After many unlooked for delays, a half-barrel of pork which we had long sought in vain was got out of the hold; and on the 8th of September we bid a final farewell to the Leucothea, and transferred ourselves to the Patuxent, the regular packet for Sacramento. The Patuxent was a very pretty schooner of about one hundred tons,—had formerly been engaged in the slave-trade, but now bore at her masthead a flag showing that she carried the mail for Uncle Sam.

We set sail about four in the afternoon, with a fine breeze that we hoped would last all night; but it went down with the sun, and we were obliged to come to anchor before we had gone half across the bay. Having eaten a frugal supper of boiled ham and biscuit, the ham costing only forty cents a pound, we began anxiously to look about us for sleeping accommodations. Picking my way carefully over the bundles of dead and living lumber that strewed the deck, I at last succeeded in reaching the spot where I had left my blankets, which I found in the possession of a most delicate monster, with four legs and two voices, who had coiled himself in them for the night. Pulling him by the lesser legs, I presently awakened his forward and backward voices, which showed at once, by a duet of curses, that they could both utter foul speeches on occasion.

"Never you mind," I said to myself, "I have not scaped drowning so long to be afeard now of your four legs;" and then adding a few words of explanation, I received back my property with many apologies. But it was a more difficult matter to find six unoccupied feet of plank; and I was at last obliged to put up with a small chest about three feet in length; where, half sitting, half lying, I nodded and blinked till early morning.

Sunday was an extremely dull day; there was but little breeze,—we began to tire of the stupifying monotony of ham and bread, and to feel somewhat of the enervating effect of the climate.

I found, however, considerable amusement in studying the peculiarities of our fellow passengers, nearly all of whom were entire strangers, and presented a greater variety and novelty than I had yet met with. There was a fair proportion of old miners, who had been down to San Francisco to get letters from home, or to have a frolic, and were now returning to the mines; but a far greater number of newcomers like ourselves. There were English, Irish, Scotch, French, Germans, Spaniards, and Chilanos. The captain, who was a Dane, with a nose like Julius CÆsar's, seemed to have almost entire charge of his little vessel, and to be in every part of her at once. I never could discover that he slept at all;—he took his meals holding the tiller under his arm; and, to save himself the trouble of giving orders, chose often to haul on the ropes with his own hands.

The individual who sometimes relieved him from charge of the helm was a laughing, chirruping, little Frenchman, rather gaily dressed, with a bright red flannel shirt, and a showy scarf round his waist. His untamed vivacity smacked strongly of the prairie; and, in spite of the manifest anachronism, I was once or twice on the point of asking him if he were not the Antoine or Pierre of whom I had read in Astorian story.

The night was intensely cold, and I fared even worse than before. I fell asleep several times on my feet; till, towards midnight, some one gave me a seat on the narrow cabin stairs, where I slept and shivered in weary alternation. Monday, however, was a glorious, true California day;—a moderate breeze bore us steadily up the river, whose banks presented a pleasing panorama. Though it was now near the end of the dry season, the Sacramento seemed here brimming full; the trees, and shrubs, and vines crowding so close to the bank that there was no room for even a footpath between. Ascending into the rigging I obtained a fine view of the surrounding country. Beyond the narrow strip of forest that guarded the banks, extended, as far as the eye could reach, tule marshes,—with here and there an island, like a gigantic billow, breaking the straight outline of the horizon.

As we advanced, the soil became higher and fit for cultivation. A narrow clearing running down to the water,—a canoe floating in the shade of the tree to whose roots it was fastened,—a rude hovel standing in the midst of a patch of melons or corn, all proclaimed the adventurous squatter, who, Boonelike, had led the forlorn hope of civilization.

At length, at a sudden turn in the river, we descried at a distance the masts of Sacramento mingling with the branches of the primÆval forest. On landing, a scene presented itself of the most novel and bewildering character. On one side was the lonely river, still lonely in spite of the numerous ships that lay, side by side, moored with long ropes to the trees on the bank;—on the other, was the infant city yet maintaining a precarious struggle for existence with the surrounding wilderness. The mighty oak that had possessed the soil alone for centuries, or at least with no other rival than the wandering Indian, now looked down with wonder upon the audacious intruder at its feet, and thrust its long, gnarled branches among the taper, slender spars.

Awnings had been erected over several ships, which were thus converted into convenient stores and lodgings. The front rank of buildings stood drawn up in a straight line about two hundred feet from the river; and the streets, named after the letters of the alphabet, ran back at right angles from the levee. The canvass walls were ornamented with painted signs of the same material, which were generally in inverse proportion to the size of the edifice, so that, in many cases, hardly anything else was visible. In spite of the sombre presence of half a dozen wooden buildings, the lighter fabric so far predominated, by the aid of a thick settlement of miners' tents, as to give the whole place the unsubstantial, ephemeral appearance of the encampment of a militia muster, or a gypsy horde.

We took supper in an eating house, a small open tent, with no floor but the bare ground, and nothing on the table but coffee, bread, and beefsteak; but the owner said in excuse that he had not yet got a-going, and should accordingly charge us only a dollar a-piece. We slept this night on board the Patuxent, and the next morning looked for a more stylish restaurant, when, in addition to what we had for supper, they set before us liver, sausages, potatoes, and Indian pudding, all cooked À la California, that is, fried in pork fat, but very good, and cheap besides, our bill amounting to only five dollars.

At noon, Capt. Bill and Number Four set out for Mormon Island, to satisfy themselves by ocular demonstration as to the merits of the Virginia rocker; while Tertium and myself remained behind to dispose of some merchandize we had brought out on speculation. We set up our tent, a tall cone or sugar-loaf, upon the levee, borrowing for that purpose a wagon-pole that lay, like the Irishman's crowbar, strewed all over the bank; and erected about it, for greater security, a frowning fortification of barrels of rice and beans, while we disposed the lighter articles within.

Our nomade life had now fairly begun; hitherto we had hung, like puny nurslings, on the dry breasts of a sickly civilization; but henceforth we were to shift for ourselves. Having kindled a fire and made some coffee in a bright tin coffee-pot, like a young couple just setting up housekeeping, I proceeded to the nearest baker's shop, and having bought a couple of loaves, marched back through the streets, Franklin-wise, to our camp; when Tertium, who had in the meantime fried some steaks, arranged the whole very tastily on the top of a barrel. We had each a new tin plate as bright as a looking-glass, a pint cup, with an iron spoon, and a big butcher's knife stuck into our girdle. The supper was excellent—I must except the coffee—and in fact we had enjoyed nothing so much since leaving Talcahuano.

After supper, as we sat in the door of our tent, with a little bit of home-feeling already stirring in our hearts, a man passing along the levee stopped to ask what we had for sale. He had on a monkey jacket, a pair of heavy cowhide boots drawn over his pantaloons, and coming well up to his knees, and presented throughout so great a contrast to his former self, that we were not a little surprised at discovering his identity with the fine gentleman we had so often seen promenading the streets of B——.

As we were anxious to dispose of our goods as soon as possible, without much regard to price, our bargain was soon completed. He paid us in gold dust, the first that had come into our possession, which, for want of a more fitting receptacle, we poured into a pewter cup. When I afterwards emptied it into a vial, a little remained sticking to the bottom, reminding me of the Forty Thieves, and the gold measured in a bushel. "Who knows," I said to myself, "but that we may have, before long, to resort to the same expedient?"

It was now time to go to bed; we carefully examined our pistols,—stationed a lusty bag of beans as sentinel before the door, and spreading our blankets in the dust, were soon sleeping as carelessly as the veteran on the field of battle.

The next morning we sold the remainder of our goods, including a large portion of our provisions, and were now all ready for a start; but were obliged to wait until we heard from our companions, as we were doubtful whether we had better make our first experiment at Mormon Island, or on the North Fork as we had at first intended. In the meantime, fearful lest they should let slip the favourable opportunity, I made haste to write a most pressing letter, urging them, by all means, to lose no time in securing at least one of those machines that every day seemed more scientific and more desirable.

Friday, having a few hooks, we amused ourselves with fishing in the Sacramento. We caught a number of fish about a foot in length, full of bones as they could hold, but furnishing a very welcome addition to our scanty bill of fare.

The next day we received a note from Number Four, advising us to join them at Mormon Island, as they found themselves quite unable to decide so important a question without our assistance. It was too late, however, to commence so long a journey, and we very reluctantly waited till the following week.

Sunday, two other parties from the Leucothea came up the river, Capt. Fayreweather's, in a flat boat they had built on board the ship, and the Vermonters in a packet.

The Vermonters pitched their tent among a large number of others in a thick grove in one corner of the town, and then commenced the arduous task of transporting thither their provisions; the imperious, headstrong Charley disputing all the while with his rebellious satellites, with most amusing pertinacity, as to the amount of labour performed by each, and the proper method of conducting the simplest operation.

Monday afternoon they started on a long journey of ninety miles up on the Yuba; and, at the same time, we set out for Mormon Island, twenty-five miles from Sacramento, with a mule wagon to transport our provisions and household stuff, for which we had to pay eight cents a pound. After passing Sutter's Fort, the road for several miles lay over an open prairie; the evening was calm, and the solitude and silence greater even than at sea. A little farther on, the surface became more undulating; fine old oaks dotted the ground at long intervals, seeming, like the stars in the sky, set all at an equal distance in a wide circle, of which we were the centre.

We encamped for the night near the American river,—the sun had long been set,—we were cold and hungry, but it was too dark to find materials for a fire, and we were compelled to go supperless to bed. We spread our tent on the ground, and muffling ourselves in our blankets, crept in between the folds, in dumb expressive silence, while our driver, equally unsocial, stretched his length, like a watch dog, under his wagon. It was a relief to hear the roar of the river that on one side seemed to furnish a wall of defence, as if it had weakened the surrounding loneliness by cutting it in halves; it was a relief even to hear the barking of the coatis as they prowled round the wagon; but I never recall that night by the American river, and think of the profoundest desolation that brooded over us, without a shudder,—a shudder of delight, as children listen to tales of ghosts and goblins.

We hailed the first dawn of day with intense satisfaction; before the sun was up our coffee-pot was singing over a crackling blaze, and a steak sizzling in the frying-pan sent forth a most savoury odour. There is an immense difference between going to bed darkling and supperless, and getting up to a hearty breakfast on a bright sunshiny morning; we were no longer the same persons, and, full of beef and coffee, felt ready to encounter any difficulty that might present itself.

We travelled all day through an open forest of oak, passing one or two houses, or ranches as they were oftener called, and meeting occasionally an empty wagon returning to Sacramento. We met also a young fellow dressed in a new calico shirt of the gayest pattern, with a bright scarf round his waist, galloping carelessly along the sweeping glades of the forest, and swinging round his head the long braided lash that forms the end of a Spanish bridle. I looked after him with envious admiration; for thinks I to myself, there is a lucky miner who has made his fortune, twenty or thirty thousand at least, and is now going home to enjoy it. But it was pleasant to think that in another year we too should be galloping over the same road, each with just such a horse and painted shirt, and with as well filled saddle-bags as he. Then how we would exult over any unlucky pedestrians we might chance to encounter!—with what self-complacent condescension we would stop to answer their absurd questions! looking down upon them, all the while, from our twofold elevation, with most delightful pity,—pitying them, so to speak, as hard as we could, and then wrapt away from their sight in a cloud of dust.

Solacing ourselves with many such "sugared suppositions," we came at night to a small roadside inn, called the Willow Spring House, and built in that place for the sake of the water which is very scarce in all that region. Several parties were already resting on the little green slope opposite the house; we joined them, and cooked our supper at their fire; while, after the fashion of Californians, we gave each other a brief account of our adventures. Some of our companions we found had come like ourselves round the Horn, and we were mutually anxious to learn the names of our respective vessels; some had come by way of the Isthmus,—and others had travelled across the plains of Mexico, or over the Rocky Mountains. They came together, at this secluded spot, for the first and last time, and parted in the morning; some going down to Sacramento, which they had not yet seen, and others up into the mountains,—while we continued our march, and in an hour arrived at Mormon Island, where we found our companions in a state of great perplexity at our long delay.

With their assistance our goods were soon unloaded at a spot hastily selected at the side of the street; we counted out eighty dollars on a stump for our driver,—hung our tent to the overhanging branch of a small oak to avoid the necessity of a pole, and piled our provisions round its trunk.

Our next door neighbour, an old man with a loud, good-humoured voice, and who kept a sort of small eating-house at the farther end of a monstrous pine that stretched from his door to ours, was cooking his breakfast at a fire built against the middle of the log. While our coffee was boiling, he began to sing the praises of some bean soup he had just concocted; and, on my expressing some doubt of its excellence, nothing would do but I must taste it. "There," said he, as I dipped my iron spoon into the shallow tin plate he had provided, "what do you say to that?" I was forced to acknowledge that it was very good indeed, and I further flattered the old man's vanity by asking for the recipe, which he gave me at once, with an infinite deal of chuckling and gesticulation, flying round all the while among his pots and kettles with twice his usual dexterity.

Having fortified ourselves with a hearty breakfast, we proceeded all together, Capt. Bill leading the way, to the island, to see the machine that had gradually climbed so high in our imaginations. Mormon Island proper is nothing but a large bar on one side of the river, converted into an island by a narrow canal dug round it for the purpose of draining that portion of the channel. The name, however, has extended itself to the village that has grown up on the neighbouring bank, and which consisted, at that time, of a single street nearly as broad as it was long,—lined on three sides with a few scattered tents and log houses, though several stores and hotels of much greater pretensions have since been added.

Crossing the canal by a bridge made of a single log, and walking a few rods over a succession of miniature hills thrown up by the miners, we came to a small hollow where the machine was at work. A sudden weakness,—shall I confess it?—now came over me, and I paused a moment to recover my self-possession before venturing to face this miracle of science. I then slowly advanced till my eyes, rising above the stony ridge that surrounded it, peered curiously down into the hollow.

Three times in my life have I met with severe disappointments—once in my eighth year, hurrying home from school in the confident expectation of having apple dumplings for dinner, and finding that, through some dreadful cook's blunder, there was nothing but salt beef, cabbage, and potatoes—once in my maturer years, in a still more tender point—and now, to complete the mighty three, I saw—instead of the cunning invention possessed of mysterious, almost fearful powers, which I had imagined—only a big, clumsy rocker, mounted on a frame still bigger and clumsier than itself, and weighing altogether some five or six hundred pounds. Underneath the riddle or castiron sieve that extended the whole length of the machine, was a trough about eight inches deep, and divided by numerous low partitions into narrow cells intended to contain the quicksilver used in washing. It was this feature that had suggested the idea of a patent beehive; and in the last or lowest of these cells we had expected to find the gold in a state of perfect purity. We now discovered our mistake—these partitions corresponded simply to the ripple-bars of the common rocker, which indeed the whole machine resembled much more closely than we had supposed. Five men were required to attend to its various wants; one to rock—one to pump into it a constant stream of water—one to feed it—and two to bring the earth from the hole.

Several of the owners, members of the company of which the scientific miner was president, were standing by, watching the operation; and one of them I thought, from his conversation, must be almost as scientific as the scientific miner himself. They were all pleasant, gentlemanly fellows, living in a fine large tent on a breezy hill just above the island, and in such style and comfort as became the owners of a thousand thousand-dollar machines, like themselves.

But our hopes were doomed to receive another and still more overwhelming shock. The scientific miner had assured us that we could make our thousand a week from almost any earth in California—we didn't quite believe him, to be sure—but now the second scientific miner, not indeed so scientific as the first, but horribly scientific for all that, advised us, by all means, not to remain at Mormon Island, but to prospect a bar he had himself visited, just below Coloma, and which he thought from its formation likely to prove unusually rich.

"But," replied Tertium, shrinking from the idea of another long journey, and still possessed by the chimerical notion suggested by the scientific miner, "why wouldn't it be as well to remain here? There's that hill yonder, to the right of the village; I don't see why that shouldn't pay as well as any other place."

You should have seen the smile of benevolent pity with which this audacious speech was received by the miner who was only less scientific than the scientific miner at San Francisco. It was really delightful to see how easily his science enabled him to solve a question which we could have decided only by pickaxe and shovel.

"Ah, my dear sir," he replied, his politeness struggling hard with that noble disdain he could not help feeling, "there is no gold there—the geological formation shows that it is impossible. If you look again, you will see that the river here makes a sudden turn to the right; and besides, gold is never found in such soil as that hill is composed of."

Here Capt. Bill looked at me as much as to say, "He's one of the men you read of;" and we all frowned upon Tertium as a sign that he should hold his peace; while, in accordance with the second scientific miner's suggestion, we did look again—saw, as he said we would, that the river did turn to the right, and of course could never, by any possibility, have flowed in any other direction; whereby our opinion of science in general, and of the second scientific miner's in particular, was marvellously confirmed.

Lest I should forget it, I would here simply mention, that not long after, some ignoramus, not having the fear of science before his eyes, and digging stupidly into this identical hill, discovered veins of such richness as turned half the heads in the village.

This hill in fact seemed one of those awkward exceptions designed by nature expressly for the discomfiture of just such philosophers; as if, like the rest of her sex, she would not give her suitors too much encouragement, lest their presumption should make them forget their modesty. The good lady, if the truth must be told, seemed in this matter even more capricious than ordinary, and bestowed her favours with so little discernment that the least deserving were often the most successful.

I encountered many other scientific miners during my travels, but never met with one whose science was worth his salt. It did not seem so much a means as an end, and was continually leading them astray from the real object of pursuit. They acted often as foolishly as the man who in travelling would not take the common highway that led directly to the spot where he wished to go, but chose, because he could move a little faster, to get into a railroad car that was going in just the opposite direction. In short, their science was like that discriminating salve which, being rubbed slightly on one eye, disclosed all the treasures of the earth, but being applied to both, resulted in total blindness. Yet to hear them talk of geological formations, of strata and deposits, with their primitive and secondary, it would seem as if they were thoroughly acquainted with the diagnosis of their patient, and could put their finger on the very spot in nature's loins where she had hutched the all-worshipped ore, with as much certainty as a modern Esculapius can determine the seat of a disease.

However, the second scientific miner had said it, and accordingly the next morning after our arrival, and before the blisters had dried off my feet, I set out with Number Four for Coloma, twenty-five miles farther up the river. Our blankets were slung over our shoulders, and we carried in our pockets a bit of bread and cheese to beguile the way somewhat of its weariness. We commenced our journey in high spirits, but had not walked more than two miles before the stiffening which my limbs so much needed seemed all to have settled in my boots, where it was not needed at all; and I found, to my indignant surprise and consternation, that I, who had never, so to speak, been sick in my life, was thus shamefully betrayed into a downright fit of dysentery.

It was now the middle of September, a season when the heat, if no longer quite so intense, is even more oppressive than in summer; all vegetation was burnt up, and the parched, dusty ground quivered in the dizzy rays.

Loitering slowly under the scattered trees, and quickening our pace in the unbroken sunshine, we came at noon to a circular sandy plain about two miles in diameter, without a leaf in its whole extent, and glowing under the fierce meridian like the focus of a burning-glass.

Collecting our forces for a desperate rally, we hurried in eager emulation across this little desert, and found on the other side a ranch, with a spring, shaded by a few solitary oaks, at some distance from the roadside, and offering a convenient resting-place. We stopped here several hours, nibbling at our bread and cheese, and scooping up water from the spring in a cocoanut shell I had brought from Rio Janeiro; but the sun playing "bo-peep" with us round the tree made it impossible to sleep, and at length compelled us to resume our journey. The country became, as we advanced, more and more hilly and thickly wooded; and after crossing Weaver's Creek, a small stream four miles from Coloma, the road seemed entirely made up of a succession of long steep hills. The degree of exhaustion to which I was now reduced, exceeded anything of which I had supposed the human frame was capable; at the top of every hill I hurried forward, hoping to hear the roar of the river, or to catch a glimpse of the tents of Coloma at the bottom; more than once I threw myself on the ground with the full determination to proceed no farther till morning, but the urgency of my companion prevailed, and again I set forward to encounter the next ascent.

It was long after dark when we at last saw the lights of the village far below. Slowly winding down the long hill, we passed the scattered suburbs of tents, with little groups of miners sitting round their drowsy fires, and in a few minutes reached the store to which we had been directed, where I sank onto a bench, as it seemed more dead than alive.

They gave us for supper some wretched tea, of which I drank eagerly four or five cups—cold stewed beans, and an apple-sauce of dried peaches, of which I ate more sparingly, but my stomach, with superior instinct, refused to retain any such villainous combination. We slept on the dirty open floor of the dining-room, fanned by the night air sifting through, cold and dust-laden—and lulled by the beating of that mill that will henceforth, while the world stands, be more renowned in story than many a royal palace. Among our companions were two or three dogs continually running in and out, and smelling round our faces, and a poor woman who had walked that day twenty-five miles, with an infant in her arms, to meet her husband, and was now inconsolable at his delay.

In the morning we walked out to see the place. It stands in a narrow valley, hemmed in by high rugged hills, among which the South Fork worms its way, sometimes dark and deep, but oftener widening into a stream so shallow that it can almost be crossed dryshod. There by its side was the mill that had made all this stir, worth a hundred thousand dollars, yet working away ignobly, day and night, like any of the thousand saw-mills that bestride the streams of New England.

After breakfast we borrowed a pick, pan and shovel of our landlord; and, striking into a footpath over the hills, walked a mile down the river to the bar so highly recommended by the second scientific miner.

This bar was much larger and higher than Mormon Island, with many trees scattered over it; but its surface remained unbroken, and the merry dash of the miner's rocker was nowhere heard. Near the lower end a natural dam had formed a romantic little pond, with pebbly beaches running down between the bushes into the water, where we saw the fish glancing beneath the surface. A more commodious and delightful spot for a miner's encampment could hardly be devised. The slender pines were admirably fitted for a log house—the solitude was like enchantment, and what could be pleasanter than to sit in some shady nook, and fish all the long, lazy summer's day in those fairy waters?

But imperious necessity compelled us to shut our eyes to all these features of delight, and to look simply at the amount of gold that might be expected to reward our labour.

We selected a spot at the upper end of the bar, as most likely to contain the precious metal, and at once set vigorously to work throwing out, like two rampant antlions, the paving-stones and gravel that came tumbling back upon us in the most vexatious manner. Occasionally Number Four filled a pan half full of earth, and carried it down to the river to wash out. The first trial gave nothing, the second a little more, and at length we were so fortunate as to obtain a panful that yielded the incredible sum of three cents. We rested an hour at noon to eat our salt beef and biscuit, and again resumed our labours, but with no better success; we returned to the attack the next morning, and at another part of the bar; but three cents was the best it could do for us, and we finally abandoned it in sore disgust.

Oh, that second scientific miner! and, oh, that "promising formation!" Promising! yes, it was promising, but it lied consumedly.

In the afternoon, we met a number of our fellow-passengers who were mining in the vicinity. The account they gave of the Coloma diggings was not such as to induce us to remain any longer in the place, and we determined to return to Mormon Island, without any further explorations; the more especially, as we were somewhat tired of paying nine dollars a day for such board and lodging as I have described. As Number Four, however, preferred to wait till the next morning, I set out alone at half-past four, expecting to finish my journey by moonlight. To avoid the exquisite torture inflicted by my boots, I cut off the tops of an old pair I picked up in the street—drew them up over my feet like a napkin by a string passed through the four corners—and thus, with my boots in my hand, shuffled along with that awkward waddle peculiar to all the webfooted tribe. No one would have had the slightest difficulty in following my trail, which, besides the elephantine footprint, was marked at regular intervals, as by mile-stones, by the little piles of dust and gravel I had emptied out of these gouty appendages. This answered very well for several miles, but by the time I reached Weaver Creek, the soles of my feet had become so sore that I was obliged to resume my boots. The sun set soon after, but I still proceeded very comfortably by aid of the moon, though the deep shadows of the hills and trees sometimes hid the road completely from view. About nine I came suddenly upon a piece of bog that ran directly across the road, and which I had no recollection of seeing on my way up; at the same moment, as ill luck would have it, the moon dipped very ill-naturedly beneath the horizon, thus depriving me of her light just when I could worst do without it.

While I was bewildering myself more and more in my vain attempts to find a passage, a Will-o'-the-wisp-ish sort of light, dancing about at no great distance, attracted my attention. I was greatly pleased, on coming up with it, to find it of a more friendly character; a man was looking after his cattle, and told me, in answer to my inquiries, that the road here turned at right angles, and that the black shadow I saw at a little distance was the Green Spring House, where it will be recollected we had rested on our way to Coloma.

I should have remained at Green Spring all night, but unfortunately I had left my blankets behind me, and had no desire to make the acquaintance of the strange bedfellows one was sure to encounter in a California inn. I stopped accordingly only long enough to obtain a glass of water; the bar-keeper scowled because I did not ask for brandy; and having at length, with some difficulty, found the road, which ran just before the door, I again set forward. I at first proceeded very slowly, stooping from time to time to make out my course by the shimmer of the wheel-tracks; but becoming tired of this species of locomotion, I pushed on more rapidly, and soon lost the road altogether.

Fearing at length that I might be going in the wrong direction, I pulled out my pocket-compass and a box of matches; and having ascertained the position of the north star, determined to steer my course as at sea, without turning to the right hand or the left. But after what seemed many weary miles, no signs of life appearing, I began to think I had passed the island, and was now perhaps half way down to Sacramento. I knew, however, that the river was on my right; I supposed it could not be far distant, and that, if I once succeeded in reaching it, I should have no difficulty in determining my true position. There never was a greater blunder—for more than an hour I toiled on, over hill and valley, stopping now and then to catch the far-off roar of the river, or any other sound that might prate of my whereabouts. Suddenly I heard a dog bark far down the stream, and then the lowing of a cow. These cheerful sounds gave me courage. I pressed on, and soon saw below, the black-and-white water gliding under the ghostly starlight, along its rocky channel. I scrambled down, nearly breaking my neck in my eagerness, by tumbling over a bank some ten feet high; and sitting on a lump of granite I dipped my cocoanut again and again into the stream, and drained it with as feverish relish as if I had been scorching beneath the sun of Sahara.

Finding it impossible to make my way along the craggy shore, I again ascended the high ground, when I waded for a long time through a deep sea of hemlock. Emerging from this I wandered on, by trees, and rocks, and hills—nothing civilised, nothing moving but the coati and the hare that "from my path fled like a shadow." I stopped and hallooed, though half frightened at the sound of my own voice, but echo was the only answer. On I went, further and further into the big blackness of the night, feeling my way, as it were, by continued shouts, as a blind man pokes his way with a cane. My efforts were at length successful.

"What in the d—— are you making such a hullabaloo for, at this time o' night?" said a gruff voice coming out of the darkness. I looked in the direction of the sound, and saw, close at my elbow where I wondered I had not seen it before, a large wagon covered with white cotton. Approaching somewhat nearer, I became aware of a head, to which apparently the voice belonged, projecting tortoise-like from the end of the wagon. In answer to my inquiries, the head, that in spite of its first salutation, seemed a very good sort of a head, informed me pleasantly enough that Mormon Island was only a mile below, and that I could not fail to hit it. As I turned away, I heard a woman's voice, sounding smothered out of the cart's belly, say, "poor fellow;" and I blessed her with all her sisterhood.

About three in the morning, Capt. Bill suddenly awaking, was dreadfully startled to perceive a tall figure standing at his feet. He instantly aroused his companion, who, sitting up on end with most courageous trembling, began fumbling under his head for a pistol, while he boldly demanded "who's there?" No answer being returned, his finger already pressed the fatal trigger, and another moment would have ended my adventures before they had well begun, if I had not made haste to relieve their fears by the assurance that I was not the bloody thief and murderer they had been so quick to imagine.

I have been the more particular in describing this little bit of travel, as it was our first experience of the varieties of California life, and a fitting introduction to what was to follow. California at that time was an almost unbroken wilderness, with a few villages scattered at long intervals on the principal rivers, and a single house here and there along the roads. The forests were supposed to be infested by wild beasts and more savage Indians, and on this very occasion I was startled more than once by hearing the dead branches by the road side snapping under the tread of some heavy animal, which I boldly maintained, gainsay it who will, must have been a grizzly of the first magnitude; though I will allow that no animal more formidable than a coati was ever seen in that neighbourhood.