COLONY OF DOGTOWN. 249 



or hunt. Their arms are bows and arrows ; their 

 clothing, both male and female, simply a bit of 

 skin worn like an apron ; they are small in 

 stature ; thin, squalid, dirty, and degraded in 

 appearance. In their habits little better than 

 an ourang-outang, they are certainly the lowest 

 type of savage I have ever seen. 



We camped in the evening on a large plain 

 called Big Flat. 



May Wth. It was bitterly cold all night, and 

 froze sharply. We got off soon after sun-up, 

 and literally crept along the side of a high range 

 of mountains, densely Avooded, and forming one 

 side of the valley of the Sacramento, which has 

 dwindled down into a mere mountain-burn. 

 Here I came suddenly on a little colony of 

 miners, engaged in gold-washing. I discovered 

 the place was named Dogtown the entire town 

 consisting of a store, a grogshop, and a smithy. 

 I paid twenty-five cents (a shilling) for a mere 

 sip of the vilest poison I ever tasted, libel- 

 lously called ' Fine Old Monongahela Whisky.' 

 About six miles farther, still on the same trail, I 

 came to another gold -claim, where there were no 

 houses at all, called Portuguese Flat. Passed 

 through some thin timber ; camped on a lovely 

 mountain-stream. 



