230 MULE-HUNTING EXPEDITION. 



inlet or a lagoon ; the rocks underlying the shingle 

 have all the appearance, when denuded by the 

 washing, of sea-wear. I try with a powerful 

 lens to detect gold amidst the material they are 

 washing, but not a trace is discoverable, and yet 

 it pays an immense profit to the gold-washers. 



Hunt's Hill is a timbered mountain, about 

 3,500 feet in altitude. Washing its base is the 

 Greenhorn river, on the banks of Avhich some 

 very rich gold-washings are carried on, as well 

 as at Bear Creek, on the opposite slope of the 

 ridge. Clothing the hill, towering high above 

 the shanties of the miners, the sugar and nut- 

 pines wave lazily; the immense cones of the 

 latter, plentifully besprinkling the ground, af- 

 ford a feast to the Indians and lesser rodent 

 mammals. 



March 29^/i. Return to Marysville. Visited 

 another hydraulic washing at Timbuctoo, on the 

 Yuba river, much the same as that seen at Ne- 

 vada. Marysville is about the third best city in 

 California, situated on the bank of the Feather 

 river, which is rapidly filling up, from the im- 

 mense quantity of material brought down from 

 the hydraulic washings. A single peach-orchard 

 I visited was 200 acres, all fenced, and the 

 trees in beautiful health; from it, I am told, 



