -Mining Companies, let him not as he contemplates his “small returns” lay -the blame on the quartz rock of the country, for I assure him that the -cause of failure is much nearer home; but of this I shall speak in its -proper place. - -Sonora is dependent for existence on the surrounding mining population; -it is a town with a resident population of about three thousand souls, -but with accommodation on the corral principle for about ten thousand -more. Sonora is advantageously situated in one respect, inasmuch as it -is irresponsible for the morals and conduct of its floating population; -if Sunday is desecrated in Sonora by five thousand pleasure-seeking -miners, Sonora washes its hands of that. - -Sonora is one large house of entertainment for bonâ-fide travellers; and -although nearly every one makes a point of travelling thither on a -Saturday, to have a “burst” on Sunday, and return in penitence on -Monday, Sonora washes its hands of that,--otherwise I should say that -Sonora in 1851 was as loose a community as was that of San Francisco in -1849. - -No church bells here usher in the Sabbath; but auction bells arouse the -inhabitants equally to a full sense of the duties before them,--the sun -shines for Sonora on this day alone, and in accordance with wise maxims, -the population commences early to make hay. - -The miners prefer buying everything at auction, and although I imagine -the purchasers suffer in the long run by this principle, the “loafers” -gain by it; for (supposing you are a loafer) you have only to mix with -the crowd of bidders, and take out your clasp-knife; you can then make -an excellent meal from the samples exposed to view, presuming always -that your constitution will stand a mixture of salt butter, Chinese -sugar, pickles, and bad brandy. Joe Bellow was an auctioneer, and -certainly he understood his business. Long before his sale commenced he -would place a keg of butter, or a bag of dried apples, outside his -store, and the miners would surround these luxuries like flies. Joe -Bellow’s object was to get a “crowd” and this accomplished, the auction -would commence in this style:-- - -Joe Bellow takes his stand on a cask in the midst of his samples, and -startles you suddenly with “And I’m only bid one dollar for a dozen of -mixed pickles; one dollar, one dollar, one doll--try them, gentlemen.” -In the meantime Joe nods to an imaginary bidder in the distance, and -rattles on, “One and a half, one and a half, one and h--” “Doo,” says a -Dutchman, with his mouth full of pickled gherkin. “Two dollars I’m -offered for a dozen of mixed pickles.” “Dos y medio,” says a Spaniard, -under the influence of a green bean. “Ah! Senor Don Pacheco,” says Joe, -“son los escabéches d’Inghelterra, muy buenos, muy finos!” - -“Have I any advance on two dollars and a half?” “Trois piastres,” says a -French restaurateur. “Three dollars I am bid for a dozen of pickles that -cost five dollars in the States, Tenez! Monsieur Leon voici des -cornichons comme il faut. Three dollars, three doll’s, three -doll’s”--“Dree-and-a-half,” says the Dutchman, to whom they are finally -knocked down, just as an old miner observes that “darn him if his knife -aint turned blue with the darned vitrol juice.” No description, however, -can do justice to the rapidity with which Joe Bellow knocks down his -lots, or to the easy impudence with which he meets all disparaging -remarks from his tasters; and such is human nature, that even in the -mines, where few simpletons are to be found, there was no butter so -rancid but Joe Bellow could dispose of it on a Sunday by means of his -volubility and soft-sawder! I heard a Dutchman enquiring very anxiously -one day for some one in Sonora whose name he did not know;--“What is he -like?” said one, but the Dutchman was apparently not apt at description, -and no clue could be gained; at last he spluttered out, “Tyfel! I mean -dat man dat cries always ‘bickel, bickel, bickel,’” and everybody knew -at once that Joe Bellow was the individual required, and directed the -Dutchman accordingly. - -The auction extending as it does across the street will be interrupted -most probably by a Mexican funeral procession, headed by a brass band, -playing dolefully; scarcely has this filed by when the same - -[Illustration: HORSE MARKET--SONORA.] - -band will return to an inspiriting tune, accompanied by merry-andrews -and torredores, who proclaim the day’s amusement in the bull arena. A -man goes rapidly by on a lean horse he is selling at auction; he is bid -twenty dollars for a flea-bitten roan, “Will anybody say twenty-five?” -Half-an-hour elapses, and back he comes, will anybody advance on thirty -dollars?--By-and-by he is seen tearing through the street, scattering -Joe Bellow’s pickle-eaters to the right and left, and sending the mud -flying into the sample keg of butter,--going for forty dollars, going -for--and as he does not appear again upon the scene, it is presumed that -the animal has either been sold, or withdrawn until the ensuing Sunday. - -The horses that are sold this way are not very showy, nor do they fetch -much, but it may be remarked that if the high-priced horses that are -occasionally sold with us on account of their owners “going abroad,” -were first subjected to a four hours’ galop, over a stony road, in -presence of the bidders, many of them would be “knocked down” for even -less than are these Californian ponies. - -For these animals have at least the advantage of possessing four sound -legs, and unless my experience much misleads me, three are as many as -you can reasonably expect in any animal whose pedigree will admit of a -gentleman mounting him. Civilisation has done for horses, what in some -instances it has for their masters, improved their exteriors at the -expense of a ruined constitution. I wonder what Choctaw would think, if -he could be made to comprehend the fact, that there were horses of twice -his size and strength who couldn’t “feed” without the aid of gentian, -just as their masters take a glass of “vermeuthe” before dinner to -“gammon an appetite.” - -In Sonora, every man carried arms, generally a Colt’s revolver, buckled -behind, with no attempt at concealment. In countries where men have no -protection from the law, and the vicious preponderate, this is -necessary. And although it is much to be deplored, that this necessity -did exist, its consequences were less deleterious to society than would -have been expected. For the fear of the law, in the best regulated -community is not so strong as the fear of sudden death; and if quarrels -and assassinations were rare, comparatively, in the mountains, it was -owing to the fact that every man was able to protect himself. It is -generally inferred, as a matter of course, that where all men carry -arms, blood is shed on the first passionate impulse, and life is not -safe. This is not so; it is where all carry arms that quarrels are less -rare, and bullying less known than elsewhere, although the population -may be more vitiated and intemperate than that of other countries. - -From the fact of all men being armed, robberies are less frequent in the -mines than would be expected, and in most cases where murders have been -perpetrated, the victims have been unarmed. - -There are many countries where the carrying of defensive weapons is -imperative as a preventative against outrage, but to those who from -choice or necessity visit such places, this Californian rule may be of -some value:-- - -“Never draw your pistol unless you intend to use it.” - -Previous to the last San Francisco fire I have recorded, burglaries were -so common, that it became necessary to carry fire-arms after dark, more -particularly as the streets were not lighted. An acquaintance of mine -was walking late one night through a street which was apparently -deserted, and in which one dim light alone shed a sickly ray from over -the door of a closed restaurant. As he reached this spot, a man started -from the obscurity, and requested with the politeness of a Claude Duval -to know the time. With equal civility, my friend presented the dial of -his watch to the light, and allowing the muzzle of his revolver to rest -gracefully upon the turnip, he invited the stranger to inspect for -himself. Slowly the latter advanced, and the sickly ray gleamed likewise -on the barrel of his “six-shooter,” as with some difficulty he satisfied -himself respecting the time. - -Both then prepared to depart, and for the first time the light fell on -their faces; then these desperate fellows discovered that they were no -burglars, but old acquaintances, who had dined in company on that very -evening. - -But this is not the only part of the world where it is prudent to look -on every man as a rogue until you know him to be honest. - -Having completed my mining calculations to my entire satisfaction -(unfortunately), I returned to Vallejo, and on my arrival there -discovered that the order for this young city had been countermanded by -the government. Everybody was preparing for departure, and as the place -owned a justice of the peace, writs were being served in every -direction. My hotel[17] was placed under execution on account of the -two horsetails, before-mentioned; the law was arrayed against me, but as -in Vallejo the law’s authority was represented by one man, and the -individual supposed to be amenable was represented by another, the law -did not always get the best of it, and as far as my own case was -concerned, it consisted in requesting the sheriff to leave the premises, -which he did gladly enough, having business of his own to look after. -Many of those who come overland to California, bring one or two young -blacks from the plantations with them; these of course if not previously -freed, become so on their arrival, but they are in all cases much -attached to their masters, and are very useful servants, so much so, -that they assume great importance and begin to think that nothing can be -done without them. I was amused one day at overhearing one of these -young niggers, who being aroused from his sweet slumber, under a waggon, -by his master’s reiterated cries of “Bob,” drew himself slowly out and -muttered, “Bob here, Bob there, Bob everywhere; b’lieve, by Gad, you -could’t come to California without Bob.” “What’s that you say, sir,” -said his master, who unluckily heard the last part of the speech. There -was no reply, but Bob made for the hills there and then, and his guilty -conscience would not permit him to appear for three days, when he -returned very thin, but set himself to work so assiduously, that it -really did appear as if nothing could be done without him. - -I paid a short visit to San Francisco, and returned with such stores as -I thought necessary, and with these, Barnes and Thomas started at once -for Tuttle Town. - -Among these stores was a bale of canvas, of which I determined my next -Californian house should be built, and a barrel of gunpowder, with which -I contemplated disturbing the bowels of the earth. - -Rowe had decided upon accompanying me, a circumstance which I shall -never regret, for he was in every respect an excellent companion to the -day I parted with him. In mountain life, a friend whose tastes are -congenial to your own is indeed an acquisition; for each happiness is -doubled then, and let misfortune come as it will, its sting is ever -allayed by the sympathy of one true heart beside you. - -With the “Old Soldier,” “Choctaw,” “Tiger,” and “Bevis,” we embarked -late one evening on board a Stockton steam-boat; this latter was -naturally a slow boat, but she managed to perform her journey in as -good time as the rest, for her engineer was a famous fellow, who held -life cheap, and maintained as his creed that “she was bound to go -anyhow;” so she went anyhow, trembling fore and aft, with an engine-room -full of steam, and a blaze from her funnel that lit up the banks of the -river on either side. There were few passengers on board, which was -fortunate, as there were few sleeping bunks. - -It is not customary to undress when seeking repose in these bunks; in -fact, decency forbids you doing so; for they are openly exposed on -either side of the saloon, and this latter is generally filled up, for -the best part of the night, by card-players. - -A placard informs you that “gentlemen are requested not to go to bed in -their boots;” but as the proprietors do not guarantee that your boots -shall not be stolen if you take them off, this request is seldom -complied with. I remember attending a political meeting in a little -church at Benicia; in each pew was a poster, which requested that you -would neither cut the wood-work, nor spit on the floor, but the -authorities had provided no spittoons, so, as a gentleman observed to me -whilst inside the sacred edifice, “what the something was a man to do -who chewed”? - -At daylight we were at Stockton, and landing our horses we were soon in -the saddle and making the most of the cooler part of the day. Nothing -worthy of mention occurred on our journey, excepting that at the end of -forty miles our animals were as fresh as when they started. We pulled up -to dine at the Stanislaus, which river we crossed in a ferry. An -acquaintance of mine once crossed at this spot under peculiar -circumstances. He was proceeding from one digging to another, and had -three quarters of a pound of gold dust sown up in his pantaloons; he was -an Englishman, and after the manner of many of his countrymen, he -carried an umbrella, which nothing could induce him to part with. - -There was no ferry in those days, and when he arrived at the banks of -the river, he determined to swim across; but then his clothes and the -_umbrella_, how was he to get these across, and how could he go over -without them? He was seized with an idea, and at once acted upon it; -extending his umbrella, he placed his clothes inside, and fastened a -line to the handle; with one end of this in his mouth, he plunged into -the current, and struck out manfully with his boat in tow for the -opposite bank. But the gingham, like most experimental vessels, leaked -so much on her first cruise, that when the centre of the stream was - -[Illustration] - -reached, nothing could be seen above water but the vessel’s mast head, -which was represented by an ivory hand clasping a round ruler. Now the -order of things became reversed, for the current was strong, and having -taken firm hold of the umbrella, the question was whether to go down the -stream with it or let it go. The latter course was adopted, not on -account of the gold dust or the clothes, but from a pure and unshaken -attachment to the parachute itself. After some effort, not unattended -with danger, “gingham” was safely brought into port, but on beaching it, -the cargo had vanished. Madam, our adventurer had a straw hat on his -head with a very narrow brim, and with this article of attire and his -umbrella, he proceeded for about seven miles without encountering a -soul, when he reached what had been an encampment. The diggers had left, -but there was as much second-hand clothing lying about as would have -furnished a regiment. Selecting the best of this and washing it, my -friend was soon equipped, and went on his way rejoicing; rejoicing for -this reason, that although gold dust and clothes had gone to the bottom, -he had not only saved his precious umbrella, but had newly equipped -himself from a “ready-made clothing mart,” with no bill to pay. - -[Illustration] - -The road was very dusty and the heat intense, but nothing seemed to tire -our beasts. The last part of our journey consisted of a gradual ascent, -and in many places the ground was covered with small round rocks, that -would materially have impeded the progress of most horses; but Choctaw -allowed no obstacle to arrest his long swinging “lope,” and the Old -Soldier, with his tongue lolling out of his mouth, followed his protégé -unflinchingly. I have sketched these two worthies; the Old Soldier, it -will be perceived (to show that he has still a kick left in him) is -expressing his disgust at the shadow of a crow that is thrown on the -road, whilst Choctaw, still suspicious, plants his Indian legs among the -loose rocks with an accuracy really marvellous. Before night we arrived -at Sonora, having by a circuit that we purposely made, completed a -journey of nearly seventy miles. - - - - -CHAPTER XVI. - - I EXPLAIN TO THE PATIENT READER--PIONEERS--A LADY’S - BOOT--MAINSPRING--MEXICAN ROBBERS--VICTIMS OF PREJUDICE--WORKS ON - AMERICA--TWO PIGS--POWER OF THE HUMAN WILL. - - -_Sept. 1851._ - -In less than a fortnight we had a couple of canvas houses erected at -Tuttle Town; each of these had a large fire-place and chimney, built of -mud and stones, and surmounted by an empty barrel for a chimney-pot, -after the popular architecture of the mines. Rowe and I occupied the -small shanty, whilst in the larger one I had Barnes, Thomas, and a -couple of English miners. - -Our houses faced the main street of Tuttle Town; this at the time was -indicated by stakes, there being as yet but three buildings in the -place. Higher up the hill and near the main shaft were eight Mexican -miners, whom I had hired for the purpose of quarrying the ore; having -supplied these with about twenty yards of canvas, half a dozen raw -bullock hides, an unlimited quantity of beans and a frying-pan, they -made themselves very comfortable in their own way. I must not omit to -mention that I had a canvas stable for our four horses, not that these -required any shelter during the warm dry nights, but simply because I -wished to avoid the inconvenience of losing twelve of my party at once, -and finding some morning that my four horses and eight Mexicans had -departed in company. Most of the Mexicans of California are from -Sonora,[18] and horse-stealing is a characteristic weakness of that -country. These people become such adepts at this trade, that I dare say -if a party of them were to visit New York, they would steal the woolly -colt out of Barnum’s Museum, although to lure a dead horse from a man of -that gentleman’s acuteness, would require a great amount of ingenuity -and patience. - -Having now established myself at the mines, it is incumbent on me to -explain to the patient reader my exact position there, as otherwise I -shall be accused of having attempted to accomplish that for which I was -incapacitated, a censure which I do not wish to be applied to me -otherwise than as an author, in which quality I must perforce admit its -truth. - -My object at Tuttle Town was to test the value of the quartz vein -there, and if with the assistance of such miners as I had engaged, I -could satisfy myself that the vein held out sufficient promise of -remuneration, it had been agreed between myself and a friend at San -Francisco (he whose death I have recorded) that sufficient machinery -should be erected to give the ore a fair experimental trial. - -Amateur performances are seldom successful; and whether he wishes to -fatten short-horn bullocks for an agricultural show, or take the helm of -his yacht in a race for the cup, your amateur in one way or the other, -generally “comes out wrong.” “Chacun a son metier,” is a motto more -generally applicable than we are willing to admit, although there are -few of us who have not tried something that we had no business with. -Still man is emulous and vain, and until the end of the world fat -Muggins will waltz, ignorant Foodle will talk, and travellers like -myself will appear in print, and let us appear ever so ridiculous to -others, we cannot, and will not, acknowledge that “every one to his -trade” applies in any degree to us. But where a new course is opened for -emulation, all may start in the race, and former experience bore so -little on the subject of the quartz mines of California, and the means -of extracting the gold therefrom, that I entered upon my new employment -with no more difficulties to contend against than others in the same -field. And this, be it understood, should always give courage and -confidence in a new country, for although a little more retiring modesty -would become both Muggins and Foodle (not forgetting myself in a -literary capacity), the same diffidence in the mines of California would -act as a bar to the research and experience so necessary for that -country. And however we may fail in our exertions we ought not on that -account, as is too often the case, to be ridiculed, for the failure of -one brings experience to the many, and some one must “pioneer” the road. -The prudent wait until the track is clear and the way is easy, and when -every tree is blazed and every obstacle removed, they advance chuckling, -of course, as the miner does who follows the prospecter; thus the -pioneer and his follower resemble two boys, one of whom will not enter -the river until his companion has tested the temperature of the water -and the depth of the stream. - -The quartz mines of California were discovered and opened almost -entirely by men who had no previous knowledge of gold mining, therefore -in many respects they worked in the dark, and from want of capital their -hard bought experience served only to benefit others. - -But the more fortunate of these bands of pioneers are now receiving an -ample compensation for the privation they suffered, the toil they -underwent, and the ridicule with which they were assailed. Auriferous -quartz has been found in numerous cases to yield a rich return, even to -the unscientific miner in California; how great then must be the wealth -amassed, one would suppose, by those experienced gentlemen, who, with -capital at their command, have been deputed by English companies to do -the same work on a larger scale. Yet experience has proved that the -great mining captains of the age have nothing to laugh at, even in the -unsuccessful efforts of such a worm as I. - -Unity and goodwill had been so long established amongst my little party, -that we were soon comfortable in every respect, and actively employed. -The vein extended for about half a mile, and the three spots I selected -for exploration had each its band of men sinking a “prospecting” shaft. - -Rowe and I had ample employment in superintending the operations, and -testing the samples of ore that were daily selected from each pit; so -with windlasses and buckets, crowbars and drills, gunpowder and fuze -matches, pestles, mortars, retorts, and quicksilver, we each of us had -our occupation, and were happy as the day was long. The quartz was -sharp and cut like glass, so we wore deer-skin “trowserloons,” our -beards grew, our muscles increased to an alarming extent, our manners -were less toned down than was usual, in fact they were _swaggering_, our -appetites were very large, but for all that we were so happy that even -the pleasures of the “little valley” fell into insignificance before -those of our Tuttletonian life; and this arose in a great measure from -the fact that we all entertained a strong belief, that one day or other -our labour would be rewarded. - -Who talks of hope and disappointment in the same breath? Shall a day of -the one efface or tarnish the recollection of a year’s happiness -brightened by the other?--Not with me whilst I live. “See here, now, -boys,” said a Tuttletonian miner, one day, as he held up to an admiring -crowd a small and well-constructed lady’s boot. “The chunk aint found -that can buy this boot; ’taint for sale, _no-how_!” - -A lady’s boot to you, or I, reader, is not much unless we are married -and have to pay for a pair occasionally; but so long as we can associate -our hopes of earthly happiness for the future with some emblem held out -to us even at arm’s length, as was the miner’s “lady’s boot,” we may go -on our way to work as did his gratified spectators more cheerfully and -light of heart. - -[Illustration] - -When a man recals some sensation with more than ordinary pleasure, it is -very usual for him, particularly if he is a writer of travels, to ask -you if you have experienced the same. Says one “reader, did you ever -witness a sun-set from Chimborazo?” Says the other “reader, did you ever -eat a mangostein?” Unfortunately the reader is unable to reply until the -description of these wonders has been perpetrated. I have alluded to -this custom in excuse for asking the reader if he ever groomed his own -horse and derived pleasure from it? If not, I recommend him after he -has managed Chimborazo and the mangostein to try it. Mainspring’s coat -was daily rubbed by me, when my own coat hung neglected on a peg; but -the fact is, he was a very handsome horse, and in the mines such a -rarity is a passport. With the natural vanity of man, I found that -Mainspring attracted more attention than I did, so I allowed my beard to -run to seed, and bestowed all my pains in beautifying the dumb animal. - -You, madam, who have viewed with pleasure the envious glances that have -been cast on the lovely bonnet you wore at Chiswick, will understand the -emotions I felt when miners left their pits and claims to pronounce with -less spleen upon the beauties of my steed. - -The Old Soldier and Choctaw were seldom groomed; the mud in which, of -course, they wallowed, was generally removed from their coats with a -spade, and on grand occasions they were finished off with a broom. Rowe -had a cream-coloured mare that was considered by the miners “some -pumpkins,” an expression which indicates great merit, and is equally -applied to a chew of tobacco, or the President of the United States. - -We generally rode into Sonora of an evening, for we were always in want -of something, and our drills and pickaxes, in particular, soon became -blunted by the hard quartz, and had to be tempered again by the Sonora -blacksmith. We would return by moonlight, and had always to pass through -a camp of Mexicans of the worst character; these fellows not only cast -their covetous glances on our horses in open daylight, but on more than -one occasion they attempted at night to entrap us into a position that -would have left us unable to defend either our lives or our beasts. They -had a quantity of curs in their camp, and these, as we rode through in -the moonlight, would rush out, being set upon us, and worry us on all -sides with their yelping; they would follow us, howling, for some -distance, and our natural impulse was to shoot them with our revolvers, -for they were like wolves, but we were soon wise enough to refrain from -discharging our fire-arms, for we should thus have left ourselves -defenceless, against the half-dozen mounted ruffians we would encounter -higher up the road, waiting, undoubtedly, for this result. - -Two armed white men need fear little interruption from Mexicans provided -a proper amount of caution is exercised, and no sign of trepidation is -evinced. But their first principle is to attempt to throw you off your -guard, therefore the best rule in meeting such men is to insist at once -that they do not approach within the distance at which they can throw -their deadly lasso, a weapon more formidable in the dark than fire-arms. -Whenever, singly or with Rowe, I met a party of mounted Mexicans in the -mines, I drew up on one side of the road until they passed, and after -dusk I took the precaution of warning them to a respectful distance, nor -was this unnecessary, for the Mexicans encamped round Tuttle Town -committed many murders, and my horse alone was sufficient inducement for -them, independent of the sums of money that the necessities of my party -often required me to carry of a night. - -One morning on entering the canvas stable that adjoined my hut, I -discovered that Mainspring was gone; his halter had been cut, and there -was no doubt that he had been stolen. Fortunately a drizzly rain was -falling sufficient to moisten the ground, and this had probably set in -about an hour after the thieves had removed the horse at the risk of -their lives. Without some knowledge of Mexican cunning, it would have -been useless to have attempted to track a stolen horse of Mainspring’s -fleetness. We presumed at starting that he had been taken over the table -mountain in our rear, as his foot prints could leave no trace behind for -some miles in that direction. - -Rowe and I then started on the search, and after crossing the mountain -we halted at a gulch. With some trouble we discovered at last that the -horse had crossed here, for he had one cutting shoe, the heel of which -left a slight imprint; from the gulch we traced him to a tree, and here -the ground being covered with dead leaves and brushwood, all sign was -lost. Accident favoured us, for a few miles further on we again hit his -trail at another gulch, but here he appeared to be returning. A close -inspection, however, proved that his shoes had been turned, for the heel -of the cutting shoe was on the wrong side, still we lost him again among -the trees, and as evening advanced we began to despair. But soon we -arrived at a Mexican encampment, and here by some stupid oversight on -the part of the thieves, Mainspring’s rug was left lying exposed on the -ground. All had protested their ignorance of the matter on our arrival, -but now with the blanket staring them in the face, they soon produced -the horse from a distant tent in the bushes, and assured us that a man -had left it there that morning, and had gone on his way. - -But a Mexican who was sleeping in a tent in mud-splashed clothes was the -thief, I knew: he started when I roused him up suddenly and held the -blanket before his eyes: but he swaggered out in apparent unconcern, -and lighting a cigarito with admirable sang-froid, he began to play at -cards with one of the others. I was too glad to recover Mainspring, to -care about troubling myself by taking the Mexican back to Tuttle Town on -suspicion, and I dare say he was not sorry when Rowe and I departed, for -a horse thief in the mines has not much chance of his life when -detected, and of this he is fully aware. It has ever puzzled me on -reflection, that where so much pains had been taken to remove all trace -of the horse, the glaring evidence of the theft should be left forgotten -in open daylight, and I am inclined to think that the horse thieves -considered themselves safe from pursuit, and were rather surprised at -our appearance. From that day our horses were chained and padlocked -every night. - -The American residents of our mining village were very sociable and -kind, and the good feeling they evinced towards us added materially to -our comfort. - -Englishmen and Americans are for the most part the victims of prejudice, -and when they meet, too often each one expects to find in the other one -who is prepared to depreciate and misunderstand him and his country. -They approach each other like two strange dogs who stand head and tail, -with bristling hairs, rubbing their ribs together with an angry scowl, -for no reason on earth except that they are two dogs. - -It may have been my fortune to have effaced some false impressions -respecting my countrymen from American minds; but, at all events, I have -had an opportunity of divesting myself of much prejudice by a social -intercourse with them. - -It is asserted that the Americans are great boasters, and I grant that -retiring modesty is not the chief characteristic of the race; but it is -right to remember, that for a long period, the Americans have been -rather depreciated than otherwise, and unmerited depreciation will -probably induce a habit of boasting more than anything else. When we -tell our friend reprovingly not to blow his own trumpet, we presume that -such merit as he possesses will be fully acknowledged. Public opinion -has not until latterly dealt fairly with the Americans in all respects, -and it is perhaps for this reason that they sound their own praises with -stentorian lungs; if they have not been justified in doing so they have -at least practically overturned that old saw of our revered ancestors, -that “those who _talk_ most _do_ least.” - -American character is necessarily very varied, and nowhere is this more -clearly perceived than in California, where all classes, freed in a -great measure from conventional restrictions, appear in their true -garbs. I do not presume to write of American character, I can only -record my experience of individuals as I have seen them in the shifting -scenes of colonial life; but I think that I have had sufficient -intercourse with Americans of all grades to warrant my asserting that -foreign historians have too often unfairly paraded their faults, whilst -their own writers have in many instances erred equally on the side of -their virtues; I believe therefore that there is ample room on our -bookshelves for one fair unprejudiced work on the people of the United -States of America. Man is ordained to be charitable, and authors are -not, that I am aware of, exempted from this command; if, therefore, in -writing of a people, a little more pains were taken to discover their -virtues, and a less wholesale principle was adopted in regard to the -record of their vices, great good might be done to the nation written of -and no harm that I know of would accrue to the author. The man who can -kindle a warmer feeling in one nation towards another by displacing, -with a little judicious reasoning, the prejudices that may affect the -latter, waves a stronger wand than the most bitter satirist that ever -lived and wrote. - -Our vices are generally uppermost; this was exemplified in the “Old -Soldier,” for your first acquaintance with that animal might possibly be -cemented, as it were, by a kick in the ribs, or a bite on the shoulder; -but, recovered from this shock, the longer you knew him the better you -liked him; and the old fellow, when once satisfied that you were _his_ -friend, would appear to you in a very different light than when under -the influence of suspicion, justified, I’ll be bound, by the experience -of his life, he attempted to do you a mischief. - -I do not wish to compare this poor beast with a man, much less a nation, -but the simile serves me so far as to illustrate the fallacy of first -impressions as applied either to man or horse; yet, while all -acknowledge this for a truism, we find that half the books of travels -that analyse so fearlessly the character of the people visited are -valueless as commentaries on them, either from hastiness or unfairness -of opinion, on the one side, or laboriously-studied partiality on the -other. But seldom does the work of an alien run into this latter fault, -and most books on America remind me of a volume of Veterinary Surgery, -of which, open what page you will, you are met with a description of a -curb or a splint, a spavin or a ring-bone, with the author’s directions -for a complete cure! - - * * * * * - -How small a trifle will disturb, at times, the even current of one’s -life; let me recal the sole drawback to our otherwise complete -contentment at Tuttle Town. - -One of our neighbours had two pigs, and these, like all four-footed -animals in the mines, had a roving commission, and lived by nocturnal -plunder. This practice we could bear with, as much from our reverence -for pork, as from the fact that it was a free country for man or pig. -But these wretches took a fancy to scratching themselves, in the dead of -night, against the canvas shanty that Rowe and I inhabited; there were -plenty of posts, but they preferred a shanty; now, as the only hard -substances they could find were our recumbent bodies, as we pressed -against the canvas wall, the pigs scratched themselves against us, and -as this occurred for about four hours every night, accompanied by the -satisfactory grunts which the temporary alleviation of cutaneous disease -elicits from the pig, our rest was continually being broken upon. We -kept water boiling, and waking up suddenly we would scald them, we -harpooned them with crowbars, damaged the vertebræ of their backs with -the sharp edges of spades, fired blank cartridges under their noses, and -scarified them with a deadly fire of broken bottles; but to no purpose, -they would come back and rub us out of bed again regardless of any -injury we could do them. The owner of them was absent, and there was no -“pound,” honour forbade our shooting them, and we never could catch them -to “corral” them. So, for the best part of a twelvemonth, we were -nightly roused up by these intruders, who itched so badly that they -rubbed our frail tenement out of the perpendicular. Soon they had a -litter, and then, while they still rubbed, the little pigs would get -under the house and squeal, and although we kept a long pole with a -steel fork attached to it, with which we tried to “grain” them, as we do -dolphins at sea, yet it was to no purpose, and they did as they liked -with us up to the day we left. At first we used to set the dogs at them, -but, being savage combatant pigs, rendered reckless by a free life, they -would stand at bay with their sterns bulging against our tent, which -they evidently mistook for the rock which was “to fly from its firm base -as soon as they,” which it nearly did on one or two occasions; moreover, -the dogs had enough to do to keep off six donkeys and about a dozen -curs, who were generally very musical when the moon was up. - -I mention this circumstance because we hear so much of the power of the -human will, and I am satisfied that a pig’s will is stronger; and it is, -moreover, not only a traveller’s duty to record a fact, but he is -expected likewise to discover something new. - - - - -CHAPTER XVII. - - YIELD OF GOLD--ITS DURATION--MORMON GULCH--THE DISTRIBUTION OF - GOLD--TUNNELLING--DAMMING RIVERS--HOLDEN’S GARDEN--ENERGY IN THE - MINES--QUARTZ-MINES--QUARTZ MINING SUCCESSFUL--THE AUTHOR GETS OUT - OF HIS DEPTH. - - -_October, 1851._ - -The diggings in our immediate vicinity were not actively worked, as -there was not sufficient water for the purpose; this, however, was -shortly to be remedied, for companies composed of miners were at work in -every direction, conducting water from the rivers to the dry diggings; -and at this moment new plots of auriferous soil are daily being added to -the area of “paying ground” in the mines by the artificial introduction -of the water which nature has denied to them. Most of these companies -have received handsome returns; the charge to each miner supplied with -water being about two shillings a day. - -This affords another instance of the successful employment of capital -originally procured by gold digging; and if you wanted a few shares in -one of these young companies, you could procure them without money, for -by taking your coat off and helping to cut the ditch, you could in six -months work yourself into a very respectable stockholder. I suppose each -traveller who returns to his home from California, whether he is an -Englishman or a Sandwich Islander, is questioned on all sides as to -whether the “diggings” are nearly exhausted? This is easy to answer in -the negative, but then follows a query far more difficult to reply to, -viz., “when will they be?” Conjecture must necessarily have much weight -in determining this problem, statistics of the past or present yield of -the placers being almost valueless for that purpose. Yet this should be -a question of very great financial importance, and not alone as regards -the probable duration of the twelve million sterling now annually -exported from California. For we must consider how far we are sustained -by facts in presuming that the present yield of this country will be -doubled, nay, quadrupled annually before the surface-soil is left again -as once no doubt it was, valueless in gold. Of course, the gold mines -must some day be exhausted; let us see then how far we are justified in -supposing this day to be, comparatively speaking, distant, as regards -California. I offer the following remarks with the avowal that they are -of worth only as the crude opinions of one who has had nearly all that -practically bears upon the subject brought before his notice, but as -they will necessarily be dull and heavy as a blue book, I recommend the -generality of those who have followed me thus far, to skip this chapter, -which they probably will do with all the rest of the book. - -For you, reader, who have sent to the circulating library for the -“Newcomes,” and have had this book forwarded you as a “new work,” (the -“Newcomes” being out,) can scarcely be expected to peruse in your -present state of disgust, a chapter on gold mines: I therefore dedicate -this “paper” to two individuals, one of whom shall be the gold mine -victim before alluded to, as contemplating the two and twopence he -received for his invested sovereign, and the other is that unknown man, -who, in the _ennui_ of a long sea voyage, shall peruse, mayhap, as I -have done before to-day, the pages with which his trunk is lined. - -Mormon Gulch was the name of a ravine that was about a hundred yards -from my tent, it was reported to have been the wealthiest digging in the -mines, and according to rumour, half an hour’s work with a clasp knife -or tin spoon, had invariably enriched any of the fortunate Mormons who -first discovered it in 1848. Since those days, however, the earth, or -stones rather, for these preponderate, had been turned over again and -again, each time yielding less, until the soil ceased to return -sufficient remuneration to the only process of labour that could be at -that time applied to it. But before now water has been conducted there, -and by the more wholesale process of sluice-washing, the gulch claims -are again up in the market. - -By-and-by we shall hear of the sluice-washing companies having deserted -the gulch, and perhaps for a short period the red stony gravel will lie -idle; but soon steam-engines and some process of securing the gold by -amalgamation with quicksilver, will brighten up old Mormon Gulch again, -and there is no knowing how remote the day is, when its red banks shall -for once and all, finally and for the twentieth time, be reported to -have “given out.” - -The history of Mormon Gulch, and the future I have sketched for it, is -applicable to every ravine in the country, so far as this, that each -auriferous flat or gulch will be subjected to certain processes, until -at last the appliances of steam and science shall have robbed every -square foot of earth of the treasure it contains. - -Now, if all the gold territory of this country had been seized upon and -worked at the time that Mormon Gulch was first discovered, we might form -some estimate of the time when machinery should be brought to bear -generally upon the placers; but as yet we cannot ascertain the amount of -gold-bearing soil that exists; for not only are fresh diggings still -brought to light, in the vicinity of the original discoveries, but we -have ample proof that plenty lies beyond in the direction of the Sierra -Nevada, which now, from the presence of hostile Indians, cannot be -disturbed, and indeed, for the present, is not wanted. - -The number of those who are now actually collecting gold by mining in -California, may be computed at about one hundred and forty thousand men. - -The obstacles that are alike presented by the extremes of the wet and -dry seasons, will not admit, probably, of these miners working for more -than two hundred days in the year, and the average daily sum amassed by -each man, may be fairly quoted at three and a half dollars, or fifteen -shillings. - -This will give an annual yield of twenty-one millions sterling from -California, and I have no reason to doubt that this sum is obtained, -although it does not (for many reasons) appear in the reported exports -of specie from the country. - -Now, if this sum can be annually realised by the exertions of -comparatively so small a body of men, who have even at the latest dates -no better plan of securing the gold than by a rude system of washing, -what may we expect when machinery is employed, and labour concentrated? - -Those portions of the placer fields that would reward manual labour with -less than one or two dollars a day, are as yet unmolested, for as yet -the ruling rates of wages in the mines is higher, being guided by the -average yield. Therefore it is difficult to place a limit on the amount -of auriferous earth that now, rejected by the miner, will, by the proper -application of machinery and the reduction of labour, eventually produce -a vast return. There is scarcely a hill-side but gives evidence of the -existence of gold, but although this soil will not at present repay -manual labour, no one can suppose that the metal will be allowed to rest -there undisturbed. - -The distribution of gold in the soil is most eccentric, and this is -attributable probably to three causes:[19] firstly, that for the most -part it was disintegrated from the matrix during the stupendous volcanic -action to which all the gold territory of California has been subjected; -secondly, that it has been carried to and fro by vast masses of water, -the result of heavy rains, or more probably of heavy falls of snow in -the mountains, that have suddenly melted and carried all before them; -finally, from the land-slips and accumulations of upper soil that must -necessarily result where steep hills of gravel have been for ages -subjected to the sudden transitions of wet and dry seasons. - -I tread very carefully whenever I find myself on the geologist’s ground, -bearing in mind my scientific friend at Murderer’s Bar, who reached the -bottom so much quicker than he desired; therefore I can only suggest; -and the two readers to whom this discourse is dedicated, whilst they -deplore the ignorance which prevents me leading them through a labyrinth -of formations and stratas, must place something to my credit on the -score of modesty. - -Wherever gold is discovered in California, particles of quartz are found -adhering to it more or less; this quartz, even when found at great -depths, is generally rounded by the action of water, for quartz, when -detached by violent action, is naturally angular, and inclined to -splinter, and from its hardness it must require ages to give it the form -of a pebble, by the slow process of grinding it receives in a -comparatively dry mountain gorge. This, taken in conjunction with the -facts that the gold is found now on the surface, and now low down -resting on the bed rock, here forced into clefts of granite, and again -in clusters of small pear-shaped nuggets, as if the metal had been -ejected by intense heat, and had dripped from the volcanic boulders that -lie scattered around; tends to bear out the supposition that -disintegrated gold has been cast into places that time and accident -alone can reveal, and that the original opinion that the gold was on the -surface only no longer holds good. - -Tunnelling has already been applied to rich hills in the mines with -great success, and this fact alone is of great importance, in so far -that it leaves us powerless to place a limit on the amount of auriferous -soil that is imbedded in the small round hillocks that extend over a -space of nearly four hundred miles, north and south. - -Where ingenuity aided by science is at fault, a very slight clue will -often accidentally lead to the solution of a problem; thus much capital -has already been devoted to the damming of those streams in California, -of which the banks were found to be wealthy; but in few instances -hitherto have the beds been found to be productive: yet they must be so -at some point, unless we are to imagine, what is improbable, that gold -has been carried by rain water to the verge of a swift stream, and then -has been arrested there without any apparent obstacle. - -There is something capricious about this metal in its released state; a -search for it, even where evidence of its existence has been shown, is -seldom attended with success, yet every day almost chance brings to -light some fresh gold field. - -I remember a gentleman who, taking an early Sunday walk among the hills -that surround the town of Sonora, struck his foot against a stone. He -should have found a sermon in it, for he was not likely to find one -anywhere else, but in the agony of a mutilated great toe, he turned and -apostrophised the rock in unbecoming language; but he suddenly checked -his impetuous feelings, and we will hope from a good motive; whether or -no, the offending quartz was so richly coated with the dross that we -make a point of despising when we can’t get enough of it, that he took -it home. It was found to contain more gold than quartz, and yet within a -few hundred yards of a populous city, it had protruded itself -ostentatiously without notice for two or three years. - -It is difficult to understand why gold remained so long undiscovered in -California, considering that so much of it was on the surface, even in -those parts of the country already inhabited by whites. The Indians, -who will search assiduously for the flints they require for arrow-heads, -do not seem to have been aware of the existence of gold on the plains, -although the savages of the as yet unexplored mountain districts, are -found with gold in their possession. The early Spanish priests evidently -sought for it without success, judging from the old shafts that have -been sunk, on part of the banks of the Stanislaus River; and yet these -explorations were ineffectually made in the centre of a rich district, -and by a class of gentlemen who were never in the habit of overlooking a -good thing. Some of the best diggings have been discovered by -market-gardeners, who have chosen some apparently valueless tract for -the purpose of cabbage growing, and it is a fact that one man with more -energy than agricultural experience, who was abusing the earth for -producing cabbages that were all stalk, found on rooting up one very -lengthy specimen, that a piece of gold adhered to the roots. - -Holden’s garden, near Sonora, is a case in point; this was found to be -so rich, that the gamblers of the town sallied out to take possession of -it, and a fight occurred, in which one or two lives were lost before the -“claims” could be adjusted. - -For four years Holden’s acre of cabbage ground has been worked with -great profit, pieces of gold of many pounds weight each have been taken -from it, and to this day it is a rich digging, as times go. - -It is possible that both my readers have heard of a certain Irish pig -that could only be induced to go in one direction by being at the onset -driven in another; it is somewhat this way with the search for -gold.--Start on a voyage of discovery for copper or coal, and you will -probably, if in a gold region, tumble down and break your nose over a -nugget as large as a paving stone; but if you give chase to the -seductive metal itself, the toil of a lifetime will very likely not -counterbalance the first week’s privation. - -In respect to gold-fields, even if our argument leads to no definite -conclusion, it is something gained if we can determine that no sign of -diminution of yield is as yet apparent,--as regards the future, the -wisest can only record an opinion. I believe for my part that the -gold-fields of California will certainly yield in an equivalent -proportion to their present produce for many years, even if the diggers -are left to their own resources;--what may be done with the soil -eventually, when capital shall increase in the mines and _from the -mines_, is a question as impossible to solve as that of the advance of -science in other respects within the next half century. - -The miners of California are a highly intelligent and determined race, -possessed of a degree of _mechanical genius_ that surprises me; they -have before them a large area of soil, which they, equally with myself, -believe still to be most wealthy. They may by-and-by have the advantages -of foreign capital to help them; but if not, the capital that their -sinews can accumulate ounce by ounce from the gold soil will, in the -long run, so far answer the end, that the hills will be burrowed and the -streams turned, until the wealth is sifted from them, and then they have -a gold territory, as yet partially explored, to fall back upon--the -first range of the Sierra Nevada. - -Now, like enterprising farmers, they sow again perhaps one half of the -year’s harvest, until each fertile spot shall be in cultivation, -multiplying and fruitful; and so long as we see that the gold from the -soil is turned against the soil in the all-powerful form of capital, -aided by science; and so long as we know that what is separated to-day -by the “long tom” may to-morrow be devoted to the erection of -steam-engines and the sinking of vast tunnels; we know that a great -system of improvement is being carried out independent of _all external -aid_: and in the facts that on every side attest the strong faith the -miners hold themselves in respect of the inexhaustible nature of the -soil, and in the evidences of success that meet us at all points, where -fresh inventions are applied, we have the best guarantee that the -“placers” of California are in a state of progressive improvement. - -The reader will better understand this when I state that the miners of -California have many of them had six years experience, are naturally men -of ability, and are now in positions of independence, though still -miners. The popular opinion respecting gold miners, is that of a body of -rough, vagabond, long-haired men, who work one day with a tin pan and -get drunk the next; this is perhaps what they were, to some extent; and -San Francisco, which owes existence to the mines, was then a canvas -village, given up to dissipation; but the tents have disappeared from -Yerba Buena, and we have in their room a large and substantially-built -city; equally have the mines changed, and the “vagabond population” -stands forth in the shape of engineers, excavators, mechanics, and -cunning inventors, and, better still, organised bands of labourers, who, -under the guidance of these first, bring profit to themselves and -benefit to the country generally. - -The quartz mines of California must now be reviewed, for, in connection -with the probable future yield of gold, they occupy a prominent -position. - -In that column of the “Times” which is expressly devoted to a review of -the Share Markets, some half-dozen Californian quartz mine operations -will be found daily recorded; these, for the most part, are in a very -sickly state. Why they are so is no business of mine; but the fact is no -criterion of the value of the quartz lodes of California. - -The quartz formation stretches in one great vein across the country for -nearly three hundred miles in a north-westerly direction, and this main -lode is throughout more or less impregnated with gold, excepting where -it has been disturbed by volcanic eruption. From the main vein -tributaries branch out on either side, throughout its length, and many -of these possess undoubtedly sufficient wealth to repay labour, if this -is properly applied. I say this cautiously, for I know something now of -the traps and pit-falls that beset the path of the quartz miner. These -are among them: you have rich and partially decomposed lodes that enrich -you with a nest of gold on the onset, but lead you a wild-goose chase -into the bowels of the earth before you find another; you have broad -lodes white as alabaster, speckled in parts with gold, but from which -you must quarry more valueless quartz than the “paying seam” will -compensate for; and you have lodes that are liberally and evenly -diffused with gold, but contain so many properties antagonistic to -amalgamation by quicksilver that the metal you seek can only be secured -by a most expensive process. These are the lodes that do not pay; and by -this time probably the mining community here know as much of them as I -do. - -But a great number of veins, worked unostentatiously by American -companies, are giving very satisfactory results; a _larger_ number are -paying their expenses only, but with good prospects of improvement. But -I must direct attention to this fact; the amount of profit derived from -quartz-mine speculations is not of so much importance to my argument as -the number of quartz mines being worked. If many of the lodes now open -in California are bringing at present a smaller percentage to their -owners than was anticipated, fault perhaps of imperfect machinery and -false economy, they are none the less of importance as affecting the -question of the yield of gold. For although the hundred ounces per day -that pass through the stamping-mill may scarcely leave a profit on the -expenses, the hundred ounces are none the less added to the gross daily -yield of the country. Palpably plain as this is, I mention it because we -are apt, when speaking of gold quartz mining as comparatively profitless -to speculators, to forget that the gold is for all that compressed from -the rock; and it is with this alone I have to do. - -But as it may be observed that operations that combine so much risk of -failure will shortly be abandoned, particularly in a country where money -commands so high a rate of interest, I must mention these facts. - -In the first place, many American mining companies are already paying -handsome dividends, and those which are least successful have, in most -instances, their machinery to blame more than the vein, on which it is -erected; but everything is in favour even of those who are thus -situated, for improvements in machinery start up on every side, labour -and the expense of living is diminishing rapidly, whilst fresh -developments bring new aspirants continually into the field. For there -is something about quartz mining that is seductive; fail as you will, as -long as some are successful around you there is a “never-say-die” -feeling which ever prompts to fresh exertion in the same field. - -I shall not attempt to draw conclusions from an estimate of the number -of veins that are now being profitably worked, or the amount of gold -that may be derived from them in California, as that country is still in -a state of transition, and not yet ripe for figured calculations. I can -only fall back again upon my belief, that where gold exists ready to -man’s hand, as it does in the great veins of California, the people of -that region are not likely to allow it to remain slumbering. - -Having now shown that the material, the capital, and the energy exist to -warrant a belief amounting almost to a certainty, that an amount of gold -will yet be produced from California that will throw into the shade the -millions that have already been acquired, I leave it to others to argue -how far the same facts apply to Australia, Oregon, and other gold-fields -as yet less perfectly developed. I scarcely dare guess at the sum that -the next ten years will see produced from California, but call attention -to this fact, that seven years have elapsed since the discovery of gold, -and as yet no apparent sign of exhaustion is manifest, although all -predicted, from the first, that the auriferous soil was but superficial. -Had this prophecy been borne out to any degree by experience we might -have made a calculation; as matters stand, all tends to the belief that -the best is yet to come. Nor should it be overlooked that the price of -labour in California is still slightly _higher_ than in Australia, one -country being four years older (in gold discovery) than the other, and -both necessarily regulating wages by the profits of the gold-field. - -When I have stated that twenty millions sterling are annually produced -from California, and that as yet no probability is apparent of a less -yield for some years, I have said as much as comes within the province -of my narrative. - -How far gold may be eventually permanently depreciated by the addition -of five hundred millions, to the specie currency of the world, is a -question for financiers, and those who have gold enough to care about -the value of it; but ten years of successful work in the gold-fields -already discovered, may produce that sum, and in all probability will. - -There is but one question more: is gold already depreciated in value? As -measured by labour and property undoubtedly it is; for it matters not -whether in speaking of a gold country, we say that gold is cheap, or -labour is dear: as affecting the question the terms are equivalent. Like -a stone thrown in the water, the effects of a gold country spread from -it in widening circles; the increased value of labour there is diffused -to places more remote, and consequently the depreciation of gold is -diffused also. If the farmer here, affected by the extending influence -of the gold-field, already pays more for his labour, he may individually -counterbalance this loss by receiving a higher price for his wheat: -still his gold (supposing these effects to be perceived) represents -less labour on the one hand, and less property on the other. But it will -be argued that such a depreciation is caused by the indirect means of -emigration, and that this is temporary. Granted: but if it is a -depreciation, may it not last, in a temporary way, as fresh gold-fields -are discovered, until it is supplanted by the permanent depreciation -which will arise when the vast influx of precious metal shall first make -itself felt throughout the world? - -Already out of my depth, I leave the foregoing remarks as they stand, -and the reader will observe that they are only suggestive. If I have -allowed myself to plunge from a firm bank of facts into a small puddle -of conjecture, with which I had no business, all I can say is that I am -very sorry for it, and will wade out of it as fast as I can. - - - - -CHAPTER XVIII. - - TRANSPORT MACHINERY TO THE MINE--THE CARPENTER JUDGE, AND CONSTABLE - ROWE--CUT-THROAT JACK--GREASERS--FRENCH MINERS--JOHN - CHINAMAN--CHINESE FEROCITY--THE FEAST OF LANTERNS--CHINESE - DESPOTISM--FALSE SYMPATHY. - - -_November, 1851._ - -In the course of three months we had collected two or three hundred tons -of ore, and as the tests we daily made still bore out our preconceived -opinions of the value of the mine, I proceeded to San Francisco for the -purpose of procuring the steam power and machinery requisite for a trial -of the metal we had quarried. - -The life of the quartz miner at this date was tortured by doubts; he was -ever in doubt as to the value of his rock; he was ever in doubt as to -the depth of his vein; and he was ever in doubt as to the machinery best -adapted for securing gold; nor is his position, taken generally, much -happier in these respects at the present time; and I will be bound, sir, -that the directors who led to your victimization,[20] and the -subordinates that they employed, are as much trammelled by these doubts -as any quartz miners I could mention. - -I was profoundly meditative on the subject of machinery as I jogged -along on the Old Soldier to Stockton. I recalled to mind that for -pulverising the rock we had stampers, rollers, grinders, and -triturators, which you pleased; that for amalgamating the gold with -quicksilver we had “trapiches,” “erasteros,” wooden tubs, and iron -basins, which you pleased also. That we had design No. 1, that had been -so successfully employed by Professor A, in the Ural Mountains; design -No. 2, that Professor B had made his fortune with (by selling the patent -though), and which had never failed in the Swiss Cantons, where gold was -rather scarce than otherwise; and design No. 3, an infallible invention -by Professor C, an American gentleman, who hadn’t sold his patent yet, -but was quite ready to part with it for a consideration. All this I -knew, but I was also aware that none of these plans had been attended -with complete success; some were too simple in construction and too -slow, others were too complicated in mechanism and too fast and furious. - -One machine would catch every metal the quartz contained except the -gold; another would allow everything to give it the go by, except the -refuse tailings that were not wanted; none secured the gold but those -which required _more manual labour_ than it would have been profitable -to employ. - -When, therefore, I arrived at San Francisco I determined on trying a -newly invented machine which had not yet been proved in the mines, but -which looked very promising for my experimental work; with this, and an -eight horse power steam engine, I returned to Tuttle Town. - -It was hard work to get the boiler of the engine over the mountains, for -the rains had commenced to fall, and in many places the mud was very -deep. Three or four days’ rain entirely change the character of the -Sonora road; and wherever there is a hollow in which the water can -accumulate, there, throughout the winter, you have a quagmire which -becomes deeper as each fresh waggon or mule passes through it, until at -last having become impassable, it is avoided by a circuit, which one -traveller having made every other traveller from that day follows. - -Although I had given the boiler two or three days’ start, I found it on -arriving at Table Mountain, with the worst part of the journey still -before it; however, we had sixteen yoke of oxen, and after a couple of -days of great trouble, the machinery was at length safely planted in -Tuttle Town. Its arrival created great sensation, and the town increased -in size and importance on the strength of it. A French baker and a -butcher established themselves in our main street; and at the first -general election a justice of the peace and constable were legally -elected; the former was a worthy carpenter of good education; the latter -post was filled by Rowe. Whenever we saw Rowe buckling on his pistols in -a decisive manner preparatory to a start, we knew that he was proceeding -to collect a debt due to some Tuttletonian, and this active constable -invariably brought back either the money or the man. And although our -own small population was very peaceful, our justice of the peace had -ample employment from the surrounding miners, and dispensed a great -amount of justice in a very firm but off-hand manner; and so much -respect was felt for the sagacity and impartiality of our carpenter, -that his decisions in those disputes that came before his notice were -invariably received with satisfaction on all sides. The following -incident will illustrate the summary process by which one judge and one -constable could force obedience to the law amongst an armed population -in the mountains. One evening as our “judge” was putting the finishing -touch to a shanty he had been engaged in repairing, a messenger -informed him that a murder had just been committed at an adjacent -digging; the judge thereupon threw down his hammer, and, after taking -the depositions, issued a warrant for the arrest of the murderer, who -was a well-known desperado. Constable Rowe was to serve this warrant and -capture the delinquent; consequently, the whole population of Tuttle -Town (about fifteen) armed themselves to protect constable Rowe, and -accompanied him to the diggings in question. Arrived there, the accused -was found to have entrenched himself in his house, with desperate -intentions of firing his revolver at the law in whatever form it might -summon him. I was not sorry to find on our arrival that he abandoned -this design and surrendered himself at discretion, so we marched him off -to Tuttle Town. The judge heard all that was to be said, and that was -sufficient for the committal of the prisoner to the jail at Sonora to -await a trial; so we mounted our horses, took him at once into the town, -and had him locked up. Whatever became of him afterwards I don’t know, -but he never returned to our vicinity, and this was the way that the law -was put in force in every case that came under the authority of our -carpenter judge. - -A Sonorian was found one day in possession of a mule not his own. -Whilst the culprit quakes in the grip of our constable, our judge -exhorts the villain to be more honest in his dealings. I have this scene -before me so vividly that I’ll place it on the wood at once before I -write another line. - -[Illustration] - -So! now if there is less benevolence beaming from the eyes of our -carpenter than I would have you believe existed in his heart, the fault -is in the spectacles. - -We rid ourselves about this time of a bad character. There was a fierce -brute of a man who often visited our camp, who was known to have -committed a cold-blooded murder, although the law had acquitted him. He -was called “Cut-throat Jack,” nor did he object to the appellation; he -was more feared in the mines than I should have supposed any man to have -been, but he was always in a reckless, half-drunken state, and those who -preferred to avoid a deadly quarrel would leave any house he entered. He -was invariably armed, and always boastful. - -One night as Thomas was watching a stack-fire near the tents, in which a -mass of quartz was being purposely brought to a white heat for -experimental purposes, Cut-throat Jack swaggered up to him, and informed -him that he intended to pass the night in our shanty (Rowe and I being -at Sonora). To this Thomas objected, upon which Cut-throat made such a -warlike demonstration that Thomas very properly knocked him down. “Jack” -unfortunately fell on the red-hot quartz, and the sensation was so new -to him that, as soon as he could withdraw himself, he drew neither -pistol nor knife, but was instantly lost to sight in the surrounding -gloom, and never swaggered into our camp again from that night forth. - -[Illustration] - -In our immediate neighbourhood we had three classes of miners, Mexicans, -French, and Chinese, and their peculiarities of race were so marked that -I shall record them. - -The “Greasers,” which term includes all Spanish Americans, will pass the -night and early morning in working at their claims, and then devote the -day to gambling and sleeping, and the evening to a Fandango or a -horse-stealing excursion; a Mexican in the mines has no idea of saving -money, but, like the water-carrier of Bagdad, he will work one half of -the day that he may spend the other half in indulgence. - -The French, among whom are many Parisians, will work in a quiet and -tolerably steady manner if nothing unusual occurs to disturb them; but, -if by chance a strange Frenchman should arrive in their camp, or an old -copy of the “Moniteur” should reach them, the picks and spades are -relinquished for the day, and all devote themselves to discussion. Often -I have passed some solitary Frenchman at a gulch, who, whilst elevating -a tin pannikin of vin ordinaire, would be shouting out “L’Amour et la -Patrie.” Probably some of his countrymen had that day passed on the -road, something of course had been said in allusion to the beautiful -France, and the poor fellow was as happy under the influence of -reawakened associations, as if he had already reached his native -vineyards to settle there for life, with a well-lined purse. - -The Chinese are a strong contrast to the thriftless Mexicans and joyous -Gauls. - -The Celestial digger, with a grave, elongated face, is up with the dawn -and at work, forgetting to perform his ablutions in his hurry. No laugh -proceeds from his lantern jaws, but his thoughts are steadily bent on -the pursuit before him; if ever he chuckles, it must be inwardly, to -think how fast he is putting by the nice gold, and how cheaply he is -living every day upon six pennyworth of rice and salt worms, whilst -those around him are gambling away their substance. But the Chinaman is -none the less a gambler, the only difference is that he plays for a -small stake, and is, in fact, a good economist, for as he watches the -wavering fortunes of his farthing, he enjoys pleasurable excitement if -he wins, and is not materially damaged if he loses. Hundreds of these -gambling houses are to be found in the Chinese “quartier” of San -Francisco, and there is one or more at every Chinese digging, but with -the exception of an occasional silver dollar, I never saw any thing -change hands in them but the copper _pice_ the Chinese bring with them -to the country. - -These people must feel very happy whilst daily fingering the Californian -soil, where they acquire more gold in a week, than at home they would -see in a year. John Chinaman knows the value of a dollar so well, that -he will do anything rather than be without it: to gain so much, then, at -such little trouble must indeed be a treat. - -[Illustration] - -When a couple of Chinese dispute over the right to a claim, the noise -and gesticulations are frightful; arms (corporeal) are elevated on all -sides; fingers are extended in indication of numbers, days, or dates, -whilst each disputant being supported by his friends, all talk at once -so rapidly, that the wonder is how they can sustain the altercation, and -it is only when breath is exhausted on all sides, that the argument is -at last made comprehensible. Chinamen are a long time coming to blows, -and I have seen them at Amoy and other towns, stand almost nose to nose, -with arms extended, as if preparatory to a deadly struggle that was to -end only with life; but, further than making a dreadful uproar, no harm -came of these rencontres. - -A real fight, accompanied by loss of life, occurred in a Chinese digging -in the north, but this was attributable principally to the fact, that a -small party of Tartars compelled a larger body of Chinese, either to -fight or relinquish the gold field, and this was driving poor “John” -into a corner indeed. - -Many of the Chinese at the mines have abolished tails, and when their -hair has grown in its natural manner, it is astonishing how villanous an -appearance they present. Their hair grows low down on the forehead, and -is invariably straight. - -An ordinary Chinaman, in his loose dress, with his head shaved and hair -drawn back, is rather an intellectual looking being, at the first -glance, but take the same man, and allow his hair to grow, and divest -him of a picturesque costume, and in place of an apparent mild -benevolence, you are struck at once with the small cunning-looking eyes -and low forehead, which in the other garb escaped notice. - -A Chinaman is supposed to regard his tail in a religious light, but -those who have dispensed voluntarily with them in California, do not -seem by any means to have placed themselves without the pale of -society. - -[Illustration] - -Some of them adopt the European costume, and patronise patent leather -boots and gold watch-chains. I remember a very beautiful drawing, I -think by Allom, of the “Feast of Lanterns” in China; the same festive -day is observed at San Francisco, and if the accompanying sketch of two -Americo-Chinese, celebrating this fête, on hired hacks, is less -picturesque than the drawing alluded to, it is none the less a faithful -delineation of the appearance of civilised Celestials. - -All the Chinamen of San Francisco are fond of riding out on these feast -days, and in whatever costume they may be, they invariably pursue one -mode of horsemanship, that is, to ride at full gallop, shouting or -screaming, and then to tumble off into the sand or mud, the last act -being involuntary. There is no doubt that these people are excellent -colonists as regards their own interests, for they have learnt the first -art of colonisation, a systematic obedience to a chief, and wherever -they go, they quietly submit to the code of discipline established among -themselves, and submit even when this authority is abused, by the -imposition of taxes and extortions, by their own head men. Part of -Sacramento Street is entirely occupied by Chinese retail merchants, and -it is similar in appearance to the Old Bazaar at Hong-Kong. Immediately -a ship arrives in port with Chinese emigrants, these are taken in charge -by the head men, and are supplied with stores and packed off to the -mines, with great precision and regularity, there to pay a tax to these -self-constituted chiefs as long as they are in the mines. - -I have already alluded to the existence of a combination of three or -four of the most powerful of the Chinese merchants, which being -discovered, was interfered with ineffectually by the police. Now I have -no doubt that this clique of wealthy Chinese not only supply the Chinese -emigrants, as aforesaid, looking to their labour in the mines for a -profit, but that they also invest money in chartering ships to bring the -poorer classes of their nation to California, thus exercising a monopoly -in the gold fields. - -Much has been said and argued relative to checking by law the Chinese -emigration to California, and believing, as I do, from such facts as I -could gather, that this system of private taxation is on the increase, I -wonder at the forbearance that has hitherto been shown by the -authorities. “Live, and let live,” is a capital creed, properly carried -out, but when the mines of California are overrun with bands of poor -fishermen, whose profits serve to enrich a clique, and these latter -remove the money from the country as fast as they collect it, the -principle is an unfair one, injurious to the country, and antagonistic -to the principles which have made it a free state as regards black -slavery. - -An instance of the power these head men attempt to exercise came under -my notice, for whilst staying with an English friend in the suburbs of -San Francisco, there arrived one day a carriage, from which a gorgeously -dressed “John” emerged. He stated in tolerable English that he was a -“lawyer,” and that he had come for a Chinese woman who, for many years, -had been in my friend’s service, and who, he said, had complained of -being confined against her will. The woman had saved a large sum in -wages, and could speak no language but her own, but she resolutely -declined to go when an interpreter was procured. The Celestial lawyer -was consequently well kicked for his pains, and departed, but we had no -doubt that all that was wanted of the old woman was the money she had -saved, and it was fortunate for her, that her master was a Hong Kong -merchant, and knew something of the wiles of John Chinaman. - -Much has been said, also, at home here, relative to the conversion of -the Chinese, and no one would more gladly see this brought about than -myself, provided it is done with _Chinese money_. - -The Chinaman is highly intelligent, inventive, laborious and patient, be -he where he will, but he is ever avaricious; it may or may not be that -those are right who, knowing something of his character, hold that he -would worship any god if thereby he can better worship mammon;[21] but I -confine my opinion to this, that it is time enough to build colleges for -the Chinese, when we have suitably provided for the instruction of our -own ignorant poor, and until this is done, I humbly submit, with every -respect for the Missionaries among the Heathen, that every sixpence that -leaves our country for the conversion of the Chinese, is an injustice to -those at home, whose claims upon our charity ring daily in our ears, -with a truth that ought to be more forcible than the energetic appeals -that are raised for John Chinaman, but which unfortunately is not always -so. - -Never doubting that it is our first duty as a Christian nation to -disseminate those truths that come from an inspired source, why should -we, under the influence of a false sympathy, strive to do for the -Chinese what so many of our own people yet require. The Chinese have an -advantage over many of our lower classes; they are intelligent and -reflective, and have Confucian maxims daily brought even in the highways -before their notice, that enjoin most of the social duties that render -man’s life more in accordance with the Divine wish. _Morally_ at least, -the Chinaman is cared for; and although a heathen, ignorant in this -respect he cannot be said to be. Let him therefore, for the present, -study from gilded sign-posts the Confucian maxims that ordain him to be -charitable, honest, and reverent to his parents; and let us first instil -these commands given from a holier source to those around us who have -never heard them, who could not read them if they were written up, and -who are too ignorant, too poverty-stricken, and too much at war with the -life that has entailed nothing but misery upon them, to accept them -even as truths, until they first see charity in a more substantial -form. This done,[22] we may build colleges for the Chinese, in a full -hope that He who has ordained us to love our brother, may bless the work -of CONVERSION. - - - - -CHAPTER XIX. - - THE FIREMEN OF SAN FRANCISCO--“WE STRIVE TO SAVE”--A BARBER’S - SALOON--OYSTERS--PLACES OF AMUSEMENT--A PICKLED HEAD--SHOOTING ON - SIGHT. - - -_Christmas, 1851._ - -The machinery was at length in its place, and we got the steam up for a -trial; our engineer was one of the same school as he of the Stockton -boat, and considered that engines were “bound to go,” whether on sea or -land; and when I remarked to him that ninety pounds of steam was about -double the pressure the boiler ought to bear, he asked very naturally -“of what use was an eight horse power engine if you couldn’t make her -work up to a _twelve_?” - -Having started the machinery, we awaited in a great state of excitement -the result; this came soon enough, for in a few minutes the crusher -broke down irremediably, and like some unfortunate two-year-old horse, -ran its first and last race at the same time. - -I returned, therefore, to San Francisco, meditatingly as before, and on -my arrival there, I gave my mind to the preparation of machinery that -should grind and scrunch with a vigour that nothing could resist, and -which should give ample employment to the four extra horses which my -engineer managed to extract from the steam engine. The city presented a -much improved appearance, the small sand-hills had now nearly all -disappeared, and having been thrown into the bay, a level site was being -rapidly extended on either side, where before was a shelving sandy -beach, the least adapted in the world for building a large and -substantial city. It is worthy of remark, that sand thrown into mud has -not proved a bad foundation even in a country subject to heavy rains. -The first brick building erected on this artificial foundation was the -American theatre, this, on the first night it was opened, settled bodily -two or three inches, but afterwards remained steady. - -I found the people of San Francisco still very nervous about fire; and -though the dreadful experience of the past had caused extraordinary -precautions to be taken for preventing the recurrence of another general -conflagration, still night after night as the warning bell hurriedly -announced some fire in the suburbs, the whole population would turn out, -and follow the engines “en masse” to the scene of conflagration. Not a -night passed but one or more alarms were pealed forth by that dreadful -bell, of which the tone was so familiar, and so associated with -misfortune, and a shanty or two would generally be consumed in the -wooden portion of the city. Sometimes an hotel or hospital would blaze -and furnish a famous night’s work for the firemen, but these were so -active and vigilant, that the flames were always confined to a small -space, and it was evident that the days of general conflagrations were -over. The highest praise that I can accord to the San Francisco firemen, -is to record the simple truth of them, and say that they are zealous and -intrepid, and that their services are gratuitous. The fire department of -San Francisco now numbers about fifteen hundred members and twenty -engines. It is divided into companies, each of which is formed on a -military principle, chooses its own name and uniform, and bears all its -own expenses. - -The companies are distinguished by such names as the “Monumental,” the -“Empire,” the “Washington,” and to see them in their smart dresses, as -they tarn out in procession on a gala day, one would not suppose that -there was so much real work concealed beneath so much show. - -There are also two or three “hook and ladder” companies, who do ample -service in blowing up and tearing down buildings when necessary. Many -of these young firemen occupy the best positions in San Francisco; and -it strikes a stranger as somewhat novel, if when the fire-bell is -sounded in the day time, he sees the junior partner in the house of -Mivins and Co. rush out of his office with a helmet on his head, and -proceed at full speed to his engine house. - -Sometimes some poor fellow loses his life in his exertions to perform -his self-imposed duty, and then his brother firemen, in unassumed grief, -pay him the last tribute of respect by following his body to the -cemetery. - -I have introduced such a scene in the sketch of San Francisco, and would -draw attention simply to the deep significance of the motto on the -banner that is lying low, emblematical of him they are burying--“We -strive to save.” - -There is no boast, no ostentation in these words, no vainglorious -confidence in what shall be done, no allusion to victories gained or -deeds performed. Look on the motto, “We strive to save;” now look on the -coffin that contains all that is mortal of one who under that banner has -found a death as worthy of the laurel as any soldier who at once brings -pride and sorrow to the nation in whose cause fighting inch by inch he -yields up life. - -You and I, reader, can sleep comfortably in our - -[Illustration] - -beds, and have no cause each night to be drenched by water and scorched -by heat, no bell summons us to duty, nor need we risk life or limb when -the glare ascends from a blazing manufactory, but turning comfortably -over, we can again court sleep with the intention of reading of the fire -over our breakfast table. - -But you will agree with me, perhaps, that be we where we will, be our -powers what they may, if we look around us we shall find no better -standard to rally round and be faithful to than that which bears the -fireman’s motto, “We strive to _save_.” - - * * * * * - -Gorgeous decoration is characteristic of San Francisco; the people pay -high prices for the necessaries of life, so velvet and gilt work is -thrown into the bargain. In the “shaving-saloons” this system of -internal decoration is carried out in great force, and the accommodation -these establishments afford is indispensable to a Californian public. - -Let me suppose myself to have arrived at San Francisco from the mines -early one morning. Having travelled down on the Old Soldier, I have no -carpet bag of course, and I enter a shaving-saloon. At a counter I -purchase any quantity of linen I may require for the moment, and with -this I proceed to the bath-room; when I return from my ablutions, I am -asked if I would like my head “shampoo-ed.” With a reckless feeling in -respect of shampooing, the result of an intimate acquaintance with -Turkish baths, I submit to this operation. - -Seating myself on an easy chair of velvet, and placing my legs on an -easy stool, also of velvet, I become drowsy under the influence of the -fingers and thumbs of the operator, as they are passed over my skull, as -if with a view to making a phrenological chart, and which produce a -feeling at last as if hundreds of fingers and thumbs were at work, and -the whole force of the establishment were scratching my head. - -I am conducted to a marble washstand, and a tap of cold water is turned -on me. I thought I had washed my head in the bath, but it appears not, -judging by the colour of the water. My head is dried by hard labour, -then it is wetted again by a shower of eau de Cologne and water, thrown -at me when least expected. “Will I be shaved, sir?” Of course I will! -“Take a seat.” I sink into the velvet chair, and contemplate my dirty -boots, that for days have not known blacking, but have known mud, as -they contrast with the crimson pile velvet on which they rest. The back -of the chair is raised by means of a screw, until my head is in the -proper position for operation. First I have hot water on my chin, and a -finger and thumb (generally the property of a coloured gentleman) feels -for my beard in a dreamy way with a view to softening the stubble. Then -comes the lather, and shave the first, and I am about to get up, when I -am stopped by more lather, and shave the second; this is conducted in a -slow methodical manner, the finger and thumb wandering about in search -of any stray hairs, like gleaners after the harvest. - -The operator says not a word to me, San Francisco barbers are not -loquacious, but his eyes wander to the open door, and suddenly he leaves -me with a rush, and apostrophising some one passing in the street, he -says, “Say, how about that sugar?” The reply is inaudible, but I observe -that the barber produces a sample of cigars from his pocket, and says, -“See here! fifty dollars a thousand for these won’t hurt you;” and so, -having failed to make a “trade;” he comes back, and, as he “finishes” -me, he observes, in a general way, that “Damn him if that (the gentleman -in the street) wasn’t the meanest man in all creation!” I am then -released, and this was a San Francisco shaving-saloon in 1852. From the -barber’s I proceeded to a boot-blacking saloon kept by Frenchmen. I -seat myself on a comfortable fauteuil, two Gauls are at my feet, each -Gaul has two brushes, and such a friction is commenced that my feet are -being shampooed as much as my head was. The morning paper has been -handed to me, and I have scarcely settled to the leading article when -“V’la M’sieur,” announces that all is over. What a change! my boots -rival that famous effigy of Day and Martin, whose polish is ever -exciting the ire of a contemplative cat; I pay the money with pleasure, -one shilling, not before I am brushed though. Shall I exchange my -battered wide-awake for a beaver hat? Certainly; and now reader I don’t -think you would believe, if you saw me, that I had just returned from -Tuttle Town, and from a life of leather breeches and self-inflicted -horse grooming. It is eight o’clock now, and, in an instinctive search -for breakfast, I enter the Jackson House. Here are a hundred small -tables nearly all occupied, I secure one and peruse the bill of fare. I -could have wished for fresh eggs, but these were marked at two shillings -each, and in the then uncertain state of the mine I considered economy a -duty. “Fricassée de Lapin,” that sounded well, so I ordered it; I didn’t -tell the waiter, when he brought it, that it was not rabbit but grey -squirrel, but I knew it from the experience I had had in the anatomy of -that sagacious animal. It was very good, however, and if it had been a -fat Sacramento rat I daresay that, under the circumstances, I should not -have turned my nose up at it; for I have eaten many things in my time -that are not found on the “carte” at Verrey’s; and when a man has once -dined off monkey soup and has ladled a human-looking head out of the pot -and has eaten still, regardless of that piteous parboiled look, he can -stomach anything in reason ever after. - -But the San Francisco bills of fare present at all seasons great -variety, and no one has a right to complain who has but to choose from -bear, elk, deer, antelope, turtle, hares, partridges, quails, wild -geese, brant, numerous kinds of ducks, snipe, plover, curlew, cranes, -salmon, trout, and other fish, and _oysters_. - -It is not until you have been a long time without an oyster that you -find how indispensable to your complete happiness this bivalve is; so -soon as the want of it was generally expressed by the inhabitants of San -Francisco, some enterprising individual gave his attention to the -subject, and, after an adventurous voyage of discovery along the coast, -he found a bed, and returned with a cargo of natives in triumph. This -cargo, however, was not to be vinegared and peppered that year, but was -transferred to a bed prepared for its reception in the bay; here the -oysters were left to fatten on bran and other luxuries, and by next -year the young colony had increased sufficiently to supply a small -quantity to the restaurateurs. They were very small innocent oysters at -first, and tasted like a teaspoon-full of salt water, they also cost -sixpence a piece, which was about their weight in silver; but they were -oysters; a victory had been gained; an imperious want had been supplied: -we thought of this as we swallowed them, and were grateful for them even -at the price. Since then the submarine colony has thrived so well that -oysters in San Francisco are not only large, but comparatively cheap, so -that many of the inhabitants gratuitously supply the city with pavement -by throwing the shells out into the street as oyster-venders do in every -city in the world where the law permits. And, by the way, it is not -inappropriate that the law should wink at hecatombs of obstructive -oyster shells, if, as they say, that part of the fish alone falls to the -share of the public; and indeed it strikes me that any man who has been -unfortunate enough to inherit a chancery suit in this country, should be -allowed to pile his oyster shells before his door, for in this way he -would denote the number of shells that, figuratively speaking, had been -returned to him, and might thus exemplify the _certainty_ of the law of -equity in a manner suited to the meanest capacity. - -Places of amusement were springing up rapidly in San Francisco, and -these were of a better character than would have been supposed. It was -pleasant to observe that gambling houses, and those low haunts which in -every country minister to degrading appetites, were rapidly being swept -away in this young country, and giving place to rational recreations. -Theatres, reading rooms, and gymnasiums; these are good sources of -amusement, be you where you will; read for the improvement of your mind, -exercise the clubs and dumb-bells for the benefit of your body, laugh or -cry over a good play, and in a colony you are safe for a cheerful, and -perhaps grateful man. - -My old schoolmaster, I remember, was wont to characterise the theatre as -the house of the devil; if so, this personage is a very temporary -lodger, for often when the devil is in a man, the merriment a farce -excites, or the moral a drama displays, will drive it out of him; and -perhaps before to-day a comedy has done more for a man, in the way of -correction, than the best sermon that ever was preached to his -inattentive ears. For, when you can interest a man, his feelings and -judgment are open to your appeal, and I dare say a great many of my -readers have, like myself, felt deeply moved at a drama, the moral of -which would have been unheeded in a sermon, as inapplicable to our own -cases or positions in life; just as, when children, we can only stomach -a powder when it is presented to us in the fascinating shape of jam. - -Some representations of poses plastiques that were exhibited about this -time found no favour, and were cried down, but the enterprising manager -of them, who was really a clever fellow, shifted his ground from the -study of the human frame to that of the human head, and gave -phrenological disquisitions on the sculls of Jenkins, Stewart, and -others, who had been executed by the Vigilance Committee. As the bump of -acquisitiveness had probably been the cause of the execution of these -men, the lecturer had some difficulty in avoiding personalities, for -this bump was largely developed in the craniums of his audience. -However, he had an advantage over most lecturers on the same subject, -for he could prove two distinct facts: first, that the subjects of his -dissertation had been hung, and secondly, that many of his audience had -helped to hang them. - -Since that date, a famous Mexican robber, Joaquin Carrillo by name, has -with much trouble and loss of life been caught and decapitated. When I -left San Francisco his head was to be seen by the curious preserved in -spirits of wine; and however revolting such a spectacle may be, it is a -punishment that one would think would deter the reflective from crime. -Fancy one’s features distorted by the convulsive throes of a violent -death, staring whitened and ghastly from a glass bottle, turned from -with horror by the gaping crowd, and then deposited for all ages, -growing more hideous with each year on the shelves of a surgical museum! - -To take one’s head as in olden times, and place it on a pole until it -became a whitened scull, is a benevolent act as compared with the glass -bottle and aqua fortis that hand distorted features down to posterity. -For my own part I can contemplate with calmness my bones bleaching, as -they may do, perhaps, in a desert, but the mere thought that a diseased -liver or brain of mine should ever be labelled and ticketted in the -museum of the College of Surgeons, excites a disgust that makes me think -burning or drowning preferable to a quiet death-bed and a _post mortem_ -examination; for your operative surgeons always find something in their -subjects worth pocketing, and if robbing the dead of their valuables is -sacrilegious, robbing the dead of their liver and lights is equally so. - -But still every scruple must fall before the necessities of science; and -I remember exhuming a Malay rajah who had been buried about a week -without the slightest compulsion, simply because science required the -skeleton of a Malay rajah. I felt it was the duty of every man to aid -science, and the only remorse I felt was when I found no jewels in the -coffin--not even a ring: it was a shabby burial the rajah had! - -The practice of carrying fire-arms in San Francisco was still popular -among a large proportion of the citizens; but the arguments by which I -have sought to justify this habit in a mountain population are not -applicable to the inhabitants of the city, for life and property were -safe, and a proper police force had been instituted. Cases of shooting -therefore were still very common, and duelling in particular became -quite the rage. Taking up the newspaper one day, I observed a -conspicuous advertisement, in which one gentleman gave notice to the -public that another gentleman “was a scoundrel, liar, villain, and -poltroon,” and signed his name to the announcement. The next day it was -understood that the gentleman with the unenviable titles intended to -shoot his traducer “on sight,”--that is to say, as soon as he could see -him, without any of the preliminary formula of a hostile meeting. When I -reached the Plaza, I found a large concourse of people already assembled -to see the sport; and it was such a novel and delicious excitement to -stand in a circle and see two men inside of you exchange six shots -a-piece, that had the matter been more generally known, I do not think -there would have been room for them to fight! I declined waiting to -stand and be shot at; but it appeared afterwards that the two gentlemen, -attended by their friends, soon made their appearance on opposite sides -of the square, and that then they commenced walking about the square as -if they did not know each other, and when within shot, one said to the -other, “Draw and defend yourself!” which the latter did by sending a -bullet through the assailant’s arm. The fire then became warm; six shots -were exchanged in rapid succession, and both combatants were taken -wounded from the field--not mortally, however, for they recovered, and -arranged a regular meeting, where after exchanging half-a-dozen shots -one was seriously wounded; since when, I believe, no more powder has -been burnt in the cause. - - - - -CHAPTER XX. - - RAT-CATCHERS--DRAYS--CRESTED PARTRIDGE--A MARVELLOUS STORY--SAILORS - IN THE MINES--A VERDICT--THE QUARTZ HAS THE BEST OF IT--I LEAVE - TUTTLE-TOWN. - - -_January, 1852._ - -Rats are very numerous in San Francisco, as also are ratting-dogs. The -roughest Skyes and most ferocious bull-dogs seem to have congregated in -that city; and so much interest do the people take in the destruction of -the common enemy, that a crowd is instantly collected if by chance a -Scotch terrier, arrested by the flavour of a rat, wags his tail over a -heap of shavings. You will one day see a crowd in the street, dense and -excited; you try in vain to obtain a glimpse of what is going on in the -centre; from expressions that reach you, you feel certain that a horrid -murder is being perpetrated, and this opinion is confirmed as you hear -re-echoed the cry, “He is dead!--all over!” As the crowd disperses, -there issues from it the rejoicing owner of two young prize-fighting -quadrupeds, and in his hand is a large rat, now all tail and teeth, -“the balance,” as the owner remarks, having been “considerably chawed -up.” - -Great risk and expense attend the shipment of these little dogs to -California; and I was so unfortunate as not to land one of four very -useful brutes that I shipped from the London Docks for that country. A -good horse or dog is a treasure to a Californian; and he will look upon -one or the other as his friend, and treat it with great kindness. - -An immense quantity of drays are required in the city for the transport -of goods, and the stranger will be at once struck with the superiority -of breed of the horses, and the high condition in which they are kept. -It has not been worth while of late to send anything commonplace to San -Francisco; the horses therefore that are driven across the plains are -generally strong and showy animals. “Draying” has paid very well here, -and many of the proprietors of these vehicles, although they drive for -themselves, are well to do. The dray harness is often mounted in German -silver; and you may see any day a respectable-looking quiet man in -spectacles carting a load of hay or lumber, with a handsome four-in-hand -team, well groomed, and ornamented with bear-skin trappings. - -The new machinery being completed, I again started for the mines, and -arrived at Tuttle-town without accident. - -We had tolerable hunting ground in our vicinity, but the game was wild -from having been too much shot at. The deer lived in the mountains, and -to reach them required much walking, as the reader will understand if he -glances at the background of the sketch that forms my frontispiece. The -earth on the side of the red-wood hills is generally friable, and as it -gives way to the pressure of the foot, the toil of ascending is very -great, when the glass is at ninety. - -There was, however, ample employment for the shot-gun, as the crested -partridge abounded in our neighbourhood. I have not yet mentioned this -bird; it is smaller than our partridge, and has all its habits, with -this exception, that it will fly to trees when disturbed. This I imagine -arises from an instinctive fear of vermin, with which the country -abounds, the silver grey fox being very destructive,--not to speak of -coyotes, snakes, and birds of prey. There is also little cover on the -ground, with the exception of stones, and when the partridge is -undisturbed, it will busk among these. The call of the male is similar -to that of the English bird. The crested partridge is hard to put up, -being a great runner; harder still to shoot flying, for it is -particularly strong on the wing, and flies low on a ground of much its -own colour. When shot and cooked it is white, dry, and insipid; still it -is a partridge, and as such is much relished. - -I will mention a circumstance here in connection with shooting, which -has so much of the marvellous in it that I had determined to omit it. - -Whilst encamped at Santa Rosa Valley, after leaving Carrillo’s house, we -were visited one morning by some Sonorians (probably those who -afterwards stole our cattle). As they requested us to fire a few shots -with our rifles at a mark, we consented willingly enough, and being in -good practice and in good luck, we fired with success at dollars and -other small targets. - -An hour or two afterwards, the three of us proceeded in search of -venison; it was about mid-day, the sun was very powerful and the sky -cloudless. Making for a shady thicket where we hoped to find, we -unexpectedly started a doe from the long grass; she was out of shot -before we could raise a gun, but there still remained a fawn. Pretty -innocent! there it stood gazing at us wondrously, and I warrant had -there been meat in our larder at home not one of us would have touched a -trigger; but lamb is innocent, and yet you eat it, Madam, and the only -difference between us is that you have a butcher to take life, and I -had not. - -The fawn stood motionless as I advanced a few paces and took, as I -imagined, deadly aim. I missed, and still it did not move: the others -fired, and missed also. From the same distance (about seventy-five -yards), we fired each four bullets without success; still the fawn moved -but a pace or two, and our rifle ammunition was exhausted. I then crept -up to the fawn, and within twenty paces I fired twice at it with my -pistol; it then, unharmed, quietly walked away in search of its mother. -We looked at each other in some doubt after this, and for a long time I -was puzzled to conjecture how to account for this apparently charmed -life. - -At last I solved the problem in this way, as I thought. The sun was -intensely powerful, and had been reflected back to us from the yellow -grass on which we had kept our eyes throughout a long walk; either this -glare or the rarefaction of the air had, probably, caused an optical -delusion, and the fawn appearing nearer to us than in reality it was, we -fired under it. Had this struck me at the time, I would have searched in -the long grass for the place where the bullets struck, and I have no -doubt, considering the practice we were in, that they would all have -been found in the same range, and short; but on account of the height of -the grass, we were unable to see whilst firing where our balls fell. And -this is the sole way I can account for this curious adventure. - -This is the sole marvellous story I have to tell, and is a fact; but so -capricious is reading man, that I dare say many a one who would have -believed me had I related the destruction in one long shot of three -buffaloes, two coyotes, and a digger Indian, will smile incredulously at -my party firing fourteen barrels within seventy paces of a motionless -deer! So be it--and annotators of circulating library books will write -“Gammon!” in black-lead pencil on the margin, and I must grin whilst I -writhe under this infliction. - -About three miles from our camp was the Stanislaus River; and crossing -this in a ferry-boat, we would be at once in the vicinity of a famous -digging, “Carson’s Hill,” by name. All that we read of that is bright -and fairy-like, in connection with reported gold discoveries, has been -presented as a Gradgrind fact at Carson’s Hill. - -The rivers produced, the hills produced, and even the quartz[23] -produced, having previously been rotted by nature, that man might pick -the gold out with his penknife. “Rich nests,” “tall pockets,” “big -strikes,” lumps and chunks, were the reward of labour at Carson’s Hill; -whilst the miserable population elsewhere were content with ounces of -gold, or, at the best, pounds. - -No one knows how many fortunes have been made at Carson’s Hill, nor how -many bloody battles have been fought there for the rich earth--but a -great many. Two small armies met once on the brow of the hill, and -parleyed, weapons in hand and with savage looks, for as much quartz as -you might carry away in a fish-cart. - -Mr. James Carson, the discoverer of these diggings, asserts that in 1848 -the man who would work could make from fifty to one hundred pounds -sterling a day, and I have no doubt of the truth of this. - -At the time when this digging was first yielding such immense profits, -strict honesty was the characteristic of the miners; and a man need have -no fear then, as he has now, relative to keeping his dust after he had -found it, for all had enough, and it is astonishing how virtuous we -become under such circumstances. A sailor once asked his chum if a -bishop was a good man? “He ought for to be,” replies the other, “for he -has nothing to do but to eat, drink, and sleep, and altogether he has a -deuced fine berth of it!” and Jack hit the truth in his own way. - -And sailors are, perhaps, after their manner, tolerable Christians -themselves; certainly they swear a little, and are said to devour in a -sandwich the banknote that would serve to enrich a hospital, as from -Bill Bobstay, Esq.; but whenever there is sickness or poverty among -sailors, there Jack is found at the bedside the tenderest of nurses, and -sharing--honest heart!--his last copper with a comrade. A sailor in the -mines is at best a rough and uncomely fellow to the sight; but will you -show me anything more pleasing to contemplate than that sturdy fellow -there who plies his pickaxe to the tune of “Oh, Sally Brown!” that he -may take at night to his sick friend in the tent hard by the luxuries he -needs? The sailors in the mines have been ever distinguished for -self-denial; and whenever I see “prim goodness” frown at the rough, -careless sailor’s oath that will mingle now and then with his “ye-ho!” I -think to myself, “Take out your heart, ‘prim goodness,’ and lay it by -the side of Jack’s and offer me the choice of the two, and maybe it -won’t be yours I’ll take, for all that you are faultless to the world’s -eye.” - -Liberality was so great in those days, that if a stranger came to the -mines and had but the appearance of one who would work, he had no -difficulty in borrowing from any one all that was required for starting -him, his muscles and sinews being the sole guarantee for repayment. - -It was near Carson’s Hill that poor Boyd worked with a gang of men, -though with what success I do not know. Boyd was an English gentleman of -independence; and in his yacht, the “Wanderer,” he had visited nearly -every place on the globe. He was fitted in every respect for the roving -life he had chosen, and was equally at home whether he roughed it in the -mountains or played the host on board the “Wanderer.” Shortly after he -left San Francisco, he landed at Solomon’s Island to shoot wild fowl, -and there was cruelly murdered by the natives. None who knew him heard -of his fate without regret; and as a finale to the life of this -adventurous man, the “Wanderer” soon after went ashore and was lost. - -A gulch which branches off from Carson’s, and which proved very rich, -was discovered under circumstances of great solemnity, and I am indebted -to Mr. Carson for the anecdote. - -One of the miners died, and having been much respected, it was -determined to give him a regular funeral. A digger in the vicinity, who, -report said, - -[Illustration] - -had once been a powerful preacher in the United States, was called upon -to officiate; and after “drinks all round,” the party proceeded, with -becoming gravity, to the grave, which had been dug at a distance of a -hundred yards from the camp. When this spot was reached, the officiating -minister commenced with an extempore prayer, during which all knelt -round the grave. So far was well; but the prayer was unnecessarily long, -and at last some of those who knelt, began, in an abstracted way, to -finger the loose earth that had been thrown up from the grave. It was -thick with gold; and an excitement was immediately apparent in the -kneeling crowd. Upon this, the preacher stopped, and inquiringly said, -“Boys, what’s that? Gold!” he continued, “and the richest kind of -diggings,--the congregation are dismissed!” The poor miner was taken -from his auriferous grave and was buried elsewhere, whilst the funeral -party, with the parson at their head, lost no time in prospecting the -new digging. - -The population of the diggings, in 1848, was as varied as can be well -imagined; every nation and calling was represented there, from an -ex-governor to a digger Indian. But amongst this motley crew lawyers -predominated; and if we may judge by the fees they received, and the -quality of the law they exchanged for them, they had brought their -forensic knowledge to a fine market. As magistrates and other officers -were required in the different mining districts, they were elected by a -majority of the miners, and formed a court of law. - -All mining disputes were submitted to these courts, and whatever might -be the decision given, _that_ was considered the law, which saved all -trouble of appeal. The following incident will convey some idea of law -in the diggings at this time. - -Two Spaniards, who had amassed a large quantity of gold dust by -successful digging, quarrelled over the possession of an old mule that -was scarcely worth her keep, and applied to the alcalde or magistrate -to - -[Illustration] - -settle the dispute. Before a word was said, however, each “greaser” had -to pay three ounces of dust for expenses of the court; and then, both -speaking at once, each related his own tale in Spanish, which was a -language unintelligible to the court. After this, they were informed by -his Honour, through an interpreter, that they had better leave the case -to the decision of a jury. To this they agreed, and having paid two -ounces more in advance to the sheriff, that officer summoned a jury from -the adjacent diggings. After hearing their statements, which were very -contradictory, the jury retired, and returned with a verdict that the -costs should be shared by the plaintiff and defendant; and as there was -not evidence to show who the mule really belonged to, they were to _draw -straws_ for her! - -The bill of costs amounted to twenty ounces,--the _liquor bill_ to three -ounces more. This sum the Spaniards paid, and then they went out to cut -for the animal; but some other Spaniard had already settled the dispute, -for whilst all were inside he had mounted the mule and rode off with it, -nor did it ever, to my knowledge, turn up again. But for the comparative -insignificance of the fees, this trial might have taken place, judging -by the result, in our own Court of Chancery. - -A few digger Indians worked occasionally in our vicinity, having -discovered that gold would purchase fine clothes and rum, which was all -they cared for. The outfits they procured with their dust varied -according to taste. One would prefer half a-dozen shirts, and wear them -all at once; another would be content with a gaudy Mexican hat and a -pair of jack boots; so that their partial adoption of civilised costume -only served to render the uncovered parts of their bodies ridiculously -conspicuous. - -The Indians of California have a tradition among them which points to -the days when volcanic eruptions devastated the country, and destroyed -all living things but Indians. No traces of an earlier race are to be -found, however, as yet, in Upper California; nor have the Indians the -faintest knowledge of pictorial signs or symbols. I am inclined, -therefore, to think that the present tribes have been migratory. - -It is a peculiarity of California, that although it is so rich in -flowers, the wild bee is never found there, nor did I ever hear a -singing-bird. Digging in the mines is suspended by general accord on the -Sabbath, and that day is usually spent very quietly in camp, -particularly as the more boisterous characters go to the nearest town to -amuse themselves. A walk over the mountains, rifle in hand, with an eye -to business in the shape of “prospecting,” is often the employment of -the more sedate; and if the miner sometimes finds on a Sunday what -serves him for an honest livelihood on week days, he is, mayhap, no -worse, sir, than you whose thoughts, even in a church, are not always -separate from the pounds shillings and pence you require for the -engagements of the coming week. - -During this time the work at the mines progressed steadily; and the new -machinery being ready, we started it, fully confident of success.[24] -Again was our engine placed under contribution for four horses’ more -power than it was built for, and again did our machinery turn out a -signal failure: in fact we had iron only where we should have had the -hardest of steel, and in consequence, instead of our mill grinding the -quartz, the quartz had the best of it and ground the mill; and as it was -gold I wanted, and not iron filings, I determined for the present to -abandon my third profitless speculation. - -Agriculturally, architecturally, and mineralogically, I had been sported -with by fate,--and the plough in the north, the steam-engine in the -south, and the hotel in the middle, had each been accompanied by -pecuniary loss. Yet the days I had passed had been very happy, and -Philosophy said: “You have had health, and contentment, and warm -friendship; and if these were purchasable, many would buy them of you -for twenty times what you have lost in money!” To which I replied, “Very -true, oh Philosophy! but had I taken my steam-engine to Russian River, -and there applied its power to sawing red-woods, and had I with my -plough turned up the fertile hills and valleys at Vallejo, and further, -had I erected my hotel at Sonora, where it was much wanted, I might have -still had the unpurchasable articles you allude to, and the money too.” -Upon which Philosophy, seeing me thus unreasonable, retired from the -contest. - -Close upon this disaster there arrived a batch of letters for me. My -friend in San Francisco had died, and letters from home rendered my -return to England necessary. To return again, though--and to -Tuttle-town--on that point I was determined, “wind and weather -permitting,” as we say afloat. - -I sold my steam-engine to some wretched favourites of fortune, who took -it to a gulch and made money there and then. I sold Mainspring, and -Tiger, and Bevis, with grief. I might have given them away, but I know -that a man will often give more care and kindness to the animal he has -paid for, than to that he gets for nothing! and many a one who cares -little for the comfort of a horse, is mightily particular in respect of -the hundred guineas the animal is worth! - -The tools and houses I left with Rowe, Barnes, and Thomas. The Mexicans -I discharged, and presented them with the bullock hides, and frying-pan, -so that they were not altogether homeless; then I bade farewell to my -mining village, but not yet to the Virginia men, the carpenter Judge or -constable Rowe, for these good fellows accompanied me for the first -thirty miles of my journey. Then we parted, and I firmly believe with -equal regret on either side--why not? there had never been an unkind -word between us in a year of mountain life, and as I reiterated at the -last, “I’ll soon be back, boys!” they knew full well that my resolution -would be upheld by the memory of kindnesses received from them. - -Again I plod down on the “Old Soldier,” who has seen the last of -Choctaw, although he does not know it. Is it a wonder that I was -sorrowful when I left behind me so much that had contributed to render -my life happy? But I should have been more so had I known then that I -had seen the last of Tuttle Town and its inhabitants! - - - - -CHAPTER XXI. - - ADVICE TO EMIGRANTS--GOLD COUNTRIES--SELF-DOCTORING--ADVICE - CONTINUED--I ARRIVE AT STOCKTON. - - -_January, 1852._ - -We know that the militia of the United States is very numerous, inasmuch -as it consists of every man capable of bearing arms; but it certainly -would appear that all the officers have emigrated to California, so -universal are the military titles there. Now as I proceed to Stockton I -meet here and there old mining acquaintances working at the gulches that -I have to cross. I am startled by a voice from a deep hole with, “How -are you, Captain?” (I rank as Captain in California, being _nothing_; if -I was a real Captain I should of course be a General there). I turn then -and at once recognise a familiar face, spite of the mud with which it is -plastered. “Ah, Colonel,” I reply, “what luck? How does the gulch pay?” -“Pison bad,” replies the soldier, and as I depart he shouts, “You’ll see -the judge at Cock-a-doodle Creek, and the Major with him, working on -shares, and they’re the two meanest,”--the rest is lost to me, as the -Colonel again disappears in his subterranean coyote digging. - -Further on I encounter the Judge and Major at work at a “long tom” and -“How are you, Captain?” I am asked again. “Did you see the Colonel?” -says the Judge, I answer in the affirmative. “He’s considerable of a -snake,” says the Major. “He’s nothing shorter,” adds the Judge. “He’s -small potatoes[25] any how,” remarks the Major. I back these opinions -being out of shot of the Colonel’s revolver. “Will you trade that -horse?” asks the Judge. “He’s not for sale,” I answer, and ride off. He -was for sale though, but not to carry gravel from the hill side for -Judges and Majors to make money from, whilst the “Old Soldier” picked a -scanty subsistence from the brushwood on the mountains. When I leave -these worthies behind me, I have seen the last of the diggings. - -I have written favourably, it will be perceived, as regards the reward -held out by the gold-fields of California, to those who _having arrived -there_ have seized properly the advantages that surrounded them, and I -have no hesitation in saying, that to the industrious, healthy, and -temperate man, a comfortable livelihood is certain; beyond this much -will depend upon his energy and ability, and as regards grand results, I -may add _speculative feeling_. I find it impossible to place in proper -shape any remarks that could be adapted to the intending emigrant, but I -will attempt to lay down a few broad facts that will apply equally to -all gold countries. - -It has appeared to me that a great number of those who fail, must -attribute their ill success to not having previous to starting laid down -the course they intended to pursue. - -The emigrant, of whatever class, should have something definite in view; -for, like a ship of discovery, he has before him, as it were, an -unnavigated sea, and unknown rocks and shoals will cause him often to -deviate from his track, but it should be only to return by a circuitous -route to the prosecution of his journey. But if he leaves home on the -broad principle of “trying his luck,” he will not only be the easier -cast down by adverse circumstances, but he will stand the least chance -of any of becoming eventually successful. The truth of this was -exemplified in the case of the English officers whom I found watering -cabbages at Napa; they had not even decided then what they should do, or -how they should turn their ability to account. - -It is a great drawback to the labouring emigrant to a gold country that -he generally lands without capital and is obliged at once to work, where -and how he may. This, however, may be said to him--that Californian -experience shows that, in the long run, the man does best who, having -prudently amassed some money at the diggings, turns his capital and -abilities to the channel into which they were originally directed at -home: thus, if he has been an agricultural labourer, let him farm so -soon as he has saved something; if a tailor, let him turn back to the -mining city, with his nuggets in his pockets, and there set up in trade: -for the diggings will be replenished by new comers, and high prices, -whether for potatoes or trowsers, will still (unless peculiarly affected -by over-shipment) be maintained in a fair proportion to the yield of -gold; and it stands to reason that, if all labour in the diggings is -compensated proportionately with that of the digger, it is better for a -working man to labour at the trade he understands. The uncertainty of -the miner’s life is thus avoided, and if the profits are sometimes -smaller, that is more than compensated for by regularity; for it is an -extraordinary fact that, let the diggings fall off as they will, the -miners will still require _bread_ and _breeches_, and will find the -money to pay for them. - -When gold-fields are first discovered the profits of professional labour -are proportionately great with the rate of wages, and it would appear, -at the first glance, that a fine field was opened at these times for the -emigration of professional young men; but I find that those occupations -which combine at first large profits with comparatively easy labour, -have soon so many aspirants that the markets become glutted, and the -large profits are short-lived. Thus, in California the proportion of -lawyers is very great, and it would be a sad thing for that country if -every legal man there could live by his profession. Therefore it would -seem that a man of education should more than all shape his course -before he starts; and I think it would be wise for every emigrant, let -his ability be what it may, to consider what he is fit for, to _fall -back upon_ in event of his finding his profession profitless. - -It is requisite for an emigrant of superior class that he should possess -at least three qualifications independent of his abilities; viz., a -small amount of capital, a good constitution, and an absence of all -pride but that which nerves a man to accomplish all that he undertakes -honestly, be it what it may! Such a man is an acquisition to a colony, -and if his fortunes are adverse he is an exception to the rule. - -The reader may observe that my own failures scarcely bear out this -remark, and this is true; but my efforts were of an experimental nature, -and, as I observed elsewhere, Fortune has ever snubbed me, but the jade -does it so gently that I forgive her. - -The emigrating reader may try farming, house-building, or quartz-mining -with perfect security for all that bears upon the case in my experience, -unless indeed my narrative serves to point out to him the folly of -embarking in what one does not understand; and I would rather, if he -pleases, attribute my failures to that cause, for I thereby bring to his -notice a golden rule he can never keep too much in view. But this much -is borne out by the histories of California and Australia, that gold -countries increase permanently in wealth and prosperity; therefore the -emigrant need not be downcast by present misfortune, he has but still to -strive, and, in common with all, he will reap eventually the fruits of -the great blessings which the Creator has been pleased to shower on -these lands. He needs no better assurance than that he carries health, -industry, and patience to a colony that is in a state of rapidly -progressing improvement; and if, in those countries he may visit, as -much care has been taken as in California to provide hospitals for the -sick, and asylums for the destitute, _free of charge_, why he may land, -if it so happens, shattered in mind and body, and be yet turned out a -good man and true, to aid by his pickaxe or his plough the general -prosperity of the state that provides with so much forethought for the -casualties that may beset him. - -Something has been said already, and with good purpose, to aid the -emigrant in preserving his health under the influence of a new climate, -and I will introduce a few remarks that have resulted from my own -experience, which has not been confined entirely to the adventures -herein related. - -I would strongly advise every man to wear flannel or woven stuff next -his skin, and let him never remove that which encases the upper part of -the body but of a morning, when he bathes himself from head to foot; -flannel on the chest and abdomen is more requisite perhaps by night than -by day to those who are subjected to exposures. - -Dispense with what is termed a medicine-chest, but which is, generally -speaking, a box of rubbish, and even if well fitted is a dangerous thing -to have by you. - -Certain merchant vessels, which do not carry “an experienced surgeon,” -are supplied with medicine-chests and an accompanying book of reference. -It is related that one tarry fellow once applied to his captain for -relief; his complaint was “that he had something on his stomach.” Under -these circumstances the skipper turned over his pharmacopœia, and at -once prescribed two teaspoonfuls of No. 15 (the drugs being numerically -arranged); on an inspection of the “chest” it was found that No. 15 had -“given out,” and for the moment it seemed that Jack was likely to die -from want of medical assistance; but the skipper had a forethought. -There was plenty of No. 8--plenty of No. 7; seven and eight make -fifteen, says the captain, and Jack, to whom this calculation seemed -quite natural, took two teaspoonfuls of the joint mixture, and with so -much benefit as this, that whatever _was_ “on his stomach” came up with -a rapidity that would have astonished the Royal College of Surgeons. -Although the intelligent emigrant would not make so great a blunder as -this, he might make a greater, and kill himself, even whilst strictly -following out his medicine book. For self-doctoring becomes a mania, -and, as with some men, you must keep the bottle away if you would have -them sober, so with others, you must deprive them of calomel and opium -if you would have them healthy. I have met many infatuated fellows, who, -on the first symptom of fever, have salivated themselves, from an -inherent faith in the efficacy of mercury; and to see a man in the -rainy season in a canvass tent, lying on a damp floor and in damp -blankets, bolting calomel pills, is a sight that soon becomes very sad, -and yet is very common. American emigrants are very prone to carry with -them a preparation of mercury, called “blue mass;” fortunately for them -there is more clay and rubbish than anything else in the composition. I -shall carry with me, when I next start for a region where doctors are -not, half a gallon of castor-oil in a tin bottle, a few trifles for the -cure of wounds, mustard, and _quinine_; if the emigrant can afford it, -this latter should always form part of his stock. - -As regards castor-oil, I can only say that it was the sole medicine I -took when attacked by malignant yellow fever, and that I was the only -survivor of the passengers of the steamer “Dee” that were attacked. - -When first arrived at his new home the emigrant should avoid exposure to -the mid-day sun, or night air; but if he be a digger in the gold-fields, -let him make this rule, that so soon as he feels the first symptom of -illness, he will _lay by_ for twenty-four hours. Premonitory fever can -be arrested very easily by rest and quiet, but in nearly every instance -it is aggravated to a dangerous pitch, by a feeling of pride that will -not allow a man to surrender; and the fear of the jeers of his healthier -companions will often cause a man to continue work, when prudence would -dictate an opposite course. When headache and sickness attack you, -_then_ you may give in. A dose of medicine and a little rest will -restore you, and shortly you will become acclimated; but if you fight -against feverish symptoms, you may recover, but will probably be a wreck -for life. There is an inclination to bathe when fever first appears; -avoid that. I became very ill from bathing in the Chagres river one -evening, to relieve, as I thought, the headache consequent on exposure -to the heat, and Barnes nearly succumbed to a fever produced by the same -cause; and although they are not mentioned in this narrative in their -proper places, several cases of intermittent fever have from time to -time appeared among my party, otherwise I should not presume to lay down -any rule for the guidance of others; nor would I now, but that I have -seen so many lose their lives from a want of the most ordinary -precaution. I would advise the emigrant to the gold-fields to encumber -himself as little as possible with what is called an “outfit.” Flannel -clothing, thick socks, and the best highlows that can be made for money, -he should select with care. Let him take also good blankets. There is no -better protection for a man in wet seasons than a blanket with a hole -cut in the middle for his head to come through: the body is free, the -perspiration is unconfined, and you can’t wear the blanket out. -India-rubber I cannot recommend; it is, I believe, more productive of -ague than anything else, for it confines the perspiration, and subjects -the wearer to a sudden check, when it is removed. An India-rubber -counter-pane is useful, but should be placed over, not under, for it -absorbs the moisture at all seasons, and makes a point of sending the -rheumatism into your back if you lie on it.[26] An India-rubber cap, -with a curtain to protect the neck, is very useful in rainy weather, but -should be lined with flannel or felt. (See sketch on page 95.) If you -intend to dig, have one or two pickaxes and crowbars made under your own -supervision; exported tools are too often made of very inferior iron, -and it is money well spent to pay something over the market price for a -pickaxe that won’t turn its nose up at you the instant you drive it into -the hill-side. - -After one of the San Francisco fires an intelligent blacksmith bought up -a quantity of “burnt-out” gun-barrels; these were filled up to give -weight, and the breach of each was fashioned to the shape of a crowbar. -These instruments sold very well, but if ever there is a calendar of -saints in California, that enterprising blacksmith will not be one of -them! or if he is, he will have been sworn at more than a saint by right -should be. - -I have said all that occurs to me would be of service to the emigrant: -it is little enough, and may have been said before; but if it only -corroborates the experience of others, it answers fully the end I have -in view. And I have no hesitation in submitting these remarks, for the -great advantage of one man falling into a pit is that he can show -thousands how to avoid it. I have plunged headlong into many such holes, -and as I would myself avoid them for the future, so I would that others -should. And although in the form that this is published it will not -probably meet the eye of the poor man, still if those who through the -journals they conduct so bravely cheer and assist the emigrant, see -anything in these remarks that may save him from unnecessary expense or -sickness, they will, I know, too gladly in their own way extend the aid -which I intend. Above all, I would that the emigrant who has a little -money should be impressed with the necessity of carrying as much of his -fund out with him as he can. The best ten pounds a poor man can spend is -that which enables him on his arrival in a new country to look about -him for a day or two before he begins his work. - -When I arrived at Stockton, I found the streets of that city so cut up -by the traffic of the winter, that in many parts of the public -thoroughfare there were mud holes that it was necessary to avoid. The -spectators on the pathway became quite interested as I plunged through -the main street on the Old Soldier, and one would have thought that I -was a steamboat on the point of explosion by the crowd that followed my -movements. I was already deep over my saddle-girths, but the Old -Soldier, maddened by the jeers of the inhabitants, made short work of -it, and landed at last, “blown,” on comparatively dry ground. It -appeared afterwards that I had entered Stockton by a street that had for -the last month been considered impassable, and was so to any but a -high-couraged animal; but as the Old Soldier’s feet were nearly as large -as soup-plates, he had an advantage over most beasts in getting through -dirt. - -I slept that night in a Stockton Hotel, and waking at dawn, I started -out of bed and raised a shout; it was but the force of habit; but -although the Tuttle-tonian pigs were nearly a degree of longitude away, -I had mechanically armed myself with the water-jug before I remembered -the fact. - -The next morning I started for San Francisco in a very small steamboat, -and seeing the San Joaquin river for the first time by daylight, I -observed that it was very ugly; it only required alligators to make it -perfect in this respect. There was but one wheel to our boat, and that -was astern, and as the accommodation part of the vessel was built to a -great height, it was something like a small wheelbarrow with a large -trunk on it, going the wrong way. We passed Benicia with a fair tide, -and after stemming a stiff breeze, of which the Old Soldier got the full -benefit, as he was in the stem of the boat, and formed a temporary -figure-head, we arrived at San Francisco about dusk. I was fortunate in -getting a kind master for the old horse, and I have seen him since, -fatter than ever he was with me, carrying vegetables about the town with -no more pride than if he was a common animal. - - - - -CHAPTER XXII. - - ELECTIONS--EXECUTIONS--REFORMS--EXILES--“KNOW - NOTHINGS”--TESTIMONIALS--SPEAKING TRUMPETS--OCEAN - STEAMERS--LIFE-BUOYS--AIR-BOATS--CONFIDENCE NECESSARY--FITTING A - RAFT--A SUGGESTION. - - -_March, 1852._ - -When I arrived at San Francisco, I found the authorities very busy -altering the grades of the streets, and covering them with planks. - -As the rear of the town had been built on sand, at an elevation of some -twenty feet above the new grade, the houses there had soon the -appearance of being built on the edge of a dry ravine, into which most -of them tumbled one by one. These house-slips would generally take place -by night, but as the buildings were of the band-box style of -architecture no harm was done when one of them rolled down the hill, -further than an awful smashing of the domestic crockery. Those tenements -that outlived this trying season, were seized with a panic, and changed -their quarters. - -Some were raised bodily by means of lever screws, and being placed on -rollers, were pushed and hauled into a position of safety, whilst the -very small ones were removed down the ravine by the help of half-a-dozen -yoke of oxen, and were planted somewhere else; but the appearance of -these was so far marred by this operation, that they presented ever -afterwards a crushed appearance, and the two front windows seemed to -squint. - -The Americans are very clever at raising houses and removing them; I -have often seen one prised from one side of the street to the other -without injury, and a house that I have since inhabited in San -Francisco, was raised bodily four feet, to correspond with the new -grade, without in any way interfering with our internal arrangements. -Brick houses have thus been raised and a new basement built under them; -but one peculiarity is apparent after all is completed, that the doors -and windows that have been left open cannot be afterwards shut, and -those that have been shut cannot, by the same rule, be opened. - -I was present at more than one of the general elections at San -Francisco, and in connection with this ceremony lies one of the greatest -drawbacks of the country. - -Setting aside the means by which governors and legislators are brought -into office by a majority of votes, I will take the case alone of the -elected judges of the state of California. Many who have barely a -knowledge of common law, here come forward for the office of judge, and -are elected--how, it matters not--but such men have been elevated to the -bench, and once there, have detracted as much from its dignity as men -well could. Murderers passed and re-passed before them unpunished, and -this in part gave rise to the actions of the Vigilance Committee. - -It has been unfortunate for California that the elections have been long -controlled by a dishonest class, the least likely to support such -candidates as would place a check upon crime; however, the press of the -country and the people, are fully alive to the existence of this -evil,[27] and it is possible that before long, the Judiciary will be -appointed by the governor and senate, when good men, of whom there are -plenty, will come forward for office. - -It has been very difficult to get a jury to convict a murderer in this -country; I am puzzled to say why, for self-interest would dictate an -unusual degree of severity--still the fact stands, that in twelve -hundred murders, but two men have been publicly executed. One man -acting under jealousy, ill-founded as it appeared on trial, walked up -behind his victim in the street, and then and there blew his brains out; -yet the jury would not convict this man, and he was sentenced to a -year’s imprisonment only. - -The judge should not have been bound by such a verdict, for either the -man was guilty of cold-blooded murder, or was altogether innocent. - -The press,[28] which has vastly improved in California, has taken a firm -stand in opposition to this evil, and before long I have no doubt that -the criminal law will be wholesomely administered there. We must not -expect perfection in a self-regulated colony of six years’ growth, -particularly when we remember that law reform and integrity of election -occupy attention in older countries. - -When once the seed of reform is implanted in California, it grows with -great rapidity. It may be that the greatest sinners make the greatest -saints, but certainly, the most carelessly dissipated community that -ever was brought together, have already, in their new position, enacted -laws for the complete overthrow of many of those so called “necessary -evils” that are borne with in cities of older growth, and more -self-assumed wisdom, and infinitely greater professions of sanctity. - -It is said that one surfeit of raspberry-tarts will produce, in the -pastrycook’s boy, a permanent nausea for these luscious things; thus -with Californians, they have seen vice and debauchery in so awful a -shape, that in the reaction of feeling more good is being done to the -country as regards sweeping reform, than would have happened in twenty -times the time had the early colonists been at the first but ordinarily -virtuous. The thorn is extracted at once, and there is an end of -temporising and preaching, which lead to nothing at times, as any one -may see who will visit some of our cathedral cities, and learn something -of the statistics of the immorality which exists within them, and the -number of divines who are there to raise their voices against it. - -One of the Irish convicts who had escaped by breaking his parole, -arrived in San Francisco about this time, and was feasted and made much -of by a certain class who are to be found in many parts of the United -States, and are monomaniacs on the subject of America opening her arms -and welcoming to her soil the political exiles of other countries. - -The free hospitality which America extends to exiles of all classes, is -to be admired; what a pity, then, to detract from its dignity by a -vulgar “émeute,” which, after all, is extended as much to a singer or -fiddler, as to a (so-called) champion of liberty. But the exiles -generally do not seem to improve on acquaintance, and the days of -triumphal entry are passed for them, and no wonder; for they are not -always grateful. - -Take the case of one who, being welcomed to the United States, at once -devotes his energies to the production of a journal which will not only -arouse political bitterness on the spot, but carefully keeps alive what -remnant of bigotted hostility to England yet slumbers in the country. -Now, as the man who sows discord between this country and America, is an -enemy as much of the latter as of the former, is it not inconsistent -that such a one should be be-speeched and be-dinnered on his arrival? -However, a man may be bowed obsequiously into a house, only to be kicked -on acquaintance ignominiously out of it, and I imagine that more than -one political refugee in America will live to experience a similar -reverse of fortune. - -The “Know Nothings” it would appear have set their faces against -foreigners holding office in the United States. If this political sect -would exert their influence to prevent rabid runaway rebels, who land -among them, from revenging themselves by exciting animosity against the -country that has cast them off, they would do a great deal of good to -the United States. - -And indeed, as regards the exclusion of naturalised subjects from -office, the “Know Nothings” are, in my opinion, right to a certain -extent; for if we divide those who swear allegiance to the United States -into two classes, we have firstly the poor emigrants who leave an -over-populated country to spread themselves, in obedience as it were to -a law of nature, over the vast unpeopled forests and plains of a new -continent, and secondly the educated class who can do well at home but -can _do better_ by forsaking one flag to cling (as long as it suits -them) to another. This class are known as “Whitewashed Yankees,” a term -that may be complimentary, but does not sound like it. It is from this -educated class of naturalised subjects that the aspirants for office -step forward, and under all the circumstances, I am not surprised that a -large sect of Americans now oppose them. For it appears to me, that a -man who has felt so little patriotism for his native land as to abjure -it formally from interested motives, is not likely to remain faithful to -the new country he adopts, any longer than suits his purpose. His -motives are at the best, based on self, and he is consequently not the -best qualified either to hold office or to conduct the public press.[29] - -There is a disproportionate number of jewellers and goldsmiths in San -Francisco, yet all drive a flourishing business. Two articles are in -great demand, viz., gold watches, and silver speaking-trumpets. Nearly -every one in California has a gold watch--every nigger has, I am sure, -and very much dignity does a “coloured person” exhibit whenever he draws -out his ponderous gold turnip, the chain of which is nearly as large as -the cable of a ten-gun brig. - -The speaking-trumpets, of which so many may be seen in the jewellers’ -shop fronts, are accounted for by the habit the San Franciscans have of -presenting a testimonial to the Captain of any ship who may have brought -them safely into port. This testimonial is almost invariably a -speaking-trumpet, which is tendered to the skipper, with a request that -he will blow it, from the undersigned, &c., &c. This mania became so -strong at one time, that if the captain of any Oregon schooner with a -cargo of lumber arrived in safety with two passengers and a dog, there -was no knowing what honours awaited him; at least a letter of thanks -from the passengers and dog, but probably a speaking-trumpet; so that -soon there was more ridicule than honour attached to these testimonials. - -When nearing San Francisco one day in a noble steam-ship, whereof the -captain had done his duty by piloting the ship in safety and attending -to the comforts of his passengers, a gentleman arose towards the close -of our last dinner on board, and amidst profound silence, commenced -eulogising our skipper. I sat next to this latter, and when the orator -continued, “therefore gentlemen it has been moved and carried by a -committee of the passengers, that to mark the high sense they -entertain,” the poor skipper turned to me with anguish in his eyes, and -whispered, “By G--d, they’re going to give me a speaking-trumpet.” He -was right, too, and got a tremendous one; however, I whispered comfort -to him, and showed him how, by putting a bottom to the large end of the -trumpet, and a handle at the top, it would make a splendid claret jug, -capable of holding a gallon at least, and then suggested I, “you might -erase the inscription, and say you won it at a steeplechase.” Whether he -followed this wholesome advice or not I never heard. - -I secured my passage on board the “Northerner,” and started on my way to -England, in company with about two hundred and fifty passengers. The -weather was delightful, and the wharf was crowded with friends who had -come down to see us off: the partings were not very heart-rending; in -fact, the great joke seemed to consist in those who were on the wharf -pelting us with oranges and cheap novels as we cast off. - -As we steamed out of the bay and lost sight of the busy city at last, we -could not but think of the changes and reverses that all of us had been -witness to, and most of us had shared. I for my part, as I recalled the -noble courage with which misfortune had been borne with by the people, -echoed the remark that Smith and Jones had made conjointly on the ruins -of the first fire. - -SMITH. It’s a great country! - -JONES. It’s nothing shorter! - -We were very comfortable on board, and arrived at Panama, so much -pleased with the ship and the voyage, that it was lucky for the captain -that there were no speaking-trumpets to be purchased at Panama; as it -was, we did not let him off without a letter of thanks--and our thanks -in one form or the other he certainly deserved; his name was Isham. -Captains of ocean steamers do not always perform their duty, many are -apt to forget that more devolves upon them than mere seamanship, some -forget even this. - -In the great points, of cleanliness as regards the ship, attention to -the real wants of the passengers, and a judicious arbitration of such -little outbreaks as will occur in crowded vessels, the commanders of the -Pacific Mail Steam Ship Line (to which the “Northerner” belonged) -deservedly enjoy a reputation. The ocean steamers on this line, as also -on the opposition, which takes the Nicaragua route, are magnificent -vessels. Many of them are over three thousand tons burden, and are very -fast and beautifully found. Ventilated with open ports two feet square -between each state-room, they are comfortable and wholesome even when -carrying eight hundred passengers; and it is the want of ventilation -that makes a crowded ship unbearable anywhere, and in the tropics -unhealthy. - -A large proportion of ocean steamers are wretchedly off in this respect, -and travellers in the East or West Indies are often limited when under -hatches to such air as can penetrate through a scuttle hole about the -size of a saucer. - -One American steam ship, the “George Law,” possesses what I have never -met with in any other boat; she has not only life-boats[30] suspended -from her davits on all sides, but she has two metal air-boats elevated -on deck, that can be launched _immediately under any circumstances_. -Besides these boats there are on board several hundred life-buoys, one -of these being suspended to each bunk throughout the ship. These -life-buoys are formed of cork and painted canvas, and have straps to -fasten them under the arms. As I recall the fearful and unnecessary loss -of life that has been recorded in the last two years, I have scarcely -patience when I reflect how much of it might have been avoided had each -passenger, as on board the “George Law,” been provided with ten -shillings worth of cork and canvas. I was ten days on board the “George -Law,” and each night as I went to bed, my eyes were arrested by my -life-buoy. It said plainly to me, did this life-buoy, (not knowing that -I was a sailor by profession) “Collisions will take place, spontaneous -combustion will break out, and sunken wrecks and rocks and sand-banks -will be run upon; should any of these occur, will you not quietly buckle -me on, being _prepared by your daily contemplation of me for any such -emergency_, and will you not then calmly assist wherever you are wanted, -in the full confidence that even if the ship sinks under you, you can -float without exertion until you are picked up by the life-boats?” -Certainly the contemplation of a life-buoy by one’s bed-side, will bring -such thoughts to mind, and by keeping the danger before each man night -and day, prepares him when the hour comes, to act coolly and -reflectively. But we may look farther even than this; if the presence of -life-buoys accustoms passengers to contemplate danger, and to meet it -calmly when it comes, does it not stand to reason that the captain and -crew of a sinking vessel are better able to exert themselves for the -safety of the vessel, or otherwise the lowering and _provisioning_ of -boats, when the passengers, confident in their cork and canvas, are -calmly awaiting the _order_ to jump overboard, instead of at once -plunging into the waves, only to struggle and call piteously for help, -thus unmanning some and rendering others unable to assist them. How many -boats have been successfully lowered from a sinking ship, but being -overloaded too suddenly, have turned over and drowned all that could not -swim: would this be so if all had life-buoys? How many boats have left a -ship in the dark night but half full, fearing the impetuous rush which a -panic-struck crowd would make at it if again it touched the ship’s -sides? Yet the cost of such a buoy is but ten shillings, and that of a -life-boat thirty pounds. - -It may be said that every passenger can carry his own life-preserver, -and that most do so: this is nothing; it gives me no increased -confidence to know that Muggins who sleeps next to me has an -India-rubber bag that he can blow out each night before turning in. The -advantage of disposing life-buoys throughout the ship, as in the “George -Law,” is in the general confidence which their presence gives to all, -and when the moment of danger comes, that ten shillings’ worth of cork -and canvas will enable those who cannot swim to keep above water, and -those who can swim to double their exertions to form a raft and save the -helpless. There is not, to my knowledge, an ocean steamer that leaves -England that is properly found in this respect, nor will there be until -government inspectors are appointed to see that they are supplied with -life-boats that can be lowered in all weather, and do not necessarily -swamp if a “fall” gives way, or bilge as they surge against the vessel’s -side. And captains of vessels should be made to keep their boats clear, -so far as this, that falls should be kept clear for running, and -lashings and gripes so secured as _easily to be cast off_, precautions -which are seldom taken. - -Judging not only by the details we receive from the survivors of lost -ships, but from what actually comes before our notice as we travel to -and fro, it appears as a fact indisputable, that not only are steamboats -ill supplied with the requisites for saving life in case of shipwreck, -but that what they have are seldom of use when wanted. With long boats -on board that can only be hoisted out under favourable circumstances, -cutters and gigs at the davits lashed and secured, and covered with -tarpaulin, filled with hay perhaps, or vegetables, containing neither -oars, compass, or tow-rope, is it a wonder that in nearly every case of -shipwreck we find the loss of life aggravated by the confusion and -mismanagement which accompanies the lowering of boats, or the attempted -construction of a raft? A few hundred pounds would amply supply every -ship with the requisites for preservation of life in addition to those -they already possess, and of what account is this sum in the grand total -of the cost of a steam-ship? Air-boats, or life-buoys, are by no means -perishable or costly articles, but how much less sad would have been the -history of sinking and burning troop-ships, had they been supplied with -them?[31] - -Of what avail is the splendid discipline and admirable courage that is -displayed by soldiers in burning and sinking ships, when each man has -but to wait the hour when he must go overboard and drown helplessly. I -would not only have each soldier in a troop-ship provided with a -life-buoy, but I would also that each man, previous to sailing, should -be made to go once into deep water with the life-buoy on, so that he -might be convinced in smooth water that the cork would uphold his -weight--a fact more difficult to believe when the trial has to take -place in a hurricane, and from a sinking ship. - -Each vessel carries (or rather should carry) a sufficient number of -spare spars to replace those that may be carried away; there is seldom a -call for the largest of these in a well-managed ship, yet they form part -of her furniture, and are generally lashed on deck or under the chains. - -By a little management these spare topmasts and yards might be so -fitted, without impairing their utility, as to form a raft, in -conjunction with casks, in a very short time. The crew might be -practised shortly after leaving port at launching these spars and -connecting them; the passengers would be instructed equally with the -crew; and in emigrant and troop ships those who could swim might at once -be sent overboard (with their life-buoys) to assist in the construction -of the raft.[32] - -To make this more plain, let us suppose a ship, whether carrying troops, -emigrants or passengers, to be twenty-four hours out of port; an order -is posted up that all hands are to muster on deck with their life-buoys -at a given hour, when the fire-bell will be sounded. The ship or steamer -is hove to, the spars are unlashed, launched, and the raft is put -together, the boats are lowered, and the passengers then see at least -that the means of safety are provided for them. Those that can swim can -go overboard if they please and lend a hand. Hoist everything on board, -and you have lost perhaps three hours of your passage time, but a vast -deal has been accomplished towards saving life, if the ship that night -should run upon a rock and perish. Everything would be in its place, and -all that could be done would be done. - -I fear that there would be much opposition to such a plan on board -passenger ships, for when danger is far off there is little disposition -to submit to any arbitrary regulations, even though adopted for their -own safety; but in emigrant and troop ships the practice might be -enforced. I would have troops and emigrants mustered regularly with -their life-buoys on, and the swimmers formed into a squad with a -certain duty appointed for them. Each man should know his station in the -hour of danger, and the fire-bell be sounded once a week for practice. A -little ingenuity in the formation of buoys, adapted to the peculiarities -of the frame of the raft, would so secure a large body of men in the -frame that, even if they perished from exposure or starvation, they -would still be found there floating, and although suspense might have -made death more terrible to them, this would be preferable to their -being washed off one by one, after vain attempts to cling to rolling -casks, and spars, and hen-coops, lashed together, with no more system -than the urgency of the moment suggested to the few who, under ordinary -circumstances, are prepared, in case of shipwreck, to make a rational -effort for the preservation of their lives; for the want of a lashing, -or an axe, or a tow-rope for a boat at such times will peril the lives -of all; but, when all is provided, confidence and courage are there -also, and life may be saved. - -They say drowning men will catch at a straw; let us give our brave -soldiers something to catch at, in the hour of emergency, that will -serve to keep them at least a short time above water; and let our “Royal -Mail lines” take some precautions of this nature for their passengers, -and charge for it extra, if they like, in the passage money. - -Shortly after the loss of the “Amazon” I was taking a passage in one of -the West India boats, and I observed that, in the ship’s fire bill, -which was exposed, the crew and officers only had been stationed. I -ventured to suggest to the captain that an extra clause might be -inserted, to the effect that those passengers who chose to render -assistance in case of fire should assemble with their blankets in some -part of the ship specified, there to be placed under the charge of one -of the ship’s officers; for it seemed to me that, daily perusing such a -regulation, a hundred able-bodied passengers would be found, at the -sound of the fire-bell, ready with their blankets, which, under the -direction of an officer, they would proceed to wet if necessary. This -plan, I thought, would not only render the passengers useful, but would -keep them away from the boats, and, being prepared to act as a -disciplined body in case of danger, the silence so necessary in these -cases would be observed among them. The captain did not agree with me; -but, as he did not inform me how I was in error, I was led to believe -that captains of large boats get testy sometimes from serving in the -Tropics, and object to passengers having any opinion in matters -connected with their own safety. - - - - -CHAPTER XXIII. - - “HERCULES” FAILS--LAND CRABS--MR. BOBBINS--“RUSHING” THE SHIP--NEW - YORK. - - -_May, 1852._ - -The weather being fine, the roads were in tolerable order when we -arrived at Panama; we made light, therefore, of the journey, and, having -arrived at Gorgona, we dismounted from our mules, and, taking boats, -went swiftly down the rapid river, landing at the village of Barbacoes, -to which point the railway was now completed. - -The station-house consisted of a large shed, in which hundreds of fowls -and thousands of eggs were being cooked, eaten, and paid for with -astonishing rapidity. I observed, among other things, that the coffee -was just as weak and scalding hot at Barbacoes, as at Wolverhampton, or -any other refreshment station. - -There was no time-table here at this period; but the line had this -advantage over most others, that the - -[Illustration] - -train started at the time specified by the authorities; for they waited -until it suited them, and then gave the order to “let her slide.” - -On this eventful day, however, we had not “slid” above two miles when -the train stopped. Returning Californians are of a vivacious temperament -generally, and are seldom at their ease when sitting down inactive; -therefore, the instant the train stopped, every man jumped out to see -what was the matter. The cause was soon apparent; we were ascending an -inclined plane, and the little engine--which, Hercules by name, was not -Hercules by nature--had declined to proceed any further. In vain the -sooty stoker emptied his oil-can into the fire to induce if possible -more steam; the little engine, as it ineffectually tried a fresh start, -looked piteous, and seemed to say, “How can you expect a little chap -like me to pull nine hundred of these big fellows up a hill like this? -Let ’em get out and shove me over.” This argument seemed to strike the -conductor, for, without further preface, he said, “Now, lads, heave -together,” and at once we all set our shoulders to the concern, and got -more speed out of it than “Hercules” had done from the start. There was -but one line of rails laid down, and, although the authorities were not -particular with regard to the time of starting, we had the comfort of -knowing that a collision with the other train could not be very serious. -I wonder what we should have done had we been met by an up-train; one of -us would have had to retire, for “Hercules” could not have taken us -back, and it was not likely we were going to shove ourselves back to -Barbacoes. - -The scene would have been splendid, for like the two goats that met on -the narrow bridge, one train would have tried to force the other back, -and in this contest of personal strength I think the nine hundred -returning Californians would most probably have won the day, and entered -Aspinwall in triumph. - -Having reached the top of the hill, we all got in, and Hercules making -the most of the descent ran away with us for three miles, when we got -out again, and so on. The road lay through a thick jungle of splendid -teaks, and palms, and ferns of every variety; the rich epiphytes brushed -against our carriage windows, and the air was suffused with that sweet -fragrance which is alone known in a tropical forest after rain has -fallen. Myriads of little land-crabs of a turquoise colour lined the -banks, and as the time had now arrived when we might discharge our -revolvers and put them away, the blue land-crabs had the advantage of -several hundred bullets, and whilst Hercules rushed impetuously through -the jungle, pop, pop, pop, went the “six-shooters,” and as the land -crabs turned over on their blue backs to die, they presented to the -astonished beholder yellow bellies and green eyes. - -In a pouring rain we arrived at Aspinwall, and this being the terminus, -we proceeded at once on board the steamers that were waiting to convey -us to New York. There happened to be an unusual number of opposition -boats in the bay, so that fares were so reduced that the roughest fellow -there could take a first-class berth. This was very unfair to those of -us who had booked our places through at the office of the Mail Line in -San Francisco, for we had paid a certain price for a certain degree of -comfort and room, and this was denied to us so soon as the price of the -saloon fare rendered it so overcrowded that the tables had to be laid -_twelve times_ each day to accommodate the first-class passengers with -first-class fare. - -Thus the saloon was continually occupied, and each moment it was, “Sound -the gong”--“Hurry up the soup,” and down rushed the “next lot,” as an -auctioneer would say, leaving a hecatomb of Californian hats at the foot -of the companion ladder. We had on board the junior partner of some -English house, who was returning from a business visit he had made to -some part of South America. He gave himself great airs, and being -dressed with the extreme taste which characterises your fast city man, -he threw us all into the shade, for we as yet were not fashionably -attired, nor had we put razors to our chins. - -One day at dinner this fellow, being affronted at some negligence on the -part of the waiter, said, “Aw! do you take me for a returned -Californian?” - -This remark being audible above the din of knives and forks produced a -sudden silence, and, for a moment I thought that Mr. Bobbins’s ears -would have been taken off with a carving knife. Fortunately, for him, -however, each one was in high spirits at the thought of reaching home, -and being very hungry continued his dinner without waiting to resent the -impertinence. - -There was a man on board who had brought with him from the mines two -young grizzly bear cubs, who were just getting large enough to be -dangerous, and that evening, as Mr. Bobbins was dreamily enjoying a -cigar on deck, he was aroused from the contemplation of his patent -leather boots by moonlight with, “Sir, allow me to introduce to you two -returned Californians.” Ursa major, thereupon, being held up, scratched -Bobbins’s face, whilst ursa minor attacked the patent leathers, which he -forcibly removed, together with a toe-nail or so, with his teeth. - -[Illustration] - -Whilst one miner held a screeching, biting, ring-tailed monkey over Mr. -Bobbins’s head, another produced a savage bull-terrier, who, having done -his duty at the mines dogfully, seemed very anxious indeed to make the -acquaintance of Mr. Bobbins’s throat. - -It was some time before the “returned Californians” could tear -themselves away from their new acquaintance, and when they did, they -tore away more of his cross-barred trousers and cut-away coat than any -tailor could repair. - -The next day we arrived at Havannah, and Mr. Bobbins was wise enough to -leave the ship and await a passage in another vessel, and I only wish -that every travelling “gent” who, puffed out with conceit, causes his -countrymen to blush for his ignorance and vulgarity, may get as durable -a lesson as that which Mr. Bobbins received from the four-footed -“returned Californians.” - -At Havannah we found that Americans were in bad odour, on account of the -fillibustering expeditions which had but lately been repulsed. As we -steamed out of the harbour, an intelligent miner observed to me, “I -guess that place will soon belong to our people.” - -“Do you think Spain will sell it?” I asked. - -“Our people will take it,” he replied. - -“But,” said I, “suppose England and France should interfere.” - -“Whip them,” was the laconic reply, and he turned on his heel. - -I mention this, because a large portion of the people of the United -States, remembering only the successful frigate actions in which, during -the last war, they reaped laurels, are ignorant respecting the real -strength of their navy at this moment. - -As our captain wished to arrive at New York before the opposition boats, -all steam was carried that the boilers could bear, and a little more, I -suspect. In fact we were to “rush the ship,” and she so trembled fore -and aft with the work, that it was almost impossible to read a book in -any part of her. The bearings of the engines became so hot that they -were pumped upon day and night. - -She was a beautiful boat, built for the most part of pine, I believe, -and there was no difficulty in placing, under favourable circumstances, -three hundred and fifty miles a day on her log board, independent of any -favourable current. - -Soon, however, we were in the Gulf stream, and were met by signs of a -south-easter; first it “clouded up,” as a miner remarked, and then it -“breezed up considerable,” after which night came on and with it the -gale. These south-easters have a way of chopping round when at their -height, and by this eccentric conduct many vessels are lost. One of the -officers informed me that a short time previously a brig called the John -Hill, was taken aback in this way, and her cargo of molasses shifted and -burst the decks, upon which, “John Hill” became water-logged. Two days -after the mate was taken off the wreck with two legs and an arm broken; -and, concluded my informant, the captain was found two miles off “in -good shape” floating on a hen-coop--the rest of the crew were lost. Fine -weather succeeded the gale, doubly fine by contrast, and as we passed -Sandy Hook, and steamed up New York Bay, the shores on either side, -white with snow, shone brilliantly in the winter’s sun; and the leafless -trees that grew in copses here and there in naked desolation, had more -charm for us, being nearer home, than ever had the vivid green of the -palms and ferns that ten days back we had seen at Panama. - -Thus is our appreciation of the beautiful ever dependant on association; -and to me the white cliffs of my own country, whether I am casting the -last glance on leaving them, or straining my eyes as I first catch a -glimpse of them as I return, these ugly chalky cliffs have more actual -charm for my eye than all that I have ever seen elsewhere of nature’s -rarest gifts. - - * * * * * - -There is nothing left for me to say of New York, others having recorded -more than I could learn of it in a week’s sojourn there. Having visited -many places of note, that have been already accurately described, I -turned into Barnum’s Museum to see the woolly horse, but I could not -find it; being disappointed in the natural history department, I stopped -to witness the theatrical performance, and this so impressed me that I -subjoin for the benefit of the reader a bill of performance, which I -extracted from an American journal:-- - - Just opened, with 100,000 Curiosities, and performance in - Lecter-Room; among witch may be found - - TWO LIVE BOAR CONSTRICTERS, - Mail and Femail. - ALSO!! - A STRIPED ALGEBRA, STUFT. - BESIDES!! - A PAIR OF SHUTTLE COCKS AND ONE SHUTTLE HEN--alive! - THE! - SWORD WITCH GEN. WELLINGTON FIT WITH AT THE - BATTEL OF WATERLOO! whom is six feet long and - broad in proportion. - WITH!!! - A ENORMOUS RATTLETAIL SNAKE--a regular wopper! - AND! - THE TUSHES OF A HIPPOTENUSE! - Together with! - A BENGALL TIGER: SPOTTED LEPROSY! - - * * * * * - - GREAT MORAL SPECTACLE OF ‘MOUNT VESUVIUS!’ - - PART ONE. - - Seen opens. Distant Moon. View of Bey of Napels. A thin smoke - rises. _It is the Beginning of the Eruction!_ The Napels folks - begin to travel. Yaller fire, follered by silent thunder. Awful - consternation. _Suthin rumbles!_ It is the Mounting preparin’ to - Vomic! They call upon the Fire Department. _It’s no use!_ Flight of - stool-pidgeons. A cloud of impenetrable smoke hang over the fated - city, through witch the Naplers are seen makin’ tracks. Awful - explosion of bulbs, kurbs, forniquets, pin weels, serpentiles, and - fourbillon spirals! The Moulting Laver begins to squash out! - - End of Part One. - - COMIC SONG. - - The Parochial Beedle Mr. Mullet. - - LIVE INJUN ON THE SLACK WIRE. - Live Injun Mr. Mullet. - - OBLIGATIONS ON THE CORNUCOPIA, BY SIGNOR - VERMICELLI. - Signor Vermicelli Mr. Mullet. - - In the course of the evening will be an exhibishun of Exileratin’ - Gas! upon a Laffin Highena! - - Laffin Highena Mr. Mullet. - - PART TWO. - - Bey of Napels ’luminated by Bendola Lites. The lava gushes down. - Through the smoke is seen the city in a state of conflagration. The - last family! “_Whar is our parents?_” A red hot stone of eleving - tuns weight falls onto ’em. The bearheaded father falls scentless - before the statoo of the Virgin! _Denumong!!_ - - The hole to conclude with a - GRAND SHAKSPEARING PYROLIGNEOUS DISPLAY OF - FIREWURX!! - - Maroon Bulbs, changing to a spiral weel, witch changes to the Star - of our Union: after, to butiful p’ints of red lites; to finish with - busting into a Brilliant Perspiration! - - During the performance a No. of Popular Airs will be performed on - the Scotch Fiddle and Bag-pipes, by a real Highlander. - - Real Highlander Mr. Mullet. - - Any boy making a muss, will be injected to once’t. - - As the Museum is Temperance, no drinkin’ aloud, but anyone will - find the best of lickers in the Sloon below. - -Could I have witnessed such an entertainment as this, together with the -woolly horse, my chapter on New York would have been swelled both in -size and importance. - - - - -CHAPTER XXIV. - - YELLOW FEVER--A WOODEN HEAD--HARD TIMES--A GALE--WE SPRING A - LEAK--ACAPULCO--SMUGGLING--CHOLERA--CONCLUSION. - - -_Christmas, 1852._ - -“I’ll soon be back, boys,” was my last remark, it will be remembered, as -I parted from the Tuttletonians on the road; consequently, in the winter -of 1852 I found myself at the Island of St. Thomas, on my way back to -the scrofulous pigs, the Carpenter Judge, and Constable Rowe. I had made -up my mind that for the time being I would have no more to do with -quartz mining. I saw that there was much respecting it that would remain -enigmatical until the application of capital and science had produced -results; so as the English Mining Companies appeared to possess both -capital and science in abundance, I determined to wait and learn -something from their operations, and for that matter I am waiting still. -As my wife accompanied me I had made up my mind to jog on by easy -stages to San Francisco, and when arrived there, visit either Southern -California or the Great Salt Desert. Having had a rough passage out we -were resting for a few days at St. Thomas, when the yellow fever broke -out with great violence; soon the ships in harbour lost all their crews, -and the population ashore became panic-struck with the virulence and -suddenness of the disease. I was glad when the Company’s steamer, Dee, -arrived to take us on to Aspinwall; and as this ship was considered -healthy, we congratulated ourselves as we left the anchorage on having -left Yellow Jack behind us; but, unfortunately, we had embarked on board -the very ship that was doomed to suffer the most of all the steamers of -the mail line. We had scarcely been forty-eight hours out, when the -funeral service was read over nine of the ship’s crew; arriving next day -at Carthagena, we landed there about a dozen hopeless cases. The day -after, my servant died in great agony. - -The features of the yellow fever, as then exemplified, were very -horrible. I shall not, therefore, describe them, but merely mention that -the disease commenced with a bleeding from the nose and gums, and this -hemorrhage in many cases could not be checked whilst life remained. - -We had about twelve passengers on board, all English but one; five of -them were sturdy Cornish miners proceeding to California. The first -passenger attacked was Mr. Adams, an American, and as we were then in -sight of Aspinwall, we hoped to land in an hour or two, and fly from the -epidemic, which had not as yet appeared on the Isthmus. We left Mr. -Adams bleeding profusely from the nose, and we afterwards heard of his -death. There was a vague fear among us that we were not quite safe, so -we hurried on to Gorgona, which village we reached that night. The rain -descended without cessation, and we had arrived at the close of one of -the heaviest wet seasons that had been known for years. The roads were -described as being in many places impassable, and such mules as we could -hire were so worn out by the winter’s work that they could scarcely bear -our weight when we mounted. The luggage was charged at the rate of a -shilling a pound, and the muleteers would not engage to take it through -in safety. Much trouble there was, I believe, in starting from Gorgona -in the early morning; much falling of mules and immersion of riders in -thick ponds of mud, ere our party had proceeded a mile on the road. The -rain, I believe, fell as if it would blind one, and as the thunder -reverberated through the dark forest of palm trees, the lightning made -the darkness of the black covered road before us more horrible. - -Had not the yellow fever been behind us, our party would, I believe, -have turned back to spare the women such a fearful trial. I say, -believe, for the night before I had been attacked by yellow fever, and -now as we stumbled and slid, and scrambled and swam through the red fat -mud, I knew nothing. - -My head was of wood, as it were, or lead, and if any one had chopped it -off I should not have known it, but have gone on quite as comfortably. I -had but one fixed idea, and that was that I wanted water; sometimes I -got it, oftener it was not to be had, and I have no doubt that I -pondered dreamily over this circumstance as something remarkable. - -Of course I tumbled off a great many times, but not so often as was -expected; a habit of riding enabled me to keep a certain kind of seat -even under such trying circumstances. I cared little for tumbling off, -but was roused to anger at being lifted on again; however, my wife did -the best she could for me, and by night-fall we arrived at a hut on the -side of the road to sleep. There was no Californian traffic on the road -at this period, and our party consisted but of three men and two women, -the Cornish miners having proceeded on foot the day previously. They -placed us in a small loft, through the chinks of which could be -perceived some half dozen ruffian-looking armed natives, who had -congregated below. I suppose they did not murder us because they thought -we had no money, otherwise they would have done so, unless they made an -exception in our favour over other unarmed passengers who got benighted -at these seasons. It rained still as we plodded on next day, and we -passed a slough where, a day or two before, a woman had fallen off her -mule and was suffocated before assistance reached her. My head was, if -possible, more wooden than ever, and I became much distressed at one -place where I lost my boots in the mud; for the moment I argued quite -reasonably on this subject, but soon becoming unmanned, I burst into -tears, and proceeded on my way, stolid, stupid, and bootless. Our party -arrived at Panama half dead with fatigue, draggled with mud, and -shivering in the torn clothes that for nearly sixty hours had been -drenched in rain. I was placed in bed; the other male passengers--all of -whom had arrived in good health--made themselves comfortable, and -thought no more of the Dee, or the rain, or the mud. In less than ten -days _they all died of yellow fever but one_, and I alone of those -attacked recovered. - -Of the whole party a Mr. Mears alone, who was travelling with his wife, -escaped unharmed. - -The hotel we had selected was undergoing a complete restoration, and was -very merry with the noise of whistling carpenters, who kept time with -their hammers. - -The best accommodation we could procure was a small whitewashed room at -the furthest end of the courtyard; in this room were two small stretcher -beds, without mattresses or covering of any kind, and as times went, we -were fortunate in procuring these, for Panama was very full. There were -no servants in the hotel; there was seldom anything to eat, and when -there was, the cooks were drunk and mutinous and refused to cook. After -six o’clock the fires were put out, and the cooks went away altogether -until the next morning, when they would stroll in early or late, just as -suited them. - -I was laid on a stretcher bed, and fortunately for me the doctor who -attended me was clever in his profession, and gave me no medicine. After -a day or two I commenced bleeding at the mouth as the others had done, -and a sad time my wife must have had, as she sat by my bedside and wiped -away the hot blood as drop by drop it trickled from my lips, watching me -die, as all thought then I should do. - -During this time I felt no pain, and although I never lost my -consciousness, I was in that dreamy state in which I could embrace no -fixed idea; my reflective faculties were lost to me, I never thought -whether I was to get up again or die. I wished to be left alone in that -undisturbed enjoyment which one can fancy a dog feels as he lies in the -sun winking and blinking at humanity. - -When at last I recovered and could sit up, I found that all my -companions of the Dee had died. I soon got ravenously hungry, and then -came the worst part, for I was restricted to a very small allowance of -food. I was so yellow that I became quite vain on the subject, and my -chief delight for a long time was to contemplate myself in the glass. It -is customary to say of a man with the jaundice, that he is as yellow as -an orange; an orange paled by my side, and my skin was of so bright a -hue, that to have given me a coat of gamboge would have been to paint -the lily.[33] - -It seemed that we had brought the yellow fever with us to Panama, or -rather it appeared at the time of our arrival, and it was now spreading -with great rapidity. Cholera also broke out, and deaths from one or the -other of these causes became very numerous. - -The people being panic-struck, a great rush was made for the Californian -boats, of which there happened, at this time, to be very few. - -So soon as I was able to move, there was but one small screw steamer in -port, and as the place was daily becoming more unhealthy, I secured, by -great favour, a cabin in her. - -Nothing could excuse the state in which this ship put to sea, not even -the panic; for she was not only ill-found in every respect, but was so -crowded with passengers, that it was not until it was ascertained that -there was scarcely standing-room for those on board that she tripped her -anchor. - -I had secured a dog-hole of a cabin, and was no sooner on board than my -wife, worn out by fatigue and anxiety, was attacked by violent fever. -There were two young doctors on board, but both were attacked shortly -after we started. Then the epidemic (an aggravated intermittent fever) -broke out among the passengers, who--crowded in the hold as thick as -blacks in a slaver--gave way to fear, and could not be moved from the -lower deck, and so lay weltering in their filth. - -During this time, I could get no medicine or attendance, and my wife was -in the last stage of prostration. - -The epidemic raged, and from the scuttle-hole of our small cabin we -could hear the splash of the bodies as they were tossed overboard with -very little ceremony. There was little to eat on board but ham and -biscuit, and it was hard work to get enough of that. On the fifth day -out, there sprang up a gale, a heavy one too, for all it was the Pacific -Ocean. Our overladen screw steamer could make but five or six knots at -the best of times, but now she could make no headway against the storm, -and she pitched so heavily in the long seas with which we were met, that -she sprung a leak and made water fast. - -When we commenced to work the pumps they were found to be useless, for -the coal had started and the pumps became choked. This new danger drove -the epidemic out of the passengers’ heads, and they at once proceeded to -throw overboard the cargo (and with it my luggage), and then they baled -by means of tubs and buckets. - -For two days and nights we were in suspense as gang relieved gang at the -buckets, and the old “screw” pitched heavily in the trough of the sea. -All were black and filthy with the coal dust, which now mixed with the -water in the hold, and as they howled and shouted over the work, these -fellows looked like devils. They worked bravely though and coolly, and -when the carpenter hallooed from the hold, “Hurrah, lads, it’s gaining -on us;” there was no wincing on the part of those who worked, but a more -steady application to the bucket ropes and falls. Then the gale broke, -and as the ship became easier, the leak gave way before the exertions of -the coal-begrimed passengers; we steamed into Acapulco, still baling out -the black water from the hold, and felt ourselves safe, at least, from -shipwreck. A favourable change had taken place in my wife’s health, and -I determined on remaining at Acapulco, until I could procure a passage -in some safer and more commodious vessel. - -I forbear to mention the name of this steamer, as the captain of her was -a good sailor, and behaved nobly, and it was no fault of his that the -agents at Panama had so cruelly risked the lives of so many people. - -The British consul at Acapulco was kind enough to interest himself in -our behalf, and through his influence we procured a large room in the -house of a Mexican family of note. With the exception of a few chairs -there was no furniture in this room, but it was clean and well -ventilated, and “looked out” upon a court-yard of fragrant orange trees -which were now heavily laden with fruit. - -Nor have the natives of Acapulco much need of furniture, for they seldom -live in their houses, preferring to hang their hammocks in the porch, -where they swing lazily to and fro, and enjoy the cool breeze. The -principal apartment is used occasionally as a reception room, but it is -not considered requisite to employ more decoration on this than other -parts of the house, which is a lamentable proof of the ignorance which -exists here of the usages of polite society in those countries of which -the inhabitants do not consider what is good enough for themselves good -enough for their visitors. - -The Custom-house officers of Acapulco were very suspicious, and such of -my baggage as had not been thrown overboard was subjected to a very -severe scrutiny. There is a heavy duty on the exportation of specie and -playing cards in this part of Mexico, and the manufacture of the latter -is monopolised by the Government, and gives rise to a great deal of -smuggling. As many invalids had been landed at Acapulco from the -Californian steamers, and had there died, it was not unnatural that an -occasional victim should be enclosed in a shell, and be reshipped for -interment in another country. During a season in which Acapulco air -rather accelerated death than aided recovery, so large a quantity of -“remains” were hermetically sealed and addressed to distant friends, -that the commandant became suspicious, and insisted one day on opening a -coffin. No corpse was there, but in its place was the devil; that is to -say, as far as a good cargo of playing cards and doubloons can represent -that functionary! Since then the dead man who goes out is searched -equally with the live one who comes in. - -There had been an earthquake at Acapulco immediately before our arrival, -and the best proof of the severity of the shock was in the fact that -numerous adobe buildings were lying crest-fallen on all sides. A Spanish -mud-built house has a strong constitution, and is built with a view to -earthquakes, but, like us poor mortals, it is built of dirt, and must -crumble to dirt again, as the Fates direct. - -The mosquitos at Acapulco were as numerous as any I remember to have -seen, and, in certain constitutions, every bite produced a sore, which -was aggravated by the climate. We are accustomed to look jocularly on -the attacks of these, or any other hungry insects, but to an invalid -their bites are often productive of most serious consequences. - -I was enabled at last to secure a passage in a large steamer, which -touched at Acapulco on her voyage to San Francisco. She was a -magnificent boat, but, having eight hundred passengers on board, it was -with difficulty we could procure accommodation. We secured, however, a -couple of sofas in the main saloon, and, two bags of bones as we were, -we managed to find either sofa much too big for us. - -Asiatic cholera broke out on the day we left Acapulco, and I began to -think that we brought ill luck with our presence. It was sad to hear the -groans of the dying passengers in the cabins right and left, but perhaps -less so to us than to others, for we had seen so much sickness on our -voyage that we had come to look upon it in a stolid sort of way, and -were free from those fears and anxieties which the more robust about us -experienced. We arrived at San Francisco with a loss in one week of -fifty passengers, and if we did not thank God for his mercy in -preserving us we were surely the most ungrateful of his creatures. - -I would gladly have been spared this record of a very miserable voyage, -and yet without it my narrative would have been incomplete, as -presenting but one side of the picture. At the same time I can assure -the reader that I have not described one half its horrors. - -As we glide swiftly down the stream one day without a care, so, on the -next perhaps, with the pole to our breast, we must sturdily stem the -rushing current to arrive at our goal with a fainting frame and panting -heart, if God so wills; or otherwise, with broken oar and shattered -bark, meet our destruction in the cruel eddies of the swollen river. - - * * * * * - -During my absence the State of California had progressed in the -seven-leagued-boots manner which had characterised it from the first. - -The vast blocks of brick houses that had risen on every side in San -Francisco looked so very new and red that, the streets being filled with -empty packing-cases, it seemed as if the city had been sent out -piecemeal, packed in shavings, and put together like a box of toys. - -Let us take one final glimpse at this colony of six years’ growth. - -The wharves of the city still grow, and the clipper ships appear to grow -proportionately; each “Flying Dragon,” “Flying Fish,” or “Flying Cloud,” -that arrives requires more room for her pinions than those that have -come before her. - -Theatres have sprung up like mushrooms, and actors are so plentiful and -good that I think of the days of the little “Dramatic” and Mr. Warren’s -“last appearance but one” in fear and trembling, lest any one should -recognise that individual in me.--Concerts and Balls, Fancy fairs and -Picnics!--A planked road that leads to a sweet nook in the country, -where, in spring time, the hills are bright with wild flowers, and the -air fragrant with their odour.--A planked road that leads to the wild -and rugged cliffs outside the bay, where the rollers break in one -continued foam, as they lash themselves angrily against the massive wall -that dares to check their course; and where, in the midst of fog and -mist and the spray of struggling waters, sea lions live on lonely rocks, -barking joyfully as the heavy surge sweeps over their oily backs.--A -pleasant road that leads to a quiet lake, where you may dine at the -hotel and enjoy, as it may suit you, the fragrance of the flowers, or -the invigorating salt sea-air.--Horses and carriages; country villas and -country inns; libraries and debating societies; ladies in plenty, -children in plenty, and pleasant society, are here.--Steamers running to -the Sandwich Islands, steamers running to China, steamers running to -Panama and Australia, are here.--There are electric telegraphs -throughout the country, and soon they say there will be a railroad that -will connect San Francisco with the Atlantic States of America. - -There is grain enough sown for the consumption of the country; there are -brick-fields, stone quarries, lime works, and saw mills enough to -supply fifty cities. - -There are foundries, and steam flour-mills, ship-yards, and docks. - -And in the mines:--where shall I stop if I begin to tell of the towns -and villages that have sprung up there, of the bridges and roads, the -aqueducts and tunnels, that meet one on every side? - -And not least, the Press has taken a firm tone, and devotes itself to -the eradication of existing evils. - - * * * * * - -Again I am leaving San Francisco on a bright Sunday morning. As we glide -past the hills, the sound of bells from twenty churches is borne to us -over the calm bay; we can see artisans strolling in groups with their -families, and schools of children on their way to church, who merrily -wave us an adieu. - -Soon the bells are heard no more, and now having passed the Heads, we -meet the fat fog which the sun has turned out of the bay. - -As we plunge boldly into this, we say farewell to California. - - - - -APPENDIX. - - -EXTRACTS from a work by Dr. J. B. TRASK, (U. S.) on the Geology of -California. - - -SOILS OF THE VALLEY SANTA CLARA AND SHORES OF SAN FRANCISCO BAY. - -The soils on the Bay San Francisco differ much on its eastern and -western sides; both borders of the bay present the tertiary series, but -both do not present the trapean rocks to the same degree of development; -this, then, of course, will cause a distinctive and marked difference in -the productive capabilities of either shore. It will be found in all the -soils which have been derived in whole, or in part, from rocks more -recent than the tertiary group, that a more extensive and varied -adaptation to agricultural purposes will be present; this will be -particularly manifest in those sections where the tertiaries, containing -organic remains, enter somewhat largely into the components of the soil -produced from such sources. - -Under a proper course of treatment these lands will be made available -for the purposes of the agriculturist, and our already large domain of -arable lands thus much increased. The situation of these lands in the -interior is such that they may be easily reclaimed should they ever fall -within the jurisdiction of the State, which undoubtedly they will, under -the law regulating “saline lands.” In the counties of San Francisco, -Santa Clara, and Alameda, the wet land that may be made available by -drainage is about seventy square miles, exclusive of the “saline lands” -at the southern part of the county of Santa Clara. - -Most of the valley sections of this range of country is arable land, and -that which is not can easily be made so when required; the agents for -bringing this about being found in the adjoining hills to the east. The -character of the soil and climate adapts it to all the productions of -temperate climates, and where local position modifies the climate of any -section, it is found capable of producing plants of the tropical -latitudes. - -The extreme south-eastern part of this valley would be adapted to the -growth of foreign fruits and other products, but it must be beyond the -influence of the cold sea-wind that passes inland across the range of -lower hills which divides the Salinas, Pajaro, and Santa Clara valleys, -the effect of which would be to blight the fruit, though the plant or -tree might continue to thrive. - -The low hills that flank the east side of the valley contain all the -elements required for the culture of tropical plants and fruits; the -climate and soil will be found adapted, and the only agent that appears -in the least to be wanting is water sufficient to supply the demands of -those plants. From the appearance of small lagoons and rivulets at -different elevations it is presumable that a sufficient quantity of this -agent may be found a short distance below the surface. - -As a general rule the mountains lying upon the east border of the valley -Santa Clara are covered with a soil superior to that of the plains, and -of much greater depth. I have measured the depths of these soils in many -places, and where it is well developed have found it varying from four -to eleven feet for miles continuous: its extreme fertility produces -heavy crops of the native grains and grasses, which annually contribute -to its increase by their decomposition. - -Although these lands are situated within the reach of the sea breeze -from the Bay of San Francisco, they are protected from its cold by the -slope of the hills and the modifications of its temperature acquired in -its passage down the bay before reaching the northern portion of the -valley. So much is the temperature increased that an addition of ten -degrees is often acquired in its transit from San Francisco to the head -of the valley, a distance little rising fifty miles. This increase of -temperature in the air is accompanied with an increase in its capacity -for moisture, hence it is usual to find a slight aqueous haze, which -results from the condensation of its moisture, hanging about this entire -range of hills during the summer months, and is usually seen early in -the morning. - - -THE STRUCTURE OF THE VALLEYS OF SACRAMENTO AND SAN JOAQUIN. - -These valleys form a “single geographical formation,” stretching from -the terminal spurs of the Cascade Mountains at the north to the junction -of the Sierra Nevada with the southern terminus of the Monte Diablo -range with the thirty-fourth parallel of north latitude. The length of -the valley is about three hundred and eighty miles in length on an air -line, with a breadth of fifty miles at its widest point. - -The general appearance of the valley is that of an extended plain -composed of alluvium, and this opinion would obtain in the mind of any -person whose line of travel would lead him over the lower terraces of -the plain, or what is denominated its bottom lands. It is only by making -a transverse section of this plain that we should be able to arrive at -any correct conclusions of its structure and peculiarities of its -formation; by pursuing this course, very distinctive and marked features -are observable of different periods of elevation to which this portion -of the country has been subjected subsequent to its emergence above the -level of the sea. - -The character of the soil in many parts of this valley will render it -of little importance as an agricultural district, unless water in ample -quantities for irrigation can be obtained. (These remarks apply -particularly to the upper terrace of the valley on each side of the -river.) And we hope that attention may be called to this very important -subject of making the extensive areas of the arid districts of the basin -available for market and agricultural purposes. - -Experience has demonstrated the almost certainty of obtaining water, and -in sufficient quantities, for agricultural and other purposes, in all -valleys resting upon sedimentary formations, and having a basin-shaped -structure, and where the different beds have a degree of uniformity or -regularity in their position, and are of a texture that will admit the -free percolation of water through the superior beds, and sufficiently -firm to prevent its escape in those below. - -These conditions are all fulfilled in the basin of the Sacramento, and -from the united testimony of different observers, we have ample evidence -that the sedimentary formations of one side are the same as those upon -the other, with the exception, perhaps, of the conglomerate. - -The report, after classifying the rocks of the coast, mountains, &c., -goes on to describe their order and more recent volcanic rocks. In -relation to the discovery of coal, the author says:-- - -From a careful examination of this part of the country, with this object -in view, I feel no hesitation in saying that coal will not be found in -any part of the coast mountains south of the thirty-fifth parallel of -north latitude; what there may be north of this point, I know nothing, -having never visited it. - -It is not unfrequent, in passing over the country, to hear of beds of -mineral coal; during the past season I have visited four such -localities, and, as was anticipated, each of them proved to be merely -small beds of lignite, and two of them hardly deserving that name. One -of these deposits proved to be but a bed of leaves, having a thickness -of about three inches, resting upon a tertiary sandstone containing -marine shells, and covered with twelve feet of a sandy alluvium. This is -one of those coal beds which has figured so largely in the public prints -of the State during the past year, and has induced several gentlemen to -pay the locality a visit, and to return as deeply disappointed as their -previous anticipations were elevated. - -The report of coal veins in the Coast Mountains must be received with -many grains of allowance, and, at the best, none but tertiary deposits -will be found, and these, even should they exist, would be capable of -supplying but a limited demand, and that usually of an inferior -quality.[34] - - -MINERAL RESOURCES OF THE COAST MOUNTAINS. - -The minerals of these mountains are widely dispersed throughout their -entire extent; they consist principally of copper, iron, lead, silver, -gold, nickel, and antimony, with agates, chalcedony, and many others, -too numerous to mention here. - -SILVER.--In the county of Monterey this metal occurs in the form of -argentiferous galena (or lead and silver), and this mineral is found in -the primitive and transition limestone abounding in this section; it is -found in small veins and disseminated; the range in which it occurs -extends from the Gabilan peak to the Chapedero on the south, a distance -of twelve miles inclusive. - -IRON.--This metal is found in almost every variety of form, from one end -of the Coast Mountains to the other; the prevailing mineral, however, is -the peroxide and protoxide of this metal; the latter is often found in -the form of hydrate, and when occurring in proximity to serpentine -rocks, often found to be more or less auriferous. This mineral is -largely developed in some parts of the auriferous district of Mariposa -County, and forms one of the most valuable receptacles of gold among the -gold-bearing rocks of that section. - -SULPHATE OF IRON.--This article, known in commerce under the name of -“copperas,” is found native in large quantities near the town of Santa -Cruz. Its principle had occurred a short distance west of the house of -Mr. Medor, in a gulch running from the mountains through the low hills -to the coast. I followed the course of the ravine from where it enters -the high hill near the crossing of the road north-west of the town to -near the sea. The average depth of its banks varies from fifteen to -thirty feet, its length from the hill to the coast being about two -miles. - -MAGNETIC IRON.--At the distance of two miles north-west of the above -locality, an extensive bed of magnetic iron occurs, running down to the -coast, at which point it crops out and exhibits a depth of several feet. - -GYPSUM.--Sulphate of lime is reported to abound in the northern part of -Santa Cruz, and in the vicinity of the Palo de los Yeska, some six miles -from the mission. It was frequently spoken of by the inhabitants of this -place, but I was unable to learn its precise locality. - -CINNABAR is also reported to exist in this locality. - -NICKEL.--The ores of this metal are found from Contra Costa on the -north, to the utmost southern limit reached in the Coast Mountains. It -occurs in the primitive rocks, associated with chronic iron in almost -every case where the latter may be obtained. It appears as a bright -green mineral on the fractured surface of the other ores, and is known -in technical language as “nickel green.” The scarcity of this metal -renders the discovery of its ores in this country an object of some -importance, and its wide distribution leads to the belief that it exists -in sufficient quantities to warrant investment for its extraction from -other ores, at no distant day. It is extensively used in the -manufacture of German silver for wares and household utensils. - -GOLD.--This metal has been found in the Coast Mountains, from the county -San Francisco on the north to Luis Obispo on the south. The slates and -serpentine formations which have been previously noticed in this report, -are found to be receptacles of gold here as in the Sierra Nevada; the -rocks are extensive in the Coast Mountains, often comprising an entire -ridge for miles; they are usually flanked by the granite. During the -past summer, the placers in the county Santa Cruz were much worked; the -gold found there was principally on the San Lorenzo and its tributaries; -it was fine, and much resembled that found in the Coyote Hill, near -Nevada; under the glass it had all the appearance of having suffered but -little from attrition by water, the surface of the grains being rough, -as though just detached from their original matrix. The slates and -serpentine rocks occur on both sides of this creek, with small veins of -quartz running through them; and, from what we know of auriferous -districts of this and other countries, the presumption is that gold in -_situ_ exists here almost to a certainty. - -On the upper portions of the Carmello, in the county of Monterey, gold -is also found, in the immediate vicinity of the rancho Tulecita. Farther -to the south-east, near the head waters of the creek, it is also found -on the tributaries of the main stream that flow from the western ridge -of these mountains. On the Francisquito, a tributary of the Carmello, -coming from the south-west, and twelve miles from the coast, it is also -found near the house of Barondo. Three or four Mexicans were working -with the battea at the time I passed that ranche. The serpentine rocks -are largely developed on the east flanks of the granite ridges, and from -their course they may be considered as forming the northern part of a -series which occurs at the Mission San Antonio, fifty miles south. - -The district of country in the Coast Mountains in which the auriferous -deposits are now known to occur, is about eighty miles in length, and -thus far is confined to the counties of Santa Clara, Monterey, and the -north part of Luis Obispo. This is a material addition to the already -known area in which this metal is found, and its location in what has -heretofore been considered the agricultural districts of the State, will -in time exert a beneficial influence in the permanent settlement of -those sections. - -ANTIMONY.--The common sulphuret of this metal is very abundant in the -Monte Diablo range; at Mount Oso it is found in large masses, also at -various other points throughout these mountains; it occurs in -considerable quantities in some parts of the county of Santa Barbara. -This mineral is deserving of attention, as it often contains a notable -quantity of silver, though as yet no specimens which have been found in -this country contain a large per centage of this metal. - -BITUMEN.--Bituminous springs abound through the Coast Mountains, and in -some places is much used in the construction of buildings and walks in -front of buildings; for the latter purpose it is admirably adapted in -situations where the sun will not have too powerful an effect upon it, -as in such cases it is apt to become soft. In the counties of Santa -Clara, Santa Cruz, and Monterey, several of these springs occur, and -further south, are found more abundant. Information has been received of -an extensive deposit of bitumen in Contra Costa, some six miles from the -shores of the bay, but at what point I have as yet been unable to learn. -This article has been used of late in the manufacture of gas, for -illumination, and it possesses some advantages over the common oil or -resin gas in general use; a sufficient quantity for the illumination of -the country may be easily obtained, and at low rates, when required for -this purpose. - - -PLACER MINING. - -The writer enters into a long treatise on this branch of mining, and -represents its progress as being very extensive during the last two -years. - -It is now ascertained to a certainty that the placer ranges extend to -the east, within ten or fifteen miles of the “summit ridge,” so called, -of the Sierra Nevada; and the condition in which it is found at these -points is similar in all respects to that in the older or more western -sections, with, perhaps, one exception, and that the relative age of -both. There are evidences which clearly indicate a deposit of gold older -than the diluvial drift of the lower or western diggings, (which latter -is often confounded with the drift deposits of the tertiary periods in -this country,) the character of which differs in almost every respect -from any other deposit yet observed in this country, except in this -particular range. - -Its direction has been traced for about seventy miles, and is found to -extend through the counties of Butte, the eastern part of Yuba, Sierra -Nevada, Placer and El Dorado; it appears to have an average breadth of -about four miles, with an elevation of four thousand feet above the sea -for the greatest part of its length. - - -QUARTZ MINING. - -After a few preliminary remarks upon the permanency of the gold mines of -this State, the author proceeds to an elaborate consideration of the -geological position which the quartz veins hold to the rocks with which -they are connected. Under the head of “Character and positions of the -older veins below the surface,” he concludes thus:-- - -From what testimony we have in our possession relative to these veins, -it seems but reasonable to conclude that their integrity is perfect, or -as nearly so as can be reasonably expected considering the short period -which has been employed in developing their true character, and that the -confidence which they formerly possessed was well grounded; all -subsequent examinations have only tended to confirm this belief in the -minds of those who have carefully and diligently studied this subject. -The present condition of our gold mines, their flourishing state and -prospective value, based on facts as now developed, most clearly -indicate their importance as an industrial pursuit, and one destined ere -long to form one of the leading interests in the economy of the State; -and as such it would seem that all prudent measures to develop farther -their extent and value, and place them upon that footing before the -world which that value and importance demand, should be used; either -through the State or general government, and through them promote such -measures as will prove an inducement to more extensive and permanent -operations than has yet been done. - -In concluding this part of the report, and in connection with the -magnitude and importance of perhaps a somewhat exciting principle in -relation to it, I would beg leave to call your attention to a point on -which there has heretofore existed much diversity of opinion, which not -unfrequently has engendered angry discussion and belligerent feeling in -a large proportion of our mining population. The experience of the last -three years has elucidated the fact most clearly that the two mining -interests of this State cannot be governed by the same rule of law in -all cases, and prove alike advantageous to both; it is therefore -suggested whether some method more congenial to this interest may not be -adopted, that will favour the occupancy and improvement of the metallic -veins of this State, giving at the same time the widest scope and -protection to all at present engaged, and those who may wish hereafter -to enter upon those pursuits. - - * * * * * - -The mines of this State are of a character and value which, if placed -in a proper position, will invite investment from abroad to an amount -little less than twenty millions of dollars within the next eight years. -This presumption is founded on the fact that more than one-sixth of that -amount is at the present time in active operation in this country, and -its largest proportion has been derived from American sources during a -portion of that period when public confidence had been shaken in regard -to their value. Negotiations are now pending which involve nearly one -million more of capital investment in this branch of mining, nearly one -half of which is in the cities of Boston and New York. - -Considering the disadvantages that now surround them, as shown from the -facts relating thereto, they can but be regarded as the prolific sources -of wealth in this country; and every inducement consistent with the -liberal policy adopted in the government of the placers, is equally -applicable, and should be extended to them. - -Dr. Trask concludes his very able report by briefly reviewing the -operations of the following mines, viz.: Lafayette and Helvetia, Gold -Hill, Osborne Hill, Wyoming, Gold Tunnel, Illinois, Jones and Davis -Mine, Calaveras county; Spring Hill, Amadore Company, Ranchoree, -Keystone, and Eureka Mine, Calaveras County, all of which he represents -in a prosperous condition. - - -THE END. - - -BRADBURY AND EVANS, PRINTERS, WHITEFRIARS. - - -FOOTNOTES: - -[1] Captain J. B. Frisbie. - -[2] From Vacca or Vaca--cow. - -[3] Sun-dried brick. - -[4] Lasso. - -[5] I am supposing the case of an unarmed person suddenly meeting a -she-bear, a not unusual occurrence in California. - -[6] Query:--(Printer’s Devil.) - -[7] As it would be inferred from this that champagne must have been -cheap, I may mention that at this period the prices ranged from 2_l._ -to 4_l._ the bottle, and the quality was execrable. - -[8] This fact alone proves the truth of my remarks. - -[9] The intelligent reader will observe that this was not the same -house that was thrown overboard. - -[10] In which it will be observed they were more merciful than I was; -but the “coyote” comes under the head of vermin. - -[11] “Drinks” are not necessarily composed of intoxicating liquors: on -the contrary, the principal ingredients are ice, syrup, and herbs. I -mention this, because _we_ mean by a man who “drinks,” a drunkard, or -the next thing to it. - -[12] Looking, in fact, for new diggings. - -[13] Deposits of Gold. - -[14] Scalp. - -[15] Gold washers. - -[16] But when a couple of Chinamen make a demand for sam-schou, then -the bar-keeper is puzzled. - -[17] The reader will observe, if he pleases, that in erecting this -hotel I had no view to becoming its landlord: had I taken any situation -in it, it would have been in the capacity of “boots,” which berth a -“handy young man” can turn to better account in this country than even -the head cook. That a cook’s situation, with or without tea and sugar -is lucrative, the following anecdote will attest:--In ’49 the captain -of a merchant brig at San Francisco having engaged a crew, regardless -of expense, in lieu of that which had run away, regardless of their -contracts and arrears of pay, found himself still in want of a cook. -Meeting a negro on the beach he offered him the situation, and to the -enquiry of the latter respecting salary, the captain said he could -give but two pounds a day. Having cocked his hat, folded his arms and -adjusted his legs as niggers do, this fellow laughed musically and -said, “dat if de capten wish to hire heseff out for five pounds a day -to fill dat occupation, jes walk up to the restaurant and he would set -him to work _immediently_.” - -[18] In Mexico. - -[19] Independent of the probability of there having been more than one -formation.--See Appendix. - -[20] Obsolete term revived. - -[21] A converted Budhist will address his prayers to our God if he -thinks he can obtain any temporal benefit by so doing; but if not he -would be just as likely to pray to Budha or to the devil.--Baker’s -“Rifle and Hound in Ceylon,” page 85. - -[22] If the reader will refer to the “Times” of the 29th of September, -1854, he will perceive that a liberal collection was made at St. -James’s, Piccadilly, for the Borneo Mission. In the same journal, three -days earlier, the police magistrates express their regret that want of -funds compels them to deny assistance to surviving sufferers from the -cholera! All have, of course, a right to do as they like with their -money; but after the hat had passed round at St. James’s, I should -have liked to have seen its liberal contents transferred at once to -Bermondsey instead of to Kuchin. And for this reason, that I know, from -personal experience, that my old friends the Dyaks are as fat and sleek -a people as any in the world, well fed, well housed, and free from -disease, whilst the stomachs of those at Spitalfields, charitable sir, -are aching with the hunger that drives man to _crime_! - -[23] Rich deposits were discovered, but I am not aware of the value of -the quartz generally at Carson’s Creek. - -[24] Our object was still only to experimentalise. - -[25] The reader will perceive the bitter irony conveyed in this -expression as contrasted with the complimentary one of “some pumpkins.” - -[26] The best use to which an India-rubber sheet can be put, is to -protect during the day that part of the ground on which you sleep at -night. - -[27] Since this was written, an election has taken place, calculated to -give satisfaction to the Reform Party. - -[28] A little paper called the “Sun” deserves great credit for the -courage with which it has attacked existing abuses! - -[29] I beg to forestall the remark that may here be applied to me, that -I am myself a _know nothing_, and defend the sect from fellow-feeling. - -[30] Air-boats with life lines and floats suspended from their gunwales. - -[31] As this goes to press I add a few extracts from a report in the -“Times” of December 8, 1854, of the loss of the troop ship “Charlotte” -and 117 lives in Algoa Bay, September 20th:-- - -“*** On the life-boat coming alongside it was found that every one on -board was completely _paralysed_, or overcome by the calamity. *** -Three separate times the life-boat pulled alongside, but there was no -one in a position even to cast a line to it. *** A great number _threw -themselves overboard_. Some were fortunate enough to reach the shore, -but the majority were drowned.” - -This ship was apparently in a position favourable for the preservation -of life, had _confidence_ existed. - -[32] These remarks were written previous to the loss of the “Arctic.” - -[33] I trust the reader will understand that if I omit to write -seriously of my feelings on recovery from a death-bed, it is because I -consider a work like this no place for them. - -[34] Extensive fields of good serviceable coal have been discovered in -Southern Oregon.--AUTHOR. - - - -Typographical errors corrected by the etext transcriber: - -that encirled them => that encircled them {pg 98} - -must be re-remembered=> must be remembered {pg 175} - -thet he was induced=> that he was induced {pg 204} - -It is generallly inferred=> It is generally inferred {pg 276} - -the valley is is about=> the valley is about {pg 435} - -I shall speak by and and bye=> I shall speak by and bye {pg 68} - - -*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK MOUNTAINS AND MOLEHILLS *** - -Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions will -be renamed. - -Creating the works from print editions not protected by U.S. copyright -law means that no one owns a United States copyright in these works, -so the Foundation (and you!) can copy and distribute it in the -United States without permission and without paying copyright -royalties. 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You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms -of the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online -at <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org">www.gutenberg.org</a>. If you -are not located in the United States, you will have to check the laws of the -country where you are located before using this eBook. -</div> - -<p style='display:block; margin-top:1em; margin-bottom:0; margin-left:2em; text-indent:-2em'>Title: Mountains and molehills</p> -<p style='display:block; margin-left:2em; text-indent:0; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:1em;'>or Recollections of a burnt journal</p> -<p style='display:block; margin-top:1em; margin-bottom:0; margin-left:2em; text-indent:-2em'>Author: Frank Marryat</p> -<p style='display:block; text-indent:0; margin:1em 0'>Release Date: November 23, 2022 [eBook #69412]</p> -<p style='display:block; text-indent:0; margin:1em 0'>Language: English</p> - <p style='display:block; margin-top:1em; margin-bottom:0; margin-left:2em; text-indent:-2em; text-align:left'>Produced by: Chuck Greif and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This file was produced from images available at The Internet Archive)</p> -<div style='margin-top:2em; margin-bottom:4em'>*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK MOUNTAINS AND MOLEHILLS ***</div> -<hr class="full"> - -<p class="toc"> -<a href="#CONTENTS">Contents.</a><br> -<a href="#LIST_OF_PLATES">List of Plates.</a><br> -<a href="#LIST_OF_WOODCUTS">List of Woodcuts.</a><br> -<a href="#FOOTNOTES">Footnotes</a><br> -<a href="#APPENDIX">Appendix.</a><br> -</p> - -<div class="figcenter"> -<img src="images/cover.jpg" height="550" alt=""> -</div> - -<div class="figcenter" id="plt_001" style="width: 600px;"> -<a href="images/frontispiece.jpg"> -<img src="images/frontispiece.jpg" width="600" height="379" alt="[Image unavailable.]"></a> -<div class="caption"><p>WHERE THE GOLD COMES FROM.</p> - -<p>F. MARRYAT DEL<sup>T</sup></p></div> -</div> - -<div> -<p class="c"> -<a href="images/mountains.jpg"> -<img src="images/mountains.jpg" -width="550" -alt=""></a></p> - -<div class="blk"> -<h1> -MOUNTAINS AND MOLEHILLS<br> -<small>OR RECOLLECTIONS OF<br> -A BURNT JOURNAL</small></h1> - -<p class="c"><span class="spc">BY.FRANK.MARRYAT.</span><br> -<br> -<small>AUTHOR OF “BORNEO AND THE EASTERN ARCHIPELAGO.”</small><br> -<br> -<span class="sans">WITH ILLUSTRATIONS BY THE AUTHOR.</span><br> -<br> -LONDON:<br> -LONGMAN, BROWN, GREEN, AND LONGMANS.<br> -1855.<br> -</p> -</div> - -<p class="c"><small> -LONDON:<br> -BRADBURY AND EVANS, PRINTERS, WHITEFRIARS.</small><br> -</p> - -<h2><a id="PREFACE"></a>PREFACE.</h2> - -<p><span class="smcap">Nothing</span> that I can say here will blind the reader to the deficiency of -these pages; they are in truth, as their title expresses, the -recollections of a “Journal burnt,” and I present here but an outline of -what I have seen or heard during three years of my life; and if I am -wanting in figures and statistics and anything of weight as regards the -country written of, it is certainly because I recalled this Journal -unexpectedly, and far from the scenes it once depicted.</p> - -<p>I may have remembered too little, but that is preferable to remembering -too much.</p> - -<p>I have tried to confine myself to what is most pleasant, and it may be -that a rambling truthful story is the best, if to make the work -elaborate one must have recourse to fiction.</p> - -<p>It is right that a man should submit anything he<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_iv">{iv}</a></span> does modestly, yet for -all that a preface need not be an apology; for I look on a tale written -as a tale told, with this advantage to the reader, that if the tale -written please him not, he can close the book and have done with it. I -am no button-holder, and would rather, sir, that you would desert me at -my second chapter, than that you should wade wearily through this -volume, and then, because we do not suit each other, say that I have -bored you.</p> - -<p>In these days, when new discoveries of Nature’s gifts, and increased -facilities of communication with them invite man to roam, any record of -travel should possess some interest for the adventurous.</p> - -<p>I have proved to myself, what these pages may not show, that a man with -health may plant himself in any country in the world, and by the -exercise of those reasonable faculties that are denied to few, may there -live well and happily.</p> - -<p>It is nothing, perhaps, to state this for a fact, but I would have each -emigrant hug it to his breast as a warm hope that will uphold him in the -hours of adversity and trial that will meet him in the path he pioneers -for himself in a new country.<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_v">{v}</a></span></p> - -<p>Reader, these pages are so much black and white, and will pass as nearly -all such matter does, rapidly to oblivion; but if they bring no smile to -you, nor help momentarily to efface a care, I would ask that they should -bring no frown, for they are written earnestly, and with a good -intention, even though from first to last they stand against me as -printed errors, to cause regret in later years.</p> - -<p class="r"> -FRANK MARRYAT.<br> -</p> - -<p><small><i>December 1st, 1854.</i></small></p> - -<p><small><span class="smcap">Note.</span>—As my sketches were destroyed by fire, I have been unable to -illustrate the scenery of California, but in the accompanying drawings I -have endeavoured to be faithful to the characteristics of the people.</small><span class="pagenum"><a id="page_vii">{vii}</a></span><span class="pagenum"><a id="page_vi">{vi}</a></span></p> - -<h2><a id="CONTENTS"></a>CONTENTS.</h2> - -<table> -<tr><th colspan="2"><a href="#CHAPTER_I">CHAPTER I</a></th></tr> - -<tr><td> </td><td><small>PAGE</small></td></tr> - -<tr><td class="pdd">Chagres River—Curiosity—Isthmus of Panama—Washington Hotel—Ants—A -Native of Virginia—Gold Train—Robbery—Panama Bells—An -Emigrant Ship—An Affecting Preacher—San Francisco</td><td class="rtb"><a href="#page_1">1</a></td></tr> - -<tr><th colspan="2"><a href="#CHAPTER_II">CHAPTER II</a></th></tr> - -<tr><td class="pdd">A Great Country—Improvement—Adventurers—Drinking-Saloons—The -Old Judge—Banks—Mine Speculators—Gambling Houses—“Don’t -Shoot”—Climate—High and Dry</td><td class="rtb"><a href="#page_21">21</a></td></tr> - -<tr><th colspan="2"><a href="#CHAPTER_III">CHAPTER III</a></th></tr> - -<tr><td class="pdd">Benicia—Barnes—A Mad Bloodhound—His Death—Grasshoppers—Don -Raymond—A Blessed City—Wicked Mules—“Camping Out”—Napa—Fourth -of July—Agriculturists—Sonoma—Competition—An -Irascible Bull</td><td class="rtb"><a href="#page_39">39</a></td></tr> - -<tr><th colspan="2"><a href="#CHAPTER_IV">CHAPTER IV</a></th></tr> - -<tr><td class="pdd">Spanish Grants—Squatters—Squatter Fights—A Spanish Ranche—Good -Quarters—Fleas—Vanity—Vaccaros—Quilp—English -Saddles—Antelope Hunt—Rattle-Snakes—Quilp Waltzes—Californian -Horses—Saddles—Horse-Breaking—A Tame Horse</td><td class="rtb"><a href="#page_58">58</a></td></tr> - -<tr><th colspan="2"><a href="#CHAPTER_V">CHAPTER V</a></th></tr> - -<tr><td class="pdd">Spanish Priests—Indians—Quilp forgets himself—Habits of Native -Californians—Father Bartoleméo—The Lasso—Good Riders—Cattle -Branding—Raymond provides Mules—Russian River—We -<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_viii">{viii}</a></span>Encamp—Saw-mill—I propose to “Squat”</td><td class="rtb"><a href="#page_78">78</a></td></tr> - -<tr><th colspan="2"><a href="#CHAPTER_VI">CHAPTER VI</a></th></tr> - -<tr><td class="pdd">The Little Valley—Three Martyrs—Mountain Life—The Poor Does—Castor-oil—A -Sick Dog—The Carpentaro—Grey Squirrel—Digger -Indians—Red-wood Tree—American Rifles—Grizzly Bear Hunt—Sheldon -Wounded—Difficulty in Killing the Bear—Habits of the -Bear—A Thief</td><td class="rtb"><a href="#page_97">97</a></td></tr> - -<tr><th colspan="2"><a href="#CHAPTER_VII">CHAPTER VII</a></th></tr> - -<tr><td class="pdd">Deer Hunting—Wild Bulls—Wild Fowl—A Duck Gun—Driving an -Ox-Team—I Reflect—An Estampede—The Tiger Cat—Rainy -Season—Indian Fires—Wasps—We are Robbed by the Indians—I -kill a Bear—Crossing a Swollen River</td><td class="rtb"><a href="#page_122">122</a></td></tr> - -<tr><th colspan="2"><a href="#CHAPTER_VIII">CHAPTER VIII</a></th></tr> - -<tr><td class="pdd">Quilp departs for the South—San Luis—Ramsey—I am left for -Dead—The Early History of California—Discovery of San Francisco—Spanish -Missions—A Digression—Digression, continued—A -Rainy Season—A Little Crab</td><td class="rtb"><a href="#page_144">144</a></td></tr> - -<tr><th colspan="2"><a href="#CHAPTER_IX">CHAPTER IX</a></th></tr> - -<tr><td class="pdd">The Old Crab-Catcher—Mr. Warren—American Friendship—The -American Press—Education in America—Americans Good Colonists—Californian -Correspondence</td><td class="rtb"><a href="#page_164">164</a></td></tr> - -<tr><th colspan="2"><a href="#CHAPTER_X">CHAPTER X</a></th></tr> - -<tr><td class="pdd">Long Wharf—Clipper Ships—Chinese Emigrants—The May Fire—An -Exciting Scene—Iron Houses—Vallejo—The Coyote—Wild Geese</td><td class="rtb"><a href="#page_180">180</a></td></tr> - -<tr><th colspan="2"><a href="#CHAPTER_XI">CHAPTER XI</a></th></tr> - -<tr><td class="pdd">Coyote Hunting—My Dominions are Invaded—Thomas kills a <i>Bear</i>—A -Trial of Strength—Rowe’s “Lot”—Choctaw—Elk—A Butchery—Rough -Life—Fertility of the Soil</td><td class="rtb"><a href="#page_197">197</a></td></tr> - -<tr><th colspan="2"><a href="#CHAPTER_XII">CHAPTER XII</a></th></tr> - -<tr><td class="pdd">Another Fire—My Geological Friend—“Burnt Out”—Sacramento—Levee—Hulks—Rats—Vigilance -Committee—Start for Volcano—Crocket—“Right -<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_ix">{ix}</a></span>Side Up”</td><td class="rtb"><a href="#page_216">216</a></td></tr> - -<tr><th colspan="2"><a href="#CHAPTER_XIII">CHAPTER XIII</a></th></tr> - -<tr><td class="pdd">An Old She-goat—Our Mineralogist—Gold Diggers—Murderer’s Bar—The -Theorist puzzled—Mining Laws—Jumping Claims—The -Miner’s Life—“Let her slide”—Hostile Indians—We are disgusted—Fire-proof -Houses</td><td class="rtb"><a href="#page_231">231</a></td></tr> - -<tr><th colspan="2"><a href="#CHAPTER_XIV">CHAPTER XIV</a></th></tr> - -<tr><td class="pdd">Joe Bellow—Stockton—A Bear Trapper—Bear and Bull Fights—An -Uneasy Bear—Californian Inns—Natural Roads—Good Driving—I -Kill a Flea—Sonora—The Evening commences—French Emigrants—A -Drinking Bar—Number Eighty—A Corral and a Moral</td><td class="rtb"><a href="#page_248">248</a></td></tr> - -<tr><th colspan="2"><a href="#CHAPTER_XV">CHAPTER XV</a></th></tr> - -<tr><td class="pdd">The Gold Mine—The Innocence of Sonora—Sunday in Sonora—Selling -a Horse—Carrying Weapons—Bob—We leave Vallejo—We are -“Bound to go”—The Shadow of a Crow</td><td class="rtb"><a href="#page_269">269</a></td></tr> - -<tr><th colspan="2"><a href="#CHAPTER_XVI">CHAPTER XVI</a></th></tr> - -<tr><td class="pdd">I explain to the Patient Reader—Pioneers—A Lady’s Boot—Mainspring—Mexican -Robbers—Victims of Prejudice—Works on -America—Two Pigs—Power of the Human Will</td><td class="rtb"><a href="#page_286">286</a></td></tr> - -<tr><th colspan="2"><a href="#CHAPTER_XVII">CHAPTER XVII</a></th></tr> - -<tr><td class="pdd">Yield of Gold—Its Duration—Mormon Gulch—The Distribution of -Gold—Tunnelling—Damming Rivers—Holden’s Garden—Energy -in the Mines—Quartz Mines—Quartz Mining successful—The -Author gets out of his Depth</td><td class="rtb"><a href="#page_304">304</a></td></tr> - -<tr><th colspan="2"><a href="#CHAPTER_XVIII">CHAPTER XVIII</a></th></tr> - -<tr><td class="pdd">Transport Machinery to the Mine—The Carpenter Judge, and Constable -Rowe—Cut-throat Jack—Greasers—French Miners—John -Chinaman—Chinese Ferocity—The Feast of Lanterns—Chinese -Despotism—False Sympathy</td><td class="rtb"><a href="#page_323">323</a></td></tr> - -<tr><th colspan="2"><a href="#CHAPTER_XIX">CHAPTER XIX</a></th></tr> - -<tr><td class="pdd">The Firemen of San Francisco—“We strive to Save”—A Barber’s -Saloon—Oysters—Places of Amusement—A Pickled Head—Shooting -<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_x">{x}</a></span>on Sight</td><td class="rtb"><a href="#page_341">341</a></td></tr> - -<tr><th colspan="2"><a href="#CHAPTER_XX">CHAPTER XX</a></th></tr> - -<tr><td class="pdd">Rat-Catchers—Drays—Crested Partridge—A Marvellous Story—Sailors -in the Mines—A Verdict—The Quartz has the best of it—I -leave Tuttle-town</td><td class="rtb"><a href="#page_356">356</a></td></tr> - -<tr><th colspan="2"><a href="#CHAPTER_XXI">CHAPTER XXI</a></th></tr> - -<tr><td class="pdd">Advice to Emigrants—Gold Countries—Self-Doctoring—Advice continued—I -arrive at Stockton</td><td class="rtb"><a href="#page_373">373</a></td></tr> - -<tr><th colspan="2"><a href="#CHAPTER_XXII">CHAPTER XXII</a></th></tr> - -<tr><td class="pdd">Elections—Executions—Reforms—Exiles—“Know Nothings”—Testimonials—Speaking -Trumpets—Ocean Steamers—Life-Buoys—Air-Boats—Confidence -necessary—Fitting a Raft—A Suggestion</td><td class="rtb"><a href="#page_387">387</a></td></tr> - -<tr><th colspan="2"><a href="#CHAPTER_XXIII">CHAPTER XXIII</a></th></tr> - -<tr><td class="pdd">“Hercules” fails—Land Crabs—Mr. Bobbins—Rushing the Ship—New -York</td><td class="rtb"><a href="#page_406">406</a></td></tr> - -<tr><th colspan="2"><a href="#CHAPTER_XXIV">CHAPTER XXIV</a></th></tr> - -<tr><td class="pdd">Yellow Fever—A Wooden Head—Hard Times—A Gale—We Spring -a Leak—Acapulco—Smuggling—Cholera—Conclusion</td><td class="rtb"><a href="#page_417">417</a></td></tr> - -<tr><td class="pdd">APPENDIX</td><td class="rtb"><a href="#page_433">433</a></td></tr> -</table> - -<h2><a id="ERRATUM"></a>ERRATUM.</h2> - -<p>Page 204, fifteenth line, <i>for</i> “Athletes,” <i>read</i> “Athletæ.<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_xi">{xi}</a></span>” -[Corrected by ebook transcriber.]</p> - -<h2><a id="LIST_OF_PLATES"></a>LIST OF PLATES.<br><br><small> -DRAWN ON STONE BY MESSRS. HANHART, FROM DESIGNS BY FRANK MARRYAT.</small></h2> - -<table> -<tr><td> </td><td><small>PAGE</small></td></tr> -<tr><td><a href="#plt_001">WHERE THE GOLD COMES FROM</a></td><td class="rtb"><a href="#plt_001"><i>Frontispiece</i></a></td></tr> - -<tr><td><a href="#plt_002">HIGH AND DRY</a></td><td class="rtb"><a href="#page_37">37</a></td></tr> - -<tr><td><a href="#plt_003">CHAGRES RIVER</a></td><td class="rtb"><a href="#page_92">92</a></td></tr> - -<tr><td><a href="#plt_004">WINTER OF 1849</a></td><td class="rtb"><a href="#page_162">162</a></td></tr> - -<tr><td><a href="#plt_005">BAR ROOM AT SONORA</a></td><td class="rtb"><a href="#page_224">224</a></td></tr> - -<tr><td><a href="#plt_006">HORSE AUCTION</a></td><td class="rtb"><a href="#page_274">274</a></td></tr> - -<tr><td><a href="#plt_007">SAN FRANCISCO—A FIREMAN’S FUNERAL</a></td><td class="rtb"><a href="#page_344">344</a></td></tr> - -<tr><td><a href="#plt_008">CROSSING THE ISTHMUS</a></td><td class="rtb"><a href="#page_406">406</a></td></tr> -</table> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="page_xii">{xii}</a></span></p> - -<h2><a id="LIST_OF_WOODCUTS"></a>LIST OF WOODCUTS.<br><br><small> -DRAWN ON WOOD BY MR. L. C. MARTIN, FROM DESIGNS BY FRANK MARRYAT.</small></h2> - -<table> -<tr><td> </td><td><small>PAGE</small></td></tr> -<tr><td><a href="#wdcut_001">VACCARO AND INDIAN</a></td><td class="rtb"><a href="#page_67">67</a></td></tr> - -<tr><td><a href="#wdcut_002">QUILP</a></td><td class="rtb"><a href="#page_74">74</a></td></tr> - -<tr><td><a href="#wdcut_003">CAMPING OUT</a></td><td class="rtb"><a href="#page_95">95</a></td></tr> - -<tr><td><a href="#wdcut_004">THE THREE MARTYRS</a></td><td class="rtb"><a href="#page_101">101</a></td></tr> - -<tr><td><a href="#wdcut_005">THE SHOOTING BOX</a></td><td class="rtb"><a href="#page_103">103</a></td></tr> - -<tr><td><a href="#wdcut_006">ROWE’S LOT</a></td><td class="rtb"><a href="#page_208">208</a></td></tr> - -<tr><td><a href="#wdcut_007">A PROSPECTER</a></td><td class="rtb"><a href="#page_232">232</a></td></tr> - -<tr><td><a href="#wdcut_008">THE SONORA STAGE</a></td><td class="rtb"><a href="#page_259">259</a></td></tr> - -<tr><td><a href="#wdcut_009">THE UMBRELLA</a></td><td class="rtb"><a href="#page_282">282</a></td></tr> - -<tr><td><a href="#wdcut_010">OLD SOLDIER AND CHOCKTAW</a></td><td class="rtb"><a href="#page_283">283</a></td></tr> - -<tr><td><a href="#wdcut_011">THE LADY’S BOOT</a></td><td class="rtb"><a href="#page_292">292</a></td></tr> - -<tr><td><a href="#wdcut_012">THE CARPENTER JUDGE</a></td><td class="rtb"><a href="#page_328">328</a></td></tr> - -<tr><td><a href="#wdcut_013">FRENCH MINER</a></td><td class="rtb"><a href="#page_330">330</a></td></tr> - -<tr><td><a href="#wdcut_014">JOHN CHINAMAN</a></td><td class="rtb"><a href="#page_333">333</a></td></tr> - -<tr><td><a href="#wdcut_015">FEAST OF LANTERNS</a></td><td class="rtb"><a href="#page_335">335</a></td></tr> - -<tr><td><a href="#wdcut_016">THE MINER’S GRAVE</a></td><td class="rtb"><a href="#page_365">365</a></td></tr> - -<tr><td><a href="#wdcut_017">DRAWING STRAWS</a></td><td class="rtb"><a href="#page_367">367</a></td></tr> - -<tr><td><a href="#wdcut_018">MR. BOBBINS</a></td><td class="rtb"><a href="#page_411">411</a></td></tr> -</table> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="page_1">{1}</a></span>  </p> - -<p class="c"><span class="big">MOUNTAINS AND MOLEHILLS;</span><br><br> -OR,<br><br> -RECOLLECTIONS OF A BURNT JOURNAL.</p> - -<h2><a id="CHAPTER_I"></a>CHAPTER I.</h2> - -<div class="blockquot"><p class="hang">CHAGRES RIVER—CURIOSITY—ISTHMUS OF PANAMA—WASHINGTON -HOTEL—ANTS—A NATIVE OF VIRGINIA—GOLD TRAIN—ROBBERY—PANAMA -BELLS—AN EMIGRANT SHIP—AN AFFECTING PREACHER—SAN FRANCISCO.</p></div> - -<p class="r"> -<i>April, 1850.</i><br> -</p> - -<p><span class="smcap">At</span> eight <small>A.M.</small>, Chagres was reported in sight, and as we neared the land, -it presented an appearance far from inviting.</p> - -<p>The American steamer, “Cherokee,” ran into the anchorage with us, and -immediately disgorged five hundred American citizens in red and blue -shirts.</p> - -<p>I landed with as much expedition as possible, and commenced at once to -bargain for a canoe to take me up the river. This I at last effected at -an exorbitant price, and on the express condition that we should not -start until sunset. A few months back<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_2">{2}</a></span> the native Indians of this place -considered themselves amply repaid with a few dollars for a week’s work, -but since the Californian emigration has lined their pockets with -American eagles, they have assumed American independence: and now the -civilised traveller, instead of kicking the naked aborigine into his -canoe, or out of it as his humour prompts, has to bargain with a -“padrone,” as he calls himself, dressed in a coloured muslin shirt and a -Panama hat, with a large cigar in his still larger mouth; and has not -only to pay him his price, but has to wait his leisure and convenience.</p> - -<p>The town of Chagres deserves notice, inasmuch as it is the birthplace of -a malignant fever, that became excessively popular among the Californian -emigrants, many of whom have acknowledged the superiority of this malady -by giving up the ghost, a very few hours after landing. Most towns are -famous for some particular manufacture, and it is the fashion for -visitors to carry away a specimen of the handicraft; so it is with -Chagres. It is composed of about fifty huts, each of which raises its -head from the midst of its own private malaria, occasioned by the heaps -of filth and offal, which putrefying under the rays of a vertical sun, -choke up the very doorway.</p> - -<p>On the thresholds of the doors, in the huts them<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_3">{3}</a></span>selves,—fish, -bullock’s heads, hides, and carrion, are strewed all in a state of -decomposition; whilst in the rear is the jungle, and a lake of stagnant -water, with a delicate bordering of greasy blue mud. As I had with me my -man Barnes and three large blood-hounds, I hired a boat of extra size -capable of containing us all, together with the baggage, this being -preferable to making a swifter passage with two smaller canoes and -running the risk of separation. At about three we started, the -“Cherokees” in boats containing from ten to a dozen each. All was noise -and excitement,—cries for lost baggage, adieus, cheers, a parting -strain on a cornet-à-piston, a round dozen at least of different -tongues, each in its owner’s own peculiar fashion murdering Spanish, a -few discharges from rifles and revolvers, rendered the scene ludicrous, -and had the good effect of sending us on the first step of a toilsome -journey in a good humour. So up the river we went, and as Chagres -disappeared behind us, we rejoiced in a purer air. There is an absence -of variety in the scenery of the Chagres river, as throughout its whole -length the banks are lined to the water’s edge with vegetation. But the -rich bright green at all times charms the beholder, and the eye does not -become wearied with the thick masses of luxuriant foliage, for they are -ever blended in<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_4">{4}</a></span> grace and harmony, now towering in the air in bold -relief against the sky, now drooping in graceful festoons from the bank, -kissing their own reflections in the stream beneath.</p> - -<p>Every growing thing clings to and embraces its neighbour most lovingly; -here is a bunch of tangled parasites that bind a palm tree by a thousand -bands to a majestic teak, and having shown their power, as it were, the -parasites ascend the topmost branch of the teak, and devote the rest of -their existence to embellishing with rich festoons of their bright red -flowers, the pair they have thus united.</p> - -<p>The teak, which is here a very bald tree, is much improved by the -addition of these parasites, which give him quite a juvenile appearance, -and form, in fact, a kind of wig, to hide the infirmities of age. Here -is a dead and well bleached sycamore tree, half thrown across the river, -but still holding to the bank by its sinewy roots; and at its extremity -is an ants’ nest, about the size of a beehive, and along the trunk and -branches green leaves are seen to move about at a prodigious rate, under -which ants are discovered on inspection.</p> - -<p>Immediately under the ants’ nest are some glorious water-lilies, and -close to these, by way of contrast, floats an alligator who has been -dead some time, and<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_5">{5}</a></span> hasn’t kept well, and on the top of him sit two -black cormorants, which having, evidently, over-eaten themselves, are -shot on the spot and die lazily. So we ascend the river; a-head, astern, -on every side are canoes; here, surmounting a pyramid of luggage, is a -party of western men in red shirts and jack boots, questioning everybody -with the curiosity peculiar to their race. Presently it is my turn.—</p> - -<p>“Whar bound to, stranger?”</p> - -<p>“California.”</p> - -<p>“Come along! Whar d’ye head from?”</p> - -<p>“England.”</p> - -<p>“Come along! Whar did yer get them dogs?”</p> - -<p>“No whar,” I had a mind to reply, but at this stage I relapsed into -dogged silence, well knowing that there are some lanes which have no -turning, and among these is a western man’s curiosity. The padrone of my -canoe, who steered the boat, had brought his wife with him, and she sat -with us in the stern sheets, laughing, chattering, and smoking a cigar.</p> - -<p>I could find no heart to object to this increase of our live freight, -and indeed so far benefitted by her presence as to be able to practise -Spanish, and before we arrived at the anchorage I had relieved her of -the false impressions she laboured under, that my<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_6">{6}</a></span> dogs were “tigers,” -and that some cherry brandy I produced was poison. At night, having -reached a small village on the river, out jumped the lady, who scrambled -up the bank followed by the boatmen, and I scrambled after them as fast -as I could, to ascertain the meaning of this sudden desertion; but quick -as I was, by the time I reached the huts that constituted the “pueblo,” -I found my padrone already seated as banker at a well-lighted monte -table, surrounded by an anxious crowd of boatmen, natives, and American -passengers, his pretty wife looking over his shoulder watching the game.</p> - -<p>The short time he took to change his profession was very characteristic -of the gambling habits of these Central Americans.</p> - -<p>I slept in the canoe, and at daylight the boatmen returned, having made -a night of it. The monte banker had been lucky, he informed me, and had -left his wife behind, to which I was ungallantly indifferent. Another -day on the river, and another night spent at a hut, and on the third -morning we arrived at Gorgona, from whence we had to take mules to -Panama.</p> - -<p>The bargaining for mules at Gorgona was in every respect similar to the -canoe transaction at Chagres; and after passing a day in the sun, and -accomplishing<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_7">{7}</a></span> in the evening what might, but for the vacillation of the -natives, have been done at once, we started for Panama in company with -the baggage, Barnes walking from choice with the dogs. With our mules in -a string we plunged at once into a narrow rocky path in the forest, -where palm trees and creepers shut the light out overhead;—splashing -through gurgling muddy streams, that concealed loose and treacherous -stones—stumbling over fallen trees that lay across our road—burying -ourselves to the mules’ girths in filthy swamps, where on either side -dead and putrid mules were lying—amidst lightning, thunder, and -incessant rain, we went at a foot pace on the road to Panama. The -thunder-storm changed the twilight of our covered path to darkness, and -one of my mules missing his footing on the red greasy clay, falls down -under his heavy load. When he gets up he has to be unpacked amidst the -curses of the muleteer, and packed again, and thus losing half an hour -in the pelting storm, file after file passes us, until, ready once more -to start, we find ourselves the last upon the road. At Gorgona a flaming -advertisement had informed us that half way on the road to Panama the -“Washington Hotel” would accommodate travellers with “forty beds.” -Anxious to secure a resting-place for my own party, I left the<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_8">{8}</a></span> luggage -train under the charge of Barnes, and pressed forward on the bridle -road.</p> - -<p>At nightfall I reached the “Washington Hotel,” a log hut perched on the -top of a partially cleared hill; an immense amount of fluttering calico -proclaimed that meals could be procured, but a glance at the interior -was sufficient to destroy all appetite. Round it, and stretching for -yards, there were mules, drivers, and passengers, clustered and -clamorous as bees without a hive. To my surprise the crowd consisted for -the most part of homeward bound Californians—emigrants from the land of -promise, who had two days before arrived at Panama in a steamer. Some -were returning rich in gold dust and scales, but the greater part were -far poorer than when first they started to realise their golden dreams.</p> - -<p>And these latter were as drunken and as reckless a set of villains as -one could see anywhere. Stamped with vice and intemperance, without -baggage or money, they were fit for robbery and murder to any extent; -many of them I doubt not were used to it, and had found it convenient to -leave a country where Judge Lynch strings up such fellows rather quicker -than they like sometimes. They foretold with a savage joy the miseries -and disappointment that awaited all who landed there, forgetting that -there<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_9">{9}</a></span> travelled on the same road with them those who had in a very -short space of time secured to themselves a competency by the exercise -of industry, patience, and temperance. The Yankee owner of the -Washington was “realising some,” judging from the prices he charged, and -that every eatable had been consumed long before my arrival. The “forty -beds” respecting which we had met so many advertisements on the road, -consisted of frames of wood five feet long, over which were simply -stretched pieces of much soiled canvas—they were in three tiers, and -altogether occupied about the same space as would two fourposters—they -were all occupied.</p> - -<p>Wet with the thunderstorm, I took up my station on a dead tree near the -door, and as night closed in and the moon rose, awaited the arrival of -my man and dogs with impatience. Hours passed, and I felt convinced at -last that fatigue had compelled Barnes to pass the night at a rancheria -I had seen a few miles back. Rising to stretch my limbs, I became -instantly aware of a succession of sharp stings in every part of my -body; these became aggravated as I stamped and shook myself. In sitting -on the dead tree I had invaded the territory of a nest of ants of -enormous size—larger than earwigs; they bit hard, and had sufficiently -punished my intrusion before I managed<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_10">{10}</a></span> to get rid of them. During the -night file upon file of mules arrived from Panama. These were unloaded -and turned adrift to seek their supper where they could; and travellers, -muleteers, and luggage were spread in every direction round a large fire -that had been lit in the early part of the evening. Deserting my -inhospitable tree, I found myself comfortable enough among a heap of -pack saddles, buried in which I slept till morning. With the first -streak of day everything was moving, luggage was replaced on kicking -mules; the sallow, wayworn, unwashed tenants of the “Washington,” with -what baggage they had on their backs, started for Gorgona on foot. The -morning oath came out fresh and racy from the lips of these disappointed -gentlemen; nor could the bright and glorious sun reflect any beauty from -their sunken bloodshot eyes; when they disappeared in the winding road -leading to Gorgona, it was quite a comfort to me to reflect that we were -not about to honour the same country with our presence. In less than an -hour I found myself alone at the half-way house; the crowd had dispersed -on either road, but as yet my baggage had not arrived. When it did come -up at last we were all very hungry, but as there was nothing left -eatable at the “Washington,” we started for Panama without breaking our -fast.<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_11">{11}</a></span></p> - -<p>Through a tortuous path, which had been burrowed through the forest, we -stumbled on at the rate of a mile and a half an hour; at times the space -between the rocks on either side is too narrow to allow the mules to -pass; in these instances all our efforts are directed to the mule that -is <i>jammed</i>; heaven knows how we get her clear—several shouts, some -kicking, a plunge or two, a crash, and, the mule being free, proceeds on -her path, whilst you stop to pick up the lid of your trunk, which has -been ground off against the rock, as also the few trifles that tumble -out from time to time in consequence. And shortly afterwards we meet -more travellers homeward bound, some on foot, with a stout buckthorn -stick and bundle, and others on mules, with shouldered rifles. Each one, -as I passed, asked me what state I was from, and if I came in the -“Cherokee” steamer. I had been questioned so much after this manner at -the “Washington” that I began to think that to belong to a state and to -arrive in the “Cherokee” would save me much trouble in answering -questions, for my reply in the negative invariably led to the direct -query of Where did I come from? So along the road I surrendered myself -invariably as a “Cherokee” passenger and a native of Virginia, and was -allowed to pass on in peace. At last the country becomes<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_12">{12}</a></span> more open, -huts appear occasionally, and the worst part of the journey is well -over. Still the human tide flows on to Gorgona, for another California -steamer has arrived at Panama; and now we meet some California patients -carried in hammocks slung upon men’s shoulders, travelling painfully -towards a home that some of them will not live to see. Trains of unladen -mules are going down to meet the emigration, some with cargoes of -provisions for the Washington Hotel perhaps.</p> - -<p>Pass on filth, squalor, and poverty, and make way as you should for -wealth, for here, with tinkling bells and gay caparisons, comes a train -of mules laden with gold—pure gold from Peru; as each mule bears his -massive bars uncovered, glittering beneath the cordage which secures -them to the saddle, you can touch the metal as they pass. Twenty of -these file by as we draw on one side, and after them, guarding so much -wealth, are half a dozen armed natives with rusty muskets slung lazily -on their backs; but behind them, on an ambling jennet, is a well “got -up” Don, with muslin shirt and polished jack-boots, richly-mounted -pistols in his holsters, and massive silver spurs on his heels, smoking -his cigarette with as much pomposity as if the gold belonged to him, and -he had plenty more at home. This gentleman, however, is in reality a -clerk in<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_13">{13}</a></span> an English house at Panama, and when he returns to that city, -after shipping the gold on board the English steamer, and getting a -receipt, he will change this picturesque costume for a plaid -shooting-coat and continuations, and be a Don no longer. As the gold -train passed, I thought, in contrast to its insecurity, of the villains -I had parted from in the morning, all of whom were armed. Then followed -a train much larger than the first, and just as little guarded, carrying -silver. For years these specie trains have travelled in this unguarded -state unmolested, <i>not</i> from the <i>primitive honesty</i> of the natives, for -a greater set of villains never existed, but from the simple difficulty -of turning a <small>BAR</small> of gold to any account when once it has been taken into -the jungle. Since the time of which I am writing many attempts have been -made to rob the gold trains, but, when pursuit has been active, the bars -have invariably been discovered in the jungle a short distance from the -scene of the robbery.</p> - -<p>The country became more open as we approached Panama, and when the town -appeared in the distance, we had no shelter from the sun, and the dogs, -panting and footsore, dragged on very slowly. Here I found a man by the -roadside attacked with fever, shivering with ague, and helpless. He was -going to Gorgona,<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_14">{14}</a></span> but as he had no mule, he wished to return to Panama. -I hoisted him on to mine, and we proceeded; he was very ill, wandered in -his speech, and shook like a leaf; and before we got into Panama, he -died from exhaustion. As I did not know what to do with him, I planted -him by the road-side, and on my arrival at the town, I informed the -authorities, and I presume they buried him. Weary and sunburnt, we -arrived at the gates of the town, outside of which we found a large -American encampment, in the midst of which we pitched our tent. Every -bed in the town had long before been pre-engaged, and these cribs, after -the fashion of the “Washington,” were packed from fifty to a hundred in -a room. We slept comfortably that night under one of Edgington’s tents, -the baggage inside, and the dogs picquetted round us.</p> - -<p>Since Panama has become the half-way resting-place of Californian -emigration, the old ruin has assumed quite a lively aspect. Never were -modern improvements so suddenly and so effectually applied to a -dilapidated relic of former grandeur as here. The streets present a -vista of enormous sign-boards, and American flags droop from every -house.</p> - -<p>The main street is composed almost entirely of hotels, eating-houses, -and “hells.” The old ruined<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_15">{15}</a></span> houses have been patched up with whitewash -and paint, and nothing remains unaltered but the cathedral. This -building is in what I believe is called the “early Spanish style,” which -in the Colonies is more remarkable for the tenacity with which mud -bricks hold together, than for any architectural advantages. The -principal features in connection with these ancient churches are the -brass bells they contain, many of which are of handsome design; and -these bells are forced on the notice of the visitor to Panama, inasmuch -as being now all cracked, they emit a sound like that of a concert of -tin-pots and saucepans. At the corner of every street is a little -turretted tower, from the top of which a small boy commences at sunrise -to batter one of these discordant instruments, whilst from the belfries -of the cathedral there issues a peal, to which, comparatively speaking, -the din of a boiler manufactory is a treat. If those bells fail to bring -the people to church, at all events they allow them no peace out of it. -The streets are crowded day and night, for there are several thousand -emigrants, waiting a passage to California. Most of these people are of -the lower class, and are not prepossessing under their present aspect; -and many of them, having exhausted their means in the expenses of their -detention, are leading a precarious life, which neither<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_16">{16}</a></span> improves their -manners or their personal appearance. Long gaunt fellows, armed to the -teeth, line the streets on either side, or lounge about the drinking -bars and gambling saloons; and among these there is quarrelling and -stabbing, and probably murder, before the night is out. The more -peaceably disposed are encamped outside the town, and avoid these -ruffians as they would the plague; but the end of this, to the -evil-disposed, is <i>delirium tremens</i>, fever, and a dog’s burial. With a -good tent and canteen, an abundant market close at hand, and plenty of -books, the time passed pleasantly enough, until I had arranged for my -conveyance to California, which I shortly succeeded in doing, in a small -English barque.</p> - -<p>It is nothing new to say that the Central Americans are an inert race, -and that the inhabitants of New Grenada, of Spanish blood, seem to -assimilate in habits with the famous military garrison of Port Mahon, -the members of which were too lazy to eat;—for these people are too -indolent to make money when it can be done with great rapidity and very -little trouble, consequently, the advantages of the Californian -emigration are entirely reaped by foreigners. Not a <i>permanent</i> -improvement has been added to the town, and if this route was abandoned -altogether, the <i>city</i> would be little the richer for the millions of<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_17">{17}</a></span> -dollars that have been left there during the last few years. The sole -exception, almost, is that of a native firm, which has amassed much -wealth by contracting for mules for transportation. The projected -railroad will be undoubtedly carried out, and will give a vast -importance to the isthmus: but it is built with American money and for -American purposes. The new town of Aspinwall, in Navy Bay, is American; -it is in its infancy at present, and likely always to remain rather -“thin,” for the reason that the marshes that surround it render it -unhealthy. I cannot see what the New Grenadians are to gain by all this -exercise of energy and capital; some day or other, perhaps, the brass -guns on the ramparts of Panama may be remounted, and the breaches in the -walls will be repaired, but by the time these events occur, I think the -flag that will float from the citadel will not be that of New Grenada.</p> - -<p class="casstt">* * * *</p> - -<p>I must confess I felt great delight when we made the mountains at the -entrance of San Francisco Bay; I had been cooped up for forty-five days -on board a small barque, in company with one hundred and seventy-five -passengers, of whom one hundred and sixty were noisy, quarrelsome, -discontented, and dirty in the extreme. I had secured, in company with -two<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_18">{18}</a></span> or three gentlemen, the after-cabin, and so far I was fortunate. We -had also bargained for the poop as a promenade, but those fellows would -not go off it; so there would some of them sit all day, spitting tobacco -juice, and picking their teeth with their knives. Occasionally they -became mutinous, and complained of the provisions, or insisted upon -having more water to drink; but the captain knew his men, and on these -occasions would hoist out of the hold a small cask of sugar, and -knocking off the head, place it in the middle of the deck, and -immediately the mutinous symptoms would subside, and the jack-knives -would cease to pick teeth, and diving into the sugar cask would convey -the sweetness thereof to their owners’ mouths!</p> - -<p>Quarrels were of daily occurrence; there was a great deal of -knife-drawing and threatening, but no <i>bloodshed</i>, and this was probably -attributable to the fact that there was no spirit on board.</p> - -<p>It requires a dram or two even for these ferocious gentry to conquer -their natural repugnance to a contest with cold steel; and I may remark -here that on first finding himself amongst a swaggering set of bullies -armed to the teeth, the traveller is apt to imagine that he is -surrounded by those who acknowledge no law, have no fear of personal -danger, and who will resent all interference; but a closer acquaint<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_19">{19}</a></span>ance -dispels this illusion, and the observing voyager soon finds that he can -resent a man’s treading on his toes none the less that the aggressor -carries a jack-knife and revolver. One Sunday during our voyage we were -addressed spiritually by a minister who dissented from every known -doctrine, and whose discourses were of that nature that rob sacred -subjects of their gravity.</p> - -<p>He shed tears on these occasions with remarkable facility; but under -ordinary circumstances, I should imagine him not to have been sensitive -in this respect, as I overheard him during the voyage threaten to “rip -up the ship’s cook’s guts,” and he carried a knife with him in every way -adapted for the contemplated operation. Under all circumstances I was -very glad when the land about San Francisco Bay appeared in sight. The -morning was lovely; and it needs, by the way, a little sunshine to give -a cheerful look to the rugged cliffs and round gravelly grassless hills -that extend on either side of the bay;—in foggy weather their -appearance is quite disheartening to the stranger, and causes him to -sail up to the anchorage with misgivings in general respecting the -country. Quarrels were now forgotten, and each heart beat high with -expectation, for now was in sight that for which many had left wives and -children,<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_20">{20}</a></span> farms and homesteads, in hopes of course of something better -in a land so favoured as undoubtedly was this before us. But hope as we -will our best, fear and doubt will creep in; and who knows what blanches -the cheek of yonder man! Is it the exhilaration consequent on reaching a -goal where certain reward awaits him? or is it a lurking fear that all -may <i>prove illusion</i>?</p> - -<p>It is a more intense feeling, perhaps, than that of the man who sees -before him the card which carries on its downward side his ruin or his -fortune; for the gambler cannot if he would find any stake against which -to risk the happiness of wife and children, the affections of a -well-loved home, and the <i>chance</i> of misery and speedy death in an -unknown land. Such the emigrant knows to have been the lot of thousands -who have gone before him; but he has also heard of rich “pockets” and -“great strikes,” of fortunes made in a month—a week—a day: who shall -then say which of these emotions blanches his cheek, as we now fly -rapidly past the “Golden Gate” rocks that guard the harbour’s mouth?</p> - -<p>As we open the bay, we observe dense masses of smoke rolling to leeward; -the town and shipping are almost undistinguishable, for we have arrived -at the moment of the great June Fire of 1850, and San Francisco is again -in ashes!<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_21">{21}</a></span></p> - -<h2><a id="CHAPTER_II"></a>CHAPTER II.</h2> - -<div class="blockquot"><p class="hang">A GREAT COUNTRY—IMPROVEMENT—ADVENTURERS—DRINKING-SALOONS—THE -OLD JUDGE—BANKS—MINE SPECULATORS—GAMBLING HOUSES—“DON’T -SHOOT”—CLIMATE—HIGH AND DRY.</p></div> - -<p class="r"> -<i>June, 1850.</i><br> -</p> - -<p><span class="smcap">The</span> fire was fast subsiding; and as the embers died away, and the heavy -smoke rolled off to leeward, the site of the conflagration was plainly -marked out to the spectator like a great black chart. There is nothing -particularly impressive in the scene, for although four hundred houses -have been destroyed, they were but of wood, or thin sheet iron, and the -“devouring element” has made a clean sweep of everything, except a few -brick chimneys and iron pots. Everybody seems in good humour, and there -is no reason why the stranger, who has lost nothing by the calamity, -should allow himself to be plunged into melancholy reflections! Planks -and lumber are already being carted in all directions, and so soon as -the embers cool, the work of rebuilding will commence.<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_22">{22}</a></span></p> - -<p>I found it amusing next day to walk over the ground and observe the -effects of the intense heat on the articles which were strewed around. -Gun-barrels were twisted and knotted like snakes; there were tons of -nails welded together by the heat, standing in the shape of the kegs -which had contained them; small lakes of molten glass of all the colours -of the rainbow; tools of all descriptions, from which the wood-work had -disappeared, and pitch-pots filled with melted lead and glass. Here was -an iron house that had collapsed with the heat, and an iron fireproof -safe that had burst under the same influence; spoons, knives, forks, and -crockery were melted up together in heaps; crucibles even had cracked; -preserved meats had been unable to stand this second cooking, and had -exploded in every direction. The loss was very great by this fire, as -the houses destroyed had been for the most part filled with merchandise; -but there was little time wasted in lamentation, the energy of the -people showed itself at once in action, and in forty-eight hours after -the fire the whole district resounded to the din of busy workmen.</p> - -<p>On the “lot” where I had observed the remains of gun-barrels and nails, -stands its late proprietor, Mr. Jones, who is giving directions to a -master carpenter, or “boss,” for the rebuilding of a new store, the<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_23">{23}</a></span> -materials for which are already on the spot. The carpenter promises to -get everything “fixed right off,” and have the store ready in two days. -At this juncture passes Mr. Smith, also in company with a cargo of -building materials; he was the owner of the iron house; he says to Jones -interrogatively,—</p> - -<p>“<i>Burnt</i> out?”</p> - -<p><span class="smcap">Jones.</span>—“Yes, and <i>burst up</i>.”</p> - -<p><span class="smcap">Smith.</span>—“Flat?”</p> - -<p><span class="smcap">Jones.</span>—“Flat as a d—d pancake!”</p> - -<p><span class="smcap">Smith.</span>—“It’s a great country.”</p> - -<p><span class="smcap">Jones.</span>—“It’s nothing shorter.”</p> - -<p>And in a couple of days both Smith and Jones are on their legs again, -and with a little help from their friends live to grow rich perhaps, and -build brick buildings that withstand the flames.</p> - -<p>This fire was attributed to incendiarism, but when the general -carelessness that existed is considered, it is quite as probable that it -resulted from accident. It is much to be regretted that these fires did -not sweep off the gambling houses; but these buildings were now -constructed of brick, and were tolerably well secured against all risk. -When the burnt portion of the city was again covered with buildings, I -had an opportunity of judging of the enormous strides the place had made -since two years back, when it was,<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_24">{24}</a></span> by all accounts, a settlement of -tents. Three fires had checked its growth in this short space; but a -daring confidence had laughed as it were at these obstacles, and any one -who knew human nature might see, that so long as that spirit of energy -animated every breast, the city would increase in size and wealth, in -spite even of conflagrations so calamitous. For though many individually -are ruined by the flames, and are forced to retire from the field, yet -in a small community where all are armed with strong determination, the -vacant ranks are soon filled up again, and shoulder to shoulder all -march on in unity of purpose, and gain the victory at last, though at -ever so great a sacrifice. Twelve months back there was little else but -canvass tents here, and a small, shifting, restless, gambling, -population: who was it then, when all looked <i>uncertain in the future</i>, -that sent away so many thousand miles for steam excavators, and -tramways, and railway trucks? who were those, again, who sent from this -hamlet of shanties for all the material for large foundries of iron and -brass, for blocks of granite, bricks and mortar, for pile-drivers and -steam-boats? I don’t know,—but these things all arrived; and now, in -eighteen hundred and fifty, the sand-hills tumble down as if by magic, -and are carried to the water’s edge on a railroad where<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_25">{25}</a></span> the -pile-drivers are at work, and confine them to the new position assigned -them on a water lot. The clang of foundries is heard on all sides, as -machinery is manufactured for the mines,—brick buildings are springing -up in the principal thoroughfares, steamers crowd the rivers, and -thousands of men are blasting out huge masses of rock to make space for -the rapid strides of this ambitious young city. The better portion of -the population of San Francisco in eighteen hundred and fifty, may be -said to have consisted of adventurers; these were of all nations, the -Americans being in the proportion of about one-third. Many people object -to the term adventurer, as one that has been generally associated with a -class who travel with scanty purses and easy consciences. But Johnson -defines an adventurer as “one who hazards a chance;” and when we -consider that the population here have to a man almost made sacrifices -elsewhere, in hopes of the speedier reward held out by the vicinity of -these vast gold-fields, the term is not misapplied. Neither is it one -that should ever carry opprobrium; while fresh countries remain to be -explored, and facilities of communication are daily increasing, I have -no objection to call myself an adventurer, and wish that I had been one -of those fortunate ones who conferred a vast benefit upon<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_26">{26}</a></span> mankind (and -secured <i>moderate advantages for themselves</i>) by the discovery of the -gold-fields of California and Australia. The most successful merchants -of San Francisco were needy men, who by chance were on the spot when -first the gold was discovered. The colossal fortunes that a few of these -have reaped, sprung only from the chances that were open to all. Sam -Brannan is probably the wealthiest of these speculators, and he -commenced, they say, by levying a tax on the profits of a party of -Mormons whom he piloted to the diggings. When the Mormons declined to -pay the tax any longer, he called them a parcel of fools for having paid -it so long, and then speculated in building-lots and real estate in San -Francisco and other cities. The rapid rise in the value of this property -elevated Sam to the top round of the ladder of fortune, where he will -probably hold on as long as he can.</p> - -<p>The stranger in San Francisco at this time is at once impressed with the -feverish state of excitement that pervades the whole population; there -is no attention paid to dress, and everyone is hurried and incoherent in -manner. Clubs, reading-rooms, and the society of women are unknown; and -from the harassing duties of the day’s business, there is nothing to -turn to for recreation but the drinking-<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_27">{27}</a></span>saloons and gambling-houses, -and here nightly all the population meet. Where the commerce engaged in -fluctuates with every hour, and profit and loss are not matters of -calculation, but chance—where all have hung their fortunes on a die, -and few are of that class who bring strong principles to bear upon -conduct that society does not condemn—the gambling-tables are well -supported, and the merchant and his clerk, and perhaps his cook, jostle -in the crowd together, and stake their ounces at the same table.</p> - -<p>Drinking is carried on to an incredible extent here; not that there is -much drunkenness, but a vast quantity of liquor is daily consumed.</p> - -<p>From the time the habitual drinker in San Francisco takes his morning -gin-cocktail to stimulate an appetite for breakfast, he supplies himself -at intervals throughout the day with an indefinite number of racy little -spirituous compounds that have the effect of keeping him always more or -less primed. And where saloons line the streets, and you cannot meet a -friend, or make a new acquaintance, or strike a bargain, without an -invitation to drink, which amounts to a command; and when the days are -hot, and you see men issuing from the saloons licking their lips after -their iced mint juleps; and where Brown, who has a party with him, meets -you as he enters the saloon, and says,<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_28">{28}</a></span> “Join us!” and where it is the -fashion to accept such invitations, and rude to refuse them;—what can a -thirsty man do? The better description of drinking-bars are fitted up -with great taste, and at enormous expense. Order and quiet are preserved -within them during the day; they are generally supplied with periodicals -and newspapers, and business assignations are made and held in them at -all hours. Everybody in the place is generous and lavish of money; and -perhaps one reason for so many drinks being consumed is in the fact that -there is ever some liberal soul who is not content until he has ranged -some twenty of his acquaintances at the bar, and when each one is -supplied with a “drink,” he says, “My respects gentlemen!” and the -twenty heads being simultaneously thrown back, down go “straight -brandies,” “Queen-Charlottes,” “stone-fences,” “Champagne-cocktails,” -and “sulky sangarees,” whilst the liberal entertainer discharges the -score, and each one hurries off to his business. There is no one in such -a hurry as a Californian, but he has always time to take a drink. There -is generally a sprinkling of idlers hanging about these saloons, waiting -for any chance that may turn up to their benefit, and particularly that -of being included in the general invitation of “drinks for the crowd,” -which is from time to time<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_29">{29}</a></span> extended by some elated gentleman during the -day. These hangers-on are called “loafers.” There is a story told of an -old judge in the southern part of the country, who was an habitual -frequenter of the bar-room, and who with his rich mellow voice would -exclaim, “Come, let’s all take a drink!” Gladly the loafers would -surround the bar, and each would call for his favourite beverage; but -when all was finished, the judge would observe, “<i>And now let’s all pay -for it!</i>” which the loafers would sorrowfully do, and then retire wiser -men.</p> - -<p class="casstt">* * * *</p> - -<p>Perhaps in no other community so limited could one find so many -well-informed and clever men—men of all nations, who have added the -advantages of travelling to natural abilities and a liberal education. -Most of these are young, and are among the most reckless, perhaps, just -now; but by-and-by, when this fever of dissipation has given way to -better impulses, these men will gladly abjure a life which has been -entailed more upon them by circumstance than choice, and will be the -first to help to elevate society to a standard adapted to their real -qualities—and tastes.</p> - -<p>The banks of San Francisco are naturally important, as being the -depositories of the wealth that thousands are hourly accumulating on the -rich “placer” fields.<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_30">{30}</a></span> These buildings are of brick, and have fire-proof -cellars; and although at the time they were erected the outlay was -enormous, both for material and labour, it was a mere trifle in -comparison with the profits of their owners. The banks line one side of -Montgomery Street, the principal thoroughfare of the city; and as the -space on all sides has been entirely cleared for some distance by the -fire, this row of buildings stands alone just now and solitary, like the -speculative “Terrace” with “extensive marine view” that fronts an -unpopular watering-place in England. At the corner of a street is -Burgoyne’s Bank; you enter and find it very crowded and full of -tobacco-smoke; instead of the chinking of money, you hear a succession -of thumps on the counter, as the large leathern bags of gold-dust come -down on it. Some of the clerks are weighing dust, some are extracting -the black sand with a magnet, and others are packing it in bags and -boxes. The depositors are, generally speaking, miners who have come down -from the diggings, fellows with long beards and jack-boots, and of an -unwashed appearance for the most part. However, many of these are not by -any means what they seem; they have just arrived, perhaps, from a -toilsome dusty journey, and deposit their gold as a first precaution; -and before the evening they will<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_31">{31}</a></span> have been metamorphosed into very -respectable-looking members of society, and will remain so until they -return again to the diggings. Large blocks of quartz lie about the room, -in all of which are rich veins of gold. These have been sent down from -the mountains to be assayed; and the rich yield that these solitary -specimens afforded led some time afterwards to a great deal of very -ruinous speculation, for it had been represented that these specimens -were average samples of great veins, and it was only when money had been -expended in large sums that it was discovered that these rich morsels -were merely accidental deposits of gold, and by no means indicated the -value of the veins. A few rich lumps were brought to England, and, by a -little judicious handling and a few public dinners, were turned to good -account; and nothing but the bungling stupidity of some of those who -were sent here to <i>pull the wires</i> prevented the consummation of some of -the greatest swindles that ever were imposed upon the English public. I -feel sore upon this point, for the dishonesty thus practised produced an -ill feeling against the country which was undeserved, and the stigma of -fraud and dishonesty was unjustly cast upon the whole population.</p> - -<p>There are no public lamps in the town at this time,<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_32">{32}</a></span> so that the greater -part of it is admirably adapted for that portion of the population who -gain their livelihood by robbery, and <i>murder</i> in those cases where -people object to being robbed. But Commercial Street, which is composed -entirely of saloons, is a blaze of light, and resounds with music from -one end to the other. No expense is spared to attract custom, the -bar-keepers are “artists” in their profession; rich soft velvet sofas -and rocking-chairs invite the lounger; but popular feeling runs -strongest in favour of the saloon that contains a pretty woman to attend -the bar. Women are rarities here; and the population flock in crowds and -receive drinks from the fair hands of the female dispenser, whilst the -fortunate proprietor of the saloon realises a fortune in a week—and -only has that time to do it in, for at the end of that period the -charmer is married! A French ship arrived during my stay, and brought as -passengers a large number of very respectable girls, most of whom were -tolerably well looking; they were soon caught up by the saloon -proprietors as waiting-women at salaries of about 50<i>l.</i> each per month, -and after this influx the public became gradually inured to female -attendance, and looked upon it as a matter of no moment.</p> - -<p>Near the centre of the town is a square, which, in<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_33">{33}</a></span> common with many -other things in the country, retains its Spanish appellation, and is -called the “Plaza;” two sides of this are occupied by brick buildings, -devoted solely to gambling. We have the “Verandah,” “Eldorado,” “Parker -House,” “Empire,” “Rendez-vous,” and “Bella Union,” in one row. Most of -these establishments belong to companies, for the amount of capital -required is very large. One or two of the houses are under French -superintendence; companies having been formed in Paris, who openly -avowed their object in the prospectus they issued. On entering one of -these saloons the eye is dazzled almost by the brilliancy of chandeliers -and mirrors. The roof, rich with gilt-work, is supported by pillars of -glass; and the walls are hung with French paintings of great merit, but -of which female nudity forms alone the subject. The crowd of Mexicans, -Miners, Niggers, and Irish bricklayers, through which with difficulty -you force a way, look dirtier (although there is no need of this) from -contrast with the brilliant decorations. Green tables are scattered over -the room, at each of which sit two “monte” dealers surrounded by a -betting crowd. The centres of the tables are covered with gold ounces -and rich specimens from the diggings, and these heaps accumulate very -rapidly in the course of the evening,<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_34">{34}</a></span> for “monte,” as played by these -dexterous dealers, leaves little chance for the staker to win. The thin -Spanish cards alone are used, and although the dealer is intently -watched by a hundred eyes, whose owners, in revenge for having lost, -would gladly detect a cheat, and fall upon him and tear him to pieces, -yet are these eyes no match for his dexterous fingers, and the savage -scrutiny with which he is assailed as his partner rakes in the stakes -produces no emotion on his pale unimpassioned face. The duty of a -“monte” dealer is one of great difficulty; although surrounded by a -clamorous crowd, and the clang of music, his head is occupied by -intricate calculations, his eyes are watchfully (though apparently -carelessly) scanning the faces that surround his table, yet they appear -to be rivetted to his cards; he has, in the presence of vigilant -observers, to execute feats, the detection of which would cost him his -life;—nightly almost he draws his revolver in self-defence;—and -through all this he must never change a muscle of his face, and must be -ready at all times to exercise a determined courage in resenting the -mere suspicion of dishonesty on his part, if such is expressed -incautiously by those about him.</p> - -<p>There is no limit to the introductions one is subjected to in a -Californian crowd;—if the “monte<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_35">{35}</a></span>” dealer rises from his chair, you -will probably be introduced to him, and I had the honour of shaking -hands with a murderer quite fresh from his work, who had been acquitted -a day or two previously by bribing the judge, jury, and the witnesses -against him. I should have declined the honour had I learnt his -profession with his name, but custom insists on your shaking hands on -being introduced to a fellow-mortal; and to refuse to do so is tacitly -to deny one of the great principles of the model republic, which holds -that “one man is as good as another;” and, as I heard a democratic -Irishman observe, “<i>a d—d sight better</i>!”</p> - -<p>Amidst all the din and turmoil of the crowd, and the noisy music that -issues from every corner, two or three reports of a pistol will -occasionally startle the stranger, particularly if they should happen to -be in his immediate vicinity, and a bullet should (as is not uncommon) -whistle past his head and crack the mirror on the other side of him. -There is a general row for a few moments, spectators secure themselves -behind pillars and under the bar; there is a general exclamation of -“don’t shoot,” which means of course “don’t shoot till we get out of the -way;” but after the first discharges the excitement settles down, and -the suspended games are resumed. A wounded man is carried out, but -whether it is a<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_36">{36}</a></span> “monte” dealer who has shot a player, or one gentleman -who has drawn on another gentleman, in the heat of altercation, one does -not learn that night, but it will appear in the morning paper; if the -former it will be headed “<i>Murderous affray</i>,” if the latter, -“Unfortunate <i>difficulty</i>.” There are different names for the same -thing, even in a democratic colony! The climate of California is very -healthy;—there is a tendency in it to intermittent fever and ague in -some parts of the mountains; but in the mines, sickness has generally -resulted from imprudent exposure, and the drinking of the worst possible -description of ardent spirits. On the sea coast and at San Francisco, -the weather is very changeable during the summer months. When the sun -rises and clears away the fog that hangs over the Bay, the air is as -pure and transparent as that of Naples; by noon the glass is at 90°, and -then the sea breeze sets in, and would be welcome, but that it does not -fan one gently like other sea breezes, but bursts on you with the force -of a hurricane, blows off a bit of the roof of your house, and sends the -fine dust in whirling clouds along the street, in such a way that the -people would profit by lying down flat on their stomachs, as they do in -a regular Simoom! As the sun goes down the “doctor” subsides, after -having done a great deal of good in</p> - -<div class="figcenter" id="plt_002" style="width: 600px;"> -<a href="images/ill_001.jpg"> -<img src="images/ill_001.jpg" width="600" height="375" alt="[Image unavailable.]"></a> -<div class="caption"><p>HIGH AND DRY.</p></div> -</div> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="page_37">{37}</a></span></p> - -<p class="nind">airing the town, which as yet is unprovided with sewers. Then there -creeps in steadily a heavy, fat fog, which takes up its quarters in the -Bay every night, and disappears as before mentioned when the sun -rises—under whose influence it does’nt melt like other fogs, but goes -out to sea, and watches the town gloomily, until it is time to come in -again.</p> - -<p>These varieties of temperature during some months are methodically -regular, but are not productive of sickness of any kind. The front of -the city is extending rapidly into the sea, as water-lots are filled up -with the sand-hills which the steam excavators remove. This has left -many of the old ships, that a year ago were beached as storehouses, in a -curious position; for the filled-up space that surrounds them has been -built on for some distance, and new streets run between them and the -sea, so that a stranger puzzles himself for some time to ascertain how -the “Apollo” and “Niantic” became perched in the middle of a street, for -although he has heard of ships being thrown up “high and dry,” he has -probably sufficient nautical experience to observe that the degree of -“height” and “dryness” enjoyed by the “Apollo” and “Niantic” resulted -from some other cause than the “fury of the gale.” Leaving San Francisco -for the present to return to it again by-and-<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_38">{38}</a></span>by and watch its growth -and improvement, I got all ready for a start for Benicia, a little town -on the Bay, from whence I intended to travel leisurely to Russian River. -I had chosen this district as it abounded in game; and was in quite an -opposite direction to the diggings—a visit to which I postponed until -the ensuing summer, my object for the present being to encamp myself in -some snug place in the mountains, and there live upon my gun, in all the -enjoyment of a free life and the pleasures of the chase.<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_39">{39}</a></span></p> - -<h2><a id="CHAPTER_III"></a>CHAPTER III.</h2> - -<div class="blockquot"><p class="hang">BENICIA—BARNES—A MAD BLOODHOUND—HIS DEATH—GRASSHOPPERS—DON -RAYMOND—A BLESSED CITY—WICKED MULES—“CAMPING OUT”—NAPA—FOURTH -OF JULY—AGRICULTURISTS—SONOMA—COMPETITION—AN IRASCIBLE BULL.</p></div> - -<p class="r"> -<i>July, 1850.</i><br> -</p> - -<p><span class="smcap">Great</span> labour and capital have been expended on the wharves of San -Francisco; there is little space left between these, and ships ride at -their sides, and discharge their cargoes with as much rapidity and -comfort as if they were in dock. The central wharf is nearly a mile in -length, and from the end of this the river steamboats take their -departure every day at four o’clock. At these times the wharf is always -densely crowded, and it has always seemed strange to me that this -every-day occurrence attracts a crowd without fail, although directly -the boats are off, every man runs back to the city as if he had -forgotten something. Perhaps they come down on the chance of an -explosion, in which they are occasionally gratified; whether or no, -there must be some<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_40">{40}</a></span> great attraction, for these curious people have to -walk a mile to get there, and run a mile to get back! The “Senator” was -our boat, and with one leg on board of her and the other buried in this -observing crowd, I had to work briskly to get my provender on -board—sacks of potatoes and flour, dogs, rifles, shovels, and pickaxes, -were handed in with astonishing celerity, considering that I was not -born a porter, and as the ship’s bell ceased tolling we cast off from -the wharf and threading the shipping at full speed, were soon steaming -up the Bay. The “Senator” is a fine boat, but no description of her is -requisite, as much finer have been described by travellers who have -sailed up the Mississippi River. She came round the Horn, and being the -first boat to arrive in the Bay, she realised most incredible sums of -money for her owners.</p> - -<p>In two hours we arrived at Benicia, and the steamer ran alongside of an -old hulk connected by a gang-way with the shore. Through the unusual -degree of Yankee nautical smartness shown on this occasion, I lost some -bags of potatoes, for the boat had scarcely touched the hulk, than we -were driven out of it carrying all we could, and the word was given to -“go a-head” again, the gang-board was hauled in, our potatoes were still -on board, there was no time for expostulation, and away steamed the<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_41">{41}</a></span> -“Senator,” whilst we gazed dreamily at her receding hull, wrapt in -admiration at the general smartness that evidently surrounded us. -Benicia is a city in embryo, there is ample room for building, for in -every direction extend undulating hills, covered with wild oats, but -unobstructed by timber, of which none can be found within many miles. -But the natural advantages of this spot have not been embraced by the -public, for one reason, that the opposite town of Martinez is more -fortunately planted among groves of trees, and for another, that no one -requires a town in this particular part of the world. So Benicia is a -failure just now; and instead of raising an imposing front, in evidence -of man’s progress, it hides its diminished little head, among the few -huts that stand in commemoration of its failure. I pitched my tent at a -short distance from the beach, and as I afterwards discovered on -reference to the “plan of Benicia,” on the exact spot that had been -selected as the site of the “Public Botanical Gardens” of that -flourishing city. Our party consisted of three men and three dogs. -Besides Barnes, I had with me Mr. Alexander Thomas, the son of an old -friend of my father, who had come out to join the staff of a colossal -mercantile house, but the house had unfortunately exploded, staff and -all, before his arrival in the country.<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_42">{42}</a></span></p> - -<p>Barnes had been a desperate poacher, but for years past had -distinguished himself equally as a keeper on my father’s estate. He was -a good-natured, willing fellow, possessed of enormous physical strength, -and could throw a stone with such force and precision, that he had been -equally avoided by the keepers when he was a poacher, and by the -poachers when he deserted their ranks, which he did as many others -would, the moment the chance was offered him of making his bread -honestly. My dogs consisted of two blood-hounds of the breed of Mr. -Hammond of Norfolk—Prince and Birkham—the latter was of great beauty, -but of very uncertain temper. A large half-bred Scotch slot-hound, -called Cromer, completed the list—this latter had an unfailing nose and -great intelligence, and was a perfect retriever in or out of water. An -introductory note to an American gentleman who resided in one of the -wooden houses that straggled over the hills, ensured me much civility, -and enabled me to procure the mules I required for carrying the tent and -baggage. During the interval that elapsed we had time to try the range -of the rifles at a target, and get our “hands in” ready for the -mountains. A distressing incident occurred very shortly after arriving -at Benicia. We had been practising at a target, and were returning to -our camp<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_43">{43}</a></span> with our rifles unloaded—the heat was intense—the dogs were -with us, and I was suddenly struck by the conduct of Birkham the -bloodhound. For some time he hung back in the rear as if afraid of us, -and as I advanced to caress him he retreated. There being evidently -something wrong, I conjectured that he was about to have an epileptic -fit, with one of which he had been attacked at San Francisco, but -suddenly he lifted up his massive head in the air, and delivered that -deep prolonged howl that only a bloodhound has at command, and which is -so distressing to hear; he then started at full speed away from us -towards the hills, howling and leaping in the air as if in pursuit of -something, and I had no doubt then that he was mad. Barnes and Thomas -now loaded their rifles to be prepared for his return, I had expended my -bullets in target firing. We had lost sight of him in the long wild oats -which here grow to a great height, and scarcely expected him back, at -least for some time; I was coupling Prince and Cromer together as a -precaution, when suddenly Barnes exclaimed “Here he is, sir,” and I had -just time to seize my rifle and swing it round, bringing the butt down -on his head, as he passed within a foot of me.</p> - -<p>I never witnessed any sight so dreadful as this dog when he turned now -and deliberately attacked us,<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_44">{44}</a></span> his whole appearance was changed, and the -saliva frothed in his mouth. He might have done much mischief, now that -he was in the humour for it, had he made a rapid dash at us; but as he -stopped short to give a howl, Barnes shot him in the shoulder, and -Thomas’s ball entered his head. It required two more shots to finish -him, and painful as it was to have to kill the poor beast, even in -self-defence, we could not but congratulate ourselves on having -experienced a fortunate escape. Birkham was a dog of enormous power, and -one grip of his jaw on a man’s throat would probably be quite sufficient -to cause death; he had shown symptoms of uncertain temper immediately -upon arriving in a warm latitude, and had twice bitten me in the arm -during the passage out. Barnes was a famous man for savage dogs, being -both severe yet temperate, but he always had his “doubts,” as he said, -respecting Birkham, whose great crime consisted in showing his teeth to -his master, a misdemeanour that required, and always received -punishment. This consisted of one blow with a short dog-whip, and only -one, but that was remembered, particularly by Birkham, who would lie -down and place his great head on the ground, wrinkle his forehead, and -sulk all day, refusing his dinner and taking no notice of anything that -passed around him. Such a dog is<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_45">{45}</a></span> never safe, and had these qualities -been developed during the time he was in my possession in England, I -never should have brought him away from that country.</p> - -<p>Immense quantities of grasshoppers are to be found in the vicinity of -Benicia at this season; as you walk through the wild oats and disturb -them, they hop up to an immense height, in every direction, and like -other insects they aim at your eyes, which they hit with unerring -certainty and great force, and as they are as hard as little pebbles, -they get the best of it altogether. The dogs are much puzzled with them, -and as they get knocked about the head, they give short snaps in the air -with their eyes shut.</p> - -<p>I had great difficulty in procuring the mules I required for my journey, -and these I could only hire, as a report of the discovery of a “Gold -Lake” somewhere in the mining districts had taken deep root, and all the -Benicia mules had been called into requisition. A fine dashing-looking -Spaniard rode up to my tent one day in company with the gentleman who -had interested himself to get me mules;<a id="FNanchor_1_1"></a><a href="#Footnote_1_1" class="fnanchor">[1]</a> he was introduced as Don -Raymond Carrillo, a native of California, and owner of a ranche, or -farm, at Santa Rosa Valley, about forty miles in the interior.<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_46">{46}</a></span></p> - -<p>Many of the native Californians whose ancestors emigrated from Mexico, -have good Spanish blood in their veins, they are a robust and -well-favoured race, and probably in this respect have much improved the -original breed, which is all blood and bone. Don Raymond was a -striking-looking fellow, well built and muscular, with regular features, -half concealed by his long black hair and beard. The loose Spanish -dress, the heavy iron spurs, the lasso hanging from the saddle, and the -gaunt but fiery colt on which he was mounted, were all for work and -little for show; probably the whole turn-out, including the horse, was -not worth twenty dollars; but he was more picturesque in his mountain -costume, than the best Andalusian that ever got himself up in gold lace -and silver buttons for “bolero” or “bull-fight.” Don Raymond not only -offered to send mules to convey ourselves and baggage to Santa Rosa, but -most hospitably invited us to remain at his “ranche” until we could with -his assistance purchase the animals we required. Whilst we were at -Benicia the fourth of July, the anniversary of American Independence, -came round; had Benicia been the city it was intended to be, what an -opportunity would there not have been for the celebration of this day. -Looking at the plan now before me, I can imagine the<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_47">{47}</a></span> <i>Botanical -Gardens</i> thronged with holiday people, whilst the mayor and corporation -having reviewed the troops in front of the <i>City Hall</i>, are now -inspecting the <i>Infirmary for the Blind</i>, which (in the plan) occupies a -position to the extreme right; fireworks echo in the “plaza,” whilst the -theatre opens its doors to an eager crowd, and the town pump is -surrounded by little boys: but unfortunately Benicia is not far enough -advanced to enable us to realise this scene. “The gardens” produce as -yet but wild oats; the theatre is one unchanging scene of parched-up -desolation; the town pump <i>is</i> not, and of the “plaza” no one knows the -limits, for some of the oldest inhabitants, in happy ignorance of the -fate of those who “remove their neighbour’s landmarks,” have pulled up -the surveyor’s pegs, and basely used them for firewood; but they say -that Benicia will do better by-and-by. The <i>plan</i> is named after the -wife of General Vallejo, and signifies “Blessed,” and rather -appropriately, as under present circumstances the proprietors are -incorporated among those who are spoken of as being blessed if they -expect nothing. Shortly afterwards, there arrived from Don Raymond eight -mules, in charge of a young Californian “Vaccaro”<a id="FNanchor_2_2"></a><a href="#Footnote_2_2" class="fnanchor">[2]</a> or cattle-driver; -the mules were<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_48">{48}</a></span> accompanied by an old white mare with a bell hung on to -her neck. It is usual to accustom the mules to follow a leader of this -kind, and without the old lady leads the way they become very -intractable.</p> - -<p>Don Raymond had stated frankly that he had no pack mules that had not -been turned out for a time with the wild horses, and those he had sent -us, though fine strong beasts, were undoubtedly very little tamer than -fresh-caught zebras. The first mule having been brought forward with -some difficulty, a cloth was tied round his eyes, and he remained -perfectly still whilst the loading was performed with great dexterity -and expedition by the “vaccaro” and one or two assistants. When all were -packed, the blinds were taken from the mules’ eyes, and without any -hesitation, and perfectly regardless of the white mare, who walked -quietly towards home, away they scampered through the long grass, -kicking and screaming; here goes a tin kettle, there a ham, now a bag of -flour falls out and bursts, and the place is strewed with the relics of -our commissariat stores. Two mules, followed by the “vaccaro,” have -disappeared behind the hills, where the sun is disappearing also. Number -three is motionless, for, not having succeeded in kicking the tent off -his back, he has lain down with it in a small pond;<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_49">{49}</a></span> whilst number four, -having divested himself of every thing with which he was entrusted, -including the pack-saddle, is making his supper off wild oats, under the -full impression that he has performed his day’s work meritoriously and -deserves repose. We employed the daylight that remained in collecting -our traps; and as our “vaccaro” soon returned with the missing mules and -assistance, after a few more refractory attempts we got off shortly -after dark, and took the trail that led towards a village called Napa.</p> - -<p>When about twelve miles from Benicia we halted to encamp for the night -at a clump of trees, the first we had seen since landing. We had “carte -blanche” to shoot a calf whenever our necessities required, from among -the droves of tame cattle with which the plains on our route were well -stocked. Our first object on halting was to avail ourselves of this -permission, and it being too dark to kill with the rifle, our “vaccaro” -brought in a calf with his lasso, as soon as the mules had been unpacked -and turned off to feed. We had no occasion for the tent, the night air -was so pure and mild, so we sat half buried in the tall soft grass, a -bed of down from which nothing could have roused us but the grateful -smell of the calf’s ribs as they roasted by our bright camp fire. As -long as it lasted, our sleep was<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_50">{50}</a></span> delicious, but it was interrupted most -unseasonably, about the middle of the night, by the yells of a pack of -“coyotes,” (a kind of jackal,) that had collected round the remains of -the calf.</p> - -<p>These beasts had the audacity to approach us within a few yards. We -killed some, wounded many, and the dogs drove them away in every -direction, still they always congregated somewhere and sent forth their -hideous yell in chorus, first from one side of us, then from another, -and not until dawn appeared would these brutes allow us to rest; then -they disappeared, and I congratulated myself on being able to resume my -slumbers; but almost immediately after the “coyotes” had gone, the sun -appeared, and there was an end of the luxuries of an oat-straw bed -al-fresco, for that night at least. The mules submitted more readily to -be loaded this morning, and followed quietly in the steps of the white -mare.</p> - -<p>On approaching Napa, which is distant from Benicia about twenty miles, -we entered a very beautiful valley about three miles in breadth, studded -with oak trees, and bounded on either side by mountains that rose -abruptly from the plain, and whose summits were crested with heavy -masses of the red-wood tree and white pine. As yet there was no sign of -cultivation or enclosure, nor did we see a dwelling-house<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_51">{51}</a></span> until the -village of Napa appeared in sight; but the whole of this rich and -fertile valley was shortly to be made productive, and it was to supply -the wants of the many settlers, who were now on the eve of improving -this wild tract, that the little bunch of houses called “Napa City” had -sprung into existence.</p> - -<p>We had to cross a small stream in a ferry-boat to enter Napa, and we -found the little place in a very lively state. Music was playing, the -stars and stripes were waving from each house, whilst the street was -thronged with people. The outside settlers had come in to celebrate -their fourth of July, it was now the fifth, and they were in the thick -of it, and there was to be a “ball” in the evening. At twelve o’clock -they prepared to fire a salute from three old honeycombed cannons that -had probably been fished up out of the river; whether or no, a serious -accident immediately occurred—the first gun fired exploded like a -shell, blowing off the arm of one man and destroying the sight of -another, besides peppering the spectators more or less seriously. This -damped temporarily the pleasure of the afternoon, but the public dinner, -which took place under an enormous booth, seemed to restore -cheerfulness. The settlers were nearly all “Western people,” small -farmers from Missouri, and other Western states, who emigrated with a -wife and<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_52">{52}</a></span> half-a-dozen children to California in search of good land; on -this they <i>squat</i> until the land-claims are decided, and with their -thrifty habits make money, not only more surely and comfortably, but -faster than the miners, whose wants they supply.</p> - -<p>The soil here is admirably adapted for the growth of wheat, barley, and -potatoes; and although the price of labour is so great that these -immigratory agriculturists, having little or no capital, can only till a -patch of land at first, yet so rare a luxury as yet is a vegetable, that -large profits attend their earliest efforts, and the settler of these -valleys, if prudent, is a rising man from the moment his spade first -raises the virgin sod.</p> - -<p>During the day a Mexican tight-rope dancer performed to the crowd: I -considered him rather a bungler at his work, but my opinion was not -shared by the spectators, one of whom, an old farmer, “kinder, reckoned -it was <i>supernatural</i>,” in which he was supported by an old -back-woodsman, who said “It warn’t nothing else.” I left these good -folks in the height of enjoyment, and should not perhaps have said so -much about them, but that having all very lately come from the United -States across the plains, they had brought with them, and as yet -retained, the simple manners and wants of a rural population. These -people form the most valuable portion of the<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_53">{53}</a></span> emigration, for they come -as permanent settlers, and they continue permanent improvers. Under -their hands forests are cleared, and valleys enclosed, grain is raised -and mills are erected, the country no longer relies on foreign ventures -for its chief wants, and monopolising flour companies cease to fatten at -the expense of a hard-working population.</p> - -<p>I did not wait for the “ball,” as I wished to reach Sonoma that night, -the luggage having gone on. On our first arrival at the Creek, the -ferryman, who was an American, had refused all toll on the strength of -the “Anniversary.” We could not but admire such a striking instance of -real charity, as it enabled many of the surrounding farmers to cross -over with their numerous families, which at the rate of one dollar for -each person they could not have afforded to do. But there was nothing -said about going back for nothing, and our Yankee friend having -succeeded in filling the village gratis, had now the satisfaction of -emptying it at a dollar a-head. So there they were like the nephew of -“Gil Perez,” caught like a rat in a trap. The scenery still improves in -beauty as we approach Sonoma, the valleys are here sprinkled with oak -trees, and it seems ever as if we were about to enter a forest which we -never reach, for in the distance the oaks, though really far apart, -appear to<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_54">{54}</a></span> grow in dark and heavy masses. Sonoma was one of the points -selected by the early Spanish priests for a mission; the remains of the -mud church and other buildings used by the priests still exist. It has -been chosen as a military station, and about a couple of dozen United -States dragoons are quartered here.</p> - -<p>General Vallejo, a native Californian, who is owner of a large portion -of the surrounding valley, resides at Sonoma; he took part in some -skirmishing which occurred, previous to the cession of California to the -United States, between the natives and a handful of adventurers, who -hoisted a flag with a Grizzly Bear on it, and took the field under that -standard. The General was also on one occasion taken prisoner, and -perhaps it was during his term of incarceration that he designed a tall -square building, which he afterwards erected here, of mud bricks, and -which is now the principal feature of the place; as the General informs -his friends that this was intended for a fortress, they take his word -for it, though it has neither guns or embrasures. Overlooked by the -fortress is a quadrangle of mud huts, these are now converted into -stores intended to supply the farmers who are fast settling on the -surrounding plains.</p> - -<p>But there are too many stores in Sonoma; there are so many people in -California who can only live<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_55">{55}</a></span> by keeping small retail shops, that -directly a good opening for making money in this way appears, there is a -regular rush of small speculators in soap and candles, who all arrive at -the desired spot about the same time, each one undoubtedly -congratulating himself that <i>he alone</i> has been struck with the bright -idea. A man who came to the country in 1848, told me that he managed -with great toil and at great expense to get a large cask of whiskey to -some rich diggings on the banks of the Yuba, where he commenced -retailing it at immense profits; but on the second day his customers -fell off, and he found that another Yankee had also rolled up a cask and -was underselling him higher up the river. So he moved higher up again by -a circuitous route, until again supplanted; and these two continued -“cutting each other out,” and living a life of uncertainty until they -formed a junction, with the intention of jointly reaping the profits -that attend a monopoly of the article in demand. But almost as soon as -the new concern was started, up went a canvass house by the side of -them, and out went a board on which was written, “Liquor Store.” So with -every opening where the chances of large profits are held out, where -there are so many calculating speculative people, competition steps in -and monopoly is destroyed. This is partly the reason<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_56">{56}</a></span> why the San -Francisco markets are so uneven and fluctuating.</p> - -<p>Brown is a clever fellow, and says to himself, Coals will be very scarce -next fall, I’ll write for coals; every one else, being as clever as -Brown, writes for coals from the same motives, and the spring sees coals -tumbling in on all sides: or Brown says, everybody will be writing for -coals for the spring, I shall advise my correspondents not to ship; -every one else thinks as Brown thinks, no one writes for coals, and next -spring coals can’t be had at any price.</p> - -<p>We pitched our tents outside the fortress, and the only event that -occurred worthy of notice was in the fact of an enormous bull making a -clean bolt at it, about the middle of the night. The moon was up, and I -presume its reflection on the white canvass annoyed him; he annoyed us -excessively, for he not only tore down the tent, but we narrowly escaped -being trodden upon. As he stood in the bright moonlight pawing the -ground at a short distance, meditating another charge at us, I shot him -in the head, and he fell, never again to rouse honest gentlemen from -their sleep in the dead of night, or wantonly to destroy private -property for the gratification of a senseless animosity.<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_57">{57}</a></span></p> - -<h2><a id="CHAPTER_IV"></a>CHAPTER IV.</h2> - -<div class="blockquot"><p class="hang">SPANISH GRANTS—SQUATTERS—SQUATTER FIGHTS—A SPANISH RANCHE—GOOD -QUARTERS—FLEAS—VANITY—VACCAROS—QUILP—ENGLISH SADDLES—ANTELOPE -HUNT—RATTLE-SNAKES—QUILP WALTZES—CALIFORNIAN -HORSES—SADDLES—HORSE-BREAKING—A TAME HORSE.</p></div> - -<p class="r"> -<i>August, 1850.</i><br> -</p> - -<p><span class="smcap">Leaving</span> Sonoma at daylight, we passed through the Sonoma Valley, which -in many places, but a few hundred yards in width and studded with groups -of oaks and flowering evergreens, has all the appearance of a private -park bounded by mountains—the herds of deer, of which now and then we -catch a glimpse, strengthening this resemblance. After following the -trail for fifteen miles, we ascended a rise from which we had a view of -Santa Rosa Valley. It was a continuation of that we had traversed, and -was divided from it only by a small stream, which marked the boundary of -either. From our elevation, the twenty miles of well timbered land, of -which Don Raymond was owner, lay stretched before us: large herds of -cattle were grazing on the plain, and near the moun<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_58">{58}</a></span>tains which bounded -the ranche, “mañadas” of wild horses could be perceived, with here and -there a drove of elk or antelopes.</p> - -<p>Previous to the occupation of this country by the Americans, its fertile -plains had been granted away by the Mexican government, to such as chose -to settle here and stock the land. The terms on which these grants were -to be held, easy as they were, were for the most part evaded, and after -a new settler had portioned out for himself so many square leagues of a -fat valley, and had sent the record of his property to head quarters, he -built himself a house, bought a few head of cattle and horses, which -were turned off to breed, and he became from that time a “ranchero.” -Cattle increased and multiplied, and at last were killed for their -hides, which were sent down occasionally to San Francisco, and there -placed on board ship.</p> - -<p>By the treaty formed between the United States and Mexico previous to -the occupation of California, the original Spanish grants of land were -guaranteed to the native settlers in all cases where the claim could be -properly established. A commission to enquire into these land claims was -appointed by the United States government, and its labours still -continue. The Americans therefore on their arrival in the country had -the mortification to discover that<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_59">{59}</a></span> nearly every foot of arable land was -private property, and that there remained nothing but barren hills and -swamps to settle on and improve, under the pre-emption laws of the -United States. They therefore <i>squatted</i> where they pleased on the -Spanish ranches, under the plea that the land commissioners <i>might</i> -decide the grant on which they were to be illegal; but in reality -because each man wanted a piece of land and was determined to have it, -the Spanish owners being powerless to dispossess them of the part they -chose to select. The consequence is, that even now in “eighteen hundred -and fifty-four,” when most of the land-claims have been confirmed by the -commissioners, the Spanish owner of a ranche may cast his eye over the -property that was but the other day a waving tract of wild grass, and -behold, it is parcelled out and enclosed, and cultivated from end to -end, and from squatters’ huts curls the smoke on every side. Armed with -the law, the Spanish owner says “Vamos usted,” (be off); armed with his -rifle the squatter says something much ruder, but to the purpose, and -remains. Already have there been serious squatter fights; the papers -daily record “Squatter difficulties,” in which men fight, and shed each -other’s blood savagely, over a patch of soil, which in many instances -belongs to neither of them.<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_60">{60}</a></span> So that one of the wisest and most -beneficent laws of the United States, is here productive of evil to -society.</p> - -<p>The squatters in the vicinity of Sacramento city organised themselves -into a banditti, and fought “en masse” in defence of their stolen -property; but they had made the great mistake of squatting on land that -belonged to Americans; these latter sallied from the city with the mayor -at their head, and the squatters were defeated and retired with loss, -leaving some dead on the field—not however without riddling the mayor, -who behaved with great courage, and who must have been much damaged, as -the cost of repairing him, when sent in to government by his medical -attendant, amounted to about two thousand pounds sterling. But as there -are reasonable men among all classes, so among the squatters are to be -found many who are willing to purchase their claims, conditionally on -the owner’s grant being eventually found to be valid; still taken -altogether the subject will be one of endless strife, if not bloodshed.</p> - -<p>Hundreds have settled down quietly on land from which the present owners -are unwilling or unable to dislodge them. These men will raise around -them permanent improvements, and will look to the few acres of land they -have enclosed for a livelihood for themselves and families; a year or -two hence, perhaps,<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_61">{61}</a></span> the land they have appropriated will change hands, -and the new purchaser will ask his belligerent friends down, as I have -witnessed more than once, to stay at his house and help him to “<i>turn -off the squatters</i>.” Down go the friends and take their fire-arms, as -coolly as if they were accepting an invitation to a week’s partridge -shooting. Occasionally when the proprietor and his friends, armed to the -teeth, present themselves at the door of a squatter’s log-hut, they find -the owner surrounded by <i>his</i> friends, prepared to resist intrusion. -Sometimes the rival parties exchange shots, but I have always found that -in these cases, the owner of the property has walked quietly back again, -and the squatter has remained.</p> - -<p class="casstt">* * * *</p> - -<p>We dismounted at the door of a long low “adobe”<a id="FNanchor_3_3"></a><a href="#Footnote_3_3" class="fnanchor">[3]</a> house, where we were -met and hospitably greeted by Don Raymond. Having much refreshed -ourselves by bathing in the rivulet which ran past the house, we were -rejoiced to find that our host had prepared a dinner, for of this we -were in need; and whilst we eat, a couple of Indian girls tickled our -ears and noses with long green boughs, with the intention of keeping off -the flies. We cheerfully acknowledged the merit not only of the<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_62">{62}</a></span> Mexican -cookery, but of the native wine of the south, which our host brought out -for the occasion. We were then introduced to his wife and two sisters; -these latter were young, with handsome sunburnt faces. My knowledge of -Spanish was very limited, but I always prefaced my remarks by a -statement of this fact, thus I relieved myself from the necessity of -paying those unmeaning compliments which, particularly when delivered in -bad Spanish, must be highly amusing to Mexican ladies. As there was an -absence of ceremony, and an evident wish on the part of the family to -set us at our ease, before night we were on excellent terms, and whilst -one of the “vaccaros” played the guitar we waltzed. Don Raymond produced -more wine of the south and “cigarittas” in abundance; and when the -ladies retired and Don Raymond showed me to my quarters, I determined on -not hurrying myself respecting the purchase of mules so long as the -hours could be made to pass so agreeably; as for Thomas, into whose head -the wine of the south had mounted, it was with the greatest difficulty -he could be prevented from embracing Don Raymond in the warmth of his -satisfaction. Our host then left us, and we were immediately attacked by -the fleas with a vigour that was perfectly astonishing.<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_63">{63}</a></span></p> - -<p>In the course of my experience I have been tortured by sand-flies in the -Eastern Archipelago, and have made acquaintance with every kind of -mosquito, from Malta to Acapulco, including of course the famous “tiger” -breed, against which there is no resource but flight. I remember that, -when sick at Hong Kong, I was crammed into the cabin of an old -store-ship so full of cockroaches, and these so ravenous, that they kept -my toe-nails quite close every night, and would even try the flavour of -the top of my head, and, when they found that to be all bone, they eat -my hair and whiskers, the last circumstance being very annoying, from -the fact that whiskers were scarce with me in those days; but I would -have preferred any of these annoyances to the attack of those Santa Rosa -fleas. On lighting a candle we found the place alive with them; unlike, -both in appearance and manner, the modest flea of ordinary life, that -seeks concealment as soon as by accident it is unearthed, these insects, -reared in the rough school of a wild bullock’s hide, boldly faced as -they attacked us. We discovered the next day that the room, the floor -and walls of which were of earth, had contained hides, and had been -cleared out for the purpose of our accommodation.</p> - -<p>But, as a general rule, the Californian houses are alive with fleas, -they thrive in the cracks of the mud<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_64">{64}</a></span>brick walls and in the hides with -which these places are always strewed. No pains are taken to eject them, -and Don Raymond remarked, on our mentioning the fact, that we should get -used to them; he and his family never gave the little “malditos” a -thought.</p> - -<p>After an early breakfast of “tortillas” and fresh milk we commenced at -once to look up our shooting gear. Close to us, on one side, was a marsh -full of wild fowl, and, stretching for miles round, was the wooded -plain, covered with grass, in some places as tall as ourselves. This -plain, our host assured us, abounded with deer, elk, and antelope. For a -reason, which afterwards appeared, Don Raymond was very anxious that -Thomas and I should mount two of his horses, and, in company with some -of his Spanish friends, ride over the ranche; we were to take our rifles -and shoot all that came in our way. I should of course have preferred to -have been allowed to go out on foot and seek my venison in a more -sportsman-like manner, than in the company of a dozen clattering, -jingling “Caballeros;” but I could not do otherwise than accept the -invitation, particularly as it suggested itself to me that Don Raymond’s -main object in mounting us was that we should at once appreciate the -beauty and extent of the Santa Rosa Ranche.</p> - -<p>So that even among these most primitive of agri<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_65">{65}</a></span>culturists vanity of -possession stands uppermost in all its vulgarity; what has this man, I -thought, to show me but a tract of land, rich certainly in nature’s -gifts, but in which his only pride consists that <i>he owns</i> it? I could -have seen it much better by myself when walking over it, but to please -his egotism I must admire it <i>his way</i> and sacrifice my own pleasure; -but how I hugged myself when I considered that here at least were no fat -pigs, no model styes, with which to bore one; no oatcake-fed bullocks to -be measured with a cambric pocket-handkerchief and praised, whilst you -held your nose; not even a heap of “compo-manure” to sit and gloat over. -At the worst it was but a pleasant gallop over the wild oats, in a pure -air, and through a lovely country.</p> - -<p>In front of the house was a court-yard of considerable extent, and part -of this was sheltered by a porch. Here, when the “vaccaros” have nothing -to call them to the field, they pass the day, looking like retainers of -a rude court. A dozen wild, vicious little horses, with rough wooden -saddles on their backs, stand ever ready for work; whilst lounging -about, the “vaccaros” smoke, play the guitar, or twist up a new -“riatta”<a id="FNanchor_4_4"></a><a href="#Footnote_4_4" class="fnanchor">[4]</a> of hide or horse-hair. When the sun gets warm they go to -sleep in the shade, whilst the little<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_66">{66}</a></span></p> - -<div class="figcenter" id="wdcut_001" style="width: 600px;"> -<a href="images/ill_002.jpg"> -<img src="images/ill_002.jpg" width="600" height="452" alt="[Image unavailable.]"></a> -</div> - -<p class="nind">horses, who remain in the sunshine, do the same apparently, for they -shut their eyes and never stir. Presently a “vaccaro,” judging the time -by the sun, gets up and yawns, and staggering lazily towards his horse, -gathers up his “riatta” and twists it round the animals neck; the -others, awakened, rise and do the same, all yawning with their eyes half -open, looking as lazy a set as ever were seen, as indeed they are when -on foot. Huppa!—Anda!—away they all go in a cloud of dust, splashing -through the river, waving their lassos round their heads with a wild -shout, and disappearing from the sight almost as soon as mounted. The -“vaccaro” wants at all times to ride furiously, and the little horses’ -eyes are opened wide enough<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_67">{67}</a></span> before they receive the second dig of their -rider’s iron spurs.</p> - -<p>We found great bustle and preparation going on in the court-yard when we -rose; it was full of horses and “vaccaros,” and some neighbouring ranche -owners having arrived, their horses, which were handsome and of large -size, were standing near the house, champing their bits. The saddles and -bridles of these were ornamented with silver, and the stirrup-leathers -were covered with bear skins in such a way as to form a very secure -armour for the legs against the attacks of wild cattle.</p> - -<p>Breakfast over, the Spanish guests were introduced; they were all fine -dashing looking fellows, with the exception of one, a short stout man; -from the first moment of our meeting war was tacitly declared between us -and this gentleman; we found that he was a suitor for the hand of the -eldest sister, who, by the way, owned a part of the ranche, and I -suppose he imagined it was our intention to contest this prize with him; -for he commenced at once to show his disapprobation of our presence; we -called this fellow Quilp. Each of the party had his horse waiting in -readiness—ours had yet to be selected from a drove of about a hundred, -which were enclosed in a “corral,” or circular enclosure, that was close -by the house.<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_68">{68}</a></span> The wild horses of the country generally are small, of -these I shall speak by and bye; but Don Raymond, who took the lead among -the <i>fast</i> Californians, prided himself on the possession of a “mañada” -of horses of a superior breed; these he had pointed out to me the day -before, and among them I had observed, all rough as they were, some fine -beasts. A few steps brought us to the “corral;” Quilp in the foreground, -muttering something which we took for granted was insidious advice to -Raymond to pick us out “wild ones.”</p> - -<p>“You English ride?” asked Raymond. I replied modestly, that we rode a -little sometimes, as I knew that the slightest approach to assurance on -my part would be the signal for a wild stallion being selected for my -accommodation. However, Raymond picked us out two high-spirited, but -broken-in beasts, that seemed about as well behaved as any that were -there. When they were brought into the court, and blinded as usual, -Thomas and I produced, and girthed up, our English saddles, on which we -had ridden up from Benicia; we were immediately surrounded by the whole -crowd of guests and “vaccaros;” bah! those were not saddles—there was -no horn to which to fasten the lasso—the stirrups did not protect the -foot and leg when the horse fell down and rolled over<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_69">{69}</a></span> you! I did not -know Spanish enough to answer them, and perhaps it was as well, for I -should most certainly have addressed myself to Quilp most strongly on -the subject, as the instant he saw my “pigskin” he made a point of -turning up what nose Providence had endowed him with, and that was not -much. But I observed with pleasure that their observations were directed -principally to the fact of the flat smooth surface of our saddles as -compared with their “demi-peaks,” from which the body receives support -on every side. Thomas had a fine seat on a horse, and both of us had had -some practice in rough riding both at home and abroad, or otherwise I -should have remonstrated with Raymond respecting the wish so evidently -expressed by his friends of amusing themselves at our expense.</p> - -<p>I had but one rifle I could carry on horseback, so slinging that on my -back, away we went, and as the horses warmed under their exercise, and -we shook ourselves into our seats, I observed with pleasure that Thomas -was both sitting and handling his horse well, and took the fallen timber -that came in our way in capital style. However, to shorten this part of -the story, the Spaniards soon became less bumptious on the subject, and -we flew over the plain at great speed.</p> - -<p>Before long we saw a herd of antelope grazing at<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_70">{70}</a></span> some distance, and the -Spaniards pulled up and prepared their lassos. The antelope at this time -of the year are very fat, and comparatively speaking do not run, or -bound rather, fast through the long grass, so that if headed there is a -<i>chance</i> for an expert horseman to catch one with the “riatta,” and it -was with the intention of showing me if possible this feat, that our -host had made up the party. I had no sooner unslung my rifle than I was -satisfied that there was no possibility of shooting from the saddle, for -my beast, who would have been quiet as a lamb had I whirled a lasso -round his head, became unmanageable at the presence of the rifle. We -were to ride round and head the antelope whilst the “vaccaros” drove -them towards us. As we galloped through the long grass towards the -position chosen, I told Thomas to keep close to me and prepare to hold -my horse, for I felt it would be excessively annoying if such a fellow -as Quilp for instance should catch an antelope with his bit of rope, and -I be debarred from even a shot at the herd.</p> - -<p>When we were well ahead of them, the drove started at the sight of the -“vaccaros,” and a few strides of our horses brought some of us right in -the line they were taking; my foot had scarcely left the stirrup when -they flew past with rapid bounds. Don<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_71">{71}</a></span> Raymond spurred at the headmost -bucks, but his lasso fell short; three does brought up the rear; at one -of these I fired and wounded it, but it plunged into the thicket with -the rest. Seeing that nothing had fallen to the report of the rifle, the -Spaniards now went slowly homewards; whilst I searched the thicket and -found my doe dying within a few hundred yards. Raymond returned for us, -and leaving the venison in charge of the “vaccaros,” we rode home. On -the way I succeeded in explaining to Raymond that we preferred hunting -the deer on foot not only for the advantages of exercise, but of the -cover which was afforded by the long grass.</p> - -<p>Raymond now, for the first time, pointed out to me that the rattlesnakes -were very abundant in the valley, and this we afterwards discovered to -be true. It destroyed in a great measure the pleasure of our sport, for -we lost many a good shot from looking on the ground—which men are apt -to do occasionally when once satisfied of the existence of a venomous -reptile, the bite of which is by all accounts mortal. The rattlesnake is -seldom seen, it glides away through the long grass on the approach of -man or beast, and for this reason cattle are seldom bitten by it. But it -allows you to approach very closely before it moves, and the rattle of -its tail even in retreat is very<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_72">{72}</a></span> unpleasant to hear. Higher up the -country we afterwards killed one or two young ones; but we soon -exercised such precautions as insured our not being brought too -frequently in contact with them. I have heard of many remedies for -rattlesnake bites, and of many fatal cases; but had any of my party been -unfortunate enough to have been bitten very seriously it was agreed -between us that the unbitten ones should immediately apply a red-hot -iron to the part affected, and then give the victim a powerful dose of -castor oil, and leave him to repose; but I doubt if the complete cautery -would have been carried out!</p> - -<p>Before we arrived at the house Quilp had got scent of the antelope, and -had departed.</p> - -<p>From this time we found ample employment for our guns, and soon -succeeded in bringing in some black-tailed deer. Hares were in abundance -close to the house, whilst in the marshes wild fowl were plentiful, so -that we kept our host’s larder well stored, and Quilp (who returned and -made himself quite at home) became quite sleek from good living.</p> - -<p>As we were always tired with our day’s work, and had moreover our guns -to clean, we left Quilp to do all the waltzing; and when he had enjoyed -this pastime until he panted like an over-driven prize ox, he would sit -down on a stool in the porch, and<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_73">{73}</a></span> throwing one leg over the other, -would twang the old guitar and accompany it with a Spanish hymn to the -Virgin, which, being delivered in a dismal falsetto, bore much -resemblance to the noise of a wheelbarrow that requires greasing, and -was about as musical.</p> - -<div class="figcenter" id="wdcut_002" style="width: 562px;"> -<a href="images/ill_003.jpg"> -<img src="images/ill_003.jpg" width="562" height="600" alt="[Image unavailable.]"></a> -</div> - -<p>The small native horses of the country are remarkable for sureness of -foot and great powers of endurance; half-starved, unshod, and -overweighted, these ponies will perform long journies at great<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_74">{74}</a></span> speed, -with great courage; but, alas! for them, in a country where horseflesh -is so cheap and riders are so merciless, the noble qualities of this -animal meet no reward; and the long day’s journey bravely accomplished, -the “vaccaro” takes his saddle off the panting beast, and turns him off -to die or not, according to his constitution.</p> - -<p>The Californian saddle is very rough in appearance, being formed simply -of wood and hide, but great care is bestowed both on the material and -form, and for the duties required of them they are admirable. The -“vaccaro” is in his saddle all day, and it forms his pillow by night; -when once he gets a good “saddle-tree” nothing can induce him to part -with it, and you may see a dozen of these “vaccaros” standing round a -rusty-looking saddle, listening to its owner’s praises as he points out -its beauties. These saddles are also well adapted for long journies, -affording, as they do, so much support to the body.</p> - -<p>When the tame horses attached to a ranche begin to be “used up” with -hard work, and the stud requires replenishing, the “vaccaros” start for -the mountains, and return shortly driving before them a band of wild -colts, which, with some difficulty, they force into the corral, where -they are enclosed.<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_75">{75}</a></span> The “vaccaros” now enter to select the likely colts, -the mad herd fly round the corral, but the unerring lasso arrests the -career of the selected victim, who is dragged, with his fore feet firmly -planted in the ground, half-strangled, to the court yard, where a strong -leather blind is at once placed over his eyes; at this he hangs his -head, and remains quite still, his fore feet still planted in the ground -ready to resist any forward movement. Then the “vaccaro,” always keeping -his eye on the horse’s heels and mouth, places a folded blanket on his -back, and on that the saddle, divested of all incumbrances, this he -girths up with all his power; the bridle is on in an instant, so simple -is its construction; how free from ornament is the bit, how plain and -unpretending is that rusty iron prong, which, at the least pressure on -the rein, will enter the <i>roof of the horse’s mouth</i>. Now the “vaccaro” -is seated, and nothing remains but to remove the blind; this is done by -an assisting “vaccaro,” who gets bit on the shoulder for his trouble, -and the work begins. Single jumps, buck jumps, stiff-legged jumps; -double kicks; amalgamated jumps and kicks, aided by a twist of the back -bone; plunges and rears; these constitute his first efforts to dislodge -the “vaccaro,” who meets each movement with a dig of his long iron -spurs: then the horse<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_76">{76}</a></span> stands still and tries to shake his burden off, -finally he gives a few mad plunges in the air, and then falls down on -his side.</p> - -<p>It is now that the formation of the Californian saddle and the large -wooden stirrups protect the rider: a small bar lashed crossways to the -peak of the saddle prevents the horse from rolling over, and when he -rises his tormentor rises with him unhurt; finding all efforts useless, -he bounds into the plain, to return in a few hours sobbing, panting, but -mastered. The blind is again put on, the saddle and bridle removed, -several buckets of cold water are thrown over his reeking sides, and he -is turned into the “corral,” an astonished horse, to await the morrow, -when his lesson will proceed, and receive less opposition from him! In -three days he is considered broken, and is called a “manzo,” or tame -horse, but admirably as docility has been inculcated in this short -period, he is not yet by any means the sort of horse that would suit -those elderly gentlemen who advertise in the “Times” for a “quiet cob,” -nor indeed is he fit for any one but a Californian “vaccaro.<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_77">{77}</a></span>”</p> - -<h2><a id="CHAPTER_V"></a>CHAPTER V.</h2> - -<div class="blockquot"><p class="hang">SPANISH PRIESTS—INDIANS—QUILP FORGETS HIMSELF—HABITS OF NATIVE -CALIFORNIANS—FATHER BARTOLEMÉO—THE LASSO—GOOD RIDERS—CATTLE -BRANDING—RAYMOND PROVIDES MULES—RUSSIAN RIVER—WE -ENCAMP—SAW-MILL—I PROPOSE TO “SQUAT.”</p></div> - -<p class="r"> -<i>August, 1850.</i><br> -</p> - -<p><span class="smcap">The</span> capabilities of Santa Rosa Valley had not been overlooked by the -early missionaries, and the house now occupied by Don Raymond had been -built by them. The object of these priests had been, first, to encourage -the wild Indians of the country to settle near their mission-houses, and -then gradually to domesticate them and employ them in bringing the land -under cultivation; but in the northern portion of the country, their -efforts seem on all sides to have been unattended with success, for with -the exception of the existence here and there of a few bands of -“Manzos,” or tame Indians, nothing remains in evidence of the exertions -of these early colonists. In the southern portion of the country, where -the climate is better adapted for the growth of fruit-trees<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_78">{78}</a></span> and vines, -signs of improvement everywhere mark the presence of the land-loving -Jesuit. The missions there consist of several houses, part of the -surrounding country is producing grain; a breed of small sheep has been -introduced; and the Indians having been made available for agricultural -purposes, large quantities of vines are reared, from which an excellent -wine, to which I have already alluded, is produced. For this more genial -clime the northern valleys had been abandoned, but a band of -domesticated Indians remained attached, like cats, to the mud building, -where first they made acquaintance with the white man. The Indians of -the country are called Diggers, from the fact of their subsisting on -roots and acorns. Filthy and degraded in their habits, not one ennobling -trait is to be found in them; whether domesticated, or in a primitive -state, they are ever the most debased of tribes, morally and physically. -It might have been from this that the process of civilising these beings -was abandoned by the priests, for so thankless a task might damp the -energy even of a Jesuit.</p> - -<p>The tribe in question occupied a few huts not far from the house, and -Raymond had, with a spirit a little in advance of his fellow colonists, -employed these Indians in enclosing a few acres of land, which were now -sown with barley and peas. Every week a<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_79">{79}</a></span> bullock was killed for the -Indians, the whole of which, including entrails, they devoured on the -instant. Of an evening they made a great disturbance, by indulging in -what they intended for a dance; this consisted in crowding together in -uncouth attitudes, and stamping on the ground to the accompaniment of -primitive whistles, of which each man had one in his mouth, whilst the -women howled and shrieked in chorus.</p> - -<p>Business required Raymond’s presence at Sacramento for a few days, and -from that time Quilp’s influence worked strongly to our disadvantage. We -were no longer summoned to the early breakfast of fresh milk and -“tortillas,” and those meals that were prepared for us consisted for the -most part of stewed beans. We reminded the ladies, whom now we seldom -met, that we had deposited game in the kitchen but the day before; -“Possibly,” they replied, “the gatos (cats) had destroyed it.” The idea -of palming this dreadful story on an Englishman was rather too good. We -were now therefore often compelled to shift for ourselves, and although -it was no great trouble to light a fire whilst out shooting, and roast a -hare or wild duck, we felt our position to be very awkward, having -promised Raymond not to depart before his return, an event we awaited -with<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_80">{80}</a></span> impatience. Not far from the house lived a “squatter” of the name -of Elliot, he had been settled for some time in the country and had -planted a small garden of vegetables; we found that he was always -supplied with venison, and on this discovery we soon made an arrangement -with him that relieved the people of the ranche from all trouble -respecting our meals. When we returned at night, Quilp would be found as -usual twanging his guitar, but on one occasion, emboldened by our silent -contempt, which he mistook perhaps for fear, he ventured on a liberty -which, but for my interference, might have been very summarily punished. -Returned one evening from shooting, my dog, Cromer, went up -inquisitively to Quilp as he sat in the porch, and this gentleman, -perhaps to please the group of vaccaros who shared his dislike of us, -undertook to kick the animal with his heavy spurred heel. Barnes’ -powerful grip was on his shoulder in an instant, and so long as it -remained there, Quilp was held to his chair as if in a vice. I ordered -Barnes at once to desist, and once released, Quilp drew a knife from his -boot and swore, “Madre de Dios!” that all the English that ever lived -should die under the application of that piece of cutlery; but as his -eye wandered down the barrel of the rifle that Barnes now brought in -close proximity with his head, he evidently deferred<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_81">{81}</a></span> his sanguinary -intentions for the time being, and retired pale and trembling into the -house. It was some time before the excitement died away, and I was not -sorry when I had reduced Barnes to a calm state of mind, for he was by -no means the right sort of person to “muddle,” to use his own -expression.</p> - -<p>Whilst out on the ensuing day we came across a beautiful little animal -of the size of a racoon, striped black and white. This was a species of -skunk, that emitted an odour so overpowering, that the animal’s instinct -did not even induce it to attempt to run from the dogs, who flew at -first to worry it, but surrendered at once to the poisonous smell, and -refused to approach. We left the skunk in full possession of the field, -and returned to find Quilp and a newly arrived party of Spaniards, -enjoying themselves in-doors, drinking the “wine of the south” and -cracking jokes, probably at our expense. I had paid little attention to -the fact of Barnes having lagged behind us as we came home, and I was in -the porch awaiting his return, when he suddenly appeared on the -threshold of the door from which the merriment proceeded, and with the -laconic remark of “D—n you, take that,” before I was aware of his -purpose he chucked the skunk into the middle of the party of Spaniards, -where it alighted amidst the<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_82">{82}</a></span> screams of the ladies and the oaths of the -men. In a few moments the room was cleared, and the men soon afterwards, -amidst many vows of vengeance, mounted their horses and rode swearing -away. Quilp went with them, and we never saw him again.</p> - -<p>Raymond returned, next day, and having explained to him as much as was -necessary to account for the estranged terms on which he found us with -his family, and apologised for my servant’s inexcusable rudeness, I -insisted upon being at once permitted to terminate my visit; and the -same day I erected my tent on the plain.</p> - -<p>Raymond, who entertained much good feeling towards us, felt very sore to -find on inquiry that we had been inhospitably treated during his -absence; but unable to persuade me to remain longer as his guest, he -requested that we would wait and witness his annual “cattle-branding,” -then about to take place, and he would then procure us mules to pursue -our journey.</p> - -<p>No life is so thoroughly lazy as that of a Californian family, who, -totally uneducated, can neither read or write; and whilst there are no -domestic duties on which to employ the women, the men leave to their -vaccaros the little superintendence the cattle on a ranche require. Nor, -as far as the women are<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_83">{83}</a></span> concerned, does the care of their children seem -by any means to engross their leisure; for the rising off-shoots are -allowed, like the young cattle, to grow unassisted and unembellished to -maturity, though undoubtedly the naked little urchins benefit physically -by the freedom their young limbs enjoy. Raymond had but one child, of -about four years of age, and this little fellow, with no covering but a -scanty shirt, strutted about the yard all day, practising with a -miniature lasso at the cocks and hens.</p> - -<p>The Californian idea of religion is rather sketchy and undefined. It is -well known that the Spanish Roman Catholic missionaries were never prone -to waste much time in expounding the tenets of their faith; the great -principle was, in all instances, to <i>convert</i>, and to increase the “army -of the Faithful.” I remember that in the islands of Batan in the China -Sea, the process was excessively simple. So soon as a nigger was -caught—and in a small island he had not much chance of escape from a -Jesuit—a tin cross was hung round his neck, and he was turned off -again, like one of Raymond’s branded steers, one being as wise as the -other as to whom the new allegiance was owing. The Californians have, -however, learnt enough to know that every one not of their faith, is a -heretic, and the Carrillo family asked<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_84">{84}</a></span> us point-blank if we belonged to -that unhappy class, and received gravely our modest reply, that we -believed we had that misfortune. The Spaniards and their priests, are -not only inveterate card-players, but practised cheats. One of these -sleight-of-hand Padres, I was told, displayed great fervour in -attempting to convert a heretic who lived near him, and who happened to -be an English master of a merchant vessel, who had settled in the -country; as the story goes, the old Salt defended himself from the -theological attacks of Father Bartoleméo on the score that he never -could understand the principal articles of his new creed. “How so?” -exclaims the Padre, “with faith, and the help of the Virgin, all -obstacles will melt like snow before the sun.” “Then,” observed the -captain, as he produced a pack of Spanish monté cards, “how do you turn -up the Jack when the seven and Jack are laid out and an open bet is made -on the seven?” “Toe-nails of St. Ignatius! what has this to do with the -tenets of the true faith?” roars the father. “This,” says the other, in -reply, “is the first tenet of <i>your faith</i>, teach me this and I embrace -the rest.” It is easy to imagine the wrath and indignation of the holy -father when he thus heard his religion insulted, and, sympathising with -him in his warmth, we are the less prepared to hear that he not only -controlled<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_85">{85}</a></span> his feelings, but sat down and inducted the master into the -art of turning up the Jack, too happy at so small a sacrifice to gain -<small>ANOTHER</small> convert to his faith.</p> - -<p>Where so much ignorance exists, a proportionate amount of superstition -will of course be found, and in horse-racing, which is their passion, -the Californians are regulated by a code of rules affecting the colours -of horses and the hours at which they must start to ensure victory. -Sailors used to dislike a Friday, but there is no day of the week that -is not unlucky for something in California.</p> - -<p>At Santa Cruz (in the south) some time ago, the “Virgin” was intreated -for rain, and the hat being sent round, a sufficient amount was -collected to back the request in the substantial manner that the priests -point out as being acceptable. An old heretical American settler, who -had a farm on the high land above the valley, declined either to -contribute or to pray; but, from his elevated position, his crops soon -throve under genial showers, whilst the valley below as yet received no -relief; this unequal distribution of favour on the part of the saint -astonished the occupants of the valley: and we will presume that fresh -appeals brought down retribution on the heretic, for, in a very short -time, his crops were set on fire, and he saved his house from -destruction with some difficulty.<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_86">{86}</a></span></p> - -<p>The dress of the vaccaro consists of a broad-brimmed hat, always secured -under the chin, a loose shirt and jacket, and buckskin breeches; round -the leg is wound a square piece of leather, this is secured at the knee, -and is a protection against falls or the attacks of cattle; in one of -these leggings he carries his knife; his spurs, serapa, and lasso, -complete his costume; under his saddle he has a blanket, and thus -lightly equipped is independent of everything. The lasso is generally -constructed of twisted hide, and is made with great care. In the hands -of a good vaccaro the noose is thrown carelessly, but with unerring -precision; it is a formidable weapon of attack, and in the guerilla -warfare, which preceded the occupation of the country, it was not only -used successfully, but horrible cruelties were practised by the -Spaniards on those whom by chance they cut off in this manner.</p> - -<p>The Californians are perfect riders—graceful, active, and courageous; -they ride with a straight leg when in the saddle, and this latter, when -properly made, gives great support to the body and legs; how otherwise -could they endure, for hours together, the shock of bringing up <i>all -standing</i> wild cattle running at full speed?</p> - -<p>When I first seated myself in a Californian saddle<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_87">{87}</a></span> belonging to -Raymond, and found the lower part of my body deeply imbedded in the soft -skins which covered it, I was led into an error which I dare say has -been shared by many others; I thought at the time that riders accustomed -to so much assistance were less dependent on the muscles of the body; -and I have no doubt in those valuable papers, since lost, I recorded a -hasty opinion that their crack riders would make a poor show on an -English saddle over a steeple-chase country; but this is only another -proof of the danger of trusting to first impressions. The Californian -will ride a bare-backed horse at speed and bring him on his haunches -with a seat undisturbed: but what more particularly arrests the critical -eye of an Englishman is their beautiful handling of the horse’s mouth; -with a bit, the slightest pressure on which arrests the horse, they -ride, in all the excitement of the cattle chase, with a lightness of -hand that is truly admirable. In the hunting counties, where by chance -some black-coated stranger takes and keeps a forward position throughout -the day, it is a matter of duty after dinner for all legitimate -red-coats to depreciate the arrogant unknown; but when no fault can be -found either with his seat or his style of riding, there is always some -one who clinches the matter by remarking sagely—“The fellow rides well -enough,<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_88">{88}</a></span> but he has got no ‘hands!’<span class="lftspc">”</span> Now the Californians have both -seats and “hands,” and may defy the criticism even of the ill-natured.</p> - -<p>Once a year it was customary to drive up all the cattle on a ranche to -brand the young steers. On these occasions the vaccaros are in their -glory, crack riders volunteer their assistance, and ranche owners -congregate from far and wide to point out and take away such of their -own beasts as have strayed and become mixed with those on the ranche. -For a week previously, the vaccaros scour the mountains and plains, and -collect the wild herds, and these are at once enclosed in the “corrals.”</p> - -<p>The proprietor of the ranche keeps open house, whilst the vaccaros adorn -themselves in all the finery they can muster, which is not much, and -they are specially mounted for the occasion. Fires are lighted near the -corral, and in these the branding-irons are kept heated. The work is -commenced leisurely, a few vaccaros enter the corral, the gate of which -is formed of a bar of wood, easily withdrawn, to allow egress to the -cattle. The first lasso is thrown over the horns of a steer, and as the -bar is withdrawn he rushes out with the vaccaro at his side; on the -instant a second lasso catches the hind leg and he falls on his side, as -if shot. The two lassos are then kept tight by the horses to<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_89">{89}</a></span> which they -are attached, who are admirably trained to throw their whole weight on -the rope; the brand is then applied. A shake of the lasso disengages it, -and the steer after a wild look at the assembled company, rushes -smarting with pain to the mountains, where he is soon joined by his -fellows in a similar unfortunate predicament.</p> - -<p>The corral becomes gradually thinned, and more vaccaros enter the lists, -and as the large beasts are kept until the last, and become maddened by -being driven round in the heat, and noise, and dust, every opportunity -is afforded for a display of good riding. Savage-looking cows show fight -from every quarter, and make fierce charges at the horsemen, who -experience much more danger, and have more work to do, than the armed -“torredores” of a bull-fight. The dust and excitement increase rapidly -now, and the cattle thump the ground with their ribs on every side, as -their legs fly from under them. A groan, a hiss, and a smell of roast -meat, as the hot brand touches them, and away they go, tail on end.</p> - -<p>But occasionally the scene is diversified by some cantankerous young -bull, who having received the impression of his master’s initials, makes -a rush at the crowd that surround the corral, with the intention of<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_90">{90}</a></span> -revenging an insult never intended. This wayward conduct subjects him to -increased punishment, for he is now brought down on his side again, -until at last he thinks better of it, and makes the best of his way to -some lonely spot on the plain, where he revenges himself by praiseworthy -but unsuccessful attempts to gore the largest oak-tree he can find.</p> - -<p>The work is now carried on with great rapidity, the vaccaros have -renewed their horses many times, and under the influence of brandy, -which is freely served to them, they begin to get as mad as the cattle. -All ends at dusk, and the evening is devoted to a “fandango;” but the -men are all so drunk and tired, that this amusement always terminates -early, and generally seriously; for among so many boasting and -quarrelsome riders, knives are soon produced, and the dispute, which -always has reference to the <i>capacity</i> of some horse, is terminated for -the time being by the letting of a little blood.</p> - -<p>It is the nature of man to boast of his horse in all countries, and how -unfortunate it is that these Spaniards are not sufficiently civilised to -settle their disputes with a bet; then the only blood drawn would be -from the horse’s flanks, when he was called upon by his master to -perform the feat in question, and the whole would be decided in a -<i>gentlemanly manner</i>!<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_91">{91}</a></span></p> - -<p>Shortly after the “cattle-branding,” Raymond provided me with four -handsome mules and a horse. I have already mentioned that the management -of wild mules was a matter of great difficulty; to us it was an -impossibility, and we found it requisite to hire the services of a -vaccaro. We started for Russian River after bidding adieu to Raymond, -who had behaved to us throughout with great hospitality and kindness. -Our road led through another plain, oak-timbered like the valleys, and -that there may be at least one good remark in my book, I shall borrow a -description from Sterne, who says, “There is nothing more pleasing to a -traveller or more terrible to travel-writers, than a large rich plain, -especially if it is without great rivers or bridges, and presents to the -eye but one unvaried picture of plenty; for, after they have once told -you that it is delicious or delightful (as the case happens), that the -soil was grateful, and that nature pours out all her abundance, &c., -they have then a large plain upon their hands, which they know not what -to do with.”—<i>Tristram Shandy</i>, vol. ii., p. 123. The reader will then -please to consider that my party has reached in safety the banks of the -Russian River.</p> - -<p>This is a broad stream, and in the summer months when the water becomes -low, it runs sluggishly; but<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_92">{92}</a></span> high among the branches of the alder-trees -that line the banks, are accumulations of sticks and rubbish that mark -the height to which the river rises when the mountain snow begins to -melt, and it changes its present lazy rippling pace for the turbulent -roar of a cataract, and overflows the adjacent plains.</p> - -<p>Being nightfall, we encamped without crossing, and at daylight we were -dismayed at discovering that our beasts had been stolen; we had no -reason to suspect the vaccaro, who at all events acted surprise to -perfection, if guilty of connivance; but mules and horses were gone, and -the riattas with them. Some expert thieves had tracked us, and as we -were in ignorance as to who they were, we laid the whole matter at -Quilp’s door. I have since discovered by experience, that if a band of -Mexicans are determined to have your horses, they generally manage it by -some means, in spite of the utmost vigilance; with our inexperience and -the possible connivance of the vaccaro (of which, however, there was not -a shadow of proof) the task was easy. I discharged the vaccaro, and we -crossed the river on foot, taking off our clothes and carrying them in a -bundle on our heads. The water was so refreshing, that the task of -taking over our baggage piecemeal, was one of pleasure, and helped -wonderfully to counterbalance</p> - -<div class="figcenter" id="plt_003" style="width: 600px;"> -<a href="images/ill_004.jpg"> -<img src="images/ill_004.jpg" width="600" height="378" alt="[Image unavailable.]"></a> -<div class="caption"><p>CHAGRES RIVER.</p></div> -</div> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="page_93">{93}</a></span></p> - -<p class="nind">the annoyance I felt at the loss of my mules—a loss which entirely -precluded my further advance into the country. Leaving Barnes with the -baggage and dogs, Thomas and I proceeded in search of a back-woodsman’s -hut, which we had been informed existed in this direction; after -following the river for some time, we ascended a steep hill, from the -summit of which was presented the most lovely panorama—beneath us the -thickly wooded plain extended for miles—on one side bounded by -mountains, on the other, melting away in a blue hazy distance;—the -windings of the Russian River were marked distinctly in contrast with -the dark rocks and foliage that lined its banks, whilst immediately -beneath us was a forest of firs and red-wood trees, over which the -vultures wheeled incessantly, and not even the sound of an insect -disturbed the silence of the scene.</p> - -<p>From this hill we discovered the hut of which we were in search, -situated near a running stream and surrounded by towering red-wood -trees. We found the occupant at home; he was a tall sinewy man, a -Missourian of the name of March, and he at once cheerfully assisted us. -He lent us his mule to bring up our baggage, and by nightfall we were -encamped within a few yards of his hut. There were two other -backwoodsmen living with March, and these three<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_94">{94}</a></span></p> - -<div class="figcenter" id="wdcut_003" style="width: 600px;"> -<a href="images/ill_005.jpg"> -<img src="images/ill_005.jpg" width="600" height="484" alt="[Image unavailable.]"></a> -</div> - -<p class="nind">had just completed unaided a saw-mill, to which they had applied the -power of the stream, by means of an over-shot wheel. The heavy beams -that formed the mill-frame, the dam and race, had all been constructed -from the adjacent forest trees, and now that the work was completed, -wanting only the saw, for which they intended to go to San Francisco, it -seemed incredible that so large a frame could be put together by so -small a number of men. This saw-mill erected in the forest and of the -forest, raising its long beams from the midst of the romantic scenery -that surrounded it, was a glorious instance of what energy will -accomplish, and of the rapidity<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_95">{95}</a></span> with which each man in an American -colony contributes towards the development of the new country’s -resources.</p> - -<p>And it contrasts strangely with the languid inertness of those -communities, who with equal brains and hands <i>ponder</i> and <i>dream</i> over -the means of supplying wants, even when they have long been felt; to see -that here even the uneducated backwoodsman devotes his time and energy -to preparing for the wants <i>to come</i>; buoyed up by an admirable -confidence in the rapid growth and prosperity of his country, which -confidence is part of his education, and one great secret of his -success. If the Americans go a-head, it is principally because they -“look a-head.” March when he planned his mill and felled his first tree -in this solitary forest, ranked with those who wrote from the tents of -San Francisco for steam-engines and foundries. Now as I write, these -latter are performing their daily work in the city, and have become -essential to its wants, whilst March’s mill, seemingly so out of place -where I first saw it, can now barely supply the wants of the numerous -agricultural population that is settling round about it. March and his -companions lived entirely on game, which he assured me abounded; and as -for the present at all events I could not proceed, I<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_96">{96}</a></span> determined at his -advice to walk over the hills and look at a valley on which he strongly -recommended me to “squat;” we therefore started the next morning in -search of it, following the directions that March had given us for our -guidance to the spot.<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_97">{97}</a></span></p> - -<h2><a id="CHAPTER_VI"></a>CHAPTER VI.</h2> - -<div class="blockquot"><p class="hang">THE LITTLE VALLEY—THREE MARTYRS—MOUNTAIN LIFE—THE POOR -DOES—CASTOR-OIL—A SICK DOG—THE CARPENTARO—GREY SQUIRREL—DIGGER -INDIANS—RED-WOOD TREE—AMERICAN RIFLES—GRIZZLY BEAR HUNT—SHELDON -WOUNDED—DIFFICULTY IN KILLING THE BEAR—HABITS OF THE BEAR—A -THIEF.</p></div> - -<p class="r"> -<i>September, 1850.</i><br> -</p> - -<p><span class="smcap">The</span> country which we now traversed consisted of a series of small -round-topped hills, uniform in size but varying in feature. The whole -had been long since subjected to violent volcanic action, so whilst one -hill was crowned with a grotesque mass of rock and cinder, round which -the tall wild oats waved desolately, the next enchanted the eye with a -profusion of evergreen oaks and flowering arbutus. These hills altered -in character as they had been subjected to, or had escaped from the -volcanic shower; thus whilst on one side was a huge mound of lava -destitute of all vegetation, on the other was a dense mass of rich -underwood, from which rose groups of the stately red-wood tree.<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_98">{98}</a></span></p> - -<p>We saw several old craters, and the cindery desolation that encircled -them for some distance yielded suddenly to the encroachment of -vegetation; a strife for mastery between these two had existed, and you -may believe, if you please, as I do, the volcanic agency to have been -under the management of an evil gnome, the wild vines and arbutus to -have been protected by a good fay, and that after numerous fierce -engagements, a lasting peace had been concluded and the territory -equally divided.</p> - -<p>We put up several hares and covies of partridges, whose parents had -never been shot at, and we fully satisfied ourselves as to the existence -in abundance of both bears and deer.</p> - -<p>Arrived at the summit of a hill, the little valley we were in search of -lay at our feet. It was scarcely twenty acres in extent, level as a -table, bounded on one side by masses of red-wood trees, and on the other -by a fine stream, whose banks were shaded with alders and wild vines. -The valley itself was free from shrub or tree, excepting that from the -centre there rose a clump of seven gigantic red-woods, which growing in -a circle, and meeting at the roots, formed a natural chamber to which -there was but one inlet.</p> - -<p>As the land we were on belonged to the United<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_99">{99}</a></span> States government, I -determined to take March’s advice, and <i>squat</i> on this valley, for I -became at once enchanted with it, as indeed were my companions: I -therefore affixed to the red-wood trees a paper I had long prepared and -kept in my knapsack for immediate use, and which ordered all men to take -notice that F. M. claimed, under the laws of pre-emption, one hundred -and fifty acres of land measuring from that spot, and that he intended -to defend his right by force of arms, &c. &c.</p> - -<p>Considering that, saving the wild Indians, human foot had probably never -crossed the spot, the notice scarcely seemed necessary, and the Indians -did not respect it, as I shall have occasion to show hereafter.</p> - -<p>By the time we had walked thoroughly over the property and discovered -fresh advantages, and had drunk of the stream and found the water -excellent, it was dusk, and not being sufficiently satisfied with our -landmarks, to try our way back to our camp that night, we determined on -passing it in the red-wood clump; the fire was soon stacked and -lighted—that jolly camp-fire that on the instant suffuses everything -around it with its cheerful ruddy glow, and sends its sharp crackle -merrily up through the air, throwing a charm over the most inhospitable -desert, and giving a zest to the hunter’s meal be it ever so homely.<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_100">{100}</a></span> -How naturally as we sit around it we recall the memory of wet seasons, -When benighted, damp, chilly, and tired, we selected amidst the falling -mist, the driest and most sheltered spot in the wet brushwood; how we -laugh now at the vain attempt to kindle damp leaves and undergrowth; the -partial success that engendered hope, only to render the failure of the -last match more intolerable; the dark long night, dreary, drizzling, -with one of us on guard for danger, and all unable to sleep, watching -impatiently for the morning, with the first dull streak of which we -stretch our half stiffened limbs, and shouldering the dead game, that no -camp-fire over night converted into a well-earned and needful supper, -seek some sheltered spot elsewhere, and make a breakfast of it. The -recollection of nights like these—and they fall to the lot of every -hunter—causes one to contemplate the blazing embers with a simple -gratitude, that is not always engendered elsewhere by the possession of -the comforts of this world.</p> - -<p>We had a leash of hares, which being skinned and cleaned were impaled on -withers and placed at the fire to roast, where they looked like three -martyrs flayed alive, and staked. Whilst they were cooking we filled the -red-wood clump with several armfuls of long oat-straw from the adjacent -hill.<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_101">{101}</a></span></p> - -<div class="figcenter" id="wdcut_004" style="width: 600px;"> -<a href="images/ill_006.jpg"> -<img src="images/ill_006.jpg" width="600" height="445" alt="[Image unavailable.]"></a> -</div> - -<p>After worrying the three hares, we lighted our pipes, and picquetting -the dogs round us, we gave ourselves up to the pleasures of a comparison -of the happiness of our position as compared with that of other men, and -then I sunk into a gentle slumber (of course), while my companions -snored in unison with the dogs.</p> - -<p>We rose with the sun; and properly speaking, I should take advantage of -that fact to inform the reader what part of the surrounding scenery was -first bathed in yellow light, and what remained in obscurity; what the -deep blue of the distant mountains contrasted with, and what completed -the picture in the foreground: but these things are to be found better -described in any book of travels of the day; and<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_102">{102}</a></span> moreover, at the time -of which I am writing, I was not gazing at the landscape, but was -proceeding rather unpoetically to bathe in the river, munching on my way -the leg of a cold martyr.</p> - -<p>In the course of the day we moved our baggage from March’s Mill to our -new possession, where I determined on passing the winter.</p> - -<p>I decided upon enclosing the valley and rendering it fit for -agricultural purposes, but as the winter was approaching, I saw that the -first thing requisite was to send for a quantity of useful articles that -I had stored in readiness at Sonoma, and which consisted of carpenter’s -tools, blankets, powder and shot, books, and a small quantity of -groceries. For these I despatched Thomas, and the red-wood clump having -been perfected in its internal accommodations, by the addition of a -boarded floor, a brushwood roof, with a convenient rack for the rifles, -and a secure magazine for the powder, Barnes commenced laying his axe to -the red-wood trees on the other side of the stream, whilst I shouldered -my rifle and supplied the larder.</p> - -<p>There is but one species of deer here—the black-tailed—and the -venison, though generally fat, is insipid, owing perhaps to the fact -that the dry season parches up every blade of green stuff, and the deer -live on the long self-made hay, which in some parts is very<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_103">{103}</a></span> plentiful, -but not nutritious. The deer are generally found in herds of from five -to seven, and it requires great caution to “bag them.”</p> - -<div class="figcenter" id="wdcut_005" style="width: 600px;"> -<a href="images/ill_007.jpg"> -<img src="images/ill_007.jpg" width="600" height="472" alt="[Image unavailable.]"></a> -</div> - -<p>As the wind at this season of the year blows with little variation from -the same point, my ground was almost always of the same nature, the -river being in my rear, and the mountains before me. Stalking was out of -the question, for from the peculiar formation of the country, which -consisted of a series of undulations, no extended view could be procured -of a herd, and the long grass which afforded them cover abounded with -rattle-snakes. The only plan in such a country is to keep your eyes -about you, not forgetting the ground, and walk the deer up, against the<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_104">{104}</a></span> -wind of course, taking advantage of any cover that may be in your path, -in the shape of a rock, and using great caution in showing yourself over -the rising ground. The herd will probably then start up with a bound -from the long oat-straw at your feet, but seldom afford a fine shot, as -they plunge away half concealed by it; now you throw yourself down, and -see, the herd has stopped within a hundred yards of you; and here a buck -advances chivalrously in defence of his harem—five paces—ten—now he -is troubled; for although there is pride in his nostrils, and anger in -his stamping hoof, there is indecision in those working ears, and by his -eye you may read that if anything very ugly appears, he will run away. -But a doe advances; this nerves her lord to a few paces more;—now you -may fire;—full at the shoulder;—crash—poor buck! Now load again, and -then rush up and cut his throat, he is stone dead; rattle, tattle, -tattle, tattle,—mind the snake! Now flay him, if you want the skin, or -quarter him if you don’t: this done you can carry home a haunch, the -skin, the antlers, the tongue and the brains, and these, with your -accoutrements and the hot sun, will probably tire you before you get -home. In the evening the poor does, with their soft hearts still -palpitating, from the nasty noise your rifle made, and the very<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_105">{105}</a></span> ugly -appearance of yourself generally, will stand in a group, and turn their -wistful eyes in the direction where last they saw their master, and -wonder—poor innocents—why he is not there as usual to lead them -proudly down to the stream, and take his station on the bank to ward off -any danger whilst they drink. Night comes, but he does not appear; then -they wander about, and cry and pass a miserable night, whilst you are -making a good supper off the buck, and are speaking jocularly of him as -a “fat old rascal.”</p> - -<p>The deer is very inquisitive, and if when you have walked up a herd, and -have thrown yourself down, in the long grass, you extend your loading -rod above your head, with a piece of rag attached to it, the bucks will, -even though they wind you, generally approach within killing distance, -which, when shooting as I was, for subsistence, should not be more than -<i>seventy yards</i> if possible. It is always better to make this rule when -shooting for the “larder.” Where game is thin, fire at nothing that you -don’t think certain, until the day wanes, and necessity and an empty -stomach oblige you to shoot at everything you see. Where game is wild -and difficult to approach, and you are living on your gun, too much -precaution cannot be taken to insure, if possible, the bagging of<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_106">{106}</a></span> -everything you hit; for if anything makes sporting cruel, it is the -habit that some have of trying long shots, and sending poor brutes away -to die a lingering death in the brush. Moreover, I was much in the -position of a man with a preserve, and that not overstocked. I could not -afford to drive my game, by careless shooting, out of my own beat, and -the nature of my country was such that the want of cover in the -undulating hills rendered the deer very alert whilst feeding there, and -when they took to the mountains in alarm they were lost to the hunter, -if alone, so far as this, that they invariably managed to keep a large -sized hill between him and themselves; for the Russian River deer are -actually <i>cunning</i>, and never did I see one take to a ravine, or lay -himself open in any way when once he ascended the steep. I have often -killed before I have left the house twenty minutes, but far more -frequently have walked the whole day without seeing a deer.</p> - -<p>We recovered some wounded deer with the assistance of the blood-hound, -Prince; but just as he became useful, he was attacked by a distemper -peculiar to the country, which affects the hindquarters with paralysis, -and generally kills. I think I saved Prince’s life by administering a -tremendous dose of castor-oil on the first appearance of his<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_107">{107}</a></span> symptoms, -but he was a very sick dog for a long time, and staggered like a three -days’ old calf. Having mentioned castor-oil, I wish to do justice to its -invaluable qualities, which would not perhaps have been so thoroughly -tested by us were it not that our sole stock of medicine consisted of -two quart bottles of it. It was successfully applied to both man and -beast in every complaint, and acted with a little tobacco-leaf, as a -balm for all outward wounds.</p> - -<p>Barnes, who was a famous axe-man and was possessed of unusual physical -strength and endurance, soon felled a large number of the giant -red-woods in the rear of our valley, in order to split them and convert -them into rails for enclosing the farm. If we should speak well of the -bridge that carries us over, we should also speak well of the tree that -roofs us in for the winter, but the red-wood tree (Arbor Vitæ) deserves -especial notice on its own merits, which I shall proceed to detail. The -size and height attained by the red-wood in California are very -wonderful, and faithful accounts of these trees have been received with -incredulity. The average size of the full-grown trees may be quoted at -from five to six feet in diameter, and about 150 feet in height. This -tree maintains in some instances so perfect a perpendicular, that in<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_108">{108}</a></span> -felling it on a calm day, if one is cut towards the centre, a very small -portion of the heart will sustain the immense trunk. The largest tree we -discovered at Russian River was not far from the house. Measuring it six -feet above the ground, its circumference was 40 feet, and its height -about 200 feet. But in Calaveras county, a group of trees exists which -measure respectively, 27 feet, 20 feet, 23 feet, 18 feet, and 16 feet in -diameter, and from 200 feet to 250 feet in height. The largest of these -was felled and the bark removed to San Francisco, where it was erected -in its original position, and formed a capacious room.</p> - -<p>The timber of the red-wood is very durable, and is so easily worked that -a man needs but an axe, a betel and a few wedges, to convert the largest -of them, provided they are free from knots, into planks, rails or -clap-boards, and I have seen Barnes fell a huge fellow, and in less than -a fortnight he has carried it all away but the boughs and the bark. It -is a fine sight to watch one of these trees fall to the axe; leaving the -perpendicular at first so leisurely; then gathering impetus as it nears -the ground, crushing all it meets, making the earth vibrate with its -shock, and sending forth a booming echo, that startles the game far and -wide. The bark of the<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_109">{109}</a></span> red-wood is perforated in every direction, and -with great regularity, by a kind of starling, called, from this -peculiarity, <i>carpentaro</i>, or carpenter. These birds form cells in the -tree with great assiduity, and deposit therein acorns, which fit very -tightly. They are very quaint and noisy, and employ themselves -continually, when not fighting, in depositing acorns in the red-woods. -You may see a dozen of them clinging to the bark of one tree in the most -uncomfortable positions, pecking away, each at a hole. But the -carpentaros work for the more lazy portion of creation, and one of their -enemies is the beautiful grey squirrel which abounds here. I have often -watched a grey squirrel ascend a red-wood; for the birds work in the -upper part of the tree. He is immediately surrounded by carpentaros, -who, knowing him of old, are at no loss to divine his object, but the -open day robber, nothing daunted, at once extracts an acorn, and popping -it in his mouth, he turns his head from side to side in the quaintest -manner possible, as if to say to the birds that chatter around him, -“Pray go on, don’t mind my feelings.” Then down he comes whisking his -beautiful silvery tail. Then the carpentaros assemble round the pillaged -hole, and scream over the matter so much that you may imagine them to be -abusing the squirrel in their<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_110">{110}</a></span> choicest slang; and presently up comes -grey squirrel again for another acorn, having found the first so good; -and then, fresh carpentaros having arrived, the noise becomes so -intolerable, that the most enthusiastic of naturalists would walk off -with his fingers in his ears. The grizzly bear also takes advantage of -the exposed condition of the carpentaro’s winter provision, and climbs -the red-wood in much the same fashion as the grey squirrel, though less -gracefully; so they say: I never saw a bear in this position, and if -unarmed I should not wait to study his habits, if I did; for although -naturalists tell us that the bear is graminivorous, there is no doubt -that the grizzly would sacrifice all the acorns that grow for a juicy -piece of the calf of one’s leg.</p> - -<p>The carpentaro has a more destructive enemy than even the squirrel or -the bear, and a greater beast than either—the Digger Indian. These -miserable specimens of humanity will light a fire at the root of a -well-stocked red-wood tree until it falls; they then extract the -carpentaro’s acorns and fill many baskets full, which they carry away.</p> - -<p>“Eat as much as you like, but pocket none,” the justly indignant -carpentaros might say.</p> - -<p>The red-wood tree is the main-stay of California. The supply is -inexhaustible, but nature has been<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_111">{111}</a></span> sufficiently capricious to make them -most abundant in very inaccessible spots, whilst the level plains are -covered with a short-grained dwarf oak, serviceable only for firewood. -But, however steep the mountains, the Californian red-wood has to fall -and to be fashioned to the use of man, and when a steam saw-mill gets -perched upon a mountain-top the romance of the forest is gone; its -silent grandeur no longer awes the mind; and the trees, whose size and -beauty caused such deep impressions and such grave reflections, fall -into insignificance as you see them torn into planks and packed on -waggons, whilst the once still forest resounds to the sound of the axe -and the shrill whistle of the steam-engine. I have been very -disappointed at finding these sudden changes in revisiting some of my -old hunting-grounds.</p> - -<p>Thomas now arrived with our stores, which we unpacked with great -pleasure, as they had not seen the light since we had boxed them up -ourselves in England, and every article was associated with home. We set -to work, and in a fortnight had completed a two-roomed house, close to -the red-wood clump: we then converted that apartment into a larder and -storehouse.</p> - -<p>It is not my intention to dwell very much upon the subject of -deer-shooting, as, even could I say<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_112">{112}</a></span> what has not been said before by -mightier hunters than I, the subject has interest for sporting men -alone.</p> - -<p>I have mentioned in the early part of this chapter, that bears were said -to be plentiful in the country I had chosen for my sojourn. The -Californian hunter holds the grizzly bear in great respect; and not -without reason, when we consider that this animal is difficult to kill, -that he is a relentless pursuer when wounded, and that he can run and -climb under ordinary circumstances, with more agility than his -assailant. On this account, and from the fact that you must, from the -nature of his haunts, attack him on foot, a wounded grizzly bear is a -worse enemy to encounter than a tiger. March had promised to make up a -bear hunt for us, and in a day or two he came over to the farm with two -hunters of the name of Sheldon and Carter; both hard-looking fellows, -carrying nothing but their rifles, a knife, and a Colt’s revolver, which -latter is invaluable in all kinds of hunting.</p> - -<p>The Americans carried rifles of their own make; capital make too, though -too weak in the lock on account of the cheap price at which they are -supplied. The bore of their rifles seemed small for bear-shooting, -carrying a half-ounce ball, but they seemed to<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_113">{113}</a></span> consider that their -skill in shooting counter-balanced this deficiency. I carried the only -rifle that I ever used of those I took out, one of German make, carrying -a ball of an ounce and a half. I should say here that our rifles were -often the subject of discussion with these honest fellows. I had two -Rigby’s with an accumulation of sights, which were perfectly useless for -my work, although they were beautifully finished weapons; and Barnes’s -friendly disputes concerning the relative merits of the American barrel, -with its enormous weight of metal and long point-blank range, and the -English lock, with its wholesome click, and the American stock, with its -carved butt, that gives so much steadiness to the muscles of the body -when you aim, resulted in a combination that was highly approved of by -all parties; for all these good qualities were amalgamated by the -construction of a new stock, and thus a rifle was produced that amongst -ourselves enjoyed great celebrity, and this rifle March has probably in -his possession to this day.</p> - -<p>The German rifle, to which I have alluded, was rather too short, but -very true within a hundred yards, and its qualities were expressed by -its name, “shoulder-breaker,” engraved on the stock. It is a rare thing -to get a good rifle carrying a heavy ball.<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_114">{114}</a></span></p> - -<p>We started at once in search of our bear—six in number—and accompanied -by a small dog belonging to Sheldon. It was not until the afternoon that -we struck upon a fresh bear sign, of which March had had previous -knowledge. The sign led into thick underwood in which the bear seeks -shade, but which is the worst of all places for killing him. March -disposed us in couples; we then spread and entered the thicket at a -partially cleared part. Almost immediately I heard a crash, and an angry -roar, and then a shot was fired to the left. It was necessary for us to -retrace our steps, on account of intervening jungle, to rejoin our -party, which done, the bear was in view. I was astonished at his size; -standing on his hind-legs with his mouth open like a thirsty dog, and -working himself up and down, he indicated that he felt the inconvenience -of the pellet that March had intended for his heart, but which had -lodged in his alimentary canal. However, in an instant, and as if by a -sudden impulse, he again assumed the position of a quadruped and bounded -towards March and Sheldon, clearing as much ground at each stride—for -he was as big as an ox—as would have done credit to the winner of the -Liverpool steeplechase. A shot from the right altered his course again -in that direction, for the<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_115">{115}</a></span> grizzly bear will turn to the last -assailant, and this enforces the necessity of bear-hunters supporting -each other.</p> - -<p>A momentary uncertainty on his part gave me an opportunity of troubling -him with one of my 1½ oz. balls, but this only elicited a grunt and a -rush in my direction. I confess that, as soon as my rifle was -discharged, I felt great inclination to disregard March’s directions, -which were, not to use my revolver, but if possible to <i>reload my rifle -directly I had fired</i>, under <i>all circumstances</i>. Whilst in a curious -state of uncertainty on this point, though loading, the bear swerved -suddenly on one side in chase of the little high-couraged dog that -belonged to Sheldon.</p> - -<p>This dog had been in other bear-hunts and was generally very useful, for -the grizzly has a great suspicion of anything behind him, and if a dog -can be trained to worry his hams, the bear will turn round and round and -afford much facility to the hunters.</p> - -<p>I fancy the dog must have got hurt or lost his pluck, for he now rushed -straight to his master, and the bear followed; Sheldon fired as the -grizzly approached, but without effect, and the next moment poor Sheldon -was down bathed in blood, one blow had carried away the flesh entirely -from one side<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_116">{116}</a></span> of his face, fracturing his jaw-bone in the most -frightful manner.</p> - -<p>The bear disappeared, and probably retired to die, whilst we carried -Sheldon home, with what feelings of grief I need not say. We sent him on -to Sonoma as soon as possible, and he afterwards recovered, though -dreadfully disfigured, and with the loss of an eye. It was perhaps on -account of this accident that we made up no more parties for the express -purpose of bear-hunting, but left it to chance to meet them, and as it -happened, accident threw very few in our way.</p> - -<p>The chief difficulty in killing the grizzly bear arises from the -formation of his head, which is convex. The ball generally glances off -sufficiently to avoid the brain; you have in fact but three vital parts, -the back of the ear, the spine, and the heart; and it is said that the -grizzly bear will live long enough after being shot in the latter part -to do much mischief. He is always in motion, and I think the steadiest -of hunters will allow that his conduct when wounded is not calculated to -improve one’s aim. The very fact of finding that you hit him so often -without effect, destroys confidence, and the sudden rushes that the bear -makes at his assailant is a great trial to the hunter’s nerve. There are -many accidents of the description I witnessed on record, although I -know<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_117">{117}</a></span> one or two instances of bears being killed at the first shot.</p> - -<p>It appears to me that a recorder of travels has a difficulty to -surmount, which falls to the lot of no other writer, for whilst duty -admonishes him to give a strictly veracious account of everything that -comes before his notice (and of a great deal that does not), inclination -and the publisher prompt him to avoid prosiness, for this very good -reason, that if he enters into details he bores his readers; but then, -on the other hand, if he is not sufficiently specific, he is pronounced -a “superficial observer.”</p> - -<p>This observation is induced by the necessity of my introducing, at all -costs, further accounts respecting the grizzly bear.</p> - -<p>When we consider the weight of the grizzly, which often reaches fifteen -hundred pounds, the enormous strength of which he is possessed, as -evidenced by the limbs of trees which he will wrench from the trunk, and -his extraordinary speed and activity, we have reason (speaking as one -who lives in his vicinity) for congratulation that the animal is of -inoffensive habits, and avoids the presence of man. The sole instance to -the contrary is that in which you are unfortunate enough to invade the -domestic circle of the she-bear when accompanied by her cubs: she<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_118">{118}</a></span> -invariably gives chase the instant she sees the intruder, who, if he is -wise, will “draw a bee-line” in an opposite direction. In running<a id="FNanchor_5_5"></a><a href="#Footnote_5_5" class="fnanchor">[5]</a> -from a bear, the best plan is to turn round the side of a hill, for the -bear having then as it were two short legs and two long ones, can’t, -under such circumstances, run very fast. There is but one sized tree -that you can climb in safety in escaping from a bear, and you may run a -long way before you find it. It must be just too small for your pursuer -to climb up after you, and just too large for it to pull down, a nice -point to hit. The she-bear is invariably irascible when nursing, and -perhaps this accounts for the fact that the male-bear is seldom found in -her company; to her he leaves the education and support of their -progeny, whilst he seeks amusement elsewhere—I might say at his club, -for it is the habit of bears to congregate in threes or fours under a -tree for hours, and dance on their hams in a very ludicrous manner, with -no apparent ostensible object but that of passing the time away and -getting away from their wives.</p> - -<p>I have heard many anecdotes related of grizzly bears. I choose the -following as characteristic of a well-established fact that the bear, -even when<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_119">{119}</a></span> infuriated, not only acts from the instinct of -self-preservation, but seems loth to kill and mangle what it attacks.</p> - -<p>In the hills round San José, an unarmed negro came suddenly on a she -grizzly with cubs. She pursued him, and fortunately for him struck him -on the head, which knocked him down, but did not of course (he being a -nigger) inflict any serious damage on the part assailed. The man wisely -remained perfectly still, whilst the bear, who knowing nothing about -“darkies’<span class="lftspc">”</span> heads, supposed she had gained the day by a <i>coup de main</i>, -retired for a short distance. After remaining quiet, as he supposed, -sufficiently long, the negro thought of getting up, but his first -movement was arrested by a crack on the other side of his head, and down -he went again, and the bear retired to watch over his interests. It was -a long time before the negro again attempted to rise (for more reasons -than one), and this was not until the bear had quitted the spot, -apparently satisfied; but no sooner was Quashy up to look about him, -than the bear darted out from another quarter, and this time she did -poor Darky great injury: she tore his back and knocked him senseless, -and then half covered him up with leaves. After this she was quite -satisfied, and the negro was shortly afterwards<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_120">{120}</a></span> discovered and -resuscitated, and felt quite unwell all the next day; but told this -story long afterwards to me with great satisfaction, and, I need not -add, with unimpeachable veracity.</p> - -<p>I have mentioned the dexterity with which the Spaniard throws the lasso, -and the weapon has been successfully employed in entrapping the bear. -The noose is thrown over him when he is near a tree, and by riding in a -circle he is secured by a dozen thongs. This is one of the feats which -the Spaniards assure you they <i>can</i> do.</p> - -<p>Although the grizzly’s natural food consists probably of roots and -acorns, I suppose he must be ranked as omnivorous, for he certainly -crunches a bone with great gusto. The bears cleared off any bones that -were lying round our hut; and, in one instance, we shot at a couple that -came close to our door at night and stole the bones from under the noses -of the dogs. One bear walked away with a large piece of meat and the -iron hook on which it hung, but whether he swallowed the hook with the -bait, or pulled it out with his fingers, we never ascertained; he never -brought it back again, so we indulge in the hope that it sticks in his -jaws to this day, and that he has found out “qu’il n’y a point de roses -sans des épines.<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_121">{121}</a></span>”</p> - -<p>Bear meat is eatable, but very devoid of flavour, and I think the -grizzly indulges in too much gymnastic exercise to qualify him for the -table of the epicure. He figures in the bill-of-fare at all Californian -Restaurants, and, as a great number of the common black bears are caught -alive in traps, the San Francisco hairdresser has no difficulty in -“sacrificing, on any occasion, a real animal for the benefit of his -customers.<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_122">{122}</a></span>”</p> - -<h2><a id="CHAPTER_VII"></a>CHAPTER VII.</h2> - -<div class="blockquot"><p class="hang">DEER HUNTING—WILD BULLS—WILD FOWL—A DUCK GUN—DRIVING AN -OX-TEAM—I REFLECT—AN ESTAMPEDE—THE TIGER CAT—RAINY -SEASON—INDIAN FIRES—WASPS—WE ARE ROBBED BY THE INDIANS—I KILL A -BEAR—CROSSING A SWOLLEN RIVER.</p></div> - -<p class="r"> -<i>Christmas, 1850.</i><br> -</p> - -<p><span class="smcap">To</span> render agreeable a life where men are thrown entirely on their own -resources, the chief point is to ensure contentment, and nothing -conduces more to this end than to apportion to each one of the party an -equal and strictly-defined share of work. Forest life, in my case, never -altered the relations that existed between myself and those in my -employment, nor will real respect ever vanish under the familiar contact -which such a life imposes.</p> - -<p>I gave Barnes the woods and forests, which was not such a sinecure as it -is here, as he had full employment for the winter in felling the -red-woods, and splitting them into rails for enclosing the farm. Thomas -undertook the “hewing and drawing,” the cooking, and the internal -cleanliness of the house;<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_123">{123}</a></span> and this latter is very essential in mountain -life. Take everything out of your hut daily and hang it in the sun; -then, water well the floor; this drives away the vermin, which abound in -the deer and hare skins; it also ensures you against scorpions and -centipedes, which are apt to introduce themselves into the firewood. It -devolved on me to supply the larder, and the amount of exertion required -for this duty varied considerably. One day an easy walk would bring me -to a marsh, and a few shots from my double-barreled gun would secure as -many wild-ducks as we required, but on another I might be doomed, after -a long journey, to extend myself over the carcase of a buck, and then, -exposed to a glaring sun, unaided, flay my quarry and disembowel him, -quarter him, and carry him home piece by piece, over four or five miles -of successive cindery hills. I had no stout little pony with a shaggy -mane and tail, such as one sees carrying home the deer in Landseer’s -splendid pictures. I had to take as much meat as I could “pick-a-back,” -or else leave it to the coyotes, who would appear in sight whilst I was -yet at work on the carcase. If this part of a hunter’s duty was entailed -upon our fashionable deer-stalkers, many of the deer would reap the -benefit, not so much by being flayed and carried<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_124">{124}</a></span> home by members of the -aristocracy, as in being left alone.</p> - -<p>The monotony of this life was varied by excursions into the adjacent -country, and these would last two or three days; during which time we -left the hut to take care of itself; and, carrying each a rifle and a -blanket, with a few other necessaries, we passed our nights by the camp -fire, and in the day discovered wonders of nature that amply repaid us -for our journey. The first object that attracted our attention was an -immense hill of sulphur, and we discovered hot springs strongly -impregnated with this mineral in its immediate vicinity. Round one of -the springs was an apparently hard crust of sulphur, but this was -treacherous, as Thomas found out, for it was the cause of his tumbling -in and getting a medicated bath; and, although he soon dried, he smelt -so strongly of lucifer matches for some days afterwards as to be almost -unbearable. We brought some of the sulphur, which was very pure, away -with us. We also discovered large craters, and igneous rocks, piled in -such vast confusion as indicated the blind fury with which the earth had -torn and rent itself on some former great occasion. The whole of -California has been subjected to more than ordinary violent -disturbances, but the vegetation of thousands of years has decomposed<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_125">{125}</a></span> -since then, and the huge rocks that were once hurled, red-hot, I dare -say, into the air, are now deeply-embedded in the surrounding soil.</p> - -<p>These excursions opened a new field for our rifles, for, whilst taking a -bird’s-eye view one morning from the elevation on which we had encamped, -our attention was arrested by the appearance of a herd of wild cattle. -Having observed the direction in which they were grazing, and finding -that, unfortunately, the direction of the wind prevented our heading -them, I adopted a plan which proved successful. Carefully keeping them -in sight from the rear, as I knew that water was not immediately ahead -of them, I foresaw that towards sunset they would alter their course, -and, guided by their instinct, graze towards the nearest spring. This -they did in the afternoon; and having now a side wind, we hastened to -look for cover in their line of march, glad to exchange the slip-shod -pace at which for hours we had followed their movements, for a brisk -double in the other direction. As soon as we had hit our line, I sent -Barnes out to reconnoitre, and he immediately returned, having -discovered the spring and a good cover a little in advance of it. We -soon took up our positions, and before long the herd appeared in view: -five black bulls, one a young one. They were most beautiful<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_126">{126}</a></span> beasts, -with sleek and glossy coats; thin in the flank, broad in the chest, and -rather short of horn. They evinced uneasiness at once when within shot, -and stared in our direction, snuffing the air and pawing the ground. As -the young one presented his broadside, he fell on his knees to -“shoulder-breaker” and, tail on end, went the rest of the herd at a long -trot over the hills. We walked up to our friend to give the “coup de -grâce,” but, through a want of caution, not usual with him, Barnes got a -bad bruise, for the bull, by a sudden exertion, rose and plunged at him, -catching him full in the chest, and knocking him down, then fell down -himself, never to rise again. Barnes felt some pain for a day or two, -which we allayed with the infallible castor oil: but I rather suspect -his chief annoyance was caused by having been floored by a young bull, -for whom, under ordinary circumstances, I think he was a match in -physical strength.</p> - -<p>Although wild cattle are not described as being indigenous to the -country, I have no doubt, from their appearance, that these were so, and -that their cows were not many miles away. It is vexatious to be obliged -to leave a fine carcase to the wolves and vultures; but as a bullock is -too much for three men, and we were far from home, we cut out the best -part<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_127">{127}</a></span> of it and returned to camp; and the coyotes made a fine noise, -during the night, over what remained.</p> - -<p>The wild fowl now came over in heavy flights and settled in our -vicinity. The geese were in incredible numbers; white and grey geese and -brant. Of ducks we had several varieties, many of them quite unknown to -me, and I regret that I failed, from want of materials, in my endeavours -to preserve specimens of them. The geese are very easily shot when first -they arrive, but soon become very wary. The easiest and best plan is to -construct little huts of green stuff near the marshes they frequent, and -you are sure of good flight shooting at daylight. I had a large duck-gun -that I had used in punt-shooting in Norfolk, but it was very rebellious, -and kicked so, when used from the shoulder without a rest, that I placed -it under Barnes’s especial charge; and whenever he felt in particularly -good health, he went out with it, and you might see him returning with -geese and ducks suspended from every part of his body; his face wreathed -in smiles at his good fortune; but the next morning would disclose a -bruise on his right shoulder of about the size and colour of a certain -popular green dessert plate. Herons and curlew were plentiful, and very -tender, jack-snipe in great abundance, but I never disturbed<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_128">{128}</a></span> them, for -I am a bad snipe shot, and the first rule in the mountains is to spare -your powder. Hares and partridges were in abundance, yet were also -spared, as we wished them about the place; but rabbits were rather -scarce and very small. If the love of sport, therefore, was sufficient -to chain one to this spot, the above enumeration will show that we had -not only ample occupation, but variety; yet I determined on adding -farming to my other amusements, and although it recurred to me that when -I gave up “gentleman farming” in England, I registered a vow to leave -such things to those who better understood them, I thought there could -be no danger in trying “an acre of maiden soil.”</p> - -<p>It was our custom of an evening, after our supper was over, the fire -piled up with blazing oak logs, and each man had lighted his pipe and -received a noggin of schnappes, after the fatigues of the day, to -congregate in one room and there, after lighting a candle, one of us -would read a book aloud. I had a good stock of books, though they -travelled in a small compass, and as they were, for the most, by -Fielding, Smollett, De Foe, Le Sage, Goldsmith, and that class of -writers, they all bore reading twice, and more than twice; so that our -evenings were passed very sociably. Barnes, too, who was an uneducated -man, was taking<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_129">{129}</a></span> instructions in writing from Thomas, and began to learn -in this wild spot what they never tried to teach him in the Christian -village where he first saw the light. One evening these amusements were -set aside for the discussion of the subject of the cultivation of a -piece of the farm. Onions were at this time commanding fabulous prices -in San Francisco; and a very simple calculation proved, as distinctly as -possible, <i>on paper</i>, that one acre planted with onions would realise an -enormous profit, provided the onions came up. To ensure this last -important point, I engineered a ditch, which was to convey water for -their irrigation from our stream; and leaving the others to carry out -these works, I started on foot for San Luis, where I arrived, after two -days, very footsore. I procured a plough, a waggon, a yoke of strong -American oxen, and a fresh supply of groceries, and I then paid a flying -visit to San Francisco in a small fishing-boat, and returned to Sonoma -with seeds of all kinds, a box of horse-radish roots, which came in very -well afterwards with wild bull, and about 500 fine young fruit-trees. -The difficulty now was to get my ox-team up to Russian River, for I knew -nothing of driving oxen. However, I took lessons from an American -teamster; and, as there are but two words of command, and each one, when -delivered, is<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_130">{130}</a></span> accompanied by a crack on the head of the ox nearest to -you, I found the beasts soon recognised my voice and style of hitting. -But I had several rather impetuous streams to pass, some of which were -scarcely fordable, for the rain had set in; I was doubtful, therefore, -as to the method to be adopted in forcing my team through these. This, -my instructor informed me, could only be accomplished by “talking freely -to the oxen;” and, to my demand for a specimen, he jumped on the waggon, -and working himself into a state of apparent phrenzy, he stamped and -swore, and beat them, and cracked his whip, and execrated them until -they both broke into a round trot. I profited by his advice, and got -through my gulches in safety, and I can only hope that the “freedom of -speech” I indulged in was justified by the circumstances of the case.</p> - -<p>I started alone, and as oxen travel very slowly, I was three days and a -half getting to the farm. On my way I met a good-looking fellow with -black beard and moustaches, who asked me in French the way to the -nearest log hut. I entered into conversation with him, and found that he -was a Normandy man of the name of Lebret. He had a gun, and a game bag, -and gaiters on; in fact, he was a “Frenchman out shooting” all over, -with nothing in his game-bag. I<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_131">{131}</a></span> found that he was hard up and wanted -employment, so I told him where I was going, offered him a berth, and -with an “Eh bien!” up he jumped, and after crossing Russian River, for -which we were just in time, as it was much swollen, I landed my cargo -and Frenchman safe and sound at the farm, which, after my temporary -absence, seemed home in every sense. And it was so. The very dogs knew -it for a happy place as they bounded out to bid me welcome back. Home -speaks in the grip of Barnes’s bony hand; in the studied polish that my -rifle bears as it hangs above my bed; and home speaks in the eager faces -that group around the fire and listen to my brief recital of what befel -me since we parted.</p> - -<p class="casstt">* * * *</p> - -<p>I had a favourite little spot on my hunting ground that I always -selected for my halt; it was a little clump of sheltered rocks, and, -after poking about with my loading-rod, to turn out any rattlesnake that -might be there, I would sit down and enjoy the luxury of the cool shade -and a pipe. All good sportsmen agree, and with great truth, in the -impropriety of smoking whilst working up to game; but, after walking a -few hours in the hot sun, a pipe is a great luxury, and I was always -glad to reach this cover<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_132">{132}</a></span> where I could indulge my propensity without -fear of tainting the surrounding atmosphere.</p> - -<p>I have often mused, as I have sat in this little den, on the life I was -leading, and reflected with regret that its charms must some day succumb -to use, and that, in time, even deer hunting would pall on the taste, -and the excitement of a wild life become monotonous. With health beating -in every pulse, with God’s best gifts strewed round him in profusion, -and intellect to fashion them to use, a man acknowledges instinctively -the infinite wisdom of the Creator, and feels a proportionate gratitude -for His gifts.</p> - -<p>It is easy to be grateful when one has health, strength, and freedom, -and easy to flatter oneself into the belief that a life so primitive is -more natural than one more civilised; but it is but the lazy gratitude -of one who has nothing else to live for but himself, and who is freed, -not alone from the conventionalities which a more civilised state -imposes, but from all claim upon his self-denial. Freed in fact from the -presence of all evils which beset man elsewhere, and tax his fortitude, -his courage, and his virtue; living but for himself, with himself alone -to study, he indulges in selfishness, and is happy. And this is the -great foundation-stone of the charms we hear associated with a wild free -life.<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_133">{133}</a></span></p> - -<p>One night a herd of deer jumped our railings, and passing close to the -hut, crossed the river at great speed, evidently under the influence of -fear. We listened, and shortly afterwards heard a pack of wolves, giving -tongue in the distance. The next morning the ground, which was soft, -gave evidence that there had been an <i>estampede</i> the night before. Herds -of deer had crossed and recrossed in every direction until they had -forded the stream, when they made a clean bolt for the mountains. Not a -hare was to be seen; and for several days we had an empty -larder,—living during that time on wheat cakes, for, unfortunately, we -had expended all our small shot. I imagine that wolves are very uncommon -in the country, from the facts of the game becoming so much excited at -their presence, and that we never heard their bark again. We did not see -a wolf, but their “sign” was unmistakeable. One day we observed the -trail of a panther near the brook, and searched for him without success; -but Barnes bagged him next day to his own gun. He was up a tree when -Barnes saw him, and came down with great rapidity on being shot through -the skull. He was a heavy beast, a male, and of a tawny colour. This -animal is called in the country the Californian lion.</p> - -<p>The tiger cat is a beautiful animal, and very<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_134">{134}</a></span> ferocious for its size; -we saw two or three of these, about the size of a wild cat, and -beautifully marked in the coat. I shot but one, and it was with the -greatest difficulty that I could induce him to resign his life without -having his skin spoilt. I was agreeably surprised, on my return one day -to the hut, to find a horse, saddled and bridled, attached to our -railing, and I ascertained that its owner was a countryman of mine who -had been “prospecting” the surrounding country, and had been directed by -March to our camp. They say we are a stiff and formal people: perhaps -so; but in the mountains, an Englishman needs no further introduction -than to know a man for a countryman to place the best he has at the -stranger’s service. You show him the river and give him a towel: you -supply him with a tin plate and spoon, and he helps himself from your -smoking pot: you produce a bottle of whiskey in his honour, and after -placing the tobacco cannister at his elbow, and pointing out the bundle -of blankets that will form his bed, you enter into social conversation. -When you part from the man the next morning, you feel quite sorry, and -hope to see him again, although there is little probability of that, for -these are chance meetings. It is my belief that there is an honest -purpose in the hearty wring of the hand that such a<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_135">{135}</a></span> stray visitor gives -you as he mounts his horse to depart. Whether or no, he can’t go away -and say your rooms are <i>damp</i>, and your claret is <i>sour</i>, that your wife -is a <i>fright</i>, and your pictures are <i>trash</i>, as people <i>sometimes</i> do -in more civilised countries, after enjoying the hospitality of their -friends. Our guest produced from his pocket, a number of Punch, and one -of the Illustrated News—about five months old. I had had opportunities -of reading these publications in a great many out-of-the-way parts of -the globe, but I never expected that they would reach my log hut. But -English periodicals creep in everywhere; and I remember that the first -indication I received of some family news of importance was when, at a -pic-nic at Mount Lebanon, I picked up a scrap of newspaper which had -contained the mustard of some party who had preceded us, and casually -glanced at its contents.</p> - -<p>The rainy season was now approaching, and the heat became occasionally -intense. At times the Indians would fire the surrounding plains, the -long oat-straw of which would ignite for miles. The flames would advance -with great rapidity, leaving everything behind them black and charred. -At these times a dense smoke would hang over the atmosphere for two or -three days, increasing the heat until<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_136">{136}</a></span> it became insupportable. I had a -thermometer with me during the whole of my stay in California, and could -produce an elaborate<a id="FNanchor_6_6"></a><a href="#Footnote_6_6" class="fnanchor">[6]</a> meteorological table; but as people say you -should write as you talk, I shall dismiss the subject of the temperature -of Russian River by remarking that in summer it was sometimes as warm as -Hong Kong, and in the rainy season it was as cold as an average English -winter. We have an officer of scientific renown in our naval service, -who is selected by the Admiralty to explore the least known portions of -the globe; of which parts, when he returns, he publishes an account, -which would be interesting in the extreme, but, that, alas! his -scientific knowledge oozes out in every line, and the reader, after -hopelessly following him through a maze of figures, which are -particularly addressed to, and understood only by, the Geographical -Society, shuts the book in despair, and remains for life in ignorance of -the habits of the Chow-chow Islanders.</p> - -<p>The Digger Indians burn the grass to enable them to get at roots and -wasps’ nests; young wasps being a luxury with them. These fires have the -good effect of destroying immense quantities of snakes and vermin; and -one can scarcely imagine the extent to which these might multiply were -they not occasionally<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_137">{137}</a></span> “burnt out.” The wasps are so numerous here in -summer, as to destroy with rapidity everything they attack. Fleas not -only abound in the skins of every beast you kill, but even live on the -ground, like little herds of wild cattle; and ants are of all shapes and -sizes, and stand up savagely on their hind legs and open their mouths, -if you only look at them. The wasps attack any meat that may be hanging -up, and commence at once cutting out small pieces, which they carry -home, and it is astonishing the quantity they will carry away with them. -What they do with it when they get home, I never ascertained; but I -presumed that they “jerked” it for winter use, as the Spaniards do.</p> - -<p>It was hard work at dinner-time, to know who the meat belonged to, for -these wasps used to sting on the slightest provocation; and it was the -worst part of Thomas’s duty to take a hare down from a peg and cut it -up.</p> - -<p>But neither ants nor fleas ever troubled our persons; the skins were -always sent down to the river whilst yet warm, and the common -precautions I adopted in-doors insured us against all annoyance.</p> - -<p>It now commenced to rain very heavily, but not before I had, -fortunately, completed a shed, and laid in a stock of fire-wood, and had -also erected an<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_138">{138}</a></span> additional room for drying wet clothes, &c., and for -sheltering the dogs. The first rain lasted for four days without -cessation; and here again I am unable to state, scientifically, the -quantity of water that fell in inches, but on the fourth day the water -laid on our valley of such a depth that it just plummed the top of a -pair of Cording’s fishing-boots, which came up to about my knees. All -the fruit trees and garden seeds were in the ground; and as we had no -immediate use for our oxen, and they were up to their bellies in water, -we let them run over the hills. Shortly after this the weather cleared -up, and we were much distressed at missing my slot-hound. Many days -elapsed before we gained any clue to his fate, until, beating up some -new ground one day, I came upon what remained of the poor old -fellow,—his skin and bones. He had broken away and indulged in a -midnight ramble, and had evidently been attacked and overpowered by -coyotes, of which two carcasses lay near him. We all felt much regret -for the old fellow, for he was a good staunch dog, and had been a great -favourite of my late father. We buried his remains and erected a mark to -his memory; but, although I experienced the same feeling of regret that -most men do when they lose a favourite and faithful hound, I shall -refrain from inflicting upon the reader<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_139">{139}</a></span> the doleful stanzas which are -generally addressed “To my Dog,” on these occasions.</p> - -<p><i>January 1.</i> For two months we had alternate rain and sunshine, and -nothing of moment occurred. The farm was by this time entirely enclosed, -and the <i>onions</i> with which Barnes had planted an acre, began to appear -above the ground. We had also large patches of vegetables for home -consumption.</p> - -<p>When returning one day from an excursion, we found that the Indians had -paid our valley a visit, and rifled our house of everything they thought -valuable; cooking utensils, blankets, clothes, and tools had -disappeared,—but we had taken the precaution of depositing our powder -in a secret place which they did not discover. Our rifles, and one -blanket each, we had with us on our excursion. The two principal -annoyances that resulted from this were, firstly, that the nights being -very cold indeed now, and our house very thin, our blankets were a -serious loss; secondly, they had stolen <i>all our candles</i>. They also -stole our skins; not that I ever intended to bring these trophies away -for the benefit of the public, for with the exception of the puma-skin, -and some of wild cats, they were of that mild description which are only -exhibited in tailors’ shop-fronts, where they assume the form of -gentlemen’s hunting inexpressibles. The Indians,<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_140">{140}</a></span> it afterwards -appeared, were in the habit of annually following the course of our -stream to gather the wild grapes which grew on its banks. These people -will eat anything, but how they manage the wild grapes is a mystery, for -these grapes never ripen, and green gooseberries give no conception of -their acidity. In pursuit of these luxuries, however, they came upon our -camp, and took away whatever they thought they understood the use of, -but evidently departed in a great hurry. I never saw an Indian during -the whole of my stay in that part of the country; but, after this -robbery, had any ever come within rifle range either of my hut or -March’s, he would have been shot like a coyote; for once let an Indian -think he can steal with impunity, he will soon attempt to murder you for -the clothes on your back.</p> - -<p>Although I had determined, after Sheldon’s casualty, upon following no -more bears into the bush, which is here too thick for the use of the -rifle, I still hoped to kill a bear during the winter, trusting to a -chance meeting under favourable circumstances; and in this respect I was -gratified, inasmuch as I killed a bear to my own gun. Now, in writing -from memory, one might almost be excused for a little inaccuracy in -point of size and weight; and I must confess that I have an almost -irresistible temptation to forget the<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_141">{141}</a></span> real dimensions of the animal -that surrendered life on this occasion, and, calling it simply a <i>bear</i>, -leave its weight and ferocity to be conjectured from my general -description of the species. In fact, it was a cub, that I once found -playing by itself among some rocks. I should have liked to have taken -him home alive, but although his movements were excessively infantine -and playful to behold, I have no doubt that had I attempted to capture -him, he would not only have bitten me until I had let him go, but would -have hallooed for his parents, and brought those amiable persons to the -rescue. So I shot him; and I had quite enough to do to carry him home -dead, for he was very fat. I must mention here, that although we walked -this country for nearly nine months, and continually alighted on the -fresh “sign” of bear, with the exception of those that visited our hut -at night, and the others above mentioned, our party saw but three bears, -two of which were wounded, but escaped; and this is probably -attributable to the fact that the bear’s sense of hearing enables him to -follow up his natural impulse of avoiding the hunter.</p> - -<p>A Colt’s revolver is invaluable to the deer-hunter, both for -self-defence and killing wounded game. Perhaps the best praise I can -award to this weapon<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_142">{142}</a></span> is in saying that I have had mine for four years, -during which time it has been much used and <i>more abused</i>, but at this -moment it is perfect in every respect, and has never required repair.</p> - -<p>We searched, or “prospected” the adjacent hills on many occasions, to -discover if gold existed in the surface soil, but without success. It is -worthy of remark, that this district of country is similar in every -respect to that of the mining regions. Here, as there, is a succession -of red gravelly hills, interspersed with veins of quartz, all of which -have been subjected to volcanic agency that would long ago have ejected -the gold from the quartz had there been any in it. But the mountain in -labour here brought forth a mouse; whilst a few miles further south it -has produced results of a much more satisfactory description. We, -however, did discover a peculiar blue quartz, which, upon assay by -fusion, was found to contain a large quantity of gold. The presence of -silver in small quantities was also evident in another rock we -discovered. But, with these exceptions, we found no trace of any -description of metal but iron.</p> - -<p>It was now spring, and I started alone, on foot, for San Francisco, -where business required my presence. On arriving at Russian River I -found the<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_143">{143}</a></span> stream much swollen, but I struck a part of the river where I -knew one of the hunters had a log-hut and a dug-out, or canoe. I reached -the hut and found no one at home, but the dug-out was hauled up and the -paddle was in it.</p> - -<p>It was easy to launch the dug-out, which was very long and thin; so, -seating myself in the stern, I was at once in the current. I need not -say that I should never have dreamt of paddling myself over a swollen -river in a canoe, had I not accustomed myself to them when in the Borneo -rivers; but when I reached the middle of the stream I found the eddies -made the dug-out so unmanageable, and the current was so much stronger -than I imagined, and the water hissed and bubbled about me to such an -extent that I had to keep the dug-out’s head nearly straight up stream, -and I began to get quite giddy and bewildered, and wished I was safe on -shore. I did effect a landing, an hour afterwards, about a mile lower -down the river; I had just strength enough to land, and just sense -enough to feel excessively grateful for not having been carried out to -sea, or, what is more probable, capsized in the eddies of the stream.<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_144">{144}</a></span></p> - -<h2><a id="CHAPTER_VIII"></a>CHAPTER VIII.</h2> - -<div class="blockquot"><p class="hang">QUILP DEPARTS FOR THE SOUTH—SAN LUIS—RAMSEY—I AM LEFT FOR -DEAD—THE EARLY HISTORY OF CALIFORNIA—DISCOVERY OF SAN -FRANCISCO—SPANISH MISSIONS—A DIGRESSION—DIGRESSION, CONTINUED—A -RAINY SEASON—A LITTLE CRAB.</p></div> - -<p class="r"> -<i>April, 1851.</i><br> -</p> - -<p><span class="smcap">It</span> was long after dark when I arrived at Santa Rosa Valley, perfectly -“knocked up.” Englishmen are generally good pedestrians; but there is a -great difference between walking on the level in well-made shoes, and -dragging through deep sloughs and acres of thick clayey mud in heavy -ill-fitting jack-boots, particularly when the boots appear unwilling to -proceed in your society, and one or other of them is continually -disengaging itself, as if wishing to be left behind regardless of -expense.</p> - -<p>I found that the Carillo family had left Santa Rosa, and the valley had -been purchased by Americans for the purpose of cultivating grain, for -which many parts of it were well adapted. The Carillos had departed, -with horses, dogs, Indians, and Quilp, for the south,<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_145">{145}</a></span> <i>where the wine -came from</i>, where the temperature was better adapted to their -“far-niente” dispositions, and where in particular Quilp was likely to -enjoy a longer lease of life than his undisguised hatred of Americans -would probably have permitted had he remained much longer at the valley. -As slothfulness and ignorance stepped out, intelligence and industry -usurped their place, and on the rich plain the wild waving oats fell to -the ruthless scythe, whilst the plough upturned the maiden soil on every -side.</p> - -<p>And so must other lands and other people of this continent succumb to -the increasing wants of Anglo-Saxon man. As the red-Indian retires -before the pale-face, so will inert bigotry in the new world disappear -before the march of energy; and the bounteous riches with which the -Creator has strewed this portion of the globe must some day be under a -rule that will admit of these benefits being extended to mankind, no -longer to be closed to the world, through the petty warfares or -restrictive seclusion of a people too inert to seize the advantages -around them, and (with a full sense of this) too jealous to admit others -to do so.</p> - -<p class="casstt">* * * *</p> - -<p>About five miles from Sonoma is an “embarcadero,” or landing place, -situated on a mud creek, which is navigable for small boats, and -communicates with the<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_146">{146}</a></span> bay of San Francisco. Here are three houses, -which conjointly represent the town of San Luis; opposite the town some -fishing-boats lay at anchor, and in one of these I bargained for a -passage to San Francisco, in company with eight live bullocks, that were -now lying on the strand, bound neck and heels together, moaning -piteously, as if impatient to get to the butcher’s and have it all over.</p> - -<p>With the exception of the owners of the three houses, the population of -San Luis was a particularly floating one, being represented for the most -part by the crews of the fishing-smacks, of which there were at times a -great number in port.</p> - -<p>From the centre house there proceeded the sound of a fiddle, and, as no -one could be perceived outside, it became evident that the floating -population had here assembled to wile away the hours until the tide -served to enable the boats to leave.</p> - -<p>I entered the house and found it to consist of a store and drinking-shop -combined; and, in virtue of its latter attraction, it was filled, as I -had anticipated, by the men belonging to the boats, who, already half -drunk, were tossing off champagne,<a id="FNanchor_7_7"></a><a href="#Footnote_7_7" class="fnanchor">[7]</a> out of tin pannikins, and drinking -to a speedy voyage<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_147">{147}</a></span> across the bay. The proprietor of the establishment -was not only an Englishman, but he was one of those plump, rosy-cheeked, -good-natured-looking fellows that attract the eye at once, and whose -smile is sympathetic; he was a gentleman, that is to say, he had been -educated as one, and had lived as one, and was none the less one (as I -found afterwards), now that he kept a grog-shop. I shall call him -Ramsey; he was one of those men who never make money, for they cannot -save; so that when Ramsey left, as he did, a high and very remunerative -position of trust on the Pacific coast, and came up to San Francisco -with a cargo of flour, in the expectation of making a fortune; and when -he determined on taking the flour up the river Sacramento, and the flour -was caught in a squall in the bay and went down, Ramsey found that he -had done a very foolish thing. However, all smiles and good-humour, he -took the grog-shop and store at San Luis, where I found him.</p> - -<p>Ramsey had related these adventures to me before we had been an hour -acquainted; and on my presenting myself as a countryman (for there was -no mistaking his Anglo-Saxon physiognomy), he had immediately relapsed -into beaming smiles, and placing a bottle of champagne under each arm, -he<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_148">{148}</a></span> had ushered me into his little bed-room, leaving his assistant to -attend to the wants of the freshwater sailors.</p> - -<p>Understanding from him that he had lost all his personal effects when -his cargo disappeared, I was surprised to find so many evidences in his -bed-room of an English establishment;—a well-browned hunting-saddle and -bridle, the stalk of a whip and a pair of spurs, a double-barrelled gun -and fishing-rod, with some pairs of “cords,” were observable about the -little pig-sty he called his room. In answer to my inquiring look, he -said he had just had time to save <i>these only</i> from his wreck, and that -they were pleasant things to have about one as reminiscences of old -England and happy days spent in fishing and hunting there; the smile -forsook his face, as it did mine, when he said this, but it soon -returned again to both of us, and as we chatted away I found much to -like in my new acquaintance, who was not only intelligent and -well-informed, but very humorous. There was to be a ball that night at -Sonoma, at the house of one Judge White, and as the boatmen had (from -the effects of the champagne) delayed their departure until the next -morning, I agreed to accompany Ramsey, who had been especially invited, -to this festivity.<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_149">{149}</a></span></p> - -<p>At the ball everything appeared to be conducted with great propriety; -but the company was composed of honest mechanics, who, with the best -intentions, danced quadrilles on a peculiar principle, inasmuch as they -cut capers to such an extent as obliged the spectator, however -disinclined, to smile. In no uncomplimentary spirit I made a remark in -French to Ramsey on the subject, and this being overheard and but half -understood, was retaliated in the following manner.</p> - -<p>During a pause in the dances, a small gentleman, who had overheard my -remark, and who was one of the most active of the <i>chassez-croisez</i> -dancers, and was a blacksmith, though apparently small for his -profession, informed me audibly, with fire in his eyes, “that if I did -not like the company, I might leave it, and that d—d soon.” To this I -could only bow my assent, and shortly afterwards, being unable to find -Ramsey, I left the room, intending to wait for him at our hotel, that -was close by. I had not proceeded very far, when I was suddenly attacked -by the small blacksmith and three other gentlemen—blacksmiths, too, I -presume; if so, they evidently mistook my head for an anvil, for they so -belaboured it with bludgeons and other weapons that they almost killed -me, and left me for dead, before I had time to strike a blow in -defence.<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_150">{150}</a></span></p> - -<p>When I recovered my senses, I found myself alone on the grass, and I -then managed to crawl to the hotel, where I found Ramsey awaiting me, -quite unsuspicious of the cause of my detention. I returned with him to -San Luis, and soon found that, further than having been stunned, I had -not suffered any material damage. This delayed, however, my departure -for San Francisco; and during this time a circumstance occurred which is -characteristic of the easy state of the law in the provincial districts -at this time. The house next to Ramsey’s was occupied by a choleric old -fellow, who also dispensed “notions.” This old rascal coolly shot a man -over his bar on the most trifling provocation; the man died, and the -murderer was taken before Judge White (who also kept a store, by the by, -and gave his ball with an eye to business); the Judge not only (good, -merciful fellow!) refused to detain the prisoner, but discharged him -without bail, which, he said, was not requisite; and this was all that -justice ever exacted at the hands of this cold-blooded villain.</p> - -<p>I started at last, with fair wind and tide, for San Francisco, in a -small yawl, with a crew of three men, who were not only half-drunk, but -were about the greatest lubbers that ever went afloat. Before we reached -the mouth of the creek, they managed to run<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_151">{151}</a></span> the boat on the bank, where -the ebb tide soon left her high and dry.</p> - -<p>Under these circumstances, I cannot do better than introduce a sketch of -the early history of California, which, however uninteresting, must be -brought in somewhere; and there is no better place, I think, for -imposing it on the reader, than whilst we are waiting for the flood tide -to take us off, and are spitefully pelting, out of a bag of beans, the -muddy little crabs that surround our stranded bark.</p> - -<p>It was about the middle of the sixteenth century that stories of the -existence of untold wealth first inflamed the minds and excited the -ardour of the Mexicans and Spaniards. The expedition of Hernando de -Alarcon and Francisco de Ulloa had returned in safety to Mexico, after -having visited the river Colorado, and the Pacific coast as high as 30° -North. Many and wondrous were the tales these bold adventurers related -of precious stones, and gold and pearls; of Amazons, and wealthy cities; -so that naturally the attention of the adventurous was turned in one -direction only; and the dream of the young, the ambition of the aged, -was to discover this Cibola—this undeveloped El-Dorado. The Viceroy of -Mexico at this period was one Mendoza, a jealous opponent of the -renowned Cortes. This man was sufficiently<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_152">{152}</a></span> sagacious to perceive the -advantages of obtaining, if possible, possession of the reported gold -regions, and fitted out an expedition in the port of Natividad, -consisting of two vessels, which were placed under the command of Juan -Rodriguez Cabrillo, who had with him as lieutenant Bartolomé Ferrelo.</p> - -<p>It is no honour to the viceroy that this expedition was set on foot by -him, for in those days the discovery of new lands, as is well known, -conferred large benefits and rewards on the potentates under whose rule -the expeditions originated; whilst the brave fellows who risked their -lives in carrying out the work were not only unrewarded then, but in few -instances have been considered worthy even of a <i>name</i> in the history of -the countries they have discovered. It was no slight proof of courage to -undertake this voyage, for it will be remembered that not only were the -vessels in use of such a class that the wonder now is that they ever -rode out a gale; but the impression was strong in the minds of the -mariners of that day, that the world was square, and that to arrive at -its limits would bring down the punishment of Heaven for their -presumption, even if they did not tumble over the edge. Nor need we -wonder that such a belief existed in those superstitious days. Are there -not many now among the civilised<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_153">{153}</a></span> and enlightened who refuse to -investigate the palpable evidences of the power of animal magnetism, -from the fixed belief that there should be a limit to man’s inquiry into -the mysteries of nature?</p> - -<p>The expedition sailed, it appears, in 1542, jogging on at the rate of -about ten miles a day. Cabrillo discovered in succession the southern -ports of California. At some of these he touched, and found the -inhabitants to consist of a half-civilised tribe of Indians, who treated -him with kindness. The existence of these Indians is confirmed by later -writers. Vizcaino, who visited these shores in 1602, mentions having -discovered idolatrous temples on the island of Catalina.</p> - -<p>The surveys of this expedition are not of much value to the present age, -as the nautical instruments of that period were not very true; but -Cabrillo’s explorations none the less assisted those who came after him, -who, with instruments equally defective, hit his points with tolerable -accuracy, although there was generally an error in <i>his</i> latitude by -observation of about a hundred miles.</p> - -<p>Cabrillo at last worked up towards San Francisco, but the heavy surf and -iron-bound coast, together with the thick fogs that hang about the bay, -no doubt prevented his entering, and he resolved on returning<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_154">{154}</a></span> and -awaiting a more favourable season; but anchoring for repairs in one of -the harbours of the Santa Barbara Islands, the old sailor died, probably -from fatigue and exposure to the damps and north-west winds.</p> - -<p>The command of the expedition then devolved upon Ferrelo, who bravely -made another attempt; but failing in effecting a landing, he returned to -Natividad, after a voyage of 283 days. Sir Francis Drake next visited -California in 1579; Juan de Fuca in 1595, and Sebastian Vizcaino in -1602. This latter entered the bay of San Francisco, though probably he -was not its discoverer, and proceeded in boats as far as where Benicia -now stands.</p> - -<p>In 1769 the settlement of Upper California was commenced by Spanish -priests at San Diego, and several small expeditions followed in -succession until 1776, when the Roman Catholic missionaries Palou and -Cambon landed in San Francisco, and established their head-quarters in -that place. The settlement at this period was known by the name of Yerba -Buena, from the presence of a medicinal herb which abounded in the -neighbourhood, and which was held in high estimation by the Indians. -Here the missionaries erected a church and other buildings, of “adobes,” -or sun-dried bricks. The Mission flourished rapidly. The Indians<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_155">{155}</a></span> soon -learnt, under the tuition of the Padres, the advantages of cultivating -the earth; and those of them that embraced the Catholic religion began -to drink rum, and value beads, as is usual with converted savage tribes. -Mexican settlers also made their appearance, and the richest portions of -the country were soon appropriated by them. Gradually cattle and sheep -were introduced, which in their wild state increased rapidly without -much trouble to their owners, who, having nothing to do but to kill -their meat and eat it, basked in the sun like lazy dogs as they were, -and thought themselves the happiest of men;—and it is difficult for any -one to prove they were not.</p> - -<p>By the year 1831, the number of Christian baptisms amounted to about -7000. After this period, the Indians, from some cause or other, perhaps -from a scarcity of rum, altered their minds on the subject; and although -a fresh supply of priests arrived, the number of converts rapidly -decreased, so much so that in the eight years preceding the discovery of -gold, only 400 savages were caught and converted. And if one may judge -from the specimens of converted Indians that are to be found here and -there in California at the present date, one has no reason to regret -that the efforts of the priests were unattended with success; for, -however we may deplore<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_156">{156}</a></span> the abject misery and degradation of the -aboriginal tribes, it is not by the mummery of a form that such souls -can be redeemed, or such unhappy natures be remodeled. On the contrary, -their small glimpses of civilisation offer to their view both virtues -and vices equally unknown before; then, left untrammeled to choose -between the two, we see the baptised savage follow his impulses until he -sinks so low in the scale of men, that his original degradation stands -out almost as virtue beside him.</p> - -<p>A holy task is that of the missionary, and bravely carried out. Let him -still strive to reclaim the savage, and bring his soul to God; but yet -take heed that the work be finished, for I have seen in my day converted -tribes that were a mockery on all that sanctifies the missionary work, -and had better, one would think, have eaten each other’s bodies in -primeval irresponsibility, than, having been only <i>half</i> awakened to a -sense of right, but fully so to a knowledge of all that is wrong, have -been left to grovel in the vices that most debase humanity. How much -more care does it not require to avert the steps of the <i>converted -savage</i> from crime, than that of others of your flock!—is he not -naturally more debased, more prone to adopt the broad and easy path that -ever lies plain and palpably before him? Can you take a young<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_157">{157}</a></span> tiger -from the jungle, and having caged him, soften his natural propensities -easily? You can do so only by unceasing watchfulness and coercion; cease -these, and your tiger is a tiger again, as nature asserts her sway. -Somewhat so it is with the savage you allure from the freedom of his -hunting-ground; you show him the advantages of domestic life, and the -means of applying to his benefit the soil around him; you adapt to his -comprehension the simple outlines of religion, by pointing out to him -that, to live in brotherhood and amity is good (and beneficial); that to -wage war and hate and eat one’s enemy is bad (and detrimental); that a -good Supreme Being, who can reward or punish, has said so, and that the -evidence of this Supreme Being reigns, as even a savage can see, in all -around. The simple aborigine accords you his belief; regretfully, -perhaps, he leaves his wild prairie and the baked heads of his enemies, -and will worship the “Great Spirit,” whose presence the poetry of his -nature enables him to understand; sooner or later you baptise him, and -you have your savage in the first stage of Christianity. But now you -have a savage nature on your hand; you have implanted innocently what -with his impulses may grow to avarice if you leave him to himself; for -if he cultivates the land among the <i>civilised</i> he will cheat<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_158">{158}</a></span>—if -cheat, wrangle—if wrangle, murder; for the steps to crime are rapid in -such a constitution; but if he drinks, the savage ever becomes too -brutalised for reclamation.</p> - -<p>In what does this fault lie? Not so much that the man is so constituted -that he must thus err, but that, like the tiger I have used for -illustration, his propensities must be ever <i>watched</i> and <i>guided</i>. The -converted savage is never so alienated from his natural impulses that he -can be left;—yet he <i>is</i> left.</p> - -<p>If there is fault in this, it is not, I know, on the part of those who -<i>work</i>; but to those who direct these things it might be said that it is -better to convert a few, and <i>in reality increase Christ’s fold</i>, than -sign a million with His holy symbol, yet bring their souls no nearer -heaven. Yet how fruitlessly one may argue. To whom is the reproach, that -while we <i>may</i> add our mite to aid the propagation of the Gospel abroad, -we dare not relieve gaunt misery in the street at home, for fear of -encouraging systematic mendicity; as if, forsooth, the blame of this -belonged by right alone to those who practised it.</p> - -<p>There are black missionaries who work as faithfully as white, and it is -a startling fact to find that many of these, leaving their coloured -brethren at home to the<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_159">{159}</a></span> care of our white missionaries, are in our -midst, attempting to alleviate, by God’s help, the misery and ignorance -that exist in our great towns; and if the most festering wounds have the -first claim upon the surgeon’s skill, the place of these black -missionaries is here, God knows!</p> - -<p>Why shall it still be said, and said again of us who are not loth to -<i>relieve</i>, that our aims are misdirected from want of judgment and from -ill-government? And why are the talents and energies of so many -churchmen, whose beck and nod the charitable, to a great extent, obey, -still turned to the Propagation of the Gospel abroad, when it requires -but the opening of a proper channel at home to rid us of this great -reproach?</p> - -<p>We may condemn the love of political power, that in the main actuated -the Jesuits in their efforts to propagate their faith; but how much has -not the love of power, equally reprehensible, been a bar to the cure of -our evils at home? Would the young and energetic of our young clergy -seek a field abroad in which to work, with little reward and great -privation, if the field at home was open to them?</p> - -<p class="casstt">* * * *</p> - -<p>About the year 1845, some Americans began to congregate at Yerba Buena, -and these increased so<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_160">{160}</a></span> rapidly, that San Francisco was in fact an -American settlement before California became a territory of the United -States.</p> - -<p>During the war that broke out between the United States and Mexico in -1846, the settlement appears to have increased in population and -prosperity, although the exportation of hides never seems at any time to -have been of much importance. In 1847, the population of San Francisco -amounted to eight hundred, and everything gave promise that the country -would soon be sought for its agricultural advantages; the attention of -the Californian settlers was directed towards the supposed mineral -wealth of the country, but gold was the last metal thought of. -Quicksilver had already been found and worked at San Jose; and the -reported existence of veins of copper, silver, coal, and limestone, -caused a feverish excitement to disturb this small community.</p> - -<p>The first discovery of gold was made in December, 1847, when some of the -labourers employed at Sutter’s Mill, near Sacramento, discovered some -flakes whilst constructing a ditch; ample evidence soon existed of the -truth of the first reports, and the whole population flocked to the gold -fields, and shortly afterwards the country became the property of the -United States. Events now followed one another with great rapidity:<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_161">{161}</a></span> -adventurers poured in from all quarters of the globe, and ships arrived -in harbour freighted with merchandise which realised tremendous profits.</p> - -<p>The rainy season of California commences about November, and the winter -of 1849 was more than ordinarily wet. It is said that nine inches of -water fell on the night of the 6th of November; the whole town, which -had now become important in extent, was a perfect quagmire; all rubbish -and hard materials that could be procured were thrown into the streets -to form a pathway, but to no purpose, for owing to the peculiar soil of -the place, the mud was unfathomable. The streets were impassable to -mules, for there were mud-holes large enough to drown them; in those -streets which had been connected by means of a pathway of bales of -damaged merchandise, it was necessary to exercise great caution in -crossing, for one false step would precipitate the unwary passenger into -a slough on either side, in which he stood a chance of meeting a muddy -grave.</p> - -<p>The amount of rain that fell in this winter was undoubtedly so great, -that it is much to be regretted no careful record was kept, by some of -those who now so eloquently narrate their adventures in connection with -it.</p> - -<p>The first of the conflagrations for which San<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_162">{162}</a></span> Francisco has become so -famous, occurred in December, 1849. By this, fifty houses and an immense -quantity of merchandise were destroyed. Another occurred a month -afterwards, causing an almost equal amount of damage.</p> - -<p>The great fire of the fourth of May, 1850, commenced at four in the -morning, in a drinking-house, and spreading with great rapidity, was not -arrested until it had consumed three hundred houses, and about a million -sterling of property.</p> - -<p>These were hard blows for the young city, but nothing daunted, the -citizens renewed their exertions, and in a few weeks the burnt district -was again covered with buildings. Every effort was now made to secure -the city against future similar calamities; many brick houses were -erected, fire companies on a large scale were organised, and reservoirs -for water were constructed in different parts of the town. But on the -14th of June, fate again was relentless, and a fourth conflagration, -aided by a high wind, razed three hundred houses to the ground, and -scattered three million dollars of property to the winds. It was whilst -this fire was raging that (as the reader may remember) I arrived at San -Francisco; so here ends my digest of the early history of this brave -young city, and as the flood-tide is coming in, I take</p> - -<div class="figcenter" id="plt_004" style="width: 600px;"> -<a href="images/ill_008.jpg"> -<img src="images/ill_008.jpg" width="600" height="381" alt="[Image unavailable.]"></a> -<div class="caption"><p>THE WINTER OF 1849.</p></div> -</div> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="page_163">{163}</a></span></p> - -<p class="nind">a parting shot at a little crab that has not taken his eyes off me since -we arrived, and wonders, I suppose, why I don’t pelt one of my own size, -and gliding off our mud bank, we make sail for San Francisco.<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_164">{164}</a></span></p> - -<h2><a id="CHAPTER_IX"></a>CHAPTER IX.</h2> - -<div class="blockquot"><p class="hang">THE OLD CRAB-CATCHER—MR. WARREN—AMERICAN FRIENDSHIP—THE AMERICAN -PRESS—EDUCATION IN AMERICA—AMERICANS GOOD COLONISTS—CALIFORNIAN -CORRESPONDENCE.</p></div> - -<p class="r"> -<i>April, 1851.</i><br> -</p> - -<p><span class="smcap">At</span> daylight the next morning we found ourselves among the shipping that -lay moored in crowds in front of San Francisco. Whilst threading our way -to the wharf, we narrowly escaped being swamped by one of the Stockton -river steamboats, which, in fact, did graze our stern. The Yankee -freshwater skippers of those days expected everything to get out of -their way, regardless of any difficulties that might prevent a small -boat doing so; but one of these go-ahead commanders received, to my -knowledge, a check. A fisherman of the bay had his smack damaged, and -his trawling apparatus unnecessarily carried away by one of the river -boats. His application to the captain for compensation was met with the -remark, that the next time he got in the way he would swamp him. But -might did not so easily triumph over right,<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_165">{165}</a></span> and for this reason. The -small river-boats are very low in the hull, and as the steering -apparatus leads forward, the helmsman stands prominently (under a booby -hatch) near the bow of the boat. The old smack, as usual, was bobbing -about with her trawls and lines out, when down comes the steamboat one -day, the fishing-boat evidently directly in her course, and showing no -disposition to move. “D—n that old crab-catcher!” said the Captain. -“I’ll give him a close shave this time.” But the “old crab-catcher,” -standing up in his boat, levelled a long wicked-looking Kentucky rifle, -and “drew a bead” on the Captain, who, having taken the helm, formed a -splendid target. Upon this, that brave sailor thought better of it, and -not only dispensed with the close shave, but “concluded” to allow the -small smack to bob about in peace from that time forth.</p> - -<p>On landing at San Francisco, I found so many changes on every side, that -my knowledge of locality was at fault; wharves extended on all sides -into the sea, and the spot where I last had landed was scarcely -recognisable, it was now so far inland; the steam-paddy had worked -incessantly, and the front of the town still advanced into the bay.</p> - -<p>The winter had been (compared with that of 1849) a dry one, and some of -the streets having been graded<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_166">{166}</a></span> and planked, the town was under the -worst circumstances navigable for jack-boots.</p> - -<p>What first struck me, among the many changes of a few months, was that -the inhabitants generally were less eccentric in dress. When first I -arrived, the people were most capricious in this respect; they wore, in -fact, whatever pleased them, long hair and beards included; sobered down -by circumstances, however, they had now quietly relapsed into the habits -of ordinary mortals.</p> - -<p>Places of rational amusement had sprung up, and replaced in a great -measure the gambling saloons, whose fortunes were rather on the wane -from over competition. There were clubs, reading-rooms, and a small -theatre, called the Dramatic Museum. This last was sadly in want of -actors, and as my time hung very heavily on my hands (I was awaiting the -arrival of a vessel from England) I gave way to a vicious propensity -that had long been my bane, and joined the company as a volunteer. For -about a month, under an assumed name, I nightly “Used Up” and “Jeremy -Diddlered” my Californian audiences, who never having fortunately seen -Charles Matthews, did not, therefore, stone me to death for my -presumptuous attempts to personate that unrivalled actor’s characters.<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_167">{167}</a></span></p> - -<p>I became, at last, so used to seeing my “last appearance but one” -displayed on the advertising posters, that I began to associate myself -with the profession altogether, and to believe my name <i>was</i> Warren; and -what with the excitement of acting in leading parts, and the pleasant -parties, and picnics, with our troupe, I forgot all about Russian River -Farm, and became a very slave to the buskin.</p> - -<p>The dreadful experience of the place had made people so nervous -respecting fire, that the sound of the fire-bell would cause every man -to rush to his house, and get ready for the defence of his property; and -as small fires on the outskirts of the town were of continual -occurrence, there was scarcely a night but the deep-toned bell would -keep the citizens on the alert. On these occasions the theatre would be -deserted rapidly, whilst every other man would vociferate fire, but -almost immediately the leading columns would return, with cries of “all -over!” and “all out!” and the theatre would refill, and the performances -proceed, until the “fire-bell” took them off again, which occasionally -it would in ten minutes.</p> - -<p>The market at this time was so overstocked with merchandise, that goods -sold at auction at less than cost-price. Ready-made clothing, in -particular, was cheaper in San Francisco than it was in New York or<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_168">{168}</a></span> -London. So that the storehouses being everywhere crammed with goods, -great depression in trade existed. The city of San Francisco at this -time was in debt, about a million of dollars, and the Treasury being -empty, scrip was issued bearing the ruinous interest of thirty-six per -cent. per annum. But this state of affairs was remedied by funding the -debt, and issuing bonds payable in twenty years, bearing interest at ten -per cent. The citizens cooperated in this movement, and submitted to a -heavy tax, and thus, in spite of repeated conflagrations following on a -state of apparently hopeless bankruptcy, the energy of the San -Franciscans not only enabled the municipality to redeem annually a -portion of their bonds, but placed the credit of the city on a firm and -secure basis.</p> - -<p>There were seven or eight churches already in San Francisco, all of -different denominations—these were well attended on Sundays, but the -price of pews was very exorbitant, reaching as high, sometimes, as ten -pounds a month. Some of these churches were built entirely in a spirit -of speculation, and on asking an acquaintance once what security he had -for some money he had lent, he told me, so many shares in —— Church; -and the same building was afterwards sold, I think, by auction, to -satisfy its creditors. Now that ladies begin to flock into California so -rapidly,<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_169">{169}</a></span> the churches are crammed to overflowing on a Sunday. The -Americans are rather strict observers of congregational worship, which -has this drawback, however, that it here imposes the necessity of so -many becoming hypocrites on the Sabbath, for as regards the amount of -religious feeling that exists at this time, one can neither judge of it -by the attendance or the absence of the people from public worship. But -I will say this for them, that as a nation they are most charitable, and -that they are true friends to one another in adversity; <i>once</i> your -friend, the American will share all he has with you, and risk his life -in defence of your honour and name—more, he will not even permit -merited censure to be passed upon you in his presence, and however -suspicious of others worldly contact may have made him, he will repose -his confidence in you like a child. And so common are these friendships, -that the true generosity which cements them forms a prominent feature of -the American character; but whether it springs from deep religious -feeling or not is a question I do not care to argue. A great portion of -the working-classes of America are Methodists, or of somewhat similar -persuasions; they have their camp-meetings, read their Bible very -generally, are given to psalm-singing, and have the appearance of being -a religious people.<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_170">{170}</a></span></p> - -<p>I attended one of these camp-meetings. My old friend of the English -Barque, who wished to “rip up the cook,” was officiating with “tears in -his eyes.” There was a great deal of excited praying, but the greater -proportion of the people seemed to have come out for any purpose but -that of worship—in fact, the scene was very lively, and if it had not -been for the weeping priest, it would have been a merry pic-nic.</p> - -<p class="casstt">* * * *</p> - -<p>There are now seven daily papers at San Francisco, and each mining town -of importance in the country publishes its weekly sheet. If the -Americans were not thirsty people for news, warm party politicians, and -all able to read, so great a number of periodicals could never be -supported.</p> - -<p>There is an independence about American journalism in strict accordance -with the character of the institutions of the country, but which, in my -opinion, detracts greatly from the value of the press. As, for instance, -many journals of wide circulation, conducted by men of ability, enforce -injudicious opinions that not only closely affect the vital interests of -the state, but, to a great extent, the passions of the people. For this -reason the American press has not so much weight with the highest class -of Americans, and there is no leading journal of sufficient influence to -direct<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_171">{171}</a></span> and <i>admonish</i> them; or which, from its impartiality and -justness, can give a healthy tone to the thousands of minnows that -follow in its track—none, in fact, that occupies the position of the -“Times” with us.</p> - -<p>The Americans are prone to throw in our teeth that we are led by the -“Times,” and form no opinion for ourselves; but they forget that our -faith in the practical essays of that journal is not the result of a -blind adherence to custom, but of the confidence that, among the -rational, will ever cling to opinions that are seldom proved, under the -strongest test, to be fallacious. <i>Socially</i>, the “Times” is our -expounder and monitor, and if, in this respect, it leads us, it leads us -by conviction, as we should be led, and when you hear a man say that “he -doesn’t care what the ‘Times’ says on this or that subject,” he is -generally one not open to conviction, or not sufficiently noble to -surrender to it his own false impressions. In political matters the -“Times” may be strategical, as great statesmen have been.</p> - -<p>The press of England has not hitherto been widely disseminated among the -working classes (fault we will say of their narrow means and education) -nor were it so, would they, as in America, be so influenced politically -by its tone; but that <i>which is</i> disseminated<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_172">{172}</a></span> either takes its tone -from the “Times,” so far as to echo weekly the strictures which that -journal passes on our <i>home abuses</i>, or otherwise is conducted in the -same spirit. Therefore there is an unanimity of opinion in the English -press, and as its expositions are by no means flattering, as a general -rule, to the public, and meet no contradiction, we may presume, from -that fact alone, that the principles it inculcates on these matters are -sound. Putting aside the slave question, the great proportion of the -American press by no means devotes itself to the exposure of abuses: in -the first place, the Americans are not fond of having their faults -pointed out, and an editor is naturally anxious to place before his -readers only what is palatable. Therefore the press declines to -admonish, and following no just and truthful leader, each provincial -journal disseminates its own doctrine, whatever that may be; and thus, -in a country where all read, the press exercises its power to excite the -passions, but seldom to control them. For instance, at the time I write -the press of California upholds strongly the doctrine of forcible -annexation; some of these journals inform the public (many of whom, by -the way, are ripe for novel enterprise) that the Sandwich Islands <i>must</i> -become subject to the United States; whilst the more ambitious point to -Mexico on one side, and British<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_173">{173}</a></span> Oregon on the other—undecided only, -which first should bow to American rule. The higher classes, it will be -said, disregard these “fillibustering” doctrines; but of the 200,000 -souls in California how large a proportion does not foster them until a -spirit is diffused that can never be countenanced even by the warmest -admirers of the “Munro Doctrine.”</p> - -<p>For although one may admit it to be probable that in time the American -people will add to their dominions the Sandwich Islands and the sickly -independencies of South America, they will do so, it is to be hoped, -only as becomes a great nation, and not through piracy or intimidation. -In fact, to sum up, I think a great part of the press of the United -States studies the foibles of the people instead of correcting them, -when they most need correction, which leads to this result, that the -Americans hear of their faults through the press of other countries, and -attribute those strictures to a feeling of injustice and envy.</p> - -<p>An American gentleman of great intelligence assured me that the good -feeling which now exists (and I trust ever will) between the two -countries, would have been induced long previous had the “Times” (I use -his own expression) been <i>less silent</i> on the subject of America.</p> - -<p>“What,” he asked, “did your leading journal ever<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_174">{174}</a></span> say <i>in our favour</i> -fifteen years ago, when this country was making the most unexampled -strides towards prosperity? Were we ever written of but with an open -allusion to the Pennsylvanian debt? Was anything connected with us -thought worthy of record but our steam-boat explosions and Lynch law?”</p> - -<p>There is great truth in this—the press of Europe <i>has</i> treated America -until latterly with silence if not contempt, and it is no wonder that -the Americans, who are the first to feel a slight, should retain some -bitterness on this score.</p> - -<p>But this has passed away, the superficial travels of prejudiced -Englishmen (and women) no longer regulate our judgment of this country, -which indeed, even if their views were correct, has long outgrown, in -its rapid prosperity, the features they depicted.</p> - -<p>The American newspapers are conducted with talent, and warmly encourage -and keep alive the spirit of energy and progress, from which the -country’s greatness springs; their moral tone generally is good, and the -amount of useful information they disseminate renders them of great -value to the greater proportion of readers; but it is to be deplored -that so many are connected with the press, whose feelings prompt them to -keep alive a jealousy and hatred of the mother country. The best of us -need at<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_175">{175}</a></span> times to have the scales removed from our eyes, and the -fallacies we hug so stubbornly must be made to fall before conviction. -Therefore, with so large a mass of readers of the lower class dependent -almost on the press for information; among a people of warm blood and -quick impulses, but a people, whom it is as easy to mould to think -calmly and dispassionately as to inflame and excite until the judgment -falls before the power of doctrines flattering to national vanity; is it -not to be lamented that that portion of the press to which the bone and -sinew of the country looks naturally for guidance and advice, should in -few instances be directed by a wise and sound policy, principally from -the absence of leading journals sufficiently courageous to <i>chastise</i>?</p> - -<p class="casstt">* * * *</p> - -<p>There is nothing more pleasant than to revert to the good traits of a -country, particularly after having recorded what in one’s judgment -appears an infirmity. I allude therefore with pleasure to the -educational system of the Americans, honourable as it is to the good -feeling of the country, although it must be remembered I am speaking of -the Americans as <i>colonists</i>. The base of the American system of -education is simply to educate everybody, and to develope the natural -faculties; thus the way is opened<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_176">{176}</a></span> to all to raise themselves by -assiduity and talent to independence and mayhap renown. How is it that -great and wise countries in the matter of education discuss so much and -so idly the manner of the doing; leaving the patient unrelieved whilst -the wise doctors disagree? Or how is it that it requires a Bishop and -his staff to plant a school in certain colonies, and why is so much fuss -made about the matter when the Bishop comes home and informs the public, -as bishops always do at some meeting or other, of the glorious success -that has attended his labours, and how he has called together -twenty-five small Carribean children in a wooden building forty feet by -twelve, as if a sacrifice had been offered up to Heaven, the incense of -which should diffuse itself gratefully over the whole land?</p> - -<p>Now if one turns to the accounts of San Francisco in 1848, they will be -found to convey a tolerably truthful account of the society of that then -city of tents. It was scarcely a fortuitous commencement for a colony, -that its earlier inhabitants were for the most part maddened to excess -by the easy acquisition of wealth; and that under the influence of an -all-absorbing pursuit (such as few of us, I venture to say, could under -such circumstances entirely have resisted); the worst passions were -exercised without control, and<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_177">{177}</a></span> <i>selfishness</i>, as is natural, reigned -paramount; what idea of the intellectual or moral cultivation of the -young would be expected to intrude itself on the thoughts of a community -occupied solely in the pursuit of selfish gratifications?</p> - -<p>Yet in <i>this</i> year a public school was opened in San Francisco supported -by the people, and this school was shortly placed in the charge of an -intelligent clergyman. What better illustration can we find in proof -that the Americans stand out in strong colours on this point? what -better proof that they are good colonists, when under such adverse -circumstances, in the midst of riot, dissipation, and ungodliness, the -first and only approach to a sense of responsibility was shown in a -fostering care of the young and helpless children <i>not their own</i>.</p> - -<p>There were no bishops here, no staff, nor was the school organised by -reverend men; it owed its foundation and support to the one sense of -duty that no circumstances could erase from the American mind; and in -this earnest desire to open to all the path to future prosperity, the -grand principle of equality is better carried out than by any other -feature of the people of America. If this feeling exists, as I believe -throughout the United States, what stronger foundation-stone, speaking -in a worldly point of view, can<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_178">{178}</a></span> a people naturally intelligent lay down -as a basis for increased prosperity? for, putting aside religion, with -this education is inculcated self-reliance; self-reliance in a nation -leads to mutual support and unity, and this in colonists overcomes -difficulties apparently insurmountable, as ants united move the dead -body of a lizard from the doorway of their home, or sailors par-buckle a -gun up some apparently impracticable mountain.</p> - -<p>The proportion of children in California was naturally small as compared -with the population, yet I find that in 1853 the City of San Francisco -expended the monthly sum of seven hundred and fifty pounds on its -schools, in which were educated fourteen hundred children; and excellent -institutions now exist there, also, for the relief of orphans and the -sick and destitute. It will be remembered that the city is already -deeply in debt, and that the population are averse to taxes, which -render the maintenance of these establishments a burden.</p> - -<p class="casstt">* * * *</p> - -<p>The book stores of San Francisco drive a thriving trade after the -arrival of each mail, but the importations consist for the most part of -novels, which are greedily bought up, and find a ready sale in the -mining regions.<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_179">{179}</a></span></p> - -<p>Apparently, every Californian can read, and judging from the fact that -the mails take an average of fifty thousand letters to the United States -every fortnight, we may presume that there are few among them that -cannot write.<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_180">{180}</a></span></p> - -<h2><a id="CHAPTER_X"></a>CHAPTER X.</h2> - -<div class="blockquot"><p class="hang">LONG WHARF—CLIPPER SHIPS—CHINESE EMIGRANTS—THE MAY FIRE—AN -EXCITING SCENE—IRON HOUSES—VALLEJO—THE COYOTE—WILD GEESE.</p></div> - -<p class="r"> -<i>May, 1851.</i><br> -</p> - -<p><span class="smcap">The</span> Central Wharf of San Francisco, which is nearly a mile in length, is -for some distance occupied on either side by Jew slopsellers; and, as -these indefatigable gentlemen insist all over the world upon exposing -their wares outside their shops, the first glance down Central Wharf -impresses you with the idea that the inhabitants of the district have -hung their clothes out to dry after a shower of rain. Scattered among -the Jew shops are markets for vegetables and poultry, fishmongers, -candy-sellers, (the Long Wharfers are very fond of sugar-plums), -gambling-houses of the worst repute, and drinking-shops innumerable. -Being narrow and crowded, and full of loaded drays, drunken sailors, -empty packing-cases, run-away horses, rotten cabbages, excited -steam-boat runners, stinking fish,<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_181">{181}</a></span> Chinese porters, gaping strangers, -and large holes in the planks, through which you may perceive the water, -it is best to be careful in walking down Long Wharf, and to turn neither -to the right nor to the left.</p> - -<p>This busy street terminates at the city front; and from thence the -wharf, which extends for half a mile into the sea, is flanked on either -side by ships discharging their cargoes with great order and rapidity.</p> - -<p>Here may be seen a fleet of those clippers to which the Californian -trade gave rise. The “Queen of the Clippers” is one of the finest and -largest of these ships, and is a beautiful model; she is extremely sharp -at either end, and, “bows on,” she has the appearance of a wedge. Her -accommodations are as perfect as those of a first-class ocean steamer, -and are as handsomely decorated; and, as it is worthy of remark that -great attention has been paid to the comfort of the crew, the sooner -some of our shipowners copy that part of her construction the better. -Nor should they overlook any longer that the Americans have long -economised in ship labour very materially by the use of patent blocks, -patent trusses, and more particularly in patent steering-gear.</p> - -<p>It gives cause for reflection to observe how on board these mammoth -clippers, one man, comfortably<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_182">{182}</a></span> protected from the weather by a -wheel-house, can steer the ship with ease in any weather, and to recall -recollections of big English ships beating up against the monsoon, with -three and even four men at the helm, tugging to get it up, or -pulley-hauling to get it down, exposed on the deck in heavy sou’-westers -and painted canvass frocks, while their faces are cut to pieces by the -salt spray that the wind sends drifting along the deck. Yet -comparatively few of our merchant vessel owners have availed themselves -of these improvements. Scotland, as far as we are concerned, has most -distinguished herself in the production of clippers, and the small -class, similar to the “Marco Polo” and “Stornaway” stand first as -specimens of mercantile naval architecture.</p> - -<p>The building of clippers, if not originated by, was encouraged by the -discovery of gold in California, for the valuable market that was so -shortly afterwards opened to the United States afforded a field for the -employment of ships that could perform a journey round the Horn in a -space of time that would enable them to land a cargo, not only clean and -in good order, but with a certain degree of regularity as regarded time. -The ships that have sailed from English ports for San Francisco have -been selected from a particularly inferior class of tubs, principally<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_183">{183}</a></span> -from the erroneous supposition that anything was good enough for the -diggings. Then observe the mistake! The expensive dashing clipper leaves -New York, and, after a three months’ passage, lands her cargo clean and -dry in San Francisco (where the sale of packages depends very much on -their outward as well as internal appearance); the English ship, which -false economy has picked from about the worst in dock, after a passage -of from eight to ten months, arrives in San Francisco, with <i>her</i> cargo. -The market has not only gone by for the articles she brings, but these, -from long confinement, and her unseaworthy qualities, are landed in such -an unprepossessing state as to be almost unsaleable. Nor is this -all—the clipper ship having discharged, sails for China, and takes home -the first teas at a high rate of freight, discharges at London, and -returns again to New York, full; having accomplished a rapid voyage -round the world, and, in all probability, cleared a large portion of her -first cost in her first voyage. But our English clunbungy can find no -cargo to take home from San Francisco, there being no export; she knows -better than to present herself in China as a candidate for teas, there -is little chance of her getting guano, so she either goes home empty at -a great expense, or, as is more often the case, is knocked down by -auction for<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_184">{184}</a></span> less than her value, and is converted into a floating -store-ship.<a id="FNanchor_8_8"></a><a href="#Footnote_8_8" class="fnanchor">[8]</a></p> - -<p>It was said, I remember, when these clippers first attracted attention, -and before Australia had been found to be auriferous, that we had no -field for the employment of such vessels, and that our own “A 1 for -thirteen-year” ships were better adapted for our trade; that they were -stronger and more <i>lasting</i>. Where we enjoy a monopoly of -ship-transport, as for many years in some places we have done, the -argument of “let well alone” is excellently prudent.</p> - -<p>That our vessels are strong no one will deny who ever saw a teak-built -ship with her heavy beams and prodigious wooden knees; that they are -<i>lasting</i> follows as a matter of course, but this very qualification is -at this moment our drawback to improvement. We are something like a man -who has determined not to get a suit of clothes adapted for the dog-days -until he has worn out his old winter garments, and has been unfortunate -enough to have had these made of that imperishable article known as -corduroy.</p> - -<p>It is plain enough that we shall have comparatively few clipper ships -until our enormous mercantile navy is worn out; and all we have now to -regret is the stubbornness of that heart of oak<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_185">{185}</a></span> whose durability we -have been wont to laud in speech and song. In the meantime, unless -Aberdeen and other ports work cheerily, the Californian clippers will -bid for the carriage of the teas, and take the bread literally from -between our teeth; and, what is still more galling, the Yankee clippers -will take our Australian trade, if they have not already done so. We -have a bold competitor on the waters now, and I regret to see that -almost at the moment that the projected Panama and Sydney steam-line is -withdrawn for want of <i>government support</i>, measures are being taken by -the American government to connect San Francisco and China, and thus -complete the first steam communication round the world; whilst the -“Sovereign of the Seas” and “Golden Age” are conveying our emigrants -from Liverpool to Australia. On the other hand, the spirit of -speculation in building clipper ships in America has been so far -overdone as to cause many of them to be too hastily “run up,” and a few -of these have arrived in San Francisco, and in London, much strained and -with damaged cargoes.</p> - -<p class="casstt">* * * *</p> - -<p>The Chinese have emigrated to California in great numbers. Those in San -Francisco are mostly engaged in mercantile pursuits, and supply their -countrymen<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_186">{186}</a></span> at the mines with necessaries. There has been great outcry -in the gold regions here respecting the rapidly-increasing numbers of -the Chinese miners, and it was proposed forcibly to stop their -immigration; it was argued, rather dog-in-the-mangerly, that they -collected vast quantities of gold from the soil that of right belonged -to the Americans only, and that they carried their gold-dust to their -own country to spend. The last objection had some justice in it, for -undoubtedly it is contrary to the spirit of a young colony to encourage -the immigration of a class of people who bring their own rice with them, -and impoverish the auriferous soil without leaving a “<i>pice</i>” behind -them for the permanent improvement of the country.</p> - -<p>I believe there are few men who have been thrown much among the Chinese -who believe that many honest ones can be found among them; old Whampoa -of Singapore, who gives champagne dinners in a most orthodox manner, may -be one; but I confess, for my part, that from the Emperor down to the -fellow in the blue shirt who begs in Piccadilly, and looks as if butter -wouldn’t melt in his mouth, I don’t believe in them. They are a people -whose natural propensities lead them to cheat, and whose natural cunning -aids this object most materially.<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_187">{187}</a></span></p> - -<p>A short time ago it was discovered that a clique existed in San -Francisco composed of a few of the wealthiest Chinese, and that these -self-constituted mandarins exercised so much influence over the Chinese -population of the country as to subject them to fines and bastinado, and -they even went to the length of shipping some of them back to their own -country; this, however, having been brought to light by the police, was -temporarily checked, as these punishments were applied only for the -purpose of extortion.</p> - -<p>The Chinese themselves are so used to this kind of despotic rule that -they made no effort to resist it even when it was assumed by those not -in authority; but they behaved better under the infliction of fines than -they would otherwise have done, and indeed I am puzzled to know what -such a race would become, with their natural cunning, under a freer -government than that they enjoy.</p> - -<p class="casstt">* * * *</p> - -<p>On the 3rd of May, at eleven in the evening, the fire-bell again -startled us; but on this occasion the first glance at the lurid glare -and heavy mass of smoke that rolled towards the bay evidenced that the -fire had already a firm grip on the city. The wind was unusually high, -and the flames spread in a broad sheet over the town. All efforts to -arrest them were<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_188">{188}</a></span> useless; houses were blown up and torn down in -attempts to cut off communication; but the engines were driven back step -by step, while some of the brave firemen fell victims to their -determined opposition. As the wind increased to a gale, the fire became -beyond control; the brick buildings in Montgomery Street crumbled before -it; and before it was arrested, over one thousand houses, many of which -were filled with merchandise, were left in ashes. Many lives were lost, -and the amount of property destroyed was estimated at two millions and a -half sterling.</p> - -<p>No conception can be formed of the grandeur of the scene; for at one -time the burning district was covered by one vast sheet of flame that -extended half a mile in length. But when the excitement of such a night -as this has passed by, one scarcely can recall the scene. The memory is -confused in the recollection of the shouts of the excited populace—the -crash of falling timbers—the yells of the burnt and injured—the clank -of the fire-brakes—the hoarse orders delivered through -speaking-trumpets—maddened horses released from burning livery-stables -plunging through the streets—helpless patients being carried from some -hospital, and dying on the spot, as the swaying crowd, forced back by -the flames, tramples all before it—explosions of houses blown up by -gunpowder<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_189">{189}</a></span>—showers of burning splinters that fall around on every -side—the thunder of brick buildings as they fall into a heap of -ruin—and the blinding glare of ignited spirits. Amidst heat that -scorches, let you go where you will—smoke that strikes the eyes as if -they had been pricked by needles—water that, thrown off the heated -walls, falls on you in a shower of scalding steam—you throw your coat -away and help to work the engine-brakes, as calls are made for more men.</p> - -<p>At daylight you plod home, half-blind, half-drowned, half-scorched, -half-stunned, and quite bewildered; and from that time you never care to -recall one half of the horrors you have witnessed on the night of the -conflagration of the 3rd of May.</p> - -<p>The Dramatic Museum was “burnt out” on this occasion; and about the same -time the ship I had awaited arrived. I had expected to receive an iron -house in her, but as this tenement (which I had taken great pains to -have constructed in England) was landed in the shape of several bundles -of bent and rusty iron plates, and irrecognisable rotten planks, I -deserted the property, and allowed the owners of the wharf to throw it -overboard, which they eventually did after six months’ reflection.</p> - -<p>Iron houses under most circumstances are a failure, and I write from -experience in the matter. I have<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_190">{190}</a></span> sat in churches made of iron, and have -been glad to get out of them for that reason. I have thrown down my -billiard-cue in disgust in iron club-houses, have paid my bill -incontinently and left iron hotels, and have lived in misery in an iron -shooting-box of my own, which was supposed to be <i>very complete</i>.</p> - -<p>I could live comfortably at all times in my little log hut at the “farm” -but never could I endure myself inside my iron house. When the sun shone -it was too hot; as night advanced it cooled too suddenly, and at -daylight I shivered. When it was too warm the hot iron, with its -anti-corrosive paint, emitted a sickening smell; and when the rain came -down on the roof it sounded like a shower of small shot.<a id="FNanchor_9_9"></a><a href="#Footnote_9_9" class="fnanchor">[9]</a> I lined it -with wood throughout, that is to say, I built a <i>wooden house</i> inside my -iron one, and then it was only bearable. But it would have been cheaper, -it seemed to me, to have built the wooden house first, and then have put -the iron on if it was wanted, which it was not.</p> - -<p>In this age, when so many of our countrymen are emigrating, it becomes -almost the duty of a traveller to recount any experience that may tend -to the benefit of those who go after him; and therefore I trust that<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_191">{191}</a></span> in -remarks similar to the foregoing, which may or may not affect a peculiar -branch of trade, I may be exonerated from any other intention than that -of benefiting others by my experience. I have seen so many metal and -wooden houses thrown away (I have seen in one heap of rubbish the value -of ten thousand pounds), that I would recommend to the emigrant of -moderate means not to purchase either the one or the other. If new gold -fields are discovered, as most probably they will be, and reports are -rife of house room commanding enormous prices there, never for all that -let him take his shell out, snail-like, on his back; let him take the -money that would buy the house—the cash will be the scarcest article -there, and will find him house-room and a profit too. Perhaps nowhere -has my argument been better proved than in California. Large numbers of -iron houses were shipped to that country when first reports arrived of -the scarcity of building materials. Had they been capable of resisting -fire they would perhaps have been less generally condemned, but of those -that were erected, not only did the thin corrugated houses first expand -and then collapse, and tumble down with astonishing rapidity before the -flames, but in the fire I have just recorded the American iron house of -Taeffe and M’Cahill, of which the plates were nearly<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_192">{192}</a></span> an inch in -thickness, and the castings of apparently unnecessary weight, collapsed -like a preserved-meat can, and destroyed six persons, who, believing it -to be fire-proof, remained inside. And, in connection with this subject, -it is worthy of mention that when these houses arrived in California -there was no one to be found who could put them together; not but that -the method is very simple, but simple things, as we all know, present -great difficulties at times in their solution.</p> - -<p>A friend of mine employed a man for a long time at four pounds a day, -merely to superintend the erection of an iron hotel; it was completed at -last, and, although it had a somewhat lopsided appearance it looked -pretty well under the influence of light-green paint; but the fire came -and it “caved in,” as the Americans say.</p> - -<p>This discussion on iron buildings would have found no place here, had -not these cheerless tenements been connected with a speculation into -which I was at this time induced to enter: nor would the speculation -have been alluded to, particularly as it turned out a failure, were it -not again inseparably connected with a peculiar feature of the country.</p> - -<p>It appeared that the state was looking about at this time for a site on -which to erect a capital, where,<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_193">{193}</a></span> free from the busy hum of men, the -representatives of the people might meet and do their country’s work. -Upon the condition that General Vallejo would expend a large amount in -the erection of public buildings, a part of this gentleman’s property -was selected by the then Governor as the “seat of government,” and upon -that, a few scrubby-looking hills that bordered on the bay, were -surveyed and staked off, and there was your town of “Vallejo.”</p> - -<p>About this time a store-ship, laden with iron houses, belonging to a -friend of mine, sunk at her moorings during a heavy gale. When raised -she was so full of mud, clay, and small crabs that there was no -possibility of rendering her cargo fit for sale at San Francisco. The -bright idea occurred to me of landing these muddy materials at Vallejo, -and, after allowing the tide to clean them, to convert them to some use -in assisting to erect this capital that was to be “made to order.” -Landing my cargo on Vallejo beach at low water mark, Canute-like, I -ordered the tide to complete the very dirty work I had set before it, -which it did, and, to finish the story here, in the course of six months -I erected a very handsome hotel out of the materials. I felt rather -pleased when it was finished, and painted, and handsomely furnished, to -think what a butterfly I had turned out of the<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_194">{194}</a></span> very dirty grub I had -found in the hold of the old hulk. But the moral of the story lies in -the fact that at this juncture the government altered their minds -relative to the site of the capital, and selected Benicia in preference.</p> - -<p>The city “made to order” was then pulled down and sold for old -materials, to the great delight, as may be imagined, of myself and the -other speculators who had worked so assiduously to raise it, and who had -received no compensation. It is quite like the story of the Enchanted -City, that was up one day and down the next; but somehow I don’t find so -much pleasure in recalling the history of Vallejo as I did as a boy in -reading the fairy tale.</p> - -<p>The hills of Vallejo are destitute of game, but abound in coyotes, who -lead a predatory life, not altogether, I suspect, free from care or -anxiety, as, excepting in the calving season, they are dependent for -food on the chance carcase of some poor mired bull or over-driven mule; -and, as these casualties are not of very frequent occurrence, I feel -satisfied that hunger and the coyote know each other. And indeed he has, -in a great measure, himself alone to blame that his stomach is always -either too empty or too full; for this fellow, when he gets a meal, -raises such a hue and cry in the dead of night as<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_195">{195}</a></span> effectually warns all -savoury animals to avoid his presence.</p> - -<p>In the calving season the coyotes are in clover, and the little veals -fall an easy prey to a pack of these nocturnal robbers. In winter, when -the wild geese cover the hills, I doubt if the coyote gains much -permanent benefit, judging from the fact that I have seldom found -feathers. The geese encamp in vast armies, and at times perhaps outlying -picquets and sentries asleep on their post get cut off by the enemy; but -the wild goose, fool as he may be, has just so much keen relish for a -good joke as to allow the coyote to reach a point where expectation has -resolved itself into certainty, and then the goose decamps, harassed -undoubtedly, but whole in body. The coyote has more of the dog than the -fox in his composition, and is a bungling poacher at any time; one -feature alone of his character proves this, inasmuch that, when suddenly -disturbed, he runs but a few yards, then stops, turns round and looks at -you. A Norfolk poaching lurcher knows better than that, <i>he</i> would never -turn his face to you for fear you should <i>identify him</i>, at least so -Barnes tells me, and he ought to know; but the most satisfactory proof -that the coyote is a weak forager exists in the conclusive fact that you -seldom shoot one that has anything in his stomach.<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_196">{196}</a></span></p> - -<p>As, therefore, there was no employment for my rifle at Benicia, I was -thrown on my resources for amusement. Fortune again favoured me; -fortune, by the way, always has favoured me when I have been in pursuit -of amusement, but she snubs me amazingly whenever my designs are in the -least degree mercenary, which leads me to infer that that divinity is of -rather a jovial disposition than otherwise.</p> - -<p>In one day’s search I secured two horses, one gig, three well-formed -Australian kangaroo dogs, and three blood-hound whelps, just arrived -from Hobart Town; these being shipped in a small schooner, in company -with my iron shooting box, I started for San Luis, and called on Ramsey, -who had probably forgotten me. I urged him at once to come and be a -Vallejo-ite; he demurred at first, but, alas, we are all mortal; -pointing with one hand to his buckskins and hunting saddle, rotting from -disuse, with the other I directed his attention to my greyhounds, then I -uttered one word, “coyotes,” and Ramsey struck his flag in passive -submission to his destiny—and followed me.<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_197">{197}</a></span></p> - -<h2><a id="CHAPTER_XI"></a>CHAPTER XI.</h2> - -<div class="blockquot"><p class="hang">COYOTE HUNTING—MY DOMINIONS ARE INVADED—THOMAS KILLS A BEAR—A -TRIAL OF STRENGTH—ROWE’S “LOT”—CHOCTAW ELK—A BUTCHERY—ROUGH -LIFE—FERTILITY OF THE SOIL.</p></div> - -<p class="r"> -<i>June, 1851.</i><br> -</p> - -<p><span class="smcap">Our</span> first duty, on arriving at Vallejo, was to erect a temporary shanty, -and before we had been long there the materials for about fifty houses -were scattered over the ground by various speculators. Ramsey laid the -foundation of a small village on his own account, and built a -dwelling-house, a livery stable, and another grog-shop, in which his -champagne and tin pannikins were soon rattling away, as of old, to the -sound of the fiddle.</p> - -<p>As soon as I had erected the iron house, to which I have already alluded -in terms of bitterness, we tried the projected coyote hunt. I had two -horses; one was an old grey “Texian Ranger,” who had seen so much hard -service that, when once adrift, he was neither to be caught with chaff -or the best of oats, but had to be lassoed and dragged home by<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_198">{198}</a></span> main -force; once assured, by means of spurs, and bottles of water broken on -his head when he reared, and sticks broken on his side when he -buck-jumped, that he was “bound to go,” as they say here, “the Old -Soldier” (for so I named him) proved an animal of great speed and -endurance, and afterwards performed his eighty miles in a day with me -without flinching. The other was a handsome bay that I had bought from a -retiring watchmaker, and he retained the name his last master had -bestowed in honour of his shop, “Main Spring.”</p> - -<p>My Australian Kangaroo dogs were a cross between the bull-dog or -bull-mastiff and the greyhound; like the generality of cross-bred -greyhounds, they differed only from the thoroughbreds in increased size, -muscle, and breadth of chest; they ran of course from sight, but were -not devoid of nose.</p> - -<p>Of the three I had procured but two proved of any value, Tiger and -Bevis, and these I coupled for an experimental hunt. I trust I may be -excused from the charge of egotism in thus mentioning these animals in -detail; they were my companions up to the very day I left the country; -and being associated with the adventures I am sketching they will appear -in my narrative from time to time. With all his faults I owe a debt of -gratitude to the “Old Soldier.<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_199">{199}</a></span>”</p> - -<p>Stealing quietly away to the surrounding hills, with Ramsey on the “Old -Soldier,” we soon found a coyote, and I slipped the dogs; he made a -straight run, but there was no chance for him, and in less than five -hundred yards he was caught and worried without a fight, and I whipped -the dogs off. I was disappointed; I had hoped that the coyote would not -only run well, but would make some kind of stand at the finish; but we -found him invariably devoid of any pluck. Some that we afterwards saw -would make an excellent start and then turn round and attempt to -fraternise with the dogs, and these, after a time, began to recognise -something of the nature of the cur in this conduct, and, after rolling -the coyote over, would turn back without injuring him.<a id="FNanchor_10_10"></a><a href="#Footnote_10_10" class="fnanchor">[10]</a> So that our -coursing was deferred until we reached the hare country, where the dogs -showed to better advantage, and generally killed, the hare of the -country being rather a fool than otherwise.</p> - -<p>It became necessary now for me to return to Russian River, and, as -Ramsey and a Mr. Bottomly were anxious to accompany me, we made up a -four-in-hand out of a pair of Ramsey’s horses and mine, and, throwing -our blankets into the old waggon that<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_200">{200}</a></span> constituted our drag, we put -Tiger and Bevis inside to save their feet, and started.</p> - -<p>We arrived without accident at the river, and I found that now the rains -were over, settlers were flocking in from all sides. The river was still -very high owing to the melting snow at its source; and when the waggon -floated for a minute or two as we crossed the centre of the ford, and -then filled to my companions’ knees, they evidently viewed with great -interest this, to them, novel feature in “tooling a four in hand.”</p> - -<p>The sun was intensely hot, and when we had reached the opposite bank of -the river, we pulled up in the shade to dine, the provisions having been -secured against all injury in crossing the river. Ramsey insisted on -drinking an immense quantity of the river, which, however, he qualified -with brandy; and after having in consequence expended a large amount of -second-hand poetry on the surrounding scenery, nothing would please him -but he must alter the tails of his two Canadian switch tail ponies, to -make them match with those of Mainspring and the Old Soldier, which were -banged. I remonstrated with him on the folly of spoiling two valuable -animals, whose chief beauty consisted in their manes and tails, but he -would do it; and having cut one<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_201">{201}</a></span> tail about a foot shorter than the -other with a blunt table knife, he left them pretty objects. Imagine my -disgust when the fellow remarked, after gravely contemplating them, -“Sh’no consequence, s’hey don’t b’long to me.” I got into trouble about -them afterwards, as will be seen.</p> - -<p>In the cool of the evening we arrived at the farm, where I found -everybody well, and glad to see me back. As I had foreseen, settlers -were beginning even to invade <i>my</i> dominions, and not only was the -romance of the place destroyed, but the game was retiring very rapidly, -and it required a long day’s walk to find venison. This of itself would -have determined me to leave the valley, but other causes hastened my -decision—firstly, <i>the onions were a failure</i>; they had come up, but -the ground squirrels had proved so numerous as to destroy all vestige of -the young plants; secondly, I had on one occasion disclosed at March’s -not only that I was <i>not</i> a naturalised American, but that I had no -intention of bringing myself into contempt by deserting my own country -from interested motives, as too many I regret to say have done. This had -become known among the crowd of settlers that were now hunting for -pre-emption claims; they also knew, as of course there were a few -Philadelphia lawyers among them, that as<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_202">{202}</a></span> an alien I had no right to the -valley. Some of them called upon me to tell me so, but these left -however quicker than they came. Under all the circumstances, and -particularly as I never could have resided among such a set as were now -“locating” themselves about the place, I made a virtue of necessity, and -gave the farm as it stood (excepting the cattle and my books and -shooting materials) to one of the backwoodsmen I had known there for -some time.</p> - -<p>During this last visit to the old place, however, we enjoyed ourselves; -the green peas had arrived at perfection, and the young fawns were -excellent substitutes for lamb. Tiger and Bevis afforded us some -coursing, and Ramsey found out for the first time in his life what it -was to stand knee deep in a running stream and wash a flannel shirt -without soap.</p> - -<p>Whilst we were absent one night on an excursion, Thomas, who remained at -home, distinguished himself by shooting a valuable milch cow, that had -been brought up by one of the new settlers, and which, having strayed -near the house, he mistook in the dark for a wild bull or a bear. When -we returned in the morning, Thomas, in great trepidation, had just -completed burying the carcase near the house, and we were still laughing -over the matter, when a tall settler appeared amongst us and inquired if -we had<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_203">{203}</a></span> seen “e’er a cow,” to which Thomas, knowing that the settler had -followed his cow’s trail, fortunately replied in the affirmative, and -suggested a distant hill as a celebrated rendezvous for strayed cows in -general, on account of the fine quality of its spring water; thither the -settler wended his way, after satisfying himself with a few rapid and -suspicious glances that we had venison hanging about instead of beef, -and that no symptom of cow was stamped about the place. As he turned -once more to call three wiry-looking, gamboge-coloured curs, that he had -brought with him, and which had been sniffing about, I observed with -horror that the brutes were on the cow’s grave, scratching away -bravely—“Seize them, Tiger! At them, Prince! Bevis!” and these -disturbers of the dead flew for their lives, and as I called the dogs -off, evidenced no disposition to return, although my brave defenders -immediately had a battle royal over the dainty morsel which had thus -been brought to light.</p> - -<p>I have already alluded to Barnes’s physical strength; in Norfolk he was -always an expert axeman, even with the stupid broad-headed Flemish axe, -that we still adhere to in England, but his six months’ training at the -farm with the American axe had so improved on his former strike and -natural powers of<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_204">{204}</a></span> endurance, that he was induced one night to boast of -his prowess whilst in company with some backwoodsmen at March’s shanty. -It had already been proved that no one of the party was a match for him, -as I had given him permission to fell for March’s saw-mill in his -leisure hours, (at which work I may mention he often made his thirty -shillings a day,) March therefore undertook to bring a man called -Alexander, to take “the shine out of Barnes,” and during our stay this -man arrived. He was a Hercules in muscle though spare, and when, a tree -having been selected, the men “stripped for work” as <i>Bell’s Life</i> would -say, there was little to choose between them in appearance, though I -thought I saw an advantage on Barnes’s side in point of loins. To me it -is delightful to witness a fair trial of skill and dexterity between two -picked athletæ, where, as in this instance, the pleasure is unalloyed by -any brutal exhibition of inflicted punishment. Our party and that of the -Americans were equally excited, but no bets were made, and there was no -boastful confidence in the issue on either side. I have mentioned -elsewhere that the red-wood tree retains in its growth sometimes so -perfect a perpendicular that it may be cut round its centre, and yet -remains erect on a calm day, supported but by a few inches of the heart. -A<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_205">{205}</a></span> tree having therefore been selected of about eight feet diameter, as -nearly as I can recollect, the men were placed on either side, and a few -straight lines for their guidance having been chalked on the bark, they -commenced work, the man on whose side the tree fell, to be declared the -winner, as he of course would have cut the deepest. For the first part -of the day the champions worked manfully stroke for stroke, and the -issue seemed to the last doubtful, but at length the strokes became -weaker and slower, and then Barnes seemed to have kept something back -for the finish, for after a few vigorous drives, the huge tree fell over -on his side, and came thundering to the ground. It was a touch and go -victory; and caused no ill feeling; but Barnes on returning home was -very unwell from over exertion, and during the night he wandered in his -head; the next day, however, he was quite well; but the “shine” was -taken out of him although he won.</p> - -<p>I bade farewell to the little valley before its charms had so palled -upon me by use as to render me indifferent to its possession, but its -great charm of seclusion that first bound me to it was lost, and in my -eyes it was as much “cut up” by the presence of fresh settlers, as is -your country villa, sir, when a rushing railway, marking out its track -directly through<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_206">{206}</a></span> your favourite clump of weeping willows, sends its hot -cinders on to the very lawn in front of you; but you were compensated -for your villa being smoke-begrimed, and sold it, moreover, on good -terms to Styles, who likes living near a railway, and being hourly -reminded that his country is making “giant strides,” whilst I, equally a -victim to the march of improvement, walked out without any other -reflection than that I had gone to a great deal of trouble for the sole -benefit of an utter stranger.</p> - -<p>We arrived at Vallejo without accident. The appearance of the tailless -Canadian horses brought forward their indignant owner, who demanded of -me, as conductor of the expedition, an exorbitant sum, which I of course -refused to pay, upon which he went to law; and about the time that the -hotel was completed, an execution was put on it by the sheriff for the -amount claimed for two horses’ tails that I never touched.</p> - -<p>We had very little sport at Vallejo; a few wild-fowl hung about the -marshes, but were very hard to secure; snipe and curlew also were -tolerably plentiful; but the sun was hot, and the yellow treeless hills -dazzled the eyes too much for shooting. Our guns therefore were shelved -for the present; but I found another source of amusement by fortunately -making<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_207">{207}</a></span> the acquaintance of a young Englishman of the name of Rowe.</p> - -<p>Rowe was a surveying engineer of good ability, and had, previous to -leaving England, scarified that country to a considerable extent in the -shape of tunnels and cuttings on railways. His present business in -Vallejo consisted in surveying and laying out the plan of that city, -which having completed, he was now transferring to a gorgeous map, on -which the Botanical Gardens, Orphan Asylums, and <i>Schools for the -Indigent Blind</i> were already traced and lettered.</p> - -<p>Rowe possessed about a dozen small Californian and Indian horses, and as -these brutes were not only now wild, but were of that peculiar breed -that can neither be tamed or fattened, I could not at first conceive -what object Rowe had in keeping them, especially as they were all small, -gaunt, and painfully ugly. I perceived that almost daily my new -acquaintance, dressed in Californian spurs and leggings, would mount the -horse that he generally kept by him (with the saddle always on), and -proceed in search of the others which he had turned out to graze on the -hills the night previous.</p> - -<p>In the evening he would return as usual, driving his ill-looking pack -before him, and these, after being<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_208">{208}</a></span> enclosed for a short time, would be -again turned out. On my suggesting that his animals seemed to cause him -more trouble than they were worth, he at once elucidated the mystery.</p> - -<p>It appeared that he had received these scarecrows from time to time in -payment of bad debts, contracted for surveys of the surrounding farms; -they cost nothing to keep, as they lived on the wild oats, and the -reason he turned them out and brought them home each day, was for the -pleasure of hunting and catching them with the lasso when he could. I -soon joined him in this diversion, and the sport was most exciting. His -band, as soon as they saw us coming, would have an appearance similar to -this:—</p> - -<div class="figcenter" id="wdcut_006" style="width: 600px;"> -<a href="images/ill_009.jpg"> -<img src="images/ill_009.jpg" width="600" height="382" alt="[Image unavailable.]"></a> -</div> - -<p>They would stand in a crowd together, looking at us<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_209">{209}</a></span> out of the corners -of their eyes; then as we approached they would go over the hills and -gulches, whilst we rode after them, shouting and heading them back -whenever we could.</p> - -<p>After two or three hours of this exercise, they would allow themselves -to be driven without much trouble into Rowe’s corral. I believe they -liked the sport; whether or no, they got it every day, and as it was all -they had to do, they were better off than most of their race. In fact, -the Old Soldier did the same work with me on his back, and liked it so -much that I could not hold him at last when once he got sight of these -scarecrows. He tried to catch them one day when in the gig, because they -suddenly appeared in sight, and if it had not been for a deep gulch that -brought us all up with a smash, I believe he would have “corralled” them -on his own account.</p> - -<p>Rowe had an Indian pony of great power and endurance; it was named -“Chocktaw,” after the American Indian tribe, to which of right it -belonged. He had a head like a wedge of wood, and although tolerably -quiet under a severe Spanish bit, he had the habit of never taking his -eyes off you. He was always suspicious, if you walked round him, and -would follow you with his wild colt’s eye.</p> - -<p>Chocktaw combined the sure-footedness of the mule,<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_210">{210}</a></span> with the speed of -the horse, and the capability of the donkey of living and doing well -upon comparatively nothing, which was so far fortunate for him as he was -occasionally locked up and forgotten for a day or two, during which -periods of trial he generally munched shavings, and upon being -remembered and released became more suspicious than ever.</p> - -<p>Chocktaw and the Old Soldier became fast friends, so much so, that the -latter kicked other horses on Chocktaw’s account, and took him under his -protection generally, even to the length of eating Chocktaw’s oats -(which he got on Sundays), for fear, no doubt, they should disagree with -his Indian stomach; whether this made him more suspicious or not, I -don’t know, but Chocktaw never took his eyes off his friend for all -their affection.</p> - -<p>The unhappy Chocktaw is typical of a class of men who live continually -in the torment of half-confirmed suspicions—innocents, who, stopping -half-way in their study of the world, are ever doubting and fearing, yet -never learning, force the lesson on them as you will;—“Chocktaws” to -whom “Old Soldiers” are necessary—these latter cheating them, yet -preventing others from doing so; finding brains for them; kicking other -horses for them, but eating <i>their oats as recompense</i>. Unhappy then the -Chocktaw who<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_211">{211}</a></span> wriggles, as it were, in the half-consciousness of being -outwitted, and torments himself with vain suspicions. Far more to be -envied he who can clap his persecuting protector on the back, and own -him to be “necessary but expensive;” his mind is at ease from that time -forth; he can pay his bully as he does his income-tax, and get more for -his money.</p> - -<p>News was brought in one day that a band of elk had been seen near the -place, and upon this the whole population turned out. Independently of -the fact that I feared being shot by some of the party, among whom were -several boys, armed with rifles, I knew that the Elk does were heavy at -this season, and I had no mind to assist in a butchery. The drove was -headed about nightfall in marshy ground, and about <i>eighteen does</i> were -killed.</p> - -<p>I was sorry to have lost the chance of hitting the slot of these beasts, -for the bucks might easily have been secured with care, whereas, -approached as they were, whilst drinking in marshy and treacherous -ground, the bucks being on the outskirts made for the hills, whilst the -poor frightened does became quagmired, and fell an easy prey.</p> - -<p>About this time I received a visit from Sir Henry Huntly, and we started -on an exploring expedition, but losing our way, found ourselves at -length near<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_212">{212}</a></span> Napa. Pulling up temporarily at a small house at the side -of the creek to enquire the road, we found it occupied by half-a-dozen -fine-looking fellows, who were sitting over their supper. The invitation -to join them was too heartily offered to refuse, and Sir Henry and -myself being armed each with a cast-iron knife and tin platter, attacked -the provisions as men do who lose their way, and fall happily and -unexpectedly on a savoury stew of antelope. We were glad enough also to -be so kindly invited to pass the night there, for a day passed in the -hot sun is very fatiguing, and once down, a man has to be kicked up -again, particularly after a surfeit of antelope stew. So we lit our -pipes, and then, as a matter of course, we allowed gradually to leak out -who and what we were. Our entertainers consisted of four Americans and -two Englishmen. These latter were army-men, who had thrown up their -commissions in Canada to seek a rough and adventurous life in exchange -for the dull routine of barracks. So far as roughness went, they had it -in perfection, and they stood it well; but the <i>roughest</i> roughness -palls, and an adventurous life, with its fevers and privations, and hard -toil in the blistering sun, soon loses its charms, and then comes the -yearning for home, and it is best then to have something <i>to fall back -upon</i>.<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_213">{213}</a></span></p> - -<p>There are few after all to whom either roughness or adventurous life -comes aptly, although the proud man scorns to <i>own</i> he feels the -privation he has sought as it were; but few of those who have sacrificed -position, comforts, and friends elsewhere, for the pursuit of freedom -and adventure, with wealth of course appearing in the distance, have -realised their dreams, or have done otherwise in the long run than own -their folly, and mourn it secretly. Some men are born for a wild and -careless life—a happy liveliness of disposition, knowledge of the -world, physical health, recklessness of personal safety, indifference to -social position and home comfort, all fit them for it; their creed is to -do as no one else does, (and they do <i>none</i> the worse for this); these -men are few in number, and they can live when others starve. Observe the -man in a hunting-field, who strikes out his own line of country, and -that a new one to him; each fence may conceal a marl-pit, but he faces -bravely all obstacles, and comes in right at last. Rash fool! says Jones -as he opens a gate. Stupid ass! echoes Brown as he creeps through a gap! -But no! Brown and Jones would be both fools and asses if they tried to -do it, but to this man such work comes naturally.</p> - -<p>As a rule the fate of the minnows who will pursue an unbeaten track is -certain enough. It is generally<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_214">{214}</a></span> a <i>great mistake</i> when men throw up on -their own account a certain means of livelihood, to seek adventure and -fortune in new gold countries. It is generally a <i>great mistake</i> when -fathers with spendthrift sons, stupid sons, or lazy sons, say, “John, -you are doing no good for yourself, here are five hundred pounds, go and -try your luck in the diggings.” It was a <i>great mistake</i> when a party of -gentlemen left England in 1849 for California in a yacht of their own, -and having arrived at the diggings got disgusted, and returned very much -out at elbows, with most melancholy reports respecting the goldfields. -And these are great mistakes, for this reason, that patience under -disappointment, and a disposition that can ever look sanguinely into the -future, are as requisite for “<i>rough life</i>,” as strong <i>hands, witting -hearts and</i> sound health.</p> - -<p>Our entertainers occupied themselves in market-gardening, which is a -peaceful and unexciting profession; and as the whole party were animated -with a strong love of adventure, and were anxious for something more -soul-stirring than weeding and watering beds of cabbages, soon after I -last saw them they disbanded and dispersed, nor have I heard of them -since.</p> - -<p>Vegetables attain an unusual size in California, owing to the rich -qualities of the maiden soil; but<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_215">{215}</a></span> I have observed an insipidity in -everything that has thus rapidly matured, and size is attained at the -expense of loss of flavour. Onions and tomatas as large as cheese plates -are common. Melons have attained the weight of fifty pounds. Wheat and -oats grow to the height of eight and ten feet, and are very prolific in -the ear; potatoes reach dimensions unheard of elsewhere, and the -diameter of a cabbage is sometimes so large that the cabbage has to be -seen to be believed in.</p> - -<p>A brutal murder had been committed at Napa previous to our arrival; the -murderer had been sentenced to death, and without any ostensible reason, -a free pardon for this felon was granted by the governor of the state. -During our stay here some of the most determined of the citizens of Napa -frustrated this act of ill-timed mercy, and the murderer was found hung -in his cell. No further notice was taken of the matter; but this act -cannot be justified under any circumstances, for as the people elected -the governor, and armed him with the right, had he so chosen, of setting -free every convicted felon in the state, their election was a farce if -his decision was not binding in the pardon he dispensed to the Napa -murderer.<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_216">{216}</a></span></p> - -<h2><a id="CHAPTER_XII"></a>CHAPTER XII.</h2> - -<div class="blockquot"><p class="hang">ANOTHER FIRE—MY GEOLOGICAL FRIEND—“BURNT -OUT”—SACRAMENTO—LEVEE—HULKS—RATS—VIGILANCE COMMITTEE—START -FOR VOLCANO—CROCKETT—“RIGHT SIDE UP.”</p></div> - -<p class="r"> -<i>June, 1851.</i><br> -</p> - -<p><span class="smcap">Shortly</span> after my return to Vallejo, a bright glare in the direction of -San Francisco indicated too surely that the city was again in flames. -The wind was very high, and we had every reason to believe that the -conflagration was general. Having roused out the Old Soldier to his -intense disgust, I reached Benicia in time to take a passage to San -Francisco in the last returning Stockton boat. We met steamers going up -river crowded, that stopped and confirmed our worst fears; mine in -particular, for I had felt anxious respecting the property of a friend -who had shown me unceasing kindness since my arrival in the country. I -learnt that his stores had already fallen, and knew that he was ruined. -It was with great difficulty we landed, for the fire had extended to the -water’s edge, and in many places the wharves had been disconnected; -everywhere deep holes had<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_217">{217}</a></span> been burnt in them, and some were drowned -that night from this cause.</p> - -<p>The ruins of the fire were quite deserted, the inhabitants had sought -the suburbs, sorrowfully no doubt, for a night’s rest; and the bright -moon looked calmer than ever in contrast to the red angry embers which -smouldered on every side.</p> - -<p>I found myself alone after I had scrambled up a small hill that -commanded a view of the fallen city, and I never remember feeling so -solitary in my life. Small columns of red-tinted smoke rose lazily in -every direction, the blackened shells of brick warehouses stood out here -and there in bold relief against the moonlight, whilst every crevice and -window in them was fantastically lighted by the glowing embers that -still burnt within. Over the ruins of large drug stores ghostly lights -of blue and green flickered in a supernatural manner. Where the fire had -already been extinguished, dark pits seemed to yawn, and open wells, and -deep cisterns, stood ready on all sides, their coverings being burnt, to -trap the unwary adventurer who might be led to explore those regions. -Not a sound broke the stillness of the night, and as the moon was -overshadowed by a passing cloud, I turned and stumbled on what was -either a very dead man or a very drunken one,<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_218">{218}</a></span> and having seen all there -was to see, I descended the hill and rejoined my companions.</p> - -<p>Lodgings were scarce enough that night, as may be imagined, nor was -there a sufficient number of houses standing to accommodate the -burnt-out citizens. I was fortunate enough to meet an Hungarian -geologist, who was probably the poorest man in San Francisco, for the -science he professed could not at this time be put to much account in -California. Were it not for the respect in which I hold a learned -society at home before which “papers” are read, and by which laws are -made for the better regulation of geology, I should say that the reason -why the votaries of this science did not succeed in California, arose -from the fact, that this eccentric country, had for ages past acted in -defiance of the fundamental rules of the society in question: whether or -no, whenever my friend set out in search of gold on scientific -principles, he generally left that metal farther behind him at every -step.</p> - -<p>Wherever you go now you will meet a few Hungarians, and I have ever -found them a superior class of men—quiet and unobtrusive in their -habits, and of very liberal education. My geological friend had a small -hut built among the sand-hills. As we walked towards it we were called -on to deliver<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_219">{219}</a></span> by three gentlemen of the road, but as, happening to be -both armed, we made the usual demonstration in such cases, we went on -our way without molestation. Not but what it would have been a kindness -to have robbed the Hungarian, for though he had no money in his pocket, -and his clothes were valueless, he was staggering through the deep sand -under the weight of an enormous bag of quartz he had collected, every -ounce of which I foresaw was destined to be pulverised in a hand mortar -and tested, involving a great amount of labour but <i>no profit</i>. I tossed -up with my friend who should have his bed, and having won it I was soon -asleep, it being now nearly daylight; when I awoke he was gone, and I -was at no loss to conjecture that he had sought elsewhere a softer couch -than the heap of rocks and fossils that had fallen to his lot.</p> - -<p>When I reached the burnt city all was again animation, and on every side -preparations were being made for rebuilding it of brick and stone.</p> - -<p>I have alluded to a friend; it was with sorrow that I viewed the wreck -of the noble warehouses that had been his: but yesterday, as it were, he -had pointed to these buildings with pride as evidencing his successful -efforts, though never forgetful to whom success was owing, while to-day -a heap of ashes marks<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_220">{220}</a></span> the emptiness of human calculation. A week ago -and his glorious hospitality assembled hundreds to commemorate the -completion of a stately warehouse,—to-day the firm is hopelessly and -irretrievably ruined.</p> - -<p>He lies now in the cemetery outside San Francisco, and those who have -not forgotten the warm grasp of a hand that was ever ready to -succour—now that that hand is cold, will recognise this sketch, and -will not blame me for recording this slight tribute to his memory.</p> - -<p>After a diligent search I was directed by the appearance of sundry steel -buttons to the ashes of what had been my wardrobe; everything had been -destroyed, and among the papers I had lost were the notes and sketches -of the country that I had collected to this date, which notes, after -three years, I am rewriting from memory.</p> - -<p>After contemplating mournfully the whitened remains of two little dogs -that lay side by side, with the blackened ashes of my dress coat and -patent leather boots, I turned from the spot, and shortly afterwards -encountered Sir Henry Huntly, who in an equally melancholy frame of -mind, had just completed a survey of his “ashes;” we agreed to pay a -visit to the northern mines, and made preparations for a start.</p> - -<p>The wooden wharves had for the most part been<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_221">{221}</a></span> converted into charcoal, -and the steamer was crowded with those who like ourselves were anxious -to leave behind them so much desolation.</p> - -<p>The mail steamer had come in from Panama, and ladies who had just -arrived to find their husbands, houseless and ruined, were hurrying -careworn from their toilsome journey sorrowfully to seek a temporary -shelter in Sacramento. There were troupes of actors, who, forgetting all -rivalry in their common adversity, felt the reality of tragedy. The fire -bell had arrested their performances, and though they worked ever so -manfully at the breaks, the temples of Thespis had been swept away in -the storm, and with them their wardrobes and arrears of pay. There were -professional gamblers for whom the losing card had now turned up, who, -burnt out of their tinsel saloons, were starting for the mines, to -commence life again in a thimble-rigging tent, until growing prosperous -they could work gradually back again to San Francisco, where the tinsel -saloons were already being rebuilt.</p> - -<p>There were speculators who had a “snug lot” of flour or pork up country, -and who were off to fetch it down and lock it up in store-ships, until -the wants of the community should make it worth its weight in gold -almost. There were small traders, whose debtor and creditor accounts had -been, fortunately<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_222">{222}</a></span> for them, buried in oblivion by the general ruin, and -who talked furiously of their losses, and bespattered their hard fate -with curses of the loudest and deepest character. And there were many -who like myself had come to satisfy their curiosity, just as we go to -the sea-shore and view the wreck of a noble ship; and these grew -hilarious upon the strength of having lost nothing, and returned to -their homes in famous good humour with themselves and all the world.</p> - -<p>Passing Benicia we entered Suisun Bay, on the shores of which a city was -attempted—New York by name—but failed. There is something to admire in -the audacity of speculators, who finding themselves possessed of a few -acres of swamp, wave their wands and order a city to appear. The working -human tide of California ebbed and flowed past New York with great -regularity, but all commands to arrest it, and direct it from its -natural course were futile as regarded that city, which really presented -no advantage that I could see. It is now dusk, and we enter the -Sacramento river. Presently we pass a large steamboat going down, who -gives us a close shave, and complimentarily strikes three bells, upon -which we strike three bells; and in a few minutes we pass a small -steamboat also going down, who gives us a closer shave, and shrieks -three times out of something connected with her<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_223">{223}</a></span> steam-pipe, upon which -we groan three times out of something connected with our steam-pipe. -These salutes are invariably observed, and the greater the rivalry -between the boats, the louder they scream at each other.</p> - -<p>The banks of the river are for the most part marshy, but in the fading -light we catch glimpses here and there of small cultivated enclosures, -with comfortable-looking shanties peeping between the oak trees. After -supper everybody turns in, and at daylight we arrive at Sacramento.</p> - -<p>Sacramento is built on the banks of the river, from the encroachments of -which it is as often drowned as its sister city is burnt. The houses are -gaily painted, and the American flag waves in every direction; the -streets are wide, and some trees that have been left standing in the -town give it a cheerful appearance.</p> - -<p>It is an American town at the first glance; an immense quantity of -sign-boards stare at you in every direction, and if anything would -induce a man to purchase “Hay and Grain,” “Gallego Flour,” “Goshen -Butter,” or any other article for which he has no want, it would be the -astounding size of the capital letters, in which these good things are -forced upon his notice.</p> - -<p>Every other house is an hotel or boarding-house, for with few exceptions -every one is put out to<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_224">{224}</a></span> “livery,” as it were, in Sacramento; and in -hard times, when cash is scarce, one half of the population may be said -to feed the other half gratuitously, or on credit, which often amounts -to the same thing, thus affording a beautiful illustration of mutual -support and confidence.</p> - -<p>Sacramento is terribly dusty; the great traffic to and from the mines -grinds three or four inches of the top soil into a red powder, that -distributes itself everywhere; it is the dirtiest dust I ever saw, and -is never visited by a shower until the rainy season sets in, and -suddenly converts it into a thick mud.</p> - -<p>I was introduced to a club of Sacramento gentlemen, who had formed -themselves into what they called a literary society. In their rooms was -to be found what in those days was scarce, a tolerable collection of -books and the periodicals of the day. They were very jovial fellows, -well-informed, not so literary as I expected, and certainly quite free -from pedantry. The most important ceremony at their meetings consisted -in the members standing in a circle, upon which a Chinese hat of -teetotum shape was spun in the centre, and the “literary savant,” who -was indicated by a black mark on the hat when it ceased to spin, stood -“drinks for the crowd.”</p> - -<div class="figcenter" id="plt_005" style="width: 600px;"> -<a href="images/ill_010.jpg"> -<img src="images/ill_010.jpg" width="600" height="372" alt="[Image unavailable.]"></a> -<div class="caption"><p>BAR ROOM AT SONORA</p></div> -</div> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="page_225">{225}</a></span></p> - -<p>The weather was oppressively warm, and the iced -“drinks”<a id="FNanchor_11_11"></a><a href="#Footnote_11_11" class="fnanchor">[11]</a> were necessary even to a literary society;—so much so, -that the hat was kept continually spinning by public acclamation. There -was no lack of sensible and entertaining conversation, and the evenings -passed with these gentlemen were to my thinking none the less pleasant, -although perhaps less literary, for the twirling of the Chinese hat.</p> - -<p>A levée, or sea-wall, has been built in front of the city, to protect it -from the river when it rises with the high spring tides; but the river -generally undermines these works, and flows over the surrounding plain -as it has been wont to do for ages past.</p> - -<p>A large number of old dismantled hulks, now converted into floating -houses, are moored along the front of the levée, and it is from these -probably the rats first landed that are now so distinguished at -Sacramento for their size and audacity. These animals come out after -dark in strong gangs, as if the town belonged to them, and attack -anything that may happen to have been left on the wharf during the -night; being very numerous, the destruction they cause to merchandise is -a serious loss.</p> - -<p>Ten thousand dollars were offered, I was told, to<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_226">{226}</a></span> the man who should -clear the town, and seduced by this bribe, some one in the rat-catching -line volunteered to draw all the rats into the country, and there -enclose them in a paddock, to be publicly exposed previous to a -massacre; but whether the rats thought it best to leave well alone, and -be content with the comfortable quarters and nice pine-apple cheeses -they enjoyed in the city, or whether they objected to country air, does -not appear; but they never went out to the paddock, except one, who is -reported to have approached within a reasonable distance of the -vain-glorious rat-catcher, and then standing on his hind legs, after the -manner of rats, and scratching the tip of his nose contemplatively with -his paw, he turned tail for the city, causing grievous disappointment to -five terrier dogs, who ineffectually chevied him in.</p> - -<p>The conflagrations of San Francisco had been attributed to -incendiarists, and as many attempts to fire the town had been -frustrated, it is probable that this was the case. A Volunteer-Guard, -therefore, patrolled the city of Sacramento at night, to guard against -this evil, and to protect the inhabitants from the wholesale plunder of -organised bands of burglars. Crime had increased so rapidly of late in -San Francisco, and robbers and incendiarists had become so emboldened by -the impotence and venality of the<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_227">{227}</a></span> justiciary, that the citizens -organised a society styled the Vigilance Committee, for the purpose of -affording the protection to life and property that the law would not -bestow.</p> - -<p>So far was well; but this society, composed of men who <i>smarted under -personal loss</i>, attributed <i>perhaps unjustly</i> to incendiarism, took upon -themselves the dispensation of life and death.</p> - -<p>Men detected, as was supposed, in the act of <i>felony only</i>, were tried, -sentenced, and executed, without defence, in the same night.</p> - -<p>It is useless now to dwell on the summary executions that were put in -force in half a dozen cases by the Vigilance Committee; no one would -defend their acts, and they met with opposition at the time from the -better class of citizens; the memory of them may pass away, but they -certainly had the effect at the time of ridding the country of a set of -desperate men, and of restoring a degree of security to the inhabitants -of San Francisco that had never previously been enjoyed.</p> - -<p>Colonel D——, a friend of Sir Henry’s, had control of a quartz vein at -a place called Volcano, in the northern mines, and we determined upon an -inspection of this vein, which was reported to be highly auriferous.</p> - -<p>We started at daybreak, in a light spring waggon,<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_228">{228}</a></span> and, taking with us -our blankets, we were soon five miles from Sacramento, and pulled up at -the young town of Brighton.</p> - -<p>Colonel D—— appeared to be the owner of Brighton; and, being a -sporting man, he had constructed a race-course here; with the exception -of the race-course, and one or two stables, there was not much of the -town developed as yet; but being really advantageously situated, I have -no doubt that it is well populated by this time.</p> - -<p>The road was straight and level, and on either side, enclosed by fences, -were well-cultivated farms; numerous dwelling-houses lined the road, and -it was difficult to believe that the signs of civilisation and industry, -that met us on all sides, were the result of two years’ occupation of -the country by gold hunters.</p> - -<p>As we left Brighton we overtook long lines of waggons, heavily laden -with stores for the mines; and these, drawn by innumerable oxen, -ploughed up the deep dust to such an extent as obliged us to cover our -faces as we passed them. We met waggons coming in, containing miners, on -whom, to judge by their appearance generally, a bath, a shave, and a new -suit of clothes would not be thrown away; and I have no doubt they -indulged in these luxuries on their arrival at Sacramento.<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_229">{229}</a></span></p> - -<p>We stopped to breakfast at a house of entertainment kept by one -Crockett, who had a very pretty wife; but the possession of this luxury, -so far from humanising Crockett, appeared to keep him in a continual -fever of irritation; for he was jealous, poor fellow, and used to worry -himself because there was ever a dozen or two of hairy miners gazing in -a bewildered manner at Mrs. C.; but, if report speaks truly, the bonnet -and boots of a “female” had been successfully exhibited in this region -at a dollar a head, (a glimpse of them being thought cheap even at that -price) surely therefore Crockett might have excused the poor miners for -regarding attentively the original article when presented gratis in the -shape of a pretty woman.</p> - -<p>Crockett carried a revolver of disproportionate size, he not being a -large man, and this instrument he occasionally used upon provocation. A -great number of miners had looked at Mrs. Crockett on the morning of our -arrival, and her husband had not quite finished foaming at the mouth in -consequence, when we entered the house. It was some time before he -condescended to be civil; but having at length informed us that he was -“so riled that his skin cracked,” he added that he was a “devilish good -fellow when he was ‘<i>right side up</i>,’<span class="lftspc">”</span> and commanded us to drink with -him. After this he procured us a most excellent breakfast,<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_230">{230}</a></span> and, on the -strength of our respectable appearance, allowed Mrs. Crockett to preside -at this repast, which she did in a nervous manner, as if momentarily -under the expectation of being shot.</p> - -<p>We left our host “right side up,” and, proceeding on our way, we soon -lost sight of the cultivated country and began to traverse undulating -plains studded with the dwarf oak. The road now gradually becomes worse, -and has long ceased to be level; we pass road-side houses, whose names -indicate the localities in which they are placed: “Rolling Hills,” -“Willow Springs,” “Red Mountain,” and so forth.</p> - -<p>After travelling twenty miles we ascend the first range of hills; the -pine-tree appears, and here and there we catch glimpses of the American -Fork River. As we leave the plain, and ascend the wooded hills, trails -may be observed indicated by blazed trees, leading to mountain gorges, -where diggers are at work. Flowers clothe the hills in the richest -profusion, and most conspicuous is the yellow poppy, which lightens up -these desolate red hills for a few weeks each spring; growing in rich -masses that, in contrast to the bleak and stunted herbage, are like -sunbeams, and like sunbeams leave every spot they cheer more gloomy, -when, under the influence of the first hot summer wind, they droop in a -night and pass away.<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_231">{231}</a></span></p> - -<h2><a id="CHAPTER_XIII"></a>CHAPTER XIII.</h2> - -<div class="blockquot"><p class="hang">AN OLD SHE-GOAT—OUR MINERALOGIST—GOLD DIGGERS—MURDERER’S -BAR—THE THEORIST PUZZLED—MINING LAWS—JUMPING CLAIMS—THE MINER’S -LIFE—“LET HER SLIDE”—HOSTILE INDIANS—WE ARE -DISGUSTED—FIRE-PROOF HOUSES.</p></div> - -<p class="r"> -<i>July, 1851.</i><br> -</p> - -<p><span class="smcap">We</span> reached the Salmon Fall diggings about noon, and, without halting, -crossed a wooden bridge that had been built here on the north fork of -the American River; we paid five dollars toll to its enterprising owner, -and ascended the opposite hill. The road here became so uneven that we -got out of the waggon in preference to being pitched out, and we were -kept very busy in locking the wheels when it went down hill, and pushing -behind when it went up. We passed no houses now, but trails led off on -either side, whilst occasionally we encountered solitary miners -“prospecting” near the road. “Prospecting” is the term applied to a -pursuit of knowledge under difficulties, that is, searching for gold -where no trace of it is apparent on the surface.<a id="FNanchor_12_12"></a><a href="#Footnote_12_12" class="fnanchor">[12]</a> There are plenty -of<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_232">{232}</a></span> “prospectors” in the mines, but the profession scarcely pays, for -the “prospector” is the jackall who must search for many days, and, when -he has found, the lion, in the shape of the old miner, steps in and -reaps the benefit. So that there is something to be learnt in the -diggings, for undoubtedly one of the first principles in life is to look -on while others work, and then step in and cry “halves.”</p> - -<div class="figcenter" id="wdcut_007" style="width: 600px;"> -<a href="images/ill_011.jpg"> -<img src="images/ill_011.jpg" width="600" height="419" alt="[Image unavailable.]"></a> -</div> - -<p>We stopped at dusk at a house a little off the trail, and, having had -supper, we spread our blankets on the ground, and being tired were soon -asleep; but we soon awoke again, for, separated from us by a canvas -screen, was a young goat, whose dismal bleatings made “night hideous:” -vain were the imprecations that were showered on the goat’s head; -daylight discovered him still crying, and us awake and unrefreshed.<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_233">{233}</a></span></p> - -<p>As we prepared to start, in rather a sullen humour, what was our -astonishment when our host accosted us smilingly thus: “I had an -addition to my family last evening, gentlemen, and as fine a boy as ever -you saw!” So he must be, thought we, to have a voice like a goat; and, -as we went on our way, we recalled the compliments with which, during -the night, we had greeted the new-born babe, under the innocent -impression that it was a kid; and conjectured to ourselves the feelings -of the mother when she heard herself alluded to as an old she-goat!</p> - -<p>As the waggon followed the trail, we walked through the forest at the -side; the botanist of our party had now ample employment, and tortured a -new flower at each step; whilst our mineralogist pocketed specimens with -such fervour that their accumulated weight began at last to tell -severely on his frame, upon which he discharged his gleanings -surreptitiously, to our great amusement, for we insisted that he had -dropped them by accident, and made him pocket them again. If the people -of this world had but to carry their hobbies up a dusty mountain, under -a hot sun, in the shape of a bag of quartz, how soon they’d cast them -off!</p> - -<p>At noon, having reached the ridge of the mountain, we had an extended -view of the gold country as it<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_234">{234}</a></span> stretched away for miles beyond us in a -succession of steep red hills; through these the American Fork rushed -impetuously, and huge masses of red-woods clothed the highest mountains; -while, in the distance, the white peaks of the Sierra Nevada were -perceptible; those famous mountains of which the reputed wealth is still -as much the Dorado of the Californian diggers, as were the placer fields -before me once the dream of the Mexicans of the sixteenth century. -“Prospectors” visit these cheerless snows never to return; but, like the -discontented squirrel of the fable, who would ascend the sun-lit hills -that looked so much like gold, reach them, utter a moral and die.</p> - -<p>A turn of the road presented a scene of mining life, as perfect in its -details as it was novel in its features. Immediately beneath us the -swift river glided tranquilly, though foaming still from the great -battle which, a few yards higher up, it had fought with a mass of black -obstructing rocks. On the banks was a village of canvas that the winter -rains had bleached to perfection, and round it the miners were at work -at every point. Many were waist-deep in the water, toiling in bands to -construct a race and dam to turn the river’s course; others were -entrenched in holes, like grave-diggers, working down to the “bed rock.” -Some were on the brink of the<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_235">{235}</a></span> stream washing out “prospects” from tin -pans or wooden “batteas;” and others worked in company with the -long-tom, by means of water-sluices artfully conveyed from the river. -Many were coyote-ing in subterranean holes, from which from time to time -their heads popped out, like those of squirrels, to take a look at the -world; and a few with drills, dissatisfied with nature’s work, were -preparing to remove large rocks with gunpowder. All was life, merriment, -vigour, and determination, as this part of the earth was being turned -inside out to see what it was made of.</p> - -<p>The air was so still and clear that the voices rose to us with startling -distinctness, and when a head appeared from a distant pit, and its owner -vociferated, “How are you, Frank?” I thought at first he meant me, and -was on the point of replying, “Well and hearty, thank him. How was he?”</p> - -<p>Small patches of garden surrounded the village, which bore so palpably -the stamp of cheerfulness and happy industry, that I was disappointed on -learning that its name was “Murderer’s Bar;” though the appellation was -justly conferred in memory of a brutal murder that had been committed -amongst its earliest settlers.</p> - -<p>Had all the diggings been named in accordance with the circumstances -that ushered them individually<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_236">{236}</a></span> into public notice, there would be more -Murderer’s Bars than the traveller would well know what to do with, -unless they were numerically arranged like the John Smiths in the -muster-roll of a marching regiment.</p> - -<p>The name is unpleasantly candid; there are plenty of “diggings” that can -record their tales of blood much more forcibly than Murderer’s Bar, but -under such peaceful titles as “Diamond Springs,” or “Happy Valley,” they -bring no shudder to the traveller. So that we learn another thing at the -diggings, which is, that it is ridiculous to be a Publican and make a -clean breast of it to every stranger, when such great immunity is gained -under the garb of the Pharisee.</p> - -<p>One would ask how it is that Murderer’s Bar, despite its name, is a -peaceable village, where each man’s wealth, in the shape of ten feet -square of soil, is virtuously respected by his neighbour; it is not -because there is enough for all, for every paying claim has long ago -been appropriated, and the next comer must go further on. There is a -justice of the peace (up to his arms in the river just at present), and -there is a constable (who has been “prospecting” a bag of earth from the -hill, and been rewarded with a gold flake of the value of three cents); -these two, one would suppose, could scarcely control two or three -hundred<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_237">{237}</a></span> men, with rude passions and quick tempers, each of whom, as you -observe, carries his revolver even while at work. But these armed, -rough-looking fellows themselves elected their judge and constable, and -stand, ever ready, as “specials,” to support them.</p> - -<p>If a man wanted a pickaxe or a shovel, and thought to help himself to -one of those that lie about at all times at Murderer’s Bar, he would -find it inconvenient if discovered; for, as there is no extenuating -clause of hunger or misery in the diggings, theft is held to be a great -crime; in all probability the offender would be whipped at the tree; and -this brings us again to the perplexing subject of Lynch law as relating -to the miners.</p> - -<p>I venture to say that it will puzzle the theorist to determine how far -the roving population of the mining regions in California have been -justified in taking measures to eject the bad and worthless from among -them; for all rules and precedents fall before the strong argument of -self-preservation. When Christian and his shipmates landed at Pitcairn’s -Island and made laws for the regulation of their small colony (happily -little needed) they acted as much upon the principle of Lynch law as did -the miners; for these latter were equally without the reach of the laws -under which they had been born. Where,<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_238">{238}</a></span> after all, was the great -difference in the first trial by jury and the Lynch execution among a -colony of men living far from civilisation? Was the peace of a community -of honest men to be disturbed by crime and bloodshed, unpunished, when, -from circumstances, the law of their country was unable to protect them? -These and similar questions would form the basis of the argument in -defence of Lynch law in the mountains.</p> - -<p>On the other hand, the opponent would point to the fearful instances on -record of men being hurried to eternity without preparation—victims to -the overwrought feelings of an excited mob. The defence of -self-constituted law is untenable, yet there are instances in which -small communities have seemed to me justified in enforcing, by the only -means at their command, the order so necessary in such a state of -society as that of the mountain gorges of California.</p> - -<p>But when we see this law “subverting law” in a city like San Francisco, -then we are forced sweepingly to condemn, once and for all, all that -bears the name of Lynch, and we feel loth to admit that in any case the -end can ever justify the means. Still it is a question, taken from first -to last, that one may split straws on, when we see how<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_239">{239}</a></span> peacefully -Murderer’s Bar progresses, not under the <i>execution</i>, but under the -<i>fear</i> of Lynch law. In most mining villages public indignation has been -confined to ordering men to “leave the camp” in twenty-four hours, or -otherwise take the consequences; and after being thus warned, the -nefarious digger invariably “slopes.”</p> - -<p>The mining population have been allowed to constitute their own laws -relative to the appointment of “claims,” and it is astonishing how well -this system works. Had the Legislature, in ignorance of the miner’s -wants, interfered and decided that a man should have so much, and no -more, of the soil to work on, all would have been anarchy and confusion.</p> - -<p>Whereas now, every “digging” has its fixed rules and by-laws, and all -disputes are submitted to a jury of the resident miners; excepting in -those instances where twenty men or so are met by twenty men, and in -these cases there is first a grand demonstration with fire-arms, and -eventually an appeal to the district court. The by-laws of each district -are recorded in the Recorder’s Office of the county, and these laws are -stringent although self-constituted; ill-defined at first, and varying -as they did, they were conflicting and troublesome, but though they have -been jumbled as<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_240">{240}</a></span> it were in a bag, they have come out like Mr. Crockett, -“right side up.”</p> - -<p>I have had my claim in the digging more than once, of ten feet square; -if a man “jumped” it, and encroached on my boundaries, and I did’nt -knock him on the head with a pickaxe, being a Christian, I appealed to -the “crowd,” and my claim being carefully measured from my stake and -found to be correct, the “jumper” would be ordered to confine himself to -his own territory, which of course he would do with many oaths.</p> - -<p>It is customary to leave your mining tools in your claim, to indicate to -all new comers that it is occupied, and as this rule is recognised it -saves a great deal of unnecessary explanation; but it has often struck -me that if in the quiet and virtuous hamlet of Little Pedlington, a -market-gardener were to leave his spade outside as a sign of occupancy, -he would not detect that implement in the morning, spite of the -vigilance of the one policeman, who guards that blissful retreat.</p> - -<p>We descended the cliff by a short cut; the mineralogist took a shorter, -for a ledge of earth gave way beneath his weight, and enabled him to -reach the base about three minutes before us.</p> - -<p>Gongs sounded at this moment, and the red clayey<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_241">{241}</a></span> population flocked in -to dine, looking disproportionately dirty in contrast with their white -houses: I did not see a woman in the “camp.” But these things are being -better ordered now, and I can foresee the day when the traveller from -Murderer’s Bar shall speak of anxious mothers rushing from the white -tents with soap-sud arms to rescue embryo miners from the gutter; and -when flaxen-headed urchins shall gaze suspiciously at the approach of -such as I, and running back to their parents, will exclaim, “Oh! daddy, -here’s a Britisher!”</p> - -<p>The gold is found here in coarse flakes, and the bank washings, from all -accounts, average five or six dollars a day per man.</p> - -<p>The days had passed when diggings were abandoned, so soon as they ceased -to reward a day’s toil with less than an ounce or two of gold, and -“chunks” and “big strikes”<a id="FNanchor_13_13"></a><a href="#Footnote_13_13" class="fnanchor">[13]</a> were now exceptions to the rule; but the -days had passed, also, when to obtain these prizes men laboured -painfully under the influence of fever, produced by bad food and -poisonous spirits, to die at last, perhaps, disgorging every hard-earned -flake of gold to some attendant quack.</p> - -<p>Much happier the miner, when, as at Murderer’s Bar, his toil is -regularly rewarded with a smaller gain,<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_242">{242}</a></span> for his health is no longer -impaired by feverish excitement and drink, and the necessaries of life -are placed within his reach, at prices that enable him to save his gold -scales as well as his constitution, for the “rainy day,” that in one -form or the other comes to all at last.</p> - -<p>Leaving the village and passing some hills, the sides of which were -overgrown with the white azalia, we reached another part of the river, -where was a ferry-boat, and here we found our waggon. On the opposite -side of the river the ascent was very steep, and would have been -impracticable for waggons, had not the owner of the ferry excavated a -portion of the mountain, and otherwise constructed a road.</p> - -<p>For this outlay of capital the ferryman was reaping a rich harvest; -having thus opened the only practicable trail at this time to the more -northern mines, he had secured to himself the toll of every waggon -passing to or from those regions, and these tolls amounted in one year -to sixty thousand dollars (12,000<i>l.</i>). The original capital was, I -understood, the result of successful digging; and I mention this -circumstance as it proves two things, first, that fortunes in the mines -are not dependent on the discovery of little nests of gold, as some -suppose, but on the judicious application in a new country of the small -capital<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_243">{243}</a></span> which a little steady work with the pickaxe will ensure to any -industrious and healthy man; and, secondly, that a large portion of the -gold amassed in mining regions is expended upon the permanent -improvement of the country; so that the export of the “dust” is no -criterion of the yield.</p> - -<p>Bridges, ferries, roads, watercourses, dams, hotels, and stage coaches, -have nearly all been started by means of the capital obtained from the -soil over which they run, or on which they are constructed. No one knows -what a waggon will undergo, until he has mastered Californian trails and -gulches. The worst places are the steep descents that skirt the base of -a mountain, where the road has an inclination of about thirty degrees -towards the precipice beneath.</p> - -<p>In such places you may fasten a rope to the axle of the waggon, and -passing the other end round a tree or rock as a check, you may let her -“slide,” which she will do without any further trouble on your part.</p> - -<p>We were now approaching a spot where a few days previously the Indians -had made some successful descents upon mining parties, cutting off some -of their number. The Indians of this region promise to be a great -annoyance, for they are mounted and brave, and are gradually becoming -possessed of rifles.</p> - -<p>There is an Indian commission in the country, and<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_244">{244}</a></span> portions of -territory, called “Indian Reserves,” have been marked out as in other -states, and presented to the Indians from their good father, the -President. These “Reservations” the Indians accept and occupy, but the -lurking idea still remains, that the rest of the country is theirs also, -and in the mean time they “lift hair,”<a id="FNanchor_14_14"></a><a href="#Footnote_14_14" class="fnanchor">[14]</a> from time to time, to keep -their hands in.</p> - -<p>When Indians, labouring under the ridiculous notion that anything can -belong to them that the white man wants, become troublesome, it is -customary to drive them back; but the Indians of this region when so -driven, will find their revenge in carrying on an exterminating warfare -against the overland emigration—at least so it appears to me.</p> - -<p>Still, the policy of conciliation pursued by the “Commissioners” is the -only one that lies open, and if they can persuade these savages “that -half a loaf is better than no bread,” they will have carried out their -diplomatic mission to its full extent. But it is easier to lull Indian -suspicions than to eradicate them; and unfortunately for all parties, -these aborigines cherish morbid ideas relative to the “graves of their -fathers,” from which, under the influence of diplomacy, they have been -induced to retire: and certainly in those cases, where their progenitors -have been buried<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_245">{245}</a></span> in auriferous soil, their remains are not more -religiously respected than would they have been had their fate consigned -them to some of our intramural burying grounds. For although, in a -civilised country, one’s great grandmother’s skull may be thrown up with -impunity, when her lease of the grave is out, these Indians cling to the -absurd superstition that the great “Manitou” looks wrathfully on those -who wilfully disturb the dead!</p> - -<p>We ascended hill after hill, and by noon, being hot, tired, and dusty, -the scenery had no longer charms for our eyes; we passed gigantic -red-woods only to sneer at them; we pooh-pooh’d cascades that fell from -masses of black basaltic rock; the honeysuckles that lent their -sweetness to the air around us, were pronounced disgusting; and even the -botanist reproached the yellow poppies with being “stinking,” as if <i>he</i> -couldn’t have borne with them.</p> - -<p>But when we pulled up at “Smith’s ranche” and bathed and dined, we -dismissed these unhealthy feelings, and took the honeysuckles to our -bosoms again. We now began to experience the change of air consequent on -our increased elevation, and the ascent was so rapid here, that thirty -miles ahead of us the snow was reported to be lying fifteen feet in -depth.<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_246">{246}</a></span></p> - -<p>Where we now were, the main trail was little worn, but at a certain -point we struck off to the right through the forest, and following the -“blazed trees” we suddenly emerged on a clear and rocky ledge on the -side of the mountain. Here was the quartz vein we had come to see, and -its thirteen American owners lived upon the spot in a couple of log -huts.</p> - -<p>We were received with great hospitality, although this was of less -substantial kind than it would have been, had not our entertainers been -“out of everything” but flour, water, and tea. We had fortunately -brought some provisions with us, otherwise we might have indulged in the -luxury of a mountain appetite longer than was conducive to comfort. -During two days we inspected the quartz mine, and having to the best of -our ability satisfied ourselves of its wealth, we retraced our road to -Sacramento, taking care to avoid the residence of the “old she goat,” -but calling on Crockett, whom we again found with his “skin cracking” at -some imaginary insult to his wife.</p> - -<p>When we reached San Francisco we found that preparations were going on, -on all sides, for erecting brick and stone buildings in lieu of -combustible shanties.</p> - -<p>The style of architecture in vogue was less remarkable for cunning -design than for its sturdy fireproof<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_247">{247}</a></span> qualities; and although the square -houses, with their thick walls and double doors, and shutters of strong -iron, and bomb-proof cellars underground, added little towards the -embellishment of the city, it was no time to think of elegant façades or -imposing friezes when the first object was the security of life and -property. Each building, then, was intended to assume the character of a -fortress to resist the common enemy of the place; and from that day to -this, this end has been fortunately carried out, and the heart of the -city is impervious to fire.<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_248">{248}</a></span></p> - -<h2><a id="CHAPTER_XIV"></a>CHAPTER XIV.</h2> - -<div class="blockquot"><p class="hang">JOE BELLOW—STOCKTON—A BEAR TRAPPER—BEAR AND BULL FIGHTS—AN -UNEASY BEAR—CALIFORNIAN INNS—NATURAL ROADS—GOOD DRIVING—I KILL -A FLEA—SONORA—THE EVENING COMMENCES—FRENCH EMIGRANTS—A DRINKING -BAR—NUMBER EIGHTY—A CORRAL AND A MORAL.</p></div> - -<p class="r"> -<i>September, 1851.</i><br> -</p> - -<p><span class="smcap">So</span> many reports had reached San Francisco at this time of the discovery, -in various parts of the mining regions, of auriferous veins of quartz of -immense wealth, that all that portion of the population who were in -waiting for something to turn up had already departed for the mountains -in search of gold rock.</p> - -<p>Although not exactly belonging to this class, it was my destiny to hear -from one Joe Bellow an account of a certain mineral district, a portion -of which, it appeared, had been showered by Fortune into his lap. His -description was resistless. His natural volubility, trained as it had -been by his professional duties as an auctioneer, overcame all obstacles -that I could raise, and I succumbed to his earnest entreaty that I -would<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_249">{249}</a></span> visit the mine in question and feast my eyes, as he had feasted -his, on the glittering wealth which nature had here exposed to view, and -of which he extracted a specimen from his pocket of the most -satisfactory description.</p> - -<p>The mine was situated in the vicinity of Sonora, the chief town of the -southern mines; and as, independently of my curiosity to inspect it, I -wished to visit that section of the country, we started at four o’clock -one evening in a small river boat called the “Jenny Lind,” bound to -Stockton, a town situated on the San Joaquin River.</p> - -<p>On starting from San Francisco for the mines, it was but natural to bid -adieu to cleanliness and comfort for the time being, and, having so -fortified myself, I was better able to withstand the intolerable filth -of the “Jenny Lind.” She has since “blown up,” which is about the only -thing that could have purified her.</p> - -<p>At daylight we arrived at Stockton, which I shall allude to more fully -by and by, and at once landed and secured our places in the stage then -about to start for the town of Sonora.</p> - -<p>The stage coach was of American manufacture, and of the class known as -“Concord” coaches. It carried nine inside and two out. Our driver was a -colonel,<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_250">{250}</a></span> and his name was Reed. He was one of the best of whips, and, -as proprietor of the line by which we were now travelling, he was making -money very fast. Having been forestalled in the box seat by a very hairy -miner, I completed, in company with Mr. Joe Bellow, the complement -inside, after paying the gallant colonel an “ounce” for passage money. -This was a “reduced fare,” occasioned by an opposition having lately -made its appearance on the Sonora road; the bare mention of this -emulative vehicle raised the colonel’s “dander.” With a crack of the -whip we started at a good pace, behind four well-built, active beasts, -not over-groomed, or “turned out” very expensively as to harness, but -famous goers, and good for ten miles an hour over the plain.</p> - -<p>Lines of stages now traverse the country in every direction, and there -is scarcely a canvass mining village that is debarred from communication -in this way with the principal towns. The horses used by these lines are -of the best quality, for a Yankee stage driver knows wherein true -economy lies; but the capital required to start a line is very -considerable, and as soon as the profits begin to “tumble in pretty -freely,” as Colonel Reed remarked, up starts an opposition; for -stage-driving is a favourite speculation! Our inside passengers -consisted of a young<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_251">{251}</a></span> Canadian woman, who travelled under the protection -of an ill-looking dog, a kind of Irish Yankee, who was very quarrelsome -and bumptious, and carried his revolver in a very prominent position. We -had two or three miners, who, as a matter of course, brought their -rifles and blankets with them into the coach, and who squirted their -juice at passing objects on the road with astonishing accuracy. We had, -however, one decided character. This was a man who, as he gratuitously -informed us, was professionally a bear hunter, bear trapper, and bear -fighter; who, in fact, dealt generally in grizzly bears. When he shot -bears—and it appeared he lived in the mountains—he sold the meat and -cured the skins; but when he was fortunate enough to trap a fine grizzly -alive, a rich harvest generally awaited him. The grizzly was immediately -transferred, bound head and foot, to a large and strong cage; and this, -being mounted on the bed of a waggon, the animal was despatched to some -large mining town in the vicinity, where notice was given, by means of -handbills and posters, that “on the Sunday following the famous grizzly -bear, ‘America,’ would fight a wild bull, &c., &c. Admission, five -dollars.”</p> - -<p>A bull and bear fight is, of all exhibitions of this description, the -most cruel and senseless. The bear,<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_252">{252}</a></span> cramped in his limbs by the strict -confinement that his strength and ferocity have rendered necessary, is -placed in the arena; and attached to him by a rope is a bull, generally -of fine shape and courage, and fresh from the mountains. Neither animal -has fair play, and indeed, in most instances, each one avoids the other. -The bull’s power of attack is weakened by the shortness of the tether, -whilst the bear, as above mentioned, has scarcely the free use of his -muscles.</p> - -<p>The bull invariably commences the attack, and the immense power of the -bear’s fore-arm is then exemplified; for, raising himself on his hams, -he meets the coming shock by literally boxing the bull’s ears; but this -open-handed blow saves his entrails, and the bull swerves half stunned, -whilst his horns graze Bruin’s skin. But if the bull approaches in a -snuffing, inquisitive kind of manner, the bear will very probably seize -his enemy’s nose and half suffocate him in his grip. The fight generally -ends without much damage on either side, for the simple reason that -neither of the combatants means mischief.</p> - -<p>I was sleeping one night at Campo Seco, a mining village in the southern -mines, the houses of which were, for the most part, composed of canvass, -the “balance,” as they say here, being of muslin. The<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_253">{253}</a></span> camp was very -full, as on the day previous, Sunday, a long-expected fight had come off -between a grizzly bear and a cinnamon bear. I had heard that, after an -uninterrupted embrace between the two of about four hours, the grizzly -had been declared the victor, which was not so extraordinary, -considering that he weighed about 1200 lbs., and that you could not have -driven a tenpenny nail through his hide, whilst the cinnamon’s weight -was quoted at 400 lbs. I was “putting up” with an acquaintance who kept -a store in a small canvass house, and he having, with true mining -generosity, opened a bale of new red blankets for my temporary -accommodation, I was soon asleep. About daylight I was awoke by what I -imagined to be the moaning of a man in pain, and the occasional -disturbance of the canvass wall nearest my sleeping-place satisfied me -as to the locality. The moaning soon became deeper, and occasionally the -canvass yielded to some heavy weight that pressed against it. Presently -was heard a smash of crockery and a tremendous roar; upon which my host -started up, and, placing a revolver in my hand and seizing his rifle, he -rushed out of the tent, vociferating, “Come on.” Following him into the -adjoining room, which formed his kitchen and occasionally a stable for -his old mule, my eyes at once lit upon the cinnamon bear, whom<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_254">{254}</a></span> my host -had provided with lodging at the nightly charge of one dollar. The bear -was fortunately chained to a strong stake in the centre of the hut, -otherwise, “all smarting, with his wounds being cold,” he looked, -judging from as much of his eyes as one could distinguish in his swollen -face, as if it would be grateful to him to set-to with something as much -smaller than himself as he was smaller than his late antagonist. Upon an -after inspection of his chain I ascertained that its length would have -admitted his gratifying this desire on my carcase, had he tumbled -through the canvass partition which had separated us for the night.</p> - -<p>The weather being at this time fine and the roads in good order, we -passed, throughout the whole length of our journey, innumerable waggons -laden with winter provisions for the mines; and droves of mules—patient -little brutes, some as small as donkeys, staggering under barrels of -liquor and cases as big as themselves; each drove led, as a matter of -course, by an old white mare with a bell.</p> - -<p>As we neared the Stanislaus River, distant thirty miles from Stockton, -every one inside became sociable, except the Irishman, whose jealousy -had been aroused to a fearful pitch by J. Bellow, who entertained the -fair Canadian in French, a language unknown to her<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_255">{255}</a></span> protector. During -our journey J. B. had not been inactive, having already disposed, -conditionally, of sundry bags of sugar to the miners, and a box or two -of German cigars to the bear hunter; samples of these articles having -been extracted from his capacious pocket. Crossing the river Stanislaus -at a fordable spot, we pulled up at a large wooden house, and alighted -to dine and wash off the dust with which we were covered.</p> - -<p>The immense traffic carried on on the roads that lead to the mining -regions affords an extensive field for the profitable management of -houses of entertainment. These may be encountered at almost every mile -throughout the whole country, and they vary in size from a wooden -two-story house to the very smallest kind of canvass shanty.</p> - -<p>There seems to be a certain hour of the day for every traveller in -California to breakfast, dine, or sup; and should he not arrive at a -roadside house at one of these specified hours, he will get no meal; and -could the traveller by any possibility be present at each and every -hostel at the same moment, he would find a stereotyped bill of fare, -consisting, with little variation, of a tough beefsteak, boiled -potatoes, stewed beans, a nasty compound of dried apples, and a <i>jug of -molasses</i>. He would then sit down at the summons<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_256">{256}</a></span> of a bell in company -with all the tagrag and bobtail of the road who might have congregated -for the repast in question: and, if inclined to follow the custom of the -country, he would, with the point of his knife, (made blunt for this -purpose) taste of the various condiments, butter included, that were -ranged before him, and, selecting as many of these as were suited to his -taste, he would pile them on his plate, demolish them with relish, and -depart on his way in peace. Travel where you will in California, you may -rest assured that of the foregoing will your meal be composed, and in -nearly such a manner must you eat it.</p> - -<p>Dinner over, we mounted a strong spring waggon in exchange for our -covered coach, which had too much top hamper for the mountain trail we -had before us. We had now six horses, all American, good sound cattle, -that had come to California across the plains, and were well broken in -to crossing gulches and mud-holes. We were soon in a different style of -country. Hitherto we had been crossing a level track across the Stockton -plain, interrupted by an occasional dive into a dry gulch; now we -commenced at once to ascend the hilly country which first indicates the -approach to the mining regions. The road to Sonora, as indeed to most -places in this country,<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_257">{257}</a></span> has never been laid out by Government, but is, -in fact, a natural trail or path marked out by the first pioneer waggons -that passed that way, deviated from, from time to time, as experience -indicated a shorter cut; receiving no assistance from the hand of man, -and encountering a vast number of obstacles from the hand of nature.</p> - -<p>For instance, we arrive at a part, that, skirting the base of a hill, -presents a rapid declination to the left, which is a very hard and -rocky-looking ravine. Colonel Reed exclaims, as he places his foot on -the break, which works from the box, “Hard up to the right!” upon which -the insiders loll their heads and bodies out on that side of the vehicle -to preserve its equilibrium. We had to “hard up” a great many times -either to one side or the other, during which time J. Bellow always -considered it necessary to assist the fair Canadian; whereupon the -Irishman looked fierce and talked large, but finally one of the miners -told him, in a quiet but unmistakeable manner, that “if he didn’t ‘dry -up’ he’d chuck him out of the stage.” Whereupon the Irishman did dry up -for the rest of the journey; and shortly after arriving at Sonora we -heard of his being detected attempting to pass off <i>bogus</i>, or imitation -gold dust, and he narrowly escaped being lynched by the mob. In the -course of<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_258">{258}</a></span> the afternoon I obtained the box seat, and engaging the -colonel at once on the subject of horseflesh, I soon obtained from him a -great amount of useful knowledge on the subject of American stock, of -which I am a great admirer. As we neared Sonora, the colonel’s attention -was almost entirely occupied by his team, for in many places the trail -led through deep gulches, into which previous volcanic eruptions had -showered an infinity of small cindery rocks, which, close enough -together to prevent wheels getting through them, were just sufficiently -high to capsize the cart if the wheels went over them. We arrived at the -summit of a “used up” crater, and, having a long descent of this -description before us, the inside passengers were ordered out; the break -was put on, worked by the colonel’s leg on the box. I held on according -to orders. We slided down in famous style, first over on one side then -the other, the colonel occasionally addressing his team with “D—— you, -don’t touch one of them!” meaning the rocks, through which we were -picking our way. But, near the bottom of the hill, we got our off-wheels -into a <i>mud-hole</i> and declined gently on that side, a fine specimen of -volcanic formation preventing the waggon from going over altogether. The -colonel, without hesitation, made all his passengers hang their weights -to<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_259">{259}</a></span> the near side of the waggon, and, sitting on my lap, with a crack of -the whip he started the whole concern, and sent it flying and swaying -from side to side to the bottom of the hill. Here we pulled up, and the -colonel, relieving me from his weight, observed, in extenuation of what -might otherwise have appeared a liberty, “that he was obliged to be a -little <i>sarcy</i> on this road.”</p> - -<div class="figcenter" id="wdcut_008" style="width: 597px;"> -<a href="images/ill_012.jpg"> -<img src="images/ill_012.jpg" width="597" height="600" alt="[Image unavailable.]"></a> -</div> - -<p>Fleas are very prevalent in the southern mines, and my first -introduction to the species was in this wise. The colonel turned -suddenly to me, his hands<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_260">{260}</a></span> being occupied with his ribbons, with “I -guess there’s a flea on my neck;” and I perceived on the instant that -there was a large, broad-shouldered insect, refreshing himself on the -place indicated, in apparent oblivion of all around. As in duty bound as -box seat, I pulled him off and put him to death, the colonel remarking -as he nodded his thanks, that he generally had three or four of the -“darned cattle put through” in that fashion during the journey.</p> - -<p>With so many teams and waggons on so narrow a trail, there is -occasionally much disputing for the right of way. Men carry arms on the -road as a general rule; but very seldom use any worse weapon than their -tongues in these disputes. In a very awkward descent we found the road -entirely and unnecessarily blocked up by a waggon, drawn by eight yoke -of oxen. The Colonel at a glance recognised a teamster with whom he had -previously had many words on the same subject, and he opened fire by -ordering him to his own side of the road; to which the teamster sulkily -acquiesced after some delay, our driver, as he passed, threatening him -with a “lamming” on the next convenient occasion; to which the teamster -replied by a promise of blowing the top of the colonel’s head off; which -so incensed the colonel, that he forgot himself, and rising in his<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_261">{261}</a></span> -seat, solemnly assured the driver of the ox team, that at some future -period nothing should deter him from “spiking” him; to which the driver -replied with such a shout of derision, that, believing as I do in the -colonel, I have no doubt that before this the teamster has met his fate, -and is a <i>spiked</i> man. The colonel felt very “ugly” for some minutes -after this, but soon recovered his equanimity of temper. And here I -shall take leave of him, for we now approach Sonora; the sun was -disappearing behind the red wood trees that capped the surrounding -mountains; we began to pass rapidly through mining villages and mining -populations, of which more anon, and after dashing through several bad -places, in which, as the colonel remarked, the best driver might get -<i>mired</i>, or stuck in the mud, the town of Sonora appeared in sight; and -dashing in at full gallop, we pulled up at the principal hotel.</p> - -<p>It was dark when we entered Sonora; and as the habits of the people here -are nocturnal, the evening may be said to have commenced as we alighted. -It certainly had commenced, for Greenwich Fair might be spoken of as a -sober picture of domestic life, compared to the din and clamour that -resounded through the main street of Sonora. On either side were -gambling houses of large dimensions, but very<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_262">{262}</a></span> fragile structure, built -of a fashion to invite conflagration, though offering little of value to -the devouring element when the invitation was accepted, which it was -about every other night or so. In most of these booths and barns the -internal decorations were very glittering; chandeliers threw a brilliant -light on the heaps of gold that lay piled on each monté table, whilst -the drinking bars held forth inducements that nothing mortal is supposed -to be able to resist. On a raised platform is a band of music, or -perhaps some Ethiopian serenaders, or if it is a Mexican saloon, a -quartet of guitars; and in one house, and that the largest, is a piano, -and a lady in black velvet who sings in Italian and accompanies herself, -and who elicits great admiration and applause on account of the scarcity -of the fair sex in this region.</p> - -<p>Each gambling house is full; some are crowded, and the streets are full -also, for it is Saturday, a night on which the miners flock into Sonora, -with the avowed intention of purchasing necessaries for the ensuing -week, and returning the same night; but, seduced by the city’s -blandishments, they seldom extricate themselves from its temples of -pleasure until very early on the ensuing Monday morning, when they -return to their <i>camps</i> and <i>long toms</i>,<a id="FNanchor_15_15"></a><a href="#Footnote_15_15" class="fnanchor">[15]</a> and<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_263">{263}</a></span> soothe their racking -headaches by the discovery of chunks of gold.</p> - -<p>The Mexican population preponderates in Sonora and its vicinity, and -nearly everything is stamped with their nationality. The gambling tables -are surrounded by them; and, dirty fellows as they are, they are very -picturesque at a distance with their slouch hats and long serapes. The -American population, between whom and the Mexicans a rooted hatred -exists, call the latter “greasers,” which is scarcely a complimentary -sobriquet, although the term “greaser camp,” as applied to a Mexican -encampment, is truthfully suggestive of the filth and squalor the -passing traveller will observe there. Sonora has a large French -population, and to this Gallic immigration is attributable the city’s -greatest advantages; for where Frenchmen are, a man can dine, which is -very important. The “<i>Trois Frères Provençaux</i>,” has its namesake here, -where good cooking and excellent light wines are at all times to be -relied on; but where Frenchmen are, there are also good bakers; and -there is, moreover, a great deal of singing and gaiety, and good humour, -which is a pleasant contrast to the coarser hilarity of a generally very -drunken population.</p> - -<p>The long bar of a saloon is always actively engaged,<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_264">{264}</a></span> and the bar-keeper -must be prepared for all demands in all languages. Here he serves a -Mexican group with <i>agua diente</i>; now he allays a Frenchman’s thirst -with <i>absinthe</i>, in the pouring out of which he displays much art; again -he attends with rapidity to the demands of four Americans, whose -<i>orders</i> embrace respectively, a “gin-cocktail,” a “brandy-straight,” a -“claret sangaree,” and a “Queen Charlotte;” these supplied, he must -respond with alacrity to the call of a cockney miner, whose demand is -heard even above the surrounding din:</p> - -<p>“Hain’t you got no hale hor porter?”<a id="FNanchor_16_16"></a><a href="#Footnote_16_16" class="fnanchor">[16]</a></p> - -<p>J. Bellow expounded a great deal more than I have attempted to describe, -before we had been many minutes at Sonora. As soon as we had bathed and -freed ourselves from the dust with which we were covered, and which, -perhaps from its having been ground off an auriferous soil, resembled a -fine rich plate powder, we dined at a French restaurant and commenced -our perambulations: not before J. B. had conducted me to his residence. -This was situated in the main street, and was a small canvas house -rather ostentatiously placed between two glittering saloons. The -interior consisted of one large room,<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_265">{265}</a></span> filled with stores and -provisions, and another very small apartment in which J. B. slept. The -front of the house was entirely occupied by black letters, more than a -foot in length, which, so soon as you got far enough off to read them -all at once, informed you that Joseph Bellow carried on the business of -auctioneer. In one of the saloons, a very interesting and well-looking -young girl was attending at a part of the bar where confectionary was -sold. I should not have supposed her to have had black blood in her -veins; but J. B. assured me that she had been a slave, and had been once -sold at New Orleans at a very high price, which he mentioned, and I -ascertained this to be true; she was free now, but freedom had come too -late, I suspect, to bring much value with it to her. J. B. knew every -miner in the place, and to each he had something to say, and with most -he took something to drink. It was, “Well, Jones, how did those pickles -suit you?” and if Jones disparaged the condiments in question, as he -probably did, it was, “Well, let’s have a drink: allow me to introduce -my friend, Mr. M——,” and if I had not managed to elude him, I should -have had to shake hands with every man in Sonora on the first night of -my arrival.</p> - -<p>I had been directed to a place called Holde<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_266">{266}</a></span>n’s Hotel as a sleeping -place. The lower floor formed the gambling saloon, in which were the -Ethiopian serenaders already alluded to; the upper being converted, as I -had understood, into sleeping apartments. On applying at the bar for a -bed, I was requested to pay a dollar and enter my name on a slate -opposite a vacant number; 80 it was. I wished to go to bed, and was -directed to mount the staircase and find No. 80 for myself. On reaching -the second storey, I found myself in a long and dimly lighted room of -the same dimensions as that below, and round and about which were ranged -about a hundred wooden stretchers, covered with canvas, and furnished -each with one dark-blue blanket, and a small bag of hay to represent a -pillow. It is satisfactory to me to remember, that, so far from -expressing surprise, I displayed a stoicism that would have brought the -blush through the vermilioned cheek of a Pawnee warrior; I wound my way -through the settees, most of which were occupied, until I arrived at one -on the head of which was a card bearing my number. A glance assured me -that the bag of hay that rightfully belonged to me was there, but that -the blanket was not. A momentary inspection further developed the fact, -that on all the occupied stretchers were two or more blankets, whilst -the unoccupied<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_267">{267}</a></span> beds had been denuded of this covering. Having been -educated as a midshipman, it is needless to say that to be in possession -of <i>three</i> blankets, for it was cold, and an extra bag of hay, was the -work of a moment; and making myself as snug as I could in No. 80, I was -soon asleep, notwithstanding that the chinking of the monté-bankers, and -the noise of the crowd below, and the calls for brandy-smashes, and the -chorus of the serenaders, were by no means “fainter in the distance;” -and no wonder, for close to No. 80 there was a chink between two planks, -so wide that I could see “Bones” lolling out his tongue at the public, -as he accompanied the chorus to the popular song of “Charlestown Races.”</p> - -<p>I awoke about daylight, very chilly, and found that my blankets had -disappeared. The law of reprisal had been fairly enforced, and one -cannot always be <i>wide-awake</i>. It was a comfort to me to reflect, that -he who took the blankets, took the fleas that belonged to them; and as -these creatures feed about daylight, <i>I had the best of it after all</i>. -It was a capital idea of the landlord’s, to have all the blankets of the -same colour, for as every man deposited his revolver under his head -before retiring for the night, it prevented all possibility of the joke -becoming serious.</p> - -<p>As I have already observed, the Spaniards enclose<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_268">{268}</a></span> their wild horses in -a “corral.” Here, closely packed, the best horse kicks himself into the -best place, and keeps it. These wholesale human dormitories are also -called corrals, and the principle is much the same as regards the -occupant; you must kick or get kicked—and indeed for that matter the -whole world is conducted on much the same principle.<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_269">{269}</a></span></p> - -<h2><a id="CHAPTER_XV"></a>CHAPTER XV.</h2> - -<div class="blockquot"><p class="hang">THE GOLD MINE—THE INNOCENCE OF SONORA—SUNDAY IN SONORA—SELLING A -HORSE—CARRYING WEAPONS—BOB—WE LEAVE VALLEJO—WE ARE “BOUND TO -GO”—THE SHADOW OF A CROW.</p></div> - -<p class="r"> -<i>September 1851.</i><br> -</p> - -<p><span class="smcap">Early</span> the next morning I proceeded on horseback with Joe Bellow and an -engineer to the mine, which was situated near a mining village called -Tuttle-Town. To reach this spot we had to cross a table mountain, so -covered with the débris of former volcanic eruptions, that it was a -perfect cinder-heap upon a large scale. The ground reverberated as we -passed over concealed craters, and for two or three miles we were -confined to a foot pace, as we picked our way through the rough boulders -that lay half buried in the earth, like a field of winter turnips.</p> - -<p>The Tuttletonians were not actively employed at the time of our arrival, -principally from the fact that the diggings had “given out.”</p> - -<p>The quartz vein, however, was there, and after a day’s inspection, I was -satisfied that in external<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_270">{270}</a></span> appearance at least it bore out the report -that Joe Bellow had given of it. To the man who wants more money than he -has (and few of us are free from that craving), the sight of massive -veins of rock, peppered with specks of gold, is a trying spectacle.</p> - -<p>As he sits upon a boulder on the outcrop, and extracts a piece of pure -metal with the point of a knife, he is subject to a thrill which I am -afraid is indicative of the sordid ideas of his nature;—when he -descends the shaft, and by the aid of a candle still beholds the specks -of gold, he draws a long breath, in mental contemplation of the wondrous -wealth before him; then when the wealthy seam is placed at his service, -on terms so easy that it appears quite thrown away, in all probability -he will do as I did, swallow the bait, hook and all. The opinion of the -engineer was highly satisfactory, as engineers’ opinions generally are; -we therefore returned to Sonora, where I plunged at once into the -subject of mining statistics. I remember now how ridiculously plain the -whole matter appeared; here was the gold,—you could see it and feel -it,—well, all you had to do was to get it out! Argument would have been -wasted upon any thick-headed fellow who looked upon the matter in any -other light. But none such existed,—all Sonora was -quartz-mine-mad,—and although no machinery<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_271">{271}</a></span> had as yet reached this -region, shafts were being sunk, and adits cut, in every hill around the -town. One mine, which extended from the rear of the principal hotel, was -owned entirely by Cornish miners; these had sunk two deep shafts, and -connected them by a gallery, by which means two or three hundred yards -of the vein were laid bare.</p> - -<p>This vein was called the “Englishmen’s mine,” and it had not only the -merit of being sufficiently rich to all appearance to justify the -erection of machinery, but it was about the only lode that had been -scientifically opened by miners, and which was ready without further -expense to supply any amount of ore. But up to the time of my leaving -the country, the owners of this vein, although Englishmen, had not been -able to exert sufficient interest to get it “looked at,” and if this -incident should be read by any victim who has had two and twopence -returned to him in exchange for the sovereign he invested in California -Mining Companies, let him not as he contemplates his “small returns” lay -the blame on the quartz rock of the country, for I assure him that the -cause of failure is much nearer home; but of this I shall speak in its -proper place.</p> - -<p>Sonora is dependent for existence on the surrounding mining population; -it is a town with a<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_272">{272}</a></span> resident population of about three thousand souls, -but with accommodation on the corral principle for about ten thousand -more. Sonora is advantageously situated in one respect, inasmuch as it -is irresponsible for the morals and conduct of its floating population; -if Sunday is desecrated in Sonora by five thousand pleasure-seeking -miners, Sonora washes its hands of that.</p> - -<p>Sonora is one large house of entertainment for bonâ-fide travellers; and -although nearly every one makes a point of travelling thither on a -Saturday, to have a “burst” on Sunday, and return in penitence on -Monday, Sonora washes its hands of that,—otherwise I should say that -Sonora in 1851 was as loose a community as was that of San Francisco in -1849.</p> - -<p>No church bells here usher in the Sabbath; but auction bells arouse the -inhabitants equally to a full sense of the duties before them,—the sun -shines for Sonora on this day alone, and in accordance with wise maxims, -the population commences early to make hay.</p> - -<p>The miners prefer buying everything at auction, and although I imagine -the purchasers suffer in the long run by this principle, the “loafers” -gain by it; for (supposing you are a loafer) you have only to mix with -the crowd of bidders, and take out your clasp-knife; you can then make -an excellent meal from<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_273">{273}</a></span> the samples exposed to view, presuming always -that your constitution will stand a mixture of salt butter, Chinese -sugar, pickles, and bad brandy. Joe Bellow was an auctioneer, and -certainly he understood his business. Long before his sale commenced he -would place a keg of butter, or a bag of dried apples, outside his -store, and the miners would surround these luxuries like flies. Joe -Bellow’s object was to get a “crowd” and this accomplished, the auction -would commence in this style:—</p> - -<p>Joe Bellow takes his stand on a cask in the midst of his samples, and -startles you suddenly with “And I’m only bid one dollar for a dozen of -mixed pickles; one dollar, one dollar, one doll—try them, gentlemen.” -In the meantime Joe nods to an imaginary bidder in the distance, and -rattles on, “One and a half, one and a half, one and h—” “Doo,” says a -Dutchman, with his mouth full of pickled gherkin. “Two dollars I’m -offered for a dozen of mixed pickles.” “Dos y medio,” says a Spaniard, -under the influence of a green bean. “Ah! Senor Don Pacheco,” says Joe, -“son los escabéches d’Inghelterra, muy buenos, muy finos!”</p> - -<p>“Have I any advance on two dollars and a half?” “Trois piastres,” says a -French restaurateur. “Three dollars I am bid for a dozen of pickles that -cost five dollars in the States, Tenez! Monsieur Leon voici<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_274">{274}</a></span> des -cornichons comme il faut. Three dollars, three doll’s, three -doll’s”—“Dree-and-a-half,” says the Dutchman, to whom they are finally -knocked down, just as an old miner observes that “darn him if his knife -aint turned blue with the darned vitrol juice.” No description, however, -can do justice to the rapidity with which Joe Bellow knocks down his -lots, or to the easy impudence with which he meets all disparaging -remarks from his tasters; and such is human nature, that even in the -mines, where few simpletons are to be found, there was no butter so -rancid but Joe Bellow could dispose of it on a Sunday by means of his -volubility and soft-sawder! I heard a Dutchman enquiring very anxiously -one day for some one in Sonora whose name he did not know;—“What is he -like?” said one, but the Dutchman was apparently not apt at description, -and no clue could be gained; at last he spluttered out, “Tyfel! I mean -dat man dat cries always ‘bickel, bickel, bickel,’<span class="lftspc">”</span> and everybody knew -at once that Joe Bellow was the individual required, and directed the -Dutchman accordingly.</p> - -<p>The auction extending as it does across the street will be interrupted -most probably by a Mexican funeral procession, headed by a brass band, -playing dolefully; scarcely has this filed by when the same</p> - -<div class="figcenter" id="plt_006" style="width: 600px;"> -<a href="images/ill_013.jpg"> -<img src="images/ill_013.jpg" width="600" height="377" alt="[Image unavailable.]"></a> -<div class="caption"><p>HORSE MARKET—SONORA.</p></div> -</div> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="page_275">{275}</a></span></p> - -<p class="nind">band will return to an inspiriting tune, accompanied by merry-andrews -and torredores, who proclaim the day’s amusement in the bull arena. A -man goes rapidly by on a lean horse he is selling at auction; he is bid -twenty dollars for a flea-bitten roan, “Will anybody say twenty-five?” -Half-an-hour elapses, and back he comes, will anybody advance on thirty -dollars?—By-and-by he is seen tearing through the street, scattering -Joe Bellow’s pickle-eaters to the right and left, and sending the mud -flying into the sample keg of butter,—going for forty dollars, going -for—and as he does not appear again upon the scene, it is presumed that -the animal has either been sold, or withdrawn until the ensuing Sunday.</p> - -<p>The horses that are sold this way are not very showy, nor do they fetch -much, but it may be remarked that if the high-priced horses that are -occasionally sold with us on account of their owners “going abroad,” -were first subjected to a four hours’ galop, over a stony road, in -presence of the bidders, many of them would be “knocked down” for even -less than are these Californian ponies.</p> - -<p>For these animals have at least the advantage of possessing four sound -legs, and unless my experience much misleads me, three are as many as -you can reasonably expect in any animal whose pedigree will<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_276">{276}</a></span> admit of a -gentleman mounting him. Civilisation has done for horses, what in some -instances it has for their masters, improved their exteriors at the -expense of a ruined constitution. I wonder what Choctaw would think, if -he could be made to comprehend the fact, that there were horses of twice -his size and strength who couldn’t “feed” without the aid of gentian, -just as their masters take a glass of “vermeuthe” before dinner to -“gammon an appetite.”</p> - -<p>In Sonora, every man carried arms, generally a Colt’s revolver, buckled -behind, with no attempt at concealment. In countries where men have no -protection from the law, and the vicious preponderate, this is -necessary. And although it is much to be deplored, that this necessity -did exist, its consequences were less deleterious to society than would -have been expected. For the fear of the law, in the best regulated -community is not so strong as the fear of sudden death; and if quarrels -and assassinations were rare, comparatively, in the mountains, it was -owing to the fact that every man was able to protect himself. It is -generally inferred, as a matter of course, that where all men carry -arms, blood is shed on the first passionate impulse, and life is not -safe. This is not so; it is where all carry arms that quarrels are less -rare, and bullying less known than elsewhere,<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_277">{277}</a></span> although the population -may be more vitiated and intemperate than that of other countries.</p> - -<p>From the fact of all men being armed, robberies are less frequent in the -mines than would be expected, and in most cases where murders have been -perpetrated, the victims have been unarmed.</p> - -<p>There are many countries where the carrying of defensive weapons is -imperative as a preventative against outrage, but to those who from -choice or necessity visit such places, this Californian rule may be of -some value:—</p> - -<p>“Never draw your pistol unless you intend to use it.”</p> - -<p>Previous to the last San Francisco fire I have recorded, burglaries were -so common, that it became necessary to carry fire-arms after dark, more -particularly as the streets were not lighted. An acquaintance of mine -was walking late one night through a street which was apparently -deserted, and in which one dim light alone shed a sickly ray from over -the door of a closed restaurant. As he reached this spot, a man started -from the obscurity, and requested with the politeness of a Claude Duval -to know the time. With equal civility, my friend presented the dial of -his watch to the light, and allowing the muzzle of his revolver to rest -gracefully upon the<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_278">{278}</a></span> turnip, he invited the stranger to inspect for -himself. Slowly the latter advanced, and the sickly ray gleamed likewise -on the barrel of his “six-shooter,” as with some difficulty he satisfied -himself respecting the time.</p> - -<p>Both then prepared to depart, and for the first time the light fell on -their faces; then these desperate fellows discovered that they were no -burglars, but old acquaintances, who had dined in company on that very -evening.</p> - -<p>But this is not the only part of the world where it is prudent to look -on every man as a rogue until you know him to be honest.</p> - -<p>Having completed my mining calculations to my entire satisfaction -(unfortunately), I returned to Vallejo, and on my arrival there -discovered that the order for this young city had been countermanded by -the government. Everybody was preparing for departure, and as the place -owned a justice of the peace, writs were being served in every -direction. My hotel<a id="FNanchor_17_17"></a><a href="#Footnote_17_17" class="fnanchor">[17]</a></p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="page_279">{279}</a></span> was placed under execution on account of the -two horsetails, before-mentioned; the law was arrayed against me, but as -in Vallejo the law’s authority was represented by one man, and the -individual supposed to be amenable was represented by another, the law -did not always get the best of it, and as far as my own case was -concerned, it consisted in requesting the sheriff to leave the premises, -which he did gladly enough, having business of his own to look after. -Many of those who come overland to California, bring one or two young -blacks from the plantations with them; these of course if not previously -freed, become so on their arrival, but they are in all cases much -attached to their masters, and are very useful servants, so much so, -that they assume great importance and begin to think that nothing can be -done without them. I was amused one day at overhearing one of these -young niggers, who being aroused from his sweet slumber, under a waggon, -by his master’s reiterated cries of “Bob,” drew himself slowly out and -muttered, “Bob here, Bob there, Bob everywhere; b’lieve, by Gad, you -could’t come to California<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_280">{280}</a></span> without Bob.” “What’s that you say, sir,” -said his master, who unluckily heard the last part of the speech. There -was no reply, but Bob made for the hills there and then, and his guilty -conscience would not permit him to appear for three days, when he -returned very thin, but set himself to work so assiduously, that it -really did appear as if nothing could be done without him.</p> - -<p>I paid a short visit to San Francisco, and returned with such stores as -I thought necessary, and with these, Barnes and Thomas started at once -for Tuttle Town.</p> - -<p>Among these stores was a bale of canvas, of which I determined my next -Californian house should be built, and a barrel of gunpowder, with which -I contemplated disturbing the bowels of the earth.</p> - -<p>Rowe had decided upon accompanying me, a circumstance which I shall -never regret, for he was in every respect an excellent companion to the -day I parted with him. In mountain life, a friend whose tastes are -congenial to your own is indeed an acquisition; for each happiness is -doubled then, and let misfortune come as it will, its sting is ever -allayed by the sympathy of one true heart beside you.</p> - -<p>With the “Old Soldier,” “Choctaw,” “Tiger,” and “Bevis,” we embarked -late one evening on board a Stockton steam-boat; this latter was -naturally a slow<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_281">{281}</a></span> boat, but she managed to perform her journey in as -good time as the rest, for her engineer was a famous fellow, who held -life cheap, and maintained as his creed that “she was bound to go -anyhow;” so she went anyhow, trembling fore and aft, with an engine-room -full of steam, and a blaze from her funnel that lit up the banks of the -river on either side. There were few passengers on board, which was -fortunate, as there were few sleeping bunks.</p> - -<p>It is not customary to undress when seeking repose in these bunks; in -fact, decency forbids you doing so; for they are openly exposed on -either side of the saloon, and this latter is generally filled up, for -the best part of the night, by card-players.</p> - -<p>A placard informs you that “gentlemen are requested not to go to bed in -their boots;” but as the proprietors do not guarantee that your boots -shall not be stolen if you take them off, this request is seldom -complied with. I remember attending a political meeting in a little -church at Benicia; in each pew was a poster, which requested that you -would neither cut the wood-work, nor spit on the floor, but the -authorities had provided no spittoons, so, as a gentleman observed to me -whilst inside the sacred edifice, “what the something was a man to do -who chewed<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_282">{282}</a></span>”?</p> - -<p>At daylight we were at Stockton, and landing our horses we were soon in -the saddle and making the most of the cooler part of the day. Nothing -worthy of mention occurred on our journey, excepting that at the end of -forty miles our animals were as fresh as when they started. We pulled up -to dine at the Stanislaus, which river we crossed in a ferry. An -acquaintance of mine once crossed at this spot under peculiar -circumstances. He was proceeding from one digging to another, and had -three quarters of a pound of gold dust sown up in his pantaloons; he was -an Englishman, and after the manner of many of his countrymen, he -carried an umbrella, which nothing could induce him to part with.</p> - -<p>There was no ferry in those days, and when he arrived at the banks of -the river, he determined to swim across; but then his clothes and the -<i>umbrella</i>, how was he to get these across, and how could he go over -without them? He was seized with an idea, and at once acted upon it; -extending his umbrella, he placed his clothes inside, and fastened a -line to the handle; with one end of this in his mouth, he plunged into -the current, and struck out manfully with his boat in tow for the -opposite bank. But the gingham, like most experimental vessels, leaked -so much on her first cruise, that when the centre of the stream was<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_283">{283}</a></span></p> - -<div class="figcenter" id="wdcut_009" style="width: 600px;"> -<a href="images/ill_014.jpg"> -<img src="images/ill_014.jpg" width="600" height="539" alt="[Image unavailable.]"></a> -</div> - -<p class="nind">reached, nothing could be seen above water but the vessel’s mast head, -which was represented by an ivory hand clasping a round ruler. Now the -order of things became reversed, for the current was strong, and having -taken firm hold of the umbrella, the question was whether to go down the -stream with it or let it go. The latter course was adopted, not on -account of the gold dust or the clothes, but from a pure and unshaken -attachment to the parachute itself. After some effort, not unattended -with danger, “gingham” was safely brought into port, but on beaching it, -the cargo had vanished. Madam, our<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_284">{284}</a></span> adventurer had a straw hat on his -head with a very narrow brim, and with this article of attire and his -umbrella, he proceeded for about seven miles without encountering a -soul, when he reached what had been an encampment. The diggers had left, -but there was as much second-hand clothing lying about as would have -furnished a regiment. Selecting the best of this and washing it, my -friend was soon equipped, and went on his way rejoicing; rejoicing for -this reason, that although gold dust and clothes had gone to the bottom, -he had not only saved his precious umbrella, but had newly equipped -himself from a “ready-made clothing mart,” with no bill to pay.</p> - -<div class="figcenter" id="wdcut_010" style="width: 600px;"> -<a href="images/ill_015.jpg"> -<img src="images/ill_015.jpg" width="600" height="539" alt="[Image unavailable.]"></a> -</div> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="page_285">{285}</a></span></p> - -<p>The road was very dusty and the heat intense, but nothing seemed to tire -our beasts. The last part of our journey consisted of a gradual ascent, -and in many places the ground was covered with small round rocks, that -would materially have impeded the progress of most horses; but Choctaw -allowed no obstacle to arrest his long swinging “lope,” and the Old -Soldier, with his tongue lolling out of his mouth, followed his protégé -unflinchingly. I have sketched these two worthies; the Old Soldier, it -will be perceived (to show that he has still a kick left in him) is -expressing his disgust at the shadow of a crow that is thrown on the -road, whilst Choctaw, still suspicious, plants his Indian legs among the -loose rocks with an accuracy really marvellous. Before night we arrived -at Sonora, having by a circuit that we purposely made, completed a -journey of nearly seventy miles.<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_286">{286}</a></span></p> - -<h2><a id="CHAPTER_XVI"></a>CHAPTER XVI.</h2> - -<div class="blockquot"><p class="hang">I EXPLAIN TO THE PATIENT READER—PIONEERS—A LADY’S -BOOT—MAINSPRING—MEXICAN ROBBERS—VICTIMS OF PREJUDICE—WORKS ON -AMERICA—TWO PIGS—POWER OF THE HUMAN WILL.</p></div> - -<p class="r"> -<i>Sept. 1851.</i><br> -</p> - -<p><span class="smcap">In</span> less than a fortnight we had a couple of canvas houses erected at -Tuttle Town; each of these had a large fire-place and chimney, built of -mud and stones, and surmounted by an empty barrel for a chimney-pot, -after the popular architecture of the mines. Rowe and I occupied the -small shanty, whilst in the larger one I had Barnes, Thomas, and a -couple of English miners.</p> - -<p>Our houses faced the main street of Tuttle Town; this at the time was -indicated by stakes, there being as yet but three buildings in the -place. Higher up the hill and near the main shaft were eight Mexican -miners, whom I had hired for the purpose of quarrying the ore; having -supplied these with about twenty yards of canvas, half a dozen raw -bullock hides, an<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_287">{287}</a></span> unlimited quantity of beans and a frying-pan, they -made themselves very comfortable in their own way. I must not omit to -mention that I had a canvas stable for our four horses, not that these -required any shelter during the warm dry nights, but simply because I -wished to avoid the inconvenience of losing twelve of my party at once, -and finding some morning that my four horses and eight Mexicans had -departed in company. Most of the Mexicans of California are from -Sonora,<a id="FNanchor_18_18"></a><a href="#Footnote_18_18" class="fnanchor">[18]</a> and horse-stealing is a characteristic weakness of that -country. These people become such adepts at this trade, that I dare say -if a party of them were to visit New York, they would steal the woolly -colt out of Barnum’s Museum, although to lure a dead horse from a man of -that gentleman’s acuteness, would require a great amount of ingenuity -and patience.</p> - -<p>Having now established myself at the mines, it is incumbent on me to -explain to the patient reader my exact position there, as otherwise I -shall be accused of having attempted to accomplish that for which I was -incapacitated, a censure which I do not wish to be applied to me -otherwise than as an author, in which quality I must perforce admit its -truth.</p> - -<p>My object at Tuttle Town was to test the value of<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_288">{288}</a></span> the quartz vein -there, and if with the assistance of such miners as I had engaged, I -could satisfy myself that the vein held out sufficient promise of -remuneration, it had been agreed between myself and a friend at San -Francisco (he whose death I have recorded) that sufficient machinery -should be erected to give the ore a fair experimental trial.</p> - -<p>Amateur performances are seldom successful; and whether he wishes to -fatten short-horn bullocks for an agricultural show, or take the helm of -his yacht in a race for the cup, your amateur in one way or the other, -generally “comes out wrong.” “Chacun a son metier,” is a motto more -generally applicable than we are willing to admit, although there are -few of us who have not tried something that we had no business with. -Still man is emulous and vain, and until the end of the world fat -Muggins will waltz, ignorant Foodle will talk, and travellers like -myself will appear in print, and let us appear ever so ridiculous to -others, we cannot, and will not, acknowledge that “every one to his -trade” applies in any degree to us. But where a new course is opened for -emulation, all may start in the race, and former experience bore so -little on the subject of the quartz mines of California, and the means -of extracting the gold therefrom, that I entered upon my new employment -with no<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_289">{289}</a></span> more difficulties to contend against than others in the same -field. And this, be it understood, should always give courage and -confidence in a new country, for although a little more retiring modesty -would become both Muggins and Foodle (not forgetting myself in a -literary capacity), the same diffidence in the mines of California would -act as a bar to the research and experience so necessary for that -country. And however we may fail in our exertions we ought not on that -account, as is too often the case, to be ridiculed, for the failure of -one brings experience to the many, and some one must “pioneer” the road. -The prudent wait until the track is clear and the way is easy, and when -every tree is blazed and every obstacle removed, they advance chuckling, -of course, as the miner does who follows the prospecter; thus the -pioneer and his follower resemble two boys, one of whom will not enter -the river until his companion has tested the temperature of the water -and the depth of the stream.</p> - -<p>The quartz mines of California were discovered and opened almost -entirely by men who had no previous knowledge of gold mining, therefore -in many respects they worked in the dark, and from want of capital their -hard bought experience served only to benefit others.<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_290">{290}</a></span></p> - -<p>But the more fortunate of these bands of pioneers are now receiving an -ample compensation for the privation they suffered, the toil they -underwent, and the ridicule with which they were assailed. Auriferous -quartz has been found in numerous cases to yield a rich return, even to -the unscientific miner in California; how great then must be the wealth -amassed, one would suppose, by those experienced gentlemen, who, with -capital at their command, have been deputed by English companies to do -the same work on a larger scale. Yet experience has proved that the -great mining captains of the age have nothing to laugh at, even in the -unsuccessful efforts of such a worm as I.</p> - -<p>Unity and goodwill had been so long established amongst my little party, -that we were soon comfortable in every respect, and actively employed. -The vein extended for about half a mile, and the three spots I selected -for exploration had each its band of men sinking a “prospecting” shaft.</p> - -<p>Rowe and I had ample employment in superintending the operations, and -testing the samples of ore that were daily selected from each pit; so -with windlasses and buckets, crowbars and drills, gunpowder and fuze -matches, pestles, mortars, retorts, and quicksilver, we each of us had -our occupation,<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_291">{291}</a></span> and were happy as the day was long. The quartz was -sharp and cut like glass, so we wore deer-skin “trowserloons,” our -beards grew, our muscles increased to an alarming extent, our manners -were less toned down than was usual, in fact they were <i>swaggering</i>, our -appetites were very large, but for all that we were so happy that even -the pleasures of the “little valley” fell into insignificance before -those of our Tuttletonian life; and this arose in a great measure from -the fact that we all entertained a strong belief, that one day or other -our labour would be rewarded.</p> - -<p>Who talks of hope and disappointment in the same breath? Shall a day of -the one efface or tarnish the recollection of a year’s happiness -brightened by the other?—Not with me whilst I live. “See here, now, -boys,” said a Tuttletonian miner, one day, as he held up to an admiring -crowd a small and well-constructed lady’s boot. “The chunk aint found -that can buy this boot; ’taint for sale, <i>no-how</i>!”</p> - -<p>A lady’s boot to you, or I, reader, is not much unless we are married -and have to pay for a pair occasionally; but so long as we can associate -our hopes of earthly happiness for the future with some emblem held out -to us even at arm’s length, as was the miner’s “lady’s boot,” we may go -on<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_292">{292}</a></span> our way to work as did his gratified spectators more cheerfully and -light of heart.</p> - -<div class="figcenter" id="wdcut_011" style="width: 600px;"> -<a href="images/ill_016.jpg"> -<img src="images/ill_016.jpg" width="600" height="517" alt="[Image unavailable.]"></a> -</div> - -<p>When a man recals some sensation with more than ordinary pleasure, it is -very usual for him, particularly if he is a writer of travels, to ask -you if you have experienced the same. Says one “reader, did you ever -witness a sun-set from Chimborazo?” Says the other “reader, did you ever -eat a mangostein?” Unfortunately the reader is unable to reply until the -description of these wonders has been perpetrated. I have alluded to -this custom in excuse for asking the reader if he ever groomed his own -horse and derived pleasure from it? If not, I recommend him<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_293">{293}</a></span> after he -has managed Chimborazo and the mangostein to try it. Mainspring’s coat -was daily rubbed by me, when my own coat hung neglected on a peg; but -the fact is, he was a very handsome horse, and in the mines such a -rarity is a passport. With the natural vanity of man, I found that -Mainspring attracted more attention than I did, so I allowed my beard to -run to seed, and bestowed all my pains in beautifying the dumb animal.</p> - -<p>You, madam, who have viewed with pleasure the envious glances that have -been cast on the lovely bonnet you wore at Chiswick, will understand the -emotions I felt when miners left their pits and claims to pronounce with -less spleen upon the beauties of my steed.</p> - -<p>The Old Soldier and Choctaw were seldom groomed; the mud in which, of -course, they wallowed, was generally removed from their coats with a -spade, and on grand occasions they were finished off with a broom. Rowe -had a cream-coloured mare that was considered by the miners “some -pumpkins,” an expression which indicates great merit, and is equally -applied to a chew of tobacco, or the President of the United States.</p> - -<p>We generally rode into Sonora of an evening, for we were always in want -of something, and our drills<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_294">{294}</a></span> and pickaxes, in particular, soon became -blunted by the hard quartz, and had to be tempered again by the Sonora -blacksmith. We would return by moonlight, and had always to pass through -a camp of Mexicans of the worst character; these fellows not only cast -their covetous glances on our horses in open daylight, but on more than -one occasion they attempted at night to entrap us into a position that -would have left us unable to defend either our lives or our beasts. They -had a quantity of curs in their camp, and these, as we rode through in -the moonlight, would rush out, being set upon us, and worry us on all -sides with their yelping; they would follow us, howling, for some -distance, and our natural impulse was to shoot them with our revolvers, -for they were like wolves, but we were soon wise enough to refrain from -discharging our fire-arms, for we should thus have left ourselves -defenceless, against the half-dozen mounted ruffians we would encounter -higher up the road, waiting, undoubtedly, for this result.</p> - -<p>Two armed white men need fear little interruption from Mexicans provided -a proper amount of caution is exercised, and no sign of trepidation is -evinced. But their first principle is to attempt to throw you off your -guard, therefore the best rule in meeting such men is to insist at once -that they do not approach within the<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_295">{295}</a></span> distance at which they can throw -their deadly lasso, a weapon more formidable in the dark than fire-arms. -Whenever, singly or with Rowe, I met a party of mounted Mexicans in the -mines, I drew up on one side of the road until they passed, and after -dusk I took the precaution of warning them to a respectful distance, nor -was this unnecessary, for the Mexicans encamped round Tuttle Town -committed many murders, and my horse alone was sufficient inducement for -them, independent of the sums of money that the necessities of my party -often required me to carry of a night.</p> - -<p>One morning on entering the canvas stable that adjoined my hut, I -discovered that Mainspring was gone; his halter had been cut, and there -was no doubt that he had been stolen. Fortunately a drizzly rain was -falling sufficient to moisten the ground, and this had probably set in -about an hour after the thieves had removed the horse at the risk of -their lives. Without some knowledge of Mexican cunning, it would have -been useless to have attempted to track a stolen horse of Mainspring’s -fleetness. We presumed at starting that he had been taken over the table -mountain in our rear, as his foot prints could leave no trace behind for -some miles in that direction.<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_296">{296}</a></span></p> - -<p>Rowe and I then started on the search, and after crossing the mountain -we halted at a gulch. With some trouble we discovered at last that the -horse had crossed here, for he had one cutting shoe, the heel of which -left a slight imprint; from the gulch we traced him to a tree, and here -the ground being covered with dead leaves and brushwood, all sign was -lost. Accident favoured us, for a few miles further on we again hit his -trail at another gulch, but here he appeared to be returning. A close -inspection, however, proved that his shoes had been turned, for the heel -of the cutting shoe was on the wrong side, still we lost him again among -the trees, and as evening advanced we began to despair. But soon we -arrived at a Mexican encampment, and here by some stupid oversight on -the part of the thieves, Mainspring’s rug was left lying exposed on the -ground. All had protested their ignorance of the matter on our arrival, -but now with the blanket staring them in the face, they soon produced -the horse from a distant tent in the bushes, and assured us that a man -had left it there that morning, and had gone on his way.</p> - -<p>But a Mexican who was sleeping in a tent in mud-splashed clothes was the -thief, I knew: he started when I roused him up suddenly and held the -blanket before his eyes: but he swaggered out in apparent<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_297">{297}</a></span> unconcern, -and lighting a cigarito with admirable sang-froid, he began to play at -cards with one of the others. I was too glad to recover Mainspring, to -care about troubling myself by taking the Mexican back to Tuttle Town on -suspicion, and I dare say he was not sorry when Rowe and I departed, for -a horse thief in the mines has not much chance of his life when -detected, and of this he is fully aware. It has ever puzzled me on -reflection, that where so much pains had been taken to remove all trace -of the horse, the glaring evidence of the theft should be left forgotten -in open daylight, and I am inclined to think that the horse thieves -considered themselves safe from pursuit, and were rather surprised at -our appearance. From that day our horses were chained and padlocked -every night.</p> - -<p>The American residents of our mining village were very sociable and -kind, and the good feeling they evinced towards us added materially to -our comfort.</p> - -<p>Englishmen and Americans are for the most part the victims of prejudice, -and when they meet, too often each one expects to find in the other one -who is prepared to depreciate and misunderstand him and his country. -They approach each other like two strange dogs who stand head and tail, -with bristling hairs, rubbing their ribs together with an angry<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_298">{298}</a></span> scowl, -for no reason on earth except that they are two dogs.</p> - -<p>It may have been my fortune to have effaced some false impressions -respecting my countrymen from American minds; but, at all events, I have -had an opportunity of divesting myself of much prejudice by a social -intercourse with them.</p> - -<p>It is asserted that the Americans are great boasters, and I grant that -retiring modesty is not the chief characteristic of the race; but it is -right to remember, that for a long period, the Americans have been -rather depreciated than otherwise, and unmerited depreciation will -probably induce a habit of boasting more than anything else. When we -tell our friend reprovingly not to blow his own trumpet, we presume that -such merit as he possesses will be fully acknowledged. Public opinion -has not until latterly dealt fairly with the Americans in all respects, -and it is perhaps for this reason that they sound their own praises with -stentorian lungs; if they have not been justified in doing so they have -at least practically overturned that old saw of our revered ancestors, -that “those who <i>talk</i> most <i>do</i> least.”</p> - -<p>American character is necessarily very varied, and nowhere is this more -clearly perceived than in California, where all classes, freed in a -great measure<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_299">{299}</a></span> from conventional restrictions, appear in their true -garbs. I do not presume to write of American character, I can only -record my experience of individuals as I have seen them in the shifting -scenes of colonial life; but I think that I have had sufficient -intercourse with Americans of all grades to warrant my asserting that -foreign historians have too often unfairly paraded their faults, whilst -their own writers have in many instances erred equally on the side of -their virtues; I believe therefore that there is ample room on our -bookshelves for one fair unprejudiced work on the people of the United -States of America. Man is ordained to be charitable, and authors are -not, that I am aware of, exempted from this command; if, therefore, in -writing of a people, a little more pains were taken to discover their -virtues, and a less wholesale principle was adopted in regard to the -record of their vices, great good might be done to the nation written of -and no harm that I know of would accrue to the author. The man who can -kindle a warmer feeling in one nation towards another by displacing, -with a little judicious reasoning, the prejudices that may affect the -latter, waves a stronger wand than the most bitter satirist that ever -lived and wrote.</p> - -<p>Our vices are generally uppermost; this was exem<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_300">{300}</a></span>plified in the “Old -Soldier,” for your first acquaintance with that animal might possibly be -cemented, as it were, by a kick in the ribs, or a bite on the shoulder; -but, recovered from this shock, the longer you knew him the better you -liked him; and the old fellow, when once satisfied that you were <i>his</i> -friend, would appear to you in a very different light than when under -the influence of suspicion, justified, I’ll be bound, by the experience -of his life, he attempted to do you a mischief.</p> - -<p>I do not wish to compare this poor beast with a man, much less a nation, -but the simile serves me so far as to illustrate the fallacy of first -impressions as applied either to man or horse; yet, while all -acknowledge this for a truism, we find that half the books of travels -that analyse so fearlessly the character of the people visited are -valueless as commentaries on them, either from hastiness or unfairness -of opinion, on the one side, or laboriously-studied partiality on the -other. But seldom does the work of an alien run into this latter fault, -and most books on America remind me of a volume of Veterinary Surgery, -of which, open what page you will, you are met with a description of a -curb or a splint, a spavin or a ring-bone, with the author’s directions -for a complete cure!<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_301">{301}</a></span></p> - -<p class="casstt">* * * *</p> - -<p>How small a trifle will disturb, at times, the even current of one’s -life; let me recal the sole drawback to our otherwise complete -contentment at Tuttle Town.</p> - -<p>One of our neighbours had two pigs, and these, like all four-footed -animals in the mines, had a roving commission, and lived by nocturnal -plunder. This practice we could bear with, as much from our reverence -for pork, as from the fact that it was a free country for man or pig. -But these wretches took a fancy to scratching themselves, in the dead of -night, against the canvas shanty that Rowe and I inhabited; there were -plenty of posts, but they preferred a shanty; now, as the only hard -substances they could find were our recumbent bodies, as we pressed -against the canvas wall, the pigs scratched themselves against us, and -as this occurred for about four hours every night, accompanied by the -satisfactory grunts which the temporary alleviation of cutaneous disease -elicits from the pig, our rest was continually being broken upon. We -kept water boiling, and waking up suddenly we would scald them, we -harpooned them with crowbars, damaged the vertebræ of their backs with -the sharp edges of spades, fired blank cartridges under their noses, and -scarified them with<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_302">{302}</a></span> a deadly fire of broken bottles; but to no purpose, -they would come back and rub us out of bed again regardless of any -injury we could do them. The owner of them was absent, and there was no -“pound,” honour forbade our shooting them, and we never could catch them -to “corral” them. So, for the best part of a twelvemonth, we were -nightly roused up by these intruders, who itched so badly that they -rubbed our frail tenement out of the perpendicular. Soon they had a -litter, and then, while they still rubbed, the little pigs would get -under the house and squeal, and although we kept a long pole with a -steel fork attached to it, with which we tried to “grain” them, as we do -dolphins at sea, yet it was to no purpose, and they did as they liked -with us up to the day we left. At first we used to set the dogs at them, -but, being savage combatant pigs, rendered reckless by a free life, they -would stand at bay with their sterns bulging against our tent, which -they evidently mistook for the rock which was “to fly from its firm base -as soon as they,” which it nearly did on one or two occasions; moreover, -the dogs had enough to do to keep off six donkeys and about a dozen -curs, who were generally very musical when the moon was up.</p> - -<p>I mention this circumstance because we hear so<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_303">{303}</a></span> much of the power of the -human will, and I am satisfied that a pig’s will is stronger; and it is, -moreover, not only a traveller’s duty to record a fact, but he is -expected likewise to discover something new.<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_304">{304}</a></span></p> - -<h2><a id="CHAPTER_XVII"></a>CHAPTER XVII.</h2> - -<div class="blockquot"><p class="hang">YIELD OF GOLD—ITS DURATION—MORMON GULCH—THE DISTRIBUTION OF -GOLD—TUNNELLING—DAMMING RIVERS—HOLDEN’S GARDEN—ENERGY IN THE -MINES—QUARTZ-MINES—QUARTZ MINING SUCCESSFUL—THE AUTHOR GETS OUT -OF HIS DEPTH.</p></div> - -<p class="r"> -<i>October, 1851.</i><br> -</p> - -<p><span class="smcap">The</span> diggings in our immediate vicinity were not actively worked, as -there was not sufficient water for the purpose; this, however, was -shortly to be remedied, for companies composed of miners were at work in -every direction, conducting water from the rivers to the dry diggings; -and at this moment new plots of auriferous soil are daily being added to -the area of “paying ground” in the mines by the artificial introduction -of the water which nature has denied to them. Most of these companies -have received handsome returns; the charge to each miner supplied with -water being about two shillings a day.</p> - -<p>This affords another instance of the successful employment of capital -originally procured by gold digging; and if you wanted a few shares in -one of<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_305">{305}</a></span> these young companies, you could procure them without money, for -by taking your coat off and helping to cut the ditch, you could in six -months work yourself into a very respectable stockholder. I suppose each -traveller who returns to his home from California, whether he is an -Englishman or a Sandwich Islander, is questioned on all sides as to -whether the “diggings” are nearly exhausted? This is easy to answer in -the negative, but then follows a query far more difficult to reply to, -viz., “when will they be?” Conjecture must necessarily have much weight -in determining this problem, statistics of the past or present yield of -the placers being almost valueless for that purpose. Yet this should be -a question of very great financial importance, and not alone as regards -the probable duration of the twelve million sterling now annually -exported from California. For we must consider how far we are sustained -by facts in presuming that the present yield of this country will be -doubled, nay, quadrupled annually before the surface-soil is left again -as once no doubt it was, valueless in gold. Of course, the gold mines -must some day be exhausted; let us see then how far we are justified in -supposing this day to be, comparatively speaking, distant, as regards -California. I offer the following remarks with the avowal that they are -of worth only<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_306">{306}</a></span> as the crude opinions of one who has had nearly all that -practically bears upon the subject brought before his notice, but as -they will necessarily be dull and heavy as a blue book, I recommend the -generality of those who have followed me thus far, to skip this chapter, -which they probably will do with all the rest of the book.</p> - -<p>For you, reader, who have sent to the circulating library for the -“Newcomes,” and have had this book forwarded you as a “new work,” (the -“Newcomes” being out,) can scarcely be expected to peruse in your -present state of disgust, a chapter on gold mines: I therefore dedicate -this “paper” to two individuals, one of whom shall be the gold mine -victim before alluded to, as contemplating the two and twopence he -received for his invested sovereign, and the other is that unknown man, -who, in the <i>ennui</i> of a long sea voyage, shall peruse, mayhap, as I -have done before to-day, the pages with which his trunk is lined.</p> - -<p>Mormon Gulch was the name of a ravine that was about a hundred yards -from my tent, it was reported to have been the wealthiest digging in the -mines, and according to rumour, half an hour’s work with a clasp knife -or tin spoon, had invariably enriched any of the fortunate Mormons who -first discovered it in 1848. Since those days, however, the earth, or -stones<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_307">{307}</a></span> rather, for these preponderate, had been turned over again and -again, each time yielding less, until the soil ceased to return -sufficient remuneration to the only process of labour that could be at -that time applied to it. But before now water has been conducted there, -and by the more wholesale process of sluice-washing, the gulch claims -are again up in the market.</p> - -<p>By-and-by we shall hear of the sluice-washing companies having deserted -the gulch, and perhaps for a short period the red stony gravel will lie -idle; but soon steam-engines and some process of securing the gold by -amalgamation with quicksilver, will brighten up old Mormon Gulch again, -and there is no knowing how remote the day is, when its red banks shall -for once and all, finally and for the twentieth time, be reported to -have “given out.”</p> - -<p>The history of Mormon Gulch, and the future I have sketched for it, is -applicable to every ravine in the country, so far as this, that each -auriferous flat or gulch will be subjected to certain processes, until -at last the appliances of steam and science shall have robbed every -square foot of earth of the treasure it contains.</p> - -<p>Now, if all the gold territory of this country had been seized upon and -worked at the time that Mormon Gulch was first discovered, we might form -some<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_308">{308}</a></span> estimate of the time when machinery should be brought to bear -generally upon the placers; but as yet we cannot ascertain the amount of -gold-bearing soil that exists; for not only are fresh diggings still -brought to light, in the vicinity of the original discoveries, but we -have ample proof that plenty lies beyond in the direction of the Sierra -Nevada, which now, from the presence of hostile Indians, cannot be -disturbed, and indeed, for the present, is not wanted.</p> - -<p>The number of those who are now actually collecting gold by mining in -California, may be computed at about one hundred and forty thousand men.</p> - -<p>The obstacles that are alike presented by the extremes of the wet and -dry seasons, will not admit, probably, of these miners working for more -than two hundred days in the year, and the average daily sum amassed by -each man, may be fairly quoted at three and a half dollars, or fifteen -shillings.</p> - -<p>This will give an annual yield of twenty-one millions sterling from -California, and I have no reason to doubt that this sum is obtained, -although it does not (for many reasons) appear in the reported exports -of specie from the country.</p> - -<p>Now, if this sum can be annually realised by the exertions of -comparatively so small a body of men,<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_309">{309}</a></span> who have even at the latest dates -no better plan of securing the gold than by a rude system of washing, -what may we expect when machinery is employed, and labour concentrated?</p> - -<p>Those portions of the placer fields that would reward manual labour with -less than one or two dollars a day, are as yet unmolested, for as yet -the ruling rates of wages in the mines is higher, being guided by the -average yield. Therefore it is difficult to place a limit on the amount -of auriferous earth that now, rejected by the miner, will, by the proper -application of machinery and the reduction of labour, eventually produce -a vast return. There is scarcely a hill-side but gives evidence of the -existence of gold, but although this soil will not at present repay -manual labour, no one can suppose that the metal will be allowed to rest -there undisturbed.</p> - -<p>The distribution of gold in the soil is most eccentric, and this is -attributable probably to three causes:<a id="FNanchor_19_19"></a><a href="#Footnote_19_19" class="fnanchor">[19]</a> firstly, that for the most -part it was disintegrated from the matrix during the stupendous volcanic -action to which all the gold territory of California has been subjected; -secondly, that it has been carried to and fro by vast masses of water, -the result of heavy rains,<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_310">{310}</a></span> or more probably of heavy falls of snow in -the mountains, that have suddenly melted and carried all before them; -finally, from the land-slips and accumulations of upper soil that must -necessarily result where steep hills of gravel have been for ages -subjected to the sudden transitions of wet and dry seasons.</p> - -<p>I tread very carefully whenever I find myself on the geologist’s ground, -bearing in mind my scientific friend at Murderer’s Bar, who reached the -bottom so much quicker than he desired; therefore I can only suggest; -and the two readers to whom this discourse is dedicated, whilst they -deplore the ignorance which prevents me leading them through a labyrinth -of formations and stratas, must place something to my credit on the -score of modesty.</p> - -<p>Wherever gold is discovered in California, particles of quartz are found -adhering to it more or less; this quartz, even when found at great -depths, is generally rounded by the action of water, for quartz, when -detached by violent action, is naturally angular, and inclined to -splinter, and from its hardness it must require ages to give it the form -of a pebble, by the slow process of grinding it receives in a -comparatively dry mountain gorge. This, taken in conjunction with the -facts that the gold is found now on the<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_311">{311}</a></span> surface, and now low down -resting on the bed rock, here forced into clefts of granite, and again -in clusters of small pear-shaped nuggets, as if the metal had been -ejected by intense heat, and had dripped from the volcanic boulders that -lie scattered around; tends to bear out the supposition that -disintegrated gold has been cast into places that time and accident -alone can reveal, and that the original opinion that the gold was on the -surface only no longer holds good.</p> - -<p>Tunnelling has already been applied to rich hills in the mines with -great success, and this fact alone is of great importance, in so far -that it leaves us powerless to place a limit on the amount of auriferous -soil that is imbedded in the small round hillocks that extend over a -space of nearly four hundred miles, north and south.</p> - -<p>Where ingenuity aided by science is at fault, a very slight clue will -often accidentally lead to the solution of a problem; thus much capital -has already been devoted to the damming of those streams in California, -of which the banks were found to be wealthy; but in few instances -hitherto have the beds been found to be productive: yet they must be so -at some point, unless we are to imagine, what is improbable, that gold -has been carried by rain water to the verge of a swift<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_312">{312}</a></span> stream, and then -has been arrested there without any apparent obstacle.</p> - -<p>There is something capricious about this metal in its released state; a -search for it, even where evidence of its existence has been shown, is -seldom attended with success, yet every day almost chance brings to -light some fresh gold field.</p> - -<p>I remember a gentleman who, taking an early Sunday walk among the hills -that surround the town of Sonora, struck his foot against a stone. He -should have found a sermon in it, for he was not likely to find one -anywhere else, but in the agony of a mutilated great toe, he turned and -apostrophised the rock in unbecoming language; but he suddenly checked -his impetuous feelings, and we will hope from a good motive; whether or -no, the offending quartz was so richly coated with the dross that we -make a point of despising when we can’t get enough of it, that he took -it home. It was found to contain more gold than quartz, and yet within a -few hundred yards of a populous city, it had protruded itself -ostentatiously without notice for two or three years.</p> - -<p>It is difficult to understand why gold remained so long undiscovered in -California, considering that so much of it was on the surface, even in -those parts of the country already inhabited by whites. The<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_313">{313}</a></span> Indians, -who will search assiduously for the flints they require for arrow-heads, -do not seem to have been aware of the existence of gold on the plains, -although the savages of the as yet unexplored mountain districts, are -found with gold in their possession. The early Spanish priests evidently -sought for it without success, judging from the old shafts that have -been sunk, on part of the banks of the Stanislaus River; and yet these -explorations were ineffectually made in the centre of a rich district, -and by a class of gentlemen who were never in the habit of overlooking a -good thing. Some of the best diggings have been discovered by -market-gardeners, who have chosen some apparently valueless tract for -the purpose of cabbage growing, and it is a fact that one man with more -energy than agricultural experience, who was abusing the earth for -producing cabbages that were all stalk, found on rooting up one very -lengthy specimen, that a piece of gold adhered to the roots.</p> - -<p>Holden’s garden, near Sonora, is a case in point; this was found to be -so rich, that the gamblers of the town sallied out to take possession of -it, and a fight occurred, in which one or two lives were lost before the -“claims” could be adjusted.</p> - -<p>For four years Holden’s acre of cabbage ground has been worked with -great profit, pieces of gold of many<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_314">{314}</a></span> pounds weight each have been taken -from it, and to this day it is a rich digging, as times go.</p> - -<p>It is possible that both my readers have heard of a certain Irish pig -that could only be induced to go in one direction by being at the onset -driven in another; it is somewhat this way with the search for -gold.—Start on a voyage of discovery for copper or coal, and you will -probably, if in a gold region, tumble down and break your nose over a -nugget as large as a paving stone; but if you give chase to the -seductive metal itself, the toil of a lifetime will very likely not -counterbalance the first week’s privation.</p> - -<p>In respect to gold-fields, even if our argument leads to no definite -conclusion, it is something gained if we can determine that no sign of -diminution of yield is as yet apparent,—as regards the future, the -wisest can only record an opinion. I believe for my part that the -gold-fields of California will certainly yield in an equivalent -proportion to their present produce for many years, even if the diggers -are left to their own resources;—what may be done with the soil -eventually, when capital shall increase in the mines and <i>from the -mines</i>, is a question as impossible to solve as that of the advance of -science in other respects within the next half century.</p> - -<p>The miners of California are a highly intelligent<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_315">{315}</a></span> and determined race, -possessed of a degree of <i>mechanical genius</i> that surprises me; they -have before them a large area of soil, which they, equally with myself, -believe still to be most wealthy. They may by-and-by have the advantages -of foreign capital to help them; but if not, the capital that their -sinews can accumulate ounce by ounce from the gold soil will, in the -long run, so far answer the end, that the hills will be burrowed and the -streams turned, until the wealth is sifted from them, and then they have -a gold territory, as yet partially explored, to fall back upon—the -first range of the Sierra Nevada.</p> - -<p>Now, like enterprising farmers, they sow again perhaps one half of the -year’s harvest, until each fertile spot shall be in cultivation, -multiplying and fruitful; and so long as we see that the gold from the -soil is turned against the soil in the all-powerful form of capital, -aided by science; and so long as we know that what is separated to-day -by the “long tom” may to-morrow be devoted to the erection of -steam-engines and the sinking of vast tunnels; we know that a great -system of improvement is being carried out independent of <i>all external -aid</i>: and in the facts that on every side attest the strong faith the -miners hold themselves in respect of the inexhaustible nature of the -soil, and in the evidences of success<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_316">{316}</a></span> that meet us at all points, where -fresh inventions are applied, we have the best guarantee that the -“placers” of California are in a state of progressive improvement.</p> - -<p>The reader will better understand this when I state that the miners of -California have many of them had six years experience, are naturally men -of ability, and are now in positions of independence, though still -miners. The popular opinion respecting gold miners, is that of a body of -rough, vagabond, long-haired men, who work one day with a tin pan and -get drunk the next; this is perhaps what they were, to some extent; and -San Francisco, which owes existence to the mines, was then a canvas -village, given up to dissipation; but the tents have disappeared from -Yerba Buena, and we have in their room a large and substantially-built -city; equally have the mines changed, and the “vagabond population” -stands forth in the shape of engineers, excavators, mechanics, and -cunning inventors, and, better still, organised bands of labourers, who, -under the guidance of these first, bring profit to themselves and -benefit to the country generally.</p> - -<p>The quartz mines of California must now be reviewed, for, in connection -with the probable future yield of gold, they occupy a prominent -position.<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_317">{317}</a></span></p> - -<p>In that column of the “Times” which is expressly devoted to a review of -the Share Markets, some half-dozen Californian quartz mine operations -will be found daily recorded; these, for the most part, are in a very -sickly state. Why they are so is no business of mine; but the fact is no -criterion of the value of the quartz lodes of California.</p> - -<p>The quartz formation stretches in one great vein across the country for -nearly three hundred miles in a north-westerly direction, and this main -lode is throughout more or less impregnated with gold, excepting where -it has been disturbed by volcanic eruption. From the main vein -tributaries branch out on either side, throughout its length, and many -of these possess undoubtedly sufficient wealth to repay labour, if this -is properly applied. I say this cautiously, for I know something now of -the traps and pit-falls that beset the path of the quartz miner. These -are among them: you have rich and partially decomposed lodes that enrich -you with a nest of gold on the onset, but lead you a wild-goose chase -into the bowels of the earth before you find another; you have broad -lodes white as alabaster, speckled in parts with gold, but from which -you must quarry more valueless quartz than the “paying seam” will -compensate for; and you have lodes that are liberally and evenly -diffused<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_318">{318}</a></span> with gold, but contain so many properties antagonistic to -amalgamation by quicksilver that the metal you seek can only be secured -by a most expensive process. These are the lodes that do not pay; and by -this time probably the mining community here know as much of them as I -do.</p> - -<p>But a great number of veins, worked unostentatiously by American -companies, are giving very satisfactory results; a <i>larger</i> number are -paying their expenses only, but with good prospects of improvement. But -I must direct attention to this fact; the amount of profit derived from -quartz-mine speculations is not of so much importance to my argument as -the number of quartz mines being worked. If many of the lodes now open -in California are bringing at present a smaller percentage to their -owners than was anticipated, fault perhaps of imperfect machinery and -false economy, they are none the less of importance as affecting the -question of the yield of gold. For although the hundred ounces per day -that pass through the stamping-mill may scarcely leave a profit on the -expenses, the hundred ounces are none the less added to the gross daily -yield of the country. Palpably plain as this is, I mention it because we -are apt, when speaking of gold quartz mining as comparatively profitless -to speculators, to forget that<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_319">{319}</a></span> the gold is for all that compressed from -the rock; and it is with this alone I have to do.</p> - -<p>But as it may be observed that operations that combine so much risk of -failure will shortly be abandoned, particularly in a country where money -commands so high a rate of interest, I must mention these facts.</p> - -<p>In the first place, many American mining companies are already paying -handsome dividends, and those which are least successful have, in most -instances, their machinery to blame more than the vein, on which it is -erected; but everything is in favour even of those who are thus -situated, for improvements in machinery start up on every side, labour -and the expense of living is diminishing rapidly, whilst fresh -developments bring new aspirants continually into the field. For there -is something about quartz mining that is seductive; fail as you will, as -long as some are successful around you there is a “never-say-die” -feeling which ever prompts to fresh exertion in the same field.</p> - -<p>I shall not attempt to draw conclusions from an estimate of the number -of veins that are now being profitably worked, or the amount of gold -that may be derived from them in California, as that country is still in -a state of transition, and not yet ripe for figured calculations. I can -only fall back again upon<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_320">{320}</a></span> my belief, that where gold exists ready to -man’s hand, as it does in the great veins of California, the people of -that region are not likely to allow it to remain slumbering.</p> - -<p>Having now shown that the material, the capital, and the energy exist to -warrant a belief amounting almost to a certainty, that an amount of gold -will yet be produced from California that will throw into the shade the -millions that have already been acquired, I leave it to others to argue -how far the same facts apply to Australia, Oregon, and other gold-fields -as yet less perfectly developed. I scarcely dare guess at the sum that -the next ten years will see produced from California, but call attention -to this fact, that seven years have elapsed since the discovery of gold, -and as yet no apparent sign of exhaustion is manifest, although all -predicted, from the first, that the auriferous soil was but superficial. -Had this prophecy been borne out to any degree by experience we might -have made a calculation; as matters stand, all tends to the belief that -the best is yet to come. Nor should it be overlooked that the price of -labour in California is still slightly <i>higher</i> than in Australia, one -country being four years older (in gold discovery) than the other, and -both necessarily regulating wages by the profits of the gold-field.<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_321">{321}</a></span></p> - -<p>When I have stated that twenty millions sterling are annually produced -from California, and that as yet no probability is apparent of a less -yield for some years, I have said as much as comes within the province -of my narrative.</p> - -<p>How far gold may be eventually permanently depreciated by the addition -of five hundred millions, to the specie currency of the world, is a -question for financiers, and those who have gold enough to care about -the value of it; but ten years of successful work in the gold-fields -already discovered, may produce that sum, and in all probability will.</p> - -<p>There is but one question more: is gold already depreciated in value? As -measured by labour and property undoubtedly it is; for it matters not -whether in speaking of a gold country, we say that gold is cheap, or -labour is dear: as affecting the question the terms are equivalent. Like -a stone thrown in the water, the effects of a gold country spread from -it in widening circles; the increased value of labour there is diffused -to places more remote, and consequently the depreciation of gold is -diffused also. If the farmer here, affected by the extending influence -of the gold-field, already pays more for his labour, he may individually -counterbalance this loss by receiving a higher price for his wheat: -still his gold (supposing<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_322">{322}</a></span> these effects to be perceived) represents -less labour on the one hand, and less property on the other. But it will -be argued that such a depreciation is caused by the indirect means of -emigration, and that this is temporary. Granted: but if it is a -depreciation, may it not last, in a temporary way, as fresh gold-fields -are discovered, until it is supplanted by the permanent depreciation -which will arise when the vast influx of precious metal shall first make -itself felt throughout the world?</p> - -<p>Already out of my depth, I leave the foregoing remarks as they stand, -and the reader will observe that they are only suggestive. If I have -allowed myself to plunge from a firm bank of facts into a small puddle -of conjecture, with which I had no business, all I can say is that I am -very sorry for it, and will wade out of it as fast as I can.<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_323">{323}</a></span></p> - -<h2><a id="CHAPTER_XVIII"></a>CHAPTER XVIII.</h2> - -<div class="blockquot"><p class="hang">TRANSPORT MACHINERY TO THE MINE—THE CARPENTER JUDGE, AND CONSTABLE -ROWE—CUT-THROAT JACK—GREASERS—FRENCH MINERS—JOHN -CHINAMAN—CHINESE FEROCITY—THE FEAST OF LANTERNS—CHINESE -DESPOTISM—FALSE SYMPATHY.</p></div> - -<p class="r"> -<i>November, 1851.</i><br> -</p> - -<p><span class="smcap">In</span> the course of three months we had collected two or three hundred tons -of ore, and as the tests we daily made still bore out our preconceived -opinions of the value of the mine, I proceeded to San Francisco for the -purpose of procuring the steam power and machinery requisite for a trial -of the metal we had quarried.</p> - -<p>The life of the quartz miner at this date was tortured by doubts; he was -ever in doubt as to the value of his rock; he was ever in doubt as to -the depth of his vein; and he was ever in doubt as to the machinery best -adapted for securing gold; nor is his position, taken generally, much -happier in these respects at the present time; and I will be bound, sir, -that the directors who led to your victimization,<a id="FNanchor_20_20"></a><a href="#Footnote_20_20" class="fnanchor">[20]</a></p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="page_324">{324}</a></span> and the -subordinates that they employed, are as much trammelled by these doubts -as any quartz miners I could mention.</p> - -<p>I was profoundly meditative on the subject of machinery as I jogged -along on the Old Soldier to Stockton. I recalled to mind that for -pulverising the rock we had stampers, rollers, grinders, and -triturators, which you pleased; that for amalgamating the gold with -quicksilver we had “trapiches,” “erasteros,” wooden tubs, and iron -basins, which you pleased also. That we had design No. 1, that had been -so successfully employed by Professor A, in the Ural Mountains; design -No. 2, that Professor B had made his fortune with (by selling the patent -though), and which had never failed in the Swiss Cantons, where gold was -rather scarce than otherwise; and design No. 3, an infallible invention -by Professor C, an American gentleman, who hadn’t sold his patent yet, -but was quite ready to part with it for a consideration. All this I -knew, but I was also aware that none of these plans had been attended -with complete success; some were too simple in construction and too -slow, others were too complicated in mechanism and too fast and furious.</p> - -<p>One machine would catch every metal the quartz contained except the -gold; another would allow every<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_325">{325}</a></span>thing to give it the go by, except the -refuse tailings that were not wanted; none secured the gold but those -which required <i>more manual labour</i> than it would have been profitable -to employ.</p> - -<p>When, therefore, I arrived at San Francisco I determined on trying a -newly invented machine which had not yet been proved in the mines, but -which looked very promising for my experimental work; with this, and an -eight horse power steam engine, I returned to Tuttle Town.</p> - -<p>It was hard work to get the boiler of the engine over the mountains, for -the rains had commenced to fall, and in many places the mud was very -deep. Three or four days’ rain entirely change the character of the -Sonora road; and wherever there is a hollow in which the water can -accumulate, there, throughout the winter, you have a quagmire which -becomes deeper as each fresh waggon or mule passes through it, until at -last having become impassable, it is avoided by a circuit, which one -traveller having made every other traveller from that day follows.</p> - -<p>Although I had given the boiler two or three days’ start, I found it on -arriving at Table Mountain, with the worst part of the journey still -before it; however, we had sixteen yoke of oxen, and after a couple of -days of great trouble, the machinery was at length<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_326">{326}</a></span> safely planted in -Tuttle Town. Its arrival created great sensation, and the town increased -in size and importance on the strength of it. A French baker and a -butcher established themselves in our main street; and at the first -general election a justice of the peace and constable were legally -elected; the former was a worthy carpenter of good education; the latter -post was filled by Rowe. Whenever we saw Rowe buckling on his pistols in -a decisive manner preparatory to a start, we knew that he was proceeding -to collect a debt due to some Tuttletonian, and this active constable -invariably brought back either the money or the man. And although our -own small population was very peaceful, our justice of the peace had -ample employment from the surrounding miners, and dispensed a great -amount of justice in a very firm but off-hand manner; and so much -respect was felt for the sagacity and impartiality of our carpenter, -that his decisions in those disputes that came before his notice were -invariably received with satisfaction on all sides. The following -incident will illustrate the summary process by which one judge and one -constable could force obedience to the law amongst an armed population -in the mountains. One evening as our “judge” was putting the finishing -touch to a shanty he had been engaged in<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_327">{327}</a></span> repairing, a messenger -informed him that a murder had just been committed at an adjacent -digging; the judge thereupon threw down his hammer, and, after taking -the depositions, issued a warrant for the arrest of the murderer, who -was a well-known desperado. Constable Rowe was to serve this warrant and -capture the delinquent; consequently, the whole population of Tuttle -Town (about fifteen) armed themselves to protect constable Rowe, and -accompanied him to the diggings in question. Arrived there, the accused -was found to have entrenched himself in his house, with desperate -intentions of firing his revolver at the law in whatever form it might -summon him. I was not sorry to find on our arrival that he abandoned -this design and surrendered himself at discretion, so we marched him off -to Tuttle Town. The judge heard all that was to be said, and that was -sufficient for the committal of the prisoner to the jail at Sonora to -await a trial; so we mounted our horses, took him at once into the town, -and had him locked up. Whatever became of him afterwards I don’t know, -but he never returned to our vicinity, and this was the way that the law -was put in force in every case that came under the authority of our -carpenter judge.</p> - -<p>A Sonorian was found one day in possession of a<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_328">{328}</a></span> mule not his own. -Whilst the culprit quakes in the grip of our constable, our judge -exhorts the villain to be more honest in his dealings. I have this scene -before me so vividly that I’ll place it on the wood at once before I -write another line.</p> - -<div class="figcenter" id="wdcut_012" style="width: 588px;"> -<a href="images/ill_017.jpg"> -<img src="images/ill_017.jpg" width="588" height="600" alt="[Image unavailable.]"></a> -</div> - -<p>So! now if there is less benevolence beaming from the eyes of our -carpenter than I would have you believe existed in his heart, the fault -is in the spectacles.<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_329">{329}</a></span></p> - -<p>We rid ourselves about this time of a bad character. There was a fierce -brute of a man who often visited our camp, who was known to have -committed a cold-blooded murder, although the law had acquitted him. He -was called “Cut-throat Jack,” nor did he object to the appellation; he -was more feared in the mines than I should have supposed any man to have -been, but he was always in a reckless, half-drunken state, and those who -preferred to avoid a deadly quarrel would leave any house he entered. He -was invariably armed, and always boastful.</p> - -<p>One night as Thomas was watching a stack-fire near the tents, in which a -mass of quartz was being purposely brought to a white heat for -experimental purposes, Cut-throat Jack swaggered up to him, and informed -him that he intended to pass the night in our shanty (Rowe and I being -at Sonora). To this Thomas objected, upon which Cut-throat made such a -warlike demonstration that Thomas very properly knocked him down. “Jack” -unfortunately fell on the red-hot quartz, and the sensation was so new -to him that, as soon as he could withdraw himself, he drew neither -pistol nor knife, but was instantly lost to sight in the surrounding -gloom, and never swaggered into our camp again from that night forth.<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_330">{330}</a></span></p> - -<div class="figcenter" id="wdcut_013" style="width: 444px;"> -<a href="images/ill_018.jpg"> -<img src="images/ill_018.jpg" width="444" height="600" alt="[Image unavailable.]"></a> -</div> - -<p>In our immediate neighbourhood we had three classes of miners, Mexicans, -French, and Chinese, and their peculiarities of race were so marked that -I shall record them.</p> - -<p>The “Greasers,” which term includes all Spanish Americans, will pass the -night and early morning in working at their claims, and then devote the -day to<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_331">{331}</a></span> gambling and sleeping, and the evening to a Fandango or a -horse-stealing excursion; a Mexican in the mines has no idea of saving -money, but, like the water-carrier of Bagdad, he will work one half of -the day that he may spend the other half in indulgence.</p> - -<p>The French, among whom are many Parisians, will work in a quiet and -tolerably steady manner if nothing unusual occurs to disturb them; but, -if by chance a strange Frenchman should arrive in their camp, or an old -copy of the “Moniteur” should reach them, the picks and spades are -relinquished for the day, and all devote themselves to discussion. Often -I have passed some solitary Frenchman at a gulch, who, whilst elevating -a tin pannikin of vin ordinaire, would be shouting out “L’Amour et la -Patrie.” Probably some of his countrymen had that day passed on the -road, something of course had been said in allusion to the beautiful -France, and the poor fellow was as happy under the influence of -reawakened associations, as if he had already reached his native -vineyards to settle there for life, with a well-lined purse.</p> - -<p>The Chinese are a strong contrast to the thriftless Mexicans and joyous -Gauls.</p> - -<p>The Celestial digger, with a grave, elongated face, is up with the dawn -and at work, forgetting to perform<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_332">{332}</a></span> his ablutions in his hurry. No laugh -proceeds from his lantern jaws, but his thoughts are steadily bent on -the pursuit before him; if ever he chuckles, it must be inwardly, to -think how fast he is putting by the nice gold, and how cheaply he is -living every day upon six pennyworth of rice and salt worms, whilst -those around him are gambling away their substance. But the Chinaman is -none the less a gambler, the only difference is that he plays for a -small stake, and is, in fact, a good economist, for as he watches the -wavering fortunes of his farthing, he enjoys pleasurable excitement if -he wins, and is not materially damaged if he loses. Hundreds of these -gambling houses are to be found in the Chinese “quartier” of San -Francisco, and there is one or more at every Chinese digging, but with -the exception of an occasional silver dollar, I never saw any thing -change hands in them but the copper <i>pice</i> the Chinese bring with them -to the country.</p> - -<p>These people must feel very happy whilst daily fingering the Californian -soil, where they acquire more gold in a week, than at home they would -see in a year. John Chinaman knows the value of a dollar so well, that -he will do anything rather than be without it: to gain so much, then, at -such little trouble must indeed be a treat.<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_333">{333}</a></span></p> - -<div class="figcenter" id="wdcut_014" style="width: 600px;"> -<a href="images/ill_019.jpg"> -<img src="images/ill_019.jpg" width="600" height="544" alt="[Image unavailable.]"></a> -</div> - -<p>When a couple of Chinese dispute over the right to a claim, the noise -and gesticulations are frightful; arms (corporeal) are elevated on all -sides; fingers are extended in indication of numbers, days, or dates, -whilst each disputant being supported by his friends, all talk at once -so rapidly, that the wonder is how they can sustain the altercation, and -it is only when breath is exhausted on all sides, that the argument is -at last made comprehensible. Chinamen are a long time coming to blows, -and I have seen them at Amoy and other towns, stand almost nose to nose, -with arms extended, as if preparatory to a deadly<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_334">{334}</a></span> struggle that was to -end only with life; but, further than making a dreadful uproar, no harm -came of these rencontres.</p> - -<p>A real fight, accompanied by loss of life, occurred in a Chinese digging -in the north, but this was attributable principally to the fact, that a -small party of Tartars compelled a larger body of Chinese, either to -fight or relinquish the gold field, and this was driving poor “John” -into a corner indeed.</p> - -<p>Many of the Chinese at the mines have abolished tails, and when their -hair has grown in its natural manner, it is astonishing how villanous an -appearance they present. Their hair grows low down on the forehead, and -is invariably straight.</p> - -<p>An ordinary Chinaman, in his loose dress, with his head shaved and hair -drawn back, is rather an intellectual looking being, at the first -glance, but take the same man, and allow his hair to grow, and divest -him of a picturesque costume, and in place of an apparent mild -benevolence, you are struck at once with the small cunning-looking eyes -and low forehead, which in the other garb escaped notice.</p> - -<p>A Chinaman is supposed to regard his tail in a religious light, but -those who have dispensed voluntarily with them in California, do not -seem by any means to have placed themselves without the pale of -society.<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_335">{335}</a></span></p> - -<div class="figcenter" id="wdcut_015" style="width: 600px;"> -<a href="images/ill_020.jpg"> -<img src="images/ill_020.jpg" width="600" height="361" alt="[Image unavailable.]"></a> -</div> - -<p>Some of them adopt the European costume, and patronise patent leather -boots and gold watch-chains. I remember a very beautiful drawing, I -think by Allom, of the “Feast of Lanterns” in China; the same festive -day is observed at San Francisco, and if the accompanying sketch of two -Americo-Chinese, celebrating this fête, on hired hacks, is less -picturesque than the drawing alluded to, it is none the less a faithful -delineation of the appearance of civilised Celestials.</p> - -<p>All the Chinamen of San Francisco are fond of riding out on these feast -days, and in whatever costume they may be, they invariably pursue one -mode of horsemanship, that is, to ride at full gallop, shouting or -screaming, and then to tumble off into the sand or mud, the last act -being involuntary. There is no<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_336">{336}</a></span> doubt that these people are excellent -colonists as regards their own interests, for they have learnt the first -art of colonisation, a systematic obedience to a chief, and wherever -they go, they quietly submit to the code of discipline established among -themselves, and submit even when this authority is abused, by the -imposition of taxes and extortions, by their own head men. Part of -Sacramento Street is entirely occupied by Chinese retail merchants, and -it is similar in appearance to the Old Bazaar at Hong-Kong. Immediately -a ship arrives in port with Chinese emigrants, these are taken in charge -by the head men, and are supplied with stores and packed off to the -mines, with great precision and regularity, there to pay a tax to these -self-constituted chiefs as long as they are in the mines.</p> - -<p>I have already alluded to the existence of a combination of three or -four of the most powerful of the Chinese merchants, which being -discovered, was interfered with ineffectually by the police. Now I have -no doubt that this clique of wealthy Chinese not only supply the Chinese -emigrants, as aforesaid, looking to their labour in the mines for a -profit, but that they also invest money in chartering ships to bring the -poorer classes of their nation to California, thus exercising a monopoly -in the gold fields.<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_337">{337}</a></span></p> - -<p>Much has been said and argued relative to checking by law the Chinese -emigration to California, and believing, as I do, from such facts as I -could gather, that this system of private taxation is on the increase, I -wonder at the forbearance that has hitherto been shown by the -authorities. “Live, and let live,” is a capital creed, properly carried -out, but when the mines of California are overrun with bands of poor -fishermen, whose profits serve to enrich a clique, and these latter -remove the money from the country as fast as they collect it, the -principle is an unfair one, injurious to the country, and antagonistic -to the principles which have made it a free state as regards black -slavery.</p> - -<p>An instance of the power these head men attempt to exercise came under -my notice, for whilst staying with an English friend in the suburbs of -San Francisco, there arrived one day a carriage, from which a gorgeously -dressed “John” emerged. He stated in tolerable English that he was a -“lawyer,” and that he had come for a Chinese woman who, for many years, -had been in my friend’s service, and who, he said, had complained of -being confined against her will. The woman had saved a large sum in -wages, and could speak no language but her own, but she resolutely -declined to go when an interpreter<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_338">{338}</a></span> was procured. The Celestial lawyer -was consequently well kicked for his pains, and departed, but we had no -doubt that all that was wanted of the old woman was the money she had -saved, and it was fortunate for her, that her master was a Hong Kong -merchant, and knew something of the wiles of John Chinaman.</p> - -<p>Much has been said, also, at home here, relative to the conversion of -the Chinese, and no one would more gladly see this brought about than -myself, provided it is done with <i>Chinese money</i>.</p> - -<p>The Chinaman is highly intelligent, inventive, laborious and patient, be -he where he will, but he is ever avaricious; it may or may not be that -those are right who, knowing something of his character, hold that he -would worship any god if thereby he can better worship mammon;<a id="FNanchor_21_21"></a><a href="#Footnote_21_21" class="fnanchor">[21]</a> but I -confine my opinion to this, that it is time enough to build colleges for -the Chinese, when we have suitably provided for the instruction of our -own ignorant poor, and until this is done, I humbly submit, with every -respect for the Missionaries among the Heathen, that every sixpence that -leaves our country for the conversion of the Chinese, is an injustice to -those at home, whose claims<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_339">{339}</a></span> upon our charity ring daily in our ears, -with a truth that ought to be more forcible than the energetic appeals -that are raised for John Chinaman, but which unfortunately is not always -so.</p> - -<p>Never doubting that it is our first duty as a Christian nation to -disseminate those truths that come from an inspired source, why should -we, under the influence of a false sympathy, strive to do for the -Chinese what so many of our own people yet require. The Chinese have an -advantage over many of our lower classes; they are intelligent and -reflective, and have Confucian maxims daily brought even in the highways -before their notice, that enjoin most of the social duties that render -man’s life more in accordance with the Divine wish. <i>Morally</i> at least, -the Chinaman is cared for; and although a heathen, ignorant in this -respect he cannot be said to be. Let him therefore, for the present, -study from gilded sign-posts the Confucian maxims that ordain him to be -charitable, honest, and reverent to his parents; and let us first instil -these commands given from a holier source to those around us who have -never heard them, who could not read them if they were written up, and -who are too ignorant, too poverty-stricken, and too much at war with the -life that has entailed nothing but misery upon them, to accept them -even<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_340">{340}</a></span> as truths, until they first see charity in a more substantial -form. This done,<a id="FNanchor_22_22"></a><a href="#Footnote_22_22" class="fnanchor">[22]</a> we may build colleges for the Chinese, in a full -hope that He who has ordained us to love our brother, may bless the work -of <small>CONVERSION</small>.<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_341">{341}</a></span></p> - -<h2><a id="CHAPTER_XIX"></a>CHAPTER XIX.</h2> - -<div class="blockquot"><p class="hang">THE FIREMEN OF SAN FRANCISCO—“WE STRIVE TO SAVE”—A BARBER’S -SALOON—OYSTERS—PLACES OF AMUSEMENT—A PICKLED HEAD—SHOOTING ON -SIGHT.</p></div> - -<p class="r"> -<i>Christmas, 1851.</i><br> -</p> - -<p><span class="smcap">The</span> machinery was at length in its place, and we got the steam up for a -trial; our engineer was one of the same school as he of the Stockton -boat, and considered that engines were “bound to go,” whether on sea or -land; and when I remarked to him that ninety pounds of steam was about -double the pressure the boiler ought to bear, he asked very naturally -“of what use was an eight horse power engine if you couldn’t make her -work up to a <i>twelve</i>?”</p> - -<p>Having started the machinery, we awaited in a great state of excitement -the result; this came soon enough, for in a few minutes the crusher -broke down irremediably, and like some unfortunate two-year-old horse, -ran its first and last race at the same time.</p> - -<p>I returned, therefore, to San Francisco, meditatingly as before, and on -my arrival there, I gave my mind<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_342">{342}</a></span> to the preparation of machinery that -should grind and scrunch with a vigour that nothing could resist, and -which should give ample employment to the four extra horses which my -engineer managed to extract from the steam engine. The city presented a -much improved appearance, the small sand-hills had now nearly all -disappeared, and having been thrown into the bay, a level site was being -rapidly extended on either side, where before was a shelving sandy -beach, the least adapted in the world for building a large and -substantial city. It is worthy of remark, that sand thrown into mud has -not proved a bad foundation even in a country subject to heavy rains. -The first brick building erected on this artificial foundation was the -American theatre, this, on the first night it was opened, settled bodily -two or three inches, but afterwards remained steady.</p> - -<p>I found the people of San Francisco still very nervous about fire; and -though the dreadful experience of the past had caused extraordinary -precautions to be taken for preventing the recurrence of another general -conflagration, still night after night as the warning bell hurriedly -announced some fire in the suburbs, the whole population would turn out, -and follow the engines “en masse” to the scene of conflagration. Not a -night passed but one or more alarms<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_343">{343}</a></span> were pealed forth by that dreadful -bell, of which the tone was so familiar, and so associated with -misfortune, and a shanty or two would generally be consumed in the -wooden portion of the city. Sometimes an hotel or hospital would blaze -and furnish a famous night’s work for the firemen, but these were so -active and vigilant, that the flames were always confined to a small -space, and it was evident that the days of general conflagrations were -over. The highest praise that I can accord to the San Francisco firemen, -is to record the simple truth of them, and say that they are zealous and -intrepid, and that their services are gratuitous. The fire department of -San Francisco now numbers about fifteen hundred members and twenty -engines. It is divided into companies, each of which is formed on a -military principle, chooses its own name and uniform, and bears all its -own expenses.</p> - -<p>The companies are distinguished by such names as the “Monumental,” the -“Empire,” the “Washington,” and to see them in their smart dresses, as -they tarn out in procession on a gala day, one would not suppose that -there was so much real work concealed beneath so much show.</p> - -<p>There are also two or three “hook and ladder” companies, who do ample -service in blowing up and tearing down buildings when necessary. Many -of<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_344">{344}</a></span> these young firemen occupy the best positions in San Francisco; and -it strikes a stranger as somewhat novel, if when the fire-bell is -sounded in the day time, he sees the junior partner in the house of -Mivins and Co. rush out of his office with a helmet on his head, and -proceed at full speed to his engine house.</p> - -<p>Sometimes some poor fellow loses his life in his exertions to perform -his self-imposed duty, and then his brother firemen, in unassumed grief, -pay him the last tribute of respect by following his body to the -cemetery.</p> - -<p>I have introduced such a scene in the sketch of San Francisco, and would -draw attention simply to the deep significance of the motto on the -banner that is lying low, emblematical of him they are burying—“We -strive to save.”</p> - -<p>There is no boast, no ostentation in these words, no vainglorious -confidence in what shall be done, no allusion to victories gained or -deeds performed. Look on the motto, “We strive to save;” now look on the -coffin that contains all that is mortal of one who under that banner has -found a death as worthy of the laurel as any soldier who at once brings -pride and sorrow to the nation in whose cause fighting inch by inch he -yields up life.</p> - -<p>You and I, reader, can sleep comfortably in our</p> - -<div class="figcenter" id="plt_007" style="width: 600px;"> -<a href="images/ill_021.jpg"> -<img src="images/ill_021.jpg" width="600" height="381" alt="[Image unavailable.]"></a> -</div> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="page_345">{345}</a></span></p> - -<p class="nind">beds, and have no cause each night to be drenched by water and scorched -by heat, no bell summons us to duty, nor need we risk life or limb when -the glare ascends from a blazing manufactory, but turning comfortably -over, we can again court sleep with the intention of reading of the fire -over our breakfast table.</p> - -<p>But you will agree with me, perhaps, that be we where we will, be our -powers what they may, if we look around us we shall find no better -standard to rally round and be faithful to than that which bears the -fireman’s motto, “We strive to <i>save</i>.”</p> - -<p class="casstt">* * * *</p> - -<p>Gorgeous decoration is characteristic of San Francisco; the people pay -high prices for the necessaries of life, so velvet and gilt work is -thrown into the bargain. In the “shaving-saloons” this system of -internal decoration is carried out in great force, and the accommodation -these establishments afford is indispensable to a Californian public.</p> - -<p>Let me suppose myself to have arrived at San Francisco from the mines -early one morning. Having travelled down on the Old Soldier, I have no -carpet bag of course, and I enter a shaving-saloon. At a counter I -purchase any quantity of linen I may require for the moment, and with -this I proceed to<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_346">{346}</a></span> the bath-room; when I return from my ablutions, I am -asked if I would like my head “shampoo-ed.” With a reckless feeling in -respect of shampooing, the result of an intimate acquaintance with -Turkish baths, I submit to this operation.</p> - -<p>Seating myself on an easy chair of velvet, and placing my legs on an -easy stool, also of velvet, I become drowsy under the influence of the -fingers and thumbs of the operator, as they are passed over my skull, as -if with a view to making a phrenological chart, and which produce a -feeling at last as if hundreds of fingers and thumbs were at work, and -the whole force of the establishment were scratching my head.</p> - -<p>I am conducted to a marble washstand, and a tap of cold water is turned -on me. I thought I had washed my head in the bath, but it appears not, -judging by the colour of the water. My head is dried by hard labour, -then it is wetted again by a shower of eau de Cologne and water, thrown -at me when least expected. “Will I be shaved, sir?” Of course I will! -“Take a seat.” I sink into the velvet chair, and contemplate my dirty -boots, that for days have not known blacking, but have known mud, as -they contrast with the crimson pile velvet on which they rest. The back -of the chair is raised by means<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_347">{347}</a></span> of a screw, until my head is in the -proper position for operation. First I have hot water on my chin, and a -finger and thumb (generally the property of a coloured gentleman) feels -for my beard in a dreamy way with a view to softening the stubble. Then -comes the lather, and shave the first, and I am about to get up, when I -am stopped by more lather, and shave the second; this is conducted in a -slow methodical manner, the finger and thumb wandering about in search -of any stray hairs, like gleaners after the harvest.</p> - -<p>The operator says not a word to me, San Francisco barbers are not -loquacious, but his eyes wander to the open door, and suddenly he leaves -me with a rush, and apostrophising some one passing in the street, he -says, “Say, how about that sugar?” The reply is inaudible, but I observe -that the barber produces a sample of cigars from his pocket, and says, -“See here! fifty dollars a thousand for these won’t hurt you;” and so, -having failed to make a “trade;” he comes back, and, as he “finishes” -me, he observes, in a general way, that “Damn him if that (the gentleman -in the street) wasn’t the meanest man in all creation!” I am then -released, and this was a San Francisco shaving-saloon in 1852. From the -barber’s I proceeded to a boot-blacking saloon<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_348">{348}</a></span> kept by Frenchmen. I -seat myself on a comfortable fauteuil, two Gauls are at my feet, each -Gaul has two brushes, and such a friction is commenced that my feet are -being shampooed as much as my head was. The morning paper has been -handed to me, and I have scarcely settled to the leading article when -“V’la M’sieur,” announces that all is over. What a change! my boots -rival that famous effigy of Day and Martin, whose polish is ever -exciting the ire of a contemplative cat; I pay the money with pleasure, -one shilling, not before I am brushed though. Shall I exchange my -battered wide-awake for a beaver hat? Certainly; and now reader I don’t -think you would believe, if you saw me, that I had just returned from -Tuttle Town, and from a life of leather breeches and self-inflicted -horse grooming. It is eight o’clock now, and, in an instinctive search -for breakfast, I enter the Jackson House. Here are a hundred small -tables nearly all occupied, I secure one and peruse the bill of fare. I -could have wished for fresh eggs, but these were marked at two shillings -each, and in the then uncertain state of the mine I considered economy a -duty. “Fricassée de Lapin,” that sounded well, so I ordered it; I didn’t -tell the waiter, when he brought it, that it was not rabbit but grey -squirrel, but I knew it from the experience I had had in the anatomy<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_349">{349}</a></span> of -that sagacious animal. It was very good, however, and if it had been a -fat Sacramento rat I daresay that, under the circumstances, I should not -have turned my nose up at it; for I have eaten many things in my time -that are not found on the “carte” at Verrey’s; and when a man has once -dined off monkey soup and has ladled a human-looking head out of the pot -and has eaten still, regardless of that piteous parboiled look, he can -stomach anything in reason ever after.</p> - -<p>But the San Francisco bills of fare present at all seasons great -variety, and no one has a right to complain who has but to choose from -bear, elk, deer, antelope, turtle, hares, partridges, quails, wild -geese, brant, numerous kinds of ducks, snipe, plover, curlew, cranes, -salmon, trout, and other fish, and <i>oysters</i>.</p> - -<p>It is not until you have been a long time without an oyster that you -find how indispensable to your complete happiness this bivalve is; so -soon as the want of it was generally expressed by the inhabitants of San -Francisco, some enterprising individual gave his attention to the -subject, and, after an adventurous voyage of discovery along the coast, -he found a bed, and returned with a cargo of natives in triumph. This -cargo, however, was not to be vinegared and peppered that year, but was -transferred to a bed prepared for its reception in the bay; here the -oysters<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_350">{350}</a></span> were left to fatten on bran and other luxuries, and by next -year the young colony had increased sufficiently to supply a small -quantity to the restaurateurs. They were very small innocent oysters at -first, and tasted like a teaspoon-full of salt water, they also cost -sixpence a piece, which was about their weight in silver; but they were -oysters; a victory had been gained; an imperious want had been supplied: -we thought of this as we swallowed them, and were grateful for them even -at the price. Since then the submarine colony has thrived so well that -oysters in San Francisco are not only large, but comparatively cheap, so -that many of the inhabitants gratuitously supply the city with pavement -by throwing the shells out into the street as oyster-venders do in every -city in the world where the law permits. And, by the way, it is not -inappropriate that the law should wink at hecatombs of obstructive -oyster shells, if, as they say, that part of the fish alone falls to the -share of the public; and indeed it strikes me that any man who has been -unfortunate enough to inherit a chancery suit in this country, should be -allowed to pile his oyster shells before his door, for in this way he -would denote the number of shells that, figuratively speaking, had been -returned to him, and might thus exemplify the <i>certainty</i> of the law of -equity in a manner suited to the meanest capacity.<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_351">{351}</a></span></p> - -<p>Places of amusement were springing up rapidly in San Francisco, and -these were of a better character than would have been supposed. It was -pleasant to observe that gambling houses, and those low haunts which in -every country minister to degrading appetites, were rapidly being swept -away in this young country, and giving place to rational recreations. -Theatres, reading rooms, and gymnasiums; these are good sources of -amusement, be you where you will; read for the improvement of your mind, -exercise the clubs and dumb-bells for the benefit of your body, laugh or -cry over a good play, and in a colony you are safe for a cheerful, and -perhaps grateful man.</p> - -<p>My old schoolmaster, I remember, was wont to characterise the theatre as -the house of the devil; if so, this personage is a very temporary -lodger, for often when the devil is in a man, the merriment a farce -excites, or the moral a drama displays, will drive it out of him; and -perhaps before to-day a comedy has done more for a man, in the way of -correction, than the best sermon that ever was preached to his -inattentive ears. For, when you can interest a man, his feelings and -judgment are open to your appeal, and I dare say a great many of my -readers have, like myself, felt deeply moved at a drama, the moral of -which would have been unheeded in a sermon, as<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_352">{352}</a></span> inapplicable to our own -cases or positions in life; just as, when children, we can only stomach -a powder when it is presented to us in the fascinating shape of jam.</p> - -<p>Some representations of poses plastiques that were exhibited about this -time found no favour, and were cried down, but the enterprising manager -of them, who was really a clever fellow, shifted his ground from the -study of the human frame to that of the human head, and gave -phrenological disquisitions on the sculls of Jenkins, Stewart, and -others, who had been executed by the Vigilance Committee. As the bump of -acquisitiveness had probably been the cause of the execution of these -men, the lecturer had some difficulty in avoiding personalities, for -this bump was largely developed in the craniums of his audience. -However, he had an advantage over most lecturers on the same subject, -for he could prove two distinct facts: first, that the subjects of his -dissertation had been hung, and secondly, that many of his audience had -helped to hang them.</p> - -<p>Since that date, a famous Mexican robber, Joaquin Carrillo by name, has -with much trouble and loss of life been caught and decapitated. When I -left San Francisco his head was to be seen by the curious preserved in -spirits of wine; and however revolting such a spectacle may be, it is a -punishment that one<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_353">{353}</a></span> would think would deter the reflective from crime. -Fancy one’s features distorted by the convulsive throes of a violent -death, staring whitened and ghastly from a glass bottle, turned from -with horror by the gaping crowd, and then deposited for all ages, -growing more hideous with each year on the shelves of a surgical museum!</p> - -<p>To take one’s head as in olden times, and place it on a pole until it -became a whitened scull, is a benevolent act as compared with the glass -bottle and aqua fortis that hand distorted features down to posterity. -For my own part I can contemplate with calmness my bones bleaching, as -they may do, perhaps, in a desert, but the mere thought that a diseased -liver or brain of mine should ever be labelled and ticketted in the -museum of the College of Surgeons, excites a disgust that makes me think -burning or drowning preferable to a quiet death-bed and a <i>post mortem</i> -examination; for your operative surgeons always find something in their -subjects worth pocketing, and if robbing the dead of their valuables is -sacrilegious, robbing the dead of their liver and lights is equally so.</p> - -<p>But still every scruple must fall before the necessities of science; and -I remember exhuming a Malay rajah who had been buried about a week -without the<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_354">{354}</a></span> slightest compulsion, simply because science required the -skeleton of a Malay rajah. I felt it was the duty of every man to aid -science, and the only remorse I felt was when I found no jewels in the -coffin—not even a ring: it was a shabby burial the rajah had!</p> - -<p>The practice of carrying fire-arms in San Francisco was still popular -among a large proportion of the citizens; but the arguments by which I -have sought to justify this habit in a mountain population are not -applicable to the inhabitants of the city, for life and property were -safe, and a proper police force had been instituted. Cases of shooting -therefore were still very common, and duelling in particular became -quite the rage. Taking up the newspaper one day, I observed a -conspicuous advertisement, in which one gentleman gave notice to the -public that another gentleman “was a scoundrel, liar, villain, and -poltroon,” and signed his name to the announcement. The next day it was -understood that the gentleman with the unenviable titles intended to -shoot his traducer “on sight,”—that is to say, as soon as he could see -him, without any of the preliminary formula of a hostile meeting. When I -reached the Plaza, I found a large concourse of people already assembled -to see the sport; and it was such a novel and delicious<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_355">{355}</a></span> excitement to -stand in a circle and see two men inside of you exchange six shots -a-piece, that had the matter been more generally known, I do not think -there would have been room for them to fight! I declined waiting to -stand and be shot at; but it appeared afterwards that the two gentlemen, -attended by their friends, soon made their appearance on opposite sides -of the square, and that then they commenced walking about the square as -if they did not know each other, and when within shot, one said to the -other, “Draw and defend yourself!” which the latter did by sending a -bullet through the assailant’s arm. The fire then became warm; six shots -were exchanged in rapid succession, and both combatants were taken -wounded from the field—not mortally, however, for they recovered, and -arranged a regular meeting, where after exchanging half-a-dozen shots -one was seriously wounded; since when, I believe, no more powder has -been burnt in the cause.<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_356">{356}</a></span></p> - -<h2><a id="CHAPTER_XX"></a>CHAPTER XX.</h2> - -<div class="blockquot"><p class="hang">RAT-CATCHERS—DRAYS—CRESTED PARTRIDGE—A MARVELLOUS STORY—SAILORS -IN THE MINES—A VERDICT—THE QUARTZ HAS THE BEST OF IT—I LEAVE -TUTTLE-TOWN.</p></div> - -<p class="r"> -<i>January, 1852.</i><br> -</p> - -<p><span class="smcap">Rats</span> are very numerous in San Francisco, as also are ratting-dogs. The -roughest Skyes and most ferocious bull-dogs seem to have congregated in -that city; and so much interest do the people take in the destruction of -the common enemy, that a crowd is instantly collected if by chance a -Scotch terrier, arrested by the flavour of a rat, wags his tail over a -heap of shavings. You will one day see a crowd in the street, dense and -excited; you try in vain to obtain a glimpse of what is going on in the -centre; from expressions that reach you, you feel certain that a horrid -murder is being perpetrated, and this opinion is confirmed as you hear -re-echoed the cry, “He is dead!—all over!” As the crowd disperses, -there issues from it the rejoicing owner of two young prize-fighting -quadrupeds, and in his hand is a large rat,<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_357">{357}</a></span> now all tail and teeth, -“the balance,” as the owner remarks, having been “considerably chawed -up.”</p> - -<p>Great risk and expense attend the shipment of these little dogs to -California; and I was so unfortunate as not to land one of four very -useful brutes that I shipped from the London Docks for that country. A -good horse or dog is a treasure to a Californian; and he will look upon -one or the other as his friend, and treat it with great kindness.</p> - -<p>An immense quantity of drays are required in the city for the transport -of goods, and the stranger will be at once struck with the superiority -of breed of the horses, and the high condition in which they are kept. -It has not been worth while of late to send anything commonplace to San -Francisco; the horses therefore that are driven across the plains are -generally strong and showy animals. “Draying” has paid very well here, -and many of the proprietors of these vehicles, although they drive for -themselves, are well to do. The dray harness is often mounted in German -silver; and you may see any day a respectable-looking quiet man in -spectacles carting a load of hay or lumber, with a handsome four-in-hand -team, well groomed, and ornamented with bear-skin trappings.</p> - -<p>The new machinery being completed, I again<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_358">{358}</a></span> started for the mines, and -arrived at Tuttle-town without accident.</p> - -<p>We had tolerable hunting ground in our vicinity, but the game was wild -from having been too much shot at. The deer lived in the mountains, and -to reach them required much walking, as the reader will understand if he -glances at the background of the sketch that forms my frontispiece. The -earth on the side of the red-wood hills is generally friable, and as it -gives way to the pressure of the foot, the toil of ascending is very -great, when the glass is at ninety.</p> - -<p>There was, however, ample employment for the shot-gun, as the crested -partridge abounded in our neighbourhood. I have not yet mentioned this -bird; it is smaller than our partridge, and has all its habits, with -this exception, that it will fly to trees when disturbed. This I imagine -arises from an instinctive fear of vermin, with which the country -abounds, the silver grey fox being very destructive,—not to speak of -coyotes, snakes, and birds of prey. There is also little cover on the -ground, with the exception of stones, and when the partridge is -undisturbed, it will busk among these. The call of the male is similar -to that of the English bird. The crested partridge is hard to put up, -being a great runner;<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_359">{359}</a></span> harder still to shoot flying, for it is -particularly strong on the wing, and flies low on a ground of much its -own colour. When shot and cooked it is white, dry, and insipid; still it -is a partridge, and as such is much relished.</p> - -<p>I will mention a circumstance here in connection with shooting, which -has so much of the marvellous in it that I had determined to omit it.</p> - -<p>Whilst encamped at Santa Rosa Valley, after leaving Carrillo’s house, we -were visited one morning by some Sonorians (probably those who -afterwards stole our cattle). As they requested us to fire a few shots -with our rifles at a mark, we consented willingly enough, and being in -good practice and in good luck, we fired with success at dollars and -other small targets.</p> - -<p>An hour or two afterwards, the three of us proceeded in search of -venison; it was about mid-day, the sun was very powerful and the sky -cloudless. Making for a shady thicket where we hoped to find, we -unexpectedly started a doe from the long grass; she was out of shot -before we could raise a gun, but there still remained a fawn. Pretty -innocent! there it stood gazing at us wondrously, and I warrant had -there been meat in our larder at home not one of us would have touched a -trigger; but lamb is innocent, and yet you eat it, Madam, and the only -difference<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_360">{360}</a></span> between us is that you have a butcher to take life, and I -had not.</p> - -<p>The fawn stood motionless as I advanced a few paces and took, as I -imagined, deadly aim. I missed, and still it did not move: the others -fired, and missed also. From the same distance (about seventy-five -yards), we fired each four bullets without success; still the fawn moved -but a pace or two, and our rifle ammunition was exhausted. I then crept -up to the fawn, and within twenty paces I fired twice at it with my -pistol; it then, unharmed, quietly walked away in search of its mother. -We looked at each other in some doubt after this, and for a long time I -was puzzled to conjecture how to account for this apparently charmed -life.</p> - -<p>At last I solved the problem in this way, as I thought. The sun was -intensely powerful, and had been reflected back to us from the yellow -grass on which we had kept our eyes throughout a long walk; either this -glare or the rarefaction of the air had, probably, caused an optical -delusion, and the fawn appearing nearer to us than in reality it was, we -fired under it. Had this struck me at the time, I would have searched in -the long grass for the place where the bullets struck, and I have no -doubt, considering the practice we were in, that they would<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_361">{361}</a></span> all have -been found in the same range, and short; but on account of the height of -the grass, we were unable to see whilst firing where our balls fell. And -this is the sole way I can account for this curious adventure.</p> - -<p>This is the sole marvellous story I have to tell, and is a fact; but so -capricious is reading man, that I dare say many a one who would have -believed me had I related the destruction in one long shot of three -buffaloes, two coyotes, and a digger Indian, will smile incredulously at -my party firing fourteen barrels within seventy paces of a motionless -deer! So be it—and annotators of circulating library books will write -“Gammon!” in black-lead pencil on the margin, and I must grin whilst I -writhe under this infliction.</p> - -<p>About three miles from our camp was the Stanislaus River; and crossing -this in a ferry-boat, we would be at once in the vicinity of a famous -digging, “Carson’s Hill,” by name. All that we read of that is bright -and fairy-like, in connection with reported gold discoveries, has been -presented as a Gradgrind fact at Carson’s Hill.</p> - -<p>The rivers produced, the hills produced, and even the quartz<a id="FNanchor_23_23"></a><a href="#Footnote_23_23" class="fnanchor">[23]</a> -produced, having previously been rotted<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_362">{362}</a></span> by nature, that man might pick -the gold out with his penknife. “Rich nests,” “tall pockets,” “big -strikes,” lumps and chunks, were the reward of labour at Carson’s Hill; -whilst the miserable population elsewhere were content with ounces of -gold, or, at the best, pounds.</p> - -<p>No one knows how many fortunes have been made at Carson’s Hill, nor how -many bloody battles have been fought there for the rich earth—but a -great many. Two small armies met once on the brow of the hill, and -parleyed, weapons in hand and with savage looks, for as much quartz as -you might carry away in a fish-cart.</p> - -<p>Mr. James Carson, the discoverer of these diggings, asserts that in 1848 -the man who would work could make from fifty to one hundred pounds -sterling a day, and I have no doubt of the truth of this.</p> - -<p>At the time when this digging was first yielding such immense profits, -strict honesty was the characteristic of the miners; and a man need have -no fear then, as he has now, relative to keeping his dust after he had -found it, for all had enough, and it is astonishing how virtuous we -become under such circumstances. A sailor once asked his chum if a -bishop was a good man? “He ought for to be,” replies the other, “for he -has nothing to do but to eat,<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_363">{363}</a></span> drink, and sleep, and altogether he has a -deuced fine berth of it!” and Jack hit the truth in his own way.</p> - -<p>And sailors are, perhaps, after their manner, tolerable Christians -themselves; certainly they swear a little, and are said to devour in a -sandwich the banknote that would serve to enrich a hospital, as from -Bill Bobstay, Esq.; but whenever there is sickness or poverty among -sailors, there Jack is found at the bedside the tenderest of nurses, and -sharing—honest heart!—his last copper with a comrade. A sailor in the -mines is at best a rough and uncomely fellow to the sight; but will you -show me anything more pleasing to contemplate than that sturdy fellow -there who plies his pickaxe to the tune of “Oh, Sally Brown!” that he -may take at night to his sick friend in the tent hard by the luxuries he -needs? The sailors in the mines have been ever distinguished for -self-denial; and whenever I see “prim goodness” frown at the rough, -careless sailor’s oath that will mingle now and then with his “ye-ho!” I -think to myself, “Take out your heart, ‘prim goodness,’ and lay it by -the side of Jack’s and offer me the choice of the two, and maybe it -won’t be yours I’ll take, for all that you are faultless to the world’s -eye.”</p> - -<p>Liberality was so great in those days, that if a stranger came to the -mines and had but the<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_364">{364}</a></span> appearance of one who would work, he had no -difficulty in borrowing from any one all that was required for starting -him, his muscles and sinews being the sole guarantee for repayment.</p> - -<p>It was near Carson’s Hill that poor Boyd worked with a gang of men, -though with what success I do not know. Boyd was an English gentleman of -independence; and in his yacht, the “Wanderer,” he had visited nearly -every place on the globe. He was fitted in every respect for the roving -life he had chosen, and was equally at home whether he roughed it in the -mountains or played the host on board the “Wanderer.” Shortly after he -left San Francisco, he landed at Solomon’s Island to shoot wild fowl, -and there was cruelly murdered by the natives. None who knew him heard -of his fate without regret; and as a finale to the life of this -adventurous man, the “Wanderer” soon after went ashore and was lost.</p> - -<p>A gulch which branches off from Carson’s, and which proved very rich, -was discovered under circumstances of great solemnity, and I am indebted -to Mr. Carson for the anecdote.</p> - -<p>One of the miners died, and having been much respected, it was -determined to give him a regular funeral. A digger in the vicinity, who, -report said,<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_365">{365}</a></span></p> - -<div class="figcenter" id="wdcut_016" style="width: 600px;"> -<a href="images/ill_022.jpg"> -<img src="images/ill_022.jpg" width="600" height="442" alt="[Image unavailable.]"></a> -</div> - -<p class="nind">had once been a powerful preacher in the United States, was called upon -to officiate; and after “drinks all round,” the party proceeded, with -becoming gravity, to the grave, which had been dug at a distance of a -hundred yards from the camp. When this spot was reached, the officiating -minister commenced with an extempore prayer, during which all knelt -round the grave. So far was well; but the prayer was unnecessarily long, -and at last some of those who knelt, began, in an abstracted way, to -finger the loose earth that had been thrown up from the grave. It was -thick with gold; and an excitement was immediately apparent in the -kneeling crowd. Upon this, the preacher stopped, and inquiringly said,<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_366">{366}</a></span> -“Boys, what’s that? Gold!” he continued, “and the richest kind of -diggings,—the congregation are dismissed!” The poor miner was taken -from his auriferous grave and was buried elsewhere, whilst the funeral -party, with the parson at their head, lost no time in prospecting the -new digging.</p> - -<p>The population of the diggings, in 1848, was as varied as can be well -imagined; every nation and calling was represented there, from an -ex-governor to a digger Indian. But amongst this motley crew lawyers -predominated; and if we may judge by the fees they received, and the -quality of the law they exchanged for them, they had brought their -forensic knowledge to a fine market. As magistrates and other officers -were required in the different mining districts, they were elected by a -majority of the miners, and formed a court of law.</p> - -<p>All mining disputes were submitted to these courts, and whatever might -be the decision given, <i>that</i> was considered the law, which saved all -trouble of appeal. The following incident will convey some idea of law -in the diggings at this time.</p> - -<p>Two Spaniards, who had amassed a large quantity of gold dust by -successful digging, quarrelled over the possession of an old mule that -was scarcely worth her keep, and applied to the alcalde or magistrate -to<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_367">{367}</a></span></p> - -<div class="figcenter" id="wdcut_017" style="width: 600px;"> -<a href="images/ill_023.jpg"> -<img src="images/ill_023.jpg" width="600" height="599" alt="[Image unavailable.]"></a> -</div> - -<p class="nind">settle the dispute. Before a word was said, however, each “greaser” had -to pay three ounces of dust for expenses of the court; and then, both -speaking at once, each related his own tale in Spanish, which was a -language unintelligible to the court. After this, they were informed by -his Honour, through an interpreter, that they had better leave the case -to the decision of a jury. To this they agreed, and having paid two -ounces more in advance to the sheriff, that officer summoned a jury from -the adjacent diggings. After hearing their statements, which were very<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_368">{368}</a></span> -contradictory, the jury retired, and returned with a verdict that the -costs should be shared by the plaintiff and defendant; and as there was -not evidence to show who the mule really belonged to, they were to <i>draw -straws</i> for her!</p> - -<p>The bill of costs amounted to twenty ounces,—the <i>liquor bill</i> to three -ounces more. This sum the Spaniards paid, and then they went out to cut -for the animal; but some other Spaniard had already settled the dispute, -for whilst all were inside he had mounted the mule and rode off with it, -nor did it ever, to my knowledge, turn up again. But for the comparative -insignificance of the fees, this trial might have taken place, judging -by the result, in our own Court of Chancery.</p> - -<p>A few digger Indians worked occasionally in our vicinity, having -discovered that gold would purchase fine clothes and rum, which was all -they cared for. The outfits they procured with their dust varied -according to taste. One would prefer half a-dozen shirts, and wear them -all at once; another would be content with a gaudy Mexican hat and a -pair of jack boots; so that their partial adoption of civilised costume -only served to render the uncovered parts of their bodies ridiculously -conspicuous.</p> - -<p>The Indians of California have a tradition among<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_369">{369}</a></span> them which points to -the days when volcanic eruptions devastated the country, and destroyed -all living things but Indians. No traces of an earlier race are to be -found, however, as yet, in Upper California; nor have the Indians the -faintest knowledge of pictorial signs or symbols. I am inclined, -therefore, to think that the present tribes have been migratory.</p> - -<p>It is a peculiarity of California, that although it is so rich in -flowers, the wild bee is never found there, nor did I ever hear a -singing-bird. Digging in the mines is suspended by general accord on the -Sabbath, and that day is usually spent very quietly in camp, -particularly as the more boisterous characters go to the nearest town to -amuse themselves. A walk over the mountains, rifle in hand, with an eye -to business in the shape of “prospecting,” is often the employment of -the more sedate; and if the miner sometimes finds on a Sunday what -serves him for an honest livelihood on week days, he is, mayhap, no -worse, sir, than you whose thoughts, even in a church, are not always -separate from the pounds shillings and pence you require for the -engagements of the coming week.</p> - -<p>During this time the work at the mines progressed steadily; and the new -machinery being ready, we started it, fully confident of success.<a id="FNanchor_24_24"></a><a href="#Footnote_24_24" class="fnanchor">[24]</a> -Again<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_370">{370}</a></span> was our engine placed under contribution for four horses’ more -power than it was built for, and again did our machinery turn out a -signal failure: in fact we had iron only where we should have had the -hardest of steel, and in consequence, instead of our mill grinding the -quartz, the quartz had the best of it and ground the mill; and as it was -gold I wanted, and not iron filings, I determined for the present to -abandon my third profitless speculation.</p> - -<p>Agriculturally, architecturally, and mineralogically, I had been sported -with by fate,—and the plough in the north, the steam-engine in the -south, and the hotel in the middle, had each been accompanied by -pecuniary loss. Yet the days I had passed had been very happy, and -Philosophy said: “You have had health, and contentment, and warm -friendship; and if these were purchasable, many would buy them of you -for twenty times what you have lost in money!” To which I replied, “Very -true, oh Philosophy! but had I taken my steam-engine to Russian River, -and there applied its power to sawing red-woods, and had I with my -plough turned up the fertile hills and valleys at Vallejo, and further, -had I erected my hotel at Sonora, where it was much wanted, I might have -still had the unpurchasable articles you allude to, and<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_371">{371}</a></span> the money too.” -Upon which Philosophy, seeing me thus unreasonable, retired from the -contest.</p> - -<p>Close upon this disaster there arrived a batch of letters for me. My -friend in San Francisco had died, and letters from home rendered my -return to England necessary. To return again, though—and to -Tuttle-town—on that point I was determined, “wind and weather -permitting,” as we say afloat.</p> - -<p>I sold my steam-engine to some wretched favourites of fortune, who took -it to a gulch and made money there and then. I sold Mainspring, and -Tiger, and Bevis, with grief. I might have given them away, but I know -that a man will often give more care and kindness to the animal he has -paid for, than to that he gets for nothing! and many a one who cares -little for the comfort of a horse, is mightily particular in respect of -the hundred guineas the animal is worth!</p> - -<p>The tools and houses I left with Rowe, Barnes, and Thomas. The Mexicans -I discharged, and presented them with the bullock hides, and frying-pan, -so that they were not altogether homeless; then I bade farewell to my -mining village, but not yet to the Virginia men, the carpenter Judge or -constable Rowe, for these good fellows accompanied me for the first -thirty miles of my journey. Then we parted, and I firmly believe with -equal regret on either side—why not? there had<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_372">{372}</a></span> never been an unkind -word between us in a year of mountain life, and as I reiterated at the -last, “I’ll soon be back, boys!” they knew full well that my resolution -would be upheld by the memory of kindnesses received from them.</p> - -<p>Again I plod down on the “Old Soldier,” who has seen the last of -Choctaw, although he does not know it. Is it a wonder that I was -sorrowful when I left behind me so much that had contributed to render -my life happy? But I should have been more so had I known then that I -had seen the last of Tuttle Town and its inhabitants!<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_373">{373}</a></span></p> - -<h2><a id="CHAPTER_XXI"></a>CHAPTER XXI.</h2> - -<div class="blockquot"><p class="hang">ADVICE TO EMIGRANTS—GOLD COUNTRIES—SELF-DOCTORING—ADVICE -CONTINUED—I ARRIVE AT STOCKTON.</p></div> - -<p class="r"> -<i>January, 1852.</i><br> -</p> - -<p><span class="smcap">We</span> know that the militia of the United States is very numerous, inasmuch -as it consists of every man capable of bearing arms; but it certainly -would appear that all the officers have emigrated to California, so -universal are the military titles there. Now as I proceed to Stockton I -meet here and there old mining acquaintances working at the gulches that -I have to cross. I am startled by a voice from a deep hole with, “How -are you, Captain?” (I rank as Captain in California, being <i>nothing</i>; if -I was a real Captain I should of course be a General there). I turn then -and at once recognise a familiar face, spite of the mud with which it is -plastered. “Ah, Colonel,” I reply, “what luck? How does the gulch pay?” -“Pison bad,” replies the soldier, and as I depart he shouts, “You’ll see -the judge at Cock-a-doodle Creek, and the<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_374">{374}</a></span> Major with him, working on -shares, and they’re the two meanest,”—the rest is lost to me, as the -Colonel again disappears in his subterranean coyote digging.</p> - -<p>Further on I encounter the Judge and Major at work at a “long tom” and -“How are you, Captain?” I am asked again. “Did you see the Colonel?” -says the Judge, I answer in the affirmative. “He’s considerable of a -snake,” says the Major. “He’s nothing shorter,” adds the Judge. “He’s -small potatoes<a id="FNanchor_25_25"></a><a href="#Footnote_25_25" class="fnanchor">[25]</a> any how,” remarks the Major. I back these opinions -being out of shot of the Colonel’s revolver. “Will you trade that -horse?” asks the Judge. “He’s not for sale,” I answer, and ride off. He -was for sale though, but not to carry gravel from the hill side for -Judges and Majors to make money from, whilst the “Old Soldier” picked a -scanty subsistence from the brushwood on the mountains. When I leave -these worthies behind me, I have seen the last of the diggings.</p> - -<p>I have written favourably, it will be perceived, as regards the reward -held out by the gold-fields of California, to those who <i>having arrived -there</i> have seized properly the advantages that surrounded them, and I -have no hesitation in saying, that to the industrious, healthy, and -temperate man, a comfort<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_375">{375}</a></span>able livelihood is certain; beyond this much -will depend upon his energy and ability, and as regards grand results, I -may add <i>speculative feeling</i>. I find it impossible to place in proper -shape any remarks that could be adapted to the intending emigrant, but I -will attempt to lay down a few broad facts that will apply equally to -all gold countries.</p> - -<p>It has appeared to me that a great number of those who fail, must -attribute their ill success to not having previous to starting laid down -the course they intended to pursue.</p> - -<p>The emigrant, of whatever class, should have something definite in view; -for, like a ship of discovery, he has before him, as it were, an -unnavigated sea, and unknown rocks and shoals will cause him often to -deviate from his track, but it should be only to return by a circuitous -route to the prosecution of his journey. But if he leaves home on the -broad principle of “trying his luck,” he will not only be the easier -cast down by adverse circumstances, but he will stand the least chance -of any of becoming eventually successful. The truth of this was -exemplified in the case of the English officers whom I found watering -cabbages at Napa; they had not even decided then what they should do, or -how they should turn their ability to account.<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_376">{376}</a></span></p> - -<p>It is a great drawback to the labouring emigrant to a gold country that -he generally lands without capital and is obliged at once to work, where -and how he may. This, however, may be said to him—that Californian -experience shows that, in the long run, the man does best who, having -prudently amassed some money at the diggings, turns his capital and -abilities to the channel into which they were originally directed at -home: thus, if he has been an agricultural labourer, let him farm so -soon as he has saved something; if a tailor, let him turn back to the -mining city, with his nuggets in his pockets, and there set up in trade: -for the diggings will be replenished by new comers, and high prices, -whether for potatoes or trowsers, will still (unless peculiarly affected -by over-shipment) be maintained in a fair proportion to the yield of -gold; and it stands to reason that, if all labour in the diggings is -compensated proportionately with that of the digger, it is better for a -working man to labour at the trade he understands. The uncertainty of -the miner’s life is thus avoided, and if the profits are sometimes -smaller, that is more than compensated for by regularity; for it is an -extraordinary fact that, let the diggings fall off as they will, the -miners will still require <i>bread</i> and <i>breeches</i>, and will find the -money to pay for them.<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_377">{377}</a></span></p> - -<p>When gold-fields are first discovered the profits of professional labour -are proportionately great with the rate of wages, and it would appear, -at the first glance, that a fine field was opened at these times for the -emigration of professional young men; but I find that those occupations -which combine at first large profits with comparatively easy labour, -have soon so many aspirants that the markets become glutted, and the -large profits are short-lived. Thus, in California the proportion of -lawyers is very great, and it would be a sad thing for that country if -every legal man there could live by his profession. Therefore it would -seem that a man of education should more than all shape his course -before he starts; and I think it would be wise for every emigrant, let -his ability be what it may, to consider what he is fit for, to <i>fall -back upon</i> in event of his finding his profession profitless.</p> - -<p>It is requisite for an emigrant of superior class that he should possess -at least three qualifications independent of his abilities; viz., a -small amount of capital, a good constitution, and an absence of all -pride but that which nerves a man to accomplish all that he undertakes -honestly, be it what it may! Such a man is an acquisition to a colony, -and if his fortunes are adverse he is an exception to the rule.</p> - -<p>The reader may observe that my own failures<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_378">{378}</a></span> scarcely bear out this -remark, and this is true; but my efforts were of an experimental nature, -and, as I observed elsewhere, Fortune has ever snubbed me, but the jade -does it so gently that I forgive her.</p> - -<p>The emigrating reader may try farming, house-building, or quartz-mining -with perfect security for all that bears upon the case in my experience, -unless indeed my narrative serves to point out to him the folly of -embarking in what one does not understand; and I would rather, if he -pleases, attribute my failures to that cause, for I thereby bring to his -notice a golden rule he can never keep too much in view. But this much -is borne out by the histories of California and Australia, that gold -countries increase permanently in wealth and prosperity; therefore the -emigrant need not be downcast by present misfortune, he has but still to -strive, and, in common with all, he will reap eventually the fruits of -the great blessings which the Creator has been pleased to shower on -these lands. He needs no better assurance than that he carries health, -industry, and patience to a colony that is in a state of rapidly -progressing improvement; and if, in those countries he may visit, as -much care has been taken as in California to provide hospitals for the -sick, and asylums for the destitute, <i>free of charge</i>, why he may land, -if it so<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_379">{379}</a></span> happens, shattered in mind and body, and be yet turned out a -good man and true, to aid by his pickaxe or his plough the general -prosperity of the state that provides with so much forethought for the -casualties that may beset him.</p> - -<p>Something has been said already, and with good purpose, to aid the -emigrant in preserving his health under the influence of a new climate, -and I will introduce a few remarks that have resulted from my own -experience, which has not been confined entirely to the adventures -herein related.</p> - -<p>I would strongly advise every man to wear flannel or woven stuff next -his skin, and let him never remove that which encases the upper part of -the body but of a morning, when he bathes himself from head to foot; -flannel on the chest and abdomen is more requisite perhaps by night than -by day to those who are subjected to exposures.</p> - -<p>Dispense with what is termed a medicine-chest, but which is, generally -speaking, a box of rubbish, and even if well fitted is a dangerous thing -to have by you.</p> - -<p>Certain merchant vessels, which do not carry “an experienced surgeon,” -are supplied with medicine-chests and an accompanying book of reference. -It is related that one tarry fellow once applied to his captain<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_380">{380}</a></span> for -relief; his complaint was “that he had something on his stomach.” Under -these circumstances the skipper turned over his pharmacopœia, and at -once prescribed two teaspoonfuls of No. 15 (the drugs being numerically -arranged); on an inspection of the “chest” it was found that No. 15 had -“given out,” and for the moment it seemed that Jack was likely to die -from want of medical assistance; but the skipper had a forethought. -There was plenty of No. 8—plenty of No. 7; seven and eight make -fifteen, says the captain, and Jack, to whom this calculation seemed -quite natural, took two teaspoonfuls of the joint mixture, and with so -much benefit as this, that whatever <i>was</i> “on his stomach” came up with -a rapidity that would have astonished the Royal College of Surgeons. -Although the intelligent emigrant would not make so great a blunder as -this, he might make a greater, and kill himself, even whilst strictly -following out his medicine book. For self-doctoring becomes a mania, -and, as with some men, you must keep the bottle away if you would have -them sober, so with others, you must deprive them of calomel and opium -if you would have them healthy. I have met many infatuated fellows, who, -on the first symptom of fever, have salivated themselves, from an -inherent faith in the efficacy of mercury; and to see a man<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_381">{381}</a></span> in the -rainy season in a canvass tent, lying on a damp floor and in damp -blankets, bolting calomel pills, is a sight that soon becomes very sad, -and yet is very common. American emigrants are very prone to carry with -them a preparation of mercury, called “blue mass;” fortunately for them -there is more clay and rubbish than anything else in the composition. I -shall carry with me, when I next start for a region where doctors are -not, half a gallon of castor-oil in a tin bottle, a few trifles for the -cure of wounds, mustard, and <i>quinine</i>; if the emigrant can afford it, -this latter should always form part of his stock.</p> - -<p>As regards castor-oil, I can only say that it was the sole medicine I -took when attacked by malignant yellow fever, and that I was the only -survivor of the passengers of the steamer “Dee” that were attacked.</p> - -<p>When first arrived at his new home the emigrant should avoid exposure to -the mid-day sun, or night air; but if he be a digger in the gold-fields, -let him make this rule, that so soon as he feels the first symptom of -illness, he will <i>lay by</i> for twenty-four hours. Premonitory fever can -be arrested very easily by rest and quiet, but in nearly every instance -it is aggravated to a dangerous pitch, by a feeling of pride that will -not allow a man to surrender; and the fear of the jeers of his healthier -companions will often cause<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_382">{382}</a></span> a man to continue work, when prudence would -dictate an opposite course. When headache and sickness attack you, -<i>then</i> you may give in. A dose of medicine and a little rest will -restore you, and shortly you will become acclimated; but if you fight -against feverish symptoms, you may recover, but will probably be a wreck -for life. There is an inclination to bathe when fever first appears; -avoid that. I became very ill from bathing in the Chagres river one -evening, to relieve, as I thought, the headache consequent on exposure -to the heat, and Barnes nearly succumbed to a fever produced by the same -cause; and although they are not mentioned in this narrative in their -proper places, several cases of intermittent fever have from time to -time appeared among my party, otherwise I should not presume to lay down -any rule for the guidance of others; nor would I now, but that I have -seen so many lose their lives from a want of the most ordinary -precaution. I would advise the emigrant to the gold-fields to encumber -himself as little as possible with what is called an “outfit.” Flannel -clothing, thick socks, and the best highlows that can be made for money, -he should select with care. Let him take also good blankets. There is no -better protection for a man in wet seasons than a blanket with a hole -cut in the middle for his head to come<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_383">{383}</a></span> through: the body is free, the -perspiration is unconfined, and you can’t wear the blanket out. -India-rubber I cannot recommend; it is, I believe, more productive of -ague than anything else, for it confines the perspiration, and subjects -the wearer to a sudden check, when it is removed. An India-rubber -counter-pane is useful, but should be placed over, not under, for it -absorbs the moisture at all seasons, and makes a point of sending the -rheumatism into your back if you lie on it.<a id="FNanchor_26_26"></a><a href="#Footnote_26_26" class="fnanchor">[26]</a> An India-rubber cap, -with a curtain to protect the neck, is very useful in rainy weather, but -should be lined with flannel or felt. (See sketch on page 95.) If you -intend to dig, have one or two pickaxes and crowbars made under your own -supervision; exported tools are too often made of very inferior iron, -and it is money well spent to pay something over the market price for a -pickaxe that won’t turn its nose up at you the instant you drive it into -the hill-side.</p> - -<p>After one of the San Francisco fires an intelligent blacksmith bought up -a quantity of “burnt-out” gun-barrels; these were filled up to give -weight, and the breach of each was fashioned to the shape of a crowbar. -These instruments sold very well, but if<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_384">{384}</a></span> ever there is a calendar of -saints in California, that enterprising blacksmith will not be one of -them! or if he is, he will have been sworn at more than a saint by right -should be.</p> - -<p>I have said all that occurs to me would be of service to the emigrant: -it is little enough, and may have been said before; but if it only -corroborates the experience of others, it answers fully the end I have -in view. And I have no hesitation in submitting these remarks, for the -great advantage of one man falling into a pit is that he can show -thousands how to avoid it. I have plunged headlong into many such holes, -and as I would myself avoid them for the future, so I would that others -should. And although in the form that this is published it will not -probably meet the eye of the poor man, still if those who through the -journals they conduct so bravely cheer and assist the emigrant, see -anything in these remarks that may save him from unnecessary expense or -sickness, they will, I know, too gladly in their own way extend the aid -which I intend. Above all, I would that the emigrant who has a little -money should be impressed with the necessity of carrying as much of his -fund out with him as he can. The best ten pounds a poor man can spend is -that which enables him on his arrival in a new country to look<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_385">{385}</a></span> about -him for a day or two before he begins his work.</p> - -<p>When I arrived at Stockton, I found the streets of that city so cut up -by the traffic of the winter, that in many parts of the public -thoroughfare there were mud holes that it was necessary to avoid. The -spectators on the pathway became quite interested as I plunged through -the main street on the Old Soldier, and one would have thought that I -was a steamboat on the point of explosion by the crowd that followed my -movements. I was already deep over my saddle-girths, but the Old -Soldier, maddened by the jeers of the inhabitants, made short work of -it, and landed at last, “blown,” on comparatively dry ground. It -appeared afterwards that I had entered Stockton by a street that had for -the last month been considered impassable, and was so to any but a -high-couraged animal; but as the Old Soldier’s feet were nearly as large -as soup-plates, he had an advantage over most beasts in getting through -dirt.</p> - -<p>I slept that night in a Stockton Hotel, and waking at dawn, I started -out of bed and raised a shout; it was but the force of habit; but -although the Tuttle-tonian pigs were nearly a degree of longitude away, -I had mechanically armed myself with the water-jug before I remembered -the fact.<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_386">{386}</a></span></p> - -<p>The next morning I started for San Francisco in a very small steamboat, -and seeing the San Joaquin river for the first time by daylight, I -observed that it was very ugly; it only required alligators to make it -perfect in this respect. There was but one wheel to our boat, and that -was astern, and as the accommodation part of the vessel was built to a -great height, it was something like a small wheelbarrow with a large -trunk on it, going the wrong way. We passed Benicia with a fair tide, -and after stemming a stiff breeze, of which the Old Soldier got the full -benefit, as he was in the stem of the boat, and formed a temporary -figure-head, we arrived at San Francisco about dusk. I was fortunate in -getting a kind master for the old horse, and I have seen him since, -fatter than ever he was with me, carrying vegetables about the town with -no more pride than if he was a common animal.<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_387">{387}</a></span></p> - -<h2><a id="CHAPTER_XXII"></a>CHAPTER XXII.</h2> - -<div class="blockquot"><p class="hang">ELECTIONS—EXECUTIONS—REFORMS—EXILES—“KNOW -NOTHINGS”—TESTIMONIALS—SPEAKING TRUMPETS—OCEAN -STEAMERS—LIFE-BUOYS—AIR-BOATS—CONFIDENCE NECESSARY—FITTING A -RAFT—A SUGGESTION.</p></div> - -<p class="r"> -<i>March, 1852.</i><br> -</p> - -<p><span class="smcap">When</span> I arrived at San Francisco, I found the authorities very busy -altering the grades of the streets, and covering them with planks.</p> - -<p>As the rear of the town had been built on sand, at an elevation of some -twenty feet above the new grade, the houses there had soon the -appearance of being built on the edge of a dry ravine, into which most -of them tumbled one by one. These house-slips would generally take place -by night, but as the buildings were of the band-box style of -architecture no harm was done when one of them rolled down the hill, -further than an awful smashing of the domestic crockery. Those tenements -that outlived this trying season, were seized with a panic, and changed -their quarters.</p> - -<p>Some were raised bodily by means of lever screws,<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_388">{388}</a></span> and being placed on -rollers, were pushed and hauled into a position of safety, whilst the -very small ones were removed down the ravine by the help of half-a-dozen -yoke of oxen, and were planted somewhere else; but the appearance of -these was so far marred by this operation, that they presented ever -afterwards a crushed appearance, and the two front windows seemed to -squint.</p> - -<p>The Americans are very clever at raising houses and removing them; I -have often seen one prised from one side of the street to the other -without injury, and a house that I have since inhabited in San -Francisco, was raised bodily four feet, to correspond with the new -grade, without in any way interfering with our internal arrangements. -Brick houses have thus been raised and a new basement built under them; -but one peculiarity is apparent after all is completed, that the doors -and windows that have been left open cannot be afterwards shut, and -those that have been shut cannot, by the same rule, be opened.</p> - -<p>I was present at more than one of the general elections at San -Francisco, and in connection with this ceremony lies one of the greatest -drawbacks of the country.</p> - -<p>Setting aside the means by which governors and<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_389">{389}</a></span> legislators are brought -into office by a majority of votes, I will take the case alone of the -elected judges of the state of California. Many who have barely a -knowledge of common law, here come forward for the office of judge, and -are elected—how, it matters not—but such men have been elevated to the -bench, and once there, have detracted as much from its dignity as men -well could. Murderers passed and re-passed before them unpunished, and -this in part gave rise to the actions of the Vigilance Committee.</p> - -<p>It has been unfortunate for California that the elections have been long -controlled by a dishonest class, the least likely to support such -candidates as would place a check upon crime; however, the press of the -country and the people, are fully alive to the existence of this -evil,<a id="FNanchor_27_27"></a><a href="#Footnote_27_27" class="fnanchor">[27]</a> and it is possible that before long, the Judiciary will be -appointed by the governor and senate, when good men, of whom there are -plenty, will come forward for office.</p> - -<p>It has been very difficult to get a jury to convict a murderer in this -country; I am puzzled to say why, for self-interest would dictate an -unusual degree of severity—still the fact stands, that in twelve -hundred murders, but two men have been publicly executed.<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_390">{390}</a></span> One man -acting under jealousy, ill-founded as it appeared on trial, walked up -behind his victim in the street, and then and there blew his brains out; -yet the jury would not convict this man, and he was sentenced to a -year’s imprisonment only.</p> - -<p>The judge should not have been bound by such a verdict, for either the -man was guilty of cold-blooded murder, or was altogether innocent.</p> - -<p>The press,<a id="FNanchor_28_28"></a><a href="#Footnote_28_28" class="fnanchor">[28]</a> which has vastly improved in California, has taken a firm -stand in opposition to this evil, and before long I have no doubt that -the criminal law will be wholesomely administered there. We must not -expect perfection in a self-regulated colony of six years’ growth, -particularly when we remember that law reform and integrity of election -occupy attention in older countries.</p> - -<p>When once the seed of reform is implanted in California, it grows with -great rapidity. It may be that the greatest sinners make the greatest -saints, but certainly, the most carelessly dissipated community that -ever was brought together, have already, in their new position, enacted -laws for the complete overthrow of many of those so called “necessary -evils” that are borne with in cities of older growth,<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_391">{391}</a></span> and more -self-assumed wisdom, and infinitely greater professions of sanctity.</p> - -<p>It is said that one surfeit of raspberry-tarts will produce, in the -pastrycook’s boy, a permanent nausea for these luscious things; thus -with Californians, they have seen vice and debauchery in so awful a -shape, that in the reaction of feeling more good is being done to the -country as regards sweeping reform, than would have happened in twenty -times the time had the early colonists been at the first but ordinarily -virtuous. The thorn is extracted at once, and there is an end of -temporising and preaching, which lead to nothing at times, as any one -may see who will visit some of our cathedral cities, and learn something -of the statistics of the immorality which exists within them, and the -number of divines who are there to raise their voices against it.</p> - -<p>One of the Irish convicts who had escaped by breaking his parole, -arrived in San Francisco about this time, and was feasted and made much -of by a certain class who are to be found in many parts of the United -States, and are monomaniacs on the subject of America opening her arms -and welcoming to her soil the political exiles of other countries.</p> - -<p>The free hospitality which America extends to<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_392">{392}</a></span> exiles of all classes, is -to be admired; what a pity, then, to detract from its dignity by a -vulgar “émeute,” which, after all, is extended as much to a singer or -fiddler, as to a (so-called) champion of liberty. But the exiles -generally do not seem to improve on acquaintance, and the days of -triumphal entry are passed for them, and no wonder; for they are not -always grateful.</p> - -<p>Take the case of one who, being welcomed to the United States, at once -devotes his energies to the production of a journal which will not only -arouse political bitterness on the spot, but carefully keeps alive what -remnant of bigotted hostility to England yet slumbers in the country. -Now, as the man who sows discord between this country and America, is an -enemy as much of the latter as of the former, is it not inconsistent -that such a one should be be-speeched and be-dinnered on his arrival? -However, a man may be bowed obsequiously into a house, only to be kicked -on acquaintance ignominiously out of it, and I imagine that more than -one political refugee in America will live to experience a similar -reverse of fortune.</p> - -<p>The “Know Nothings” it would appear have set their faces against -foreigners holding office in the United States. If this political sect -would exert their<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_393">{393}</a></span> influence to prevent rabid runaway rebels, who land -among them, from revenging themselves by exciting animosity against the -country that has cast them off, they would do a great deal of good to -the United States.</p> - -<p>And indeed, as regards the exclusion of naturalised subjects from -office, the “Know Nothings” are, in my opinion, right to a certain -extent; for if we divide those who swear allegiance to the United States -into two classes, we have firstly the poor emigrants who leave an -over-populated country to spread themselves, in obedience as it were to -a law of nature, over the vast unpeopled forests and plains of a new -continent, and secondly the educated class who can do well at home but -can <i>do better</i> by forsaking one flag to cling (as long as it suits -them) to another. This class are known as “Whitewashed Yankees,” a term -that may be complimentary, but does not sound like it. It is from this -educated class of naturalised subjects that the aspirants for office -step forward, and under all the circumstances, I am not surprised that a -large sect of Americans now oppose them. For it appears to me, that a -man who has felt so little patriotism for his native land as to abjure -it formally from interested motives, is not likely to remain faithful to -the new country he adopts, any longer than suits his purpose.<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_394">{394}</a></span> His -motives are at the best, based on self, and he is consequently not the -best qualified either to hold office or to conduct the public press.<a id="FNanchor_29_29"></a><a href="#Footnote_29_29" class="fnanchor">[29]</a></p> - -<p>There is a disproportionate number of jewellers and goldsmiths in San -Francisco, yet all drive a flourishing business. Two articles are in -great demand, viz., gold watches, and silver speaking-trumpets. Nearly -every one in California has a gold watch—every nigger has, I am sure, -and very much dignity does a “coloured person” exhibit whenever he draws -out his ponderous gold turnip, the chain of which is nearly as large as -the cable of a ten-gun brig.</p> - -<p>The speaking-trumpets, of which so many may be seen in the jewellers’ -shop fronts, are accounted for by the habit the San Franciscans have of -presenting a testimonial to the Captain of any ship who may have brought -them safely into port. This testimonial is almost invariably a -speaking-trumpet, which is tendered to the skipper, with a request that -he will blow it, from the undersigned, &c., &c. This mania became so -strong at one time, that if the captain of any Oregon schooner with a -cargo of lumber arrived in safety with two passengers and a dog, there -was no knowing what honours awaited him; at least a letter<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_395">{395}</a></span> of thanks -from the passengers and dog, but probably a speaking-trumpet; so that -soon there was more ridicule than honour attached to these testimonials.</p> - -<p>When nearing San Francisco one day in a noble steam-ship, whereof the -captain had done his duty by piloting the ship in safety and attending -to the comforts of his passengers, a gentleman arose towards the close -of our last dinner on board, and amidst profound silence, commenced -eulogising our skipper. I sat next to this latter, and when the orator -continued, “therefore gentlemen it has been moved and carried by a -committee of the passengers, that to mark the high sense they -entertain,” the poor skipper turned to me with anguish in his eyes, and -whispered, “By G—d, they’re going to give me a speaking-trumpet.” He -was right, too, and got a tremendous one; however, I whispered comfort -to him, and showed him how, by putting a bottom to the large end of the -trumpet, and a handle at the top, it would make a splendid claret jug, -capable of holding a gallon at least, and then suggested I, “you might -erase the inscription, and say you won it at a steeplechase.” Whether he -followed this wholesome advice or not I never heard.</p> - -<p>I secured my passage on board the “Northerner,” and started on my way to -England, in company with<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_396">{396}</a></span> about two hundred and fifty passengers. The -weather was delightful, and the wharf was crowded with friends who had -come down to see us off: the partings were not very heart-rending; in -fact, the great joke seemed to consist in those who were on the wharf -pelting us with oranges and cheap novels as we cast off.</p> - -<p>As we steamed out of the bay and lost sight of the busy city at last, we -could not but think of the changes and reverses that all of us had been -witness to, and most of us had shared. I for my part, as I recalled the -noble courage with which misfortune had been borne with by the people, -echoed the remark that Smith and Jones had made conjointly on the ruins -of the first fire.</p> - -<p><span class="smcap">Smith.</span> It’s a great country!</p> - -<p><span class="smcap">Jones.</span> It’s nothing shorter!</p> - -<p>We were very comfortable on board, and arrived at Panama, so much -pleased with the ship and the voyage, that it was lucky for the captain -that there were no speaking-trumpets to be purchased at Panama; as it -was, we did not let him off without a letter of thanks—and our thanks -in one form or the other he certainly deserved; his name was Isham. -Captains of ocean steamers do not always perform their duty, many are -apt to forget that more devolves upon them than mere seamanship, some -forget even this.<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_397">{397}</a></span></p> - -<p>In the great points, of cleanliness as regards the ship, attention to -the real wants of the passengers, and a judicious arbitration of such -little outbreaks as will occur in crowded vessels, the commanders of the -Pacific Mail Steam Ship Line (to which the “Northerner” belonged) -deservedly enjoy a reputation. The ocean steamers on this line, as also -on the opposition, which takes the Nicaragua route, are magnificent -vessels. Many of them are over three thousand tons burden, and are very -fast and beautifully found. Ventilated with open ports two feet square -between each state-room, they are comfortable and wholesome even when -carrying eight hundred passengers; and it is the want of ventilation -that makes a crowded ship unbearable anywhere, and in the tropics -unhealthy.</p> - -<p>A large proportion of ocean steamers are wretchedly off in this respect, -and travellers in the East or West Indies are often limited when under -hatches to such air as can penetrate through a scuttle hole about the -size of a saucer.</p> - -<p>One American steam ship, the “George Law,” possesses what I have never -met with in any other boat; she has not only life-boats<a id="FNanchor_30_30"></a><a href="#Footnote_30_30" class="fnanchor">[30]</a> suspended -from her davits on all sides, but she has two metal air-boats elevated -on deck, that can be launched <i>imme<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_398">{398}</a></span>diately under any circumstances</i>. -Besides these boats there are on board several hundred life-buoys, one -of these being suspended to each bunk throughout the ship. These -life-buoys are formed of cork and painted canvas, and have straps to -fasten them under the arms. As I recall the fearful and unnecessary loss -of life that has been recorded in the last two years, I have scarcely -patience when I reflect how much of it might have been avoided had each -passenger, as on board the “George Law,” been provided with ten -shillings worth of cork and canvas. I was ten days on board the “George -Law,” and each night as I went to bed, my eyes were arrested by my -life-buoy. It said plainly to me, did this life-buoy, (not knowing that -I was a sailor by profession) “Collisions will take place, spontaneous -combustion will break out, and sunken wrecks and rocks and sand-banks -will be run upon; should any of these occur, will you not quietly buckle -me on, being <i>prepared by your daily contemplation of me for any such -emergency</i>, and will you not then calmly assist wherever you are wanted, -in the full confidence that even if the ship sinks under you, you can -float without exertion until you are picked up by the life-boats?” -Certainly the contemplation of a life-buoy by one’s bed-side, will bring -such thoughts to mind,<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_399">{399}</a></span> and by keeping the danger before each man night -and day, prepares him when the hour comes, to act coolly and -reflectively. But we may look farther even than this; if the presence of -life-buoys accustoms passengers to contemplate danger, and to meet it -calmly when it comes, does it not stand to reason that the captain and -crew of a sinking vessel are better able to exert themselves for the -safety of the vessel, or otherwise the lowering and <i>provisioning</i> of -boats, when the passengers, confident in their cork and canvas, are -calmly awaiting the <i>order</i> to jump overboard, instead of at once -plunging into the waves, only to struggle and call piteously for help, -thus unmanning some and rendering others unable to assist them. How many -boats have been successfully lowered from a sinking ship, but being -overloaded too suddenly, have turned over and drowned all that could not -swim: would this be so if all had life-buoys? How many boats have left a -ship in the dark night but half full, fearing the impetuous rush which a -panic-struck crowd would make at it if again it touched the ship’s -sides? Yet the cost of such a buoy is but ten shillings, and that of a -life-boat thirty pounds.</p> - -<p>It may be said that every passenger can carry his own life-preserver, -and that most do so: this is nothing;<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_400">{400}</a></span> it gives me no increased -confidence to know that Muggins who sleeps next to me has an -India-rubber bag that he can blow out each night before turning in. The -advantage of disposing life-buoys throughout the ship, as in the “George -Law,” is in the general confidence which their presence gives to all, -and when the moment of danger comes, that ten shillings’ worth of cork -and canvas will enable those who cannot swim to keep above water, and -those who can swim to double their exertions to form a raft and save the -helpless. There is not, to my knowledge, an ocean steamer that leaves -England that is properly found in this respect, nor will there be until -government inspectors are appointed to see that they are supplied with -life-boats that can be lowered in all weather, and do not necessarily -swamp if a “fall” gives way, or bilge as they surge against the vessel’s -side. And captains of vessels should be made to keep their boats clear, -so far as this, that falls should be kept clear for running, and -lashings and gripes so secured as <i>easily to be cast off</i>, precautions -which are seldom taken.</p> - -<p>Judging not only by the details we receive from the survivors of lost -ships, but from what actually comes before our notice as we travel to -and fro, it appears as a fact indisputable, that not only are steamboats -ill supplied with the requisites for saving<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_401">{401}</a></span> life in case of shipwreck, -but that what they have are seldom of use when wanted. With long boats -on board that can only be hoisted out under favourable circumstances, -cutters and gigs at the davits lashed and secured, and covered with -tarpaulin, filled with hay perhaps, or vegetables, containing neither -oars, compass, or tow-rope, is it a wonder that in nearly every case of -shipwreck we find the loss of life aggravated by the confusion and -mismanagement which accompanies the lowering of boats, or the attempted -construction of a raft? A few hundred pounds would amply supply every -ship with the requisites for preservation of life in addition to those -they already possess, and of what account is this sum in the grand total -of the cost of a steam-ship? Air-boats, or life-buoys, are by no means -perishable or costly articles, but how much less sad would have been the -history of sinking and burning troop-ships, had they been supplied with -them?<a id="FNanchor_31_31"></a><a href="#Footnote_31_31" class="fnanchor">[31]</a><span class="pagenum"><a id="page_402">{402}</a></span></p> - -<p>Of what avail is the splendid discipline and admirable courage that is -displayed by soldiers in burning and sinking ships, when each man has -but to wait the hour when he must go overboard and drown helplessly. I -would not only have each soldier in a troop-ship provided with a -life-buoy, but I would also that each man, previous to sailing, should -be made to go once into deep water with the life-buoy on, so that he -might be convinced in smooth water that the cork would uphold his -weight—a fact more difficult to believe when the trial has to take -place in a hurricane, and from a sinking ship.</p> - -<p>Each vessel carries (or rather should carry) a sufficient number of -spare spars to replace those that may be carried away; there is seldom a -call for the largest of these in a well-managed ship, yet they form part -of her furniture, and are generally lashed on deck or under the chains.</p> - -<p>By a little management these spare topmasts and yards might be so -fitted, without impairing their utility, as to form a raft, in -conjunction with casks, in a very short time. The crew might be -practised shortly after leaving port at launching these spars and -connecting them; the passengers would be instructed equally with the -crew; and in emigrant and troop ships those who could swim might at once -be sent<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_403">{403}</a></span> overboard (with their life-buoys) to assist in the construction -of the raft.<a id="FNanchor_32_32"></a><a href="#Footnote_32_32" class="fnanchor">[32]</a></p> - -<p>To make this more plain, let us suppose a ship, whether carrying troops, -emigrants or passengers, to be twenty-four hours out of port; an order -is posted up that all hands are to muster on deck with their life-buoys -at a given hour, when the fire-bell will be sounded. The ship or steamer -is hove to, the spars are unlashed, launched, and the raft is put -together, the boats are lowered, and the passengers then see at least -that the means of safety are provided for them. Those that can swim can -go overboard if they please and lend a hand. Hoist everything on board, -and you have lost perhaps three hours of your passage time, but a vast -deal has been accomplished towards saving life, if the ship that night -should run upon a rock and perish. Everything would be in its place, and -all that could be done would be done.</p> - -<p>I fear that there would be much opposition to such a plan on board -passenger ships, for when danger is far off there is little disposition -to submit to any arbitrary regulations, even though adopted for their -own safety; but in emigrant and troop ships the practice might be -enforced. I would have troops and emigrants mustered regularly with -their life-buoys on,<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_404">{404}</a></span> and the swimmers formed into a squad with a -certain duty appointed for them. Each man should know his station in the -hour of danger, and the fire-bell be sounded once a week for practice. A -little ingenuity in the formation of buoys, adapted to the peculiarities -of the frame of the raft, would so secure a large body of men in the -frame that, even if they perished from exposure or starvation, they -would still be found there floating, and although suspense might have -made death more terrible to them, this would be preferable to their -being washed off one by one, after vain attempts to cling to rolling -casks, and spars, and hen-coops, lashed together, with no more system -than the urgency of the moment suggested to the few who, under ordinary -circumstances, are prepared, in case of shipwreck, to make a rational -effort for the preservation of their lives; for the want of a lashing, -or an axe, or a tow-rope for a boat at such times will peril the lives -of all; but, when all is provided, confidence and courage are there -also, and life may be saved.</p> - -<p>They say drowning men will catch at a straw; let us give our brave -soldiers something to catch at, in the hour of emergency, that will -serve to keep them at least a short time above water; and let our “Royal -Mail lines” take some precautions of this nature for<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_405">{405}</a></span> their passengers, -and charge for it extra, if they like, in the passage money.</p> - -<p>Shortly after the loss of the “Amazon” I was taking a passage in one of -the West India boats, and I observed that, in the ship’s fire bill, -which was exposed, the crew and officers only had been stationed. I -ventured to suggest to the captain that an extra clause might be -inserted, to the effect that those passengers who chose to render -assistance in case of fire should assemble with their blankets in some -part of the ship specified, there to be placed under the charge of one -of the ship’s officers; for it seemed to me that, daily perusing such a -regulation, a hundred able-bodied passengers would be found, at the -sound of the fire-bell, ready with their blankets, which, under the -direction of an officer, they would proceed to wet if necessary. This -plan, I thought, would not only render the passengers useful, but would -keep them away from the boats, and, being prepared to act as a -disciplined body in case of danger, the silence so necessary in these -cases would be observed among them. The captain did not agree with me; -but, as he did not inform me how I was in error, I was led to believe -that captains of large boats get testy sometimes from serving in the -Tropics, and object to passengers having any opinion in matters -connected with their own safety.<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_406">{406}</a></span></p> - -<h2><a id="CHAPTER_XXIII"></a>CHAPTER XXIII.</h2> - -<div class="blockquot"><p class="hang">“HERCULES” FAILS—LAND CRABS—MR. BOBBINS—“RUSHING” THE SHIP—NEW -YORK.</p></div> - -<p class="r"> -<i>May, 1852.</i><br> -</p> - -<p><span class="smcap">The</span> weather being fine, the roads were in tolerable order when we -arrived at Panama; we made light, therefore, of the journey, and, having -arrived at Gorgona, we dismounted from our mules, and, taking boats, -went swiftly down the rapid river, landing at the village of Barbacoes, -to which point the railway was now completed.</p> - -<p>The station-house consisted of a large shed, in which hundreds of fowls -and thousands of eggs were being cooked, eaten, and paid for with -astonishing rapidity. I observed, among other things, that the coffee -was just as weak and scalding hot at Barbacoes, as at Wolverhampton, or -any other refreshment station.</p> - -<p>There was no time-table here at this period; but the line had this -advantage over most others, that the</p> - -<div class="figcenter" id="plt_008" style="width: 600px;"> -<a href="images/ill_024.jpg"> -<img src="images/ill_024.jpg" width="600" height="385" alt="[Image unavailable.]"></a> -</div> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="page_407">{407}</a></span></p> - -<p class="nind">train started at the time specified by the authorities; for they waited -until it suited them, and then gave the order to “let her slide.”</p> - -<p>On this eventful day, however, we had not “slid” above two miles when -the train stopped. Returning Californians are of a vivacious temperament -generally, and are seldom at their ease when sitting down inactive; -therefore, the instant the train stopped, every man jumped out to see -what was the matter. The cause was soon apparent; we were ascending an -inclined plane, and the little engine—which, Hercules by name, was not -Hercules by nature—had declined to proceed any further. In vain the -sooty stoker emptied his oil-can into the fire to induce if possible -more steam; the little engine, as it ineffectually tried a fresh start, -looked piteous, and seemed to say, “How can you expect a little chap -like me to pull nine hundred of these big fellows up a hill like this? -Let ’em get out and shove me over.” This argument seemed to strike the -conductor, for, without further preface, he said, “Now, lads, heave -together,” and at once we all set our shoulders to the concern, and got -more speed out of it than “Hercules” had done from the start. There was -but one line of rails laid down, and, although the authorities were not -particular with regard to the time of starting, we had<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_408">{408}</a></span> the comfort of -knowing that a collision with the other train could not be very serious. -I wonder what we should have done had we been met by an up-train; one of -us would have had to retire, for “Hercules” could not have taken us -back, and it was not likely we were going to shove ourselves back to -Barbacoes.</p> - -<p>The scene would have been splendid, for like the two goats that met on -the narrow bridge, one train would have tried to force the other back, -and in this contest of personal strength I think the nine hundred -returning Californians would most probably have won the day, and entered -Aspinwall in triumph.</p> - -<p>Having reached the top of the hill, we all got in, and Hercules making -the most of the descent ran away with us for three miles, when we got -out again, and so on. The road lay through a thick jungle of splendid -teaks, and palms, and ferns of every variety; the rich epiphytes brushed -against our carriage windows, and the air was suffused with that sweet -fragrance which is alone known in a tropical forest after rain has -fallen. Myriads of little land-crabs of a turquoise colour lined the -banks, and as the time had now arrived when we might discharge our -revolvers and put them away, the blue land-crabs had the advantage of -several hundred bullets, and whilst Hercules<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_409">{409}</a></span> rushed impetuously through -the jungle, pop, pop, pop, went the “six-shooters,” and as the land -crabs turned over on their blue backs to die, they presented to the -astonished beholder yellow bellies and green eyes.</p> - -<p>In a pouring rain we arrived at Aspinwall, and this being the terminus, -we proceeded at once on board the steamers that were waiting to convey -us to New York. There happened to be an unusual number of opposition -boats in the bay, so that fares were so reduced that the roughest fellow -there could take a first-class berth. This was very unfair to those of -us who had booked our places through at the office of the Mail Line in -San Francisco, for we had paid a certain price for a certain degree of -comfort and room, and this was denied to us so soon as the price of the -saloon fare rendered it so overcrowded that the tables had to be laid -<i>twelve times</i> each day to accommodate the first-class passengers with -first-class fare.</p> - -<p>Thus the saloon was continually occupied, and each moment it was, “Sound -the gong”—“Hurry up the soup,” and down rushed the “next lot,” as an -auctioneer would say, leaving a hecatomb of Californian hats at the foot -of the companion ladder. We had on board the junior partner of some -English house, who was returning from a business visit he had made to -some part of South America. He gave himself<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_410">{410}</a></span> great airs, and being -dressed with the extreme taste which characterises your fast city man, -he threw us all into the shade, for we as yet were not fashionably -attired, nor had we put razors to our chins.</p> - -<p>One day at dinner this fellow, being affronted at some negligence on the -part of the waiter, said, “Aw! do you take me for a returned -Californian?”</p> - -<p>This remark being audible above the din of knives and forks produced a -sudden silence, and, for a moment I thought that Mr. Bobbins’s ears -would have been taken off with a carving knife. Fortunately, for him, -however, each one was in high spirits at the thought of reaching home, -and being very hungry continued his dinner without waiting to resent the -impertinence.</p> - -<p>There was a man on board who had brought with him from the mines two -young grizzly bear cubs, who were just getting large enough to be -dangerous, and that evening, as Mr. Bobbins was dreamily enjoying a -cigar on deck, he was aroused from the contemplation of his patent -leather boots by moonlight with, “Sir, allow me to introduce to you two -returned Californians.” Ursa major, thereupon, being held up, scratched -Bobbins’s face, whilst ursa minor attacked the patent leathers, which he -forcibly removed, together with a toe-nail or so, with his teeth.<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_411">{411}</a></span></p> - -<div class="figcenter" id="wdcut_018" style="width: 600px;"> -<a href="images/ill_025.jpg"> -<img src="images/ill_025.jpg" width="600" height="583" alt="[Image unavailable.]"></a> -</div> - -<p>Whilst one miner held a screeching, biting, ring-tailed monkey over Mr. -Bobbins’s head, another produced a savage bull-terrier, who, having done -his duty at the mines dogfully, seemed very anxious indeed to make the -acquaintance of Mr. Bobbins’s throat.</p> - -<p>It was some time before the “returned Californians” could tear -themselves away from their new acquaintance, and when they did, they -tore away more of his cross-barred trousers and cut-away coat than any -tailor could repair.</p> - -<p>The next day we arrived at Havannah, and Mr.<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_412">{412}</a></span> Bobbins was wise enough to -leave the ship and await a passage in another vessel, and I only wish -that every travelling “gent” who, puffed out with conceit, causes his -countrymen to blush for his ignorance and vulgarity, may get as durable -a lesson as that which Mr. Bobbins received from the four-footed -“returned Californians.”</p> - -<p>At Havannah we found that Americans were in bad odour, on account of the -fillibustering expeditions which had but lately been repulsed. As we -steamed out of the harbour, an intelligent miner observed to me, “I -guess that place will soon belong to our people.”</p> - -<p>“Do you think Spain will sell it?” I asked.</p> - -<p>“Our people will take it,” he replied.</p> - -<p>“But,” said I, “suppose England and France should interfere.”</p> - -<p>“Whip them,” was the laconic reply, and he turned on his heel.</p> - -<p>I mention this, because a large portion of the people of the United -States, remembering only the successful frigate actions in which, during -the last war, they reaped laurels, are ignorant respecting the real -strength of their navy at this moment.</p> - -<p>As our captain wished to arrive at New York before the opposition boats, -all steam was carried that the boilers could bear, and a little more, I<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_413">{413}</a></span> -suspect. In fact we were to “rush the ship,” and she so trembled fore -and aft with the work, that it was almost impossible to read a book in -any part of her. The bearings of the engines became so hot that they -were pumped upon day and night.</p> - -<p>She was a beautiful boat, built for the most part of pine, I believe, -and there was no difficulty in placing, under favourable circumstances, -three hundred and fifty miles a day on her log board, independent of any -favourable current.</p> - -<p>Soon, however, we were in the Gulf stream, and were met by signs of a -south-easter; first it “clouded up,” as a miner remarked, and then it -“breezed up considerable,” after which night came on and with it the -gale. These south-easters have a way of chopping round when at their -height, and by this eccentric conduct many vessels are lost. One of the -officers informed me that a short time previously a brig called the John -Hill, was taken aback in this way, and her cargo of molasses shifted and -burst the decks, upon which, “John Hill” became water-logged. Two days -after the mate was taken off the wreck with two legs and an arm broken; -and, concluded my informant, the captain was found two miles off “in -good shape” floating on a hen-coop—the rest of the crew were lost. Fine -weather succeeded the gale,<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_414">{414}</a></span> doubly fine by contrast, and as we passed -Sandy Hook, and steamed up New York Bay, the shores on either side, -white with snow, shone brilliantly in the winter’s sun; and the leafless -trees that grew in copses here and there in naked desolation, had more -charm for us, being nearer home, than ever had the vivid green of the -palms and ferns that ten days back we had seen at Panama.</p> - -<p>Thus is our appreciation of the beautiful ever dependant on association; -and to me the white cliffs of my own country, whether I am casting the -last glance on leaving them, or straining my eyes as I first catch a -glimpse of them as I return, these ugly chalky cliffs have more actual -charm for my eye than all that I have ever seen elsewhere of nature’s -rarest gifts.</p> - -<p class="casstt">* * * *</p> - -<p>There is nothing left for me to say of New York, others having recorded -more than I could learn of it in a week’s sojourn there. Having visited -many places of note, that have been already accurately described, I -turned into Barnum’s Museum to see the woolly horse, but I could not -find it; being disappointed in the natural history department, I stopped -to witness the theatrical performance, and this so impressed me that I -subjoin for the benefit of the reader a bill of<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_415">{415}</a></span> performance, which I -extracted from an American journal:—</p> - -<div class="blockquott"><p>Just opened, with 100,000 Curiosities, and performance in -Lecter-Room; among witch may be found</p> - -<p class="c"> -TWO LIVE BOAR CONSTRICTERS,<br> -Mail and Femail.<br> -ALSO!!<br> -A STRIPED ALGEBRA, STUFT.<br> -BESIDES!!<br> -A PAIR OF SHUTTLE COCKS AND ONE SHUTTLE HEN—alive!<br> -THE!<br> -SWORD WITCH GEN. WELLINGTON FIT WITH AT THE<br> -BATTEL OF WATERLOO! whom is six feet long and<br> -broad in proportion.<br> -WITH!!!<br> -A ENORMOUS RATTLETAIL SNAKE—a regular wopper!<br> -AND!<br> -THE TUSHES OF A HIPPOTENUSE!<br> -Together with!<br> -A BENGALL TIGER: SPOTTED LEPROSY!<br> -</p> - -<p class="c">——</p> - -<p class="c">GREAT MORAL SPECTACLE OF ‘MOUNT VESUVIUS!’</p> - -<p class="c">PART ONE.</p> - -<p>Seen opens. Distant Moon. View of Bey of Napels. A thin smoke -rises. <i>It is the Beginning of the Eruction!</i> The Napels folks -begin to travel. Yaller fire, follered by silent thunder. Awful -consternation. <i>Suthin rumbles!</i> It is the Mounting preparin’ to -Vomic! They call upon the Fire Department. <i>It’s no use!</i> Flight of -stool-pidgeons. A cloud of impenetrable smoke hang over the fated -city, through witch the Naplers are seen makin’ tracks. Awful -explosion of bulbs, kurbs, forniquets, pin weels, serpentiles, and -fourbillon spirals! The Moulting Laver begins to squash out!</p> - -<p class="c">End of Part One.</p> - -<p class="c">COMIC SONG.</p> - -<table> -<tr><td>The Parochial Beedle</td><td>Mr. Mullet.</td></tr> -<tr><td colspan="2" class="c">LIVE INJUN ON THE SLACK WIRE.</td></tr> -<tr><td>Live Injun</td><td>Mr. Mullet.</td></tr> -<tr><td colspan="2" class="c">OBLIGATIONS ON THE CORNUCOPIA, BY SIGNOR VERMICELLI.</td></tr> -<tr><td>Signor Vermicelli</td><td>Mr. Mullet.</td></tr> -</table> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="page_416">{416}</a></span></p> - -<table> -<tr><td colspan="2" class="c">In the course of the evening will be an exhibishun of Exileratin’ Gas! upon a Laffin Highena!</td></tr> -<tr><td>Laffin Highena</td><td>Mr. Mullet.</td></tr> -</table> - -<p class="c">PART TWO.</p> - -<p>Bey of Napels ’luminated by Bendola Lites. The lava gushes down. -Through the smoke is seen the city in a state of conflagration. The -last family! “<i>Whar is our parents?</i>” A red hot stone of eleving -tuns weight falls onto ’em. The bearheaded father falls scentless -before the statoo of the Virgin! <i>Denumong!!</i></p> - -<p class="c"> -The hole to conclude with a<br> -GRAND SHAKSPEARING PYROLIGNEOUS DISPLAY OF<br> -FIREWURX!!<br> -</p> - -<p>Maroon Bulbs, changing to a spiral weel, witch changes to the Star -of our Union: after, to butiful p’ints of red lites; to finish with -busting into a Brilliant Perspiration!</p> - -<table> -<tr><td colspan="2" class="c">During the performance a No. of Popular Airs will be performed on<br> -the Scotch Fiddle and Bag-pipes, by a real Highlander.</td></tr> -<tr><td>Real Highlander</td><td>Mr. Mullet.</td></tr> -</table> - -<p>Any boy making a muss, will be injected to once’t.</p> - -<p>As the Museum is Temperance, no drinkin’ aloud, but anyone will -find the best of lickers in the Sloon below.</p></div> - -<p>Could I have witnessed such an entertainment as this, together with the -woolly horse, my chapter on New York would have been swelled both in -size and importance.</p> - -</div> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="page_417">{417}</a></span></p> - -<h2><a id="CHAPTER_XXIV"></a>CHAPTER XXIV.</h2> - -<div class="blockquot"><p class="hang">YELLOW FEVER—A WOODEN HEAD—HARD TIMES—A GALE—WE SPRING A -LEAK—ACAPULCO—SMUGGLING—CHOLERA—CONCLUSION.</p></div> - -<p class="r"> -<i>Christmas, 1852.</i><br> -</p> - -<p>“<span class="smcap">I’ll</span> soon be back, boys,” was my last remark, it will be remembered, as -I parted from the Tuttletonians on the road; consequently, in the winter -of 1852 I found myself at the Island of St. Thomas, on my way back to -the scrofulous pigs, the Carpenter Judge, and Constable Rowe. I had made -up my mind that for the time being I would have no more to do with -quartz mining. I saw that there was much respecting it that would remain -enigmatical until the application of capital and science had produced -results; so as the English Mining Companies appeared to possess both -capital and science in abundance, I determined to wait and learn -something from their operations, and for that matter I am waiting still. -As my wife accompanied me I had<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_418">{418}</a></span> made up my mind to jog on by easy -stages to San Francisco, and when arrived there, visit either Southern -California or the Great Salt Desert. Having had a rough passage out we -were resting for a few days at St. Thomas, when the yellow fever broke -out with great violence; soon the ships in harbour lost all their crews, -and the population ashore became panic-struck with the virulence and -suddenness of the disease. I was glad when the Company’s steamer, Dee, -arrived to take us on to Aspinwall; and as this ship was considered -healthy, we congratulated ourselves as we left the anchorage on having -left Yellow Jack behind us; but, unfortunately, we had embarked on board -the very ship that was doomed to suffer the most of all the steamers of -the mail line. We had scarcely been forty-eight hours out, when the -funeral service was read over nine of the ship’s crew; arriving next day -at Carthagena, we landed there about a dozen hopeless cases. The day -after, my servant died in great agony.</p> - -<p>The features of the yellow fever, as then exemplified, were very -horrible. I shall not, therefore, describe them, but merely mention that -the disease commenced with a bleeding from the nose and gums, and this -hemorrhage in many cases could not be checked whilst life remained.<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_419">{419}</a></span></p> - -<p>We had about twelve passengers on board, all English but one; five of -them were sturdy Cornish miners proceeding to California. The first -passenger attacked was Mr. Adams, an American, and as we were then in -sight of Aspinwall, we hoped to land in an hour or two, and fly from the -epidemic, which had not as yet appeared on the Isthmus. We left Mr. -Adams bleeding profusely from the nose, and we afterwards heard of his -death. There was a vague fear among us that we were not quite safe, so -we hurried on to Gorgona, which village we reached that night. The rain -descended without cessation, and we had arrived at the close of one of -the heaviest wet seasons that had been known for years. The roads were -described as being in many places impassable, and such mules as we could -hire were so worn out by the winter’s work that they could scarcely bear -our weight when we mounted. The luggage was charged at the rate of a -shilling a pound, and the muleteers would not engage to take it through -in safety. Much trouble there was, I believe, in starting from Gorgona -in the early morning; much falling of mules and immersion of riders in -thick ponds of mud, ere our party had proceeded a mile on the road. The -rain, I believe, fell as if it would blind one, and as the thunder -reverberated through the dark forest of palm<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_420">{420}</a></span> trees, the lightning made -the darkness of the black covered road before us more horrible.</p> - -<p>Had not the yellow fever been behind us, our party would, I believe, -have turned back to spare the women such a fearful trial. I say, -believe, for the night before I had been attacked by yellow fever, and -now as we stumbled and slid, and scrambled and swam through the red fat -mud, I knew nothing.</p> - -<p>My head was of wood, as it were, or lead, and if any one had chopped it -off I should not have known it, but have gone on quite as comfortably. I -had but one fixed idea, and that was that I wanted water; sometimes I -got it, oftener it was not to be had, and I have no doubt that I -pondered dreamily over this circumstance as something remarkable.</p> - -<p>Of course I tumbled off a great many times, but not so often as was -expected; a habit of riding enabled me to keep a certain kind of seat -even under such trying circumstances. I cared little for tumbling off, -but was roused to anger at being lifted on again; however, my wife did -the best she could for me, and by night-fall we arrived at a hut on the -side of the road to sleep. There was no Californian traffic on the road -at this period, and our party consisted but of three men and two women, -the Cornish miners having proceeded on foot the day previously. They<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_421">{421}</a></span> -placed us in a small loft, through the chinks of which could be -perceived some half dozen ruffian-looking armed natives, who had -congregated below. I suppose they did not murder us because they thought -we had no money, otherwise they would have done so, unless they made an -exception in our favour over other unarmed passengers who got benighted -at these seasons. It rained still as we plodded on next day, and we -passed a slough where, a day or two before, a woman had fallen off her -mule and was suffocated before assistance reached her. My head was, if -possible, more wooden than ever, and I became much distressed at one -place where I lost my boots in the mud; for the moment I argued quite -reasonably on this subject, but soon becoming unmanned, I burst into -tears, and proceeded on my way, stolid, stupid, and bootless. Our party -arrived at Panama half dead with fatigue, draggled with mud, and -shivering in the torn clothes that for nearly sixty hours had been -drenched in rain. I was placed in bed; the other male passengers—all of -whom had arrived in good health—made themselves comfortable, and -thought no more of the Dee, or the rain, or the mud. In less than ten -days <i>they all died of yellow fever but one</i>, and I alone of those -attacked recovered.<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_422">{422}</a></span></p> - -<p>Of the whole party a Mr. Mears alone, who was travelling with his wife, -escaped unharmed.</p> - -<p>The hotel we had selected was undergoing a complete restoration, and was -very merry with the noise of whistling carpenters, who kept time with -their hammers.</p> - -<p>The best accommodation we could procure was a small whitewashed room at -the furthest end of the courtyard; in this room were two small stretcher -beds, without mattresses or covering of any kind, and as times went, we -were fortunate in procuring these, for Panama was very full. There were -no servants in the hotel; there was seldom anything to eat, and when -there was, the cooks were drunk and mutinous and refused to cook. After -six o’clock the fires were put out, and the cooks went away altogether -until the next morning, when they would stroll in early or late, just as -suited them.</p> - -<p>I was laid on a stretcher bed, and fortunately for me the doctor who -attended me was clever in his profession, and gave me no medicine. After -a day or two I commenced bleeding at the mouth as the others had done, -and a sad time my wife must have had, as she sat by my bedside and wiped -away the hot blood as drop by drop it trickled from my lips, watching me -die, as all thought then I should do.<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_423">{423}</a></span></p> - -<p>During this time I felt no pain, and although I never lost my -consciousness, I was in that dreamy state in which I could embrace no -fixed idea; my reflective faculties were lost to me, I never thought -whether I was to get up again or die. I wished to be left alone in that -undisturbed enjoyment which one can fancy a dog feels as he lies in the -sun winking and blinking at humanity.</p> - -<p>When at last I recovered and could sit up, I found that all my -companions of the Dee had died. I soon got ravenously hungry, and then -came the worst part, for I was restricted to a very small allowance of -food. I was so yellow that I became quite vain on the subject, and my -chief delight for a long time was to contemplate myself in the glass. It -is customary to say of a man with the jaundice, that he is as yellow as -an orange; an orange paled by my side, and my skin was of so bright a -hue, that to have given me a coat of gamboge would have been to paint -the lily.<a id="FNanchor_33_33"></a><a href="#Footnote_33_33" class="fnanchor">[33]</a></p> - -<p>It seemed that we had brought the yellow fever with us to Panama, or -rather it appeared at the time of our arrival, and it was now spreading -with great rapidity. Cholera also broke out, and deaths from one or the -other of these causes became very numerous.<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_424">{424}</a></span></p> - -<p>The people being panic-struck, a great rush was made for the Californian -boats, of which there happened, at this time, to be very few.</p> - -<p>So soon as I was able to move, there was but one small screw steamer in -port, and as the place was daily becoming more unhealthy, I secured, by -great favour, a cabin in her.</p> - -<p>Nothing could excuse the state in which this ship put to sea, not even -the panic; for she was not only ill-found in every respect, but was so -crowded with passengers, that it was not until it was ascertained that -there was scarcely standing-room for those on board that she tripped her -anchor.</p> - -<p>I had secured a dog-hole of a cabin, and was no sooner on board than my -wife, worn out by fatigue and anxiety, was attacked by violent fever. -There were two young doctors on board, but both were attacked shortly -after we started. Then the epidemic (an aggravated intermittent fever) -broke out among the passengers, who—crowded in the hold as thick as -blacks in a slaver—gave way to fear, and could not be moved from the -lower deck, and so lay weltering in their filth.</p> - -<p>During this time, I could get no medicine or attendance, and my wife was -in the last stage of prostration.<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_425">{425}</a></span></p> - -<p>The epidemic raged, and from the scuttle-hole of our small cabin we -could hear the splash of the bodies as they were tossed overboard with -very little ceremony. There was little to eat on board but ham and -biscuit, and it was hard work to get enough of that. On the fifth day -out, there sprang up a gale, a heavy one too, for all it was the Pacific -Ocean. Our overladen screw steamer could make but five or six knots at -the best of times, but now she could make no headway against the storm, -and she pitched so heavily in the long seas with which we were met, that -she sprung a leak and made water fast.</p> - -<p>When we commenced to work the pumps they were found to be useless, for -the coal had started and the pumps became choked. This new danger drove -the epidemic out of the passengers’ heads, and they at once proceeded to -throw overboard the cargo (and with it my luggage), and then they baled -by means of tubs and buckets.</p> - -<p>For two days and nights we were in suspense as gang relieved gang at the -buckets, and the old “screw” pitched heavily in the trough of the sea. -All were black and filthy with the coal dust, which now mixed with the -water in the hold, and as they howled and shouted over the work, these -fellows looked like devils. They worked bravely though and<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_426">{426}</a></span> coolly, and -when the carpenter hallooed from the hold, “Hurrah, lads, it’s gaining -on us;” there was no wincing on the part of those who worked, but a more -steady application to the bucket ropes and falls. Then the gale broke, -and as the ship became easier, the leak gave way before the exertions of -the coal-begrimed passengers; we steamed into Acapulco, still baling out -the black water from the hold, and felt ourselves safe, at least, from -shipwreck. A favourable change had taken place in my wife’s health, and -I determined on remaining at Acapulco, until I could procure a passage -in some safer and more commodious vessel.</p> - -<p>I forbear to mention the name of this steamer, as the captain of her was -a good sailor, and behaved nobly, and it was no fault of his that the -agents at Panama had so cruelly risked the lives of so many people.</p> - -<p>The British consul at Acapulco was kind enough to interest himself in -our behalf, and through his influence we procured a large room in the -house of a Mexican family of note. With the exception of a few chairs -there was no furniture in this room, but it was clean and well -ventilated, and “looked out” upon a court-yard of fragrant orange trees -which were now heavily laden with fruit.<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_427">{427}</a></span></p> - -<p>Nor have the natives of Acapulco much need of furniture, for they seldom -live in their houses, preferring to hang their hammocks in the porch, -where they swing lazily to and fro, and enjoy the cool breeze. The -principal apartment is used occasionally as a reception room, but it is -not considered requisite to employ more decoration on this than other -parts of the house, which is a lamentable proof of the ignorance which -exists here of the usages of polite society in those countries of which -the inhabitants do not consider what is good enough for themselves good -enough for their visitors.</p> - -<p>The Custom-house officers of Acapulco were very suspicious, and such of -my baggage as had not been thrown overboard was subjected to a very -severe scrutiny. There is a heavy duty on the exportation of specie and -playing cards in this part of Mexico, and the manufacture of the latter -is monopolised by the Government, and gives rise to a great deal of -smuggling. As many invalids had been landed at Acapulco from the -Californian steamers, and had there died, it was not unnatural that an -occasional victim should be enclosed in a shell, and be reshipped for -interment in another country. During a season in which Acapulco air -rather accelerated death than aided recovery, so large a quantity of -“remains” were<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_428">{428}</a></span> hermetically sealed and addressed to distant friends, -that the commandant became suspicious, and insisted one day on opening a -coffin. No corpse was there, but in its place was the devil; that is to -say, as far as a good cargo of playing cards and doubloons can represent -that functionary! Since then the dead man who goes out is searched -equally with the live one who comes in.</p> - -<p>There had been an earthquake at Acapulco immediately before our arrival, -and the best proof of the severity of the shock was in the fact that -numerous adobe buildings were lying crest-fallen on all sides. A Spanish -mud-built house has a strong constitution, and is built with a view to -earthquakes, but, like us poor mortals, it is built of dirt, and must -crumble to dirt again, as the Fates direct.</p> - -<p>The mosquitos at Acapulco were as numerous as any I remember to have -seen, and, in certain constitutions, every bite produced a sore, which -was aggravated by the climate. We are accustomed to look jocularly on -the attacks of these, or any other hungry insects, but to an invalid -their bites are often productive of most serious consequences.</p> - -<p>I was enabled at last to secure a passage in a large steamer, which -touched at Acapulco on her voyage to San Francisco. She was a -magnificent boat, but,<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_429">{429}</a></span> having eight hundred passengers on board, it was -with difficulty we could procure accommodation. We secured, however, a -couple of sofas in the main saloon, and, two bags of bones as we were, -we managed to find either sofa much too big for us.</p> - -<p>Asiatic cholera broke out on the day we left Acapulco, and I began to -think that we brought ill luck with our presence. It was sad to hear the -groans of the dying passengers in the cabins right and left, but perhaps -less so to us than to others, for we had seen so much sickness on our -voyage that we had come to look upon it in a stolid sort of way, and -were free from those fears and anxieties which the more robust about us -experienced. We arrived at San Francisco with a loss in one week of -fifty passengers, and if we did not thank God for his mercy in -preserving us we were surely the most ungrateful of his creatures.</p> - -<p>I would gladly have been spared this record of a very miserable voyage, -and yet without it my narrative would have been incomplete, as -presenting but one side of the picture. At the same time I can assure -the reader that I have not described one half its horrors.</p> - -<p>As we glide swiftly down the stream one day without a care, so, on the -next perhaps, with the pole to our breast, we must sturdily stem the -rushing<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_430">{430}</a></span> current to arrive at our goal with a fainting frame and panting -heart, if God so wills; or otherwise, with broken oar and shattered -bark, meet our destruction in the cruel eddies of the swollen river.</p> - -<p class="casstt">* * * *</p> - -<p>During my absence the State of California had progressed in the -seven-leagued-boots manner which had characterised it from the first.</p> - -<p>The vast blocks of brick houses that had risen on every side in San -Francisco looked so very new and red that, the streets being filled with -empty packing-cases, it seemed as if the city had been sent out -piecemeal, packed in shavings, and put together like a box of toys.</p> - -<p>Let us take one final glimpse at this colony of six years’ growth.</p> - -<p>The wharves of the city still grow, and the clipper ships appear to grow -proportionately; each “Flying Dragon,” “Flying Fish,” or “Flying Cloud,” -that arrives requires more room for her pinions than those that have -come before her.</p> - -<p>Theatres have sprung up like mushrooms, and actors are so plentiful and -good that I think of the days of the little “Dramatic” and Mr. Warren’s -“last appearance but one” in fear and trembling, lest any one should -recognise that individual in me.<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_431">{431}</a></span>—Concerts and Balls, Fancy fairs and -Picnics!—A planked road that leads to a sweet nook in the country, -where, in spring time, the hills are bright with wild flowers, and the -air fragrant with their odour.—A planked road that leads to the wild -and rugged cliffs outside the bay, where the rollers break in one -continued foam, as they lash themselves angrily against the massive wall -that dares to check their course; and where, in the midst of fog and -mist and the spray of struggling waters, sea lions live on lonely rocks, -barking joyfully as the heavy surge sweeps over their oily backs.—A -pleasant road that leads to a quiet lake, where you may dine at the -hotel and enjoy, as it may suit you, the fragrance of the flowers, or -the invigorating salt sea-air.—Horses and carriages; country villas and -country inns; libraries and debating societies; ladies in plenty, -children in plenty, and pleasant society, are here.—Steamers running to -the Sandwich Islands, steamers running to China, steamers running to -Panama and Australia, are here.—There are electric telegraphs -throughout the country, and soon they say there will be a railroad that -will connect San Francisco with the Atlantic States of America.</p> - -<p>There is grain enough sown for the consumption of the country; there are -brick-fields, stone quarries,<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_432">{432}</a></span> lime works, and saw mills enough to -supply fifty cities.</p> - -<p>There are foundries, and steam flour-mills, ship-yards, and docks.</p> - -<p>And in the mines:—where shall I stop if I begin to tell of the towns -and villages that have sprung up there, of the bridges and roads, the -aqueducts and tunnels, that meet one on every side?</p> - -<p>And not least, the Press has taken a firm tone, and devotes itself to -the eradication of existing evils.</p> - -<p class="casstt">* * * *</p> - -<p>Again I am leaving San Francisco on a bright Sunday morning. As we glide -past the hills, the sound of bells from twenty churches is borne to us -over the calm bay; we can see artisans strolling in groups with their -families, and schools of children on their way to church, who merrily -wave us an adieu.</p> - -<p>Soon the bells are heard no more, and now having passed the Heads, we -meet the fat fog which the sun has turned out of the bay.</p> - -<p>As we plunge boldly into this, we say farewell to California.<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_433">{433}</a></span></p> - -<h2><a id="APPENDIX"></a>APPENDIX.</h2> - -<p><span class="smcap">Extracts</span> from a work by Dr. <span class="smcap">J. B. Trask</span>, (U. S.) on the Geology of -California.</p> - -<h3>SOILS OF THE VALLEY SANTA CLARA AND SHORES OF SAN FRANCISCO BAY.</h3> - -<p>The soils on the Bay San Francisco differ much on its eastern and -western sides; both borders of the bay present the tertiary series, but -both do not present the trapean rocks to the same degree of development; -this, then, of course, will cause a distinctive and marked difference in -the productive capabilities of either shore. It will be found in all the -soils which have been derived in whole, or in part, from rocks more -recent than the tertiary group, that a more extensive and varied -adaptation to agricultural purposes will be present; this will be -particularly manifest in those sections where the tertiaries, containing -organic remains, enter somewhat largely into the components of the soil -produced from such sources.</p> - -<p>Under a proper course of treatment these lands will be made available -for the purposes of the agriculturist, and our already large domain of -arable lands thus much increased. The situation of these lands in the -interior is such that they may be easily reclaimed should they ever fall -within the jurisdiction of the State, which undoubtedly they will, under -the law regulating “saline lands.” In the counties of San Francisco, -Santa Clara, and Alameda, the wet land that<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_434">{434}</a></span> may be made available by -drainage is about seventy square miles, exclusive of the “saline lands” -at the southern part of the county of Santa Clara.</p> - -<p>Most of the valley sections of this range of country is arable land, and -that which is not can easily be made so when required; the agents for -bringing this about being found in the adjoining hills to the east. The -character of the soil and climate adapts it to all the productions of -temperate climates, and where local position modifies the climate of any -section, it is found capable of producing plants of the tropical -latitudes.</p> - -<p>The extreme south-eastern part of this valley would be adapted to the -growth of foreign fruits and other products, but it must be beyond the -influence of the cold sea-wind that passes inland across the range of -lower hills which divides the Salinas, Pajaro, and Santa Clara valleys, -the effect of which would be to blight the fruit, though the plant or -tree might continue to thrive.</p> - -<p>The low hills that flank the east side of the valley contain all the -elements required for the culture of tropical plants and fruits; the -climate and soil will be found adapted, and the only agent that appears -in the least to be wanting is water sufficient to supply the demands of -those plants. From the appearance of small lagoons and rivulets at -different elevations it is presumable that a sufficient quantity of this -agent may be found a short distance below the surface.</p> - -<p>As a general rule the mountains lying upon the east border of the valley -Santa Clara are covered with a soil superior to that of the plains, and -of much greater depth. I have measured the depths of these soils in many -places, and where it is well developed have found it varying from four -to eleven feet for miles continuous: its extreme fertility produces -heavy crops of the native grains and grasses, which annually contribute -to its increase by their decomposition.</p> - -<p>Although these lands are situated within the reach of the sea breeze -from the Bay of San Francisco, they are protected<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_435">{435}</a></span> from its cold by the -slope of the hills and the modifications of its temperature acquired in -its passage down the bay before reaching the northern portion of the -valley. So much is the temperature increased that an addition of ten -degrees is often acquired in its transit from San Francisco to the head -of the valley, a distance little rising fifty miles. This increase of -temperature in the air is accompanied with an increase in its capacity -for moisture, hence it is usual to find a slight aqueous haze, which -results from the condensation of its moisture, hanging about this entire -range of hills during the summer months, and is usually seen early in -the morning.</p> - -<p class="casstt">* * * * *</p> - -<h3>THE STRUCTURE OF THE VALLEYS OF SACRAMENTO AND SAN JOAQUIN.</h3> - -<p>These valleys form a “single geographical formation,” stretching from -the terminal spurs of the Cascade Mountains at the north to the junction -of the Sierra Nevada with the southern terminus of the Monte Diablo -range with the thirty-fourth parallel of north latitude. The length of -the valley is about three hundred and eighty miles in length on an air -line, with a breadth of fifty miles at its widest point.</p> - -<p>The general appearance of the valley is that of an extended plain -composed of alluvium, and this opinion would obtain in the mind of any -person whose line of travel would lead him over the lower terraces of -the plain, or what is denominated its bottom lands. It is only by making -a transverse section of this plain that we should be able to arrive at -any correct conclusions of its structure and peculiarities of its -formation; by pursuing this course, very distinctive and marked features -are observable of different periods of elevation to which this portion -of the country has been subjected subsequent to its emergence above the -level of the sea.</p> - -<p>The character of the soil in many parts of this valley will<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_436">{436}</a></span> render it -of little importance as an agricultural district, unless water in ample -quantities for irrigation can be obtained. (These remarks apply -particularly to the upper terrace of the valley on each side of the -river.) And we hope that attention may be called to this very important -subject of making the extensive areas of the arid districts of the basin -available for market and agricultural purposes.</p> - -<p>Experience has demonstrated the almost certainty of obtaining water, and -in sufficient quantities, for agricultural and other purposes, in all -valleys resting upon sedimentary formations, and having a basin-shaped -structure, and where the different beds have a degree of uniformity or -regularity in their position, and are of a texture that will admit the -free percolation of water through the superior beds, and sufficiently -firm to prevent its escape in those below.</p> - -<p>These conditions are all fulfilled in the basin of the Sacramento, and -from the united testimony of different observers, we have ample evidence -that the sedimentary formations of one side are the same as those upon -the other, with the exception, perhaps, of the conglomerate.</p> - -<p>The report, after classifying the rocks of the coast, mountains, &c., -goes on to describe their order and more recent volcanic rocks. In -relation to the discovery of coal, the author says:—</p> - -<p>From a careful examination of this part of the country, with this object -in view, I feel no hesitation in saying that coal will not be found in -any part of the coast mountains south of the thirty-fifth parallel of -north latitude; what there may be north of this point, I know nothing, -having never visited it.</p> - -<p>It is not unfrequent, in passing over the country, to hear of beds of -mineral coal; during the past season I have visited four such -localities, and, as was anticipated, each of them proved to be merely -small beds of lignite, and two of them hardly deserving that name. One -of these deposits proved to be but a bed of leaves, having a thickness -of about three inches,<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_437">{437}</a></span> resting upon a tertiary sandstone containing -marine shells, and covered with twelve feet of a sandy alluvium. This is -one of those coal beds which has figured so largely in the public prints -of the State during the past year, and has induced several gentlemen to -pay the locality a visit, and to return as deeply disappointed as their -previous anticipations were elevated.</p> - -<p>The report of coal veins in the Coast Mountains must be received with -many grains of allowance, and, at the best, none but tertiary deposits -will be found, and these, even should they exist, would be capable of -supplying but a limited demand, and that usually of an inferior -quality.<a id="FNanchor_34_34"></a><a href="#Footnote_34_34" class="fnanchor">[34]</a></p> - -<p class="casstt">* * * * *</p> - -<h3>MINERAL RESOURCES OF THE COAST MOUNTAINS.</h3> - -<p>The minerals of these mountains are widely dispersed throughout their -entire extent; they consist principally of copper, iron, lead, silver, -gold, nickel, and antimony, with agates, chalcedony, and many others, -too numerous to mention here.</p> - -<p><span class="smcap">Silver.</span>—In the county of Monterey this metal occurs in the form of -argentiferous galena (or lead and silver), and this mineral is found in -the primitive and transition limestone abounding in this section; it is -found in small veins and disseminated; the range in which it occurs -extends from the Gabilan peak to the Chapedero on the south, a distance -of twelve miles inclusive.</p> - -<p><span class="smcap">Iron.</span>—This metal is found in almost every variety of form, from one end -of the Coast Mountains to the other; the prevailing mineral, however, is -the peroxide and protoxide of this metal; the latter is often found in -the form of hydrate, and when occurring in proximity to serpentine -rocks, often found<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_438">{438}</a></span> to be more or less auriferous. This mineral is -largely developed in some parts of the auriferous district of Mariposa -County, and forms one of the most valuable receptacles of gold among the -gold-bearing rocks of that section.</p> - -<p><span class="smcap">Sulphate of Iron.</span>—This article, known in commerce under the name of -“copperas,” is found native in large quantities near the town of Santa -Cruz. Its principle had occurred a short distance west of the house of -Mr. Medor, in a gulch running from the mountains through the low hills -to the coast. I followed the course of the ravine from where it enters -the high hill near the crossing of the road north-west of the town to -near the sea. The average depth of its banks varies from fifteen to -thirty feet, its length from the hill to the coast being about two -miles.</p> - -<p><span class="smcap">Magnetic Iron.</span>—At the distance of two miles north-west of the above -locality, an extensive bed of magnetic iron occurs, running down to the -coast, at which point it crops out and exhibits a depth of several feet.</p> - -<p><span class="smcap">Gypsum.</span>—Sulphate of lime is reported to abound in the northern part of -Santa Cruz, and in the vicinity of the Palo de los Yeska, some six miles -from the mission. It was frequently spoken of by the inhabitants of this -place, but I was unable to learn its precise locality.</p> - -<p><span class="smcap">Cinnabar</span> is also reported to exist in this locality.</p> - -<p><span class="smcap">Nickel.</span>—The ores of this metal are found from Contra Costa on the -north, to the utmost southern limit reached in the Coast Mountains. It -occurs in the primitive rocks, associated with chronic iron in almost -every case where the latter may be obtained. It appears as a bright -green mineral on the fractured surface of the other ores, and is known -in technical language as “nickel green.” The scarcity of this metal -renders the discovery of its ores in this country an object of some -importance, and its wide distribution leads to the belief that it exists -in sufficient quantities to warrant investment for its extraction from -other ores, at no distant day. It is<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_439">{439}</a></span> extensively used in the -manufacture of German silver for wares and household utensils.</p> - -<p><span class="smcap">Gold.</span>—This metal has been found in the Coast Mountains, from the county -San Francisco on the north to Luis Obispo on the south. The slates and -serpentine formations which have been previously noticed in this report, -are found to be receptacles of gold here as in the Sierra Nevada; the -rocks are extensive in the Coast Mountains, often comprising an entire -ridge for miles; they are usually flanked by the granite. During the -past summer, the placers in the county Santa Cruz were much worked; the -gold found there was principally on the San Lorenzo and its tributaries; -it was fine, and much resembled that found in the Coyote Hill, near -Nevada; under the glass it had all the appearance of having suffered but -little from attrition by water, the surface of the grains being rough, -as though just detached from their original matrix. The slates and -serpentine rocks occur on both sides of this creek, with small veins of -quartz running through them; and, from what we know of auriferous -districts of this and other countries, the presumption is that gold in -<i>situ</i> exists here almost to a certainty.</p> - -<p>On the upper portions of the Carmello, in the county of Monterey, gold -is also found, in the immediate vicinity of the rancho Tulecita. Farther -to the south-east, near the head waters of the creek, it is also found -on the tributaries of the main stream that flow from the western ridge -of these mountains. On the Francisquito, a tributary of the Carmello, -coming from the south-west, and twelve miles from the coast, it is also -found near the house of Barondo. Three or four Mexicans were working -with the battea at the time I passed that ranche. The serpentine rocks -are largely developed on the east flanks of the granite ridges, and from -their course they may be considered as forming the northern part of a -series which occurs at the Mission San Antonio, fifty miles south.</p> - -<p>The district of country in the Coast Mountains in which the<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_440">{440}</a></span> auriferous -deposits are now known to occur, is about eighty miles in length, and -thus far is confined to the counties of Santa Clara, Monterey, and the -north part of Luis Obispo. This is a material addition to the already -known area in which this metal is found, and its location in what has -heretofore been considered the agricultural districts of the State, will -in time exert a beneficial influence in the permanent settlement of -those sections.</p> - -<p><span class="smcap">Antimony.</span>—The common sulphuret of this metal is very abundant in the -Monte Diablo range; at Mount Oso it is found in large masses, also at -various other points throughout these mountains; it occurs in -considerable quantities in some parts of the county of Santa Barbara. -This mineral is deserving of attention, as it often contains a notable -quantity of silver, though as yet no specimens which have been found in -this country contain a large per centage of this metal.</p> - -<p><span class="smcap">Bitumen.</span>—Bituminous springs abound through the Coast Mountains, and in -some places is much used in the construction of buildings and walks in -front of buildings; for the latter purpose it is admirably adapted in -situations where the sun will not have too powerful an effect upon it, -as in such cases it is apt to become soft. In the counties of Santa -Clara, Santa Cruz, and Monterey, several of these springs occur, and -further south, are found more abundant. Information has been received of -an extensive deposit of bitumen in Contra Costa, some six miles from the -shores of the bay, but at what point I have as yet been unable to learn. -This article has been used of late in the manufacture of gas, for -illumination, and it possesses some advantages over the common oil or -resin gas in general use; a sufficient quantity for the illumination of -the country may be easily obtained, and at low rates, when required for -this purpose.<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_441">{441}</a></span></p> - -<p class="casstt">* * * * *</p> - -<h3>PLACER MINING.</h3> - -<p>The writer enters into a long treatise on this branch of mining, and -represents its progress as being very extensive during the last two -years.</p> - -<p>It is now ascertained to a certainty that the placer ranges extend to -the east, within ten or fifteen miles of the “summit ridge,” so called, -of the Sierra Nevada; and the condition in which it is found at these -points is similar in all respects to that in the older or more western -sections, with, perhaps, one exception, and that the relative age of -both. There are evidences which clearly indicate a deposit of gold older -than the diluvial drift of the lower or western diggings, (which latter -is often confounded with the drift deposits of the tertiary periods in -this country,) the character of which differs in almost every respect -from any other deposit yet observed in this country, except in this -particular range.</p> - -<p>Its direction has been traced for about seventy miles, and is found to -extend through the counties of Butte, the eastern part of Yuba, Sierra -Nevada, Placer and El Dorado; it appears to have an average breadth of -about four miles, with an elevation of four thousand feet above the sea -for the greatest part of its length.</p> - -<p class="casstt">* * * * *</p> - -<h3>QUARTZ MINING.</h3> - -<p>After a few preliminary remarks upon the permanency of the gold mines of -this State, the author proceeds to an elaborate consideration of the -geological position which the quartz veins hold to the rocks with which -they are connected. Under the head of “Character and positions of the -older veins below the surface,” he concludes thus:—</p> - -<p>From what testimony we have in our possession relative to these veins, -it seems but reasonable to conclude that their integrity is perfect, or -as nearly so as can be reasonably expected<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_442">{442}</a></span> considering the short period -which has been employed in developing their true character, and that the -confidence which they formerly possessed was well grounded; all -subsequent examinations have only tended to confirm this belief in the -minds of those who have carefully and diligently studied this subject. -The present condition of our gold mines, their flourishing state and -prospective value, based on facts as now developed, most clearly -indicate their importance as an industrial pursuit, and one destined ere -long to form one of the leading interests in the economy of the State; -and as such it would seem that all prudent measures to develop farther -their extent and value, and place them upon that footing before the -world which that value and importance demand, should be used; either -through the State or general government, and through them promote such -measures as will prove an inducement to more extensive and permanent -operations than has yet been done.</p> - -<p>In concluding this part of the report, and in connection with the -magnitude and importance of perhaps a somewhat exciting principle in -relation to it, I would beg leave to call your attention to a point on -which there has heretofore existed much diversity of opinion, which not -unfrequently has engendered angry discussion and belligerent feeling in -a large proportion of our mining population. The experience of the last -three years has elucidated the fact most clearly that the two mining -interests of this State cannot be governed by the same rule of law in -all cases, and prove alike advantageous to both; it is therefore -suggested whether some method more congenial to this interest may not be -adopted, that will favour the occupancy and improvement of the metallic -veins of this State, giving at the same time the widest scope and -protection to all at present engaged, and those who may wish hereafter -to enter upon those pursuits.</p> - -<p class="casstt">* * * *</p> - -<p>The mines of this State are of a character and value which,<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_443">{443}</a></span> if placed -in a proper position, will invite investment from abroad to an amount -little less than twenty millions of dollars within the next eight years. -This presumption is founded on the fact that more than one-sixth of that -amount is at the present time in active operation in this country, and -its largest proportion has been derived from American sources during a -portion of that period when public confidence had been shaken in regard -to their value. Negotiations are now pending which involve nearly one -million more of capital investment in this branch of mining, nearly one -half of which is in the cities of Boston and New York.</p> - -<p>Considering the disadvantages that now surround them, as shown from the -facts relating thereto, they can but be regarded as the prolific sources -of wealth in this country; and every inducement consistent with the -liberal policy adopted in the government of the placers, is equally -applicable, and should be extended to them.</p> - -<p>Dr. Trask concludes his very able report by briefly reviewing the -operations of the following mines, viz.: Lafayette and Helvetia, Gold -Hill, Osborne Hill, Wyoming, Gold Tunnel, Illinois, Jones and Davis -Mine, Calaveras county; Spring Hill, Amadore Company, Ranchoree, -Keystone, and Eureka Mine, Calaveras County, all of which he represents -in a prosperous condition.</p> - -<p class="fint">THE END.<br><br><br> -<small>BRADBURY AND EVANS, PRINTERS, WHITEFRIARS.</small></p> - -<div class="footnotes"><p class="cb"><a id="FOOTNOTES"></a>FOOTNOTES:</p> - -<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_1_1"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1_1"><span class="label">[1]</span></a> Captain J. B. Frisbie.</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_2_2"></a><a href="#FNanchor_2_2"><span class="label">[2]</span></a> From Vacca or Vaca—cow.</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_3_3"></a><a href="#FNanchor_3_3"><span class="label">[3]</span></a> Sun-dried brick.</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_4_4"></a><a href="#FNanchor_4_4"><span class="label">[4]</span></a> Lasso.</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_5_5"></a><a href="#FNanchor_5_5"><span class="label">[5]</span></a> I am supposing the case of an unarmed person suddenly -meeting a she-bear, a not unusual occurrence in California.</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_6_6"></a><a href="#FNanchor_6_6"><span class="label">[6]</span></a> Query:—(Printer’s Devil.)</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_7_7"></a><a href="#FNanchor_7_7"><span class="label">[7]</span></a> As it would be inferred from this that champagne must have -been cheap, I may mention that at this period the prices ranged from -2<i>l.</i> to 4<i>l.</i> the bottle, and the quality was execrable.</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_8_8"></a><a href="#FNanchor_8_8"><span class="label">[8]</span></a> This fact alone proves the truth of my remarks.</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_9_9"></a><a href="#FNanchor_9_9"><span class="label">[9]</span></a> The intelligent reader will observe that this was not the -same house that was thrown overboard.</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_10_10"></a><a href="#FNanchor_10_10"><span class="label">[10]</span></a> In which it will be observed they were more merciful than -I was; but the “coyote” comes under the head of vermin.</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_11_11"></a><a href="#FNanchor_11_11"><span class="label">[11]</span></a> “Drinks” are not necessarily composed of intoxicating -liquors: on the contrary, the principal ingredients are ice, syrup, and -herbs. I mention this, because <i>we</i> mean by a man who “drinks,” a -drunkard, or the next thing to it.</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_12_12"></a><a href="#FNanchor_12_12"><span class="label">[12]</span></a> Looking, in fact, for new diggings.</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_13_13"></a><a href="#FNanchor_13_13"><span class="label">[13]</span></a> Deposits of Gold.</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_14_14"></a><a href="#FNanchor_14_14"><span class="label">[14]</span></a> Scalp.</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_15_15"></a><a href="#FNanchor_15_15"><span class="label">[15]</span></a> Gold washers.</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_16_16"></a><a href="#FNanchor_16_16"><span class="label">[16]</span></a> But when a couple of Chinamen make a demand for sam-schou, -then the bar-keeper is puzzled.</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_17_17"></a><a href="#FNanchor_17_17"><span class="label">[17]</span></a> The reader will observe, if he pleases, that in erecting -this hotel I had no view to becoming its landlord: had I taken any -situation in it, it would have been in the capacity of “boots,” which -berth a “handy young man” can turn to better account in this country -than even the head cook. That a cook’s situation, with or without tea -and sugar is lucrative, the following anecdote will attest:—In ’49 the -captain of a merchant brig at San Francisco having engaged a crew, -regardless of expense, in lieu of that which had run away, regardless of -their contracts and arrears of pay, found himself still in want of a -cook. Meeting a negro on the beach he offered him the situation, and to -the enquiry of the latter respecting salary, the captain said he could -give but two pounds a day. Having cocked his hat, folded his arms and -adjusted his legs as niggers do, this fellow laughed musically and said, -“dat if de capten wish to hire heseff out for five pounds a day to fill -dat occupation, jes walk up to the restaurant and he would set him to -work <i>immediently</i>.”</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_18_18"></a><a href="#FNanchor_18_18"><span class="label">[18]</span></a> In Mexico.</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_19_19"></a><a href="#FNanchor_19_19"><span class="label">[19]</span></a> Independent of the probability of there having been more -than one formation.—See Appendix.</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_20_20"></a><a href="#FNanchor_20_20"><span class="label">[20]</span></a> Obsolete term revived.</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_21_21"></a><a href="#FNanchor_21_21"><span class="label">[21]</span></a> A converted Budhist will address his prayers to our God if -he thinks he can obtain any temporal benefit by so doing; but if not he -would be just as likely to pray to Budha or to the devil.—Baker’s -“Rifle and Hound in Ceylon,” page 85.</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_22_22"></a><a href="#FNanchor_22_22"><span class="label">[22]</span></a> If the reader will refer to the “Times” of the 29th of -September, 1854, he will perceive that a liberal collection was made at -St. James’s, Piccadilly, for the Borneo Mission. In the same journal, -three days earlier, the police magistrates express their regret that -want of funds compels them to deny assistance to surviving sufferers -from the cholera! All have, of course, a right to do as they like with -their money; but after the hat had passed round at St. James’s, I should -have liked to have seen its liberal contents transferred at once to -Bermondsey instead of to Kuchin. And for this reason, that I know, from -personal experience, that my old friends the Dyaks are as fat and sleek -a people as any in the world, well fed, well housed, and free from -disease, whilst the stomachs of those at Spitalfields, charitable sir, -are aching with the hunger that drives man to <i>crime</i>!</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_23_23"></a><a href="#FNanchor_23_23"><span class="label">[23]</span></a> Rich deposits were discovered, but I am not aware of the -value of the quartz generally at Carson’s Creek.</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_24_24"></a><a href="#FNanchor_24_24"><span class="label">[24]</span></a> Our object was still only to experimentalise.</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_25_25"></a><a href="#FNanchor_25_25"><span class="label">[25]</span></a> The reader will perceive the bitter irony conveyed in this -expression as contrasted with the complimentary one of “some pumpkins.”</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_26_26"></a><a href="#FNanchor_26_26"><span class="label">[26]</span></a> The best use to which an India-rubber sheet can be put, is -to protect during the day that part of the ground on which you sleep at -night.</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_27_27"></a><a href="#FNanchor_27_27"><span class="label">[27]</span></a> Since this was written, an election has taken place, -calculated to give satisfaction to the Reform Party.</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_28_28"></a><a href="#FNanchor_28_28"><span class="label">[28]</span></a> A little paper called the “Sun” deserves great credit for -the courage with which it has attacked existing abuses!</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_29_29"></a><a href="#FNanchor_29_29"><span class="label">[29]</span></a> I beg to forestall the remark that may here be applied to -me, that I am myself a <i>know nothing</i>, and defend the sect from -fellow-feeling.</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_30_30"></a><a href="#FNanchor_30_30"><span class="label">[30]</span></a> Air-boats with life lines and floats suspended from their -gunwales.</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_31_31"></a><a href="#FNanchor_31_31"><span class="label">[31]</span></a> As this goes to press I add a few extracts from a report -in the “Times” of December 8, 1854, of the loss of the troop ship -“Charlotte” and 117 lives in Algoa Bay, September 20th:— -</p><p> -“*** On the life-boat coming alongside it was found that every one on -board was completely <i>paralysed</i>, or overcome by the calamity. *** Three -separate times the life-boat pulled alongside, but there was no one in a -position even to cast a line to it. *** A great number <i>threw themselves -overboard</i>. Some were fortunate enough to reach the shore, but the -majority were drowned.” -</p><p> -This ship was apparently in a position favourable for the preservation -of life, had <i>confidence</i> existed.</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_32_32"></a><a href="#FNanchor_32_32"><span class="label">[32]</span></a> These remarks were written previous to the loss of the -“Arctic.”</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_33_33"></a><a href="#FNanchor_33_33"><span class="label">[33]</span></a> I trust the reader will understand that if I omit to write -seriously of my feelings on recovery from a death-bed, it is because I -consider a work like this no place for them.</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_34_34"></a><a href="#FNanchor_34_34"><span class="label">[34]</span></a> Extensive fields of good serviceable coal have been -discovered in Southern Oregon.—<span class="smcap">Author.</span></p></div> -</div> - -<table style="padding:2%;border:3px dotted gray;" -id="transcrib"> -<tr><th>Typographical errors corrected by the etext transcriber:</th></tr> -<tr><td> - -<p class="c">that encirled them => that encircled them {pg 98}</p> - -<p class="c">must be re-remembered=> must be remembered {pg 175}</p> - -<p class="c">thet he was induced=> that he was induced {pg 204}</p> - -<p class="c">It is generallly inferred=> It is generally inferred {pg 276}</p> - -<p class="c">the valley is is about=> the valley is about {pg 435}</p> - -<p class="c">I shall speak by and and bye=> I shall speak by and bye {pg 68}</p> -</td></tr> -</table> - -<hr class="full"> -<div style='display:block; margin-top:4em'>*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK MOUNTAINS AND MOLEHILLS ***</div> -<div style='text-align:left'> - -<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'> -Updated editions will replace the previous one—the old editions will -be renamed. -</div> - -<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'> -Creating the works from print editions not protected by U.S. copyright -law means that no one owns a United States copyright in these works, -so the Foundation (and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United -States without permission and without paying copyright -royalties. 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